Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504940
time left. Let's really see if we can clean this up a bit, fix a few things.' And it was just the studio that said, 'We can't do it. We absolutely have to let this be what it is.' What was put into the theaters was this combination of talents creating what could be assembled, not what should have been assembled. So, that was extraordinary. And the sound mix? When you don't have your shots in place, how can you do a sound mix? "It never was the film that was intended to be made. Even in the area of fixing it in post, it could not reach that level for multiple reasons—some of which included it was blind bidding for the studio at the time. Also, they had made so many promises that it would be in theaters, and there were problems with the visual effects. So many changes had to be made at the last minute that it was literally a challenge just to get something finished and in theaters. They had cut the film down to its barest narrative essence because they didn't know how the visual effects were going to turn out. What length would they be and how would [they] fit together? Additionally, contractually, because of the agreements with the theaters, the film had to be delivered at exactly 130 minutes before any credits. "So, it actually turned out to be 131 minutes. Between the sound mix and the color timing that had to be done at the time, the visual effects coming in, and a whole major sequence of the film [being] removed and replaced with something else, Bob didn't even know what the film was going to look like by the end of the production. He went to Jerry Goldsmith and said, 'Jerry, I'm going to have these long scenes, and I don't know what they're going to be. I need you to write me a symphony because you're going to carry these sections of the film.' And Jerry did. He wrote this beautiful piece that brings through the cloud, and so many different areas in the film are just covered by this extraordinary music. "It's a miracle that the talents of [director] Doug Trumbull, [re-recording mixer] John Dykstra, [composer] Jerry Goldsmith, and [editor] Tom Ramsey managed to put something together. But the problem is that the most important scene that Nimoy in particular was upset about was Spock crying on the bridge, which was left out with the intent to eventually restore it once they knew what the running times would be like. Bob rushed it off to the lab, and he literally took it on the plane himself. He slept with the film print for the premiere in Washington, DC, under his bed. "The film had numerous problems in production and post- production. Some of the visual effects were subpar. Fans complained that there was not enough of the favorite trio of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, and hardly any of the signature humor that the series had (although repeated viewing shows neither to be the case). In addition, the overall plot outline was similar to one of the TV episodes, to the point that several lines of dialogue are almost verbatim." I remember how excited I was standing in line for opening night, and I remember how letdown I was leaving the theater. It was not the Trek that anyone had wanted. In many ways, the film was more like the thoughtful 2001: A Space Odyssey than the fun TV show. Robert Wise considered the version Director Robert Wise and cinematographer Richard Kline.