Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far - Page 32

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

It's more than likely a separate "Narrative Only" sub stream that is not available in the menu selection but can be "toggled" to via the SUBTITLE remote button. If that's the case, it defaults on when you select the English audio, and selecting "None" will indeed turn them off.

This is standard DVD and BD programming.

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

Am I the only one who likes those little Starfleet Academy history review sessions? You know, with the female teacher? That's one of the coolest features I've watched in a long time.

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

Troy, I thought those starfleet history lessens were bloody awful. Thankfully there's a lot of goodness elsewhere on these discs. The new commentaries in particular are excellent.

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

Ugh - I think they're a very mixed bag. The new track for 1 is mediocre, and the one for 2 is redundant. The discussion of 3 is enjoyable, but the one for 4 is a total dog. The piece for 5 is pretty decent, though it fades in the second half. Haven't heard 6 yet...

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

I watched Wrath of Khan, a film I don't like to watch too frequently so it retains it power. It still pushes all the right buttons!

I wasn't sure the image looked that great compared to The Motion Picture which looked terrific. But one thing that always bugged me was the aesthetic choices that Meyer made. From the uniforms and how the Enterprise is redressed to add more bits of visual clutter if you will. (Too many added flashing bits and consoles cloodged onto the clean and beautiful designs from TMP) So I was surprised that while I know this film back and forth, it struck me more how it looks like an 80's film!

I don't care, or never cared for Fletcher's costume design in this film. The idea for a Naval theme was great, but I never liked the execution. But I can overlook that because the narrative is so good!

I liked the new audio commentary with Meyer and Manny Coto. I listened to bits during particular scenes, so I have not heard the whole thing. He's always a good listen for his intellegence and knowledge of literature. I did like that Manny Coto asks him if he'd direct the next trek film. I won't spoil it for you if you want to listen.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

The Montalban tribute was great. The new extras added to those ported from the last disc are great. I'll have to check out the Starfleet history feature. Onward to Trek 3.

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

Maybe this is a silly question, but what do they use as the film source for these? Original negative or something farther down the line? (I'm especially curious about The Motion Picture)

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

For anybody interested, Amazon has this boxset for $69.99






Crawdaddy

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

From what I understand they used the old HD masters for the old DVDs for all films, except Wrath of Khan. That one was given a remaster, and I guess they went back to the original negatives for that.

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

Wow. You're tough to please. The one for Voyage Home isn't as relevant as one might like, but I found it interesting nonetheless. I've yet to listen to the new one for Khan, although I can imagine why it may well be redundant, given that Meyer repeated several comments heard in the original Khan commentary in his chat-track for Undiscovered Country.

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

Watched TMP and TWOK yesterday and was happy with both. I had a big grin on my face during both.

I have to agree about Khan being too blue. During the final scenes, I played with my projector's color temperture settings and when it got warmer, the PQ became far more natural looking. I plan on making a note and sticking it in the case for next time.

Will watch 3-6 next weekend!

BTW, I watched these on an 80" screen and was very pleased with what I saw. But I'm buying these movies for entertainment, not to critique the PQ/AQ.

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

The sub titles on 3 look quite good to me.

Doug

Edit: I just went back and look at the DVD of Star Trek 3, and the original burned in sub titles look really sloppy compared to the new player generated titles on the blu-ray.

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

Subtitles are typically the last things added to a film, so "first generation" isn't likely just because the original subs aren't there as you said.

Blu-ray discs are now being distributed to regions with different language requirements, this almost guarantees original subtitles will be a thing of the past. The fact that blu-ray players are able to produce subs identical to the originals makes this irrelevant....assuming the people producing the blu-ray know what they are doing.

The "Genesis Planet" shot was produced by ILM, and they may have delivered it with the subtitle added because of time issues during the production.

Doug

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

I think it's just two hours of guys telling us they like the movie. No insight, no information, just "this is great!!!"

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

I disagree, Colin. Sure, there's a bit of fan worship in there, but when they start talking about the new Trek flick and how their writing process works it picks up. The best bit is when they 'suddenly' realise just how much of their new movie is cribbed from Voyage Home.

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

Well, I have to eat my words, when real world pragmatism kicks in. I got a shipping notice from DVDempire for the 6-movie set, which I had managed to order during that short window when the set was only $43.78. Believe it or not, I had managed to forget I had placed that order!

This left me with a couple of options -

* return the set for a refund
* sell the set for profit.

but then I thought - what if I sold my DVD versions? I managed to sell my 2-disc DVD versions of five films (I never bought TFF) on Amazon Marketplace for $125! So this upgrade (deeply flawed though it might be) turned me a profit of $80 minus fees. I must admit my objections faded away when I figured this out.

So, despite my original thoughts, I have upgraded after all. Who'da thunk it?

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

Has anyone else listened to the new commentary track for The Motion Picture? I had it on while I was busy doing other things and could have sworn I heard Daren Dochterman say, about three-quarters of the way through the film, that they had left in one of the changes from the Director's Edition. If I heard correctly, he was talking about how the color of the deflector dish changes (one color at sub-light speed, another at warp), and that they corrected the dish's color when the Enterprise was being held inside V'ger.

