The Motion Picture - I remembered it differently...

[Roboturner913]

Just watched the TMP bluray for the first time. It looks amazing. The only versions I'd ever seen were pan & scan VHS and the Director's Cut. This is a huge step up from both.

The film obviously has its issues. I don't find the pacing to be one of them, and that's coming from someone who's seen the Director's Cut probably 10 times. The special effects have held up well considering, but there are an awful lot of composition errors when it comes to blue-screen stuff.

 

[Maurice]

Wasn't his name Mark Okrund or something like that?

Okrund ...

Okrand. Google is your friend.

 

[Procutus]

Just watched the TMP bluray for the first time. It looks amazing. The only versions I'd ever seen were pan & scan VHS and the Director's Cut. This is a huge step up from both.

Do you mean to say those are the only 'home-video' versions you've seen, or that you didn't get to see the theatrical release on the big-screen? It looked great in '79, but I think it's even better on BD - it was like seeing it for the first time all over again.

At the risk of sounding like an old-fashioned broken record, I wish to hell that Paramount would release the BD for individual sale. It's really the only one I want to own for re-watching.

 

[Roboturner913]

Do you mean to say those are the only 'home-video' versions you've seen, or that you didn't get to see the theatrical release on the big-screen?

My dad says he took me to see it on opening night but I would only have been 2 or 3 months old. I got into Star Trek before the DVD era began so the only thing available was VHS, and widescreen VHS movies weren't exactly common.

Comparing DVD and Bluray is not really fair but I was surprised at how much better the bluray looks compared to the Director's Cut on DVD. I wonder if we'll ever see the latter in HD.....

I bought the bluray box set at a used DVD store today for 40 bucks. I hate the slim packs but I might try to create and print my own covers so I can use full-size cases. Yes, I am that OCD.

 

[SMC]

The film obviously has its issues. I don't find the pacing to be one of them, and that's coming from someone who's seen the Director's Cut probably 10 times. The special effects have held up well considering, but there are an awful lot of composition errors when it comes to blue-screen stuff.

Yes, the inceased resolution and improved colour balance of the blu ray do show up a lot more effects problems than the DVD release - plenty of "holes" in various layers that you can see backgrounds through that you shouldn't see. You'll see this sort of thing in any optically composited film but normally they had time to do more rigorous quality control on their compositing - a luxury they didn't have on TMP. Problem being that the original effects contractor for the film was experiencing all kinds of delays and technical difficulties which resulted in them being fired six months before release date - that's when Doug Trumbull and Doug Dykstra's effects houses were brought in with the task of doing 18 months worth of effects work in 6.... The thing I find remarkable though is that despite the insane schedule and the very different techniques used by the two effects houses, it mostly looks very good and very cohesive as if it was all done by one contractor.

Strangley in the european market they did release every Trek blu ray separately. If you have a region-free blu ray player just order a european copy of ST:TMP (I think the Trek films were all region free anyway but check before you buy!)

 

[Tulin]

I just saw this movie for the first time. I don't know which cut it was--whatever is on Netflix's instant watch.

It's the theatrical cut minus the overture. It's also missing the subtitles during the opening Klingon battle and the Vulcan masters scene.

Neil

How's that possible? Without subtitles those scenes would be incomprehensible.

Not if you speak Klingon and Vulcan......and MY GOD your avatar is HAAAAAAWWWWWWWWTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Procutus]

Strangley in the european market they did release every Trek blu ray separately. If you have a region-free blu ray player just order a european copy of ST:TMP (I think the Trek films were all region free anyway but check before you buy!)

I'm giving some thought to that. I believe that our Sony S370 is a region-free player, so if I can find a copy online that won't break the bank, I'll most likely go that route.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Not a retcon, that's something that is "made up" later. The woman's name might have been created later (I not sure about that), but her basic identity was always part of the backstory.

Roddenberry coined the Lori Ciana name for the novelization, but in "In Thy Image", Kirk's post-TOS lover was named Alexandra.

 

[Therin of Andor]

widescreen VHS movies weren't exactly common.

They did do a VHS set of all the movies in widescreen (TMP to "Generations"). It had a set of enamelled pins and a placeholder cardboard sleeve for "First Contact" - so that we could add that movie to the box when it came out. When TMP first came out on video, it was the "pan & scan" theatrical. Then the "Special Longer Version" came out, also pan & scan, and essentially replaced the theatrical. This new widescreen boxed set was a return to the theatrical version for TMP, although the liner notes on the sleeve gave the longer (incorrect) running time.

 

[Procutus]

^


I remember that set, now that you've mentioned it. If I hadn't already collected all seven films individually at that point, I probably would've bought the set (though that was in the days when we just has a standard, 20-something inch set and I had yet to embrace the letterboxed concept).

