There are tweaks here and there, modified scenes we've heard about (the old versions are still available on the second disc for comparison). Nevertheless, all the changes can't change the fact that TMP is a yawn, a movie in which the characters are drowning in the glitter of technology and special effects. It's a complete reverse of TOS, where the tech looked cheesy and forced one to focus on the characters.

I watched the second (extras) disc fully, where the documentaries give a great coverage of the entire Phase II situation, the making of TMP and of the Director's Edition. We see *actual Phase II test footage* of Xon and crewmembers walking around in Engineering, glimpsed earlier in "The Art of Star Trek" and "The Making of Star Trek: Phase II." It's the closest we'll come to getting a sense of what the series would have looked like. We see the folks from Foundation Imaging as they're unloading the eight-foot Enterprise from its crate, and some of the changes they made are explained in detail. Their work is truly great, and I commend them highly.

A high point of the DVD is the scene-specific text commentary by Mike Okuda -- I hope the uninvited viewers will now realize just how much complexity there is to the Star Trek universe. Mike is explaining warp factors while the Enterprise is going to warp, saying when the drive was invented and such -- it really helps liven up the movie, kinda like a sports commentary. What's really new, however, is the audio commentary by Robert Wise, Doug Trumbull and other folks -- it gives an insight on how the individual scenes and effects were produced, and I have yet to hear all of it.

Of great interest to me as a musician was the part of the second documentary where Jerry Goldsmith is talking about the creation of the Enterpise inspection theme music, which ultimately ended up in the TNG main title. We're shown the sequence with an earlier stage of that music, which Robert Wise denounced as lacking a theme and reminding him of sailing ships. And then, we see the same scene with the familiar version.

This Enterprise inspection scene is the *only* human scene in that movie. The Enterprise is the *only* human character there. The rest of the movie -- don't show it to non-Trekkie friends. We, however, will have plenty of fun dissecting the audio commentaries, Mike Okuda's commentaries, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and new/old scenes.

[ November 04, 2001: Message edited by: Phelps ]

[ November 04, 2001: Message edited by: Phelps ]

*moves to General Discussion*