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

[gottacook]

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

In his "character sketches" for the movie ...

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.

 

[Harvey]

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

I remember being excited about the early magazine ad with the "23rd century odyssey now" tag line (http://i31.tinypic.com/2rcx6hg.jpg) in which the writing credit was "Screenplay by Gene Roddenberry and Harold Livingston" - I've never seen an early ad for a movie that had such a drastic difference in writing credits from the released film. Has any thread here addressed this?]

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.

 

[gottacook]

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.

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.

 

[Harvey]

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.

 

[gottacook]

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.

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.

 

[[N]]

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?

 

[gottacook]

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.

 

[DWF]

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.

 

[ScottDS]

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

If they had just kept the McCoy/Kirk "discussion" in the DE it would have been just about perfect, IMO.

^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.

 

[Indysolo]

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

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.

That's in every version.

Neil