Star Trek The Motion Picture Director's Edition 4K UHD/DLX (1979)

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Bolty

My oath of celibacy is on record -- but not by my choice.

Originally Posted by Bolty

The special longer version -- I have that! It's pretty old. Was great back in the day but now it doesn't play as well.

...

[Bolty]

So.... I can't wait for them to announce Star Trek 5 and 6. Hopefully by the holidays.

[Vixen of the Night]

So, I'm working on my fan edit of the V'ger flyover sequence(s). And I've only cut 5 minutes out of it and it flows so much better now. It's slow, but not tedious. The biggest cuts were to the loooooooooooong bit of the Enterprise slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly flying over a unique wall/design, and then also shows it in the rear-view viewer after they pass a huge chunk of it. It just drags in that section and even the music as great as it is can't save this crawling moment.

So of the 20 minute segment from when they first enter the cloud up until the intruder on board alert sounds. Only 5 minutes was removed and it runs 15 minutes and is intoxicating to watch with the great visuals and score, without the drag of the moment mentioned above.

Mixing the audio is the toughest part because of the score, but it's coming along nicely and I'll upload it on Youtube when it's completed.

[Ernest Rister]

Don't turn the Warp Drive up to 10...

[quadruple D]

Originally Posted by lionel74

Does the new Director’s Edition contain the full 3 minute overture as was added to the previous Directors’s Edition or is it the shorter version?

Originally Posted by Bolty

It contains a third version which is about 2 minutes and 48 seconds. They have stated that this is what they always intended for the Overture but were unable to included in the original theatrical release. They have stated the three-minute version was never intended for the Overture but was wrongly used in 2001.

I actually prefer the overture “mistake” that they made for the 2001 director’s edition… I honestly think it’s a better performance of the piece. Those few extra seconds seem to add a little more dramatic weight to me, with certain sections having notes held a little longer, or tempos being slowed ever so slightly.

Even if it was never intended as an alternate overture (as the track is listed as “Ilia’s Theme” on the original soundtrack) I absolutely feel it is the superior version. I’ve always been a big film soundtrack fan, and back in the day, I used to pop in the director’s edition DVD just to experience that overture cranked as loud as I could get away with!

So it was certainly a little bit of a disappointment when I watched the 2022 version, and noticed that the overture music that I had once adored had been swapped. And boy, did it sting even more seeing that new and beautifully slowed down HD star field image, and having to just imagine hearing “Ilia’s Theme” along with it… Oh well. Just one of life’s very minor bitter pills, I suppose.

Regardless, it definitely won’t stop me from supporting this release, as there’s still tons of things to celebrate about it, and I will certainly be buying the Blu-ray Disc when it’s released. One small complaint like this can’t possibly spoil what is otherwise quite a triumph!

[Vixen of the Night]

Originally Posted by Bolty

Are you talking about the intruder alert that sounds when the light probe enters the bridge?

If so, there is only 8 min 44 sec between entering the cloud and that intruder alert on the director's cut -- not 20 minutes. you cut out 5 minutes from an 8+ minute section? Maybe you are working from the theatrical cut? The Director's Edition already cuts down both the "cloud journey" and the V'ger flyover"

Yeah. I'm working with the theatrical cut.

Really? I didn't know that about the DE. I thought nothing was trimmed from it based on all the details I read about it. And I only saw that version once in the DVD days so I'm more familiar with the theatrical version and how a chunk of the V'ger scene drags to a halt and I don't remember thinking it was any better in the DE, but I could be getting all the versions mixed up.


Oh I misread your comment and no, the intruder alert I'm talking about is after the light probe sequence when the llia clone comes aboard the ship. And it was twenty minute's from entering the cloud to that moment, and thus 5 minutes was removed from this entire chunk, mostly little trims here and there, and the crawling moment I mentioned earlier.

[KC-Technerd]

Originally Posted by Bolty

They have stated that this is what they always intended for the Overture but were unable to included in the original theatrical release.

Mike Matessino has said this was due to what would fit in the maximum length for the first film reel, with consideration of the best changeover point to reel 2. That makes it very unlikely that the long overture ever would have been used in the days of theaters projecting real film, particularly at and beyond the very end of the film overture era. Of course home video and digital cinema make film reel length inconsequential and welcome the use of the longer overture.

[ScottDS]

Originally Posted by suspiciouscoffee

It’s setting up the moment in the finale when she breaks the oath by way of V’Ger melding.

Originally Posted by mlabonte21

My mind went to that line ZERO times during the Decker/Ilia probe merge sequence at the end.

And, uh, is that how Deltans mate??

My mind never went to that line either... but I was invited to the screening at Paramount and I took my roommate who had never seen the film. The first thing she said after it ended was, "So much for her vow of celibacy." Go figure!

[doubleofive]

For those curious:

The theatrical fly through of the Cloud runs 10 minutes 8 seconds 17 frames. The 2001 Director’s Edition cut 1 minute 30 seconds 15 frames.

The theatrical pass over V’ger is 5 minutes 16 seconds 6 frames. 2001 cut 18 seconds 21 frames.

The 2022 is the same trims, give or take a frame.

[JohnCarpenterLives]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Don't turn the Warp Drive up to 10...

They totally did it.

