2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. All year long fans of the movie have been wondering if Paramount would do anything to celebrate. At San Diego Comic-Con, we got news fans should appreciate
During the Inlgorious Treksperts podcast Comic-Con panel which was focused on the anniversary, an announcement was made from the audience by David Fein, the producer of the 2001 Director’s Edition of TMP. He revealed that he and members of the team who worked on The Director’s Edition were in talks with Paramount to develop a 4K version for release on standard HD Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Prior to the JJ Abrams films, The Motion Picture was one of the few truly cinematic Star Trek movies. It is best experienced on the big screen, and in as high a quality as possible. So having a proper 4K restoration (and a new version of The Director’s Edition) would make this already visually stunning movie really come to life for Trekkies new and old.
The Director’s Edition was created in 2001 by working closely with director Robert Wise. In addition to edits for pacing, a number of small fixes and changes were made to the visual effects, and a new sound mix was created. TMP was rather famously rushed to completion in December 1979, because of this Robert Wise considered The Director’s Edition to be his “final cut.”
Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition DVD released in 2001
Visual Effects supervisor speaks about bringing TMP: DE into 4K
Following the panel, TrekMovie spoke exclusively with Daren Dochterman who is a co-host of Inglorious Treksperts and was the Visual Effects Supervisor for the Director’s Edition of TMP. He revealed that originally Paramount had planned a 40th-anniversary re-release of the theatrical version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which would have been released this fall. But soon the project evolved and in the last couple of months, Paramount has been in talks with Fein about creating a proper 4K version of the Director’s Edition. While the final decision has yet to be made, Dochterman says: “the green light has not yet been given, but it is a yellow light. We have been given permission to talk about it at San Diego Comic-Con.”
The team returning to work on the project also includes Mike Matessino, who was the Restoration Supervisor. Dochterman said they also hope to bring in additional members of the team who worked on the original DVD project. “We want to get as many of the original people as possible because they know their stuff and know what they did,” said Dochterman.
According to Dochterman, the team is currently “figuring out the details” on how to move forward, and Paramount “is interested and wants it to happen.” Work has yet to start, but one thing that will be of big help is that the original team have kept all the assets from their work on the Director’s Edition DVD.
A timeline has yet to be worked out. Dochterman thinks it is possible that their work on the project could be completed this year if work started soon, however, he does not expect everything can be completed in time to allow for a Blu-ray release this year. “If it is going to happen within the next couple of months, we would definitely have a big announcement by the actual 40th-anniversary date [December, 6]”
Dochterman said he was not aware if the release would include new special features that weren’t part of the original DVD, but expected it would at least include something about the process of creating the 4K version. He also said the team is hoping there will be more, noting “There are some things we may have that might be very interesting for people to see and I would like to see those things included.”
Dochterman ended by noting how excited he and the other team members were about the project, saying:
We have maintained enthusiasm for doing this over the years and it’s nice that the studio seems as enthusiastic as us.
More 40th celebration to come
There’s more celebration of The Motion Picture planned at Star Trek Las Vegas in two weeks. There will be a special “Star Trek: The Motion Picture 40th Anniversary Retrospective” panel.
Join Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s Special Effects Supervisor and Oscar-Nominee Douglas Trumbull — whose career highlights include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and one of the pioneers of IMAX — and our illustrious panel of FX experts Rick Sternbach (illustrator for Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Doug Drexler, and Michael and Denise Okuda as we look back at this ambitious and under-appreciated epic film.
TrekMovie will continue to monitor this project and anything else related to the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and bring updates as they become available.
This sooooo needs to happen!
Years overdue!
This would be kind of amazing. I get the impression that interest in the Star Trek TOS films has significantly diminished since they last restoration so I’m just glad to see attention being paid to them now.
They only paid to restore Star trek II from the negative.In fact twice. Once on DVD and Blu ray, and again for as yet unreleased 4k Re-issue. There was no restoration of Star Trek I, III IV, V or VI.
A Generations thru Nemesis restoration would be nice too.
Just watched this again. IMO, it’s aged incredibly well.
It has.
It’s funny, but it’s aged the best of the older Trek films, even though it’s the oldest.
