In between all the panels and trailers for the Star Trek Universe TV shows seen during the Star Trek Day live stream, Paramount+ also showed off our first look at the remastering of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Director’s Edition.
First look at 4K TMP Director’s Edition
As previously announced, a new 4K version of the Director’s Edition of the first Star Trek feature film is coming to Paramount+ next year. The promo from Star Trek Day shows one of the scenes added inside of V’Ger that was computer-generated for the 2001 DVD release, and the newly rendered 4K version of the same scene.
The new promo was also tweeted out last night by the Paramount+ Twitter account (which should be viewable by all regions).
A closer look
Star Trek TMP Visual Comparisons, the Twitter account dedicated to cataloging the Director’s Edition changes jumped on it and has made a handy comparison graphic, be sure to enlarge it.
TMP:DE comparison (source: @StarTrekVisComp on Twitter)
More to come
There is much more to come on this big Star Trek Day, we’ll have more coverage of the evening event and trailer analysis. So stay tuned to TrekMovie for our full Star Trek Day coverage.
Find more news about TMP:DE and other Star Trek home media and streaming at TrekMovie.com.
Yeah, heaven forbid they actually post a 4K version of that clip.
My thoughts exactly
Agreed. It’s really frustrating that CBS and Paramount don’t seem to be interested in actually using the 4K and HDR capabilities YouTube offers.
It is odd, I agree.
Semi-related, I’m wondering how long it is going to take for them to be interested in streaming all the new Trek shows in 4K on P+…
The seasons were finished at 1080p, however Discovery seasons 2 and 3 and Picard season 1 are all available to stream in HDR on Paramount+ today with supported devices (it’s a small group of devices unfortunately).
https://help.paramountplus.com/s/article/PD-Which-video-and-audio-streaming-formats-are-supported-for-streaming-Paramount
Unofficial list of titles and what features they stream with here:
https://hd-report.com/paramount-tv-shows-movies-in-4k-dolby-vision-hdr/
Thats unfortunate. Netflix and Disney are both finishing pretty much all their stuff in 4K now.
Even so, it looks so much better now.
I remember loving this movie when 8 even when you couldn’t really see V’ger because the VHS quality was so low!!! I remember seeing a CGI of the V’ger “spacecraft” for the first time and being in shock like 20 years later that it actually had a set form (despite what now feels like scenes upon scenes flying around it).
It’s so weird how back then it was so high minded – “we have witnessed a birth” and how special organic life was as a theme only for movies now (include Star Trek Picard, etc) to be like “Oh, AI = life”, no big deal!! V’ger didn’t need Decker at all, it just didn’t have the right processor!
Also weird how despite the models and VHS quality you could see the starships and spacestations way WAY more clearly than say Discovery where everything looks like a blur in the background. The refit Enterprise had docking ports, photon torpedo launchers, you can see her phaser banks, labels and symbology everywhere, etc. Isn’t the whole point of CGI that now we can have ultra detailed starships on the cheap?!?!
Oh, I could not agree more!
the 6 foot model of the refit had to have extreme detail it has to hold up on a movie screen. As to why they always show the Discoprise against a backdrop of darkness, or there isn’t a highly detailed beauty pass on the rendering is beyond my comprehension. It could be a style based choice or it could be the budget.
projection in a theater hides and softens a multitude of sins in detail and color. it was shot that way to be projected that way.
HD transfers tend to reveal all and screw with focus manipulations in the frame. Mostly, I find, watching movies on a TV – especially hd transfers – ruins movies because visual and story problems are magnified…
Just saw Black Widow in theater and then a few days later on TV. So much worse on TV in so many ways…
I think it’s 100% a style based choice. Look at Enterprise from back in the late aughts – the NX-01 was a completely CGI and was very detailed and crisp, and we’re talking about 15+ year old CGI rendering with a budget way less than what DISCO has.
Very good point, watching enterprise on blu ray, especially season 4, all the vfx shots look great, show all the detail and are lit well.
The lighting of space scenes in the new Star Trek series is just infuriating. Some of the new models are wonderful ships … if only you could see them!
So how does this compare to TMP 4K blu ray coming out this month?! What does the original version in 4k look like?!
Personally, comparing it to 2009, I think they both have positive aspects, places where they are both better than the other.
The effects, costumes, and sets look great on the 4K, I have seen the movie(s) several times but noticing details I hadn’t seen before; but I thought several shots of the characters are too dark, prefer how it was presented in the 2009 in those cases.
Wait… these are different releases?!?!? Isn’t this waht comes with the TMP 4K blue ray?!!?
No. This is the Directors Edition that was supervised by Robert Wise back in 2000. The TMP 4K is the theatrical cut.
The shot doesn’t exist in the theatrical version. It’s a new totally CGI scene that the Director’s Edition inserted after Kirk gives the order to self-destruct.
That’s why the promo video is a comparison between the DVD version of the DE and the new 4k version.
You can see where it was inserted in this comparison video
https://youtu.be/YB7m_CGhR4w?t=132
I’ve seen several incarnations in cut and detail and the story isn’t the worst, it’s the laborious, repetative camera passes of the visual effects produced by D Trumble – it kills the movie (as does the editing around the visual effects). It just makes me sad for Robert Wise. If you look at his other works, even with the substantially larger and older cameras it’s fluid and has it’s own choreography.
Trumble’s VFX have the same static, stagey, simple camera work as 2001: A Space Odyssey. A good fit for that movie, death for Star Trek (especially coming 2 years after Star Wars)
I’m know there’s plenty of blame to go around (as always, it comes down to a failure of management) but visually it’s a poor movie and made for TV movie.
Watch Sound of Music and Westside Story and wonder how this came out of the same guy that made those…
BIGGEST NIT TO PICK: who the heck approved charcoal-blue uniforms in front of blue chroma-key screens AND sets with dark blue materials and backlight?! I think more importantly, who disallowed Mr. Wise from striking that mishmash?!
The brilliance of West Side Story is in the dance sequences directed by choreographer Jerome Robbins (the remaining 3 numbers were finished according to his specifications after he was fired) and edited by Thomas Stanford.
And Star Trek isn’t Star Wars, at least it wasn’t before Jeff J and Alex came and improved it and turned it up to 11. Star Trek is a platform of possibilities, and so it’s more than fine that one Trek is a beautifully crafted Kubrickian meditation. Granted, this will be a problem for those with short attention spans and who just can’t live without constant wisecracks and pew pew pew.
Sir, normally I would just overlook your comments, but the past 6 years have taught me…
I don’t think you understand what it means to be the director of a film – and if you think the cinematographer worked for Jerome Robbins at any point in the film – you really don’t understand, especially, even by the early 60s, the oversight and responsibilities of a director of Robert Wise’s stature.
I’m not sure you can appreicate the difference between meditative and how it serves the story and the cinema vs ponderous or laborius.
Wise actually championed those uniforms while others involved wanted them changed, according to These Are The Voyages. That book also says that it was Wise who wouldn’t allow Chapel or Rand to wear makeup, which is why Rand looks unfortunately harsh.
You’re mistaken. Just because Bill Tuttle wasn’t hired to do 50s beauty makeup on any of the actors, doesn’t mean they didn’t wear makeup. Even in previous transfers of the film, it’s obvious EVERYONE is wearing makeup, especially the older caucasian actors on Eastman tungston stock processed my Metrocolor instead of Technicolor.
As far as the keyed composite shots, Wise was a master manager of such things, and I find it hard to believe he was involved in the decision – in this production it would be more likely there was no time for him to correct it or time to prioritize it over more impactful inherited bonehead decisions.
You’re right. Not no make-up at all, but a major tone-down, according to Wise himself in 1995, quoted in These Are The Voyages – The 1970s Vol. 3, page 84-85….
The chapter also quotes Nichelle Nichols from Beyond Uhura…
and…
And from Grace Lee Whitney…
Some of the women would hear that when the actual direction was working service women natural look. I feel badly for Whitney as, due to the underlighting of that bizarre transporter station/room, she looked undeservedly puffy compaired to Barrett and Nichols.
Sadly, Shatner had more under-powder makeup tricks than anybody.
Unfortunately, Mr. Wise was too busy on location to stand over hair and makeup for the Yellowstone/Kolinahr shoot because the award presenter woman had high-gloss press-on-nails on her wrinkled hands and it is a knife in the eye more than other presentation with this new scan/transfer. Yikes!
I appreciate the expansion, but looks a bit fanmade.
It is still CGI from 2000, just re-rendered at a higher resolution I believe.
They’re rebuilding much of it from scratch. That scene has much more texturing and lighting going on than a simple “render the same scene with the same circa 2001 assets at a higher resolution”.
No, the models would have to be rebuilt. Daren revamped his Enterprise model for hi def a few years ago. I’m sure he has done even more work to it since then. Everything will be getting an upgrade and you can’t just take 20+ year old files and re-render them. The software has long since moved on. Whatever they’re importing the old workfiles into will require some serious conversion.
Not especially.
already have all star trek movies on itunes hopefully i can buy this one on it as well
I am so ready for this. I can’t wait to buy it on the disc release (that I don’t believe they’ve actually officially announced, but which I think many are assuming will happen).
