Movie(s):
Disc:
Some
users on Amazon.com have complained that the image quality on this box set
is too good - definitely a new complaint as far we are concerned!
Their beef is that some scenes are supposed to have a bit of grain, but
instead they have been digitally "scrubbed" clean. Others complain that only
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has been
"restored" whereas the other movies in this collection have only been "remastered".
The difference? When a movie like Khan is "restored" it means that
they went back to an original cinema print to create a new digital transfer
from scratch whereas remastered means that they used an existing transfer.
Make no mistake though: all the movies here are presented in "true" 1080p HD
with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD.
To be honest we think that you would need the
animal senses of a dog to notice the supposed quality and image differences
between Khan and all the other movies in this collection. The image
and sound look fantastic to our mind and if you might seriously want to
consider purchasing this set even if you do already own these movies on DVD.
All this image clarity comes at a price though and there is a definite
downside: you can now see every single hair on William Shatner's toupee!
Yup, Blu-Ray is not kind to the ageing "original" crew of the Starship
Enterprise. After all, when
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was made in 1979,
William Shatner (Kirk) was already 48 years old. (The actor was 35 when he
made his debut on the iconic 1966 TV show.)
When Undiscovered Country
the underappreciated last movie to feature the, ahem, old crew hit the
screens in 1991 he was 60. Interestingly he and Leonard Nimoy are the same
age. James Doohan (Scotty) and DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) were born 11
years earlier. Shatner is 77 today.
The movies themselves are a mixed bag ranging from the good (Wrath of
Khan and Undiscovered Country), entertaining (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home),
the mediocre (Star Trek III: The Search for
Spock), the underrated (The Motion Picture) and the plain dismal
(The Final Frontier). Fans may not be in agreement as to whether the
1979 entry Star Trek - The Motion Picture that brought Star Trek
to the big screen after a decade-long absence should be dubbed the Slow
Motion Picture. Personally we liked it for its hard SF Rendezvous with
Rama vibe (for what it's worth: Isaac Asimov served as a consultant on
the movie!).
However all fans are in agreement that the sight of a
57-year-old Michelle Nichols doing a ?sexy? dance to distract some enemy
guards in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is
definitely the low point in this franchise's entire existence! (Final
Frontier holds another contender: an early scene in which the Enterprise
crew is singing corny camp songs!)
Speaking of sexy, the packaging for this set is darned sleek and sexy, Even
if you never get as far as inserting a single disc into a Blu-Ray player to
show off your home entertainment, erm, equipment to friends and relatives,
the chances are that you can wow them with the packaging alone.
THE DISCS: In addition to the first six Star Trek films in
high definition with new 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio, you also get with over 14
hours of special features, including 2 hours of all-new material. The
collection also includes a bonus disc entitled Star Trek: The Captains'
Summit that features a 70-minute exclusive round table discussion hosted by Whoopi Goldberg in which William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and
Jonathan Frakes have a powwow about their on set experiences.
WORTH IT? Yes.
RECOMMENDATION: Trekkies should seriously consider this upgrade.