Interestingly, if you have a chance to catch the Space 1999 Blu Ray Season 1 set, that show has a lot of the same look at the TMP, and is similarly ageless in terms of the look and sets.
Yeah, you can see that the designs of both were heavily influenced by 2001 Space odyssey.
TMP is kind of an odd movie but its fascinating when you look at it as Roddenberry attempting to soft reboot/retool the franchise into something big and cerebral and cinematic.
Would love to see a remastered version of it, along with the rest of the TOS films.
Roddenberry almost killed Star Trek again with that movie.
But at the same time making the best ‘Trek movie to date
I thought that was Star Trek 2 after they got rid of Roddenberry.
Despite its flaws, were it not for TMP, we would not be talking about Star Trek at all today.
Please don’t ignore the theatrical edition
Why? Are you just a purist? Or is there a reason you prefer the theatrical release. I really appreciate the director’s edition. The edits were minor but grand in their achievement…that’s just me though. Curious of your thoughts.
Both versions should be fully restored for completist purposes. And each version improves on the other in different areas.
Some of the edits on the Director’s Cut, as well as some of the new visual effects, are a bit rough. Some of these COULD be fixed for a 4K restoration, except then it would no longer be the Director’s Cut.
In particular the final reveal of Vger as It approaches Earth orbit, while menacing in a way that the theatrical cut was not, was also rather demystifying.
All THREE versions should be released-! There’s the original theatrical release and the extended cut (sometimes called the ABC cut) which is about ten minutes longer, and includes a few important scenes missing from the original cut including the key scene on the bridge when Spock cries when he realises what V’Ger’s motivation is). The extended version I think was the one shown in cinemas here in the UK – certainly the one I saw on a rather worn print at the BFI about four years ago (complete with visible scaffolding on the uncompleted shot as Kirk leaves the ship in a space suit). as far as I know that version has never been released – the only copy I have is a 4×3 TV recording from the 80s. I’d like to see a Blu-ray that includes all three. In fact let’s go the whole hog and release five versions – the original, the extended, the director’s and the original and extended with new effects replacing those that were unfinished. Any more anyone? :-)
” Any more anyone? :-)” Yes! The cancelled 1977 double-episode-pilot-tv-version named “Star Trek – Phase II: in thy image”. ;-)
Special Longer Version from the VHS (only make it widescreen). Or is that the same as Extended?
This would be great. Hopefully it’ll happen. It needs to be restoration of the Director’s Cut and the Theatrical, which I guess should be possible because you have to scan all the film first. And then reassemble the assets in a computer, for two teams to work on. A purist one and DE one adding and subtracting bits with new FX.
It would be even better if there’s any Memory Wall abandoned sequence material, we’ve never seen before. It can’t be put back into the film, because Spock’s flight through V’Ger replaced it completely. However it would interesting to know how far they got with scenes of both Kirk and Spock investigating inside. The photos always intrigued me.
They had some early test footage in the Director’s Edition special features, but nothing really exciting. Certainly not anything that could be put in the movie.
Someone recently posted this on a FB ST:TMP group: “Now that I finally got the copies of the camera reports I requested for the Memory Wall sequence from the Robert Wise papers, there were only THREE shots in the shooting script that weren’t filmed: 297, 300, and 303.
Additional notes:
There were a few diopter shots in the sequence we never got to see.
Additionally, Chekov was in the Captain’s chair for the shots taking place on the bridge, while the crew watches in horror as Kirk is attacked by the sensor bees.
Inserts of Ilia and Security Officer Phillips (digitized moments before Ilia, & cut from the film) were also shot. These were to be composited against the walls of the memory chamber.”
That’s really cool to have confirmation on how much of it was actually shot. It makes sense that they did over half of it, because Trumbull talked about how the rough cut of the movie totally fell apart during the partial spacewalk when the screened it. I think there might not be a dry seat in the house if you actually ran a semi-cut version of it, given that nobody liked the way it looked during shooting. RtT goes on with input from lots of folks, saying they tried every trick and the Abel-sets just did not work at all.
