I'm planning to watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture soon. I've never seen it all the way through, but I've caught portions of it on TV years and years ago. Which version of it would be best to watch? I am aware of the original, and The Director's Edition. I have access to Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu.
Which version of TMP should I watch?
- Thread starter Tribble Threat
- Start date
Director's cut. Definitely.
Even the network TV cut was better than the original theatrical release cut (is that even still available?).
As I recall, the original theatrical release cut was slightly shorter, because it skipped some expository scenes, and yet it felt longer, because nobody was willing to sacrifice so much as five seconds of the absurdly expensive SFX footage of V'Ger (some of which had to be thrown out and redone) even for a few reaction shots.
Even the network TV cut was better than the original theatrical release cut (is that even still available?).
As I recall, the original theatrical release cut was slightly shorter, because it skipped some expository scenes, and yet it felt longer, because nobody was willing to sacrifice so much as five seconds of the absurdly expensive SFX footage of V'Ger (some of which had to be thrown out and redone) even for a few reaction shots.
The DE provides the most interesting, watchable version. But it is on DVD, not Blu-Ray.
The Special Longer Version (ABC-TV's premiere version and the VHS that was most easily found to buy and rent in USA) is going to be tricky to find these days. One added scene has an unfinished matte painting and visible studio rafters. Kirk leaves the ship in one spacesuit and returns in a different one.
The theatrical (and the only version on Blu-Ray) has some annoying errors and placeholder scenes. Essentially Wise's work print that had to be released before a preview crowd could see it, thus it wasn't tinkered with before its premiere.
So do you want entertainment, fun trivia or quality images?
Thanks! I'll see if I can stream The Director's Edition. If it turns out I can't stream anything, I'll buy The Director's Edition on DVD.
SPOILER ALERT———————————-
If memory serves, ST:TMP The Director’s Edition adds a deleted scene where Spock sheds a tear for v’ger.
The original looks amazing in HD. And it's got the best RED ALERT sound ever.
That male drone voice: Red Alert! Red Alert! with that stacatto warning noise behind it. Totally agree. Best ever!
The best version is the book.
Especially when Kirk is asked how long has he been dating Spock in an interview.
Especially when Kirk is asked how long has he been dating Spock in an interview.
Lol, in the novelisation that is credited to Roddenberry but was actually ghostwritten it’s mentioned that Kirk and Spock are not lovers.
"I think I would be smart enough not to start a relationship with someone who only has sex once every seven years."
Which isn't a definitive "No".
The novelization was NOT ghost-written. We have confirmed with GR's assistant, Susan Sackett, that Alan Dean Foster was not involved, only writing the "story" of "In Thy Image" (which Harold Livingston expanded into TMP), which he drew out from Gene Roddenberry's unfilmed "Genesis II" script, "Robot's Return". ADF has also confirmed to me that, until the 2009 novelization of the first Kelvinverse movie, the "story" of TMP was his last Trek work after numerous assignments in the 70s.
At the TMP Appreciation FB Group, we suspected Susan herself of co-writing it with GR, or ghosting for him. She has confirmed it was not her, although GR, as a first-time novelist, did have some minimal help from a published novelist as the deadline approached, who will continue to be unidentified. But this is not rare. Most professional authors have at least one Beta reader who helps to shape the look of the final draft. It was not a ghostwriter.
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Works for me.
The TMP novelization was definitely Roddenberry's own prose. It has the feel of someone who had worked on lots of screenplays trying to write a novel for the first time. If it had actually been ghostwritten by a professional novelist, the writing would have been much, much better.
Kor
