🖖Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition Full Length Reaction
Added 2023-08-16 01:08:59 +0000 UTC* This is the Director's Edition with runtime 2:16:43 *
Each of us at some time in our lives, turns to someone - a father, a brother, a God and asks... "Why am I here? What was I meant to be?
I liked this one! (Unpopular opinion?) I loved seeing our crew again, great music and a philosophical plot that reminded me of the questioning nature of the show. REEEEALLY looking forward to Wrath of Khan!!!
** Note: If you are here from a reaction compilation channel please do not use footage from these full length reactions in your compilations. Sometimes I have comments or content intended just for Patrons exclusively in these videos **
Comments
This one's not bad. But it does have a LOT of long, drawn out shots of the ship just floating through space. If they trimmed it down to around 90 minutes so the story could move a little faster, I bet it would be a much better movie.
Joe Blankenship
2024-07-05 01:15:02 +0000 UTCMost fans of the show watched every day while waiting for this movie, and still after the movie came out. THE SHOW WAS ON AT LEAST ONCE EVERY DAY ON AT LEAST ONE CHANNEL ALMOST EVERYWHERE.
MertzRocks
2023-10-04 21:03:11 +0000 UTCSTTMP Director's Cut is my favorite Star Trek film. I have probably watched it 25 times now.
thansen
2023-09-21 13:34:15 +0000 UTCWild that they make it that much longer after TMP since it was only released like 3 years after TMP in reality. lol
Chrissonator
2023-08-26 21:13:58 +0000 UTCYes 100% agreed.
RJ MacReady
2023-08-25 22:57:10 +0000 UTCGlad you enjoyed this one. I think it's flawed, but there's a great deal to like about it. As others have mentioned, it's had a fairly complicated history. :) I think the Director's Edition is the best *edit* of the movie, but some of the revised visual effects stick out a little to me. The original effects (the ones that were finished, at least) are honestly really good for their time, and many are actually retained in the Director's Edition (though some may have been recomposited to get rid of dirt, generation loss, etc.) There was another version called the "Special Longer Version," that played on network TV in the 80s and then was released on VHS. That one is 2 hrs, 23 minutes, so that may be what Google was referring to. :) As for the opening starfield... in the original theatrical cut, the music played over black (no stars) as an overture; sort of a throwback to the old "roadshow" films of the 50s and 60s. The Black Hole (also 1979) did this, too.
Bryan Tuck
2023-08-23 18:37:44 +0000 UTCYou need to watch some selected episodes of 'TNG' before you start the corrosponding movies.
JPDotCom23
2023-08-23 12:22:01 +0000 UTCI grew up watching TOS in the 70's. I can't overstate how emotional the reveal of the Enteprise was for me in the theater. I still get misty over it and the music. That entire space dock scene was just a love letter to the fans to let everyone geek out before the story continued. It's actually something NASA does (or did) on Shuttle missions., They built some time in the schedule for the crew to just geek out and gawk when first getting to space before they had to get down to the business at hand. The color codes from the uniforms are still there. There's a colored background to the Star Fleet badge on their chest. In later movies, they use a colored tunic. To give you an idea how big the cloud is, when they said how many "AU" in diameter it was... an AU is an Astronomical Unit. It's the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
John
2023-08-22 22:41:09 +0000 UTCYeah, Will Decker being the son of Matt Decker is something that's easy to miss. I wish there had been a little more discussion about it.
John
2023-08-22 22:27:35 +0000 UTC6 was a fine recovery however.
RJ MacReady
2023-08-21 22:14:00 +0000 UTCThank you for this.
RJ MacReady
2023-08-21 22:13:20 +0000 UTCThe reason this movie wasn't well-received is the same as the first pilot for the original TV series -- it was "too cerebral." They did, however, get it right in the next movie, and continued on that way until the 5th movie, which stumbled a bit.