Yes, they mention that in “Return to Tomorrow.” I would still like to see it — the sequence enthralled enough of the merchandisers to have it included on record jackets, the calendar, the cereal cards and other places. I just think it was way too ambitious for them to complete with the limited time they had. But the movie needed more physical action, and the sequence explained V’Ger. Still enjoy the film as is.
Now I can fall asleep in 4K!
….best…. comment….. ever…..
If you’re a Trek fan with chronic insomnia, it is excellent. First-hand experience. Very soothing at times.
Agreed. But I prefer the term “atmospheric.”
LOL so true. I can’t wait to get those zzzzz.
I’m glad there once was a Trek that went beyond the limited horizons of the troglodytes. Now Captain Kurtzman, on with the big feels and ‘splosions, A34 et al. are game!
But will you dream in 4K?
Update DS9 instead!
Sorry mate, but you are wrong in the head. For people who grew up with TOS, ST:TMP was a massive phenomena, and brought Star Trek back from the dead.
Its safe to say that it probably saved the Star Trek franchise.
Wrong company. CBS owns Trek on TV. Paramount owns the movies. What Paramount does with TMP has no effect on what CBS does with their Trek properties.
This film was the template for TNG.
Yup. Decker and Ilia were Riker and Troi before their time.
This and the abandoned parts of the cancelled Phase 2 series. So TNG was basically what Phase 2 could have been…
I’ve often thought of TNG seasons 1 and 2 as basically Phase 2 reskinned, with “real” TNG kicking in during the 3rd season.
Decker and Ilia were in Phase 2. A few Phase 2 episodes were used for TNG.
I thought that TMP was just a rework of “In Thy Image”. The pilot episode for Phase II. And Ilea and Decker were both a part of it from the start.
Featuring some of the best effects of the era, and probably the greatest filming miniature of all time, this could really benefit from a faithful 4K version.
Agree!!
So long as they also produce a Blu ray version of the Directors Cut, I’m in. I do not have 4K and quite frankly, it’s not as big a jump past HD as HD was from DVD. So I don’t think the leap is worth it just yet.
I’m thinking the same thing. 1080p is good enough for me.
4K HDR and DolbyVision releases present a significant leap visually. With 55″ displays as low as $329 and players available for under $100 it’s worth the price of the upgrade.
I’ve had multiple people claim (not saying it’s accurate but it comes from multiple sources independent from each other) that 4K starts getting into a realm that the human eye just cannot differentiate. So you start to get to the point were it’s so good that we can’t see the difference!
The difference is very obvious.
4K is the first home format that can reproduce the equivalent of 35MM film, which is roughly 4,000 lines.
I agree. It does look better than HD. But only marginally so. The jump from DVD to HD was a much bigger leap. And because of that I, and the current lack of content, I just cannot justify upgrading yet. When HD came, I upgraded the instant BD beat out DVDHD.
Yes, but 35mm was meant for 20-foot screens in a movie theater. It’s WAY overkill for the average home!
A good 4K display also makes 1080P/1080I material look better. And HDR is the frosting.
Friends and family all tell me they see huge difference with my 4K OLED compared to their home 1080P sets.
It’s not a claim but a scientific fact. In a way.
The higher the resolution, the better the image looks the closer you get. It’s why 5K computer screens make sense. 8K TV screens may look slightly, but not by much, better, but you can’t really tell a difference from sitting across you living room as your eyes can only see up to a certain resolution.
At this point 8K and anything else is just being used as marketing jargon.
If you have a 55” 4K HDR OLED screen, it’s unlikely that anything will look better to you now or in the future.
“If you have a 55” 4K HDR OLED screen, it’s unlikely that anything will look better to you now or in the future.”
Wrong! His 100” 8K HDR OLED screen will ;)
That’s completely true. Google this and look at the resolution eye charts on varying resolutions and you can see this.
This is for “normal viewing distances” obviously. Some people who do a lot of gaming like to sit close than normal — then you get some 4K benefits.
Today’s new 4K TV’s are simply much better TV’s and have HDR and other technologies. This is largely the reason stuff looks better on them, not the 4K resolution.
