TF01 3,All Bad Things... 4,by Simon Plumbe and Terry Shuttleworth All Bad Things: What Happened to the TNG Finale? -------------------------------------------------- by Simon Plumbe and Terry Shuttleworth ---------------------------------------- When "All Good Things" was released on video back in October, many fans noticed a number of scenes missing from the story. A number of scenes, some vital to the progression of the plot, had been omitted from the two-part version for it's video release. Then the announcement was made about a "Collector's Edition", featuring the full one-part version, along with a documentary, retailing for £19.99. This outraged many fans, and CIC were subject to a barrage of complaints from Trekkers everywhere. In fact, we had a letter sent to use here at Infinite Frontiers from a reader, Baerbel Schmidt, regarding this: Dear Simon, I am mainly writing because I read with interest that you intend to include an interview with Terry Shuttleworth in The Final Frontier 8. I have a bit of news that would fit very well into that department. It might even be interesting to ask him/her (I will never know if Terry is male or female - I have encountered both!) to give a comment. Recently I watched the CIC cassette of "All Good Things..." together with my fiance and a friend. We were very annoyed when it was obvious that this copy was several scenes shorter than the copy I got from US TV! When writing my contribution to the IDIC postbag I mentioned this and a short time later I got a reply from Sheila [Clark], saying this: "Re: the video of "All Good Things" - Terry Shuttleworth of CIC told Janet [Quarton] that they didn't know they had been sent a cut version until someone complained, so that, at least, wasn't their fault. The other version with some additional material, is due in December, I understand, though I've heard it may be delayed until 1995." I am not happy with that explanation. For me this looks like a big rip-off, even worse than publishing "Emissary" again with a Behind-The-Scenes! There are also strong rumours that two TNG specials will be out, one with all Q and one with all Borg episodes (the question is where will we find "Q Who?" - On both cassettes?). Do these have additional footage? If so, I would be sorely tempted to buy them as well although I am dreading that one day all episodes might come out again with additional scenes. Also, one of my pen pals told me recently that "Emissary" within the package of "The Three Beginnings" is longer than the TV version. I haven't got that package and can not find out if that is true. Is it? In other words, do I have to buy now a THIRD version of "Emissary" to see the full pilot? I would be glad if you could find that out for me. All the best, Baerbel Fortunately, unlike other fan organisations in the UK, Infinite Frontiers is in constant contact with all the major organisations producing Star Trek merchandise including Pocket Books, Titan, and, of course, CIC Video. I have been in the fortunate position for some time to be able to consider Terry Shuttleworth to be a good friend and I often speak to him on the phone. We have talked at length about this matter, and Terry sent a copy of a letter to us for publication that Terry sent out to Trek fans on behalf of CIC Video: Dear Simon, Many thanks for your recent letter regarding the recent release of Star Trek: The Next Generation Volume 89 - "All Good Things" Parts 1 & 2. You are right to point out that there are scenes in the feature- length version which do not appear in the two-part version. Regarding the edits made, our understanding is that the two-part version was cut to bring each episode to the right length for an hour's TV slot in the US, while still allowing the beginning of the second part of feature the "synopsis" of the first part. The edits were made by Paramount in the US, rather than by CIC. To be clear: CIC do not make edits within episodes of Star Trek *EVER*; we merely decide which episodes to put on the videos we release. Regarding the choice to release a two-part version of "All Good Things", the feedback we have had from customers is that the two- part versions are preferable because the one-part versions omit the "synopsis", and consequently our customers find that they are missing out on footage which they could otherwise have had. For this reason, we took the decision to make the standard "All Good Things" release the two-part version. Unfortunately, it was not communicated to us by Paramount that edits were made in the two- part version which caused some scenes not to appear, and the two- part version was not compared to the one-part version by any CIC staff before the video duplication process began. To be clear: there was no decision to release a "short" version and then a "long" version of "All Good Things". It was our understanding that, barring the "synopsis", both versions would contain exactly the same content. The Collector's Edition will be the one-part version. For completeness, we have added the "synopsis" to the end of the Collector's Edition tape. I hope this goes in some way to clarify the situation. If you would like to explore this matter further, please do not hesitate to write to me at the address shown. Yours sincerely, Terry Shuttleworth Product Manager TV Product, Direct Mail & New Product Development Following on from this, Terry confirmed that the Collector's Edition release did have all the footage intact, along with the "synopsis", a 50 minute documentary called "Journey's End" hosted by Jonathan Frakes, and the trailers to all seven movies. For a full review of this, see elsewhere in this issue. One thing I would like to say in regards to Baerbel's letter - she wrote to IDIC who gave a reply and offered an explanation, which as you can see is different to the official CIC reply and I think (and Baerbel can correct me here) she based her comment on IDIC's interpretation of CIC's reply. Now, I trust Terry implicitly and if Terry states that the release was not their fault and it wasn't their intention to release an edited version then that is good enough for me. I also found their remark about the delay to the release of the Collector's Editon rather interesting. I don't know where they got this "news" from, but as I said, we are in touch with companies producing Trek merchandise and as you'll see, it was released back on December 5th, along with the Borg and Q boxed sets. We get all the advance information, press releases AND review copies from CIC, so the information you read in The Final Frontier is as accurate as you'll find ANYWHERE. As far as her comments regarding the Borg and Q boxed sets, neither of them have extra footage, and "Q Who?" IS included in both packs. These 3-cassette packs represent remarkable value for money for 6 episodes, each packaged in a superbly designed presentation box. Admitttedly, die-hard fans will already have the videos, but what about the casual fan who DOESN'T buy the tapes? These will be an ideal way to get all the best Q stories and ALL of the Borg stories for a relatively small outlay. Even then, the tapes have been re- edited so all you have on them are the Borg or Q episodes and not the episodes that originally accompanied them when first released, making for a well put together collectors pack. I for one will definitely be buying them. Finally, no the version of "Emissary" in the "Three Beginnings" boxed set does not have any extra footage. That collection is simply a re- packaged release of the first tapes from Classic, TNG and DS9 and inside the card box you will finds that the individual video cases, and the tapes themselves, are identical to their full-price counterparts. The compilation was designed to introduce Trek fans to the idea of collecting the videos by offering them the first tapes from each set at the reduced price of £24.99 - only £8.33 a tape! Summing up, yes there was a mistake with "All Good Things", but CIC were certainly NOT to blame. If anyone, blame Paramount for not telling CIC about the edits. Please remember though, when releasing as much Trek material as CIC have done (see our guide in this issue for a full run-down of all their Star Trek tapes to-date) and you'll see that only one or two mistakes in that time is pretty remarkable. CIC should be congratulated for their hard work in keeping Trek alive and making the episodes available so quickly. If you have any comments regarding this, you can write to Terry (or his successor) care of Infinite Frontiers at: Infinite Frontiers PO Box 8966 Great Barr Birmingham B43 5ST ENGLAND