STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE - The Director's Edition - 4K Release on Paramount+

[Justin]

 

Possibly the most underrated, half-baked "ugly ducking" and "released too soon" entries in the entire Star Trek franchise. The "definitive vision" of Director Robert Wise debuted exclusively on Paramount+ April 5, 2022. The film arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in September with extensive new bonus content. Hoping this will be available for purchase on iTunes / Apple Movies.

[Justin]

 

A thought-provoking deep dive discussion from Red Letter Media on 1979's STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE

[Sabertooth]

12 minutes ago, Justin said:

 

Possibly the most underrated, half-baked "ugly ducking" and "released too soon" entries in the entire Star Trek franchise. The "definitive vision" of Director Robert Wise debuted exclusively on Paramount+ April 5, 2022. The film arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in September with extensive new bonus content. Hoping this will be available for purchase on iTunes / Apple Movies.

The 2001 Director's Edition was excellent and made Motion Picture one of my favorites in the series. Looking forward to seeing the 4K restoration.

[RickR]

I didn't realize this was on Paramount+.  I will give it a watch soon. I agree that last director's cut was a big improvement.  Watching that version made me appreciate how young the cast was then. 

[TrekMD]

They've initially released it on Paramount + but there will be a Blu-Ray release later this year.  I think they said Fall. 

[DegasElite]

Good. I might want to get the Blu-Ray release. This is going to be good. :O)

[TrekMD]

This video shows the difference between the 2001 Director's Edition DVD and the 4K version...

 

 

[TrekMD]

Here is another video.  This time comparing the 1979 release to the new 4K release.  I had forgotten how some of these scenes played out on the original release, so this helped...

 

[CrossBow]

I still prefer the coloring and overall scene sets from the 79 release. Especially when they exit the Enterprise to see V'ger. The light illumination from the center looks more natural than it does on the 2022 release where it is all very CGI heavy and noticeably so.

[TrekMD]

Yet another comparison video.  This time the 4K original cut release and the 4K Director's Cut...

 

[CrossBow]

So torn on these comparisons. In many scenes the grain and artifacts are horrible in the 4k disc release, and much improved in the Par+ 4k. But then some of the redone scenes look really good and others still do NOT look right. Again, as I stated earlier, the original shots outside the Enterprise as they go to V'ger still look better as the light from the center point diffuses much more naturally than it does in the redone CGI shots. The actors also look very pasted into the shots on those newer scenes and it is distratcting.

I'm most surprised by the fact that they redid most of the exterior V'ger scenes, and then didn't seem to redo the shots that really needed it most. As an example, the shots of the Klingon cruisers outside the V'ger cloud on both versions still show the noticed cutout black outline from the original compositing techniques they used back then. I would have thought they would redo those scenes completely as to not make it look so much more obvious. 

Same with most of the shots of the Enterprise exterior shots. You can see the definitely outline from the cutout compositing work that was done and in many instances on the newer 4k Para+ release, those look even more glaring than before.

I do agree that in most of the shots, the detail and grain removal without too much removal is far superior in the newer 4k Para+ release. But the inconsistent updates overall just seem quite odd to me.

Perhaps seeing it all in motion it becomes much less obvious but based on the stills provided in these comparison videos, I'm going to have to stick with my older blu-ray release for now.

Do they plan to release the newer 4k cut physically at some point?

 

[TrekMD]

Yes, the new 4K version will be released after September.  In motion it does look better than the stills. 

[Justin]

On 6/5/2022 at 11:33 AM, CrossBow said:

So torn on these comparisons. In many scenes the grain and artifacts are horrible in the 4k disc release, and much improved in the Par+ 4k. But then some of the redone scenes look really good and others still do NOT look right. Again, as I stated earlier, the original shots outside the Enterprise as they go to V'ger still look better as the light from the center point diffuses much more naturally than it does in the redone CGI shots. The actors also look very pasted into the shots on those newer scenes and it is distratcting.

I'm most surprised by the fact that they redid most of the exterior V'ger scenes, and then didn't seem to redo the shots that really needed it most. As an example, the shots of the Klingon cruisers outside the V'ger cloud on both versions still show the noticed cutout black outline from the original compositing techniques they used back then. I would have thought they would redo those scenes completely as to not make it look so much more obvious. 

Same with most of the shots of the Enterprise exterior shots. You can see the definitely outline from the cutout compositing work that was done and in many instances on the newer 4k Para+ release, those look even more glaring than before.

I do agree that in most of the shots, the detail and grain removal without too much removal is far superior in the newer 4k Para+ release. But the inconsistent updates overall just seem quite odd to me.

Perhaps seeing it all in motion it becomes much less obvious but based on the stills provided in these comparison videos, I'm going to have to stick with my older blu-ray release for now.

Do they plan to release the newer 4k cut physically at some point?

 

 

On 6/5/2022 at 6:16 PM, TrekMD said:

Yes, the new 4K version will be released after September.  In motion it does look better than the stills. 

 

Now that Star Trek: The Motion Picture is available for purchase I'm considering grabbing it. I've come to appreciate this movie more over the years. Now that it's been out for a little while, have any of you had the chance to see the final product? Were you happy with it or is it inconsistent? How does it compare to the older blu-ray release?

[TrekMD]

Oh, this was the movie that got me INTO Star Trek.  I've always liked it and I have various cuts of it.  The most recent BD release is the best one, though.