Star Trek 1: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition [DVD] [1979]

And what a film we have. By taking a careful look over the film, Wise has made some subtle but important changes. By adding a scene here, cropping one there and taking a few out altogether, the film is now much tighter, and flows far better.

Helping this are the new effects shots that have been inserted. However, don't make the mistake that these are just gimmicks, added because they could be (the Star Wars special editions come to mind). All the effects have been designed to fit seamlessly into the movie and unless you know the film by heart, you will have trouble spotting which are original and which are new until you watch the feature on the second disk. The most dramatic effects that have been added are taken from the original 1979 storyboards that they simply didn't have the time to film.

Due to the different running time the score has been adapted and the audio on the whole enhanced so that if is now in full 5.1. In fact the only criticism you can level at this edition is that the film looks a little grainy. They could have taken a bit of extra time to clean it up a little.

After the poor offerings on the other eight Star Trek DVDs, Paramount have finally released an edition worthy of the format. In fact this two disc set has a number of gems locked away.

The first disc has the movie in widescreen and enhanced for 16:9 TVs. It has the usual scene selections and, finally on a Star Trek disk, well designed animated interactive menus. Also included is an audio commentary featuring Robert Wise himself with Doug Trimbull (effects director), John Dykstra (effects supervisor), Jerry Goldsmith (music composer) and Stephen Collins (actor playing William Decker). In addition a feature I haven't seen before is a text commentary by Mike Okuda (co-author of the Star Trek Encyclopedia). Both commentaries can be viewed simultaneously.

The second disc is well packed with goodies. All the usual trailers, commercials and promos are here, but a little more thought has been put in. First we have three documentaries made just for this disk. Each deals with a different aspect of the film and is interesting in its own right. All the scenes that have been cut or amended are included here so you can compare the new with the old and there is a full section of storyboard archives.

All the big fans of the show will be buying this disc, but this edition warrants more attention than this. The movie is now a masterpiece of filmmaking and show what can be achieved if the money men give the artists the time they need to complete their work rather than tie them to deadlines that can compromise the movie.

Star Trek : The Motion Picture - The Directors Edition is a must own disc that brings the full glory of Star Trek and the Enterprise to the screen in a way that only the advent of CGI and more importantly DVD has allowed.