4K is largely a gimmick. Movie theaters with 80 foot screens project at 4K. It’s complete and unnecessary overkill for home cinema. It’s good for live action sports and some TV shows though. And it’s good for computer gaming or any use where you sit closer to a screen than normal home cinema viewing distances.
If the electronics industry were smart, instead of focusing on the home entertainment sector for ever-increasing resolutions (with dubious results given the likelihood that most consumers won’t change their TV screen sizes much, nor their viewing habits), they would focus instead on areas like the medical and surveillance/law enforcement sectors, where getting the most detail possible is essential.
Bill Hunt from Digital Bits claimed that the difference between 4k and 1080 was significant. I feel pretty comfortable with his judgement, but haven’t seen for myself yet.
Yes, it’s not that big a jump from HD. Just a wider color gamut of a billion colors and high dynamic range compared to 16 Million colors of HD and four times the picture resolution of HD, immersive audio of 7.1.4 that will put you in the middle of the action. But keep telling yourself the leap (expense) is not worth it yet to upgrade.
The difference is obvious in many classic sci-fi movies available in 4K so far: Close Encounters, 2001, Blade Runner, E.T….
From what we understand it will be released on standard Blu-ray as well. So no need to get grumpy about 4K.
No grumpiness. It would have just been a disappointment. So that is good news you bring.
Don’t look now, but the NAB Convention (National Association of Broadcasters) this year showed off 8K gear. It’s getting crazy. And living rooms for most people aren’t big enough to rival a drive-in theater, so what’s the point? HD is good enough for the home!
What exactly is the difference between bluray and 4k?
I can’t imagine how picture quality can be improved all that much more anymore.
The bigger the screen the more noticeable the difference gets. Stretch out Blu-Ray big enough and it looks like hell long before 4K does.
4k is pretty much at the limit of what we can see, IIRC.
This is true however 8K already in stores ,what a joke
Yeah and I just got a cheap 4K TV for my bedroom. Damn 😆
Maybe scientists are already working on new lenses to improve the human eye ;-)
8K is already a reality.
Standard bluray is full HD which is close to 2K. So 4K is about 4 times the number of pixels compared with full HD. I don’t have a 4K TV so I can’t tell you how big the difference is. I would guess that you don’t notice it too much at a “normal” viewing distance.
Besides the higher resolution 4K also allows for a higher dynamic range. That means better contrast in scenes with very dark and very bright content. That higher dynamic range may be more noticeable than the higher number of pixels.
TMP would really shine (pun intended) with an HDR grade. There’s so much potential visual information there. A few things spring to mind. The pearlescent paint job that the Enterprise model had in TMP, is one starship junkies love, and it would look even nicer with extra detail in the specular highlights of the light glinting off the ship. The darker scenes inside V’Ger could also benefit, showing a new depth of the model work that make up the vast reaches of V’Ger.
The biggest scene that could really use the increased contrast is the light probe on the bridge, it could be quite spectacular and much more refined in the use of light thanks to the increased ability to describe the extremes of dark/light that HDR affords.
@Matt – 100% in agreement. Even the opening scene with the Klingon ships and V’Ger would be worth the price alone for a 4K HDR disc.
“The biggest scene that could really use the increased contrast is the light probe on the bridge”. Not only that. That scene should be recomposed like the TNG-remasters (using the originial negatives and not the composed material), since the live action scenes with the overlayed effects have a lower quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeneVqyoBTo
Matt, while I wholeheartedly agree that the Enterprise miniature shots and most v’ger miniature shots and all of the cloud and meld transformation have the potential to look immensely better in a new 4K scan and (probably) with HDR (which can be misused badly), I really don’t think there’s any way to make the light probe sequence look good, owing to the amount of rephotography involved and resulting lack of image detail.
In the theater, it looked like they switched to 16mm that was copied off a wall projection, it just degenerated so so far using the pellicle to squeeze the guy holding the light bar out of the frame. Same technique was used in LIFEFORCE by Apogee a few years later, but it was planned for instead of being a stop-gap, to remove a movie light being flown over the London set, and it doesn’t have this huge generational loss in the image, at least that I can detect.
You just don’t want so much detail that you start seeing the glue the modelmakers used!
It’s so that they can make money selling the same movie over and over again. 8K is coming also.
