The stuff on the SLV I remember that was really good and definitely improved/added to the story, tone or characters:
- The self-destruct gambit
- Spock's tears
- The version of the argument Kirk and McCoy have after Decker leaves
- Decker's line about "we all create God in our own image"
- The extended/alternate conversation with the Probe in Ilia's quarters
- The "he wanted her back...he got her" extended scene
- The little snippet of Sulu catching Ilia distracted after Decker leaves the bridge to get yelled at by Kirk
- Ilia helping Chekov after the first V'ger attack
- The full conversation in the Officer's Lounge after Spock leaves "Jim...if this super intelligence...."
The stuff that I could do without (I don't
dislike it per se, but it doesn't add much and/or is just choppy/awkward):
- Decker running around the bridge randomly during the tractor beam scene, looking intense
- The slow pan across the bridge, background chatter taking place, while the Enterprise is slowly drawn into the inner V'ger chamber
- The "Kirk is in the wrong spacesuit" stuff (I don't want him stopped / I have him in sight)
- McCoy randomly showing up on the Bridge to make a joke about the size of V'ger's crew.
- Sulu acting like an idiot in front of Ilia before they leave drydock