22 years in the making, and worth the wait!!!
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was, until now, a classic example of a film which suffered from a rushed post-production. It is well known in ST fandom how the film that was originally hired to do the effects for this movie bascially fell flat on their collective face, leaving Robert Wise and Co. with only a few months to start from scratch on their effects, and a release date that was carved in stone. They went to superhuman effort in order to get everything done by the deadline, and they barely made it. The final effects sequences actually had to be physically spliced into hundreds of copies of the film, right before their delivery to theaters! The fact that the effects were as good as they were is truly miraculous. This is the most cinematic of all the ST movies to date, although The Wrath of Khan comes pretty close. The soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith is one of the GREATEST film scores ever.
Of course, the main feature of this DVD is the fact that Robert Wise got to go back...
Star Trek: The New Motion Picture (advanced screening)
I got the DVD about 4 hours ago. The second that I peeled all those security stickers off my DVD box, I popped it open, place the disc in my player, turned up the Dolby Digital, my super sub-woofer... my high density screen, shut down all light sources, put my PowerMac G4 to sleep, turned off my phones, and laid back for what I hoped would be a nice treat.
Paramount should be ashamed of themselves. This edit should be in theaters. This isn't a minor achievement in quality increase. This is now a great film. I am literally stunned right now.
It isn't a matter of effects, so much as it is about dynamics of motion... The tightening of scenes.... Little tweaks here and there.... An added scene here, a missing one here... Revealing more about the characters, keeping a character from being less than he should be.
First off, the Visual Effects shots are absolutely superior, while remaining exactly of the same palette as the original film. These new shots add a consistent sense of...
The Human Adventure is Just Beginning
In December of 1979, when Star Trek The Motion Picture was released, it was apparent to audiences that this was no ordinary "shoot 'em up" science fiction movie--this was a serious film with complex plotting and "big" ideas. Yet, somehow the whole film seemed "off," and lacking the TV show's charm. What was not generally known at the time was that, with the premiere date looming and numerous visual effects sequences not completed--and never having had a test screening--Director Robert Wise basically assembled what he could and physically carried the print to the film's debut. (The final visual effects sequence was literally cut into individual prints of the film before they were express shipped to theaters.)
It says something for Wise's ability to work under pressure (he edited Citizen Kane, after all) that, despite mixed reviews, no major critics were able to deduce that they were viewing an unfinished film. It's also a testament to everyone involved in the project...
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