Because of this interview…I just watched the Director’s Cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. WOW. If only this had been the original release 45 years ago. It was a cleaner story, the graphics had the missing visuals and filled in the gaps, it was a smooth 2 plus hours - did not get bored liked the original when they flew into the cloud. They have improved and explains everything now! Thank you for the new cut! A must watch for Trekkies!
Didn't even know this existed until yesterday! Just watched the new cut and was.blown away! The music the new scenes and effects, it was beautiful. People forget how good this story is, then add the music, effects and actors, masterpiece!
I've always thought STTMP was simply a more extravagant retelling of The Changeling episode of TOS. It is still possible to enjoy the film but, the fact remains...
That feeling of being in the theater the first day the movie was shown was an experience I'll never forget. The audience cheered when the movie began. I grew up watching the series (I was 11 when the series began) and I was glued to the tv for every episode and then recorded them all on audio tape and then listened to them everywhere I went. I love Star Trek but that original series and the 1st movie are what made it what it was. The rest that has followed we couldn't have imagined or expected.
At 10 years of age in 1979, having watched all the original episodes, I was blown away when my Sister took me to the local cinema to watch TMP. I remember thinking how much older they all looked at first. TMP will always be my favourite ST movie.
I was 10 in '79 too and also thought they all looked "old" at the time. Oh, how naïve the young can be! STTMP is my favourite Star trek film too. It was an almost religious experience seeing it in theatres when it first came out.
Same, also 10. George St, Sydney. First Saturday morning after Thursday release.. Greater Union theatre, right next door to Hoyts. Queue went all the way out of G.U and halfway up the Hoyts steps. Took my own cut lunch in brown wax paper bag to avoid extortionate candy prices. Those were the days.
9, but same - I was in awe. I just fell in love with the ship all over again. And in that first scene when the Klingons showed up at the cloud, and their photon torpedo tubes started glowing before the sparkly shot... nerdgasm.
The new 4K master shows that TMP has some of the best practical model effects work ever put to screen. Testament to the talent of the effects team despite the rushed circumstances.
The 4K version of STTMP is absolutely wonderful. It's how the film should be seen, and I am so thankful they did this. One of the best film experiences I had watching a movie in the theater.
What I noticed about the Directors Cut was that it seemed to give a sense of how the Enterprise was just so small, so vulnerable, out there against the great dangers of space - like a wooden sailing ship on the mighty ocean. That was the element that struck me as present there, but missing from the original film. The difficulties in the original print you speak of - those things, fortunately, I never noticed; even if the film seemed to be a little slow, it wasn't as slow as 2001: A Space Odyssey - and, as far as I could tell, it was professionally made.
Bob was my client. I had moved into his old office space where the effects were done. After Robert had passed away we discovered a small storage space that had been locked since Bob Able worked on the film. We opened it and there were all the unfinished elements for sttmp. Those assets were returned to paramount. A year later… the directors cut was released.
One thing that jarred when I first saw the movie on VHS was the distortion of Kirk and Scotty on the travel pod, so I did notice that it had been fixed. That's a big thumbs up.
This is one of the most interesting and informed discussions about the ongoing development of a film I've ever seen. Very educational stuff. Thank you for getting this interview. I watched the new 4K for the first time about a week ago and it transforms STMP into a whole new film and one of the best 4K's I have seen to date. Gorgeous movie and a story well told.
I knew this was going to be a clip from the longer podcast which I already watched but I watched it anyway because it was so fascinating. This is like a nice little supplement to the on disc Special features. I'm glad I have both the theatrical and director's edition on 4K.
"So they went to Michael Eisner..." God damn it. No matter how far back you go, you can't get away from this guy... I expect to learn he had a hand in Cleopatra at this point.
Great interview. I got the new transfer/cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture and it absolutely incredible! FYI It's included in the 4k box set with all the OG cast films, which is how I own it. Cheers!
They had a economical opportunity to redo the sfx on Star Trek V while Voyager and Enterprise were in production. The in house company Foundation Imaging might have done a presentable job , at least for television viewing.
Ive seen the latest STTMP and it does feel squared off .... Trek fever was so strong you could have put up a sub standard movies and Trekkers would have been content, the point was the fans wanted to see it return and return it did. Im glad Wise had time to polish it off eventually.
Wait wasn't there a DVD of the Director's Cut? I think the version I have is longer but don't recall by how much. Anyway it should look killer in 4K. Good interview and cool video Heath!👉😃👈
Wise came to speak at my film school in 1982; he gave a talk about his film THE SANDPEBBLES but everyone wanted to ask him about ST: TMP. Wise got pretty angry and finally started telling us stories about the film. I wish wish WISH that my film school had taught us about THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS...I had my chance to ask Wise about THAT film...he was the editor. He was one of the FEW people who saw Orson Welles' original version of the film.
The one time I skipped out of school was to go to the theater the afternoon Star Trek: TMP came out. I was there with my best buddy and we loved every minute of it!
I don't own any 4K films yet, but I may just buy this one because it's a film I love, and it sounds like it's a tremendous remaster of the original film. I still have my Director's Cut DVD and have watched it many times, but it's now time to upgrade...
I was just looking at the shuttle pod fly over and around the Enterprise in its space dock and wanted to know why the wobbling edges on various models and ships were not fixed? Same for various print imperfections like a black spot on Kirk's back at one point. I'm surprised the hard black matt lines were not toned down as well.
Thank you for the re-work on Paramount+ .. I think I watched it last year and loved it ! ah, .. I watched it in December, 1979 and loved it too , tho it was a bit rough. I loved the dvd release around 2001 !
Absolutely! I've watched STTMP many times over the years but watching this 4K version in the theater last year very much felt like watching it for the first time. I purchased a 4K player afterwards so I could watch it at home.
@@Krypton_Ken Hopefully there will be a future showing at theater you can catch. I was only 8 when STTMP came out in 1979. I was watching reruns of the original series and was already a ST fan. But far whatever reason I never bothered to ask my parents to take me to see the film. I wish I had. Had to settle for the crappy broadcasts ABC used to do a few years later. But watching this at home is fun. Lots of nice bonus features.
Was lucky enough to go to the nationwide screening of the final cut a couple of years ago and it finally works-Ilia and Spock are now the central characters and their story arcs work. Still my favorite TREK film.
Also, he speaks of jarring shots in the movie....as every, what, five or six minutes we cut to a quick reverse shot of Heath - the "interviewer"(?) - just sitting there looking vaguely interested and adding nothing. I found THOSE to be rather jarring. lol
The current TMP-DE is the film we should have gotten in 1979. If we had gotten what we have now the Trek franchise might have evolved differently going forward. Despite it’s faults I really wanted to see a followup in the TMP era. And despite the wide praise TWOK gets I have never liked Nicholas Meyer’s vision of the Trek universe-I much prefer Robert Wise’s vision, although a bit more colour to the uniforms would have been appreciated.
and I prefer Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek theme over James Horner's. Heck! There's a reason TNG chose Goldsmith's theme as its opening theme instead of Horner's.
My dad took me to see this in 1979 when I was 7 years old at the this grand old movie palace in Albany NY off state street route 20 right across the street from the college of saint rose. The opening blew me away and to this day, the klingon battle theme that opens the movie is still my favorite piece of movie music. The ending was so heavy it made me puke and we had to catch the very end of the movie watching from outside the theater.
I’ve heard that this cut is missing stuff that was included in the 1983 television edit, the Special Longer Cut that was released to vhs, betamax and laserdisc. The Director’s Cut may still be incomplete. Bummer.
I was 22 in 1979 and I left work to go to see it at a local theater, then saw it again when I got home, then three other times thru that weekend. It was just so amazing to see Trek again. Yes, the V'ger fly thru was a problem, but it was one of those "isn't this cool?" moments
One thing that annoyed me about both the theatrical and dvd DC is when the probe has access to the computer Decker says it's interest is Star Fleet and it's capabilities but it only shows schematics of the Enterprise. I would be interested in seeing if that was fixed.
@ 5:48 - I don't know if David C. Fein is doing a subtle critique of J.J. Abram's 2009 Star Trek because when he talks about camera shakes and flashing dashes was jarring and breaking the audience immerse, that was how I felt watching J.J. Abram's Star Trek's lens flares.
What about the missing audio chatter of the computers etc on the bridge? The silence when Kirk walks onto the bridge was deafening to me. I hope that’s been fixed.
I strongly prefer the theatrical cut. Watching this latest edition I missed a lot of the computer voices and other sound effects I had heard since 1979. Many other small details just feel missing.
I didn't really feel like it changed all that much .. I noticed a few things but nothing all that extreme. I don't understand what all the fuss was about... I've always loved the movie and never had much problem with its flaws. In fact, I think they're charming. I'm going to have to watch the two side by side one day so I can get a better view of what they've actually changed.
When I first went to see the film, the theater that was supposed to be showing it had been repossessed. So it took me another couple of weeks before i got to see it. I enjoyed the film, but I don't remember the original all that well. It's been quite a while, and I have watched the Director's cut on DVD many times, so the latter version is what I remember.
Recently bought this version of the DC on amazon. I have the dvd version and the original version of the movie. This latest release is beautiful, great to see the film in its complete form.
WARNING: Don't make the mistake I just made. I bought a DVD of "The Director's Cut", thinking it would be this one - it isn't. Looks like the 4K one is only on Blu-ray. I think I've bought a DVD I already owned as part of the collection of movies that I have. Oops!
One of the things that always fascinated me was the opening scene where the 3 Klingon ship attacked Vger. You see 3 go in, but only 2 visibly destroyed. I always thought that the first one destroyed was the task force commander you see in the beginning and that the 2 you see destroyed by Vger's torpedoes were the remaining two, but there's no specific evidence of that, though I took the rocking, shaking, and flashing lights at 3:42 to to be the indicator of the first ship being destroyed by the unseen torpedo from Vger. The 1st and 2nd torpedoes from Vger that you see are actually the 2nd and 3rd. It was just never stated. Then, of course, you see the commander alive on the last remaining ship. So where's the missing ship? ua-cam.com/video/HCha8W5rQz0/v-deo.html Turns out the original demo real had the first ship getting whacked at 2:47 in this clip, but it seemed not to make it in the film. ua-cam.com/video/1AuR2xnOtvE/v-deo.html
So typical of studio suits, isn't it? And I've encountered the same thing in the smaller ecosystem of corporate and government production. The ones at the top have no clue what all is involved in production, so they set these unrealistic deadlines that you may not be able to meet, or do a good job with (it's that good-fast-cheap triangle again), and make deals behind your back and make promises that a project WILL get done by that certain date for the big presentation, and it still had better be the best thing they've ever seen to date. No pressure, you understand.
