Str Trk: Frst Cntct

Scott Hardie | July 12, 2002
Sorry to talk about "Star Trek" movies in two entries so close together, but this one's not really about Trek. I happened to catch "Star Trek: First Contact" on ABC's Big Picture Show last night, and the amount of cutting they did was almost sickening. (I say that as a lover of cinema, not a Trek fan.) It was like a car accident, I tried to look away but I couldn't help it. They cut most of the pauses in dialogue, many lines of dialogue, and a lot of important shots from the film. At first I thought it was just a gruesomeness factor, like when they cut the shot of the needle piercing Picard's eye, or when they cut the shot of the Borg probes coming out of Picard's face, both at the beginning of the movie. But then other stuff was cut, just random snippets of dialogue. Some stuff mattered, some didn't: One of the earliest signs of trouble was when Crusher was helping the people in Sick Bay get treatment, and she turns to see a Borg pound on the door, leaving a claw-shaped indentation. But they cut that shot, leaving only Crusher treating people in Sick Bay. Weird cuts. I can't stand watching movies on television.

Anna Gregoline | July 13, 2002
Scott, that DOES sound like a lot of cutting. I'm trying to think if there was a similar movie in my memory with so much, and I can't think of any.

Jackie Mason | July 13, 2002
[hidden by request]

Matthew Preston | July 14, 2002
Did Ted Turner purchase ABC or something?