Content:
Star Trek: The Director's Cut Movie! Long thought to be unfinished, DC's first Star Trek movie has finally arrived. Let's see what happened to him
Star Trek: The Movie – DC (1979):The first moon landing in 1969 triggered a real space hype, which is why there was a veritable flood of science fiction movies and series in the 1970s. Including George Lucas' beginning of his "Star Wars Saga", "Battlestar Galactica" , "Alien", "Moon Base Alpha 1", "Planet of the Apes" and many more. Which brought back the Enterprise crew series that started in 1966 and Paramount decided to make it an adventure movie. Unfortunately, it wasn't a huge success, probably due to the fact that the creators wanted too much and it wasn't that easy to implement the cheating technology. In addition, the story was somewhat atypical for this franchise, which also made the viewer feel the critics and creators. Unlike the second film, The Wrath of Khan, this one was met with jubilation and applause unlike its predecessor. However, the stagnation of the first part did not give the directors any rest and in the meantime a modified version was created for TV, which did not fully convince, as only the deleted scenes were reinserted. Then they decided on a new abbreviated version, which not only contained scenes shot with additional effects, but also cut. This project started in 2000, but the new effects were only available in SD. Creators at the time, David C. Fein and Michael Matessino, have spent the last few years transporting the film technically and visually to its September 2022 release. As a former filmmaker since 1979 and also a connoisseur of later VHS, the question arises: Was it worth worth this review and how will the new version released today affect me? As always, you can discover all this in the following lines.
Star Trek, the "new" movie?
Three Klingon warships fly into space in pursuit of an unidentified flying object. As is typical of Klingons, they first let their weapons do the talking, resulting in their instant destruction. This scenario is monitored from a Federation space station and is considered extremely dangerous. After all, this cloud-like “thing” is heading straight for Earth. This calls the former captain into the plan. This is to once again take command of the completely renovated and technically overhauled ship and, in the course of that, also replace Captain Decker. Not only is Decker not thrilled with the task, he's pretty sure Decker isn't fully familiar with upgrading the spaceship. Captain or now Admiral Kirk tries to make up for these deficits with experience, which nearly leads to catastrophe. After First Mate Commander Spock joins the old crew, the task is to board the unknown intruder and discover his intentions. Or to stop them in case of enemy contact, which can be quite useless due to superior technology.
But before that happens, the Stranger contacts and possesses the body of Officer Ilia, who was once involved with Captain Decker. The unknown being absorbs Ilia's body and creates a perfect android copy of Ilia's body to make contact. This could be a chance to get closer to the unknown if Ilias manages to awaken memories in this "machine". Meanwhile, the first mate starts a self-experiment that may cost him his life, but may also give him some ideas. In a rocket powered space suit he ventures into the alien ship and experiences the unbelievable, the supposed ship itself is the alien being. This knowledge throws everything away and only Android remains. Gradually, Decker manages to get hold of Ilia's memories, which also reveal the stranger calling himself "Vger". Meanwhile, it's getting exciting because the "alien" has arrived on Earth. When the crew discovers Vger's intentions, it seems unbelievable. The only question is whether the crew can still save Earth from destruction.
Star Trek: The Unloved "Boy" Movie
After the series' mediocre success upon its debut and subsequent cancellation, Star Trek achieved its greatest success through reruns in "third" programs. Meanwhile, series mogul Glen A. Larson ("Knight Rider") pitched his "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) and later "Buck Rogers" to viewers. While George Lucas was also tinkering with his Star Wars saga in the mid-70s, which probably also led to the folks at Paramount bringing their hit series to the big screen. So the crew and their spacecraft caught up, and actor William Shatner was promoted to admiral in his role. To that end, the "U.S.S. Enterprise" has many technical upgrades, as well as a new captain named Decker (Stephen Collins "A Heavenly Family"). The other changes were limited, just Spock and Dr. McCoy, called "Bones" for short, had to reboard after leaving Starfleet. So it's not surprising that the movie initially feels like a revival of the previous series, which is probably also down to the fact that Paramount was originally working on a reboot of the series called "Star Trek: Phase Two" and ended up turning the pilot in one episode. for the films This led to many additional tasks, from scripting to scenery, which quickly went over budget by just $40 million.
