how big an improvement is the star trek motion picture director cut?

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies I-X' started by tmosler, Oct 15, 2012.

  1. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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

    It's been a long time since I read the Roddenberry novelization of TMP, with all the italics for emphasis. Does he include any of Kirk's backstory in it? Not the surface stuff (e.g., the Lori business - would someone like Kirk have a girlfriend named Lori, fergodsake? - but the emotional backstory you mention.
     
  2. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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

    The final writing credit was the result of a WGA arbitration between Roddenberry and Livingston (the latter got full credit for the screenplay). Alan Dean Foster also used the arbitration process to receive story credit.

    This kind of thing happens from time to time, and is occasionally reflected in early marketing materials. Chris McQuarrie was credited with co-writing the screenplay of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on early trailers; Ed Norton was credited with co-writing the screenplay for The Incredible Hulk on early poster art as well. Neither were credited in the final films.
     
  3. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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

    Huh. Well, that's quite interesting. Although I've never happened to notice such a thing since then involving writing credits, I did see an early poster for First Contact in summer 1996 that had a credit not seen when the film was released, either in ads or the film itself: "A Film by Jonathan Frakes." I wonder what that can be attributed to? Well, not for this thread.
     
  4. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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

    The possessory credit ("A ___ Film," "A ___ Picture," "A Film By ____," etc.) is something that a director will negotiate for with a studio. Many do not take it, saying that it demeans the collaborative nature of the medium.
     
  5. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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

    Well, exactly - which is why it's so weird that such a credit would appear months earlier and then not appear on the finished film or the accompanying ads.
     
  6. [N]

    [N] Ensign Newbie

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

    I just bought the Directors edition this afternoon(£2, ftw!!) and I didn't realise there was any differences, I've only seen TMP once so I probably wouldn't realise them anyway but how is it different?
     
  7. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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

    Well, for one thing, all the footage cut from the original 1979 release can be viewed (as a group). There was a reason why the 1979 release was sometimes referred to as "The Motionless Picture." I am a Syd Mead fan, but even 2001 would have been a misshapen mess if the big state-of-the-art special effects scenes were in the middle of the picture, the way all the gosh-wow V'ger interiors are in TMP.
     
  8. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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

    The story remained the same so there's no worry there, but I do think I like the theater version the best. I'm rewatching it now and noticed one change I didn't see before, when the Ilia probe is Ilia her monitoring jewel fades color only to return again when the prode reaserts itself.
     
  9. ScottDS

    ScottDS Captain Captain

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

    ^This! I've always enjoyed this extended scene (and I think DeForest Kelley's performance is better in the take they used for the TV version)... so I was disappointed to see it omitted from the DE.

    I seemed to grow up with every version: the theatrical version, the special longer version, and whenever the film aired on TV, it always seemed to be cut somewhat differently. Some networks would air it in a 3-hour timeslot, others in a 3.5-hour (!) timeslot.

    I only wish the DE fixed two other errors: the travelpod's lack of shadow on the Enterprise and the changing colors of Spock and Bones' armbands at the end.
     
  10. Indysolo

    Indysolo Commodore Commodore

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

    That's in every version.

    Neil