According to Starlog magazine, the old rumor was one cast member didn’t appreciate those being shown to the public. Which might be why they never aired on any of those blooper tv specials of the 80’s and 90’s.
Yes, I’ve always suspected that might possibly have been a factor. There are also one or two things in the blooper reel that are not very politically sound by today’s standards. The Battlestar Galactica TOS bloopers are even more so. I imaging that gives some people pause when it comes to releasing the stuff.
The USA cult cable show Night Flight dared to air a couple minutes of bloopers attached to a TWOK trailer in the wee hours of the weekend in the late 80’s. I managed to get that on tape back in the day.
Have you digitized that? How was the quality?
There are a few clips used in one of the anniversary documentaries that are not terrible quality. But they are just excerpts as well.
One of those bargain basement video labels had the balls to release a good portion of the bloopers in the early 90’s tucked within the body of a 30 minute documentary about Sci Fi television.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-40-YEARS-of-Science-Fiction-TELEVISION-1993-VHS-STAR-TREK-BLOOPERS-MORE-/112233200125
I preserved my copy, but haven’t checked the disc in a while. I think the original VHS was one of those SLP speed releases.
SLP is always a bad sign for the tape itself, but how was the quality of the original transfer? Murky, muddy, and dark like most of the others? Or actually reasonable?
Prior to home video, Super 8 and sometimes 16mm copies were sold at conventions, and these sometimes pop up on Ebay today.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Trek-Original-Series-Blooper-Reels-1-3-Super8-Film-Color-Sound-/152285300601
Even one of those is going to look a little rough as blooper reels were copied and copied again among fans who had the ability to do so.
That’s the big problem…nth generation transfers or copies make up most of what we see out there. But somebody has the original reels. And somebody else has copies made from those reels that are not as bad as the rest of what’s out there. I’d really love to find out what’s the best source out there, whether it’s an 8mm reel, a VHS release, a DVD, or a torrent somewhere.
–SKot