4:04 If they had to trim material, why did they leave in that excruciatingly long scene when we first see the Enterprise? I also love the irony of this guy going on about unfinished and distracting effects while he's got a bloody awful green-screen effect going on behind him.
There's nothing wrong with that scene at all. No one has seen the Enterprise in action for 10 years. The ship was meant to be a character as well. The Enterprise was upgraded and made more elegant so we the audience needed to be brought up to speed on her changes. Besides the slow reveal, the power up sequence and departure from space dock with dramatic music makes those scenes the high light of the movie. It is most loved by most fans.
@@wendigos_eat_people7177 I completely disagree. People were expecting a fun, fast-paced movie and we got this extended scene that was there just to show off the effects and not progress the story.
@@andysmith1996 It did not look out of place in 1979. "Blockbuster" movies had existed for just a couple of years. I loved that scene and I still do. Watch it with great enjoyment every time, just like I did in the theater when I was 10.
I saw the Directors Cut in the theaters…when the movie premiered the film was “wet” . It needed a better edit. Livingston and Roddenberry never collaborated they both hated eachother. The original effects team was over their heads and was fired still managed to be made
The final version fixes nearly all the issues with the original release. The final version is on par with the best of the Star Trek movies now. Now, if we could only get rid of its horrible title.
I think the director's cut is great, but I confess I've always been curious why they didn't fix the shot where V'ger's first "probe" is moving across the bridge shooting lightning everywhere. The bridge is optically "lower" on one side of the probe from the other, like the film was cut vertically and then taped back together, only offset.
There are still things I prefer about the original theatrical release, most notably the choice to NOT show the whole shape of V'ger when in orbit around earth. Aside from looking very CGI, it makes V'Ger look small and takes away from the mystery -- I liked not knowing exactly WHAT V'ger's full form was. The music levels were occasionally lowered in favor of new sound effects, when the music is already perfectly suited to complementing the action (see some of the Klingon tactical shots). I also prefer the old credits over the new gold sparkly ones. However, I do appreciate how most (not all) of the old blue screen effects were cleaned up, and some scenes like the arrival in San Francisco were improved. I guess my favorite version of the film would fall somewhere in between the original and the director's edition.
They could've just left it alone and I'd be fine with it. Classics just shouldn't be messed with .. leave the flaws.. It's part of what makes it what it is.
I haven't seen it yet so i have no idea on how it looks hopefully they corrected the scene of the Klingon ships like they use CGI on the Enterprise but never the Klingon ships
The new Directors Cut is an improvement over the old dvd Director Cut, but the bluray theatrical version is Robert Wise's preferred edit other than the special effects. He had long finished editing the film to his liking and was waiting on the special effects. So the DC really needed to only touch up some effects, but that wouldn't have been different enough to sell so they needed Wise's blessing to give it some ''credibility' and edited more than the special effects. Wise originally had anple time to edit everything the way he liked and the rush wascabout getting the effects finished. Still, the new DC doesn't suck like DC version 1, but hi def theatrical can still hold it's own. New DC or theatrical? Take your pick.
As a huge Star Trek fan I'm interested in the content of this video, but find it absolutely hilarious that in an interview criticising the quality of the special effects in the movie, they have the most horrific quality back-drop.
I mean, it’s just Zoom. It’s not like this was a paid, professionally shot interview. Dude took time out of the kindness of his heart to talk about his hard work, and I’m grateful.
I was in college when the film came out. Paramount had taken advances from theaters...money that they would have refunded if the film did not come out on December 7, 1979. Everyone would have been better if the film had come out six months or a year later.
I look at TMP and TWOK as two beautifully opposite companion pieces. Kind of like the first Alien and Aliens .. I love them both equally but for different reasons. I don't understand the hate for TMP .. even as a kid, although I didn't understand a lot of its concepts, I still thought it was beautiful.
The main problem with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was not the script, not the cast, nor the crew. It was the studio! Paramount was so intent upon getting the film out by Christmas 1979, the pressures must have been enormous! The first special effects crew had to be replaced and fortunately, Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra were on hand to accept the challenge. Regardless, this is a great film, and my personal favourite of the series - and that includes the overrated “Wrath of Khan.”
The Paramount executives should never, ever have promised and signed these idiotic contracts with the movie-theatres as it put Robert Wise in an impossible situation.
TMP is great, but its runtime is bloated AF. Almost nothing happens at all for most of the first hour, but lots of long special effects shots of the Enterprise looking majestic. It’s 45 minutes of plot crammed into 2 hours
Cereal @ midnight - actually ALL the Deleted scenes were Available in the TV edited Versions of the MOTION picture. including KIRK @ Starfleet & and SPOCK crying.
@@CerealAtMidnight Paramount does not have to approve still photos from one of their movies. Even short segments minus the audio won't get flagged and are fine for fair use. I'm thinking the creator just didn't bother to add in any visuals to help his verbal descriptions. That's just seems lazy to me.
The main problem with this film was the lack of small humor that was in the original series and the almost robot movements of the cast, all of them. They didn't jell together at all, with Kristie Ally mis-casted to the max.
I need to buy the 4K version but TMP will always be incomplete and to make it complete, we need computer-animated version of TMP similar to Final Fantasy:The spirit Within graphic. They could improve the script, add more character moments, add colours to the uniforms, shorten various long shots on Enterprise and Vger reaction by the crew. It would be essentially be a remake.
