Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

5 star:		(140)
4 star:		(125)
3 star:		(92)
2 star:		(53)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

I got the DVD about 4 hours ago. The second that I peeled all those security stickers off my DVD box, I popped it open, place the disc in my player, turned up the Dolby Digital, my super sub-woofer... my high density screen, shut down all light sources, put my PowerMac G4 to sleep, turned off my phones, and laid back for what I hoped would be a nice treat.

Paramount should be ashamed of themselves. This edit should be in theaters. This isn't a minor achievement in quality increase. This is now a great film. I am literally stunned right now.

It isn't a matter of effects, so much as it is about dynamics of motion... The tightening of scenes.... Little tweaks here and there.... An added scene here, a missing one here... Revealing more about the characters, keeping a character from being less than he should be.

First off, the Visual Effects shots are absolutely superior, while remaining exactly of the same palette as the original film. These new shots add a consistent sense of grandeur that Wise achieved so very well in some scenes, yet not at all in others. Now... Now the film is a sweeping science fiction epic... Man facing the unknown that comes from that place where no man has gone before.

The picture quality was gorgeous... the richness of the colors... Everything just gorgeous. The new sound... DEAR GOD, it was magnificent. The remix was handled to perfection and not bungled like those that were toying with SUPERMAN recently. From beginning to end there is a quality increase in the sound that never once falters to my ears on this great sound system of mine.

I'd like to tell you about the new visual effects shots, but to be honest... I can't. They are that seamlessly integrated. I'm sure that there were scenes of the Enterprise passing into the great V-GER ship that I had never seen, but they were intercut with old ones so well that all I got was an increased feeling of motion and dynamics of shots. The results were exactly what was needed.

Suddenly this film feels like it belongs in Trumbull and Dykstra's Filmography. It always was nice... but before it always felt like a travelogue, and not at all threatening and ominous and creepy and moody and scary and mysterious. That's right, these new shots actually ADD to the ATMOSPHERE.

For the first time in too long, I'm looking at not only real STAR TREK, but frankly... This is Star Trek where it should always be. Smart Science Fiction told by great Narrative Filmmakers and folks of vision.... Not the fumblings of visionless hucksters that have kidnapped the franchise since the death of Roddenberry.

I have yet to venture into the second DVD... The one loaded with deleted scenes, documentaries and the behind the scenes joys... That will be what I do tomorrow. For now I'm in the afterglow of watching perhaps the best STAR TREK movie and dealing with the realization that due to the lack of vision of cowardly executives, this final masterpiece of Robert Wise's will never be projected upon a Silver Screen as it so needs to be.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was, until now, a classic example of a film which suffered from a rushed post-production. It is well known in ST fandom how the film that was originally hired to do the effects for this movie bascially fell flat on their collective face, leaving Robert Wise and Co. with only a few months to start from scratch on their effects, and a release date that was carved in stone. They went to superhuman effort in order to get everything done by the deadline, and they barely made it. The final effects sequences actually had to be physically spliced into hundreds of copies of the film, right before their delivery to theaters! The fact that the effects were as good as they were is truly miraculous. This is the most cinematic of all the ST movies to date, although The Wrath of Khan comes pretty close. The soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith is one of the GREATEST film scores ever.

Of course, the main feature of this DVD is the fact that Robert Wise got to go back and take his time re-doing the effects scenes that he had to rush through in 1979, and then insert them seamlessly into the scenes shot 20 years ago, and make it all fit. Overall, it works extremely well. Some of my favorite improvements:

(1) The star field effects over the overture theme and opening credits - Sure, the moving star field over SF movies has been done many times since, but Star Trek invented it. The opening wasn't complete without it. The credits themselves have also been re-worked. The opening credits were one place where the post-production rush in 1979 really showed. It was a nice touch to clean this up.

(2) The scenes on Vulcan - Vulcan looks more "Vulcan-like" now, and the removal of the moon seen previously makes the film conform to previously-established Star Trek canon. Another nice touch that is important for continuity. Also, the Vulcan subtitles have been re-worded just a bit to make it a little less obvious that the Vulcans were really just speaking electronically-distorted English.

(3) The new shots of Starfleet Headquarters - totally awesome improvement to another casualty of the 1979 rush. As much as I loved that shot of the Starfleet Headquarters seal, it was painfully obvious that some missing effects shots were here. Also, the scene between Kirk and Sonak has been re-done to make the landing area seem much larger. Nice echoing to the dialogue.

(4) Insertion of some original-series sound effects, particularly the transporter operation.

