What commentary tracks would you strongly recommend listening to on the DVDs/Blu-rays?

[cultcross]

Yeah, Stuard Baird sounds like he showed up because he had to, not because he was interested in leaving an interesting commentary. I fell asleep during that commentary.

That commentary is awful, and barely mentions Star Trek in the context of the franchise at all. I remember early on Kate Mulgrew's cameo didn't even get a mention.

I listened to Nicholas Meyers TWOK commentary yesterday as I thought it might give insight into his vision of Trek in preparation for the new series - it certainly does. He's no Genes Vision true believer, that's for certain. He also talks about a lot of things he wanted to change but didn't have the clout (sound in space, for example). Well now he does!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I listened to Nicholas Meyers TWOK commentary yesterday as I thought it might give insight into his vision of Trek in preparation for the new series - it certainly does. He's no Genes Vision true believer, that's for certain. He also talks about a lot of things he wanted to change but didn't have the clout (sound in space, for example). Well now he does!

That doesn't necessarily mean that he will, however. Meyer has also talked about Star Trek being old wine poured into new bottles, and as something similar to the Catholic Mass -- Something that can be reinterpreted in different ways, but is still the same in many ways.

 

[eyeresist]

Nicholas Meyer's commentaries on STII and VI are both great if you're a fan of those movies. Very informative and Meyer is never at a loss for what to say.

The commentaries released in the 2000's are for the most part much better than the more recent ones. In Meyer's later commentary for TWOK, it's sadly obvious that he's forgotten a lot about making the movie and doesn't really have any new insights; best to stick with his original commentary.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Audio_commentary

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The commentaries released in the 2000's are for the most part much better than the more recent ones. In Meyer's later commentary for TWOK, it's sadly obvious that he's forgotten a lot about making the movie and doesn't really have any new insights; best to stick with his original commentary.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Audio_commentary

Those were the ones that I was referring to. I haven't heard any of the BluRay commentaries.

 

[eyeresist]

Not just on blu. I have the new commentaries on a recent DVD boxset.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Okay. I still haven't heard them, as I haven't bought any of the original Trek films since the Director's Editions were released on DVD.

 

[ScottDS]

Of the new Blu-Ray commentaries, only the Ron Moore/Michael Taylor track for Star Trek III is really worth listening to. Both have a lot of insight into Trek and what makes it work, despite neither having worked on the film. I honestly don't remember any of the other tracks, except David Carson gets a few things wrong on the Generations track and he and Manny Coto (who acts as moderator) go off on a few too many tangents.

On the other hand... of the original commentaries, you can't go wrong with Nick Meyer's track for Star Trek II and the Moore/Braga tracks for Generations and First Contact.

Meyer is as erudite as ever (I wish I had a nickel for all the references and names he drops in his interview for the expanded soundtrack album!) and he has a lot of good insight into how to tell a story, work with actors (the more takes Shatner did, the better he got), etc.

Generations is one of the most candid commentaries I've ever heard. Neither of them are completely happy with the way the film came out. They feel the Nexus wasn't properly defined or explored, the pairing of Kirk and Picard wasn't nearly as big as it should've been, and neither has an answer for any of the time travel plot holes or things like Picard's "echo." ("If Picard has an echo in the Nexus, does Kirk have one, too?") What's even more interesting are their anecdotes about working on the show. Braga is ashamed of their reliance on technobabble and both admit that no one really knew what Guinan's powers were or even the extent of Troi's powers for that matter. Moore says they basically resorted to making her a glorified cruise ship social director.

 

[BillJ]

Of the new Blu-Ray commentaries, only the Ron Moore/Michael Taylor track for Star Trek III is really worth listening to.

I've never cared about the opinions of people who didn't work on a particular film. Lots of us know Trek and have great insights. Doesn't mean we belong on a commentary track for something we had nothing to do with.

 

[arch101]

I realize many would consider it creepy because of recent events, but, I actually liked Stephen Collins' commentary on the TMP-DE disc. His unique position as a new guy dropped into a world-famous franchise gave him a different viewpoint as opposed to the other actors. He also really helps define Decker better to the viewer. The commentary I wish I could have: Shatner and Nimoy from the same film. For other reasons: bringing their tv characters back to life, working with Robert Wise, etc.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've never cared about the opinions of people who didn't work on a particular film. Lots of us know Trek and have great insights. Doesn't mean we belong on a commentary track for something we had nothing to do with.