If you buy into the movie, your brain may edit out the effects bloopers. The visible armature in the Enterprise launch? I didn't see it. The split-frame takes not matching in the probe-on-the-bridge sequence? I thought it was caused by the probe. The missing section in the saucer matte painting? "Hm, something's odd here but I don't know what it is..." And the ABC TV extended version's incomplete effects shot of Kirk in space? I couldn't even perceive the visible soundstage! Unrelatedly, although INTO DARKNESS (not 2009) outgrossed TMP even taking inflation into account, the audience pool was a third larger by 2011, so proportionately TMP is still more successful.
A film is never complete, it is only abandoned. I've seen the Director's Cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture once. I prefer the theatrical cut, warts and all. It's like I grew to loathe the special editions of Star Wars, particularly when they usurped the title of 'official releases'. In my opinion you shouldn't revise film history just to make a few more bucks off it. Hey, just my opinion.
I think the Director's Edition of ST:TMP should include an epilogue where we see that the new life form created by Decker and the Ilia probe evolving into the Borg.
I prefer the original theatrical version to the director's cut. The primitive CGI near the end is jarringly bad and some of the added or alternate takes look unfinished.
I watched TMP at the theater. I thought it was ridiculous and silly. I’ve seen all of the different “cuts,” incrementally improved. It was bad management and storytelling, with too many chefs without enough cooks that made this Trek movie suck out loud. I guess they put these same clowns (or their ilk) into Discovery (puke) and others with 100 producers on the credits. Unless a miracle happens, and some talented story teller (Nick Meyer) writes better dialogue and scenes, this turd can’t be polished. Trekkies made it successful standing on the 79 original episodes alone, and as a Trek freak who was there at the original theatrical showing, I was ashamed of my beloved Trek. TOS was a perfect storm of talent behind the scenes, and serendipitous chemistry between the three main actors; but when power mad producers and executives (a pox on them all) stuck their uncreative fingers where they didn’t belong, our beloved franchise suffered damage. And still does. Except possibly ENT or SNW. By the way, until TNG hit its stride in season 3, it was pretty pukeworthy. DS9 was just sad. At least VOY had a cool ship and some good villains. I still get creeped out about the Vidiians. My Humble Opinion!
The Director's Cut was released in 2002. How is it that the film wasn't completed until 2023 then? This video is all about the problems with the 1979 version.
Because of this interview…I just watched the Director’s Cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. WOW. If only this had been the original release 45 years ago. It was a cleaner story, the graphics had the missing visuals and filled in the gaps, it was a smooth 2 plus hours - did not get bored liked the original when they flew into the cloud. They have improved and explains everything now! Thank you for the new cut!
A must watch for Trekkies!
Didn't even know this existed until yesterday! Just watched the new cut and was.blown away! The music the new scenes and effects, it was beautiful.
People forget how good this story is, then add the music, effects and actors, masterpiece!
ooooooooooh
I've always thought STTMP was simply a more extravagant retelling of The Changeling episode of TOS.
It is still possible to enjoy the film but, the fact remains...
Where did you watch the new cut? On 4K?
I love the flying tour around the Enterprise. This is my favorite incarnation of the ship; it's absolutely beautiful.
That feeling of being in the theater the first day the movie was shown was an experience I'll never forget. The audience cheered when the movie began. I grew up watching the series (I was 11 when the series began) and I was glued to the tv for every episode and then recorded them all on audio tape and then listened to them everywhere I went. I love Star Trek but that original series and the 1st movie are what made it what it was. The rest that has followed we couldn't have imagined or expected.
At 10 years of age in 1979, having watched all the original episodes, I was blown away when my Sister took me to the local cinema to watch TMP. I remember thinking how much older they all looked at first. TMP will always be my favourite ST movie.
I was 10 in '79 too and also thought they all looked "old" at the time. Oh, how naïve the young can be! STTMP is my favourite Star trek film too. It was an almost religious experience seeing it in theatres when it first came out.
Same, also 10. George St, Sydney. First Saturday morning after Thursday release.. Greater Union theatre, right next door to Hoyts. Queue went all the way out of G.U and halfway up the Hoyts steps.
Took my own cut lunch in brown wax paper bag to avoid extortionate candy prices.
Those were the days.
9, but same - I was in awe. I just fell in love with the ship all over again. And in that first scene when the Klingons showed up at the cloud, and their photon torpedo tubes started glowing before the sparkly shot... nerdgasm.
And looking back now, how young they look today. : -)
@@MikeD_Shat still looks pretty good now 😊
Yes watched it the other day and the crew were all so young.
The new 4K master shows that TMP has some of the best practical model effects work ever put to screen. Testament to the talent of the effects team despite the rushed circumstances.
The 4K version of STTMP is absolutely wonderful. It's how the film should be seen, and I am so thankful they did this. One of the best film experiences I had watching a movie in the theater.
A theatrical re-release would be nice!
What I noticed about the Directors Cut was that it seemed to give a sense of how the Enterprise was just so small, so vulnerable, out there against the great dangers of space - like a wooden sailing ship on the mighty ocean. That was the element that struck me as present there, but missing from the original film. The difficulties in the original print you speak of - those things, fortunately, I never noticed; even if the film seemed to be a little slow, it wasn't as slow as 2001: A Space Odyssey - and, as far as I could tell, it was professionally made.
There are scenes in the original print that do exactly that.
