My one-line review is that it's still the Director's Edition, but moreso. I honestly don't mind that much. Things that have niggled at me since 2001 are almost all still there to niggle at me, but I'd already been thinking about doing a fan-edit that was 95% the DE back when it looked like it'd never make it to HD, so part of me is kind of happy that the "David Edition" would still be worth doing (and with a lot less menial scut-work on my part!). Assuming I ever do it (amusingly enough, the one fix I'd actually roughed out a quick-and-dirty mock-up of isn't in the version).
First, the compliments; the new audio mix, less my specific complaints that go back to the original DE, is wonderful. They got rid of a couple of their excesses (the "whiplash energy bolt" is mostly back to its original sound effect, sans monkey-screaming), and the new ADR takes are wonderful. A lot of them sound like they're just more pristine copies of the same takes (though, given that these are professional actors, it's entirely possible they're all-new recordings and the performances just match that closely). Others are subtly different, but I think better (Kirk's first Captain's log, for instance), and a few really elevate the material (the new take of Ilia's second, plaintive, "The creator must join with V'Ger" is better for having none of the probe-voice in it, and a bit of Ilia's Theme in the background. The real Ilia being back at the end of that sequence is pretty important for the whole walking-into-the-light-with-Decker bit to make sense). Also, the brand-new lines were welcome; lot of Chekov in there, but also Kirk's "Who the hell is it signaling?" I'm especially happy because I'm normally weirded out and uncomfortable with alternate takes used in classic movies I know by heart (I once saw a fan-edit of Star Wars that replaced once character's entire performance with the version from the mono mix of the movie instead of the version that had been used on home-video. So weird).
The original VFX shots that were able to be recomposited looked amazing. Pin-sharp, and you could very nearly tell them from the as-is 1979 shots by eye the improvement is so great. Even the ones that weren't still got some TLC in some cases, additional matte-clean-up over and above what was done in 2001 in the drydock scene, and some stars added into previously-black backgrounds. The new CG Earth is also a stand-out, matching the 1979 paintings and photos much more closely than the one they used in 2001. I also liked the new-new computer screen on Epsilon Nine split the difference between the text transcript of the TE and the cloud image of the DE, and the text crawl added to the end of the recording of the Klingon being vaporized.
Overall, just the additional recovered material being incorporated makes this a more-than-I-could've-hoped upgrade of the DE. But, since I'm me, and we're us, some nitpicks I noticed.
The CG effects don't seem to set in as well as they did in the old version. Part of that might be 4K being less forgiving that DVD resolution, but I think some of the issues were avoidable. I think there was overall a lighter touch with film grain and color-correction to match the look of the '70s shots, possibly in an attempt to match the recomposited '70s shots, but I think the touch was a bit too light. The example where I was sure it wasn't just a matter of taste or familiarity bias was near the end, where Ilia is standing next to the viewscreen on the bridge as the pillar-walkways around the V'Ger island begin to form. The new VFX on the screen are way, way sharper than the live-action footage around it.
As noted, the new Officer's Lounge rotoscoping is very rough. I'm guessing they couldn't find the original bluescreen footage for that and had to do what they could with the discolored and already-composited version from the theatrical release. Also, I feel like either the background should've been brightened, or the foreground darkened, they didn't seem to match. Also as noted, the redone tram station matte has some issues. I wondered while I was watching if maybe they'd intentionally degraded their alterations to look more painterly. A number of the CG shots had an odd fringing around them, possibly an attempt to add bloom, but it didn't go well if so. I noticed it on the trailer, but I didn't mention it since I hoped it was just YouTube compression. And count me in among the not-fans of the edge-sparkles on the opening titles.
The shot looking down at the orbital office from above (the one we got a preview screencap of a while ago) seemed to have frozen film grain over it. That could be a compression glitch from the upload, but I doubt it. I think I saw a white-frame glitch from the TE that was trimmed out in 2001, but without going frame-by-frame, it's impossible to check (in the long shot going towards the Enterprise in drydock from the front). Also in that sequence, I'm not sure how I feel about the station receding and the Enterprise growing when the Pod is traveling between them. It's a pretty 2D effect, it feels a little Adywan to me, and not in a good way. My note would probably be to keep it, but dial it down to maybe a tenth as much motion.
I still hate the new red-alert klaxon, and I hate that it lingers on so long, and I hate that it seems to sound even more like it came out of a Moog synthesizer. All the other new alarms sound fine to great, but I guess they just really liked that one as much as I disliked it.