Gary W
2023-08-20 17:17:19 +0000 UTCIt didn't take much self-convincing to join Patreon for this reaction after reading next week's schedule on YT. 😆 I really enjoyed this reaction and love the enthusiasm and appreciation. I admit, I was a little disappointed when you started with the 2009 movie, but I think the current approach will work very well and I'm very intrigued to join into this Star Trek journey. I really love this movie, especially the DC version, even though I know many people don't share this opinion. I admire how it tries to do something different and explore the deeper themes of the franchise, rather than just focusing on action/adventure. I think it has some flaws, but it's still a masterpiece in its own way. And the score by Jerry Goldsmith is amazing. It really elevates the movie and makes it more memorable. I respect the opinions of those who don't like this movie, and I can see their points. But I also think this movie deserves some credit for being a pioneer and setting the stage and serving as an archetype for the Next Generation era in terms of design, aesthetics, score, etc. The story behind the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is fascinating. The original series was cancelled by CBS in 1969, but they soon regretted it and tried to revive it in the late 70s. They planned a new series called Star Trek: Phase II, which would have reunited most of the original cast, except for Leonard Nimoy. They had already built sets, designed costumes, and tested actors when Star Wars came out in 1977 and changed everything. Paramount decided to scrap the series and make a movie instead, hoping to cash in on the sci-fi craze. This was probably the first time a TV show was adapted into a film. However, this also meant they had a lot of money but very little time to finish the movie. The production was plagued by problems. They had to rush the editing, the effects, and the sound mixing. Some shots were incomplete or had errors, some were unfinished thus missing altogether. The director Robert Wise was unhappy with the final result, but he had no choice but to deliver it to the premiere. He literally brought the first print by hand with his crew. He always wished he could have made the movie he envisioned, and he finally got the chance in 2000 when he released a director's cut. If anyone interested in the differences between the theatrical and DC, this site is making a good comparison: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=32692
Gábor Árki
2023-08-18 21:11:51 +0000 UTCExcellent! I have been waiting for you to begin the Star Trek movies! Also good on watching the newly released "directors cut" of TMP, it cuts out a lot of the long winded scenes like like 6 minute Enterprise flyby.
RJ MacReady
2023-08-18 19:05:59 +0000 UTC… *struck with an artillery shell! The Blaster Beam was invented by Craig Huxley, who guest starred in the Star Trek TOS 3rd season episode “And The Children Shall Lead” as ‘Tommy Starnes’ — and played Kirk’s nephew Peter in the episode ‘Operation: Annihilate’
David Olden
2023-08-18 04:04:20 +0000 UTCJust got done watching this reaction. So happy you enjoyed The Motion Picture! You also watched it at the right time since the version you found was just recently released. I've seen every version and the latest is by far the best. The Red Alert sound in the Theatrical Cut was so loud it would've probably made you remove your ear buds lol It was also great seeing my name in the credits of a Franchise I love! Can't wait to see Wrath of Khan!
Wade Wallenstein
2023-08-18 02:46:31 +0000 UTCHey Jen, just a heads up when you do get to watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, just so you aren't uncertain as to when the story takes place like with The Motion Picture. Wrath of Khan takes place 12 years after the events of The Motion Picture per Wikipedia.
Todd Preble
2023-08-17 23:57:03 +0000 UTCMan, the slow shots of the ships rule so much and make me realise how little I'm a fan of the J.J Abram reboots. All the miniatures looks so freaking good.
Patrick
2023-08-17 17:06:20 +0000 UTCI loved your reaction Jen. Can't wait for Wrath of Kahn.
Joseph H Searles
2023-08-17 11:07:51 +0000 UTCIt is of little surprise to me that you liked this one. I also feel that you will like the next one even more.
Death Lego
2023-08-17 09:40:11 +0000 UTCNever liked this movie.
warcrimes
2023-08-17 07:00:27 +0000 UTCI've seen this ST:TMP in a theater twice: Once on opening weekend in 1979 and the other last year (I think) just before the 4k bluray was released. I was a big fan of Star Trek and had watched it for perhaps 5 years by 1979. (I was about 12 or 13 at the time.) While the effects were amazing and the music was ethereal, I was disappointed because I wanted to see a movie that more action. Still, I did watch it over and over again over the years because I did enjoy the visuals and really grew to like the music quite a lot. When, the director's cut final surfaced (the early 2000's DVD version), I glimpsed what the movie was intended to be. This was the beginning of my rapprochement with this movie. It wasn't until I finally saw it last year in a theater with the pristine picture and dynamic sound that I finally fully embraced this movie as one that I actually like. --- Oh, I forgot to mention. That scene at the beginning of the movie (before the opening credits) is the overture. It was commonplace in older films and was borrowed from ballet and opera. The idea is to set the mood for the show to come. Kubrick's 2001 (complete with a mid-movie intermission as well), The Black Hole, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, Spartacus, and West Side Story (1961) are a small handful of other movies with an overture.
