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Star Trek - The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition)

Star Trek - The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $14.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If I had'nt seen it I would not of believed it.
Review: I never cared for "The Motion Picture". It was dated,long and boring. The special effects were pretty much a big "Ohhh! Look what we can do!"
Then I took this DVD home.
This directors cut was outstanding! It takes a very mediocre film and creates a interesting, creative and most importantly WATCHABLE movie! All of the scenes that previously left a bad taste in my mouth have been either deleted, reedited or remastered.
The special features available on the two disc's are interesting if not enjoyable. The text commentary by Mike Okuda was a particular favorite of mine. Lots of Trek history, backstories, and trivia.
You still have to be fan of the series to enjoy this film but thanks to this remastered edition you can be a fan who only has to try and forget Star Trek 5.(Do you think they can salvage that one?)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "STAR TREK" meets "2001" is finally on DVD!
Review: STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE/THE DIRECTOR'S EDITION delivers upon its promise: to make the film look, sound, and feel better than the original version. Robert Wise's Director's Cut delivers. The new and enhanced visual effects and new editing give it a more "exciting" feel, and seeing it in 65mm Widescreen is incredible! And fans will be able to enjoy more than just the movie, with hours of special features that never cease to entertain. Paramount should get on the ball and rerelease STAR TREK II with a two-disc 2OTH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION as soon as possible! Bravos on this one, Paramount! Grade: A+

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: For fans only
Review: This movie started life as a 1 hour episode. When it was turned into a movie, the script was kept at its episode length, and the move was legnthened by adding gee-wiz visuals of V'Ger. The first half hour is good. The last half hour is good. The middle hour just never gets going. I kept wating for interesting things between Decker and Ilia, but nothing ever happened. The crew seems to just sit around waiting for the last half hour to come so they can do something.

Still it isn't a truely dreadfull movie. (Trek V pretty much defines the low end of the Trek quality spectrum.) It isn't even a bad one. It is just overly slow. It has beautifull graphics and special effects that mostly still hold up against later Trek movies. The soundtrack is gorgeous. The new Enterprise was very cool at the time.

This director's cut improves on the original quite a bit, but it is still just a good movie.

In the story arc of the 6 "original series" movies, I generally rank this equal, or maybe just a hair above Trek 3. I give it 3 stars, the Amazon defined "I like it" rank. Because I do like it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This movie has aged well imho!
Review: I can't believe how well this sci-fi movie has aged. Imho it plays as well today as it did when it first came out. The plot is compelling, the interactions between the cast members enjoyable to watch, and the "special effects intensity" kept at just the right level. The movie score truly is memorable also, if you ask me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How to make a director's cut...
Review: I've seen many "Director's Cuts" movies, and this one together with Blade Runner, is one of the best re-releases I've ever seen.
Not the brightest star on the sky, but the most coherent and respectful of the original motion picture. Yes, in Blade Runner, so can see a real change on the movies plot, but here the original plot is "enhanced". To get new scenes with CGI, but retainig even the film grain of the original, is really a hard work!!. You can see through the film that some scenes have been cleaned, others retouched, and so on, so when you get the big picture on the movie, you just say wow!. One important thing: all the new and enhanced scenes were in the original storyboards, so what you see now is the movie that should have been originally. You have to see it to tell if I'm wright or not...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ST;TMP has never looked or sounded better!
Review: I was not prepared to like this DVD as much as I do. I fondly remember the theatrical opening of ST;TMP in Dec '79, and as a 14 year old, still able to watch the syndicated re-runs of the original series, I was blown away by the special effects and sound.

But the movie has not aged well, and has been eclipsed by not only other sci-fi genre movies, but by subsequent ST sequels.

