The production team at Star Trek Phase II has learned that a preliminary, low-definition "director's cut" of the Star Trek Phase II episode "Kitumba" has been made available online. We're not sure if this slipped out inadvertently or if it was intentionally made public. Of course, having this early cut floating around before the official CEC/RFS Star Trek Phase II release of the episode really steals our thunder and spoils the final episode for everyone. Not only that, but this unfinished "director's cut" seems to have slipped out the day after we released our latest episode "The Child." So not only is our thunder stolen a little bit for "Kitumba," but now it's stolen a bit for "The Child," too. (As a producer, I can tell you that we need to be concerned with the entire production and with the series as a whole--not just with one single episode in isolation--which is just one reason why the series' Producers make the decisions on release dates instead of an episode's "hired hands.")
Obviously, we're pursuing a number of options to try and get this early cut taken out of circulation until after the official cut is released. (Our first action, of course, was to ask nicely, since it's possible that the offenders simply meant well and are just enthusiastic about the episode.) Actually, we're a little surprised this happened at all; we know that, in the future, any producer with whom these offenders might work professionally would now have second thoughts about hiring any individual or team of individuals who would simply decide something was ready and slip it out without going through the official studio/production release channels.
It's not that this "director cut" is bad; it isn't. It just doesn't maintain the upward trend in quality that we've established in each succeeding Star Trek Phase II episode; at best, it's simply adequate. Some planned (and pretty cool) visual effects aren't completed and incorporated into this cut; some key scenes are shortened or deleted altogether; and much of the editing (especially toward the second half of the episode) is ham-handed with continuity glitches. Our fans know that we let enough of these kinds of continuity mistakes slip by accidentally as it is--which our fans love to catch; so we especially don't want to release an episode which has these kinds of glitches in it that we have already identified and of which we are already fully aware if we still have the opportunity to fix them even before the episode gets officially released to the public.
Looking farther down the road, the good news is that when "Kitumba" is finally released, it will be a completed episode--one that's up to our usual standards--instead of one that has slipped out preliminarily. We still have a ways to go on it with some obstacles still left to be overcome, but we remain excited. However, we know that, not only for our fans but for our hard-working cast and crew, the only thing worse than a long wait for an episode is one that doesn't have all its "i"s doted and "t"s crossed. So if anyone knows anything more about this unfinished version, I'd like to encourage you to do whatever you can to try and get it out of circulation.
As always, thanks for your patience--and for your support of our production.
Qapla'!
On behalf of Senior Executive Producer Mr. James Cawley, and the rest of the Star Trek Phase II producing team,
Greg Schnitzer
Co-Executive Producer
Star Trek Phase II
Obviously, we're pursuing a number of options to try and get this early cut taken out of circulation until after the official cut is released. (Our first action, of course, was to ask nicely, since it's possible that the offenders simply meant well and are just enthusiastic about the episode.) Actually, we're a little surprised this happened at all; we know that, in the future, any producer with whom these offenders might work professionally would now have second thoughts about hiring any individual or team of individuals who would simply decide something was ready and slip it out without going through the official studio/production release channels.
It's not that this "director cut" is bad; it isn't. It just doesn't maintain the upward trend in quality that we've established in each succeeding Star Trek Phase II episode; at best, it's simply adequate. Some planned (and pretty cool) visual effects aren't completed and incorporated into this cut; some key scenes are shortened or deleted altogether; and much of the editing (especially toward the second half of the episode) is ham-handed with continuity glitches. Our fans know that we let enough of these kinds of continuity mistakes slip by accidentally as it is--which our fans love to catch; so we especially don't want to release an episode which has these kinds of glitches in it that we have already identified and of which we are already fully aware if we still have the opportunity to fix them even before the episode gets officially released to the public.
Looking farther down the road, the good news is that when "Kitumba" is finally released, it will be a completed episode--one that's up to our usual standards--instead of one that has slipped out preliminarily. We still have a ways to go on it with some obstacles still left to be overcome, but we remain excited. However, we know that, not only for our fans but for our hard-working cast and crew, the only thing worse than a long wait for an episode is one that doesn't have all its "i"s doted and "t"s crossed. So if anyone knows anything more about this unfinished version, I'd like to encourage you to do whatever you can to try and get it out of circulation.
As always, thanks for your patience--and for your support of our production.
Qapla'!
On behalf of Senior Executive Producer Mr. James Cawley, and the rest of the Star Trek Phase II producing team,
Greg Schnitzer
Co-Executive Producer
Star Trek Phase II