Caps-a-holic. com has mouse-over comparisons, older films generally look better in 4K
4K is a clear improvement. I have a 65″ 4K TV and player. When comparing some classic sci-fi movies in regular Blu-ray and 4K, I can clearly see much improved detail in 4K material. Not to mention HDR, which also improves color and brightness considerably. Some people will say that DVD is good enough for them, which doesn’t mean that Bluray isn’t a clear improvement. Same here, people stuck with HD clamming there is no noticeable difference in 4K. I am pretty sure that TMP will greatly benefit from 4K, as it is the most visually impressive of all TOS movies in many levels.
Naaa… I’m still waiting for 16k in 4 dimension-smellovision. ;-)
But for someone like me who has a 49 inch screen, I guess 4k isn’t really a big difference from 1080p Full HD?
Maybe, but when someone builds a fairly large movie/TV collection over time, it’s pretty hard (expensive) to keep upgrading. My current collection is a DVD/BD hybrid. VHS was DEFINITELY worth upgrading from. Beyond that, I have to make a judgment call based on how epic/visual the movie is. For comedies and personal dramas, DVD is fine for me. For epics, sci-fi, etc., I upgraded those to HD, and I’m happy. My collection’s visual level is stopping there – I want to have some money available for retirement!
2K/4K/6K are all digital cinema resolutions, referring to width (K=1024).
HD (TV) is 1080p and UHD is 2160p, which are slightly narrower (1920/3840).
It’s stupid to call blu-ray “4K”, it’s NOT!
3840 pixels rounds off to 4000, hence 4K for Blu-Ray UHD. It’s really not all that complicated, my friend, unless you really want to be anal about the slight differences. LOL
I think it’s stupid for the industry in 2019 to still be fragmented that way, when everything should be converged by now – across cinema, TV, and computer standards. 4K’s (DCI, or cinema 4K) only a relatively small number of pixels more than UHD – why don’t they just move everything to DCI 4K??
Will there ever be a home video release of the long-cut tv version of TMP? An ultimate collectors edition with all 3 versions of the movie? This is what I would like to buy! 4k or 8k might be something for starship view screens, but is not necessary with my small 43” .
Yes I am very excited about this. 40 years is a long time and I remember seeing it first run in theater. Note to Paramont any chance of updating some of the visuals or at least tweak a little more. And what about that memory wall sequence can that be completed visually?
Yes! Make it so!!!
This would be so delightful! But bring back the old alert klaxon!! Listening to that alarm and the groovy computer voice was half the fun! (“EMERGENCY ALERT! NEGATIVE CONTROL AT HELM!” DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!!!)
Also, this is not “one of the few” cinematic Trek films. It’s the ONLY cinematic Trek film. It’s impossible to describe how beautiful this film looks compared to any other Trek film. And I’m not just talking about the flashiness of the special effects. I’m talking about the subtle interplay of light and color. That pearlescent shimmer of the Enterprise’s paint job–so beautiful! They painted over it for Star Trek II, because it was a nightmare to film. That’s why the Enterprise from Star Trek II onward looks like such a flat grey, whereas in TMP it looks positively alive.
I 100% agree with you. TMP is just absolutely cinematic. And IMHO it is the TOS movie that has aged the best by far, quite a feat considering it is the oldest.
I think they still had the pearl finish in ST-II… after all it had to match the re-used footage from TMP – but it looks way flatter in III and later. Although I loved the pearlescent look I also quite liked the way the ship, the sets and the photography in general looked in ST-III because it reminded me of the series. I’ve never found out whether that was a creative choice or just low-budget filmmaking-!
I think it was just half-assed cinematography.
I’ve also wondered whether it was intentional for the ship in III to appear “ghostly” bright in the absence of Spock, or whether it simply had fewer lighting composite layers.
Not only the lighting & color (although the costumes & sets look bland), but also the SCALE of objects (tiny floating astronauts and shuttles next to the Enterprise, yet tiny Enterprise next to V’Ger’s innards). These shots (plus rec room w/hundreds of extras, Starfleet HQ shots, etc.) really give TMP a larger-than-life feel.
