"Director's cut" versions of pre-existing films are pretty common these days, but they are rarely approached with the same level of passion and imperative as "Star Trek: The Motion Picture ? The Director's Edition." In 1979, an extremely tight deadline to deliver the film led to a lot of compromises in visual effects production, and it wasn't until 20 years later that these compromises were addressed. In a series of behind-the-scenes features of which this is the first, we will trace some of the steps that brought "ST:TMP" from a somewhat hurried blockbuster to what director Robert Wise considers to be the final, complete realization of his vision.

The videos on this page show the earliest visual effects work done for "The Director's Edition."  Each begins with a clip from the original 1979 version of the film, followed by the "animatic" version done in 1999.  These animatics are rough precursors to the actual redesigned effects shots seen in the final version of the Director's Edition.

Producer David C. Fein recounts the effort to initially sell the idea of the Director's Edition project — first, for Wise himself to know that the work required was creatively possible, and second, to bring the studio on board.  In Fein's words:

"It took a considerable amount of time before Robert Wise was comfortable talking about his experiences making 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' in 1979. The film remained in what was an incomplete state, having never reached a proper finished form. During such a discussion in 1999, the idea came up that we should approach Paramount with the concept of reopening the post-production on the film to complete the visual effects, editing, and sound mix; essentially giving the film a proper cut with its flow and narrative smoothed and nurtured into the motion picture it was designed to be.

"We knew that Bob is the type of artist who, once finished, wouldn't ever consider going back to revise the work. The film goes on and lives its cinematic life. However, Star Trek was different; it was his only film that never reached a truly finished state, so taking the step in this direction was not only unique, but very significant to everyone. If we would not be able to honor the film by appreciating and continuing the original work with the same respect for the scope and quality, there wouldn't have been any reason to do it."

"Given this opportunity, Michael Matessino and I started early development of the project, and we immediately brought on Daren Dochterman to join us. With Daren, and our associate Ed Marsh, we took an existing copy of the film, and created a Pitch trailer. Our goal was to create a trailer that sold the film that was possible, not what was released. This trailer was as much for Bob as it was for Paramount. We knew that Bob would have to be sold on the viability of the project before we even considered any contact with Paramount.

"Once the trailer was completed, Daren and I took to creating these animatics for the production. There were a few key places that we knew were going to be very important in the reworking of the film, so we focused on them. While Daren sketched the mattes for the shots, I prepared the clips we would need. We then composited the shots, and created the temp animatics to show Bob.

"With tape in hand, we went and presented the animatics and trailer to Bob. He was intrigued, and decided that we should move forward with the production. Paramount was very supportive and open to the idea, so production of 'The Director's Edition' commenced."

The Pitch Trailer he refers to is not included here, but that trailer was used in almost its original form to promote the updated film, with several new and altered shots edited in. The final trailer is among the Bonus Features on Disc 2 of the "Director's Edition" DVD set, purchasable via the first link below.

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