Yes. Even when it's a film historian or someone who knows a great deal about that particular film, those can be a bit of a slog.

My main exception to that rule is Roger Ebert. On the rare occasions he did commentary on a film like Casablanca or Citizen Kane, it was one he knew really, REALLY well, and he was never at a loss for words. I hate awkward silences on audio commentaries. They're impossible to skip because you never know how long they're going to last.

The Okuda text commentaries on the Trek films aren't bad, as they're just occasional pop-ups that go along with the movie. Commentaries that are compiled from a lot of separate interviews are rough, as they can have a lot of gaps and rarely match what is going on onscreen. Most of the James Bond films had commentaries like that.

 

[somebuddyX]

These aren't for films but I'm suggesting it anyway: Mike Sussman's commentaries for In A Mirror Darkly were pretty cool and made me appreciate a lot of little things in those episodes. Also not what you asked but I loved Ron Moore's BSG commentaries in how open he was about crafting an episode and didn't shy away from criticism and even if he messed up there was a reason why it might be that way.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I haven't listened to it in ages, but I remember really liking the Shatner/Nimoy commentary track on STIV. The two of them had an easy camaraderie with each other that made listening to the commentary very inviting. About the only thing I remember them saying in it is that neither one was terribly fond of Kirk becoming an Admiral. They both agreed that "Commodore Kirk" had a nice ring to it, however (I concur!).

This thread inspired me to re-listen to a couple of the movie commentaries. Over the last couple of days I listened to both the William & Liz Shatner commentary on STV and the Shatner/Nimoy commentary on STIV. It was nice to hear what thoughtful, intelligent guys they both were, although Nimoy definitely has a better memory than Shatner does. It's fascinating to hear Shatner talk about acting and storytelling, though. Shatner & Nimoy are obviously responding to an off-mic interviewer who's trying to goose things along with the occasional question, but there are still a fair amount of pauses in the conversation.

I was totally misremembering the "Commodore Kirk" thing on the STIV commentary, though. Shatner & Nimoy do say that they both prefer Kirk being a Captain, but neither of them says anything about Kirk being promoted to Commodore instead. So I don't know where I got that from.

 

[Gaith]

Just rewatched the Moore/Braga First Contact commentary... it's pretty funny to hear them wonder aloud just what the mysterious and forgotten Picard/Queen connection was, and how they admit they just pulled those lines out of their asses to give Picard a stake in the scene.

And while I don't love the movie, damn does it ever look great. Shot after shot just pops with beautiful lighting, costumes, and perfect compositions.

 

[eyeresist]

I recently ordered the region 1 release of the Alternate Realities fan collective, which has one episode commentary on each of the 5 DVDs. I know the commentary for Twilight is a podcast that wasn't on the ENT DVD release. My question is, are the other commentaries also unique to this release?

Disc 1 audio commentary for DS9's "Crossover" by David Livingston
Disc 2 audio commentary for TNG's "Parallels" by Brannon Braga
Disc 3 audio commentary for TOS's "The Enemy Within" by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Disc 4 audio commentary for TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" by David Carson
Disc 5 audio commentary for ENT's "Twilight" by Mike Sussman & Tim Gaskill (originally created as a StarTrek.com podcast)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Disc 3 audio commentary for TOS's "The Enemy Within" by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

I don't recall audio commentaries on any of the TOS episodes on either the DVD or BluRay sets, just Okuda text commentaries, so I'd guess that that one was new to that set.

 

[ialfan]

I just listened to the Sirtis/Frakes Insurrection commentary for the first time. I didn't really learn too much from it but it was a lot of fun. Definitely the most I've enjoyed Insurrection in a long time.

I also recommend the Braga/Moore Generations and the Frakes First Contact commentaries. Both are very informative.

 

[eyeresist]

I don't recall audio commentaries on any of the TOS episodes on either the DVD or BluRay sets, just Okuda text commentaries, so I'd guess that that one was new to that set.

Thanks for responding. So maybe we are looking at five brand-new commentaries. I guess they decided to start adding some real value to the Fan Collective series - right before it was cancelled.

 

[inflatabledalek]

The TNG commentaries were ported onto the blu ray sets.

 

[BillJ]

I don't recall audio commentaries on any of the TOS episodes on either the DVD or BluRay sets, just Okuda text commentaries, so I'd guess that that one was new to that set.

A couple of episodes on the Blu-ray sets had the picture-in-picture commentaries. I don't remember if "The Enemy Within" is one of them.