Even the Director’s Cut version could probably get another 10 minutes chopped from it to really tighten it up!
Exactly. Cut up the LONG drawn-out travel scenes toward the “cloud” and into V’Ger, those scenes are truly sleepy. But keep the whole scene traveling around the Enterprise, that scene is beautiful, and so is the accompanying score!
I agree, Dale!
It’s about TIME for this…It should be future-proofed, so it can be 8K and then 16K as well!!! I love to see TMP one more time in a movie theater like when I was 7 way back in 1979!!! :D
Yes! I was gonna write the same thing about being future-proofed. They also shouldn’t forget the 4-D smello-vision-version for the 100th anniversary. ;-)
Rather than always having to go back and rescan an aging film into ever-higher video resolutions, which will eventually weaken and damage the film, why aren’t we looking deeper into the University of Bath’s (UK) research with scalable vector-based video, so we only need scan once and make it whatever resolution we want? That’s the only way to truly future-proof a film.
I will buy this the day it comes out!!!
I’ll wait for it on Netflix.
Too bad this movie is so boring.
What a fresh and edgy take!
Just speaking the truth.
No, just speaking your personal opinion. Such an edgy and original opinion. Here’s the attention you were seeking.
Your opinion.
Happy 40th anniversary to the first Star Trek movie. Without this movie, there would be no franchise.
Hope it happens this would be a big seller on 4K disc with HDR as well the movie would look fantastic.
I’ll probably buy a 4K release of the theatrical edition of TMP. It’d depend on the quality of the cleanup and the reviews. But the DE? I’ll be first in line!
The Director’s Edition of TMP has always been my favorite Trek movie; I’d buy this in an instant.
Paramount is already sitting on a 4K HDR version of the Wrath of Khan that Nicholas Meyer supervised. It has not been released on 4K UHD disc.
As someone who has hoped for an HD version of the excellent ‘Director’s Cut’ of ST:TMP for ages, this is very positive news indeed.
While they can never replace the impact of seeing something on a theatrical big screen, one of the benefits of tv screens getting ever larger over the years, is being able to watch movies in a much more ‘cinematic’ way at home than was previously possible. And effects-heavy movies such as this one end up having far more impact now, compared to how they looked when viewed on much smaller screens years ago.
I’m lucky enough to have a large tv nowadays (65″), and it’s been a pleasure to re-watch some of my old favourites on it in a more impressive way than my previous smaller tv offered. And while the DVD version of the ‘Director’s Cut’ still looks great on it, an HD version should really shine.
So I will keep my fingers crossed that this works out, and just hope that they don’t end up screwing things up with any bizarre ‘digital color re-grading’, as certain other titles have done.
We may be getting a limited run in the theaters as well later this year, or so I heard…
I meant ‘Director’s Edition’ to give it it’s correct title.
If all goes well, TMP will finally be finished the way it was supposed to be back in ’79. This is GREAT news!
Cheers!
I saw TMP in the theater as a kid back in 79. I was blown away by just how awesome it looked on the big screen. I’ve been waiting for Paramount to bring out a high-def version of the Director’s Edition cut. Making it 4K should recreate that “seeing it in the theater’ experience. I have the feeling that no one is going to ask Stephen Collins to join the 40th Anniversary promotional tour.
To bad these discussions didn’t start a year ago. I am all for it. My personal favorite Trek movie!
Now this is the only Star Trek news I am really excited about right now…. I will buy this in 4K the moment it is out. Please make this happen, Paramount!
If for no other reason than to put the “Get out of here, Bones” line back in.
I have a director’s cut that dropped that little intro from the scene. :(
YES PLEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!
I want a really good 4k TMP like NO OTHER FILJ, but not the so-called director’s version. If they don’t include the theatrical, then I’m sticking with what I have. The sound mix is atrocious and there are so many other wrongs in there …
they threw out all the original vfx on FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and replaced them on the blu-ray with cheapo CG, and that was a must-buy for me till I found that out.
The director’s edition has a far *better* sound mix. It’s also a tighter version of the film, though it does cut a few snippets of dialogue that I miss. You’re the first person I’ve seen who complained about it this way. What else do you dislike about the DE? I’m curious, not trying to argue.
