Could Star Trek V been saved?

[CoveTom]

The Inglorious Treksperts held a screening of STV with the Shat watching. Then there was a Q and A - and Shatner seemed touched that actually people seemed to like the movie and felt it was under rated. I don't know what would get me to pony up for these movies again - other than additional scenes and 'enhanced' VFX for V. If it were to happen, it should be soon because the Shat is 95 years old, so we really are in the realm of now or never for a DE of STV.

STV is my 'brown paper bag' movie.

I agree. Unfortunately, I don't think Paramount sees any profit potential in a DE of TFF and they would be the ones that would have to pony up the cash. Alas, I don't see that happening.

 

[Yistaan]

Borg: We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. You culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

Federation: Wait--wait! We're inferior beings. Assimilating us would only contaminate your pure collective. Don't you know that God is literally at the center of the galaxy? He sent our finest Starfleet officers fleeing in terror a century ago. Why don't you go assimilate him first? If you're not satisfied you can still come back and assimilate us later, it's not like we're going anywhere anyway.

(Borg ship transwarps off to the center of the galaxy)

Ambassador Spock: Fascinating. God finally got his starship.

 

[diamond204]

I agree. Unfortunately, I don't think Paramount sees any profit potential in a DE of TFF and they would be the ones that would have to pony up the cash. Alas, I don't see that happening.

With the new ownership i'd say close to zero percent as they have to do serious cuts to staff and programs to make ends meet. But so happy we have the glorious UHD of TMP Directions Edition! That also would never happen under the new owners but its already done Thank God (not the one in V).

 

[Maurice]

EDIT: I accidentally hit Save before I was finished.

Re the Rockman: I am skeptical how much of any of what footage they got made it into anything like a full edit of the film. They basically only got unacceptable footage on location.

Finally, time ran out. They had managed to get some required footage, but none of it was up to the standard they had envisioned. Suddenly they not only found themselves strapped for time to finish the other shots, but the entire ending of the movie was in jeopardy. ‘‘I knew we could try and do something about the sequence once we got back to the studio,”’ he commented. ‘‘We could go in close or do an optical or something to save it. But what we couldn’t do was get back to the location to grab the remaining shots. So my first priority was to get the crew moving down to the valley and over to where the shuttlecraft was waiting for us.”’

Disaster had been just barely averted. But a new, gaping hole in the plan had appeared. When we saw the Trona footage at dailies, one thing became glaringly apparent: The footage simply did not work. Not only was the smoke blowing the wrong way, but the immobility of the suit gave the Rockman a stiff, unnatural look (as Harve put it, the monster looked more like a Lobsterman than a Rockman). Although somewhat relieved that they wouldn’t have to use footage they had never been happy with, the team now had to brainstorm an alternative plan.

What was this creature supposed to look like? Was it humanoid in shape, or simply a mass of throbbing energy? They rechristened the creature ‘‘The Rock Blob" ’’ for lack of a better name. And so, at the eleventh hour, the team found a new, urgently pressing problem foisted upon them.

—Captain's log : William Shatner's personal account of the making of Star Trek V, the final frontier, p. 135–136.​

‘‘Our main objective during this period was to keep the pace of the movie going,’’ my father commented. *‘This meant adding some things and getting rid of others. One of the more ironic things about editing occurred with the Trona footage. Even though we had struggled to get those shuttle shots in before sunrise, we had to cut them all out because they all had the Rockman climbing on top of the shuttle. Of course this was very difficult to do, since we had all worked so hard to get those shots done. But it was obvious we couldn’t use them, so out they went. They were replaced by a sequence which had been reshot on the Paramount lot, where all shots of the shuttle no longer contained the Rockman. And there was now a blank spot in the film which Bran would later replace with the Rock Blob optical."

—Captain's log : William Shatner's personal account of the making of Star Trek V, the final frontier, p. 210.​

 

[Firebird]

I'm somewhat skeptical they ever had the Rockman in any cut of the film given what was related the book about the film's production:

Based on that quote, doesn't sound like the original version would've been put into a full cut of the film itself. At best, there was probably a rough assembly of the sequence on its own to evaluate what they could cut around.

EDIT: And Shatner confirms as much with the additional quote!

 

[Maurice]

Based on that quote, doesn't sound like the original version would've been put into a full cut of the film itself. At best, there was probably a rough assembly of the sequence on its own to evaluate what they could cut around.

As above, I accidentally hit Save while still working on my post, which is revised.

 

[Firebird]

As above, I accidentally hit Save while still working on my post, which is revised.

Ah, that additional quote seals the deal - thanks, Maurice! I've made an edit in my prior response accordingly.

 

[CoveTom]

As I recall, they knew on location during the night's shooting that the Rockman footage would be unusable, and that was confirmed when they got back to a screening room to see the dailies. There was never any intention of putting that footage into any cut of the film. That's why they then tried to get Ferren's team to come up with a visual effects replacement and, when that didn't work out either, went with just intercutting footage of the alien's face with a bunch of smoke and lighting effects.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

STV is my 'brown paper bag' movie.

Apologies, I'm not sure what this means. Also, what's in your brown paper bag? A rowing oar?

 

[Firebird]

As I recall, they knew on location during the night's shooting that the Rockman footage would be unusable, and that was confirmed when they got back to a screening room to see the dailies. There was never any intention of putting that footage into any cut of the film. That's why they then tried to get Ferren's team to come up with a visual effects replacement and, when that didn't work out either, went with just intercutting footage of the alien's face with a bunch of smoke and lighting effects.

That's exactly what Maurice quoted from Shatner's book on the making of Star Trek V.

 

[Maurice]

I would be interested in seeing the Rockman at the shuttle scenes because what little I've seen of the costume in motion doesn't make the costume appear to be utterly unusable. However, the while a hoard of them sound like minions or some manifestation of its power, on-screen just one of them chasing our heroes just suggests that's the true nature of the God thing, which isn't exactly all that grand or threatening. They should have junked the idea when the budget didn't permit more than one of them.

 

[Grant]

One shot of the rockman remains in the movie. When the BoP fires and the "godhead" explodes in sparks you can see the rockman sliding down the hillside.