Quote:
Originally Posted by synth_floyd
The problem is the rest of the script is terrible. The acting is terrible. The pacing is terrible. There is no chemistry between any of the actors. The movie is boring. Robert Wise was a bad choice for director. Half the movie is "shot of special effects->cut to reaction shot of the crew looking on in wonder->cut back to special effects->cut back to crew looking in wonder" Zzzzzz.
And Sulu was supposed to be the captain of Excelsior after Star Trek II. There was a cut bit of dialogue:
George Takei had blamed Shatner for purposefully flubbing his dialogue so they couldn't get a usable take, but as you can see, the audio is fine and it was an editorial decision by Nick Meyer or perhaps the editor.
I'd disagree with some of your TMP points. Shatner gives a great performance. Shatner is really a much better actor than he is given credit for, and he really nails the serious stuff here. I don't remember too much about the other performances, so you may have a point about them. On your other points, the script is okay for a TV show, but it's not suitable for a movie. pacing is terrible, and they do spend far too much time wanking over their own special effects (which are mostly terrific, and are re-used in other movies and in TNG).
Thanks for sharing the Sulu scene - i never knew that. I suspect it was cut very late on. In Nimoy's autobiography, he talks very much about TWOK just being a one off with no planned sequel. However, towards the end of filming the movie everyone realised they were onto a good thing, so they started planting seeds for a follow up. For example, the "remember" scene before Spock's death was something Nimoy came up with after a discussion with Nick Meyer late on in filming. So the Sulu scene would have been removed so he could be in the next one, but was originally inserted as the film was supposed to be a send off.
On the final point, George Takei is great value on social media, but comes across as a bitter old bastard when it comes to Shatner.