Asimov's name is buried way down in the end credit roll. No one was persuaded to see the movie because he got a nod for his explaining to the suits that the premise of a living machine wasn't cuckoo.
Exactly. And it's the pace and the lingering visuals that convey the sense of scale and majesty. The visuals are beautiful. No cuts !
I think the Director's cut works fine. I didn't really notice the cuts so they were not necessary for my enjoyment. But on the flip side, I'd love to have the longer version in the same quality and that's the one I would choose to watch .
Stephen Collins doesn't seem to have much range, though. Like, when Kirk informs Decker that he's taking his command, it comes off more as bickering. Neither Collins, nor Shatner are up to the task, it seems of elevating this pivotal moment. Part of it, without a doubt, must be Robert Wise, as well. Maybe he was more interested in getting scenes "in the can," as it were, than in more nuanced performances with greater inflection, or whatever. But someone earlier noted how Stephen was a remind-you-of Dave Bowman from 2001 and honestly, I never did see that, before. Even Bowman came across as kind of wooden during that performance, so I wonder if that particular style were being emulated, here. But I doubt it. Collins is just "OK," more serviceable as an actor than anything else. Wow ... this sounds familiar, but I don't know why. In any case, that's very interesting trivia, actually. Poor Persis Khambatta had to put up with so much shit on this movie. Having her head completely shaved clean was a very emotional experience for her, she gets blinded by the probe FX, her neck had a round tan spot from wearing the Ilia neck device, she's pressured into doing the shower scene naked, she's made to wear next to nothing on a set that I'm sure was not always climate controlled to accommodate her ... it was all more than the job was worth, I'm sure. But she took it like a champ and delivered a very memorable performance. Even when Ilia and Decker have that brief scene where they "clear the air" a little bit, she emotes quite well. It's just a shame, though, that Persis doesn't seem to have done much else after TMP. Maybe she married some wealthy tycoon or some shite and didn't have to work.
Yes, Persis Khambatta was almost 50, so she'd had a good run. By then (and by that age, of course), her triumphs in the movie industry were well-behind her.
The difference was to clearly establish that she wasn't human. Personally I thought it was rather striking, at least visually.
Here's Persis Khambatta getting her head shaved for the role by Fred Phillips, the makeup man for ToS and TMP, I believe and Gene Roddenberry even makes an appearance. I honestly don't know why they wanted Ilia to be bald. Most women don't have the face required to do all the "work," without hair to frame their face and compliment their looks. It would take a woman of unusual beauty to pull that off, which -- of course -- Persis did. It might've made Ilia seem even more exotic, which seems what they were going for, casting her in the first place. But it was kind of unfair to any actress to have her rely on a wig, which can seem very unnatural, in other parts she might've otherwise played at the time. To say nothing of going out, in public, in that condition. Still in all ... Persis Khambatta gave it her best shot and really left a big impression in the face of all that ...
I do like this Idea, but playing devil's advocate here, would V'Ger have allowed any of the Klingon ships to approach after they fired on it? (That was one thing I never understood, was why the Klingon's would just start shooting at what is seemingly a Giant Luminescent Cloud, at least have some throwaway dialog of one of the Klingons saying they detected a large vessel inside and that it has not responded to their hails or something, I just tell myself that happened before the what takes place on film.) Also, would the Klingons have been able to figure out that V'ger was sending a radio transmission and decypher it in time? I always got the feeling it was thanks to the Enterprise's super state of the art computers that Kirk and Crew. even detected it in time to save themselves....I think you'd need to rework that whole scene of who V'ger "chooses" to let in, like maybe when it detects a new type of lifeform, it collects it for study by pulling it inside, there would need to be a lot of reworking to explain away the Klingons not trying to shoot their way out of V'Ger and V'Ger not wiping them out in retaliation, while still keeping up that V'Ger is seemingly dangerous.
So, this wasn't good enough for you? UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR: UNFAMILIAR WEAPONRY INTRUDER UNIDENTIFIED BELIEVE LUMINESCENT CLOUD TO BE ENORMOUS POWER FIELD SURROUNDING ALIEN VESSEL OUR SENSOR SCANS UNABLE TO PENETRATE IMPERIAL KLINGON CRUISER AMAR CONTINUING TO ATTACK http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=603&pid=63223#top_display_media http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=603&pid=63224#top_display_media http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=603&pid=63225#top_display_media
Is it possible that the Klingon ships and Epsilon nine were not destroyed but just converted into data memory patterns?
Since Spock saw Epsilon IX on his spacewalk and even mentioned it and since the Klingon commander was visible during his mind meld, I would say that's a definite "Yup."
I always thought that was the Epsilon Stations computer, not the Translator stating what the Klingons were saying, in the Directors Edition I believe that bit of dialog was removed, and in all the times I've seen the film, I've never read what was on the display, learn something new everyday I suppose.
Saying "our sensor scans unable to penetrate" is a pretty big clue that it's a translation of what the Klingon commander is saying. Dropping that dialog is just one of the many "brilliant" contributions of the so-called DE.
Yeah I just always assumed that was the stations computers saying "its" sensor scans unable to penetrate, and was giving a running commentary on it's readings, and the battle, sort of like the stations own "Siri" Talking computers that spoke casually were depicted quite a bit in 70's scifi. But as I said earlier, it does make sense that the computer was just Translating the Klingon Captains transmission back to high command. I need to watch the theatrical cut again soon.
going by this trailer anyone would think TMP was not just the greatest Trek film but the greatest SF film ever made