Now watching, Star Trek, The Motion Picture Blu Ray

My theatrical version BD is 131 minutes and my "Director's Edition" DVD is 136 minutes.

 

I saw this when it came out in theaters. I was 8 and was expecting Star Wars type action. It was about exciting as watching paint dry. Watched it again a few years ago and I enjoyed it.

 

But if you subtract the length of the overture from the movie (1:40 for theatrical, 3:01 for DVD), then the Director's Edition is only four minutes longer than the theatrical but includes some of the character scenes added for the ABC version, a few new effects shots and better pacing.

 

Ah, but what I transferred was labeled and slated as "Director's Cut" for Mr. Wise. Wise was a great editor -- even won an Oscar for it -- so he knew when a movie was too long. A long version is just a long version.

 

I agree, the Enterprise NEVER looked better than it did in this film, before or after. If we ever make it into space, that is really what a spaceship should look like!
It's my favorite Trek film. It was released in December 1979, one of the happiest times of my life, so I will always associate it with that.

 

I have to say, I caught the second public showing at the Chinese Theater the day it opened, and the audience blew the roof off the joint when the opening credits hit. Quite a few scenes got cheers from the fans. People were so excited and shocked that a TV show that had been dead for more than 10 years could come back as a $46 million movie.

 

The Starfleet-esque design isn't terribly good from an engineering standpoint so I kinda doubt it. It'd be cool if, when we eventually have some kind of inter-stellar fleet of spaceships, we name them after ships in sci-fi series.

 

Loved the BOOM sound you hear when the Enterprise disappears into warp drive. IIRC the followup films eliminate that sound, anyone know why that was?

Another opening day anticipation was knowing the special effects teams from both Close Encounters and Star Wars teamed up to work on this film.

For those in the tri state area who were around in 1979, I remember seeing ST TMP the second time at the Paramount Theater in Manhattan thinking it would be a showcase presentation (70mm etc). Boy, what a crappy theater. Dismal sound and a small screen. Does anyone remember this? I'm wondering what theater I should have seen it in back then (It did not play at the Ziegfeld, a shame).

 

This is true. It's not terribly space efficient and those long, thin nacelle struts are a weak point to lateral torques.

This has already happened with the naming of space shuttle Enterprise (though of course it wasn't nter-stellar capable).

 

1) No sound in space!

2) different director calling the shots.

3) different sound mixers and editors making the decisions or interpreting the director's intentions.

It's a miracle they kept the transporter sound and stuff like that more-or-less the same in many movies & TV shows. The J.J. Abrams films did a good job of mixing the old and the new, though I wasn't happy about the story changes.

In outer space, with no air?

BTW, does nobody remember the huge backlash against the original film, with many critics calling it "Star Trek -- The Motionless Picture"? I remember tons of people calling it that, including pals of mine at Paramount (at the time).

 

It's got nothing to do with air. An object is space still has mass and inertia and applying an unfavorable torque to the structure will induce stresses which can lead to failure at these structural weak points.

 

The movie is a flawed 'Masterpiece'. There were many problems involved in making the movie, and some of the Dykstra effects looked 'rushed' in spots. The deadline for a Christmas '79 release, made it necessary to involve John Dykstra, almost at the last minute, because the main leader of Visual Effects Doug Trumbull, was dealing with so many major effects, that it made it necessary to bring Dykstra to help get the effects finished. I recall correctly, they finished editing the film just 2-3 days before the Christmas deadline.

I also recall, Gene Roddenberry wanted this film to be the '2001' of a Star Trek adventure, hence the slower pace.

If I remember incorrectly, feel free to correct me. Also, if I missed anything that already has been stated, sorry if I missed your posting about it, kinda busy. Will read all of the other posts, when time permits

 

It is cool but my favourite warp sound effect is in the reboot films. It's my go-to set-piece to demonstrate that I don't need a subwoofer.

In terms of visuals I quite like the way warp looks in Nemesis. The visuals in the first few films are cool and all but they're very '80s.

 

But it was a "nuclear weslle"

 

The look too; the TMP long rainbow warp effect is iconic but the JJverse warp effects really sell the "0-to-warp-in-right-freaking-now" effect. "Punch it" indeed.

 

As much as I enjoy ST:TMP, one thing always bugs me every time I watch it.... there are a lot of inconsistencies and discrepancies in regards to the structure and layout of the V'ger vessel:

- The direction that V'ger is "pointing" changes between the time the Enterprise first encounters it and when V'ger is near Earth at the end of the film. When the Enterprise first enters the cloud and encounters the V'ger vessel, we see a huge spherical section at the end of the vessel... which, since V'ger is flying toward Earth, we assume is the "front" of the vessel. However, when we later see V'ger approaching Earth and we get one or two glimpses of the entire ship, the huge spherical section is pointing away from Earth, as if it's now the "rear" of the vessel. Are we supposed to believe that the ship has rotated 180 degrees while en route?

- It's extremely unclear whether or not the interior chambers of V'ger beyond the "orifice" opening (eg. the section where Spock attempts to mind-meld with the sensor; the chamber where the Voyager satellite itself is kept) are part of the ship itself, or whether they're separate areas/structures within the cloud. The dialogue refers several times to them being "inside the V'ger vessel", but the way the "orifice" is introduced and depicted, it seems like it's a separate opening that lies beyond the actual ship.... notice that as the Enterprise is finishing its fly-by of the vessel and passes the "end" of the ship's structure, the "orifice" is still off in the distance a bit and does not appear to be "attached" to the main structure of the vessel in any way. It really seems as if the "orifice" was floating independently within the cloud, "behind" the V'ger vessel, and that the opening led to different areas within the cloud that were separate from the ship... this would seem to contradict the dialogue that refers to those areas being "inside V'ger". Also notice that, when we see the full shots of the entire V'ger ship near the end of the film, its shape/structure seems to be fairly consistent with what we saw during the Enterprise's fly-by, but only up until the point where the Enterprises passes the "end" of the structure and comes within visual range of the "orifice".... none of the full shots of the V'ger ship seem to include anything that looks like the "orifice" section (or anything that lay beyond it) whatsoever.

 

Well it's not aged well, but I'm still glad we have it.

It takes the right mood for me to even watch it, but when I'm there it works and I enjoy it.

 

In my opinion and on my 4K 40'' Philips set it looks overly soft, absolutely ruined by digital video noise reduction.

 

Based on what I've seen from the screencaps alone and my viewings of the original series films Blu-rays, Undiscovered Country must look like a VHS tape on your screen

 

I haven't tested it yet, but just out of curiosity, I will.

 

No one else cares about this kind of stuff but me?

 

This guy might.

 

I don't recall ever understanding the "shape" of V'ger. It always appeared to me to be too big to comprehend. I've seen the movie many times and couldn't begin to even attempt to draw its outer shape.

Harry

 

You have a strong stomach getting through this movie a second time. This movie was so bad I didn't think that they could get a good Trek movie done and then there was the real masterpiece that was Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Kahn. You are a brave soul watching this movie...with all the extra footage. I just keep hearing VGER in my nightmares when I think of this movie.

 

I remember Persis Khambatta getting her head shaved for her role in the movie.