Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I'm certainly interested in these, but I suspect the price will be mind blowing especially considering Paramount has been sticking it to Trek fans in terms of price for years anyway.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

double post.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Dave, it has been posted already by someone else, but Paramount doesn't really charge any more for Star Trek films then they do for other films in their library.

That's a rap the franchise gets for the TV series. But that is now under the control of CBS and the prices have come down.

Who knows what Paramount will do for the films on Blu-ray. It is also my hope they'd do a 3 film set version of Star Trek The Motion Picture in one Special Edition set. Just because they are releasing the theatrical version first doesn't mean they will not do a version containing the Theatrical, TV and Directors Cut versions later on with all the extras. (History could repeat itself) And if they don't, and if you buy the theatrical, and they later release the Directors Cut, it might port all the extras on the old release set plus some new stuff and cut scenes and you'd have it. Though it's not in a fancy box, the content is there, in separate releases. And I know some would not be happy to be paying for 2 separate releases, but at least it's not a complete double dip.

It would be cool if the studios do read these forums and hear us.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Here's my suggestion, for what it's worth:

Release the original Theatrical Cut on Blu-ray as planned. Include the longer TV cut using seamless branching -- that should be pretty straightforward since the extra scenes were simply dropped in without additional editing or audio remixing of the existing material.

Give us lots of extras pertaining to the original production. (I just re-watched the documentaries on the Director's Edition DVD and was surprised at how slight they were. It was a very difficult and convoluted production and there are lots of good stories to tell, if Paramount is willing to let them be told.)

Then later down the road, after the new effects have be re-rendered at HD, give us a BD of the Director's Edition, with all of the extras related to the production of this new cut.

This way we have two separate releases but with no overlapping material, and no one should feel that they've been "double-dipped." I know I'd be thrilled with this solution.

Mark

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Indeed..

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

King Media Services' website has been updated.

Their demo reel features brief clips from the Star Trek Experience (possibly part of a DVD featurette); the "Star Trek Summit" with Stewart, Frakes, Shatner, Nimoy, and Whoopi Goldberg; and a (possibly interactive) feature called "The Evolution of the Enterprise."

"Star Trek Movie Collection" is still listed under Current Projects (along with bonus features for Primal Fear, White Christmas, and Varsity Blues... new Special Editions?).

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I am really excited about Star Trek coming to blu ray. Hopefully the films and the TOS series will both be coming shortly.

On TMP, I really wish they would release just the Director's Cut, but I understand the politics and $ it would take to redo the effects for HD.

It's just disappointing though.

On the bright side, hopefully the other films will look and sound a lot better than the current dvd's.

The Wrath of Khan is my favorite movie of all time.

It would be nice to see some more of the film trailers, tv ads and radio ads if they exist. I really liked having many of the ads on the TMP disc extras.

Is there any word on TOS coming from CBS as well in May?

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Some news from trekmovie.com:

As reported previously by TrekMovie and Digital Bits (but still not officially confirmed), Paramount is currently working on new versions of the TOS era movies for Blu-ray special edition releases in 2009 and these new versions will include new special features. Today The Pioneer Press in MN is reporting that Paramount is headed to the Twin Cities to film Commedia Beauregard perform two scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in Klingon for the new Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country special edition. This is obviously due to the famous dinner scene when General Chang proclaims "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." According to Kidder the two scenes will be the "taH pagh, taHbe’ (to be or not to be) speech, along with ‘the gravedigger scene (which includes the ‘Alas, poor Yorick’ speech’). On the second scene Kidders adds "they wanted that, because they wanted to use a Klingon skull."

Sounds interesting. Plus this confirms TMP won't be the only film getting new extras. And I still regret not buying my senior year English teacher a copy of the Klingon Hamlet at the end of that school year.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I find that image of George Takei most disturbing.....

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Wow. Paramount will spend the money on that but won't get the DC of TMP up to HD speed....

