Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3 (1979)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a wonderful paradox in the Star Trek cinematic pantheon. It is possibly the most hardcore science fiction story that the franchise has explored and is both simultaneously Trek-like and un-Trek-like. Director Robert Wise and the production team worked hard to deliver a completed film for the scheduled December 1979 release date. However, he felt that the theatrical version was only a “rough cut”. Hence in late 2001 he supervised a Director’s Edition of the film which runs 136 minutes (4 minutes longer than the theatrical release)and reinstates some additional scenes and replaces some of the optical effects with new CGI creations. Critics were divided as to whether the Director’s Edition improved the film overall but Wise felt that this version was much closer to his original vision. The Director’s Edition was released exclusively on DVD in standard definition.
To date, only the theatrical version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has been released on Blu-ray. The main stumbling block regarding the Director’s Edition appears to be the CGI FXs that were created by Foundation Imaging. There is an ongoing debate over whether the source material still exists (allegedly it does) and whether it is at a sufficient resolution for use in a high definition format. Until these matters are resolved, the Director’s Edition remains conspicuously absent on regular Blu-ray and UHD. However, never underestimate the resourcefulness of fans. I recently discovered a fan edit called Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3. Created by the delightfully named ElectricTriangle. This is a robust recreation of the Director’s Edition but in 1080p. Like most fan edits it is not intended for commercial sale and is therefore not widely available.
I was fortunate enough to see a Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3 recently and it achieves exactly what it sets out to do. ElectricTriangle has primarily sourced their fan edit from HDTV, which uses the same transfer as the Director’s Edition. The HDTV version suffers from a degree of low detail and compression but it has superior grain and contrast than the current Blu-ray release. The unique footage from the Director’s Edition DVD has been upscaled and some material color-corrected. To recreate some of the specific changes in the Director’s Edition, ElectricTriangle had to combine HD and upscaled SD footage and create some additional animation to seamlessly join them. There are in fact two finished versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Edition HD Recreation v3. A primary version uses the DE DVD effects when appropriate but also uses the original theatrical unaltered effects to preserve HD quality. And then there’s a purist edition that includes most all of the shots altered for the DE DVD. These have been upscaled. Both versions contain the additional dialogue scenes featured in the DE DVD.
Until Paramount decides to pay for a restoration of the Director’s Edition in high definition, ElectricTriangles version remains the last word with regard to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, unofficially speaking. It is as near as damn it, identical to Robert Wise’s extended cut and looks very handsome in 1080p. However, it should be noted that irrespective of the changes that both Robert Wise and in this case ElectricTriangle have made, the film remains slow and dialogue driven. That’s just the way the film was made and you cannot edit this quality away. However, the sedate pace affords the viewer plenty of time to appreciate Jerry Goldsmith’s sumptuous score, which remains one of the film’s greatest assets. To paraphrase the tagline that accompanied the film upon its original release, “the human adventure is just beginning”. It’s just that it’s not in a hurry.
