re: #126 TedStriker

Also, Paramount’s giving the same 4K HDR treatment to ST:TMP’s theatrical cut, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home in a box set, on sale 9/7.

trekmovie.com

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P.S.: I can understand if they skip doing this for The Final Frontier, the red-headed bastard stepchild that it is (and that Paramount never really wanted to make in the first place, kneecapping it all through production and giving Shatner a shit budget, because TNG was starting to ride high and demanded much of the studio’s attention by this point), but Paramount better give The Undiscovered Country the 4K HDR treatment too at some point soon; frankly, it’s one of my very favorites in the entire franchise (TOS, TNG, or Kelvinverse).

ST:V was basically doomed from the start, due to a combination of an ego-driven director and executive meddling. To start with, Shatner basically dragooned Paramount into letting him direct the film by leveraging “favored nation status” to declare that since Nimoy got to direct two films, he was entitled to direct a film himself. He wanted a serious film about God and religion based upon his disgust with a late-night viewing of the Bakkers plying their televangical trade, but Paramount wanted another comedy film after the success of ST:IV. He had to twist Harve Bennett’s arm to get him to come back to the franchise after Bennett had had a falling out with Roddenberry over meddling in the production of the aforementioned film. The writer’s strike delayed shooting and pre-production, ILM was busy with Indy III and Ghostbusters II so effects went to a much smaller company that underperformed, and the finished product went up against both films in the summer schedule.

Any seasoned director would have had a hard time getting their film to the finish line under such conditions, but you had a rookie director who was working on a passion project fueled by ego. All of which is why the only reason that the film franchise survived is because the franchise’s 25th anniversary was coming up and they wanted one last hurrah for the TOS cast.