Bob was my client. I had moved into his old office space where the effects were done. After Robert had passed away we discovered a small storage space that had been locked since Bob Able worked on the film. We opened it and there were all the unfinished elements for sttmp. Those assets were returned to paramount. A year later… the directors cut was released.
Wow
great info! Could you elaborate? Were they incorporated in to the finished movie? Which parts were them?
One thing that jarred when I first saw the movie on VHS was the distortion of Kirk and Scotty on the travel pod, so I did notice that it had been fixed.
That's a big thumbs up.
This is one of the most interesting and informed discussions about the ongoing development of a film I've ever seen. Very educational stuff. Thank you for getting this interview. I watched the new 4K for the first time about a week ago and it transforms STMP into a whole new film and one of the best 4K's I have seen to date. Gorgeous movie and a story well told.
I knew this was going to be a clip from the longer podcast which I already watched but I watched it anyway because it was so fascinating. This is like a nice little supplement to the on disc Special features. I'm glad I have both the theatrical and director's edition on 4K.
"So they went to Michael Eisner..." God damn it. No matter how far back you go, you can't get away from this guy... I expect to learn he had a hand in Cleopatra at this point.
He greenlit Birth of a Nation.
The movie or the queen?
Eisner was still there to at least post Star Trek 3 even with Disney he was not the creative mind with their success
You did a great job David ...thanks..
Great interview. I got the new transfer/cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture and it absolutely incredible! FYI It's included in the 4k box set with all the OG cast films, which is how I own it. Cheers!
You have to get the box set to see the 4K directors cut?
@@Earthtime3978 no you can buy it on its own now
@@marcoesquandolez4737 are there two separate versions on 4K? Or if you buy the 4K are getting the directors cut ?
@@Earthtime3978 if you buy 4k you get directors cut. If you buy box set of all 6 films you get both cuts on 4k and Blu-ray
Why is The Director's Edition still not on Paramount Plus UK in 2024?
George Lucas famously said " movies aren't released. They escape".
Actually, that was Peter O'Toole talking about the film THE STUNT MAN. "This film wasn't released. It escaped."
Speaking about how he killed the original Star Wars movies with the abmination of the special editions. Lol.
Would love if Paramount would let Shatner do a Director's Cut of Star Trek V before he's gone. He's been asking for years.
I would love a Shatner cut
Sure as cuss can't get any worse!
They had a economical opportunity to redo the sfx on Star Trek V while Voyager and Enterprise were in production. The in house company Foundation Imaging might have done a presentable job , at least for television viewing.
Fans will do it. AI and bit of tech from the 23rd century ought to do it.
The studio just hates William Shatner for some reason.
Ive seen the latest STTMP and it does feel squared off .... Trek fever was so strong you could have put up a sub standard movies and Trekkers would have been content, the point was the fans wanted to see it return and return it did. Im glad Wise had time to polish it off eventually.
Wait wasn't there a DVD of the Director's Cut? I think the version I have is longer but don't recall by how much. Anyway it should look killer in 4K. Good interview and cool video Heath!👉😃👈
Actually this is a completely redone, "new Director's Edition"
@@naturallawman2965 ah O.K. very neat!👍
I have 4 versions of TMP (VHS, DVD, Blu Ray & 4K) and still watch it when it's on TV. Modern Trek does nothing for me.
Wise came to speak at my film school in 1982; he gave a talk about his film THE SANDPEBBLES but everyone wanted to ask him about ST: TMP. Wise got pretty angry and finally started telling us stories about the film. I wish wish WISH that my film school had taught us about THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS...I had my chance to ask Wise about THAT film...he was the editor. He was one of the FEW people who saw Orson Welles' original version of the film.
The one time I skipped out of school was to go to the theater the afternoon Star Trek: TMP came out. I was there with my best buddy and we loved every minute of it!
Wow, didn’t realize all the fine tuning.
Would be interesting to see the original side by side with the fixes he described.
Thank you to all of the people with their names and reputations on the line and the unknowns behind the scenes who work so hard.
ST TMP 4k Directors Cut is a visual and auditory masterpiece. More 4k s need to be like this
I don't own any 4K films yet, but I may just buy this one because it's a film I love, and it sounds like it's a tremendous remaster of the original film. I still have my Director's Cut DVD and have watched it many times, but it's now time to upgrade...
I was just looking at the shuttle pod fly over and around the Enterprise in its space dock and wanted to know why the wobbling edges on various models and ships were not fixed? Same for various print imperfections like a black spot on Kirk's back at one point. I'm surprised the hard black matt lines were not toned down as well.
Bought this yesterday - not watched it yet - had no idea they had done so much work. Really looking forward to watching it now 🙂
Thank you for the re-work on Paramount+ .. I think I watched it last year and loved it ! ah, .. I watched it in December, 1979 and loved it too , tho it was a bit rough. I loved the dvd release around 2001 !
The new 4k Director's Edition looks gorgeous, it's like watching a new movie. Only one I've upgraded to 4k so far.
Absolutely! I've watched STTMP many times over the years but watching this 4K version in the theater last year very much felt like watching it for the first time. I purchased a 4K player afterwards so I could watch it at home.
@@ianmc87 Really wish I would've caught it in the theater, I bet that was awesome. Definitely looks great on a 4k tv and player though.
@@Krypton_Ken Hopefully there will be a future showing at theater you can catch. I was only 8 when STTMP came out in 1979. I was watching reruns of the original series and was already a ST fan. But far whatever reason I never bothered to ask my parents to take me to see the film. I wish I had. Had to settle for the crappy broadcasts ABC used to do a few years later. But watching this at home is fun. Lots of nice bonus features.
