Metropolis

This is a great bit of news for a classic film geek like me. The Germans were one of the first to really take advantage of film when it came out, and produced several great movies. One of them is Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The problem was, American audiences were used to 90 minute films already, and Metropolis was 210 minutes long. It got chopped up and sped up to fit the normal showing time, which made the film disjointed and difficult to follow. Still, it's considered one of the classics of early film. Sadly, the original German print had been lost, and all we had was the edited American version… until now.

The original version of Metropolis has been found! Apparently, a museum in Buenos Aires had recieved a copy of the film in 1992 from a private collection. One of the curators wondered why the showings of this print were taking so long, and sat down with their film expert, where they realized this was the original German print. It's scratched, so it will need careful restoration, but we can finally see the film as it was originally intended.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Back in the 1970's, Star Trek started to draw in fans again. The series was in syndication, so a new generation was discovering the show while old fans were renewed. In the midst of this the show's creator, Gene Rodenberry, proposed a new series: Star Trek: Phase II. The series would be a new five-year mission, and several sets were even built.

However, the folks at Paramount had a different idea: scrap months of work and instead launch Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some of the characters and story concepts were revised into the new film. However, the film was rushed out the door. Many of the special effects (SFX) were incomplete, and the editing was choppy. Still, it was the first new Trek anyone had seen in years, and still drew in quite the crowd. It also launched the film franchise, and eventually Star Trek: The Next Generation (which wound up re-using many of Phase II's scripts when the writer's strike hit).

In 2001, a remastered version of the film was put out on DVD. It has a 5.1 soundtrack, lots of modern SFX, and some editing changes to take out the worst of the slow parts. Amazon has it for $6.99, so if you're a Star Trek fan, there's no reason not to pick it up.

Not all of the FX were redone. Some of the external shots still use the old FX, which still have specks of dust and such on the film, which is disappointing. The new FX are extremely impressive though, still keeping with the original film but looking 100% better. Some new shots were added, too, which makes for smoother transitions of some scenes.

Suffice to say, any geek should pick this one up without hesitation.

The Truth is Out There

New X-Files movie trailer! Looks well-produced, but I'll wait to see how the story turns out. The last few seasons of the show really didn't hold out well.