(5) The scenes when they flew through the cloud and over V'ger were tightened up a bit. Good editing, these secnes were DEFINITELY too long originally. Thank God, though, they left the Enterprise inspection/flyover alone! This is one scene that was just fine all along, and they wisely didn't cut it at all.

(6) When you look out the windows of the officer's lounge, you can now see the warp nacelles. Nice touch.

(7) The scenes of V'ger attacking the Earth. I always wanted to see a shot of the whole thing at once!

(8) The new shots inside V'ger - It's pretty obvious that these are CG, but the creation of the bridge between the Enterprise and V'ger is pretty cool anyway.

(9) But, the absolute BEST improvement was the re-working of the Red Alert klaxon and the removal of that infuriatingly annoying computer voice. I got so tired of hearing that thing go "Travel pod available, Cargo 6", and "Intruder Location. A Sonic Shower.", and "Red. Alert. Red. Alert. The Ship. Is On. Red. Alert!" If they did nothing else to the movie, this alone would make the DVD worth buying. Thank you Mr. Wise!

The DVD also contains a bunch of bonus features, including the original scenes that were edited, the delightfully cheesy movie trailers and TV commercials, and the scenes that were added for the 1983 TV version and then re-dropped. Some of those scenes were kinda nice, but they didn't really do anything for me. The worst one was the shot of Kirk leaving the Enterprise in pursuit of Spock. You can see the scaffolding on the set! They're baically non-essential, but it's nice to have them anyway. The TV commercials are a lot of fun to watch.

This is not the best ST move by any stretch, but it's MUCH better than its detractors think. If you haven't seen it in a while, now is the perfect chance to see it again. The acting is great. If the actors seem uneasy at first, that's because the CHARACTERS are uneasy due to the myraid conflicts that they are undergoing as the movie begins. As the conflicts are resolved, they get more comfortable. It's truly a great SF movie. Pick it up!

Oh and Emma, if you're out there, sounds like you got a defective case. Return it and get another copy.

In December of 1979, when Star Trek The Motion Picture was released, it was apparent to audiences that this was no ordinary "shoot 'em up" science fiction movie--this was a serious film with complex plotting and "big" ideas. Yet, somehow the whole film seemed "off," and lacking the TV show's charm. What was not generally known at the time was that, with the premiere date looming and numerous visual effects sequences not completed--and never having had a test screening--Director Robert Wise basically assembled what he could and physically carried the print to the film's debut. (The final visual effects sequence was literally cut into individual prints of the film before they were express shipped to theaters.)

It says something for Wise's ability to work under pressure (he edited Citizen Kane, after all) that, despite mixed reviews, no major critics were able to deduce that they were viewing an unfinished film. It's also a testament to everyone involved in the project that Star Trek The Motion Picture received Academy Award nominations for Visual Effects and Musical Scoring. Nevertheless, I remember seeing the film as a 12 year old, and hearing my father complain "This movie is so slow moving." And for 22 years, that has been the general consensus--ambitious plotting, great score, mostly good visual effects, poor pacing, little chemistry between the characters.

For this DVD issue, Paramount has allowed Robert Wise to do what he wanted to do all along: finish his picture. Nearly every scene has been reedited--either radically or merely fine tuned--to bring more drama, better pacing, and more emphasis on the characters. Some of the clunkier bits of dialogue have been excised, along with some unnecessary technobabble. The new editing also gives greater subtext to the story, and hints at why V'Ger's probe chose to assimilate Lieutenant Ilia rather than, say, Mr. Spock.

The new visual effects shots flesh out the movie, adding visual excitement without drawing attention to themselves. The technicians have even added film grain so that the new shots fit in seamlessly with the originals. The sound mix is livelier also, with use of some of the original series' sound effects, together with new elements. Jerry Goldsmith's superb score has been altered to conform with new versions of several scenes, particularly the early exploration of V'Ger. The score has been edited in such a way that it still makes musical, as well as dramatic, sense.

The picture quality is vastly superior to previous VHS issues, and a modest improvement over my widescreen LaserDisc. Colors and flesh tones are more vibrant, and the image seems sharper overall. While the film appears to have been cleaned, radical computer "scrubbing" has not been done, so effects-heavy shots (which were built up element-by-element) show some grain.

This new Director's Edition is now the definitive version of Star Trek The Motion Picture. Retaining all the grandeur of the original, with none of the ponderousness, this is probably the closest realization of Gene Roddenberry's humanistic vision for the future. After 22 years, The Motion Picture finally takes its rightful place near the top of the Star Trek film canon.