Do you have to get the box set to see the directors cut?
I must have a different 4K cut, because the scene with Kirk, Spock and McCoy makes me want to stab my eyes out.
Need more star trek content for your channel
Was lucky enough to go to the nationwide screening of the final cut a couple of years ago and it finally works-Ilia and Spock are now the central characters and their story arcs work. Still my favorite TREK film.
It's ironic that he's talking about cleaning up special effects while the bad green screen during this video is so distractive 😆
This!
Also, he speaks of jarring shots in the movie....as every, what, five or six minutes we cut to a quick reverse shot of Heath - the "interviewer"(?) - just sitting there looking vaguely interested and adding nothing. I found THOSE to be rather jarring. lol
Was going to make the same comment. The irony...AS HE IS TALKING AND WAVING HIS HANDS AROUND!!!... is beyond words 🫣
you guys are talking about a zoom call... I hope you realise, special effects people use the same zoom or skype or whatever than everyone else?
The current TMP-DE is the film we should have gotten in 1979. If we had gotten what we have now the Trek franchise might have evolved differently going forward.
Despite it’s faults I really wanted to see a followup in the TMP era. And despite the wide praise TWOK gets I have never liked Nicholas Meyer’s vision of the Trek universe-I much prefer Robert Wise’s vision, although a bit more colour to the uniforms would have been appreciated.
and I prefer Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek theme over James Horner's. Heck! There's a reason TNG chose Goldsmith's theme as its opening theme instead of Horner's.
My dad took me to see this in 1979 when I was 7 years old at the this grand old movie palace in Albany NY off state street route 20 right across the street from the college of saint rose. The opening blew me away and to this day, the klingon battle theme that opens the movie is still my favorite piece of movie music. The ending was so heavy it made me puke and we had to catch the very end of the movie watching from outside the theater.
A delightful example of "I didn't know it was impossible when I did it" miracles 😮 !
I’ve heard that this cut is missing stuff that was included in the 1983 television edit, the Special Longer Cut that was released to vhs, betamax and laserdisc. The Director’s Cut may still be incomplete. Bummer.
I love ST:TMP.
But I would also like to see an "improved" version of ST5. Better f/x, added runtime to fill in the backstory, etc.
I would've loved to see it at the theater as a Christmas present and a graduation present also in 1979
I would love to see this get a NEW theatrical release for it's 45th anniversary. Please, Paramount!
I was 22 in 1979 and I left work to go to see it at a local theater, then saw it again when I got home, then three other times thru that weekend. It was just so amazing to see Trek again. Yes, the V'ger fly thru was a problem, but it was one of those "isn't this cool?" moments
One thing that annoyed me about both the theatrical and dvd DC is when the probe has access to the computer Decker says it's interest is Star Fleet and it's capabilities but it only shows schematics of the Enterprise. I would be interested in seeing if that was fixed.
A very cerebral movie. Love it!
@ 5:48 - I don't know if David C. Fein is doing a subtle critique of J.J. Abram's 2009 Star Trek because when he talks about camera shakes and flashing dashes was jarring and breaking the audience immerse, that was how I felt watching J.J. Abram's Star Trek's lens flares.
What about the missing audio chatter of the computers etc on the bridge? The silence when Kirk walks onto the bridge was deafening to me. I hope that’s been fixed.
Hi I have a question what is the difference between the hannah barbera diamond collection and gold collection dvd
I strongly prefer the theatrical cut. Watching this latest edition I missed a lot of the computer voices and other sound effects I had heard since 1979. Many other small details just feel missing.
I didn't really feel like it changed all that much .. I noticed a few things but nothing all that extreme. I don't understand what all the fuss was about... I've always loved the movie and never had much problem with its flaws. In fact, I think they're charming. I'm going to have to watch the two side by side one day so I can get a better view of what they've actually changed.
Will there be a Director's Edition of THIS video, where the man's elbow doesn't disappear behind the green screen of the San Francisco Bridge?
When I first went to see the film, the theater that was supposed to be showing it had been repossessed. So it took me another couple of weeks before i got to see it. I enjoyed the film, but I don't remember the original all that well. It's been quite a while, and I have watched the Director's cut on DVD many times, so the latter version is what I remember.
Has any of the test footage of the Abel company ever resurfaced?
Recently bought this version of the DC on amazon. I have the dvd version and the original version of the movie.
This latest release is beautiful, great to see the film in its complete form.
Uh....
This movie got nominated for an academy award for special effects.... nuff said
WARNING: Don't make the mistake I just made. I bought a DVD of "The Director's Cut", thinking it would be this one - it isn't. Looks like the 4K one is only on Blu-ray. I think I've bought a DVD I already owned as part of the collection of movies that I have. Oops!
I watched this version recently and it's definitely an improvement. Still lacking something though.
One of the things that always fascinated me was the opening scene where the 3 Klingon ship attacked Vger. You see 3 go in, but only 2 visibly destroyed. I always thought that the first one destroyed was the task force commander you see in the beginning and that the 2 you see destroyed by Vger's torpedoes were the remaining two, but there's no specific evidence of that, though I took the rocking, shaking, and flashing lights at 3:42 to to be the indicator of the first ship being destroyed by the unseen torpedo from Vger. The 1st and 2nd torpedoes from Vger that you see are actually the 2nd and 3rd. It was just never stated. Then, of course, you see the commander alive on the last remaining ship. So where's the missing ship?
ua-cam.com/video/HCha8W5rQz0/v-deo.html
Turns out the original demo real had the first ship getting whacked at 2:47 in this clip, but it seemed not to make it in the film.
ua-cam.com/video/1AuR2xnOtvE/v-deo.html
I saw the original in the theater.
