Ideas and Suggestions for :Star Trek The Motion Picture (True Fan Edit) — Page 9

Ziz said:

OK, tell me what you think.  I whipped this up in Audacity as a proof of concept.  I had to chop up the vocals to get the pacing to match so I copied and pasted in bits of the undertone to smooth it out, but didn't do any audio finagling otherwise.  I cut the TMP theme short because I didn't make any changes after that point...the test is for integrating the speech and TOS theme.

http://www.zizolfo.com/ff-trek-theme.mp3

The vocals are from the aforementioned audio book.  The TOS theme is the season 2 version from a 3 disc set of TOS episode soundtracks and the TMP theme is obviously from that film. 

 

You need to use a different rendition of the TOS theme, doesn't sound "reflective" enough. Also, try mixing the vocals a little higher.

Also, it would be great if you could link the audio clip of Kirk speaking so that others might give it a go.

It's an interesting idea, and I like it. Although personally I don't really like the idea of using the TMP main theme before showing the TMP main titles. 

If we go along with the idea that we are moving form the realm of TOS to TMP then the prologue should feel like TOS on the big screen...

Although it might be an idea to close the prologue with the 'final frontier' speech and TOS theme then move into the TMP theme as the main titles begin.

EDIT - I just realised 005 just mentioned this.

Doubleofive, Yes that was my thinking, New prologue with Old prologue music - tweaked if needed, then the Paramount logo, then the main titles with main theme reveal.

of course we should look at all of these ideas and decide what works for the film.

As the TMP theme is reprised a few times within the movie already my feeling is that we should hear it less often rather than more, that way it should have more impact when we do hear it.

as for my concept version of the main theme - yes i'll share it but let me tinker with it some more first...I did use some of it in the klingon conept I posted on youtube.

Ziz said:

My thinking was that the visuals would look just like TOS up until the TMP theme kicks in, at which point the TMP title style takes over.  We get thru the theme and credits, then do the TOS portion of the story patched together from the episodes, then dissolve to TMP time and get on with the film.

Of course, there's a lot of ways to do this.  Again, my test was just to figure out how to get this alternate Shat audio back into the TOS theme without just lifting the TOS theme and speech from the series as is.

EDIT: Nevermind

Ziz said:

Yeah, there's other takes on the TOS theme out there, I just used one I had handy.  That's why it's a "proof of concept" - just enough to figure out how to make it work.  I'll leave it to FF to whip up the definitive version.

http://www.zizolfo.com/kirktalk.mp3

There's the straight audio of Shat that's the key to this.

 

I kind of like the track that's under there...

re: the TMP proluge - I'm not entirely sure but I think it's ONLY in the Director's cut - in short you haven't missed much, really. It's a very slowly zooming starfield - moving away, and some slowly paced music playing.

after that we fade to the Paramount logo and the main titles.

Since FanFiltration was considering adding a new text based prologue anyway, it was suggested that a new sequence be assembled from TOS footage to Imply the ship and crew returning home after the '5 year mission'

Ziz, The major strength of playing a Prologue [at least in this instance] is that we can bring people up to speed, then go off and show the main titles and imply a passage of time. Thus when we get back to our main characters any difference of appearance [greying hair, etc] is no big deal.

There is also a lot of TMP era stuff to cram into the start of the movie, so mixing in TOS era stuff might get confusing.

It's my understanding that FanFiltration wants to intercut the main titles with the refitting of the enterprise, I think in part so we can get rolling once the story starts proper without stumbling quite so much.

and Re: the Shatner clip there, I agree the original sounds 'good enough' as it is. It serves a purpose without giving anything away, at least from what i've heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAEme33ZQHI

The Star Trek XI Teaser sets the kind of tone I think the prologue should go for.

And that's great. sorry if it sounds like i'm dictating what should and should not be [just in case].

Keep the concepts coming guys.

FanFiltration said:

There is a great orchestral version of TOS theme (and suite from "The Cage") on a CD called "Time Warp" by Erich Kunzel conducting the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. It also contains a cover of TMP theme/Klingon battle that is excellent. 

And, I own it. *grin*

I don't hear no Klingon theme, nevertheless IT IS AWESOME.

