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

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Everything I've seen/read says the DE producers wanted to "restore" it to how it would have been in 1979 had they the time to make it so.

For the 2001 edition perhaps. But everything I’ve read/seen from Fein re: TDE 2022 is that he doesn’t want it looking like some crusty grainy relic, and that everything which has been done is about gearing it for modern audiences.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Everything I've seen/read says the DE producers wanted to "restore" it to how it would have been in 1979 had they the time to make it so.

I think that was the original goal, but it somehow got distorted as they got further along thanks to whoever was in charge. Some of the cgi shots like the major new shot of V'ger is clearly cgi and does not blend in at all with the 1979 effects. They clearly wanted this to look "new" which is unfortunate, since this film has 1979 written all over it (which is a good thing imo). You can't hide it by using DNR and adding some new cgi shots.

[balthazar_bee]

Holy cow, those sparkly gold credits are godawful.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by mar3o

I think that was the original goal, but it somehow got distorted as they got further along thanks to whoever was in charge. Some of the cgi shots like the major new shot of V'ger is clearly cgi and does not blend in at all with the 1979 effects. They clearly wanted this to look "new" which is unfortunate, since this film has 1979 written all over it (which is a good thing imo). You can't hide it by using DNR and adding some new cgi shots.

I get the sense it's kind of Lucas Star Wars SE approach.

[starmike]

I don't understand this issue - of course V'Ger is CGI. What else would it be? It wasn't completed for 1979, and it WAS storyboarded to show an exterior shot.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

I watched the new bonus material for TMP-DE and it was interesting but frankly wished it was longer because some of the most interesting material is presented so briefly that it provides little opportunity to study it. Such as the tantalizingly short clips of the original elements and a shot of the Enterprise in spacedock that was not available for the TDE work.

The audio mixing with these features is rather poorly executed with some dialogue levels being too low which stands in stark contrast to much of the rest being mixed too darn loud. Resulting in canned and distorted audio.

The deleted scenes were interesting.

This maybe player specific but on the Oppo-203 after watching all the deleted scenes if I recall correctly the menu locked up so had to restart the player.

Really wished they had included more of the bridge's various display footage, at lengths and loops, and without burned in descriptors.

[suspiciouscoffee]

Yes it was always going to be CG, but they could’ve designed it to look more in line with the sensibilities of a 1979 shot (cool it with the greebles). I don’t mind it myself, I finally watched this the other night and loved it, but I understand the complaints even if they just don’t bother me personally. Mileage varies.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by mar3o

And Paramount is wrong for some of us. I've explained many times why somebody might buy the 4k and still want the blu-ray. Future-proofing by buying the 4k but don't own 4k equipment yet; want the blu-ray in case the UHD turns out to be problematic (Halloween II's UHD has a glitch but the new blu-ray included doesn't); it's nice to have blu-rays to lend to friends, or to take over a friend's house if they don't have 4k equipment.

The studios were including DVDs for ages along with blu-rays. And DVDs have been outdated for a decade-and-a-half. At least blu-rays are still HD and look great upscaled on 4k TVs. They're not obsolete.

Or the 4K doesn't have original audio, the 4K is in the wrong color space. Others like you have stated.


Putting dodgy old BDs into new 4K releases kind of sucks, especially when the studios could put in a remastered BD from the same master like a boutique does (Shout can but Warner can't?). But I guess even those dodgy BDs sometimes have something useful.


Dodgy BD ... Calling out Paramount for advertising a remastered Event Horizon and tossing in an old disc with geometric distortion. And for The Untouchables for tossing in a nasty frozen and floating grain BD instead. Awful disc.

[mar3o]

Yeah, Paramount putting in the ancient blu-ray of Event Horizon with the distorted geometry is as lazy as it gets. Especially whens some smaller boutique labels go through the effort of including remastered blu-rays, like Vinegar Syndrome does.

[Number_6]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

For the 2001 edition perhaps. But everything I’ve read/seen from Fein re: TDE 2022 is that he doesn’t want it looking like some crusty grainy relic, and that everything which has been done is about gearing it for modern audiences.

This, in principle, is what disappoints me about this release.

My understanding is that the goal with the 2001 release was to complete the movie with Wise supervising so that the end result was what Wise intended the movie to look like when released in 1979. I thought the idea was to use the technology we have now to fix things...but fix them in such a way so as to make them look like they could have been done in 1979 had there been enough time. The goal was not to 'update it for modern audiences'.

The intent for this 2022 should have been to simply take what was done in 2001 and bring it up to 4K standards for this release, especially since Wise was no longer present to supervise.

Instead, Fein and his team seem to have used this as an opportunity to check off boxes on their personal wish lists and "modernize" the film.

As such, even though it's labeled as a Director's Edition, it now seems like it's evolved into more of the Fein Fanboy Edit.

I haven't made time to watch this new 4K release yet. I decided this weekend to watch the Kahris Mummy movies as I hadn't seen them since I was a kid.

And I expect that I'll like this version alright when I do see it. I really don't have the technical know-how to spot things like grain or crush or any of that stuff unless it's really egregious (I did notice the digital smear when I watched the the 4K TC last year before I even knew that was a thing). Honestly, none of the screen shots you posted seemed that bad to me and I have a 3:1 sound bar so I'll probably enjoy the sound mix more that you did.

But for me, the 2001 version was my go-to version of this film. It was the poster child of the "right way" to do this kind of thing. I really wish they had just upgraded that to 4K and left it at that.