Even after 22 years on screen, on video, on television and now released in this special edtion DVD, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE is still a work in progress. Robert Wise returns to his often muddled, too long and struggling mess of a film that relaunched the STAR TREK franchise onto the big screen - and is allowed to make the changes he wanted, add the effects that were never completed in time and remaster the score to pitch perfect quality - and even after his final seal of approval, it's still a work in progress... and it is still a wonder to behold. It also is one of the "must buy, must own" DVD's for this holiday season - for both fans of the series and those new to the franchise. The script is intelligent, the performances (a bit uneasy at the start, but well seated by the close of the film) are top notch and the added effects and the new edits to the film both tighten and expand its appeal. Much of what was left unfisnished has been completed and added neatly into the story - we now get to see the V'GER ship as it orbits the Earth. We get more detail and background of the cloud, we have added scenes (a whole new V'GER chamber, a CG Enterprise, a brand new Vulcan without moons, and what is perhaps the first CG Star Trek cast to make it to the screen), and we have scenes cut shorter to make for better pacing. The audio commentary is informative and entertaining, while the text based commentary is almost overloaded - appearing and disappearing so fast that you dare not blink for fear you might miss something. The new transfer is clean and very pretty and the second disc is packed with features, deleted scenes, advertising (how many of you remember that Orson Wells provided the narration for the previews?) and docmentaries (of which only one was too short for my taste, the PHASE II era of STAR TREK is glossed over all too quickly - but does feature for the first time the original test footage of the new Enterprise and uniforms - pick up the book: STAR TREK: PHASE II for expanded information plus the original IN THY IMAGE script), plus an inventive menu design featuring V'GER. PARAMOUNT has finally done right by STAR TREK, and STAR TREK fans and THE MOTION PICTURE is not to be missed.

I must admit, I was extremely excited when I heard that Robert Wise had been given the green light to revisit this movie and "properly complete it" as envisioned in 1979.

For me, this was the first "new" Star Trek I had ever seen. Up to that point, I'd only had exposure to the reruns of the Original Series, so getting to see this fantastic cast together again -- combined with what was then state of the art visual effects -- made for an event that equalled only the original "Star Wars" movie. To be sure, the original cut of the movie was a bit lethargic, but even back then, the dazzeling special effects managed to pull the movie together pretty well. Just seeing the redesigned USS Enterprise alone was worth the price of admission!

Now, all these years later, to see the movie in its "complete" form is a real treat. All of the sound effects that were supposed to be in the original release are now there, and several special effects that did not make it into the film have been added -- including a few new shots of the Enterprise that you'll be hard pressed to pick out from the original cut. The pacing is much better and far more dramatic, allowing both the cast and the effects to underscore what is perhaps the truest "Star Trek" adventure filmed to date.

At its core, Star Trek has always been about the positive philosophy of human discovery and this film serves that end like few others in the franchise. The themes delved into here -- friendship, the quest for knowledge, emotionality, transcendance -- are the most basic to the series and are expressed beautifully. Even without the extra special effects, though, this movie still looks fresh and holds up very well.

Aside from the movie, the bonus features are huge. The audio commentary features Wise, Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra and the late Jerry Goldsmith, whose score for this movie is perhaps the best in the ten movie franchise. Michael Okuda provides the unique text commentary which includes many insider items on the production. Retrospective documentaries cover the little known Star Trek Phase II series that begat the movie, as well as the production history of the movie itself. Many of the deleted scenes from an earlier VHS release are also included.

Overall, I think this movie has withstood the test of time and is well worth viewing again. These days, it is like a good friend that you just don't seem to spend as much time with as you would like.

Some may consider it just as easy (or difficult) a task to talk about one particular ingredient of a recipe while simultaneously trying to avoid talking about at least one of the others. "Star Trek - The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition)" is a 2000 version of the Robert Wise-directed 1979 movie of what would become Paramount Pictures' extremely lucrative "Star Trek" franchise.

Ten years after the cancellation of the original Desilu-made 1966-69 NBC television series of the same name, which had seen 79 episodes of Gene Roddenberry's "Wagon Train to the Stars" (not a title, just the idea), the original cast of the series assembles to take their space vessel, the USS "Enterprise", out of a space dock orbiting Earth to intercept and deal with the greatest threat the home planet of the United Federation of Planets is facing - an alien entity which has already destroyed three Klingon cruisers and the space station, Epsilon IX, which first made the Federation aware of the "cloud".

