TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
Star Trek 1: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition [1979]
![Star Trek 1: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition [1979]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5136VSMSJNL._SL160_.jpg)
In an unprecedented display of confidence from a movie studio, Wise has been allowed to re-edit the film and commission new visual effects sequences that were planned but unrealised for the original release. The result is frankly mind-boggling. Finally we are now able to see how Vulcan was supposed to amaze and alienate us, how integral the B-crew's role was to the mission, and just how spectacular the V'ger ship was imagined to be. Is the pace problem addressed? Undoubtedly it is. Scenes are trimmed and a new "busier" effects soundtrack helps considerably. Does it look better? Definitely. The shades of beige and puce have never seemed more crisply defined. Does it sound better? Jerry Goldsmith's music score (arguably one of the best ever written) is as majestically represented as the Enterprise herself. On the DVD: Star Trek: The Motion Picture two-disc set has oodles of extra features, including a complete library of all scenes deleted from both the original and new versions. The picture quality varies throughout, but it's worth putting up with for the (Wise-ly) excised material such as the unfinished effects work. An audio commentary from Wise, special effects director John Dykstra, composer Jerry Goldsmith and Commander Decker himself (Stephen Collins) provides an appraisal for movie aficionados more than Trek fans: the latter will be far more interested in a text commentary from Trek author and scholar Mike Okuda, who points out endless amounts of in-trivia. Better even than all these are three new documentaries that chronicle the film's history from then to now. Each is brightly put together (they don't drag), informative without being overly technical, and exude a pride without bragging. --Paul Tonks DVD Special Features: Disc 1: Widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs Dolby Digital English/German 5.1 Surround Group commentary by Robert Wise, Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, Jerry Goldsmith, Stephen Collins Text commentary by Michael Okuda, co-author of "The Star Trek Encyclopedia" Feature subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, English, Arabicv, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish Commentary subtitles: English, German Disc 2: New retrospective documentaries with cast and crew interviews--"Phase II: The Lost Enterprise", "A Bold New Enterprise", "Redirecting the Future" Teaser trailer Theatrical trailer New director's edition trailer 8 TV commercials 5 additional scenes (from the 1979 theatrical version) 11 deleted scenes (from the 1983 TV version) Storyboard archive New "Star Trek: Enterprise" series promo slot The USS Enterprise proudly soars again in this new, beautifully restored Director's Edition of the original Star Trek movie classic. This new Director's Cut features enhanced visual effects and a new sound mix, supervised by legendary director Robert Wise. When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the newly transformed USS Enterprise to take command. Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and the cast from the acclaimed original Star Trek television series mobilise at warp speed to stop the alien intruder from its relentless flight toward Earth.
RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £4.98 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
It was an event that every fan had waited a decade for: the first Star Trek movie. But after its cinema release in 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture was quickly dubbed "The Slow-Motion Picture". In the opinion of general audiences, fans and critics alike, the snail-like pace of the film was a crippling flaw. It bothered one person even more, though: but Robert Wise finally got to scratch that itch when preparing this Director's Edition.
Editorial
Video Description
Editorial
Synopsis
In STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, the original crew of the Starship Enterprise from the campy 1960s TV show is reunited in this dramatic, full-length science fiction epic. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), formerly a captain, is called upon to collect his old crewmates in order to save humanity from a giant, hostile alien vessel steadily approaching Earth and destroying everything in its path. The complex alien life-forms apparently possess such an advanced intelligence that even the brilliant Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) fails to comprehend the massive structure that contains them. There is tension on the ship, as well as in the universe, as Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins), the Enterprise's new captain, is relegated to being Kirk's assistant. In addition, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), the lovable, crotchety doctor who is constantly at odds with Spock, must be tricked away from his life of relaxation to serve on a voyage he wants no part of. It's not long before the Enterprise is taken over by the alien entity, and navigator Ilia (Persis Khambatta) is abducted. When she is returned to the Enterprise, she informs Kirk that unless the entity is united with its creator, it will destroy the Earth. With excellent special effects and witty nods to the old series, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE set a new standard in sci-fi films--and paved the way for a host of excellent sequels.
Editorial
From the Back Cover
Interesting but unexciting.
Review date: 2008-07-04 Rating: 6 out of 10
The original motion picture was a decent attempt at converting star Trek from a dated TV series into a cinematic movie. The story of the first film is a very interesting one and it is well acted, produced and directed. New characters are brought in and old ones retained. The fact that Kirk is much older is delt with much more than in the follow up movies. This film has many good points but is not exciting by any means and is not a film that warrants watching over and over again.
Similar Products
- Star Trek 3: Search For Spock Se Dvd [1984]
- Star Trek 4: Voyage Home Se Dvd
- Star Trek 6 - Undiscovered Country Se [1991]
- Star Trek V : The Final Frontier Se Dvd [1989]
- Star Trek 7 -Generations Special Edition [1995]
Reviews
The original and possibly worst
Review date: 2008-01-09 Rating: 6 out of 10
This was the first Star Trek movie made and the original theatrical release didn't do to well and unfortunately, although it does improve the movie, I fell this Director's Edition still doesn't bring the film up to the standard of the subsequent Star Trek films. In the film a massively powerful alien cloud is sited on a collision course with Earth James Kirk returns to command of the recently refurbished Enterprise to investigate.
Although I have long been a fan of Star Trek I have never really been a fan of the original Star Trek crew and I feel that this is by far the weakest of the films they made. In my view this film has the feel of an extended episode of the Original Series rather than a proper movie. The special effects haven't dated well and the plot does drag terribly in places. As well as this the script is not very good and some of the performances by the supporting cast are quite bad. Having said all this the film isn't totally terrible and does have some good ideas scattered around.
Trek official alternatives
Review date: 2007-09-20 Rating: 10 out of 10
If it is Star Trek fix you are looking for, then you really ought to browsers and look for the high fan series that have been created.
Star Trek Hidden Frontier has recently finished a 7 season run,
Star Trek Odyessy looks set to take over, taking Trek to Andromeda
Helena Chronicles another spin off from Hidden Frontier set aboard the USS Helena featured in the latter episodes of HF.
Trinity a UK post production looks to be taking a darker look for a 4 part mini series at the post Nemesis era.
If you are a fan of the Original series Check out the Star New Voyages which are the continuing adventures of the Enterprise from the end of The Original Series, George Takei and Walter Koenig have both featured in recent episodes.
Starship Farragut takes Trek aboard the USS Farragut set in TOS era.
Star Trek Intrepid another UK production of high quality. with a cross over with Hidden Frontier special coming shortly.
Star Trek Of Gods and Men a by the stars of trek from the fans movie directed by Tim Russ (tuvok) featuring many of the cast of various Treks.
For all things truly Trek, look across the vastness of the internet to discover what is really going on.
The Best Star Trek Film Of Them All
Review date: 2007-06-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
Star Trek The Motion Picture (TMP)is my favourite film in the entire series. It is interesting that this is the only visualisation of a lost period in Star Trek's fictional timeline. Consider, we have the original 5 year mission which was followed by this movie (not counting the animated series)there is then a 14 year gap, fictionally as it were in time from the end of TMP and The Wrath of Khan (TWOK). All the remaining films are set after each other leading up to the final mission of the original crew and Kirk's death. The period of time from the end of the 5 year mission to the beginning of TWOK is an immense source of speculation and interest for fans and scores of unofficial books have been set in this period.
TMP is divorced from the rest of Kirk's time in Trek through being set in this gap and provides just a small peek at this unknown period. The script was the original pilot proposal for a new series on TV called Star Trek Phase 2 and it's interesting to speculate which way Trek would have gone had this been the start of a new series rather than the first film.
The script itself was titled "In Thy Image" for the TV pilot project but was dropped when it was decided to adapt it to movie form, I do think the title The Motion Picture is boring and I wish they had kept the original title, it gives a better indication of things than TMP which could mean anything.
The film has been remastered and looks brilliant, but it has also been re-edited to quicken the pace and make the film seem a bit busier and faster, the selling point however is that some scenes and effects have been completely replaced, one of them is a breathtaking shot of the planet Vulcan with giant statues and ancient temples and blood red skies and mountains, it is worth the purchase of this disc for this alone. Sensational.
The soundtrack of TMP is something that has always stuck in my head from the day that I first saw this in 1979, it is possibly the best music ever used on Trek, but then what do you expect being composed by the genius that gave us the Jaws theme, Jerry Goldsmith. I will never forget his Ilia's overture, the Klingon theme that became so famous and of course the Enterprise music score. World class.
TMP is more in line with the way Gene Roddenberry originally envisaged the series, by being more thoughtful, intellegent and character-led than the more grand shoot-em-ups and big battles going off in space. Stories like The City on the Edge of Forver and The Inner Light are of much more interest to me than stories like The Best of Both Worlds and Scorpion.
The special features are to die for including such gems as a documentary on the aborted Phase 2 series with some super rare test footage of various elements, documentaries are also used to cover the film itself and the reimagining of thing. Theatrical and teaser trailers are included as are 16 quite substantial deleted scenes, and storyboard archives. Great stuff.
This film is not only my favourite Trek movie but rates very highly in my all-time list of all films, but I do have one gripe however. as much as I love this version of the movie I would have like to have been given the choice to watch the original theatrical version if I so choose, and it should have been an option on this disc. You can see all the original material that was changed in one of the extras, but this is not the same as having it integrated into the movie itself.
So there we are, not only the best Trek film but for the sheer quality of the special features the best DVD release of a Trek Film. Unmissable.
It just does not go anywhere
Review date: 2007-05-23 Rating: 6 out of 10
Star Trek the Motion Picture is watchable but lacks pace and a really interesting storyline. Instead it drags on for what seems forever and does not really go anywhere. I would only recommend this for fans of the series, and only if they have seen the better films which appeared later.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Walter Koenig
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
Persis Khambatta
Nichelle Nichols
Creators:
William Shatner (Primary Contributor)
Nichelle Nichols (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437815231
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-05-06
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 138 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1979
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Dubbed)