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Why was the budget for The Final Frontier reduced?

UK film critic Mark Kermode summed it up when he said, "You know Star Trek V is the one Bill Shatner directed because it opens with bloated, 60-year-old Captain Kirk, looking like he'd have trouble running a couple of laps round the track, free-climbing El Capitan(!), and ends with him squaring up to God."

Eh, I think a film easily can become too bombastic but there's room and fun in some wish fulfillment for the actors and/or (hopefully both) the audience.
 
Okay. Sadly, that article doesn't discuss the differences between shooting on yellow v. blue or green, because on film I'm wondering if they used some kind of CYM separation as opposed to RGB.
 
The idea of a false-prophet leading people to their doom was done already on TOS, one of the worst (but amusing) episodes, The Way to Eden.

The fact is that it would have been very difficult to find a way to extend the character arcs of the TOS crew after Trek IV. They eventually found a vehicle with Trek VI, but it was not easy.

When you move from TV to film, it really does demand more core character arc movement. The reason the last X-Film movie flopped, for instance, was that it didn't really tie into the mythology and was really just an extended episode.

All the prior Trek films had higher personal stakes. Trek IV was kind of an extended epilogue of Trek III, with the crew just happening to need to save the world which then grants them a lenient "sentence" for stealing the Enterprise.

It's only when you get to Trek V where it seems like there really isn't much story left to tell. If they had decided to finally do a TOS series (ala Phase II) that would have been a good time to do it.

Introducing a long lost brother felt much too contrived. It was bad enough to insert an old flame and an illegitimate kid in Wrath of Khan, but to continue adding relatives we've never heard of before just strained credulity.

Really, once you get a certain point in a franchise you need to know when the well has gone dry. So it's not even a problem of the writers as much as the business decision to move ahead in the first place. The odds of coming up with a script that could extend these characters for one more film were stacked against them.

I do tend to agree. There's a note of finality to the 'character arc' in STIV, although with the reset button being employed with the reintroduction of the Enterprise and everything it really left STV nowhere else to go except to tread familiar ground. ST II-III-IV feel like they've got the wind under their sails, but STV is kind of like, "Well, we've gotten here, but where do we go now?"

Of course, I know about 'The Way of Eden', but revisiting the idea was kind of relevant in 1989 because televangelism was taking hold in a brand new way in the 1980s that wasn't quite the same as 'Way to Eden's more traditional false prophet/cult leader story. Even 1989's James Bond movie 'Licence to Kill' felt the need to satirize the phenomenon. Shatner was erring in that direction initially with Sybok, but ultimately removed those aspects of the character in the finished version, instead making him merely misguided.
 
Spearhead from Space is on Blu-ray because all four episodes were actually shot on film, a first for the series.
Exactly. Because all location filming and fx was film in those days, and there's no studio work at all in it. That's before they moved to video and OB (apparently all location video was categorised as OB even when there was no B. And in the case of Greatest Show, not always O)
 
Okay. Sadly, that article doesn't discuss the differences between shooting on yellow v. blue or green, because on film I'm wondering if they used some kind of CYM separation as opposed to RGB.
I believe so, because I have half a recollection of my younger self thinking that's why they also called it chromakey because the acronym popped up in proximity to the term. I have nothing concrete on that however. There's a making of Doctor Who book from the seventies that still turns up now and again. Worth a read, especially as Interstellar seems to be partially based on Barry Letts trying to explain time travel an dimensional transcendentalism in that book.
 
I do tend to agree. There's a note of finality to the 'character arc' in STIV, although with the reset button being employed with the reintroduction of the Enterprise and everything it really left STV nowhere else to go except to tread familiar ground. ST II-III-IV feel like they've got the wind under their sails, but STV is kind of like, "Well, we've gotten here, but where do we go now?"

Of course, I know about 'The Way of Eden', but revisiting the idea was kind of relevant in 1989 because televangelism was taking hold in a brand new way in the 1980s that wasn't quite the same as 'Way to Eden's more traditional false prophet/cult leader story. Even 1989's James Bond movie 'Licence to Kill' felt the need to satirize the phenomenon. Shatner was erring in that direction initially with Sybok, but ultimately removed those aspects of the character in the finished version, instead making him merely misguided.

The studio wanted to avoid offending certain groups (rightly so for some of the stuff)
Apparently at one point Shatner wanted it to be actual God. I can't see Nimoy going for that much either. I recall reading Gene loved the idea, even though it didn't involve Spock shooting Jfk.
 
The idea of a resemblance between the plot of TFF and that of "The Way to Eden" is amusing - perhaps Sybok could have had an adherent with a futuristic gee-tar who would sometimes break into song, just like Charles Napier's Adam did periodically in the scenes leading up to and following the "concert" in the TV episode. Couldn't have hurt...
 
Not always.
And almost all the fx were film for years.

It's why you can get pertwees first story on blu ray.

Spearhead from Space is on Blu-ray because all four episodes were actually shot on film, a first for the series.

And also because it's one of the few stories where a film negative still survives. Even though Dr Who's effects (and much of it's location filming) were done on film, very little of it survived after it got transfered to tape for broadcast.

The reality is that just because something originates on film, that film doesn't necessarily still exist. Or may be in such a poor physical state that it takes a lot of effort (and money) to properly restore it. Disney has reputedly looked into the possibility of Blu Ray releases of the unaltered 'original cuts' of the Star Wars movies, but has hit a roadblock as the negatives are in such a poor state that they're almost unsalavagable.
 