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) makes his presence known in a way that contrasts with his demeanor during the series. He effectively usurps the "untried captain", Will Decker (Stephen Collins), in a scene in the engineering section that looks as if it might have become a fistfight if this had been in the Old West in the 1880s. Kirk stamps his authority, thus creating the possibility of conflict, yet Decker acts the professional at all times, realizing that Kirk is the right man for the job. That, however, is totally lost on the captain, who says to him: "Stop ... competing with me, Decker!" The executive officer, however, retains his composure and lays it on the line regarding his captain's total lack of recent experience of starship command. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), the ship's surgeon, also effectively condemns his captain and old friend's irrational behavior, yet the man does have a job to do and he is determined to carry it through.

Conflict is no stranger to "Star Trek", though, as far as "ST-TMP" goes, this brief interaction is the only instance of conflict, a far cry from when McCoy and Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) used to be verbal sparring partners in the TV series. Spock himself comes to the ship even more lacking in emotion than he used to be after undergoing the harsh discipline of "Kolinahr" on his home planet of Vulcan, and almost alienates (no pun intended) his fellow crew-members. Yet it seems that the "cloud", referred to as "V'Ger" by a probe sent to the ship in the form of the (former) navigator Ilia (the late Persis Khambatta, who died in 1998 aged only 49), has one thing in common with the Vulcan: a feeling of being incomplete and wanting to find answers to unanswered questions of existence and being.

The Director's Edition includes commentary by director Robert Wise, special effects director Doug Trumbull, legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith (whose theme to this movie became that for the "Next Generation" TV series from 1987 to 1994) and actor Stephen Collins. Their commentary focuses purely on the technical aspects of the making of the movie, which included some new, albeit brief scenes (such as a fireball just vanishing in front of the "Enterprise" after Spock sends the friendship message to V'Ger) and excluded some others (such as Ilia's reference to homo sapiens as "a sexually immature species", a deletion that I personally disagree with, since it just about summed up what Deltans like Ilia think of humans).

I would have liked Collins to have talked (or at least have had the opportunity to talk) about the chemistry between the members of the cast, both old and new, yet he, like the other three, confines himself largely to the technical side of things. He does, however, make references to Khambatta when talking about the penultimate scene when Kirk, Decker, Spock, McCoy and the Ilia-probe make contact with what V'Ger actually is.

Wise admits that the action of the original 1979 offering, which was finished in rather a hurry before the Christmas box office release in the USA, was too long in places, yet, as Nimoy pointed out in his (second) autobiography, "I Am Spock" (1995), the feeling was that Paramount "was doing something historic and important". As a result of what was perceived to be an over-reliance on the importance of the original TV series, 400 of whose fans were gathered in uniform in the scene where Kirk tells them about the danger, only to be horrified at what the alien entity then does to the Epsilon IX station, there was a tendency to sacrifice action and pace in favor of something resembling Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968).

Fortunately for Paramount, the movie did quite well at the box-office if only because of the significance of "Star Trek". Had the movie been a one-off, just as "Alien" was when it was released the same year, it would undoubtedly have bombed and been consigned to sci-fi history. As it so happened, "the human adventure [was] just beginning". The movie is not "where no man has gone before", but, like "Alien" and "2001", it is still a worthy piece of cinematic sci-fi that has endured.

I'm probably going to hack a few people off but...
I grew up with this movie; both the theatrical release and the "Special Edition" Laserdisc. (God, I'm old) This is ALMOST my favorite movie. Having watched this movie so much and having studied all the character development in it, some might say this makes me bias.

If you don't mind having dialog removed; scenes switched around; and generally questionable editing for the sake of time and new special effects, then you'll love this version.

I was VERY disappointed in the "Director's Edition". Don't get me wrong. The new special effects; WONDERFUL; like the new San Francisco scene. Cleaning up the visuals; EXCELLENT. I even overlooked what he was trying to do with the music.

I am, however disappointed because the director took a perfectly fine movie, (the Original "Special Edition") and BUTCHERED it. Granted, it's his movie. He can do what he wants. I just wish he'd have asked folks like me before he took a blade to it.

Scenes, which gave this film such character development, were cut out. Background noise showing what might be "real life" on a Starship, edited out. The noise level in the new version is almost like a morgue. The energy and tension you feel, while the crew is preparing the Enterprise against an impossible deadline, is non-existent.

The computer translation, of the Klingon language transmission at Epsilon 9, was edited out.

Little shots that gave this movie feeling were edited out. Such as, the shot of Uhura, staring in disbelief at the view screen, and Kirk having to REPEAT HIMSELF to turn the, "Viewer off!" to shake her from the horror she had just witnessed, was edited out.