Ron
2023-08-17 06:15:25 +0000 UTCNice reaction Jen! I enjoyed seeing the movie again with you. Seeing this film on the big screen in theaters when it first came out (44 years ago) was mind-blowing, especially since fans were used to seeing 1960's re-runs of the original Star Trek series on small Standard Definition TVs. So, these long panning shots of the Enterprise didn't seem as over-the-top as they do now. I had forgotten Jerry Goldsmith did the music, so it was great getting reacquainted with the score as well. I can't wait for your reaction to Wrath of Kahn! 😉
John Courtright
2023-08-17 04:22:06 +0000 UTCIt's hard to imagine the impact this film had when it came out. Star Trek was cancelled in the 60's. You had Battlestar Galactica for a couple seasons in the late 70's. And there was the original Star Wars. That was it for sci fi. The very idea that Star Trek would come back and as a feature film was incredible. It had some teething problems, but the Trek films really hit their stride with films 2, 3, and 4. That's an outstanding trilogy on it's own.
John
2023-08-17 03:56:39 +0000 UTCI too really enjoyed this movie, yes it is slow but I never minded that. And this edition story wise changes nothing at all. I noticed a couple of lines removed and perhaps a minute of different footage but the vast majority of the changes are new effects shots and some effects flaws removed but not that many new shots as the original effects were still great and were nominated for an Oscar... losing to Alien. Nice idea to watch the reboot movies after the TOS movies and before the TNG episodes and movies. It is probably hoping for too much to have you watch all of DS9, the next Trek series and many people's favorite. Unlike TOS and TNG which basically are episodic series DS9 developed into a great arc covering season 3-7 which makes it more difficult to just watch individual episodes from this series.
Andrew Roach
2023-08-17 02:40:15 +0000 UTCYou want great creepy music for Halloween watch the Omen Trilogy great Goldsmith scores crazy weird but epic like his Planet of the Apes/Poltergeist score.
Alberto Blanco
2023-08-17 00:10:17 +0000 UTCNicholas Meyer who wrote & directed Wrath of Khan and Star Trek 6.... I believe made a beautiful Jack The Ripper Time Travel Thriller called Time After Time.
Alberto Blanco
2023-08-16 23:40:27 +0000 UTCwhen this movie came out in 1979 I was 18, you have to realize that us "nerds" watched reruns of Star Trek, a show from the 1960s, we would not let it die, conventions and the high demand of the reruns during the 70s helped the process, most of the stars, Shatner, Nimoy etc. were B actors at best, TV stars at worst, Nimoy had a hit show called in search of, Shatner was doing low budget horror movies before he became TJ hooker in the 80s. after all these years old friends came back on the big screen, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhuru, Yeoman, Kirk, this movie gave us original fans what we wanted. the next set of movies gave the world greatness.
zynjams
2023-08-16 22:29:22 +0000 UTCAbout the differences in the director's edition - mostly it comes down to pacing changes and effects shots that are missing entirely from the theatrical release. TMP had a pretty troubled production, and due to problems with the company that was *supposed* to a lot of the VFX, they basically ran out of time to finish the movie. Douglas Trumbull was brought in to basically redo all the VFX, and due to the lack of time had to take shortcuts to get them finished - resulting in a lot of duplicated shots. The final edit was so late it was literally flown to the premier by the director Robert Wise. The first director's edition came out in 2001, and had new CGI shots and pacing fixes - this was only ever available on DVD. The remastered edition you watched from 2021 had to redo the CGI shots added in the 2001 edition as they had been lost (and would have been too low quality anyway due to their age), and also made a few other minor fixes, including properly colour grading the film for the first time (since the original VFX were so late, it wasn't possible to do it for the theatrical release) - this version is basically the first time the film can be considered 'finished'. There's also an extended TV cut, which is the two hour twenty something minute cut you mentioned - I believe this was only released on VHS, and was essentially unsanctioned by Robert Wise
Sean Ellingham
2023-08-16 21:18:06 +0000 UTCIt's not the best of the original Star Trek films but I still think it's better than The Final Frontier. It was certainly a choice to get the guy who directed Sound Of Music and West Side Story to direct a big budget Star Trek film. I still have a soft spot for it though. It's a nice cosy sci-fi film and better on repeat viewings. Also, shoutout to Bones' 70s disco outfit.
