First ten movies --theatrical version or director's cut?
- Thread starter Oantrek
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This is a perfect summation of how I also feel about Peter Preston - I remember reading one criticism of TWOK from a fan which essentially said "it doesn't make sense that Scotty cares so much if the guy isn't his nephew" - which made me sad. Of COURSE Scotty should care, he's one of the good guys!
Scene works fine for me, and of course, I prefer theatrical.
TMP, I love and have a soft spot for the extended version I saw over and over on VHS, but I have to go with the DC since it's a tighter film and more user friendly to newer fans.
TWOK, I grew up with the ABC cut which I still have somewhere, which features close-ups of the Kirk-Saavik turbolift scene and the extra stuff with Kirk & Spock:
Kirk: That young man' my son!"
Spock: Fascinating...
LOVE THAT.
TUC=theatrical. All the way. I didn't like the Col. West subplot, even though it's nice to see Rene Auberjoinis. It was a pointless scene. Although I liked seeing extra stuff with Scotty, I didn't like the "Klingon bitch" stuff. It works much better in the theatrical. About the only thing I liked in the DC were the flashes of the conspirators during the Mind Meld for clarification. Other than that, I found the extra stuff awkward and poorly executed.
TWOK, I grew up with the ABC cut which I still have somewhere, which features close-ups of the Kirk-Saavik turbolift scene and the extra stuff with Kirk & Spock:
Kirk: That young man' my son!"
Spock: Fascinating...
LOVE THAT.
TUC=theatrical. All the way. I didn't like the Col. West subplot, even though it's nice to see Rene Auberjoinis. It was a pointless scene. Although I liked seeing extra stuff with Scotty, I didn't like the "Klingon bitch" stuff. It works much better in the theatrical. About the only thing I liked in the DC were the flashes of the conspirators during the Mind Meld for clarification. Other than that, I found the extra stuff awkward and poorly executed.
That turbolift scene is a perfect example of the "jarring effect" I referred to earlier--the version with the closeups (and Kirstie Alley's differing delivery of "it is not logical") is the "real" version in my mind.
I like the dialogue, but I find Nimoy's delivery of that line very disappointing. He sounds either bored or sarcastic. Either way, I bet Spock was doing this:
According to the DVD commentaries, that ladder-climbing moment was evidently the very last scene Leonard Nimoy shot during his final day on the picture. Could've factored somewhat into his line-delivery, yeah.
I like the dialogue, but I find Nimoy's delivery of that line very disappointing. He sounds either bored or sarcastic. Either way, I bet Spock was doing this:
I agree with you both 100%, gentlemen. I find the scenes play much better without the nephew connection, as it shows the general humanity of the characters. It's much more symbolically powerful.
I mean, either which way it's still got an emotional punch, but I do prefer it without the nephew thing.
I like the dialogue, but I find Nimoy's delivery of that line very disappointing. He sounds either bored or sarcastic. Either way, I bet Spock was doing this:
According to the DVD commentaries, that ladder-climbing moment was evidently the very last scene Leonard Nimoy shot during his final day on the picture. Could've factored somewhat into his line-delivery, yeah.
I like the dialogue, but I find Nimoy's delivery of that line very disappointing. He sounds either bored or sarcastic. Either way, I bet Spock was doing this:
I see what you guys mean, but I still love it.
I took it as Spock (to me, this Spock is more in touch with his human side than ever) being a little sarcastic with Kirk, "With all the girlfriends you've had? Fascinating..."
I generally prefer the theatrical cuts but I'm conflicted with the director's cuts of TWoK and TUC, they both add some silliness but also make the pacing not so speedy; I think the extended video version of TUC (with some more scenes between Kirk and McCoy being arrested and suddenly being on trial but without seeing the images of the conspirators) is best (although perhaps because I saw it first).
Theatrical here.
I would love a seamless branching edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture that has the theatrical, special longer version and director's edition. But it likely will never be.
That would be absolutely amazing! I was thinking the same thing awhile ago. The technology is there to pull it off and the most recent bluray transfer is beautiful, so that investment has already been made. The CGI and editing for the DE just needs to be brought in.
According to the DVD commentaries, that ladder-climbing moment was evidently the very last scene Leonard Nimoy shot during his final day on the picture. Could've factored somewhat into his line-delivery, yeah.I like the dialogue, but I find Nimoy's delivery of that line very disappointing. He sounds either bored or sarcastic. Either way, I bet Spock was doing this:
I bet if it'd stayed in the final cut, they would've had Nimoy loop that line during ADR.
TMP, I prefer the SLV version, however I do like two of the new fx shots in the DE, especially the wingwalk scene. I also like the look of Vulcan in the original version better. I know it was not how Vulcan is described to be, but it gives it a very alien look.
TWOK, I prefer the ABC version. The added scenes about Preston were good. I prefer the ABC versions of the Saavik and Kirk turbolift scene and the scientists decided on what to do about Reliant scene. In those versions the dialogue feels more natural.
Also my DVD of TWOK seems to be missing quite a bit of audio in the engine room during Khan's initial attack. It is just general chaos sounds and people yelling. I remember you could hear specific things like "I need air, I need air." and Scotty telling them "Use your respirators, lads. Get back to your posts." I can't hear that on the DVD I have.
TWOK, I prefer the ABC version. The added scenes about Preston were good. I prefer the ABC versions of the Saavik and Kirk turbolift scene and the scientists decided on what to do about Reliant scene. In those versions the dialogue feels more natural.
Also my DVD of TWOK seems to be missing quite a bit of audio in the engine room during Khan's initial attack. It is just general chaos sounds and people yelling. I remember you could hear specific things like "I need air, I need air." and Scotty telling them "Use your respirators, lads. Get back to your posts." I can't hear that on the DVD I have.
Although, strictly speaking, this doesn't really mean much from a qualitative standpoint, as there are plenty of examples where a filmmaker was pressured to release a certain movie in a certain form during the initial theatrical window, only to be given the opportunity to release a better-received alternate cut months (or even years) later.
Just because it's the original theatrical version of a film, it doesn't mean that it's the "superior" version, necessarily. It's more of a case-by-case-basis type of thing. Few would actually argue that the heavily studio-compromised theatrical cut of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is in any way superior to his later Director's Cut, for example (as well as others, including Sergio Leone's far more substantive Director's Cut of Once Upon a Time in America, the "Untitled" home video version of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, and the unrated laserdisc edition of Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop).
I like the Director's or Extended versions of Trek films simply because I like to see what was missing from the theatrical cuts. (although I'm none too worried about TVH, TFF, or any of the Next Generation crew films.)
I also love the FX in the Director's Edition of TMP.
I also love the FX in the Director's Edition of TMP.
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