Text commentary

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

A text commentary is a type of DVD commentary in which information appears on the screen, predominantly of a production background, or behind-the-scenes nature, also referred to as "trivia". As such, they are considered a form of special features when included in/on home video format releases. The text commentary of Star Trek DVDs take the form of standard subtitles, or, on rarer occasions, of PiP (Picture-in-Picture) pop-up text boxes, like the one pictured on the right. All text commentaries were written by Michael and Denise Okuda – a natural choice for the franchise as the couple were also the authors of both the Star Trek Chronology and the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Enterprise are the only series that have text commentaries included in their box sets, although one episode in the second season of Star Trek: Voyager, "The 37's", contained a, PiP pop-up, text box commentary. The other episodes listed below have received these commentaries in the Fan Collective DVDs, the majority of these not ported over to later released home media formats, the Blu-ray Disc one in particular.

All of the Special Edition DVDs of the Star Trek films have text commentaries, but like the television DVD productions, those of Enterprise excepted, none of these were ported over to their later released Blu-ray Disc counterparts – save for the 2016 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Director's Cut) and 2022 Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition releases. Indicative of a generic trend of the phenomenon somewhat losing its appeal in the Blu-ray era as of late, and contrary to the audio commentary counterpart, none of the alternate reality films and Star Trek: Discovery home video releases, be it DVD or Blu-ray, consequently carry text commentaries as of 2019.

The very first text commentary for Star Trek, had been the one included on the 2001 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) DVD release, as was the audio commentary for that matter.

Episodes with text commentaries[]

Errors[]

In the commentary of "Little Green Men", the text mentions that the Bell Riots took place in the episodes "Future Tense, Parts 1 and 2". The commentary confused the DS9 episodes "Past Tense, Part I" and "Past Tense, Part II" with the ENT episode "Future Tense".

In the commentary of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", the text claims that a set used as the USS Enterprise-D's battle bridge was later reused as the bridge of the USS Enterprise-B in "Yesterday's Enterprise". However, it is the bridge of the USS Enterprise-C that appears in that episode, not the bridge of the Enterprise-B.

The commentary on Star Trek Nemesis (Special Edition) seems to imply that, prior to appearing in that film, the observation lounge of the USS Enterprise-E appeared in Star Trek: Insurrection. The room actually does not appear in that film, its only other appearance being in Star Trek: First Contact.

In the commentary of Star Trek Generations, the character of Tuvok is referred to as "the Vulcan science officer on Star Trek: Voyager," though he was actually the tactical officer on that show.

The commentary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Diretor's edition) claims that Lawrence H. Styles' quarters aboard the USS Excelsior appear in "Star Trek II" when, in actual fact, they are shown in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

The commentary of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition) alleges that views of planet Genesis's surface terrain were created and embellished with matte paintings, whereas such vistas were actually accomplished using a series of three backdrops created by Tom Lay.

The commentary of "The Counter-Clock Incident" cites the Capellan flower as being a reference to TOS: "A Private Little War" and states that that episode is set on Capella IV. However, both of these statements are actually true of "Friday's Child".

According to the commentary of "The Andorian Incident", the Vulcan mummies in this episode were re-used for the fourth season episode "The Forge". But the Vulcan mummies were instead re-used for the fourth season episode "Awakening".

The commentary of "Impulse" states that all Vulcan zombies were played by stunt performers but most of them were played by background performers and only a handful by stunt performers.

Not exactly an error, but a misleading one nonetheless, the commentary on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) stated that the Motion Picture bridge set was virtually destroyed during a storm while being stored outside. This actually happened, but not before all the bridge scenes for The Final Frontier had been shot. It has necessitated the build of a new one for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, not for The Final Frontier as implied – though not explicitly stated – in the commentary. As such, this commentary excerpt would have been better placed on the DVD release for the latter, instead of the former.

Text commentary

Contents

Episodes with text commentaries[]

The Original Series[]

The Animated Series[]

The Next Generation[]

Deep Space Nine[]

Voyager[]

Enterprise[]

Errors[]

See also[]

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