Patrick
2023-08-16 21:12:41 +0000 UTCA couple of things to mention: -The time in which the T.V. series took place was in the mid-2260s while The Motion Picture takes place in the early 2270s. -Gene Roddenberry was developing a second T.V. series called Star Trek: Phase II when Star Wars burst onto the big screen. The series was scrubbed in favor of making a movie for the big screen. -With a bigger budget, the Klingon's got a refresh on their uniforms and prosthetics. Their updated appearance will continue with little changes throughout all of the remaining original movies, as well as multiple series including: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, and Strange New Worlds. -The super long shot with Kirk and Scotty approaching the Enterprise was to show off the totally new ship design for the movie. Most of the long shots flying by V'Ger was to give a sense of scale of how large the Enterprise was, which isn't something that was done in the T.V. show. The remastered edition sort of handled this issue, but not very well. -The character of Captain (Commander) Willard Decker is the son of Commodore Matt Decker, who was seen in the episode "The Doomsday Machine." Looking forward to your reaction to The Wrath Of Khan. You're gonna love it.
Bammer
2023-08-16 17:40:29 +0000 UTCI remember watching this on cable after it left the theaters. I grew up watching reruns of Star Trek almost every day, so I was really excited. I was about 12 at the time, and as much as I was intrigued by the story, it just drug out too long in so many places. Looking back at it now, I assume they were trying too hard to distinguish it from the t.v. series and went overboard with a lot of visuals that just were not needed. Still, it is what it is, and I believe anyone watching the other movies should check it out at least once.
Vwlss Nvwls
2023-08-16 17:24:31 +0000 UTCGigantic slap bass is exactly what it is. It's called a blaster beam; 12-20 ft wires stretched over guitar pickups and tapped with a mallet.
Lemurian Jones
2023-08-16 16:05:32 +0000 UTCFor me the biggest knock on this film is some the stuff you mentioned, the long drawn out panning shots etc. I get the desire to do the one as Kirk and Scotty are boarding the Enterprise but after that it just gets to be a little much and makes things feel somewhat draggy. They *really* spend a lot of time using the visuals to try to convey to us both the vastness of space and of V'ger and it's different levels. The V'ger storyline itself I quite enjoy, it's as sci-fi/Trek as one could ask for. The giant alien presence so different from us as to be incomprehensible is just classic stuff. I just wish for a few less minutes of pretty visuals and a bit more something else like crew interaction. It doesn't really come up in the movie but Capt/Commander Decker is supposed to be the son of the late, great Commodore Decker who flew his shuttle into the mouth of the Planet Killer in an attempt to destroy it back in the TOS episode that we watched "The Doomsday Machine." I suspect that as well as more backstory on Ilia and the Deltans were things that got left on the cutting room floor. There are some novelizations and expanded universe stuff that pick up on these things and flesh them out a bit. Dr. McCoy's assistant, Dr. Chapel, is the since-promoted Nurse Chapel, played by Gene's wife Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who's unrequited love for Spock we saw a bit of back in "Amok Time." There's also a great Star Trek novel called The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard that creates a story for the time between the end of TOS and TMP that is really very good and I very much recommend it if you can get a hold of it, I don't know if it's still in print. It also does a lot of stuff with Spock and Vulcan culture that I think you would really enjoy. Anyhoo, cheers until the next one. Live long and prosper 🖖
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2023-08-16 15:15:28 +0000 UTC😂😂
Jen M
2023-08-16 15:02:59 +0000 UTCDamnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a YouTube reactor!
Kade (Sydney, AU)
2023-08-16 11:51:05 +0000 UTCExcellent reaction! It was worth it just for Jen's commentary on the music, and catching the original theme in there once the gang was back together.
Allen Bond
2023-08-16 10:39:43 +0000 UTCIf you're watching on Prime, and you are getting unwanted Audio Description - change the audio to US English.