Overall, very pleased. If anything, even more pleased there's still some room for me to make my no-budget-but-infinite-time Definitive David Edition (I hope the engineering scene isn't the only deleted scene that's going to be fully restored to release quality on the disc, I still miss some SLV lines). What can I say, it's an exciting time to love TMP.
First, the compliments; the new audio mix, less my specific complaints that go back to the original DE, is wonderful. They got rid of a couple of their excesses (the "whiplash energy bolt" is mostly back to its original sound effect, sans monkey-screaming), and the new ADR takes are wonderful. A lot of them sound like they're just more pristine copies of the same takes (though, given that these are professional actors, it's entirely possible they're all-new recordings and the performances just match that closely). Others are subtly different, but I think better (Kirk's first Captain's log, for instance), and a few really elevate the material (the new take of Ilia's second, plaintive, "The creator must join with V'Ger" is better for having none of the probe-voice in it, and a bit of Ilia's Theme in the background. The real Ilia being back at the end of that sequence is pretty important for the whole walking-into-the-light-with-Decker bit to make sense). Also, the brand-new lines were welcome; lot of Chekov in there, but also Kirk's "Who the hell is it signaling?" I'm especially happy because I'm normally weirded out and uncomfortable with alternate takes used in classic movies I know by heart (I once saw a fan-edit of Star Wars that replaced once character's entire performance with the version from the mono mix of the movie instead of the version that had been used on home-video. So weird).
The original VFX shots that were able to be recomposited looked amazing. Pin-sharp, and you could very nearly tell them from the as-is 1979 shots by eye the improvement is so great. Even the ones that weren't still got some TLC in some cases, additional matte-clean-up over and above what was done in 2001 in the drydock scene, and some stars added into previously-black backgrounds. The new CG Earth is also a stand-out, matching the 1979 paintings and photos much more closely than the one they used in 2001. I also liked the new-new computer screen on Epsilon Nine split the difference between the text transcript of the TE and the cloud image of the DE, and the text crawl added to the end of the recording of the Klingon being vaporized.
Overall, just the additional recovered material being incorporated makes this a more-than-I-could've-hoped upgrade of the DE. But, since I'm me, and we're us, some nitpicks I noticed.
The CG effects don't seem to set in as well as they did in the old version. Part of that might be 4K being less forgiving that DVD resolution, but I think some of the issues were avoidable. I think there was overall a lighter touch with film grain and color-correction to match the look of the '70s shots, possibly in an attempt to match the recomposited '70s shots, but I think the touch was a bit too light. The example where I was sure it wasn't just a matter of taste or familiarity bias was near the end, where Ilia is standing next to the viewscreen on the bridge as the pillar-walkways around the V'Ger island begin to form. The new VFX on the screen are way, way sharper than the live-action footage around it.
As noted, the new Officer's Lounge rotoscoping is very rough. I'm guessing they couldn't find the original bluescreen footage for that and had to do what they could with the discolored and already-composited version from the theatrical release. Also, I feel like either the background should've been brightened, or the foreground darkened, they didn't seem to match. Also as noted, the redone tram station matte has some issues. I wondered while I was watching if maybe they'd intentionally degraded their alterations to look more painterly. A number of the CG shots had an odd fringing around them, possibly an attempt to add bloom, but it didn't go well if so. I noticed it on the trailer, but I didn't mention it since I hoped it was just YouTube compression. And count me in among the not-fans of the edge-sparkles on the opening titles.
The shot looking down at the orbital office from above (the one we got a preview screencap of a while ago) seemed to have frozen film grain over it. That could be a compression glitch from the upload, but I doubt it. I think I saw a white-frame glitch from the TE that was trimmed out in 2001, but without going frame-by-frame, it's impossible to check (in the long shot going towards the Enterprise in drydock from the front). Also in that sequence, I'm not sure how I feel about the station receding and the Enterprise growing when the Pod is traveling between them. It's a pretty 2D effect, it feels a little Adywan to me, and not in a good way. My note would probably be to keep it, but dial it down to maybe a tenth as much motion.
I still hate the new red-alert klaxon, and I hate that it lingers on so long, and I hate that it seems to sound even more like it came out of a Moog synthesizer. All the other new alarms sound fine to great, but I guess they just really liked that one as much as I disliked it.
Overall, very pleased. If anything, even more pleased there's still some room for me to make my no-budget-but-infinite-time Definitive David Edition (I hope the engineering scene isn't the only deleted scene that's going to be fully restored to release quality on the disc, I still miss some SLV lines). What can I say, it's an exciting time to love TMP.
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