how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cut?
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Hi I have never seen star trek the motion picture but heard that it was really slow and bad. But resently I heard that the director edition is so much...
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The Trek BBS
Re: how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cu

I saw the original version in the theater (the long-gone big-screen Fox, in Philadelphia across the street from City Hall) and own the Director's Edition DVD, purchased used, mainly so that I could have the music in a form other than my old soundtrack album 8-track cartridge - yes, I have a working player.

Even though various technical problems that resulted from the rush to get prints into theaters by 7 December 1979 were addressed, and even though the DE tries to move things along a bit with some judicious edits (all of these excised bits are preserved elsewhere on the disk), the difficulty remains that Robert Wise was not a good choice for director in the first place.

I don't see how the DE can be construed as "camp" whereas the original was "serious," though.

Re: how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cu

The difference between the two versions is that the Director's Edition is a mild improvement over the rushed theatrical release and a major improvement over the hastily-assembled television edit that was later sold on home video as the "special longer version." None of the versions make for a great movie, though, but that's a problem with the script and Wise's direction, and not something that re-editing the film will fix.

I sure wish there was a version that reflected Wise's more judicious suggestions for a shorter version that he made a few months after the film was released, though it is unlikely such a thing will ever be produced.

I agree with this 100%

The SLV is a mess of a cut--too slow, too padded, with lots of useless bits. There was a time I thought, "Wow a cut with every little bit included, great!"

That is something I moved away from.

The Theatrical is okay and nostalgic for me, but

a cut with nearly every chartacter bit removed. from a series that was all about character interaction???

The DE is the best cut, but is clearly not what Wise or Roddenberry would have come up with if they had 3 more months to edit the movie.

The best cut of this movie is still out there but will never happen officially.

Problem is that fans of the Theatrical and the SLV are in love with parts of those two versins and no future cut that doesn't include their fav bits, will always be inferior to them.

Worst part is that this movie could be cut to 120 easy-WITHOUT cutting any of the dialogue from the DE AND even adding a several lines cut out of the DE "command fitness!" "We all create god.."

I have done so from a laserdisc (a format which had no copy protection) to VHS tape.

It was obviously crude, but it retained almost all the dialogue and shortened many shots inbetween dialogue--longs silent pans and characterswalking about and staring.

I know nothing about editing, but I know a great editor could have given us a decent cut with almost all the character stuff that wouldn't have us falling asleep or looking at our watches.

Re: how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cu

I prefer the theatrical version to the DE and the SLV to both of those.

They each have their plusses. The SLV to me, is kind of a 'rough cut' version--which is always cool to see.

The theatrical is neat as a kind of alternative super-serious 'sci-fi' experience without Spock's revaltion about logic at the end and Kirk not setting the self-destruct indicating he always has another plan to save the day.

For me, the DE is closest to the spirit of the series as far as the characters go, but as somebody said it's a poor Star Trek script--maybe not a bad sci-fi script--but a bad Star Trek script.

After 10 years the most fans wanted to see the characters in good form again--not a movie trying to duel with 2001.

Re: how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cu

That's the thing with incorperating scenes into a movie as a TV version or extended/Directors cut........

You can't unring a bell. Once someone has seen a version of a movie with certain scenes included and they like them or get used to them--any new version with better Fx or tighter editing or better pace or whatever improvement there is----that doesn't include those scenes/lines......

will seem incomplete to a lot of folks. Even if they think the scenes are poorly acted or not needed for the story.

the Sulu/Ilia scenes IMO are terrible and pointless, but if someone has watched that cut multiple times it becomes part of the movie's experience.

They missed a huge opportunity for the TMP Blu-ray, by not adding the SLV via seamless branching. There are no FX or sound differences that would have made it in any way complicated.

That would have only left the DE to be released on Blu-ray.

Now people are asking for the DE on Blu-ray and I'm sure some suit is saying, "Sure, we give them the DE and they'll be asking for that SLV version next."

Duh, you could have done that already with minimal difficulty!

I have some small hopes for the Director's cuts on Blu-ray, but I'm afraid we'll never see the SLV.

Hopefully the DC Blu-ray will at least have the scenes from the SLV in HD 1080P quality, as an extra.

Re: how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cu

I was under the impression the DE had a new sound mix. If that's the case, then seamless branching would be a bit harder to do.

(Having said that, I hope that all three versions are eventually available on the same Blu-Ray disc at some point, similar to the Alien and Blade Runner discs with multiple versions out there).

The DE does have a new sound mix and yes it wouldn't be feasible to have it with the other two versions.

I meant to say that the Theatrical and the SLV could have been put together on one Blu-ray and the DE could be separate on another.

But they failed to that and now it's unlikely IMO we'll ever see the SLV on Blu-ray--for those who prefer that version.