I’m just really excited for this. I was lucky enough to chat with Daren Dochterman at the Shatner 90th birthday event in Ticonderoga, NY and gush over how TMP DE became my favorite Trek movie when I got it for Christmas 2001 and I would watch it every day when I got back home from school, it was just so epic and so good. I pointed out a few shots that I felt still needed tweaking, for instance how Sulu’s nav console looks like wrinkled paper in the approach to V’ger scene, and I’m hoping it gets fixed. Another thing that bothered me was how the deflector dish would change from blue to gold during the tractor beam sequence, like at least keep it consistent…so we’ll see if any of my proposals make it into the final cut. Either way, stoked we’re at last getting the DE in 4K.
Oh nice! Daren was gushing about his time in Ticonderoga on his podcast.
I know the deflector dish a big bugaboo for them, they tried to fix the color inconstancies with the original version of the DE as much as they could.
That’s cool you were at that event. Mr. Dochterman affectionately described it in great detail on his podcast.
Jim, I want this.
nice….
I have an old director’s cut, and they cut the “Get out of here, Bones” line. I was really bummed. One of the few funny moments. I hope they put that back in.
Interesting how fans are reacting differently to the additions/subtractions/changes in the DE. I for one was thankful that the “get out of here” line was removed, it seemed very “unKirk-like” for him to be so dismissive of McCoy when McCoy was trying to have a serious discussion (plus I thought Shatner’s delivery was stiff). And I NEVER thought that line was meant to be funny, except maybe unintentionally.
I bet the Special Longer Cut isn’t even being considered to be released in HD. I’d love if they did like WB did with Superman the movie, but i don’t expect Paramount to do so. The last release was a pan and scan videocassette with digital sound.
I’ve always read that the Special Longer Edition was only ever available in Fullscreen because it had been made for ABC-TV and Fullscreen was all there was on TV at the time. But a recent comment on Facebook suggested it was released on Laserdisc in Widescreen.
Anyone know for sure?
Memory-Alpha only shows it only being released as fullscreen version.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture_-_Special_Longer_Version_(LaserDisc)
The first widescreen release on LD was in 1991 and that was the standard theatrical version.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture_(LaserDisc)
MA links to this older site that seems to be pretty thorough about all the different LD releases of Trek.
http://www.blamld.com/StarTrek/index.htm
One follow up thing, I just remembered. As I recall most of the SLV scenes have been included as deleted scenes in the DVD and Blu-ray releases. So they exist in widescreen form.
Thanks! Laserdisc was too pricey for me back in the day.
I don’t understand the appeal of the SLV at all. Half-finished effects shots? Kirk wearing two different space suits in the same scene? And that CREEPY awkward scene where Decker tells Sulu to “take Lt Ilia in hand”? Yecchh!
During the Star Trek Day announcement, Mica Burton said it’ll be on P+ for a “limited window”.
Mute point, but I would rather they waste their time and money making DS9 and Voyager HD…just saying…
Moot point?
Agreed– DS9 in HD would be great.
Tbh I’m kind of mixed. The 4K version def has lights and light sources that weren’t in the “original” Director’s Edition. So while this looks great, there’s that angle of film preservation and if Robert Wise would’ve wanted these changes/additions made. Plus there’s that goal the original DE to make sure the effects look like they could’ve been achievable in 1979.
With this shot in particular, I always attributed the darkness as showing just how deep into V’ger they are and how cut off they are from everything including the sun, making the Enterprise’s running lights one of the only light sources. That last bit I def remember being in a commentary or interview or something.
great, now #ReleaseTheShatnerCut
yes, then the Snyder cut please!
So far, so great. Please post more as the project progresses. (A Preview of that Spock/Vulcan scene would be nice.)
I’m confused, is this edition not in the new box set? Because if I’m going to pay money for 4k I want directors cuts of TMP and TWOK. Can anyone clear this up for me please?
As I said quite clearly in my review, the boxed set has the theatrical version of TMP. The DE is a much bigger undertaking with new visual effects and wasn’t approved to move forward until fairly recently recently.
TWOK includes both versions, because that’s much easier, it’s just a few differences in scenes, Paramount has had it ready since 2016.
https://trekmovie.com/2021/09/07/review-star-trek-the-original-4-movie-collection-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-is-a-big-upgrade/
Damn, I’m only really interested in the DE’s but also need 3 and 4, not sure which way to go about buying them
Well considering there isn’t a Director’s Cut for 3 and 4, the 4k boxed set out now is pretty much the way to go. It gets you everything aside from TMP:DE which of course is a big undertaking and is being made right now.
So happy this project is finally happening. :)