Bobz
2023-08-16 08:09:48 +0000 UTCFrom having read and seeing so many behind the scenes documentary about the star trek movies, it's amazing this movie ever left the cutting room floor. So many problems in the production, with poor special effects company that had never worked on a motion picture before only ads and had no idea what to do, to Gene Roddenberry,s involvement taking approved scenes and competly rewriting them because he didn't like what he read, even though they already have shoot the scenes the day beforehand. Director Robert Wise walked out on the movie because of conflict with Gene constant interference in production. But me personally found this movie enjoyable, it liked the concept of the story, the only thing that annoyed me about the movie, it takes 30 minutes getting to voyager and 2 minutes to get away?
RebRox65
2023-08-16 08:04:17 +0000 UTCThe idea of having the Voyager spacecraft intercepted by an intellectually superior alien race would also be used as the central theme of the 1984 Jeff Bridges movie, Starman (directed by John Carpenter).
John Walters
2023-08-16 06:02:53 +0000 UTCSaw this in theaters as a young kid when it came out. Wasn't crazy about it then (although the Voyager/Vger aspect of it was kind of interesting at the time), and still not crazy about it for a variety of reasons. But I guess it did well enough that it justified production of Wrath of Kahn, and that's what's important ;). Thankfully they ditched those horrific uniforms after the first movie.
Eric Denney
2023-08-16 05:45:58 +0000 UTCFirst, the reason why the new theme song sounds familiar is because it became the theme song for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Second, the plot is pretty much a more advanced retelling of the original series episode "The Changeling" but with V'ger replacing Nomad. The main reason it did well when it came out was, as other said, it was Star Trek coming back. Thankfully it was able to lead to Wrath of Kahn which ended up getting rid of those new God awful uniforms that they had in this movie.
Chris Biebel
2023-08-16 03:50:45 +0000 UTCI LOVED this movie then and love it still now. The sound! The visual effects for its time! Seeing our favorite characters again! The twist! ...and I know I'm in the minority here--I love the new uniforms. The size of V'ger and the concept of ALL the worlds it must have seen....my mind is blown!
John Zelinka
2023-08-16 03:28:03 +0000 UTCYeah, I saw this in the theater when I was really little. I think I fell asleep. It is a hard one to rewatch. But the music is awesome and Jen is cracking me up!
Lord Jeremy
2023-08-16 03:05:31 +0000 UTCI like this one unapologetically. Thematically, it does many of the things very well that made the show great for me. As much as I love the movies, I don’t particularly need or want Trek to be very action focused… I think it’s best when it reflects about the human condition and philosophical issues (which is why I generally prefer TV Trek over movie Trek). The Enterprise refit is perhaps my favorite ship-design - and it’s shot so well here.
Michael Bauer
2023-08-16 03:01:30 +0000 UTCI guess ST:TMP is something of a guilty pleasure for some,lol..it is what it is I mean the practical effects hold up well,its easy to where the money went the effects,sets & the underwhelming wardrobes,because the script writers dropped the ball..it is a cool movie not a good one..I do love the new Enterprise and the music! 💜😎
Celeste McAllister
2023-08-16 02:42:24 +0000 UTCI've heard the director's cut is supposed to be better than the version I saw in theaters in 1979, but the only thing I liked was the fan service, which wasn't even called that then as far as i know. Next film made up for it though.
Christopher Boscarino
2023-08-16 02:22:36 +0000 UTCI stood in line for hours to watch the premier, and I left the theater disappointed. It had its moments to be sure, but it was trying way too hard to be *2001: A Space Odyssey*. That, and they ripped off half the plot from the *Nomad* episode.
Ed Bartlett
2023-08-16 01:41:31 +0000 UTCI'm so glad you watched it and liked it.
Thomas Yanez
2023-08-16 01:39:58 +0000 UTCI've always liked this movie 👍.
Lee Pitman
2023-08-16 01:26:43 +0000 UTCI don't dislike the film - the plot is really interesting - but it takes its time. People today don't understand what it was like when that film came out... it was the first new live-action Trek since TOS, so like more than a decade. And it had modern VFX, so Trek fans were in heaven. But then Wrath of Khan came out a few years later, and that raised everyone's expectations considerably and resulted in many people reconsidering their view on the first film, which isn't really fair, imo.
Tim Arnold
2023-08-16 01:15:57 +0000 UTCSo exciting!!
Stephen W. Evans
2023-08-16 01:10:26 +0000 UTC