Now, one would think that the movie should also be able to bring in around 40 million. But the script, with its visually powerful imagery, required more than the special effects departments could deliver. And the story itself, which moved away from the well-known Star Trek series in the direction of a big movie through several revisions, didn't convince in the end either. Perhaps it was the competition with Stanley Kubrick's visionary film 2001 (1968) that the screenwriters sought, as I still believe that the first film was more similar to that than to the well-known franchise. Very metaphorical, very philosophical and very far from what you've seen on television is how I would describe the first cinematic adventure.
Also, unsurprisingly, the film is reminiscent of Kubrick's film for another reason. Finally, Douglas Trumbull and Richard Yuricich were responsible for the SFX visual effects, as in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Although the film recouped its production costs, it was not as successful as expected. Due to costs, the filmmakers were able to start a second attempt with "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan", which finally achieved the success they had hoped for. As a small curiosity, I would like to mention that for reasons of cost and the risk of producing another flop, some scenes from the first film were reused for the sequel. For example, the space station bordering the space dock. This was quickly changed to the sequel and voila, you have a "new" space station. Not to be confused with the station "Epsilon 9", which is a victim of Vger.
Is the new version better now?
It should be noted that the current version is already 20 years old. Director Robert Wise was allowed to create his original version of the film in 2002. This gave Wise the opportunity to implement the effects of the time, which were neither timely nor technically feasible. The theatrical version then called several critics to action. Which, in my opinion, was not only due to the effects, but also to the script itself. So it's not surprising that the movie was partially cut to make it more cohesive. However, I want to make one thing clear: The Star Trek Director's Cut, otherwise known as "the complete adventure," changes nothing about the first cinematic adventure. Even if some say it's finally "round" or matured from unfinished film to finished film. Nothing changes in the basic story. The Vger being is on his way to earth in search of his creator and knocks down everything that stands in his way. But why, where, why, why remains unclear. I have to agree with the term "round" because of the slight change in the cut, but the polished look also makes it look a lot rounder. Still, I don't think the film's former critics are going to appreciate it much more for it.
The story itself, when broken down, is still pretty straightforward. In other words, Vger is like a child who wants to go back to his parents' house. At the center of the story, Vger is not a being, but the Voyager 6 spacecraft that was sent into space in the 20th century to collect data. It is mentioned that this machine encountered beings and was able to transform into a thinking being. However, there are a number of logical errors in letting me hang the Vulcan. On the one hand, Vger is technologically superior to humans, but he can only make himself understood through his android nature and also sends an ancient binary code to find his creator. The basic idea alone demanded a lot from the viewer at the time, but the plot errors that emerged also needed to be digested. I don't want to be misunderstood here, I still find the film a lot of fun today, but I can also understand why it's not necessarily the high point of every Trekkie. The creators at the time also seem to have recognized this and released a revised TV version in 1983, which I won't go into detail about because it's not included in this new version. The only thing I would like to mention is that the longer TV cut has significantly more scenes that were removed for storytelling and pacing reasons and the new cut is about 8 minutes shorter than this one but about 5 minutes longer. than this 1. The issue is what "longer specialty" means doesn't mean "really better".
Still, it was nice to like the old artists.Guillermo Shatneras Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, James Doohan as Scotty, DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy (Bones), George Takei as Sulu, Walter Koenig as Chekov, who sadly passed away this year.Nichelle Nicholsas a lieutenant to see Uhura again. Newcomers were actress Persis Khambatta ("Nighthawks" with Sylvester Stallone) as a lieutenant. Ilia and Stephen Collins ("Jumpin Jack Flash") as Captain Decker. Also under a different mask were former Ambassador Sarek and father of Spock actor Mark Lenard as Klingons. TV series veteran Grace Lee Whitney also returned as Janice Rand. And Sister Chapel in the series, Majel Barret, wife of Gene Roddenberry, now Dr. Chapel. Also for the soundtrack, Paramount did not adjust and hired Hollywood composer icon Jerry Goldsmith ("the last fortress") for the first feature film. He then repeated his work in this franchise once again with the new series "The Next Century (1987)".
David C. Fein and Michael Matessino previously worked on the remastered effects for the 2001 TV remake. However, for the current version, Fein and Matessino had to rework year after year to bring the visual effects up to 4K. 2022. The film was already released in late 2021 with the old UHD theatrical cut ("Jornada nas Estrelas I-IV in UHD") released. But I have to say that they did a great job with the new cut. As mentioned, compared to the old version, the new cut and new scenes are more cohesive than before. But I think the movie is much more more consistent and the shots with better effects are much better. Leonard Nimoy's face doesn't glow bright red like a ripe tomato right at the beginning of the movie. A new 4K scan was made to the new Blu-ray and with 4K Ultra, the image is in the image format: Dolby Vision 2.35:1, which now also offers a slightly different color scheme and, for me, represents the most visually beautiful image compared to the cinema cut, makes this version of Star Trek feel like the best yet There are also some new scenes like flying through the wormhole that make the movie better. The current adventure shines with a new, more nuanced look, as well as sharper walking. As mentioned, this strikes me as Colors are more suitable, black levels swallow nothing and contrasts are balanced.
If the image of the 2021 version already looked decent, the new edition surpasses it again. If it weren't for the old costumes, you'd think you were dealing with a new movie. Apparently the poisoning behavior has been tweaked, if so, very discreetly. Compared to other reviewers, I personally think the image is better than the 2021 version, although this is, as always, a subjective impression and opponents of noise filters will always have different opinions. However, I also noticed that the 4K UHD picture was a little brighter than usual on this medium. As you know, I'm not the first to deal with the sound rating, as my focus is mainly on the intelligibility of the dialogs. However, I would like to mention that the UHD English soundtrack is available in Dolby Atmos, while the German one is fed in Dolby Digital 5.1 only. An absurdity that unfortunately happens again and again in Germany, that you have to do without Atmos sound in the German soundtrack. German subtitles are also represented, as well as other European ones including: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish.
The release before me contains three discs. Once the Director's Cut as 4k UHD Blu-ray and two Blu-rays. One also with the new version of the film on Blu-ray and another Blu-ray full of additional material. The TV cut and existing theatrical version are not included in my version. However, there is another edition called Star Trek: The Movie - The Director's Edition - The Complete Adventure which is a 5 disc set. It also contains the UHD theatrical version and the remastered Blu-ray. This includes a poster, art cards, 16-page booklet, stickers and a letter from the director as extras. The TV version lasting approximately 145 minutes is also not included here. The Bonus BD of my release, ie Disc 3, contains the following bonus material, among others: Audio commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, and Daren Dochterman. Two additional feature films, eleven deleted scenes, a computer database and storyboards. There are also interviews and opinions from director Robert Wise and other reports on trick techniques, production, etc.
Diploma:
Star Trek is one of those phenomena that only became a worldwide blockbuster on its second try, and in two ways. Not only did the 1960s television series have to prove itself again when it was rerun, the second film after the first also received strong reviews. Therefore, the first appearance in the film became more of a space drama than a space adventure. The complete opposite of what was known and expected of the warriors of the old Enterprise. However, they didn't let it rest and have revised it several times. The Director's Cut is available with the current version. But that's not all, the image quality and effects have also been worked on over the last few years and the result is impressive. The re-edited version looks really good with the new effects and revised Ultra HD image.
Is this movie really better than the original version? Not really, because it might look more consistent despite the cut change, but it's still the same. Rounder in this case doesn't mean different or much better. Anyone who dealt with the story in 1979 won't be thrilled with it today either. This strip is a far cry from the original series. Well, I have to admit that it's not one of my favorites, even though I really liked it, but some logic errors still bother me to this day.
However, the film belongs in my Star Trek collection and the Director's Revised Cut really does offer a certain amount of added value, even if it's been around 40 years now. The new cut is clearly paced better and the revised effects make the film look like it could only have been imagined at the time. Now the question is: theatrical version vs. director's cut, so for me the new cut clearly wins. I like the image much better, as well as the color space and black values. The sharpness is on par for me, but I still think I saw a hint of noise filtering. I was a little surprised by the slightly brighter picture on the Ultra HD Blu-ray compared to the older UHD cinema version. Not that I was too bothered by it, but UHDs tend to have significantly higher contrast and are therefore less bright, which is probably only noticeable on UHD TVs that aren't quite as bright. Who should get the new edition now? If you're expecting an all-new movie, you've come to the wrong place. The film is more cohesive and complete, but the basic story remains intact. If you didn't like the theatrical version, you probably won't have much fun here either. If you liked the previous version like I did, you will be rewarded with the much better edited version including better effects photos. And a true Trekkie shouldn't be able to avoid this post anyway. If you need more Star Trek to ease your addiction, one of the things I can recommend is: "Star Trek: Discovery"I recommend it! And then he goes completely crazy about "Star Trek: Lower Decks" A.
Photos and trailer ©excellent images- All rights reserved!