Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Since Star Trek's debut on NBC in 1966, it has become one of the most indelible franchises in entertainment history. Although the original series only lasted three years on network TV, Roddenberry's universe spawned five more TV shows—The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise—and 11 feature films, the most recent being the wildly successful reboot by J.J. Abrams.

After leaving the airwaves in 1969, Star Trek gained new life in syndication, and its popularity exploded. A new generation of fans—like me—grew up watching the series after school or during dinner and became Trekkies at a young age.

Throughout the '70s, there were rumors about the show returning with the original cast, a new cast, or even a sequel set in the future beyond the original time frame. But when Star Wars reignited the science-fiction genre, Star Trek was destined to reappear on the silver screen.

In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture hit theaters and grossed $82 million, turning a profit for Paramount. Robert Wise directed, but unfortunately it's excruciatingly slow, it lacks focus, and the cast didn't have the chemistry or the comedic timing from the TV series. The special effects are outstanding—even for the late 1970s—but the story leaves a lot to be desired.

Three years later came Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with a slimmed down budget and an inexperienced director in Nicholas Myers. It turns out those two factors are way overrated because this is the best Trek movie starring the original cast. The chemistry and comedic timing is perfect, the story is funny and filled with action and adventure, and best of all, it has the perfect villain—Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a genetically engineered human introduced in the original-series episode "Space Seed." The special effects aren't anything to write home about, but Spock's heroic act to save the crew still brings a tear to my eye.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, serves as the second course in the three-course meal now referred to as "The Spock Trilogy." Picking up directly after the end of Khan, McCoy is carrying Spock's kattra—living spirit—and the crew must return to the Genesis planet in order to recover Spock's corporeal body. This is the most underrated film of the six and shows the love and devotion of the Enterprise crew for one another—they'll do anything to bring back their fallen comrade.

In the fourth film, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, Kirk and crew must return to Earth to face Starfleet for breaking nine regulations in their bid to rescue Spock. Upon arrival, they find an alien probe's mysterious transmission wreaking havoc on the Earth's atmosphere. The crew must time-travel back to the 20th century in order to save the planet. This is the funniest film in the series, and though it may turn some off, I still get a kick out of Kirk's use of "colorful metaphors" and McCoy's rant against 20th century medicine.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the crew of the Enterprise face off against Spock's brother, Sybok (Lawrence Luckinbill), when he hijacks the ship in order to search for the planet Shaka-Ri, which sits at the center of the galaxy. I'd forgotten how much I loathed this film, and it's easy to see why it's the least favorite of Trekkies due to the poor script and direction.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country has the Klingon Empire nearing collapse after the explosion of its moon Praxis. Seeing an opportunity for peace, the United Federation of Planets attempts to negotiate a truce. But peace won't come easily between them, and there are conspirators who will do anything to prevent the two sides from coming together for a lasting peace.

Each of the six films sports a 1080p AVC encode, but with the exception of Star Trek II, they don't look nearly as good as Star Trek: Season One on Blu-ray, which went through extensive reconditioning a couple of years ago. (Apparently, Star Trek II was in the worst shape, so it received more restoration work than the others.) None of the films are razor-sharp, but they are a substantial improvement over the "Special Edition" DVDs with better color reproduction, blacker blacks, and superior contrast. Unfortunately, it looks like extensive DNR (digital noise reduction) has been applied at the expense of high-frequency detail, which softens up facial features and blurs the definition in fabric and hair. Sure, grain has been minimized by this process, but the result is a less film-like presentation.

The Motion Picture has the most print damage of the six films with the occasional nick and scratch, and there are a couple of moments that appear as if Vaseline is obscuring background detail, but most of the time it looks pretty good. Another nit to pick is in Star Trek VI, which has what seems to be interlacing artifacts—specifically, in chapter two when Captain Sulu raises his cup of tea, the cup's curved rim exhibits jaggies. This is a possible indication of a 1080i source with poor deinterlacing to 1080p on the disc, but those with displays under 50 inches probably won't notice these anomalies.

Each film sports a 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that is impressive, especially on the last two films. The Motion Picture is very front-loaded with inconsistent dialog and dynamic range befitting the age of the film. The next three movies show an improvement with slightly more ambience from the surround speakers and more robust bass, but the dialog can sound strained and thin in Khan. The last two films offer the best audio experience with clearer dialog, an immersive surround environment, and expanded frequency response with crisper highs and deep room-shaking bass, especially when Praxis explodes.

Paramount has packed the 7-disc set with a shipload of bonus materials, many of which are carried over from the special-edition DVDs. In addition, every movie offers new HD featurettes made especially for this Blu-ray release. If you're a fan of audio commentaries, there are no fewer than 11 spread across the six films, with the best coming from director Nicholas Meyer on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

There are many behind-the-scenes featurettes discussing the writing, music, cast, special effects, costumes, locations, sound design, art, and many other topics. New HD features include the "Starfleet Academy Briefs," which look at a specific item from the film. For example, the Brief for The Motion Picture is the "Mystery behind V'ger," and for Star Trek IV, it's "The Whale Probe."

There are a number of tributes to the fallen members of the Star Trek family, including creator Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), Mark Lenard (1924-1996), who played Spock's father Sarek, DeForest Kelley (1920-1999), James Doohan (1920-2005), and Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009). Roddenberry's tribute features an extensive interview with his son, while Kelley's looks back on his career and how he was well liked by anyone he came in contact with.

A couple of Blu-ray exclusive features include a Bonus View "Library Computer" viewing mode, which provides technical and background information on Star Trek indexed by topic—a Trekkers delight! For those with BD-Live players, there's a Trek trivia game with clips from the films. You can even create your own quiz and have it rated by other viewers.

Last but not least is the seventh disc in the set, "The Captains' Summit." It's a taped interview with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, and Jonathan Frakes with Woopie Goldberg moderating. The 70-minute featurette includes the former captains—yes, Spock and Riker were captains eventually—talking about Star Trek's effect on their personal and professional lives, the fans, and the friendships they've developed because of Gene Roddenberry's masterful universe—a must watch for every Trekkie!

For those who can't afford the entire 6-movie set—or who don't really want The Motion Picture or The Final Frontier—II, III, and IV are available as Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy. This boxed set includes all the same bonus features and doesn't waste your time with the real clunkers of the bunch. The only drawback is that you don't get The Undiscovered Country, which is one of the good Star Trek movies.

Star Trek—The Original Motion Picture Collection is the most extensive collection of Trek in the universe, but it does have a few problems. I wish every film had received the same restorative treatment as Khan and The Original Series so that all the films were more pristine, but maybe my expectations are too high. Regardless, each film is a big upgrade over its DVD counterpart in both audio and video, and the additional HD supplemental features are a nice bonus—especially "The Captains Summit." If you're a Trekkie, this boxed set is worth every penny, even with its warts. Highly recommended.

Release Date: May 12, 2009
Studio: Paramount

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Movie: 5/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 7/10

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Movie: 9/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Movie: 7/10
Picture: 7/10
Sound: 8/10

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Movie: 8/10
Picture: 7/10
Sound: 8/10

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Movie: 4/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Movie: 7/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics