Originally posted by: Mike O

How substantiative are the Trek changes?

On the 2nd disc of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (which has only had one dvd release, and it's the director's edition), they actually included all of the deleted scenes from the original version and all of the scenes from the tv version, all in anamorphic widescreen I should add. Basically, with the exception of the original opening and closing credits, they included any material from the various versions that didn't make it into the director's edition.

The Wrath of Khan director's edition added some short scenes, such as Kirk meeting Scotty's nephew. There are also some alternate angles used. I remember seeing a youtube pointing out that there are a few additional differences between this version and the tv version. Whoever made it basically spliced in footage from an off-the-air videotape recording.

I'm not sure if there are any differences between the single and 2-disc releases of Undiscovered Country, aside from anamorphic widescreen of course. The version on the 2-disc definitely isn't the theatrical cut since it has the operation retrieve scene.

Spoiler warning if you haven't seen Star Trek VI:

One funny thing I should point out is that when I watched the 2-disc for the first time I remember actually noticing a difference in the edit. After Valeris has been exposed as a conspirator and she's standing on the bridge with everyone asking her questions, McCoy at one point says "and what do you think you've been doing" and Valeris replies "saving Starfleet." The reason I noticed the difference is that on the dvd there's actually a cut to the angle that's just on McCoy when he says that whereas I definitely remember watching the movie back in the day either on tv or on vhs and there was no cut to McCoy when he says that and it always seemed awkward to me because his voice seemed to be coming from nowhere. Then I read the text commentary on the dvd and sure enough there was a difference.

This is what makes me wonder if the cut on the single-disc version is different.

Beyond that, I can't really say what all the various differences are in the cuts of the Trek films. Of the old single-disc releases the only ones I've actually seen are Generations (rented it back in the spring of '02 because I felt like watching it again, yea, don't ask) and Nemesis (rented it in summer of '03 since I'd missed it in theaters).