Theatrical Version vs All Others (Directors Cut, Special Edition, Ext)

Much as I loved the theatrical cut, I found the 2001 Director's Cut to be a bit more polished. I liked the additional SFX and the little changes they made to the movie. The pacing was better too IMO.

Regardless of which version one prefers, at least we can both agree that TMP is a wonderful and deeply underrated movie.

The dodgy matte work on Vulcan was always distracting to me. Especially since Vulcan looked totally different in ST:III. I'm glad that the studio went back and fixed that stuff. Same with the wormhole asteroid FX. I would have preferred that the DC version leave in the Decker/Ilia exposition scenes on the Rec Dec, also.

-Rod

Maybe this is because it's the first Trek I ever saw, but for me, the extended 1983 TV version is the best version of this film. Yes, it's longer with more dialogue and more drawn-out which slows the film down even more, but it adds a certain intellectual, analytical, and speculative heaviness that's lacking from the theatrical and director's cuts, and IMHO, makes it far more exciting to watch. (I also think the editing runs much smoother in this version.)

The Director's Cut all the way!

Some of the original FX in the theatrical version are the worst in all of Trek. The TMP Director's Cut is how a director's cut should be made, they fixed all the pacing errors of the theatrical version which was a rush job and fixed all of the bad effects with tastefully done CGI that matches the look of the original '79 FX in the film.

Robert Wise's Cut is the only way to go for this film.

The 2001 Director's Cut is the superior version of the movie by miles!


I upgraded all of my Star Trek movies to blu ray except for TMP.

I will be keeping the DVD version of that movie forever.

I definitely prefer the theatrical cut. This is a SEVENTIES film no matter how you slice it. Why change it?

I like those "silly added cgi fx". Look, the film was highly rushed and some of the effects simply never came together as intended. Vulcan was ridiculously wrong, some shots of the Enterprise saucer when they walk out on top of it looked atrocious, a few rushed or incomplete effects, etc. Robert Wise himself oversaw the project, and this was an effort to portray what they had originally wanted to do. I think that, overall, it was a vast improvement. They tried to make the new effects match the original effects, and I think it worked rather well. The only thing that stood out to me as CGI was the steps appearing inside V'ger at the finale. While cool, it didn't quite look like something that would have been put to screen in 1979.

Now, I do agree with you that the new bridge sound effects are a tad distracting and don't add anything. This project should not have changed those things and focused simply on a better edit with new visual effects. rather than fixing problems, that was more a response to criticisms over the years of the male computer voice and such.

But hey, I do have a soft spot for the Theatrical version of the film. It's the one I grew up on, after all!

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I am not a fan. I just happen to enjoy movies. Fans are embarrassing.

Read Wikipedia for the disaster Post Production was:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3A_The_Motion_Picture

Director's cut Blu-ray coming next year.