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(written from a Production point of view)

Robert Wise Productions was the production company responsible for the 2001 DVD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) DVD, and has been credited as such.

Its namesake Robert Wise, the director of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, founded the company in the late 1980s, early 1990s, with the specific intent to keep creative control over the release of home video formats, specifically DVD's, of his body of work. This has resulted in several "special edition" DVD releases of among others The Sound of Music (credited under the name A Robert Wise Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's), The Sand Pebbles, Star!, and others.

The actual production of the special features, the behind-the-scenes specials in particular, on the DVD's was, from he early 1990s onward, subcontracted to Sharpline Arts, the production company of David C. Fein and Michael Matessino. It were the latter two, when they were working on the 1994 commemorative documentary The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon, who approached Wise with the suggestion to do a director's edition of The Motion picture. Wise was at first unwilling to do so, but "In 1997, he finally said, "STAR TREK really was an unfinished film." Shortly after making some initial inquiries, he asked us to go into the studio to work out the deal to make the project happen, and also to work with him to finally complete the movie.", as Matessino elaborated. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) Though the work on the director's edition was primarily done under the auspices of Sharpline Arts, the fact that they were subcontracted, meant that the credits went to Robert Wise Productions, though Sharpline's staffers were individually credited as well.

The director's edition of The Motion picture was the company's last project, and it ceased its existence upon the death of its founder in 2005.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) staff[]

The Director's Edition staff
Robert Wise Productions staffers Chuck Michael and David Fein Production staff of Robert Wise Productions
Michael (l) and Fein in the sound editing bay
(L-R) Dochterman, Matessino, Wise and Fein at a pre-release screening of the Director's Edition
  • Daren Dochterman – Visual Effects Supervisor
  • David C. Fein – Producer
  • Michael Matessino – Restoration Supervisor
  • Chuck Michael – Supervising Sound Editor
  • Robert Wise – Director, Executive Producer

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