"Universe" or "Galaxy"?
I request information from board members with access to the various versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The IMDB FAQ for Star Trek: The Motion Picture says:
There are three different versions of the movie. First of all there's the original theatrical version, released in 1979, which ran for 132 minutes. In 1983, another version was created for television screenings, which ran for 143 minutes as several scenes wered added in addition to the theatrical version. You can see which scenes were added at here. Finally, in 2001, director Robert Wise supervised a new "Director's Cut" which ran for 136 minutes and included new digital effects and improved sound, though it edited out some of the footage that was seen in the previous two versions. A detailed comparison with pictures can be found here.
So there are three different versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
It is possible that future English might have words for different sizes of outer space than modern English does, just as modern English has more computer related words or Astronomy related words than Shakespeare's English. In modern English the only commonly used (and often misused) phrases are "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe". It is possible that Star Trek era English may have words for intermediate sizes of space between a solar system and a galaxy, and between a galaxy and the entire universe.
In Star Trek: The motion Picture I remember Kirk saying that after the Voyager Six probe fell into a black hole it emerged "on the far side of the Universe". There are a lot of problems with the concept of the far side of the universe. So maybe in a revised version Kirk's line was redone, because the transcript says:
DECKER: Voyager VI ...disappeared into what they used to call a black hole.
KIRK: It must have emerged sometime on the far side of the Galaxy and fell into the machine's planet's gravitational field
http://www.chakoteya.net/movies/movie1.html
I don't know which version or versions were used by Chakoteya.net for that transcript.
The thought has occurred to me that whatever Kirk said might have referred to the far side of something else - like possibly the Virgo Supercluster or the Gould Belt - and it was mistranslated into modern English as galaxy and/or universe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_Supercluster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gould_Belt
So do people who have copies of the 1979 version, the TV version, and the revised Director's cut know if their versions have Kirk say "the far side of the Universe" or "the far side of the galaxy", or something else?
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