While not the most beloved of Star Trek films, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a beautifully designed and elegant film from the late Robert Wise. Sure, the acting might be a little stilted and the story obscure (thanks to an unfinished script as Wise began filming), but it is still the film that brought Star Trek back in the late 1970s. Of course, Wise himself was never completely happy with the version released to theaters in 1979 (a special longer version debuted on television a few years later), so he set out to fine tune the film with Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition in 2001. It fixed a few unfinished optical effects and replaced the rushed matte paintings, but it also gave Wise the chance to properly mix the audio and make some other changes for pace. Sadly, the Director’s Edition missed the Blu-ray era as all of the updated effects were made for standard definition DVD. But now Wise’s Edition is back with further updated effects and 4K resolution. Here’s a trailer:
If you’ve never seen the Director’s Edition, it is an improvement on The Motion Picture. The acting and story issue still remain, of course, but the movie is tighter and those handful of computer generated effects updates make the film feel more complete. Although, the trailer suggests a new update to the V’ger probe scene that we’re unsure about. Part of what makes that sequence interesting is its faults and un-reality. Also, as special effects supervisor John Dykstra mentioned in the 2001 Director’s Edition commentary track, the scene features a lack of interactive lighting that cannot be easily painted in with computer graphics.
But we’ll reserve judgement until the new version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Director’s Edition debuts April 5th on Paramount+.
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