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

see what i mean? i'd rather forgo hamlet in klingon in favor of DC.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Great point on Paramount spending time and $ on some features that will get watched maybe once? I know there was a few features that were very dry on the Star Trek II and III DVD's. Some of them were a stretch to say they had anything to do with the film as well.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I agree to a point re: Paramount spending money on (what seem to be) frivolous features. Of course, they're hardly the only studio that does that.

On Star Trek II and III, the features are simply of shoddy quality: unnecessary close-ups, shaky camera, a lack of behind the scenes footage, uncalibrated white balance, people shot in front of windows (!), etc. On Star Trek IV, you can tell they went with a different company to produce the supplements.

As far as not having anything to do with the film, I don't mind that. Why not explore some of the scientific or historical issues the films raise (terraforming, time travel, the search for extraterrestrials, the end of Communism, etc.)? As long as they are produced in an entertaining and professional manner (see first paragraph), I have no problem with it. This is what New Line did with their Infinifilm titles.

But I still believe we'll see the TMP: DE on Blu-Ray (hopefully with a few more adjustments) at some point in the future.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

...Edited because I realized I said something I really really really shouldn't have and even if you got to read it before I edited it you won't currently understand why I shouldn't have said it so don't go trying to figure it out or anything and if you do figure it out don't report me!

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I just saw your edited post, so I have no idea what you're talking about!

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

^Me neither but I'm intrigued.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Way to make me all curious.

You Bast....

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I take this with a grain of salt but it wouldn't surprise me either. This is a post from a Trek thread at highdefdigest.com:

6 Star Trek Movies on May 5th? - High-Def Digest Forums

--Last summer the work on these began at Lowry Digital but I have some disappointing news. A few people that I know who work there tell me that Paramount went really cheap on these and the initial budget for all the remastering was very low.

If it cost something around $150,000 to do a Bond title, I was told that the budget for the first film was only around $25,000-$30,000 which limits the kind of work that needs to be done for a full restoration. We shall see once they come out but I have a feeling they aren't going to be the spectacular releases we are all hoping for.

I was told by not one but several people that they just aren't living up to the kind of work they normally like to do on all the titles they get. Paramount has consistently been the cheapest studio when it comes to truly mastering their films especially on re-issues. Like I said, we shall see in a few months. I hope a lot has changed since they were first budgeted.--

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I haven't been impressed with Paramount BD catalog titles in general. Many of them are clearly using old masters with plenty of EE and DNR. Of course, there are a few exceptions like Godfather, but, of course, Paramount never really funded that project. Other studios have done better jobs in this regard.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Interesting, the post at Hi Def Digest also says Star Trek Season 1 is also slated for release that day and the same week JJ Abram's Star Trek is released.

Thanks for the link Scott.

If that is correct news, that's exciting that TOS first season is coming that day as well.

If that quote is true, that's pretty unfortunate that if a Bond film was restored for a budget of $150K, that Star Trek The Motion Picture was $25 to $30K. The Bond films look spectacular! Hopefully the work on the TOS Star Trek films just didn't need the kind of effort Dr. No and FRWL needed to look as great as they do. It could also mean a double blu dip some time in the near future for the likely Robert Wise Directors Cut.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

The Star Trek films simply are not in need of a major, full-blown restoration. One could argue over which version of I, II, or VI is preferable, but the negatives on those films as far as I know remain intact, and the last round of DVDs did a good job of representing the films as they were shot. These films are never gonna look all slick and smooth like Wall-E or some brand new CGI title, and they were never intended to look that way. I really can't see these films needing anything more than some minor digital tweaking. The oldest Star Trek film is almost twenty years newer than the oldest Bond film, so I don't think it's fair to compare the amount of money spent on each of the projects and use that as basis for thinking that Paramount is cheaping out.

Just give me something that accurately reproduces how the films looked in theaters, not something that changes the way the films were intended to look and always have looked.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

To: Josh


I disagree on these films were not meant to look well. They have every right to look superior over their previous incarnations including their original theatrical releases. The first five films shot Panavision 35mm anamorphic (should have every effort made to have them look like a shinny new penny).