Doesn't bother me too much if true, but those who want the unadulterated theatrical version of the film might not be too pleased.

- Mark

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

$125? I couldn't even manage half that.

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

I sold them individually. There's quite a brisk trade in these titles, as the lowest available price seemed to go up an down a bit while I was researching selling them. I sold all 5 in a day. Top grosser was VI, which went for $27.95 & shipping! I was surprised what you could get for these.

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

And yet the vast majority of my US BD discs contain - thankfully - original theatrical captions including ALL the Bond movies so far, the Bourne films, the Mummy films, LA Confidential, the Rambo movies.

I know that in Region B this isn't the case.

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

It's now back to $79.99!

Phil

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

Don't forget Deep Discount will soon be having their 20-20% off sale.

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

Yeah, I heard that... I think they mentioned that for TMP (and it wasn't done in later films) that the dish was lit in blue when the ship was traveling and in spacedock, while it went to an orangish-yellow when it was inside the V'Ger cloud. And I guess there was a shot inside V'Ger where the dish was mistakenly left blue. Sounds more like it was a color correction that everyone missed the first time around, rather than really changing the artistic merits of the film, so I didn't have a problem with it personally.

I rather enjoyed the commentary track; didn't learn much I didn't already know, but it had a fun, MST3K-like vibe to it at parts, like watching a much-loved though not particularly outstanding film with a bunch of good friends.

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

I enjoyed the TMP commentary as well. One thing that bothered me though is when Denise was asking how Decker knew so much about the history of Nasa/Voyager missions. It seems perfectly logical to me that someone who is a captain of a future "Starship" might know a thing or two about the history of Earth's space program...even if it was 300 years in the past. Just as Picard knows so much about Shakespeare.

A better item to comment on would have been Decker's statement about Voyager 6 falling into "what they used to call a black hole". I always thought that invited the question, "oh, what do you call them in 23rd century?" Somehow I think the name would have stuck around for the our future, fictional space explorers. Their understanding of "black holes" might have improved but I don't think they came up with a different name....at least not one that has ever been mentioned in Trek lore.

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

At least one TOS episode used the term "black star" instead.

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

And, to me, that sounds like a term that pre-dates "black hole". Decker's implication is that the term "black hole" is outdated. Perhaps he should have mentioned what they call them in his time. Hehe...I know, I know, the movie doesn't need any more trimming.


Hey, look what I dug-up on Memory Alpha:


The term black hole was not used officially until 1967 (when stated in a lecture by Dr. John Wheeler). Prior to that time several different terms were used officially for these objects, among them "frozen star" and "black star". The term black star is used in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

Although 21st century science would say that all black holes have singularities in them, it would also say that not all singularities are black holes. Differences in usage in Star Trek supports this understanding.

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

I ordered the Trilogy set over the weekend from Amazon at $32.99. Looking forward to it.

For those who have watched the blu ray version of The Motion Picture. Is the audio soundtrack the same as the theatrical release or did they use the Director's Cut DVD?

I know the film was rushed to theaters in 1979 and it was not properly edited and the sound mix was unfinished for the theatrical release. In 2001, Robert Wise was allowed to finish the film properly. Both editing and the audio mix. Hopefully someday we can see Robert Wise's completed film on blu ray.

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

I've seen thru Rental both TMP and Star Trek II. They look better but not enough to justify the asking price, Even with Khan's remaster the TV Division aspect of it's production shows thru, the constant use of Red filters makes the image soft to begin with and DNR does'nt help. I'll wait at least for the inevitable director cuts.

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

I got the 6 disc set from Amazon at its cheapest (bought it from the pre-order), but I am hanging on the 2-disc standard definition sets as well. Particularly for 1, 2 and 6. Especially for 1 - since I prefer Wise's cut of the film, with the completed VFX and the correct sound mix. If anything, the Blu-ray of TMP provides a counterpoint to what Wise actually intended us to see the first time around.

Of course, in another 2 years or so when that version hits Blu-ray, we can see if the DNR issues have been corrected...

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

The 1979 cut of TMP is historical, man. It's the version of TMP that I grew up with and I'm stoked to have it on Blu-ray looking half-way decent.

Ironically enough, for something that's representing the 'finished' cut of TMP, the DVD is a horrid experience for me. The film source they've used is absolutely filthy and the new FX shots that use existing elements are plagued with jaggies because they haven't been flagged properly.

When the Director's Edition gets the treatment it deserves, I'll be just as happy with it as the rest of you seem to be. In the meantime I'll keep the DE DVD for posterity, but I'm vewwy happy with the theatrical cut on Blu-ray.

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

Did anyone feel TMP had a bit too much contrast at times? Maybe this is just because I'm used to the faded look of the DVD - which I agree is not a great film source. However, I kind of felt maybe they boosted the contrast and DNR to give the image more clarity and pop. I didn't notice this on Khan. I haven't rented the others yet.