Message-ID: <775@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 25-Feb-85 01:10:23 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.775
Posted: Mon Feb 25 01:10:23 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 05:41:53 EST
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From: francini%cygnus.DEC@decwrl.ARPA  (Rabbit, you're - you're despicable!!)

I just watched Star Trek II on ABC this evening.  I wasn't expecting a good 
presentation, knowing how networks love to chop things up.  I really 
thought that things were bad when the words 'Edited for Television' 
appeared after the opening credits.

I was rather surprised.  For the most part, the commercial breaks were 
well-placed, coming (mostly) at logical points in the plot of the movie 
(except for the last few that took place in the middle of the end battle, 
which should have been shown in its entirety).  I didn't really notice that 
very much was cut out, which was also heartening.

What was most upsetting, however, was the fact that there was SEVERAL 
MINUTES OF NEVER-SEEN-BEFORE FOOTAGE IN THE PRESENTATION!!  There was a 
whole lot of MEANINGFUL dialog that NEVER made it to the wide screen or to 
cable or to videotape/disk.  Some of the extra bits seen tonight for the 
first time:

* Extra lines in the Kobayashi Maru (sp?) simulation scene

* More dialog in the scene where McCoy gives Kirk his glasses in Kirk's 
apartment

* We find out that Peter Preston is (1) Scotty's grandson or some such, and 
(2) has a big lip for such an underling.

* More dialog in the scene where Khan meets Chekov and the Reliant captain

* More dialog between Kirk, McCoy and Scotty in Sick Bay when Peter Preston 
dies, explaining WHY Scotty was upset to tears.

And on, and on, throughout the movie.

The question that comes to this observer is:  WHY did the NETWORKS end up 
with this 'augmented' version?  Why didn't this end up in the theaters? Or 
cable? Or videodisk/tape?  

The second one of course is when WILL it?

John Francini, DEC Maynard

p.s. My favorite new line is spoken by Spock in the beginning of the 
battle scene in the Mutara Nebula.  When asked by Savvik why Kirk knew that 
Khan would follow the Enterprise into the nebula, he replied,

"Remind me to tell you sometime about the concept of the human ego."

Warp speed.

Message-ID: <873@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 5-Mar-85 02:06:41 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.873
Posted: Tue Mar  5 02:06:41 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 02:52:23 EST
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: boyajian%akov68.DEC@decwrl.ARPA

> From: francini%cygnus.DEC@decwrl.ARPA	(John Francini)

> The question that comes to this observer is:  WHY did the NETWORKS end up 
> with this 'augmented' version?  Why didn't this end up in the theaters? Or 
> cable? Or videodisk/tape?  
>
> The second one of course is when WILL it?

[The text of this answer also appeared in net.startrek as a response
to different posting.]

Remember when STAR WARS appeared on CBS a year ago? The ratings were
abysmal. Why, when SW was one of the top money-makers of all time?
Because by the time it appeared on CBS, most of the people who cared
about seeing it already had a copy of the tape/disk, or had rented
such, or had seen the movie a few months before on HBO (and probably
taped it from there, too).
	Adding scenes to the two TREK movies, or the two SUPERMAN movies
for that matter, for their network screening was done to give a reason
for those folks who already had the movies on tape or had seen them on
cable to watch the network tv showing. This is a perfectly resonable
thing to do, and I enjoy having these various alternate versions around.

What pissed me off royally about this adding of scenes to WRATH OF KHAN
is that there was no mention anywhere in TV GUIDE or anywhere else that
there were going to be scenes added. With STAR TREK---THE MOTION PICTURE
and SUPERMAN---THE MOVIE, there was heavy advertisement much in advance
that there was going to be additional material. The other Sunday, however,
after checking TV GUIDE and seeing no mention of extra material, I assumed
that there would be none, and so, didn't bother watching it, let alone
taping it. Why should I have? I have the film on Beta Hi-Fi tape. By not
advertising the extra scenes, they probably lost quite a few viewers. Well,
I can always hope that they'll re-release the videotape with the extra
material like they did with ST---TMP.


> From: jcr@Mitre-Bedford	(Jeff Rogers)

>     Surely everyone remembers when ST:TMP was first shown by ABC and
> was expanded quite a bit in order to fill out a three hour time slot.
> I liked this version of ST:TMP quite a bit better than the theatrical
> version; is this expanded version available on any medium?

Yes, it is. As I said above, ST---TMP was re-released on videotape/disk
in its expanded form. As far as I know, both versions of the film are
still "in print" on tape and disk, though I believe that the expanded
version is the only one available in VHS Stereo or Beta Hi-Fi formats.
This is unlike CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, of which only the
"Special Edition" is available on videotape (to say nothing of the tv
version, which combines all of the elements of both theatrical versions).
I don't think that the tv versions of either of the Superman movies are
available on tape, either.

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA)

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