 Unless the version i listened to is different. FF, please check your copy, see if it does or does not include the Klingon theme.

On the [TMP] soundtrack I have, the main theme plays out like in the movie which could be an edited version.

"4) Klingon Battle is now moved to later in film and will become edited into a 3 way conflict (double jeopardy for the Enterprise) between V'ger / Enterprise and the Klingons."

What the? That isn't going to work. Where are you going to get the dialogue? No one on board the Enterprise even mentions Klingons. You're not planning on that dreadful computer doing all the talking, are you?

Although, I wouldn't mind seeing the attempt.

Greetings folks.

I've been following this thread for awhile and I cant wait to see how things come together.

Last night, I was thinking about the TOS prologue you are working on.  With all of the Shatnerverse audio books out there, couldn't you piece together a "captain's log" to go with the video footage?  I have "Ashes of Eden" in audiobook and the DC comic adaptation.  I went through the comic (easier than listening to the entire audio) to find useful lines.  I kept track of the scenes they originally came from so I could find the scenes in the audio rather quickly.  Some audio would have to be edited, but I didn't think that would be too difficult. This is what I came up with:

TMP Overture begins on the Paramount Logo. (overture is heavily edited to have only the begining and the end. Just the light music)

Logo Fades, the circle of stars replaced by the Earth as main theme begins.

Kirk: "Home."

"(My) Enterprise will be gone soon." Show crew beaming away.*

"As all things must go" Show crew members lined up in hall.*

"Even Starship captains." Show Kirk packing.

"Empty like this, (she) seems so much smaller." Show various empty TOS sets, especially the ones that are upgraded in the movie like engineering, sickbay, etc.

"Filled with too many memories"  Lights fading on empty corridor.

"I don't want to stay."  Kirk alone on the bridge.

"To have the Enterprise back again. I fear I might do anything." Overture ends...scene fades to Black....BUM BUM Credits begin.

So I was getting pretty psyched.   I pulled out the audio book and started hunting down the lines.   GUESS WHAT?

Only TWO lines are in the audiobook (marked with *), and both of those have crowd soundeffects in the backgrounds.  So THAT was a waste of time.

I still think the theory is sound.  With all those Shatnerverse audios out there, it should be possible to come up with SOMETHING.  I hope this failed attempt helps a little. Best of luck.

If you are using the director's cut DVD as a source, how are you cleaning up the video?  I seem to remember that the DVD was still quite noisy. 

FanFiltration said:

Man I hate the uniforms so much. The only ones I like are  Kirk's Admiral  uniform (shirt part only), and the radiation suits that they held over for the next few films.  The rec deck scene looks like a huge pajama party. I was also never a fan of the Next Generation uniforms.

Really? I for one, hate the uniforms they use from Khan on. My favorite design is the Star Trek XI uniforms

SilverWook said:

More prologue thoughts...

Maybe a classical piece of music would work since a big screen version of the TOS theme aside from the 2009 version doesn't really exist. "Jupiter" by Gustav Holst might work if you use the right bits from it.

While 'Jupiter' is indeed a terrific piece SilverWook, there is a fantastic 'TOS' theme variation out there that I've always loved.  I'm a huge music fan in general, and that includes soundtrack scores too.  I have it somewhere around, and I'll get back about the title of the CD album I have.  It's been on one or two other compilations too I believe, and it's over 3 mins worth of full-blown perfection by the great John Williams himself (and his Boston Pops orchestra). 

It's just called 'Star Trek Theme' if I recall, and it's a variation on the Alexander Courage music.  It builds into it's own thing though, and is a neat version.

(By the way doubleofive, I got a hold of that 'Best of Meco' compilation some time back, too, lol!  A blast from the past, that.)

While I'm personally very happy with the grandeur of the existing 'Star Trek The Motion Picture:Director's cut' exactly as it is (barring some print quality issues of course), I'm also very interested to see what you eventually come up with on this one FanFiltration.

Having caught up with everything on this thread recently, as far as a potential TOS 'Prologue' intro. possibility, I've been mulling over a short variation of my own in the last couple of days to put up here just for fun.

I'll get round to it when I can, and had been intending to mention I'd have theoretically had John Williams version to accompany it, before we eventually go on to hear Jerry Goldsmith's theme begin....