I finally got to watch this version last night. Other than a glitch just before the chapter switches to Mark Lenard speaking the film’s first line of dialogue…its perfect. This is the version I’ve always wanted. Nothing against the director’s cut, but it has too much cut out for me that I miss.
The theatrical cut is much the same for me but worse because I lose Spock’s tears, that excellent scene with Uhura saying our odds may have just doubled, and I enjoy the extra scene with Sulu and Ilya. The picture quality in this version is great, the sound too and it seems the scene with Kirk and the spacewalk was digitally finished as well. I always liked the scene but just dealt with their being this scene that was clearly on a soundstage with wires.
This will now be the preferred version of the film for me. Does anyone else have the glitch? I may re-download it to see if it goes away.