[kenkraly2004]

Originally Posted by Bolty

So.... I can't wait for them to announce Star Trek 5 and 6. Hopefully by the holidays.

Agreed hopefully around May , June or July we will get multiple annoucements on when Star Trek 5-10 of the remaining TOS and TNG films will come out on 4K UHD Blu-Ray Disc / Blu-Ray Disc and if their will be one box sets or 2 in addition to the physical 4K UHD Blu-Ray Disc / Blu-Ray Sisc release of The Directors Edition of TMP for September being officially announced.

[quadruple D]

Originally Posted by KC-Technerd

Mike Matessino has said this was due to what would fit in the maximum length for the first film reel, with consideration of the best changeover point to reel 2. That makes it very unlikely that the long overture ever would have been used in the days of theaters projecting real film, particularly at and beyond the very end of the film overture era. Of course home video and digital cinema make film reel length inconsequential and welcome the use of the longer overture.

As a former projectionist, I can totally understand that for the original theatrical release the reel length was a factor for the choice made for the overture. (Especially seeing that at the time most theaters were probably using projector changeover systems, as opposed to the more modern platter based systems.)

But it’s interesting that there are three versions of the same piece of music available. I unfortunately don’t know the history behind the different versions, but two of them seem to be the same performance, just edited for length: the approx. 2:00 minute overture used for the original theatrical release, and the approx. 2:50 minute overture used for the 2022 director’s edition. The third version of the overture “mistakenly” used for the 2001 director’s edition (which I feel is the superior one) is the approx. 3:00 minute “Ilia’s Theme” from the original soundtrack album.

(If anyone out there owns the La-La Land Records soundtrack liner notes, or has any other insight from the soundtrack producers like Matessino, I’d be curious to know if the history of the different versions is actually addressed…)

But regardless of why the choice was made to use the track “Ilia’s Theme” for the overture in 2001, I certainly feel it was the right decision. It’s just a stronger performance of the piece, and to me it is sorely missed. I truly wish they would have made the same “mistake” in 2022. One can only dream…

[Jeyl]

Some highlights of the various audio editing done across three versions of the film.

TMP Sound Editing Comparisons - YouTube

[quadruple D]

Originally Posted by KC-Technerd

Mike Matessino has said…

Originally Posted by Bolty

…it was never intended as an overture.

So this link seems to be a distillation of some of the sources you guys were probably paraphrasing in your posts, which certainly answers all of my Overture vs. Ilia’s Theme questions and more:

http://blog.trekcore.com/2022/02/la-la-land-records-star-trek-motion-picture-directors-edition-soundtrack

While it’s still a slight disappointment to me, as I still prefer the stronger performance used in error originally… it’s mystery solved.

Thanks for the recollections and guess I’ll show myself out…

[Bolty]

Well the full "Ilia's Love Theme" does appear on the new 2 disc CD and the OOP 3 disc CD. I am hoping to pick up the 2 disc set in the near future. I could live with the $30 for the set but the $8 shipping chaffs me.

But why show yourself out? It's OK to prefer the other version. Not exactly sure why they changed it unless it was a specific request by Robert Wise that they couldn't manage in 2001.

[JohnCarpenterLives]

Originally Posted by Jeyl

Some highlights of the various audio editing done across three versions of the film.

[Show spoiler]TMP Sound Editing Comparisons - YouTube

I'm not sure whether or not I like the new audio. Some of that dialogue is so up-front it sounds out of place and looped. I'm sure the theatrical audio is looped, too, but it the theatrical dialogue is mixed like it was happening in the the context of the scene. The new stuff sounds like it happens outside of the scene and was just pasted on top. I don't think I'm describing this well.

[WorkShed]

The theatrical uses tons of production audio. This is proven. They didn't have enough time to mix the ADR. The Director's Edition sounds like an actual film should.

Especially with the introduction of Decker who you can barely understand. In TDE you can clearly hear what he's talking about and it's important because it directly leads into the next scene.

[Geoff D]

What cracks me up about the previous DE (dunno if it'd been caught for the new DE) is that there's a moment where they used the production audio and not the sound effect from the theatrical, it's when Kirk's shuttle lands at Starfleet and we get that shot of his face through the window as the door opens. In the theatrical it's the usual added 'whoosh' sound as it opens but in the old DE you literally hear the clunk/creak of the real door being swung open.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Bolty

Well the full "Ilia's Love Theme" does appear on the new 2 disc CD and the OOP 3 disc CD. I am hoping to pick up the 2 disc set in the near future. I could live with the $30 for the set but the $8 shipping chaffs me.

But why show yourself out? It's OK to prefer the other version. Not exactly sure why they changed it unless it was a specific request by Robert Wise that they couldn't manage in 2001.

I just find this "overture" thing funny because at my Dec. 7th opening day screening there wasn't an overture at all - and the projectionist screwed up the framing so the top half the screen was the bottom and vice versa for a good 5 minutes until it was corrected right around the first V'Ger bolt.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

What cracks me up about the previous DE (dunno if it'd been caught for the new DE) is that there's a moment where they used the production audio and not the sound effect from the theatrical, it's when Kirk's shuttle lands at Starfleet and we get that shot of his face through the window as the door opens. In the theatrical it's the usual added 'whoosh' sound as it opens but in the old DE you literally hear the clunk/creak of the real door being swung open.

Just as Robert Wise intended.