The 4K directors cut is an incredible improvement!
So typical of studio suits, isn't it? And I've encountered the same thing in the smaller ecosystem of corporate and government production. The ones at the top have no clue what all is involved in production, so they set these unrealistic deadlines that you may not be able to meet, or do a good job with (it's that good-fast-cheap triangle again), and make deals behind your back and make promises that a project WILL get done by that certain date for the big presentation, and it still had better be the best thing they've ever seen to date. No pressure, you understand.
Suits and pantsuits.
4:04 If they had to trim material, why did they leave in that excruciatingly long scene when we first see the Enterprise? I also love the irony of this guy going on about unfinished and distracting effects while he's got a bloody awful green-screen effect going on behind him.
The long scene Kirk seeing Enterprise again was perfect. Like seeing a long, lost love.
There's nothing wrong with that scene at all. No one has seen the Enterprise in action for 10 years. The ship was meant to be a character as well. The Enterprise was upgraded and made more elegant so we the audience needed to be brought up to speed on her changes. Besides the slow reveal, the power up sequence and departure from space dock with dramatic music makes those scenes the high light of the movie. It is most loved by most fans.
@@wendigos_eat_people7177 I completely disagree. People were expecting a fun, fast-paced movie and we got this extended scene that was there just to show off the effects and not progress the story.
@@andysmith1996 It did not look out of place in 1979. "Blockbuster" movies had existed for just a couple of years. I loved that scene and I still do. Watch it with great enjoyment every time, just like I did in the theater when I was 10.
@@angelainamarie9656 I didn't say it looked out of place for its time - boring scenes have always existed.
I saw the Directors Cut in the theaters…when the movie premiered the film was “wet” . It needed a better edit. Livingston and Roddenberry never collaborated they both hated eachother. The original effects team was over their heads and was fired still managed to be made
The final version fixes nearly all the issues with the original release. The final version is on par with the best of the Star Trek movies now. Now, if we could only get rid of its horrible title.
I saw it at a Drive In Movie theater and could not make out a single scene. Big mistake.
Drive-ins were crap. Don't understand the nostalgia.
I think the director's cut is great, but I confess I've always been curious why they didn't fix the shot where V'ger's first "probe" is moving across the bridge shooting lightning everywhere. The bridge is optically "lower" on one side of the probe from the other, like the film was cut vertically and then taped back together, only offset.
There are still things I prefer about the original theatrical release, most notably the choice to NOT show the whole shape of V'ger when in orbit around earth. Aside from looking very CGI, it makes V'Ger look small and takes away from the mystery -- I liked not knowing exactly WHAT V'ger's full form was. The music levels were occasionally lowered in favor of new sound effects, when the music is already perfectly suited to complementing the action (see some of the Klingon tactical shots). I also prefer the old credits over the new gold sparkly ones. However, I do appreciate how most (not all) of the old blue screen effects were cleaned up, and some scenes like the arrival in San Francisco were improved.
I guess my favorite version of the film would fall somewhere in between the original and the director's edition.
They could've just left it alone and I'd be fine with it. Classics just shouldn't be messed with .. leave the flaws.. It's part of what makes it what it is.
I’m not 100% following what he’s saying. Is he saying the directors cut of the blu ray is the definitive version or the 4K…or neither?
I haven't seen it yet so i have no idea on how it looks hopefully they corrected the scene of the Klingon ships like they use CGI on the Enterprise but never the Klingon ships
Boy I enjoyed this
I would have preferred they made Phase II, the TV series, than this movie
This is why I will always love studios like the old Carolco.
They just gave producers money and left them alone.
In 1979 I paid full price for two theater tickets to watch ST-TMP. If it was released unfinished, I demand a refund!
The new Directors Cut is an improvement over the old dvd Director Cut, but the bluray theatrical version is Robert Wise's preferred edit other than the special effects. He had long finished editing the film to his liking and was waiting on the special effects. So the DC really needed to only touch up some effects, but that wouldn't have been different enough to sell so they needed Wise's blessing to give it some ''credibility' and edited more than the special effects. Wise originally had anple time to edit everything the way he liked and the rush wascabout getting the effects finished. Still, the new DC doesn't suck like DC version 1, but hi def theatrical can still hold it's own. New DC or theatrical? Take your pick.
The only good things about TMP were the soundtrack and the refit Enterprise model. Otherwise, it's just a remake of the Nomad (Changling) episode.
To me, The Motion Picture is a standalone.
There was three different plot ideas mashed up in this movie. It was a shame it really hurt the final product.
As a huge Star Trek fan I'm interested in the content of this video, but find it absolutely hilarious that in an interview criticising the quality of the special effects in the movie, they have the most horrific quality back-drop.
I mean, it’s just Zoom. It’s not like this was a paid, professionally shot interview. Dude took time out of the kindness of his heart to talk about his hard work, and I’m grateful.
Im still waiting for the memory wall scene. Its never been restored in STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE!
I like the version where Spock shot first.
🤣
Right. Apt way to resume all this fluke to "update" movies.