The editing by Mr Wise, the enhanced special effects, and the skillful sound re-mastering have revitalized this movie. It still has the a problem with derivative plot lines and wooden dialogue, but ST faithful won't care. This movie plays beautifully. I even played my VHS copy and the DVD simutaneously, and kept switching back and forth to see what a startling difference there is. A must see for the Star Trek faithful!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nostalgic Spectacle
Review: THIS IS A WONDERFUL DVD presentation by Robert Wise of his director's Cut.
Too much is made about previous versions supplementing more character scenes or deleting them.
This is a a unique film all onto itself that play's out a familiar theme of tecnology and man from the series, however cast and crew created a visually stunning production for it's time and with the few CGI enhancement's this dvd look's better than the movie ever has.
I don't see why comparison's are made with the sequel's unfavourably to their progenator.
Like it or not Star Trek The Motion Picture is simply to be enjoyed and marveled as science-fiction entertainment.
Plenty of dvd extra's featured that go behind-the-scenes of how a revival-tv series became The motion Picture and fascinating production chaos that ensued to bring some ungrateful Trek fan's the Christmas 79' present.
live long and prosper, everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You can go home again!
Review: The recent re-release of Star Trek - The Motion Picture on DVD was long, long overdue. Now that Paramount has finally done so, all I can say is, it's about time! And shock of all shocks, they did it right too.
There is no debating that the original film had some problems when it was released in 1979. Director Robert Wise never had the chance to do the final edit he was promised due to release time constraints; some minor continuity errors existed; a script that "borrowed" a few elements from the series on which the film was based; and perhaps a story that wanted to be more than the final release reflected. With the release on DVD, some of those problems have been rectified with the "director's cut."
I had been waiting for the release with bated breath, hoping that allowing Mr. Wise to work his magic on his original film would add much to a film that I have always thought was unfairly maligned by critics and fans alike.
Robert Wise, to science fiction circles, holds legendary status, having directed two of the greatest sci-fi films ever made (The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Andromeda Strain). Generally, I do not like seeing film makers tinker with their works-- George Lucas please take note, your special edition of the "ST: A New Hope" was, in my opinion, a politically corrected, botched up mess! ST:TMP, for the most part, is a notable exception of where the film's reworking worked admirably to its advantage.
I very much like the re-worked scenes on Vulcan. Seeing the Vulcan landscape more accurately portrayed was a great touch. Having corrected the Vulcan moon scene was quite welcome (for non-fans, it was established on the series that Vulcan has no moons). Director Wise re-worked some pieces of dialogue into a much more pleasing order that added dimension to the film. Some people have always pointed to the original film's running length, thinking it too long... those folks might take note that this rendition is a few minutes longer, but those few minutes are well worth it!
New special effects sequences have been added, and unlike other films, they do not draw attention to themselves. Even with the change of technology since the late 1970's, the new effects fit in seamlessly. AND surprisingly, they were not added gratuitously, but to complement the scenes in which they are inserted perfectly. According to materials I have read these were the way the scenes were originally intended, but lack of time to properly edit them in necessitated their removal. Yes, I am being somewhat vague here, as I would prefer the reader see the new film and judge for themselves, rather than me play the role of "spoiler."
All that said, I do have a few minor quibbles with the re-working. Some new sound effects have been added as well, most of which add warmth to the film atmosphere, however, I question the removal of the ship's male computer voice and the new rendition of the Enterprise's general condition's alarm klaxon.
In closing, I like the film very much. Director Wise has done an admirable job in reworking his orignal film. I enjoyed visiting old friends again. I liked the uniforms, the sets, and the new characters (interestingly, Ilia and Decker clearly were the models for NEXT GEN's Riker and Troi). I especially liked the interplay between all the old gang, who picked up nicely on their characters after a ten-year hiatus after NBC had foolishly cancelled the original series in 1969. I liked the original release back in '79, but this new rendition adds much to a film that deserved much better than it got. My recommendation is: Buy, go rent it, judge for yourself! This film's theme, demanding we seek a meaningful purpose for our lives plays far better than "let's save the universe!" I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that this TREK film, more than any of the others, made a whole-hearted effort to be a cinematic experience, not just an expanded television episode.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A much improved film with a truck-load of cool extras
Review: For many years, I have defended TMP, despite it's quirks. In this new version, they've gone back and finished quite a few scenes, ("finished," mind you, not "destroyed" . . . nothing as blasphemous as Greedo shooting first . . .) All of the additions blend quite well with the existing footage, and there are lote of great extras and documentaries. My favorite feature is Michael Okuda's running text commentary, which makes the occasional joke, and presents many interesting technical facts that will command the attention of film buffs and sci-fi geek alike. I bought this purely for the documentary disc, but found myself watching the movie twice on the day I got it. Ever sit through this film twice in one day? You will now!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Star Trek - The Not-So-Motionless Picture
Review: I always had mixed feelings about this movie. There are certain elements - visuals of V'ger, the gorgeous new Enterprise, the wormhole sequence, and Jerry Goldsmith's fantastic score - that give me chills with each successive viewing. There are also flaws that make me wonder how a director as good as Robert Wise would ever let his name get stamped on the credits.

Star Trek - The Motion Picture: The Director's Cut doesn't fix all of the original film's flaws. The uniforms still look like pajamas. Shatner's rug still moves up and down his forehead from scene to scene. Much of the acting remains uninspired. Nevertheless, this DVD repairs many of the technical gaffes and is a vast improvement over any version of the film you've ever seen. It's enough of an improvement in my mind to move it from next to last on the list of Trek movies (just above the awful Star Trek V) to second best (behind Wrath of Khan).

Probably the most welcome additions are the new special effects. Notable are the full exterior view of the V'ger ship, the plasma weapon vanishing just meters from striking the Enterprise, and the gradual formation of the stone walkway from the ship to V'ger's brain cell. The next thing that stood out to me was the new sound mix. Listen carefully during all the bridge scenes - you'll hear some of the familiar beeps and chirps from the original series. Finally, the commentary provided by the film's crew and cast provides a wealth of knowledge and an appreciation for the ridiculous time cruch Robert Wise was under to complete the film.

Added footage and commentary notwithstanding, this film is basically what it was before. If you thought Star Trek - The Motion Picture was a turkey before this DVD, chances are you still will. If you're like me and you always had some affection for the film, despite it's flaws, The Director's Cut will be a rewarding experience for you.


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