I'm baffled as to why they haven't done an overhaul re-release of TFF. Kinda like they did TMP. There are fans out there who would do this for free. They're leaving money on the table. There was a campaign to raise funds to have it done by a fan years ago. In the age of Kickstarter, you'd think that'd have happened by now.
 
And also because it's one of the few stories where a film negative still survives. Even though Dr Who's effects (and much of it's location filming) were done on film, very little of it survived after it got transfered to tape for broadcast.

The reality is that just because something originates on film, that film doesn't necessarily still exist. Or may be in such a poor physical state that it takes a lot of effort (and money) to properly restore it. Disney has reputedly looked into the possibility of Blu Ray releases of the unaltered 'original cuts' of the Star Wars movies, but has hit a roadblock as the negatives are in such a poor state that they're almost unsalavagable.

Hmm. Given that we know they were scanned in at high res to even do the special effects in the first place (maybe not as high as modern film scanners) I find this...unlikely to be a trusted rumour. Even if George hated the original cuts, he archived and had teams of people archiving stuff.
But yeah..I was just thinking that about Spearhead last night. It's the first colour who on film, but some of the earlier lost serials must also have been film due to being shot on location. Or mostly location. But....lost.

There's only so far you can go with an upscale I suppose. Look at farscape.
 
I'm baffled as to why they haven't done an overhaul re-release of TFF. Kinda like they did TMP. There are fans out there who would do this for free. They're leaving money on the table. There was a campaign to raise funds to have it done by a fan years ago. In the age of Kickstarter, you'd think that'd have happened by now.

I think it's one of those cases where they definitely listen to the vocal fan voice and possibly because shatner would possibly want paying to redo it. And until recently, doing that would mean Nimoy would then have the right to recut 3 and 4 too.
They could redo 2 and take the truly really awful modern colour timing off of it while they are at it. Shatner is rarely accused of wooden acting, but he looks like he's made of mahogany with the teal and reds filter on him. (it's almost as bad as the last die hard film.)
 
The reality is that just because something originates on film, that film doesn't necessarily still exist. Or may be in such a poor physical state that it takes a lot of effort (and money) to properly restore it. Disney has reputedly looked into the possibility of Blu Ray releases of the unaltered 'original cuts' of the Star Wars movies, but has hit a roadblock as the negatives are in such a poor state that they're almost unsalavagable.

Hmm. Given that we know they were scanned in at high res to even do the special effects in the first place (maybe not as high as modern film scanners) I find this...unlikely to be a trusted rumour. Even if George hated the original cuts, he archived and had teams of people archiving stuff.

The thing that lends the rumour credibility is that George Lucas himself said at the time he did the 1997 'special editions' that the original negatives were in really bad shape even then. Though one has to wonder how Lucasfilm managed to let them get into that kind of bad shape in the first place. (Maybe the facilities where they were storing the prints weren't up the snuff?)

I do agree that the whole story could easily be just one of those 'internet things', though. ;)
 
The thing that lends the rumour credibility is that George Lucas himself said at the time he did the 1997 'special editions' that the original negatives were in really bad shape even then. Though one has to wonder how Lucasfilm managed to let them get into that kind of bad shape in the first place. (Maybe the facilities where they were storing the prints weren't up the snuff?)

I do agree that the whole story could easily be just one of those 'internet things', though. ;)
But then he threw money and computers at them. They can't have cgied all of it. And there's the dvd release of the originals to work off for restoration. It wouldn't be perfect, but it's doable. It's mainly taking stuff back out after all.

Mind you, it's rare to get these franchises back for repair or redo. Blade runner took an age and wasn't really improved.

St v with less beard would be good though. It's like clash of the titans at the end.
 
I think it's one of those cases where they definitely listen to the vocal fan voice and possibly because shatner would possibly want paying to redo it.

How much could he possibly cost? They'd make that back in a heartbeat. The effects would cost more and I'm doubting it'd be too bad. Crowdfund it if necessary. You'd get that money in a week.

And until recently, doing that would mean Nimoy would then have the right to recut 3 and 4 too.
They could redo 2 and take the truly really awful modern colour timing off of it while they are at it. Shatner is rarely accused of wooden acting, but he looks like he's made of mahogany with the teal and reds filter on him. (it's almost as bad as the last die hard film.)

I mean, you certainly could do that...but you're playing with fire messing with a film that beloved. Tweaking TMP is fine. Overhauling TFF is fine. Messing with TWOK? Where do you stop? You know they're not just gonna release a color-corrected version of TWOK, they'll have to keep screwing around till they piss people off.
 
How much could he possibly cost? They'd make that back in a heartbeat. The effects would cost more and I'm doubting it'd be too bad. Crowdfund it if necessary. You'd get that money in a week.



I mean, you certainly could do that...but you're playing with fire messing with a film that beloved. Tweaking TMP is fine. Overhauling TFF is fine. Messing with TWOK? Where do you stop? You know they're not just gonna release a color-corrected version of TWOK, they'll have to keep screwing around till they piss people off.

That's what they did though. The blu ray version is totally off compared to every version we grew up with. There's stuff on the Web about it, probably videos by now.
 
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