For my part, I miss Kirk’s irritated look in the briefing lounge between McCoy’s line “Jim…” and “How do we know about any of us?” Feels like they lost a good character moment just for the sake of tightening it up a second. Also Kirk repeating the line “viewer off”, which diminishes the atmosphere of stunned disbelief.
@Nomad – I agree about the first part, but not the “viewer off” line. I’m glad they cut the second one because it made Uhura look like a rookie, too shocked to do something as basic as turning off a viewer. I didn’t like the idea of a space veteran like her reacting like a raw recruit.
The matte shots of Vulcan are not as bad as original, but they are still bad. There was a perfectly good matte shot of Vulcan done for the original that was discarded which would have been a better alternate.
Wingwalk at end, like San Fran and Vulcan, look very video game ish, and I don’t believe a re-render is going to change that view, though admit I might be wrong there.
Starfleet San Fran went from being “uhh, not too good” (owing to some color timing, not the paintings themselves) to ‘geezus NO!’ with the new version.
The new version failed to address tons of little stuff that needed fixing, like cutting down the stupid fleeing spaceman at the end of epsilon 9’s destruction.
The sounds mix, to restate, is horrific. They take what was the film’s single effective scene, the wormhole, and make it just sound … well, annoying. Plus losing the ‘negative control at helm’ voice means TMP loses one of its trademark idiosyncrasies in favor of some kind of aural continuity with the rest, which is a lousy tradeoff in my opinion.
The Director cut DOES at least remove one of the very worst VFX shots, when Kirk orders ‘reverse angle on viewer’ and we get what looks like an out of focus view of some styrofoam. It does add back in the spock tear.
It does NOT put back in the security guard getting zapped by vger — something that Wise and his editor wanted in TMP according to RtT, because that was the one scene that really established that side of the bridge, which gets very short shrift until Kirk and Spock are standing in front of it during the sneak attack in 1982’s TWOK.
I absolutely HATE how they trimmed the sickbay scene, and … y’know, I’m going to stop there. I haven’t seen the director’s version in almost a decade, and I’d prefer to think of it is a a one-and-done ‘try’ rather than an actual entity.
@kmart – I…actually agree with most of your complaints. I might have to reconsider my thoughts on the DE.
Please do this…before physical media disappears altogether.
But What about the Special Longer Version? Best I’ve got is a Laserdisc rip. Only slightly better quality than VHS
I would LOVE to see this happen! I’ll buy it as soon as it hits store shelves! To this day it’s the most cerebral of any of the Trek films (not to mention the average SF film in general) and the most beautiful. Then there’s the absolute masterpiece of a film score by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith.
A unique hard science fiction take on Star Trek. It’s a great movie in some ways.
I’ve hoped for this for a long time even though I didn’t expect it to actually happen…here’s hoping some more!
Dear God, this really needs to happen. Preferably while I am still alive…
If it helps, I promise to buy two lots of UHD discs.
Scan it all at 8k, just to be on the safe side!
I wonder what the abandoned tv-series Phase 2 would have looked and felt like, if they had made the tv-pilot “in thy image” instead the movie.
Wouldn’t that be a nice bonus? Recut the movie to a double episode, “de-master” the effects, using a typical 70’s style intro and music?
There is some test footage for Phase 2 online showing some costumes and a mock-up of part of the Enterprise engine room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mKjR-6S-Kw
I know ^^ thats what gave me the idea ;-)
Seriously? I think Phase 2 could have looked and felt like Buck Rogers, minus the cheesy disco-look and music. I’m (re)watching that show and some designs remind me of TAS and early TNG-episodes. Some matte paintings and some music did have the vibe of TAS (One of it was even reused in TNG!). Especially some scenes which were shot at Vazquez Rocks felt like a 70’s version of TOS and TNG.
I know, not the best sci-fi show, but very entertaining due to nostalgic reasons.
