I barely ever post here, but I can't stay silent on this one: I am seriously looking forward to this movie!!
FanFiltration, let me add my voice to those encouraging you to keep that 2-second "smirk" clip in -- I think the previous suggestion of "overlapping" the footage from two sources is a fantastic and viable solution. (Or, if the background is completely static, you could even loop it in from earlier in the same shot!) Honestly, it would bug me to no end to know that I was watching a movie that was faithfully recreated except for ONE shot ... and if I had a choice between a movie with 2 seconds that I knew were missing, or 2 seconds that might have some slight weirdness in the background, I'd happily and instantly take the latter.
Someone earlier in the thread mentioned that single shot where Kirk leaves the airlock, where you can clearly see the soundstage ... I'm hoping you just leave it alone, to be honest. Even in the fullscreen version you can see soundstage on both sides, and it's always given me a laugh. What are your plans for that shot?
Geez, all this talk of restoring other versions makes me think about my other favorite "lost Trek" movie ... the theatrical cut of Star Trek VI, without all that Scooby Doo stuff at the end. Has anyone ever considered trying to re-create that? It seems like it would be fairly simple, given the two versions out on DVD available to work with...
I guess the hardest part would be finding a source for the original theatrical cut, so you could tell what edits to make. If it even exists, it would probably only be in the form of some poorly-shot bootleg taken by a video camera in the theater ... :p
Ah well. In any event, keep up the great work, FanFiltration, and please keep us closet Trekkies updated on how things are progressing! :-D
-Jeph