I have often speculated that TMP gets short-shrifted over the years because many are unaware of it heritage and the context of the year in which it premiered.

In a lot of ways it is very much the offspring of the ground-breaking 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY a movie which premiered in 70mm and I believe pales when viewed projected on anything smaller. It is my recollection that these are the only two pictures that actually bothered (with the possible exception of SILENT RUNNING) to get the blackness of space on the movie screen to approximate that as one would experience the real thing in traveling through it. Under these overly light-polluted modern skies, it is probably only something appreciated by planetarium junkies and actual astronauts.

While all the principle photography of TMP was done in 35mm all of the FX photography was done in the larger format of its ancestor, ASO. So watching it in the CINERAMA theaters of its day blown up to 70MM with their 6 track audio had certified benefits. And as true original IMAX theaters are the closest thing to CINERAMA wrap around 70mm theaters I’d have to acknowledge that a carefully done IMAX blowup would definitely be worth the extra bucks.

Also both pictures’ pacing , I believe, were intended to allow the audience to be immersed in the FX.

One thing comes to mind, if CBS’s redo of ToS’ FX is considered the cat’s pajamas by modern eyes, it is a puzzle why they don’t accept TMP as pretty much the same thing, i.e. a television episode with its FX taken to the max?

I, on the other hand, am a Robert Wise fan. His THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL hooked me as a wee lad into filmed science-fiction and ultimately launched my thirst for knowledge of things robotic/computer.

I would thoroughly enjoy a double-bill of ASO and TMP on the BIG screen but apparently few born in the last 2 decades could?

This time, being a monday night ( end of the Labor Day weekend in the U.S. ) we were two of only five people in the theatre…not surprising, since most other folks had to return to work the next day. Once again, I was gratified at how good the movie looked on the large(r) screen, and even though we were a small crowd, the sound was up as loud and the bass as rumbling as if the theatre was packed.

With all due respect to ‘Son of A Maui Portagee’ and his obvious knowledge about all things IMAx and IMAX like, I still say the IMAX-lite presentation at my local AMC theatre was far superior than the regular projection, and is definitely THE way to see this movie. At the risk of repeating myself, the shots of the Enterprise and the Kelvin have such mass and ‘presence’ in this format. I only wish we could have seen the original TV and Motion Picture Enterprises like this.

Oblivion may be more a correct choice of a word than you knew because it may be that they need the money:

http://beta.www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/shocker-paramount-moving-scorsesedicaprios-shutter-island-to-february-2010/

“”Our 2009 slate was greenlit in a very different economic climate and as a result we must remain flexible and willing to recalibrate and adapt to a changing environment. This is a situation facing every single studio as we all work through the financial pressures associated with the broader downturn. Like every business, we must make difficult choices to maximize our overall success and to best manage Paramount’s business in a way that serves Viacom and its shareholders, while providing the film with every possible chance to succeed both creatively and financially.” – Brad Grey, Paramount

”I hear that Paramount told the filmmakers it doesn’t have the financing in 2009 to spend the $50M to $60M necessary to market a big awards pic like this. (But a studio source insists to me it’s got the cash, just not the home video sales: “Given where the DVD business is in 2009, our only hope is the economy and the retail business rebounds in 2010 because the hardest hit segment has been movies that play to an older adult audience,” a studio source tells me.)” – Nikki Finke, DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY