Rating: 
Summary: Not Motionless Anymore!
Review: I used to call this the "Motionless Picture". I am a big fan of Star Trek and I saw it in the theatre when it premiered in 1979, but except for the "Tour Around The ENTERPRISE" the V'ger Story fell short for me.Sure it was exciting seeing everyone back and being introduced again, but the STory was not original and very boring - espeically the V'Ger fly-by's. Yuch. Now the Directors DVD edition is out and it is much better. Better images, enhanced and added scenes and the commentaries are really good. The DVD didn't change the overall film, but it definately works better on the small screen and the directors edition is worth it. Keep on Trekkin'!
Rating: 
Summary: 2001:A Space Odyssey in the Star Trek World
Review: I love Star Trek, always have. But I think I finally understand why ST 1 has a different feel. I think it is because they tried to emulate 2001 and not Star Wars. The other series are emulating Star Wars more. With better acting, characters, stories, etc. of course... This DVD is a great buy. The director's changes are not all that noticeable unless you just saw the older version the day before. They are very subtle. Beyond the movie, the gems are the behind the scenes featurettes. They are cool. Including information and some short takes on Star Trek II (the supposed-to-be spinoff that got turned into the movie) and how they produced the new changes to the movie. Those featurettes are very interesting. You'll enjoy them. Plenty of hours of stuff to watch.
Rating:
Summary: DVD vs. VHS
Review: How is the DVD different that the VHS Director's Edition that's been out for many years?
Rating:
Summary: The Best remake of a not-so-bad film ever!
Review: First up, the movie, with or without the extra footage, is an okay film. It's not The Final Spoof, or Generations, but has its own merits. The beautiful Enterprise refit, an underrated, yet excellent score provided by Jerry Goldsmith, Even the klingons are not bad in this film! Did I forget Persis Khambatta?! Sure, the storyline was boring and long. Sure, we all knew Decker wouldn't live through the movie. Sure, we feel the same way Leonard Nimoy feels about the movie. But hey, this film is a rarety that truly is Gene Roddenberry fueled. And, the special edition DVD helped a whole lot. V'Ger becomes a ship, not just an entity. More shots of the beautiful new Enterprise. The score is redone (how about that!) All in all, it earns my five stars!
Rating: 
Summary: 2001 A Space Odyssey Meets Star Trek
Review: This film has no conflict whatsoever, excepting a few mean looks exchanged between Decker and Captain Kirk over who's in command over their ship. No jokes are made throughout the movie at all. A paper thin plot goes along with a rousing score and tons of shots of spaceships SLOWLY floating around. There were so many unnecessary, boring, and stupid scenes in the movie that it could have been squashed into a 51 minute episode EASILY. "Veeger" is a MYSTERIOUS UNKNOWN OBJECT HEADED STRAIGHT FOR EARTH! In all actuality, Veeger is just a bunch of BAD special effects. Going into "warp speed" looks as thouhgh it was ANIMATED (and it probably was). I was on the edge of my seat ONCE during a particularly good scene. Namely, the ending. That's why there is one star, its for the ending. It was so amazing, after sitting through the whole boring and uneventful film, to think that it had an ending.
Rating: 
Summary: For collectors and fans.
Review: While not the most dynamic of the Star Trek films, this film kept with the spirit of the original series more than any. It did not rely on special effects or even dramatics. The story was and continues to be the key to Star trek. Not just a story, the typical Star Trek episodes wrestled with philosophical, moral and scientific quandries beneath a thin veneer of science fiction. More speculative fiction than science fiction (to borrow from one of the shows early writers) it has always tried to capture the wonder of a much-hoped-for idealism of the future facing the brutal realities of the present. The film itself is about discovery and prejudice, about human emotions and the foilables of being human. The evolution of man and machine, of thought and technology, of life and its meaning are all represented in a wonderful story. The film delivers a good story and the characters develop over time. Its a bit slow, and some parts seem to be filler. The special effects are dated, but the content still very relevant. I highly recommend this to fans of the original series, although those seeking high action/adventure films should look to the second in the series for their best bet.
Rating:
Summary: You haven't seen *this* Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Review: After watching this new Director's Edition, I have to say I'm shocked! This was the film that should have been released in 1979! Having read some of the Amazon reviews, I was prepared for a tauter and more exciting version of ST:TMP, though reviews do conflict. For my own experience, I can't believe how much better this release is. You haven't truly seen The Motion Picture until you've seen this DVD. This Edition is a lesson to the film-going public of how important editing is. The choices made by Bob Wise return the movie to the pace set in the original series. In fact, after Spock's mind meld, the film recaptures the camaraderie and feel of the series at its best. True, the beginning of the film is still necessarily stretched by the need to bring all the characters back together, and this is probably where less patient people lose interest. In this Edition, we actually get to see the whole V'GER. But none of the new effects is the reason for buying this DVD. It is for the story and the way it's told. In 1979, as an adolescent, I was bitterly disappointed that the story Roddenberry chose was a composite of several successful episodes. I wondered why I bothered to make it out on December 7th. Now I can see what those men and women had in mind, and instead of being an amalgamation, this movie is the quintessential representation of what Star Trek, the idea and the global phenomenon, was about. (Now it's about money.) I (re-)learned how funny this movie is, how touching, how intellectually and emotionally stimulating. The new effects, most of which were conceptualized for the original release but left out due to lack of budget and time, certainly do add a stamp of authority. Wait till you see how the principals walk out to meet V'GER! Cool! My only complaint is that at times the video quality is absolutely awful, as in the planet Vulcan scene. On my 65" rear-projection TV, the graininess and washed out colors are practically an insult. For this reason, I rate this DVD at only 4 stars. I want to thank the team that worked on the Director's Edition, as well as those who worked on the original release. Finally, after 22 years, the hype matches the results. How different the succeeding movies might have been had this one been the unequivocal success it is now.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful new cut of the movie
Review: I've always fundamentally liked STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE on its own terms (separate from being a STAR TREK movie). It's actually about something thematically. This new cut is extremely successful. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: NOW IT IS WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
Review: IT IS NO STAR WARS BUT THE EXTRA WORK HAS TURN IT FROM A PONDEROUS MOVIE THAT WAS RUSH TO A CLASSY PIECE OF WORK AND THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON RELEASE. THE SMALL BUT CLEVER UPDATES HAVE INCREASED YOUR ENJOYMENT ALOT AND NOT JUST FOR TREKKIES BUT JUST A GOOD AFTERNOON WATCH. ASHAME THE CLASSY START DID NOT CONTINUE INTO THE MOVIES THAT FOLLOWED MORE ACTION YES BUT LESS CLASSY VISUALS
Rating:
Summary: This version is as good as it can be
Review: ST:TMP was supposed to be Star Trek's triumphant return after its ignominious cancellation in 1969. With all the hype surrounding it, there was little chance it could live up to expectations; sadly, it didn't even come close. The problems with the film are manifold, and it's difficult to assign blame to any one party. It starts with the script. The story is promising - an all-powerful alien "thing" is approaching Earth and the Enterprise is sent to stop it. This was the premise used very successfully in many Old Series episodes ("Obsession," "Doomsday Machine," and "Immunity Syndrome" being the best), and was later used in ST IV. However, instead of patterning the story off these episodes, the screenwriters instead chose the dreadful "Changling" as their template. When they borrowed from Kubrick's 2001, they chose the incomprehensible (and dull) end segments instead of the wonderous science fiction elements. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The actors are not in character (except Deforest Kelley, who does his best to infuse some semblance of humanity into the inhumane plot). Director Wise shares some of the responsibility for this with the actors. In addition, the effects overshadow the dialogue, the exact reverse of what ST stands for. Because the effects had cost so much, the studio execs (apparently) demanded they get the screen time. It's not that the individual effects sequences are grossly long, but each one is a little too long, and the cumulative effect is to grow very bored with them. Having said all that, the movie does have good points. There are flashes of the old Kirk/Spock/McCoy triad that foreshadow better films to come. The special effects are very impressive, if overlong. Kirk tries his old standard of trying to talk the alien machine into self-destructing, and when that fails he switches to bluffing it instead. The score is top-notch. These items cannot rescue the film overall, however. This new DVD director's cut is better than the original theatrical release (but not as good as the television version). Many scenes were re-editted with different takes/dialogue, and many new effects (with CGI) were added, and they blend in seamlessly with the old. The sound is an improvement, but there is still some graininess with the picture (apparently they chose to leave it that way, which is bewildering). In addition to this new edit and effects, the DVD has a large array of extras, many of which are among the best I've seen. The text commentary by ST guru Michael Okuda is like a Pop-up Video compilation of nifty facts, such as where sets were re-used in later films/TV series, trivia on the cast and effects, etc. There are some making-of commentaries, the most interesting is a look at the aborted second series "Phase 2," including costume screen tests. One welcome addition is the inclusion of all the old versions and cut sequences that were in the original theatrical and video cuts of the film, so we can see how they have been changed for the director's cut (George Lucas - pay attention to this when you make the DVD's for Star Wars!). Therefore, I recommend this DVD for any Star Trek fan, based on the extras more than the film itself. If you are a very casual fan, I would recommend Star Trek II-IV as being far superior (and enjoyable) films. Hopefully the success of this director's cut DVD will inspire the release of all the Star Trek movies in this format (i.e. double-disc sets with lots of extras).
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