Roddenberry Vault - Running Times

[Green]

"One of the more interesting scenes might be one with several crewmembers dancing in the rec room. Which episode is that from?"

Is it in any way possible that it is from "I, Mudd"
There were definitely cut scenes where the beamed down crew were entertaining themselves on the planet after they were forced down.
It's possible the set on the "planet" looked somewhat like the rec room.

EDIT: No, it's from "Way to Eden". It's footage from before the concert.

 

[Green]

It's a lot of good and great stuff I never thought I would see! It's just that it's presented so awkwardly. It would have been so wonderful if they had just put a “Deleted Footage” section to each of the episodes.

I understand that they tried to present the new stuff more interestingly. But it seems like they overlooked the fact that the new stuff in itself is the most interesting thing about this release. The way it is now is just too confusing and inconvenient. At least for me. Another problem is that they edited the found footage too much, cuting away too early, talking over the footage and superimposing text. That's not properly preserving that stuff.

Sorry if I sound too harsh. I love having new TOS footage, I really do. But this leaves a lot to be desired.

Having seen it -- I agree with every word. They should have gone episode by episode in production order. Start with the bloopers from each episode, then alternate angles, then deleted scenes and dialogue framed with existing footage.
That would have been way better. Or simply have them in the documentaries, but ALSO include them in a "deleted only" section on disc 3 for when folks want to watch just the deleted material sans comments.

 

[Botany Bay]

Picked it up today.

I can't believe this archive survived five decades. Bless the Okudas for going through all the material.

I'm trying to pace myself, watching an episode then the deleted takes/trims/whatever. It's a bit cumbersome : you watch the episode then need to watch the extra material in a separate documentary, requiring a bit of flicking around with the remote.

I've only watched The Corbomite Maneuver so far. The only interesting morsel so far was a cut scene about a minute long between Kirk and Sulu on the bridge, where they discuss old movies and how Sulu isn't the inscrutable Asian sterotype (echoing their scene in TAS), and a mention of a world war, and hiw fortunate humanity was to survive. It was pretty goofy, but a rare moment for George Takei to do some acting. It could've used some context -- either inserted into an extended cut or have one of the Okudas explain where it's supposed to fit in.

I want to hear the Okudas, DCF, etc, not the opinions of contemporary producers telling us how wonderful Star Trek is.

Where was the scene where Rand visits Kirk in his quarters? Did it not survive?

 

[Kamdan]

The highlight clip for me was seeing Edith Keeler get hit by the car. The stunt woman had to do a ballerina twirl before she went down. I laughed non-stop!

 

[Grant]

That twirl was laughable. Thank god it was cut.
Tons of stuff that was shot is not in here. Don't know whether it is lost or they just decided not to include it.

 

[Harvey]

In the script, the Sulu scene is part of scene 110; it occurs just after Spock explains his mother considered herself a lucky Earth woman.

The only other deletion of note from the episode as shot is a short exchange in which Kirk and Spock explain to Uhura what flypaper is.

 

[JE Smith]

The real question is, "is this it?" Is this release the first in a series, or supposedly all the good stuff in one basket, with no more to follow?

 

[omnirad]

So far I have watched disc 1 special features, and the isolated music track for "The Corbomite Manuver". Had a few jaw drops for the deleted scenes, like Sulu's 'inscrutable' bit. Though the episodes themselves are redundant to my collection, owning the complete series on BD, at least new commentaries and music tracks offer value for a quadruple dipper like me.
The packaging is cool, but clumsy. Anniversary special photos surprised me with unseen pics. Foreign dubs could enhance my German...
Pacing my viewing to prolong the magic. All in all, It's the best we could expect from CBS video. Resistance is futile.

 

[Kamdan]

That twirl was laughable. Thank god it was cut.

I doubt it was actually intended to be seen on screen, but still, it was quite an effort on the stunt woman's part to come that close to the car.

 

[Botany Bay]

For years I believed there was a scene in Cormbomite where Rand delivered Kirk a uniform. There was a still of it in one of the early Compendiums.

Watched all of Disc 1 last night, and, as grateful as I am to have this product at all, I must say its frustrating so far. For example, Space Seed (the episode with the most material so far) contains a scene where Marla talks with Angela in a corridor -- they show the footage, but haven't included the audio of it. Huh? Was it not available, or a choice of the producers to have people talking over it?

Two discs to go. Hoping things improve.

 

[feek61]

Wow!
Could this have been better: yes. Is it amazing: yes. Best $40 bucks I have spent in a long time!!! I'm stoked.

 

[Green]

For years I believed there was a scene in Cormbomite where Rand delivered Kirk a uniform. There was a still of it in one of the early Compendiums.

.

It was shot. I have seen several stills of that Rand/Kirk Corbomite scene over the years.
And yes, that scene of "Angela" and McGivers is legendary and if they had more of it and audio -- disgraceful to leave it out. For years people were saying all these scenes were not shot and now we know most of them were at least partially shot. Maybe not all angles and coverage, but they were shot.
Possible worst offender is the Kirk/Lenore/Rand scene in the shuttle observation room. The set includes all the deleted dialogue AFTER Rand leaves. She is mentioned by name, but they don't show her. Those were the last lines Whitney spoke as Rand from 1966 to 1979 and I had my fingers crossed. I hope they didn't decide not to show that.

