Common Hollywood practice: in pursuit of a non-exclusionary MPAA rating (be it G, PG, or PG-13), a motion picture, irrespective of subject matter, is toned down for its theatrical release, only to see the trims restored on home video, because nothing moves tapes faster than the great unrated promise. It's a notorious marketing paradox that allows the studio to have its cake and eat it, too--to seem like arbiters of good taste during the period of heaviest public scrutiny.

MGM has pulled this stunt with Supernova. The once family-friendly (well, as much as Dead Calm in Space can be) adventure sports gratuitous nudity on DVD, in a "never-before seen R-rated version." Unfortunately, "the mesmerizing" (again MGM's description) Robin Tunney's naked breasts were all that was deemed worthy of reinstatement; what really would have made this disc worth a look is a restoration of the film to 48 Hrs. helmer Walter Hill's (credited in release prints as Thomas Lee) intentions.

The disc contains a bundle of deleted scenes as supplemental material that paint Supernova as originally being bleaker, even disturbing. But the changes imposed by MGM, carried out by no less than Francis Ford Coppola, not only involved softening the cosmic blow of the epilogue; clearly, MGM desired a more formulaic smoke and catwalks experience. They removed a subplot involving a mutant survivor of the wreck, added a spicy interracial romance (even borrowing a shot from one of Tunney's love scenes to manufacture a tryst between the team leaders played by James Spader and Angela Bassett!), and downsized Robert Forster's role, which sooner brought on the action.

What they ended up with indeed reminds us of every like movie ever made, from The Abyss on down to Sphere. Hindsight being 20/20, if they were going to lose money on a version, it may as well have been Hill's--better reviews (guaranteed) would have at least salvaged the film's reputation. (As the first official 2000 release, Supernova had critics calling it a bad omen for the year to come, and financially it took a bath, too. Final domestic tally: $14 mil.) Hill's participation apparently came to an end when he threatened to go over budget with unscripted special effects; MGM, a notoriously poor outfit, understandably refused to fork over the extra cash, yet they probably wound up spending a comparable amount on "fixing" Supernova.

Of course, Hill's cut would share problems with the new-and-unimproved one: cinematographer Lloyd Ahern II's icy blue lighting scheme is exhausted sci-fi shorthand and Peter Facinelli's psychopath is more annoying than threatening, the shorn scalp and muscle-beach shirts feebly disguising a golly-gee struggling actor's enthusiasm for a paying gig. These questionable directorial choices remind how vanilla Hill is as a stylist--his best ideas are rarely executed with equitable finesse, the undervalued Wild Bill a radiant preclusion.

Supernova as it stands looks and sounds cool on DVD. The flipper offers a 2.35:1, 16x9-enhanced widescreen option on side A and pan-and-scan on side B. The image is sharp and well contrasted, although its significant grain may displease viewers. Colours are accurate and saturated just right. The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio is loud and directional, but the subwoofer never dips to the lows we've come to expect from these explosion-packed extravaganzas. Surround use is tight and show-off-y, the voice of "Sweetie", the crew's computer, putting the rears to disorienting use. The only other extra besides the omissions is a horrendous trailer and a booklet that laughably dodges the issue of post-production tinkering entirely.-Bill Chambers