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Film Version Comparisons

Star Trek: The Motion Picture premiered on December 6th, 1979 at the MacArthur Theatre in Washington DC.  The movie had been assembled and edited, but without a lot of time left before a hard release date, the movie remained in what was essentially a "rough cut."  In 1983, ABC released an extended version of the movie which included scenes from a cut sequence, but also a shot with unfinished effects.  It wasn't until The Director's Edition released in 2001, with tighter editing and better sound mix that Robert Wise considered the movie complete.  However it was only available in standard definition.  The Director's Edition of 2022, however, created an updated 4K version that the movie could finally be called complete four decades later.

Theatrical Cut is the Baseline, changes start there, moving upwards  to the 2022 Director's Editions.  Scenes without major changes are merged.

Plot Points ►

Subtitles changed to alter lip synch.

As Kirk leaves, Sulu, Uhura and an Alien talk amongst themselves about Decker's reaction to Kirk being assigned to captain the Enterprise.

Epsilon 9 cuts in to report on the object, describing it as 2 AUs in diameter, but is destroyed during the briefing.

Sulu, obviously taken by Ilia, clumsily stutters and stumbles while showing her the navigation system. Ilia reassures him. Decker apologizes for Kirk's attitude. Ilia reassures him she wasn't insulted.

Kirk makes it down to the transporter room in time to talk to a yeoman. The a yeoman reports that Dr McCoy insisted they go first so he could see how the transporter scrambled their molecules.

Decker and Ilia look at each other reassuringly.

Removed:
Sulu reads out a new rendezvous with V'Ger however, Ilia is preoccupied with Decker. He repeats his report and Ilia snaps out of it, confirming the new rendezvous.

After Decker leaves, he meets Ilia, who chides him for leaving Delta IV without saying goodbye.

Back in Kirk's office, Kirk attempts to shoo McCoy out of his office, to which he replies that he's about to make a decision on Kirk's command fitness

Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet in the Officer's Lounge briefing room to discuss why Spock is aboard.

Ilia leaves her station to help Chekov.

Removed:

Extended scenes of status reports being announced, Uhura attempting to contact Starfleet, and whether the deflectors will hold. Decker notices a power loss on the forcefields.

Another officer takes Chekov's position.

Uhura mentions that the ship could hold a crew of tens of thousands. McCoy responds with it also being able to handle a crew of a thousand ten miles tall.  Spock informs Kirk that the object is generating a forcefield greater than the radiation of Earth's sun.

Changed:

Chekov returns to his seat (edited to be much shorter).

Chekov announces an intruder alert.

Ilia, Decker and Nurse Chapel walk in to Ilia's Quarters.  Ilia asks why two carbon units have entered V'Ger. McCoy says they want to contact V'Ger. Decker asks if V'Ger objects, but V'Ger just wants to determine their purpose. McCoy mentions their purpose is to survive. Ilia responds that that is also V'Ger's purpose, by finding and joining with the creator. She asks to continue her observations.

Kirk suits up in a spacesuit to catch up with Spock, flying out to meet him.  A computer voice explains how to use the thruster pack.

Spock begins to pass out, and Kirk shakes him, drawing McCoy's ire.  Kirk asks what questions V'Ger may have.  Kirk is amazed that V'Ger is a machine, sent by machine planet, looking for it's creator. He asks the location of Decker and Ilia, who are in engineering.

Kirk asks "Who the hell is it trying to contact?"

Decker realizes V'Ger has created god in its own image.

The Enterprise is pulled into an adjoining chamber, on it's way to V'Ger's core.

The Enterprise lands near ship's core as a walkway materializes towards them.

Kirk tries to convince V'Ger that Humans are The Creator by making it possible for V'Ger to complete its programming. Uhura responds with the response code. Kirk sends it via tricorder, but just before the final sequence, V'Ger shorts out its own antenna leads. Spock explains V'Ger has done thisto force the Creator to come to V'Ger and physically join with him.

V'Ger hovers in orbit for a split second before its transformation.

McCoy wonders if anyone else on the ship could be trusted to act in the ship's best interest.

Shots of the crew looking at a tactical and a shot from inside of V'Ger of the Enterprise

Sulu, obviously taken by Ilia, clumsily stutters and stumbles while showing her the navigation system. Ilia reassures him. Decker apologizes for Kirk's attitude. Ilia reassures him she wasn't insulted.

Sulu reads out a new rendezvous with V'Ger however, Ilia is preoccupied with Decker. He repeats his report and Ilia snaps out of it, confirming the new rendezvous.

Back in Kirk's office, Kirk attempts to shoo McCoy out of his office, to which he replies that he's about to make a decision on Kirk's command fitness.

McCoy wonders if anyone else on the ship could be trusted to act in the ship's best interest.

Extended scenes of status reports being announced, Uhura attempting to contact Starfleet, and whether the deflectors will hold. Decker notices a power loss on the forcefields.  Uhura directs Chapel towards Chekov where Ilia is already working to stop his pain.

Another officer takes Chekov's position. Ilia announces time to the cloud boundary. Kirk, Spock and Decker discuss whether the intruder could understand humans well enough to stop the attack after the friendship message.

Uhura mentions that the ship could hold a crew of tens of thousands. McCoy responds with it also being able to handle a crew of a thousand ten miles tall. Chekov returns to his seat, relieving the officer at the station. Spock informs Kirk that the object is generating a forcefield greater than the radiation of Earth's sun.

Kirk suits up in a spacesuit to catch up with Spock, flying out to meet him.

Ilia, Decker and Nurse Chapel walk into Ilia's quarters to attempt to resurrect Ilia's memory using a headband given to her by Decker when they were together on her home planet. Chapel helps her put it on. It's successful. Decker immediately asks Ilia for help communicating with V'Ger. Ilia can't help, but offers what info she can: V'Ger does not know who or what the creator is, but only that it's on the third planet. Ilia asks why two carbon units have entered V'Ger. McCoy says they want to contact V'Ger. Decker asks if V'Ger objects, but V'Ger just wants to determine their purpose. McCoy mentions their purpose is to survive. Ilia responds that that is also V'Ger's purpose, by finding and joining with the creator. She asks to continue her observations.

Kirk attempts to inform Ilia that humans are life forms, but she denies it. McCoy realizes V'Ger thinks all life must be machines. Decker realizes V'Ger has created god in its own image.

Kirk orders self destruct on his command.  An engineering officer asks why self destruct. Scotty explains the explosion will take V'Ger out.  A pan around the bridge reveals the ships status.  Spock quietly weeps at his station for the destruction of V'Ger. Spock attempts to explain V'Ger's wish to meet it's creator.

Back in Kirk's office, McCoy points out that Kirk is being overbearing and may be obsessing about having the Enterprise back. Uhura reports that a shuttle is requesting permission to dock with the Enterprise.

Spock determines that the object is attempting to contacting them but their systems were too primitive to notice until now. A second attack is launched, but Spock sends a friendship message at the same speed which causes the object to end the attack. Kirk asks for a tactical plot and suggestions from the crew before entering the cloud.