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Wrath of Khan deleted scene audio clip.

I think I would have preferred Kirk not know, it gives finding out more dramatic impact and spares Kirk from coming across as a deadbeat dad.
 
It's completely insane that you have to physically travel to UCLA in order to view the workprint. How has this not been released on home media? None of the TWOK deleted scenes or alternative takes have appeared, despite everyone knowing they exist.

Who or what is the blocker here? Nick Meyer?
 
I think I would have preferred Kirk not know, it gives finding out more dramatic impact and spares Kirk from coming across as a deadbeat dad.

Meyer agreed, he was the writer after all, but the studio overruled. He fought with them over a lot of changes. Finally when they said to cut out the Kirk/David scene in Kirk's cabin did he say "enough, the scene stays or I go."
 
It's completely insane that you have to physically travel to UCLA in order to view the workprint. How has this not been released on home media? None of the TWOK deleted scenes or alternative takes have appeared, despite everyone knowing they exist.

Who or what is the blocker here? Nick Meyer?

It's amazing that they are so obtuse. If they offered the workprint as an extra, as rough as it is, they could sell thousands of copies of TWOK again and not even spend a penny on restoration.
 
It's amazing that they are so obtuse. If they offered the workprint as an extra, as rough as it is, they could sell thousands of copies of TWOK again and not even spend a penny on restoration.
This is why I can only assume there is someone who won't let it happen, because other films have had deleted scenes released.

Though not all. There are still scenes from Generations and Insurrection that haven't been released, most notably the Quark scene. But that's supposedly about clearing them for release, which costs. The TWOK scenes just feature the same actors.

It's a mystery.
 
It's completely insane that you have to physically travel to UCLA in order to view the workprint. How has this not been released on home media? None of the TWOK deleted scenes or alternative takes have appeared, despite everyone knowing they exist.

Who or what is the blocker here? Nick Meyer?
Luckily, I'm based in SoCal, so it wasn't a pain to get over to the campus. Even the procedure of booking the appointment and checking in were all super simple.

The rights for these archival materials are always nebulous. I'm sure even Paramount's legal department doesn't know how to untangle the paper trail for getting it back in their hands for any kind of release. The comforting thing is UCLA is taking good care of the original item - the VHS itself was digitized at some point, so the copy I watched was off a DVD.
 
He did what SHE wanted. He stayed away.
Either way doesn’t really do Carol justice. I think her keeping it a secret is better than telling him to stay away.
This is why I can only assume there is someone who won't let it happen, because other films have had deleted scenes released.
It must have something to do with ownership rights of the workprint, but one would think that Paramount owns everything. One would also assume that the alternate footage, other workprints, etc., are still also accessible in Paramount’s archives, that even if there was something to do with UCLA it wouldn’t be an issue.
 
Yeah, it's possible that Paramount no longer has the original film that made up the workprint - but the fact that they could reassemble the extended cut (with alt takes as well as deleted scenes) in 4K suggests they have at least some of it.
 
Luckily, I'm based in SoCal, so it wasn't a pain to get over to the campus. Even the procedure of booking the appointment and checking in were all super simple.

The rights for these archival materials are always nebulous. I'm sure even Paramount's legal department doesn't know how to untangle the paper trail for getting it back in their hands for any kind of release. The comforting thing is UCLA is taking good care of the original item - the VHS itself was digitized at some point, so the copy I watched was off a DVD.

Was it in B&W and squeezed horizontally into 4x3 still
 
Wait, it was paramount that donated the workprint in the first place -- UCLA wouldn't have the courtesy and gratitude to burn paramount a copy? It's not like they would be asking it back and UCLA wouldn't have it anymore.
 
Was it in B&W and squeezed horizontally into 4x3 still
Yes and yes. Sometimes it looked like it had a shade of color left, but it was mostly B&W. It was probably telecined from a source 35mm print without the anamorphic lens to unsqueeze the image.
 
This is why I can only assume there is someone who won't let it happen, because other films have had deleted scenes released.

Though not all. There are still scenes from Generations and Insurrection that haven't been released, most notably the Quark scene. But that's supposedly about clearing them for release, which costs. The TWOK scenes just feature the same actors.

It's a mystery.

Doubt this will happen, but it'd be cool if they released the Quark scene on Paramount+ on like The Ready Room, or something - a nice gift to fans.
 
I don’t know anything about film preservation, but is the UCLA setup sustainable? As it’s still accessible after all these years, I assume they’re not overwhelmed with demand, but how many times can the same film be played? Or has it been digitized? Just wondering if I need to move it up on my bucket list.
 
Trek 4 has practically no deleted scenes. Sarek and Chapel 4 lines of dialogue & Kirk and Saavik mentioning her "condition"-- maybe 8 lines. Besides that, really nothing to speak of.
There are about 120 lines of dialogue cut from the entire script!! That's nothing. Damn tight script that thankfully they didn't hack up.
 
He did what SHE wanted. He stayed away.
Either way doesn’t really do Carol justice. I think her keeping it a secret is better than telling him to stay away.

My interpretation of what happened, going by the dialogue and the actors' performances:
  • Carol, either pregnant with David or raising him as a very young 1-3 year old, is finally fed up with Kirk always being away on space missions for months or years at a time: "Jim, we can't go on like this. It's us or Starfleet. It can't be both."
  • Kirk: "How dare you? I won't stand for ultimatums. Good luck, then, sister."
  • Carol: "Jim, if you're really gonna leave me and your son for a damn captain's chair, don't you ever come back. You hear? Never!" (presses the "slam" button for the door.)
It doesn't have to be those exact words of course (lol), but in Carol and Jim's conversation, she's the one who sounds bitter and exasperated (like "of course I didn't tell him") while Kirk looks resigned, as if he knows deep down he either deserves this or otherwise only has himself to blame. It definitely sounds to me like there was more to Carol keeping David in the dark about Jim than simple vindictiveness.

So, making a guess with the info we have, to me it makes the most sense that Kirk chose Starfleet over his family, and an appalled Carol made him permanently own that decision, and then decided David was better off not knowing his father skipped town (er, solar system) for giddy space thrills over being there to raise him.

I suspect David at some point put 2 and 2 together without really caring to confirm it with mother ("that overgrown boy scout you used to see"), and this subconsciously (or maybe just consciously) fueled his inherent distrust over military institutions and the way they use civilian scientists.
 
Meyer agreed, he was the writer after all, but the studio overruled. He fought with them over a lot of changes. Finally when they said to cut out the Kirk/David scene in Kirk's cabin did he say "enough, the scene stays or I go."

The way Meyer recalls this in his autobiography didn't make much sense to me. He claims there was a specific studio exec who objected to Kirk being a deadbeat dad and demanded they change that aspect... Except what ended up happening was Kirk went from not knowing he had a son at all, to Kirk having known all along and his son's mother wanting him to stay the hell away from them, which sounds like it went the opposite direction to me. Maybe there's further details or context I'm missing.
 
Yes, intent or not they turned Kirk into a deadbeat dad. Whereas originally, he simply didn't know he had a son. The original way Meyer told the story was that the studio executive said, "how could Kirk not know?" But later Meyer told a different story. The real reason was that Shatner complained that the kid beat him in the fight and he wanted it re-shot so Kirk wins. But they used the re-shoot to minimize the whole relationship. Shatner hated the idea of a son anyway.
 
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