I think it actually would have looked much closer to Space 1999. Much as I love TMP (along with TVH) I still to this day feel a sense of profound sadness that we never got that season(s) of Phase II. I’m sure if it was a success Leonard Nimoy would have returned to the fold pretty soon too. Having a new series featuring the original cast, with better effects plus that still trippy sense of visuals (think the best of TAS, plus – again – Space 1999) prevalent in the 70s, I think it could well have been something very special indeed and long running, rather than only 6 more (feature length) episodes with that cast…
deberían hacer una version 3d
I thought you meant a Star Trek movie with Chris Pine. Please Paramount make it so!
horrible movie. hurt franchise 10 year gap movie should have been better
Ten year gap? It was 3 years between TMP and ST-II. Pretty standard.
YES PLEASE.
On the odd chance that the people who designed the “40th Anniversary Retrospective” poster are reading this thread: could you folks stop pushing McCoy to the back? His place is next to Kirk. They’re the Big Three, three major principles of human nature. Kirk, the enterprising spirit, McCoy, the spirit of compassion, and Spock, the spirit of reason.
Meanwhile, Uhura is merely a glorified telephone operator. Charming, welcome, beloved, but not the core character in any way. Heck, even Ilia got more to do in the movie than Uhura did – not to mention Decker, who is nowhere to be seen.
It’s about time. I would pay full price to have Robert Wise’s vision restored in High Definition. His Director’s Edition is far superior to the original Theatrical Cut from 1979, which was largely unfinished. Now, to see the film finished the way Wise intended, and in High Definition, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do.
Kurland,
Do more reading on Wise’s ideas for the film at the time of release and shortly thereafter. Outside of showing vger in its entirety, they are very much at odds with the so called director version, and suggest he was influenced by his collaborators. And the ‘animated on twos’ stuff in the new animation bridge at the end is an utter damn disgrace, totally out of place in a picture like this, belonging more to 70s Saturday morning TV. To say nothing of the lousy remixing of the sound, which wrecks the wormhole scene.
It’s a crime the directors edition was never released on blu-ray. But sorry, I’m not going to buy a new disc player and a 4k tv for this – My Panasonic plasma will probably outlast me.
Well, when the director’s edition was released, DVD was the newest format and VHS still existed… They obviously didn’t forsee further formats with higher resolution…
Blu-Ray was being discussed years before DVD formally debuted. That’s why I hung on to laserdiscs to the bitter end, because I wanted to skip DVD era and go straight to blu-ray … but obviously the timing there did not work at all.
ENT was also already being filmed for HD. There exists no possible narrative by which Paramount doesn’t appear intentionally short-sighted in approving an expensive special edition of a movie with overhauled special effects for SD only.
Oh they knew. In interviews done in more recent years the DE team has said they pushed Paramount to let them prepare the project for HD. The bean counters didn’t “see the value” in it and insisted it only be made for SD, since DVD was the dominant format right that moment. Very shortsighted.
Even if they have everything prepped for HD, I hope some refinements could be made to the V’ger bridge sequence. I don’t think the lightning bolts should look as fat as they do; and the flying energy/matter lights stutter at 12 frames/sec. (they should be rendered at 24 frames/sec.!)
I really hope this does happen. TMP is the only Trek film that truly felt EPIC and truly cinematic to me out of all of them (to date). I really felt a 100% sense of escapism watching it, and still do. I know some think it’s slow and boring, but I think if one has a sensitivity to space exploration and alien encounters and beautiful film making then one cannot help but be drawn in by this film. The cast complained that it didn’t really feel like Star Trek of old to them, but I think (given the nature of where the characters are when the film starts) the characterisation was actually spot on. In particularly it’s a very big character arc for Spock. What an epic score by Jerry Goldsmith too, again never equalled since (though I enjoy all the motion picture scores). Would be amazing for a new generation (and us oldies!) to see this fully restored on the big screen. A more cerebral Star Trek before the soft reboot of Wrath of Khan came along. Would love to see a more thoughtful Star Trek back on the big screen, but given today’s audience expectations it seems rather unlikely this will ever happen. So lets savour this classic and do everything we can to ensure this happens! :)
Could they include any more deleted scenes. Would love to see more Memory Wall footage this time out. There’s much more material than included on the DE. Watch this every year at least and it never disappoints.
Oh please, 4K + bluray directors edition!!!