Ironic we have the theatrical cut of TMP on Blu Ray, and not the Director’s Edition with all the CGI shots. Paramount’s penny pinching actually helped for once. 😉
I know, right?!
Although those blu-rays are still the hd equivalent of the GOUT for me, with the obvious exception of Wrath of Khan which has been restored not once but twice now while the other five were merely “remastered.” TUC happens to be one of the very first movies I ever saw in a theater. I was quite happy to hear the news that the bd would be the theatrical cuts, which for TUC would be the first release of the theatrical cut on home video ever. Even TMP couldn’t make that claim IIRC, as there was a release of the theatrical cut long before the “special longer version” became the norm on vhs (someone please correct me if I’m wrong).
Then the screencaptures started coming in…
Just as with the GOUT, there was an element of “I knew it was too good to be true.” TMP was the theatrical cut, but had been contrast-boosted and slightly dnr’d. Were they still using the same ancient hd transfer they would’ve done way back in 2001 before finishing the DE cgi at 480p? TUC was also the theatrical, but looked manipulated and processed as well. Unlike with TMP, there were actually clear signs of this being from an ancient 1080i master (stair-stepping and other issues). Maybe that was the tradeoff for it being the theatrical cut. Maybe there was a “barely hd” master sitting on the shelf (but from when???) and they simply dumped it to blu-ray.
Search for Spock and Final Frontier both looked passably decent, if just barely. But there was still an unwanted amount of dnr and contrast-boosting going on.
Then there’s Voyage Home. Ohhhh boy. Someone cranked the dnr knob up to eleven on that one. It looks like somewhat slathered the photoshop “watercolor” filter over every frame in the movie.
I actually caught back to back screenings of Search for Spock and Voyage Home at the AFI Silver back in September. SFS ended up being from a DCP when they had said it was 35mm (I noticed they’ve since stopped specifying what format their screenings are in). It actually didn’t look terrible, even though it was from the same flawed master used for the blu-ray.
But then I saw Voyage Home right after … and it was not only an actual 35mm print, but the european version with the kirk-narrated “previously on” intro! Let me tell you, after seeing the oscar-nominated cinematography in all its glory, there’s no way I’m buying a copy of this or any other pre-Abrams Trek film until it’s shown the proper treatment.
But hey, at least it was still technically given an official release in hd, which is more than the OT can say for itself.