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

And even the DC of TMP looks like ass, riddled with dirt and debris, with a dark and drab overall appearance. You can argue the rest, but TMP needs a full blown restoration.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Exactly. When you see that much dirt and debris especially something on 480i, you know it's just laziness or lack of effort (although prefer that than some blind DNR'ing to "clean up").

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Well it's not how much they spend----------
it's how much they HAVE to spend to make them look great.

Perhaps & hopefully they have some nice prints that don't need a lot of clean up.
I think we'll know how serious this set of releases are when they announce the extras......

I've always felt they are saving the deleted scenes from Trek 2, 3, 4 & 6 for the 'final' release of the movies.
As there probably won't be another format anytime soon and Blu-ray seems here to stay---it seems likely that besides 'The Motion Picture' Director's cut we won't be seeing another release for a long time (other than repackageing and so forth using the existing content)

So if they announce the movies have deleted scenes from the movies that have not had any before, I think, that would indicate they are pulling out the stops for this release.

My fingers are crossed.
Solid 4 to 4 1/2 star (out of 5) ratings for picture quality will satisfy me if we get some some decent features including deleted scenes.

If it's bare bones with only previous extras (and a few throwaway new ones) I'll be devastated.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Dude, if Paramount simply craps these discs out, I don't think "devastated" would be the right word. They're going to have a full scale fan and format riot on their hands beyond anything even Fox has seen for their less than stellar catalogue titles.

Something tells me they know this and these sets will be sweet. After all, the studio sunk an awful lot of money into the new movie and probably sees this as a goldmine for cross-promotion, among other things.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I hope you're right, but I can understand the hand-wringing given Paramount's history with catalog titles in HD. One only has to look at the issues with Event Horizon (vertical stretching) and The Truman Show (horizontal stretching (1.85:1 vs. 1.66:1 aspect ratios)) to be concerned.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Just dug this up elsewhere:

Bluray.com info

Post 3045. I trust TDB over a basically anonymous poster any day of the week.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

^^ From your keyboard to God's ears, I hope.

But the thing is, I'd buy them even if the release IS bare bones.
And by 'bare bones' I mean just the old extras and a few lame new ones---NOT BARE BONES as in nothing but the movies and the trailers. I know they're not THAT dumb.

The only way I won't buy these is if they DON'T include the Director's cuts of 2 & 6. (I know 6 wasn't an official 'Director's cut', but Meyer made the choices in the additions to both the 1992 & 2002 re-edits of the Undiscovered Country.)

How soon likely for an official announcement date for a May 5 release? Sometime in February?

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I didn't mean to suggest that they weren't meant to look well. I just think that the current Star Trek II DVD, for example, accurately reproduces the original look of the film - there's nothing seriously wrong with it. I don't want the film to look like something other than how it originally looked. Star Trek II was meant to be a grainy film, and I'd be upset if they tried to use digital tools to make it into something it wasn't meant to be.

I'm just saying I don't think the actual negatives are in such terrible state that a full-blown restoration needs to be done on any of the titles. At most, for most of the films I would think a new (or newly cleaned) print, combined with a little tweaking in the digital realm, would be fine. We don't really know the source for the current DVDs, so I think it's a little premature to say that the films need restorations. A new transfer from a better or newly made print would probably take care of most of the minor blemishes that are visible on the DVDs.

Paramount has, in the past, spent a fortune to save films on the verge of being lost forever, like Sunset Boulevard. I don't think they'd let the original negatives for the Star Trek films to just rot away, so to speak, and they've already demonstrated that they will pay when necessary.

I think some people will probably be disappointed with whatever comes out on Blu-ray that's Star Trek... if Paramount makes a new transfer from a clean element, so the Blu-ray appears just as the theatrical release, some people will be unhappy about the grain and other characteristics of the film stocks and production methods of the time. If they go for the overly-processed, digital revisionism look where the films retain none of their original grain structure and are artificially brightened or color timed to give it a sleek "HD"/brand-new-digitally-shot-movie look, people will be unhappy about that too. Given the choice, I'd rather have the films presented looking and sounding as close to their original theatrical runs as possible.