Even though I'll probably find things about this version that I especially like, knowing that the objective shifted from what it was with the 2001 version means I really can't bring myself to say this is my go-to version of the film anymore.

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Has anyone redeemed this in VUDU? Did it include the TC and extras?

[crackedknee]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Has anyone redeemed this in VUDU? Did it include the TC and extras?

Vudu: no Theatrical Cut, you have to get it separately. No bonus features at all.

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Originally Posted by crackedknee

Vudu: no Theatrical Cut, you have to get it separately. No bonus features at all.

iTunes for the win. Again.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Jar Jar Stinks

Has anyone redeemed this in VUDU? Did it include the TC and extras?

I couldn't tell for certain because the digital code that came with the previous four film set gave me the theatrical edition in 4K. Redeeming this digital code does give you the Director's Edition in 4K.

The theatrical edition 4K at Vudu does include three extras: Writing The Motion Picture, Star Trek Reunion, and The Mystery Beyond V'ger.

[KC-Technerd]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Right. But apart from Disco Bones™️ there are surprisingly few trappings of the decade that taste forgot in TMP. And besides, wasn't Fein's remit to make it look like a 2022 movie rather than a 1979 one?

Star Trek Disco - The Motion Picture (1979) - YouTube

[KC-Technerd]

Originally Posted by Number_6

My understanding is that the goal with the 2001 release was to complete the movie with Wise supervising so that the end result was what Wise intended the movie to look like when released in 1979. I thought the idea was to use the technology we have now to fix things...but fix them in such a way so as to make them look like they could have been done in 1979 had there been enough time. The goal was not to 'update it for modern audiences'.

While I remember that being stated at the time (speaking more towards how the film likely would have been completed with more time in 79/80 than towards Wise's intentions), I think (and did think) they strayed from that a bit even for the 2001 DE. Replacing Matthew Yuricich's matte paintings including moving the San Francisco air tram station closer to the Golden Gate than I think was ever considered in 1979 (based on pre-production artwork), and adding a TOS era shuttlecraft are things I doubt would have resulted in 1979/80 despite extra completion time. I also highly question whether the computer voices would have been removed in 79/80. A talking computer was a novelty in 1979. Recently I've read that Wise reportedly hated it, but Roddenberry loved it, so it stayed in for the 79 theatrical release. (Another consideration is that the computer voice for the thruster suit was Majel Barrett.)

[SwissHD]

Originally Posted by Number_6

The intent for this 2022 should have been to simply take what was done in 2001 and bring it up to 4K standards for this release, especially since Wise was no longer present to supervise.

Instead, Fein and his team seem to have used this as an opportunity to check off boxes on their personal wish lists and "modernize" the film.

That just not true.
In 2001 they created so to say a wish list with Robert Wise of things they wanted to correct or redo.
They couldnt do everything because of budget/time and of course technology back then was less advanced.

What they did now is just incorporate more of that list. But they did nothing that wasnt in line with director robert wise. Fein explained that in several interviews, podcasts and stuff.
This is for the content of the movie.

Another story ist the technical presentation regarding the applied DNR.
Im not sure if Robert Wise would have approved of that.

But at least content wise they did nothing that wasnt talked about with Robert Wise.

The Lounge Scene for example was a thing they wanted to do back then.
The now finished result is not good. So they shouldnt have done this in 2022 either.
But it was not a Fein Fanboy idea to use your terminology

The Problem is:
I think Fein, Dochterman and Mattessino are to close to the project without any supervision from outside. They are too much star trek TMP fans themselves and did go overboard with some of the original ideas.
Otherwise i dont think something like the lounge scene would have made the final edit.
Its like a child that wants his toy...no matter what. "We wanted that back then and we couldnt do it...now we are gonna do it. No matter what"

Thankfully the lounge scene is for me content wise the only scene i dont like in the new version of the directors Edition. So i consider myself lucky. I also dont have any problem with the sparkly credits.

Because the 2001 DVD is really not good enough for big screen projection i had to take a break from the directors edition and watched the theatrical since the 2009 Blu Ray.
Now the theatrical cut is dead again for me after i have my prefered version of the movie in high def. Its just the vastly superior cut for me in the directors edition. Always was since 2001. I love for example the added Spock stuff and i think the spock cry scene is one of the most important scenes in the movie. Im so happy to have that back now.

I can live with the DNR Stuff. Its not nearly as bad as the blu rays of 2009 and in motion i can still see plenty of details.
I also didnt expected the look of a 1979 movie after i read all the interviews and watched podcasts and stuff.
So i was ready for some "Grain Management" the moment i put my disc in the player.

I've seen much worse things in all my blu ray years considering DNR.
For me the movie still looked fantastic projected on my big screen.

I especially loved that they re-composited a lot of the original special effects. All the recomposited stuff looks spectacular in my opinion. I was glad that they found much of the Enterprise Scotty/kirk flyby stuff. That segment for the most part looks stunningly beautiful and i was totally floored.

And not to mention the spectacular new audio mix which i love from top to bottom! For me one of the most spectacular remixes EVER.

Overall the good outweighs the bad for me.
But as always its a matter of personal taste.

[Dunemoon]

Arrived today with Elvis, Real Genius and The Fog 4Ks.

[Robert George]

Please don't make me read 154 pages...

Is the audio/video quality of the "special longer version" on par with the DC transfer?

Thanks.

[Robert George]

Originally Posted by Bolty

It's 2.0 lossy stereo

Thanks for the heads-up. Saved me $90 bucks. The Atmos mix on the DC is just the sh!t. Not to be missed.