I was in college when the film came out. Paramount had taken advances from theaters...money that they would have refunded if the film did not come out on December 7, 1979. Everyone would have been better if the film had come out six months or a year later.
Amazing how this story mirrors the making of TRON.
it's a controversial opinion but it is still my favorite Star trek movie
I look at TMP and TWOK as two beautifully opposite companion pieces. Kind of like the first Alien and Aliens .. I love them both equally but for different reasons. I don't understand the hate for TMP .. even as a kid, although I didn't understand a lot of its concepts, I still thought it was beautiful.
The main problem with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was not the script, not the cast, nor the crew. It was the studio! Paramount was so intent upon getting the film out by Christmas 1979, the pressures must have been enormous! The first special effects crew had to be replaced and fortunately, Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra were on hand to accept the challenge. Regardless, this is a great film, and my personal favourite of the series - and that includes the overrated “Wrath of Khan.”
The Paramount executives should never, ever have promised and signed these idiotic contracts with the movie-theatres as it put Robert Wise in an impossible situation.
TMP is great, but its runtime is bloated AF. Almost nothing happens at all for most of the first hour, but lots of long special effects shots of the Enterprise looking majestic. It’s 45 minutes of plot crammed into 2 hours
The Final Frontier will never get this kind of love.
Big problem for me is that the movie was nothing more than a remake of the episode "The Changeling".
Cereal @ midnight - actually ALL the Deleted scenes were Available in the TV edited Versions of the MOTION picture.
including KIRK @ Starfleet & and SPOCK crying.
Wow, descriptions of movie scenes with no accompanying video footage, not even still photos? Why?!
Because for an interview like this, that would have to be approved by Paramount--and it was not.
@@CerealAtMidnight Paramount does not have to approve still photos from one of their movies. Even short segments minus the audio won't get flagged and are fine for fair use. I'm thinking the creator just didn't bother to add in any visuals to help his verbal descriptions. That's just seems lazy to me.
I hoped that people finally realized that adding cgi to old movies to "update" them is the worst possible thing to do.
The main problem with this film was the lack of small humor that was in the original series and the almost robot movements of the cast, all of them. They didn't jell together at all, with Kristie Ally mis-casted to the max.
Your thinking of st II
@@NicoleMellott 😂
I need to buy the 4K version but TMP will always be incomplete and to make it complete, we need computer-animated version of TMP similar to Final Fantasy:The spirit Within graphic. They could improve the script, add more character moments, add colours to the uniforms, shorten various long shots on Enterprise and Vger reaction by the crew. It would be essentially be a remake.
MGM? I thought this was a Paramount film?
If you buy into the movie, your brain may edit out the effects bloopers.
The visible armature in the Enterprise launch? I didn't see it.
The split-frame takes not matching in the probe-on-the-bridge sequence? I thought it was caused by the probe.
The missing section in the saucer matte painting? "Hm, something's odd here but I don't know what it is..."
And the ABC TV extended version's incomplete effects shot of Kirk in space? I couldn't even perceive the visible soundstage!
Unrelatedly, although INTO DARKNESS (not 2009) outgrossed TMP even taking inflation into account, the audience pool was a third larger by 2011, so proportionately TMP is still more successful.
A film is never complete, it is only abandoned. I've seen the Director's Cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture once. I prefer the theatrical cut, warts and all. It's like I grew to loathe the special editions of Star Wars, particularly when they usurped the title of 'official releases'. In my opinion you shouldn't revise film history just to make a few more bucks off it. Hey, just my opinion.
Star Wars is so overrated.
I think the Director's Edition of ST:TMP should include an epilogue where we see that the new life form created by Decker and the Ilia probe evolving into the Borg.
*The Motionless Picture*
I like it though. Everything after TWOK was hot hum.*
Had to downvote this for the misleading title. Digitally removing film grain and camera wobble is not making a 70s film "complete"
I agree man ... I just watched this on streaming, and I only noticed a few changes .. and they didn't seem that extreme to me.
I prefer the original theatrical version to the director's cut. The primitive CGI near the end is jarringly bad and some of the added or alternate takes look unfinished.
I watched TMP at the theater. I thought it was ridiculous and silly. I’ve seen all of the different “cuts,” incrementally improved. It was bad management and storytelling, with too many chefs without enough cooks that made this Trek movie suck out loud. I guess they put these same clowns (or their ilk) into Discovery (puke) and others with 100 producers on the credits.
Unless a miracle happens, and some talented story teller (Nick Meyer) writes better dialogue and scenes, this turd can’t be polished.
Trekkies made it successful standing on the 79 original episodes alone, and as a Trek freak who was there at the original theatrical showing, I was ashamed of my beloved Trek.
TOS was a perfect storm of talent behind the scenes, and serendipitous chemistry between the three main actors; but when power mad producers and executives (a pox on them all) stuck their uncreative fingers where they didn’t belong, our beloved franchise suffered damage.
And still does. Except possibly ENT or SNW. By the way, until TNG hit its stride in season 3, it was pretty pukeworthy. DS9 was just sad. At least VOY had a cool ship and some good villains. I still get creeped out about the Vidiians.
My Humble Opinion!
The Director's Cut was released in 2002. How is it that the film wasn't completed until 2023 then? This video is all about the problems with the 1979 version.
Here's the full, uncut conversation: ua-cam.com/video/ydtdiVPbTeQ/v-deo.html
Money whispers
I HAVE THE ORIGINAL AND THE DIRECTOR'S CUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!