The snip of Kirk blowing off McCoy saying, "Get out of here, Bones" was edited out. Kirk was ignoring what he'd done to get this new position. He wanted to ignore what he should face.

A scene showing the absolute power Ilea, as a Deltan, has over the human male, with Sulu stumbling all over himself, was cut out.

A shot of Ilea, staring longingly toward the turbo-lift door, as Sulu is trying to get her attention, was cut out. This scene showed how she was dealing with seeing Decker again, without having to utter a word. GONE.

While Kirk and Bones are talking to Spock in the lounge, the Director STUCK a CGI warp engine in the background. It looks amateur.

The editing on the Enterprise fly-over was poor.

The editing on the V-Ger fly-over was poor. I could go on.

And with ALL the stuff done to this version and the big deal made over this thing, the director still, STILL didn't fix the arm bands on Spock's and McCoy's jackets, in the last scene on the bridge. Apparently during a break in shooting, Nimoy and Kelly got their jackets mixed up.

I know a FEW people who like this, but not many.

Thanks.

I love Star Trek, and I love this movie; there, I said it. Now, on to the criticism: "Star Trek--The Motion Picture" is too long, too monochromatic (though the restored color in this new edition goes a long way toward correcting that problem), and too slow to be set alongside the great science-fiction films of the last thirty years. That said, one must acknowledge this film as the last gasp of old-school science-fiction filmmaking. So much so, in fact, it really doesn't meld with the rest of the film series or the old TV show, for that matter. (Keep in mind, much of the story thrust here inspired "The Next Generation," and that series took nearly two years to hit its stride.)

Thus, "The Director's Edition" is a mixed blessing. The film restoration, new visual effects, and sound mix are tremendous, clarifying and enhancing a number of sequences. But the basic story is still a bit slow and overblown to be good Trek. Nonetheless, Robert Wise's new edit does make the best use of the original material of any cut I've ever seen, including the original release and the 1983 "Special Longer Version."

And if anything, the lack of snappy, in-your-face visual effects (a la "The Phantom Menace" and "The Matrix") offers more pleasure today than in 1979. After twenty-two years of ten-frame pyrotechnic shots, one finds relief in a film that takes its time to scrutinize its incredible otherwordly vistas instead of hammering them at the audience in five-second cuts. And like many fans, I still tear up when Kirk sees the Enterprise again for the first time, especially now with the legendary starship's reflection looking back at him in this new print.

So, one might ask, should Paramount have released this to theaters? Probably not, but "The Director's Edition" still belongs in every serious sci-fi fan's DVD library (and of course, that of every Trekker) because it's simply the last gasp of old-time Hollywood sci-fi before the Lucas-Spielberg revolution snuffed it out forever. Furthermore, "The Director's Edition" makes a decent film even better, helping this maiden movie voyage of the Enterpirse stand on its own and not just on the reputation of its sequels.

I'll be honest, this is the Greatest of the Trek films in my opinion. I own them all and have seen them all at least 50 times, i know the dialoge by heart for them all and i qoute them regularly. I love the vger cloud effects i guess either people and critics cant apreciate hard work or artistic skill or they have a short attention span.
I think the Musical score is the best of any Star trek film, 8's score only comes close to equal. It is the thought provoking Film in the series. It is Star Trek in its greatest form. The thinking and thought provoking stories are what seperates it from Star Wars. If you like flexing your mind and thinking occasionaly then watch this film. I admit that it does drag on, but im actually a litlled depressed when the end credits roll. It has a superb musicl score from the late Jerry Goldsmith and the visuals are stunning for back in 1979. Watch it and decide for yourself.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the beginning of a series of six films uniting the original cast. It was definitely a noble venture with the legendary Robert Wise at the helm. The film brought a certain intellectual treatment to the film which may have made it less appealing to the masses but certainly palatable for true Trek fans. The "cerebral" quality of the film and the ending made for a rather unique experience! I know generally it is considered the "slowest" of the six but special in that it brought back the original castmembers all of which looked great in the film! Odd enough..Nimoy's voice sounded deeper in this film than the others that followed as if he were trying to find his "legs" after being away from the character for so long...George Takei looked fit and healthy and so did Shatner! Actually Shatner looked thinner in this film than when he was in the last season of TOS. Persis Khambatta was so lovely in this film! I was saddened to hear that she died in the late 90's of a massive heart attack..She was so beautiful in this film and leaves a lasting legacy for future Trek devotees! I love watching this film for the dialogue and wonderful Jerry Goldsmith score!