Paramount just loves to re-issue these things, so we'll see what form the next batch takes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wish to hell that Paramount would release the BD for individual sale. It's really the only one I want to own for re-watching.

Surely someone has bought the set and is eBaying their TMP disk.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Wouldn't it be possible to get it from Amazon.co.uk?

 

[Procutus]

I wish to hell that Paramount would release the BD for individual sale. It's really the only one I want to own for re-watching.

Surely someone has bought the set and is eBaying their TMP disk.

That was my thought too, but I'm still looking. I also prowl the Blu-Ray section at our local Half-Price Books hoping to get lucky.

 

[Procutus]

Wasn't his name Mark Okrund or something like that?

Okrund was only brought in on Star Trek III which had dramatically more spoken Klingon and Vulcan than previous films, thus a more developed "language" was needed for the sake of consistency and believability.

James Doohan (Scotty) who I believe was an amateur linguist) came up with what was used in ST:TMP - Okrand used those phrases as a starting point for his more fleshed out Klingon and Vulcan langauges.

I finally got around to checking Sackett's book for references to the Vulcan and Klingon languages, but the only thing I found was in a memo from Roddenberry to Robert Wise, reprinted on Page 198, where Gene makes the suggestion that having the Vulcans speaking English would seem like a cheat after having the Klingons speaking their own language. There's no indication in the memo who developed either language.

Back when TMP was in production, I kept a binder that included Sackett's Starlog columns and other articles about the making of the film. I still have it somewhere - and it's possible that one of her monthly columns covered the language issue in more detail.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Back when TMP was in production, I kept a binder that included Sackett's Starlog columns and other articles about the making of the film. I still have it somewhere - and it's possible that one of her monthly columns covered the language issue in more detail.

She was a contributor for an official fan newsletter that could be bought on subscription via Lincoln Enterprises, Majel's mail order company. It covered TAS in the mid 70s and moved onto TMP in the late 70s, then TNG in the 80s.

 

[SAndrews10]

When the script was first delivered for TMP didn't anyone raise a hand and ask "DIDN'T YOU DO THIS ALREADY? YOU'RE SERIOUSLY REHASHING ONE OF YOUR OWN EPISODES INTO A MOVIE?"

 

[Kaziarl]

this might be pertinent to your languages discussion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph77eTMZIhs&playnext=1&list=PL001AE740398373B6

It's one video, broken into five parts. And I believe he also talks about how it all got started.

 

[Galileo7]

When the script was first delivered for TMP didn't anyone raise a hand and ask "DIDN'T YOU DO THIS ALREADY? YOU'RE SERIOUSLY REHASHING ONE OF YOUR OWN EPISODES INTO A MOVIE?"

On a totally different note GENERATIONS 1994 movie in which Kirk is aboard the newly launched 1701-B and he is lost into the nexus. Forget the whole nexus idea. I wish they had remade the NG "Yesterday's Enterprise" episode and had the 1701-B with Kirk, Scotty and Chekov go through a temporal rift to encounter the 1701-D. I would have loved to see Kirk, Scotty(NG"Relics" reference could be injected telling they will see him again) and Chekov meeting/interacting with the NG cast. Then have Kirk sacrifice his life to save both the 1701-B and the 1701-D. A hero's death(not bury him up on a mountain; another dumb scene in Generations...why didn't Picard have Kirk's body brought back to earth to be buried with starfleet honors. Afterall, he had been M.I.A. for seventy plus years).

 

[Therin of Andor]

When the script was first delivered for TMP didn't anyone raise a hand and ask "DIDN'T YOU DO THIS ALREADY? YOU'RE SERIOUSLY REHASHING ONE OF YOUR OWN EPISODES INTO A MOVIE?"

The movie is "Based on Star Trek", it says so in the credits. There is no rule that a TV episode can't be remade as a movie. ST:TMP was aimed at the general populace. Diehard Star Trek fans only made up an estimated 10% of total audiences (although this is skewed because so many fans would have seen the movie over and over again).

"In Thy Image", the unshot "Phase II" telemovie, was based upon an unused "Genesis II"/"Planet Earth" script called "Robot's Return", which in turn was reminiscent of ideas and concepts used in TOS ("The Changeling") and "One of Our Planets is Missing" (TAS). But TMP explored many other areas that were not a part of "The Changeling": Spock's kolinahr, Kirk vs Decker, Ilia/Decker...

 

[SAndrews10]

I know you're right Therin, but it just sticks in my side whenever I watch the TMP (which I just did this past Sunday) I keep expecting someone on the Enterprise to go, REALLY ANOTHER LOST PROBE??!!