I posted my general observations on the ST-TMP DE DVD a few days ago. Here's some thoughts on the supplementary disc.The three "documentaries" are a nice idea, but the execution is poor. They are painfully thin. Too many talking heads and not enough behind the scenes footage (of which there is tons, as there was a camera crew shooting documentary footage behind the scenes throughout the production).
The section on Phase II is particularly maddening. Too much time wasted on talking heads when what should have been done were to have the voices over images and concepts for the proposed show. And, when some of the screen tests done for the show are finally shown, that's the putting voice overs in, so you don't even get to hear all the dialogue and get a sense of the performers. Then there's the complete glossing over of the reasons for Phase II becoming TMP.
Throughout the supplements (and the commentaries) there are constant references to the film being hurried and released unfinished, but there's never any real discussion of WHY the film was so late and so rushed. The whole Robert Abel and Associates situation is skipped over.
And, given the crunch to make the visual effects work, where are the interviews with Richard Taylor? Greg Jein? Andrew Probert? Why do we only get Dykstra and Trumbull?
The deleted and cut scenes is a pretty nice section, but still skimps on the stuff many of us really wanted to see. Yes, there are camera tests for the Memory Wall, but where's the footage shot with Kirk and Spock? Where's the security guards coming onto the bridge? (At least regarding the latter, Wise explains why they cut the scene out.)
The trailers are fun, but the storyboard archives are a total disappointment. With all the various concepts tried out it would have been nice to have seen the roads not taken.
So, all in all, it's great to see what we got, but at best it's a 3rd of what it should have been.
Oh well, the main attraction is the movie, which DOES finally feel complete after all these years.
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"Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon