TMP in Ultra HD - Ep 152

70s Trek: Star Trek in the 1970s

Welcome to the first new 70s Trek episode in 3 years!

The release of the 4K, Ultra HD version of Star Trek The Motion Picture, The Director’s Edition, is such big news that co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto felt it deserved a new episode of 70s Trek.

Star Trek The Motion Picture was originally released in theaters in 1979. It culminated ten years of hard work, false starts and frustrations. The movie ran 132 minutes and it brought live action Star Trek back.

But because of problems during production, the film was little more that a rough-cut. The version we saw in theaters was never intended to be the final edit. But because of marketing commitments, director Robert Wise ran out of time.

Flash forward to 2001. Paramount agreed to let Wise and his team re-edit the folm so it would be closer to his original vision. The result was Star Trek The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition. The team tightened the editing and inserted new, updated CGI special effects.

However, this version of the film was only released in standard definition on DVD. Blu Ray had not yet been invented. So fans never got to see this verison of the film in high definition.

Until now.

Members of Wise's 2001 team have gotten access to the Paramount vaults and have gone back to the orignal camera negatives to restore The Director's Edition in 4K Ultra HD. Theyhave also updated the special effects, bringing them up to 4K, as well.

The result is a stunning film with more color, detail and dynamic sound.