 

[Harvey]

I have now seen all of the documentaries. From the material included, is pretty obvious that CBS and Roddenberry Entertainment have included every deleted moment of interest that survived in the Roddenberry warehouse. The speculation going on here and elsewhere about why certain scenes or portions of scenes are not on the set strikes me as pointless. That footage doesn't exist. Period.

What does exist is remarkable and fascinating to see after all these years. For $39.99, I am more than happy to have this on my shelf, and grateful for all the work that must have went into curating the clips from the vault.

That said, the set is not above criticism. Most of the talking heads, frankly, add little in terms of personal insight or historical context (Marc Cushman's contribution is, thankfully, brief). Superlative upon superlative is provided about the show to the point of hyperbole. No, Star Trek did not revolutionize the use of camera movement on television. Like most documentaries about the show, the near-sightedness when it comes to other television shows of the period is absurd.

Other comments, briefly: Bob Justman is barely mentioned; Herb Solow, Fred Freiberger, John Meredyth Lucas, Steven Carabatsos, and many others aren't mentioned at all. You don't need the Roddenberry Entertainment logo appearing in front of every feature to understand their strong involvement. I really enjoyed the portions covering visual effects -- they're where the archival footage and the talking heads (especially Richard Edlund) complement each other best and are equally fascinating. I would love to know how the "original mono" on the episodes compares to previously released mixes, and if it is, in fact, the original broadcast audio.

 

[feek61]

Harvey,
Agree with your opinion of the set; I could care less what most of the interviewees had to say but the footage speaks for itself. It is fantastic to see "new" footage after all of these years. I do wish there was more footage included even if it would be redundant.

 

[johnnybear]

There is the sexy lady swinging her legs up and down in the bar from the bloopers reel which was taken during Court Martial due to us seeing Joan Marshall sitting in the corner looking perplexed at the young woman's behaviour!
JB

 

[Grant]

Footage that exists that the set doesn't include are from many episode teasers. Spock and Leila by the stream, Ferris' addition lines to Kirk from Galileo, the flame effects on the Galileo windshield that wasn't used, Dr. mulhall's alternate line before she tortures McCoy and many others. I guess they didn't know the promos included deleted and alternate footage. Also, they showed still of some deleted scenes, but many existing cut scene stills were left out. Vina from Cage, Rand footage from Corbo, Jamie Finney holding her father from Court Martial, crewmembers on the I, Mudd planet surface, "Robo-Spock" on the ship from Spock"s Brain, lot of stills from cut scenes in Elaan, those recent stills from Megarie of McCoy in the "court room", Anon talking to Sar in Anon's quarters in "Taste", etc., etc.
The snippets section at 21 minutes was 9 mintues shorter than the other 5 documentaries. Why not include all these stills with a brief discussion of the cut material?

 

[CrazyMatt]

This sounds like an interesting set, one that's reasonably priced as well. But it doesn't seem to contain much footage from my most favorite episodes, so I'll likely delay my purchase until the New Year.

 

[Botany Bay]

I finished all three discs, and I have to say things pick up quite a bit on the second and third discs. Less screen time given to interviewing people who had nothing to do with the show, and much more meat.

Disc 2 contains a wonderful collection of unused angles and shots of the Enterprise. Your breath will be taken away at how beautiful this ship looks even in lighting tests and trims, and I picked up a new appreciation for the painstaking, revolutionary effects work that these amazingly talented people pulled off. There were some truly impressive (and some not so much!) unused angles that didn't make it into any episode for whatever reason.

Disc 3 presents about half an hour of deleted scenes from all three seasons in a much, much better format. On screen text provides context for the scenes, an approach I wish they'd taken for all the clips. Seeing things like alternate takes of the "risk is our business" speech, or Decker's agony over his lost ship make the set worth picking up. Interestingly in both cases, they chose to air the much more dramatic, energetic versions.

It's not perfect : the only way you can view many clips is by flicking through the documentaries, which feature way too much of people who never worked on Star Trek, and the way its presented leaves nagging questions about whether they decided to cut audio in favour of putting interviewees talking over the top, or whether the audio doesn't exist at all. The documentaries work better when we get to hear from people like Parrish (wait till you see how she looks today -- I know thirty year olds who look older than her at eighty!), Senensky and Forrest, who were actually there.

For $35 USD it's a buy. And sincere thanks to the Okudas for once again putting in enormous amounts of work for the fans. My only feedback would be to put these unearthed clips with the relevant episodes. No doubt this will happen for the next release of the complete series.

 

[Green]

A website with a ton of rare TOS material!!

http://www.startrekhistory.com/cagepage.html

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Footage that exists that the set doesn't include are from many episode teasers. Spock and Leila by the stream, Ferris' addition lines to Kirk from Galileo, the flame effects on the Galileo windshield that wasn't used, Dr. mulhall's alternate line before she tortures McCoy and many others. I guess they didn't know the promos included deleted and alternate footage. Also, they showed still of some deleted scenes, but many existing cut scene stills were left out. Vina from Cage, Rand footage from Corbo, Jamie Finney holding her father from Court Martial, crewmembers on the I, Mudd planet surface, "Robo-Spock" on the ship from Spock"s Brain, lot of stills from cut scenes in Elaan, those recent stills from Megarie of McCoy in the "court room", Anon talking to Sar in Anon's quarters in "Taste", etc., etc.
The snippets section at 21 minutes was 9 mintues shorter than the other 5 documentaries. Why not include all these stills with a brief discussion of the cut material?

How about the wide, alternate take of Kirk and Spock leaping into the Guardian? That's from the teaser, so I'm wondering if it appears in longer form?