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DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (Highly Recommended) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

Andy Sheets

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Aug 6, 2000
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2,377
Just picked this up from a place that broke street date. All I can say is dammmmnnnn it's a nice production. Sounds great and has a GORGEOUS transfer. Very film-like. Now if only I could find a place that's selling LOTR early...
 

David Von Pein

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Feb 4, 2002
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Question: Why are the screenshots so dark? Surely it won't look like this on our TV screens?


Are screenshots always this dark-looking when pasted onto a webpage?
 

Mike Graham

Supporting Actor
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Aug 31, 2001
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Whenever I created screen captures from WinDVD with my video card overlay settings set to "Default" the shots were very dark. This is more of an issue concerning video cards then the DVD. Every DVD I watched on my DVD ROM eventually appeared much, much brighter on my Panasonic RV32, so anyone with a set top player shouldn't worry. :)
 

David Von Pein

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This is more of an issue concerning video cards than the DVD. ....
Yeah, that's what I kinda thought....but I wasn't sure.
But I think a LOT of DVD addicts would be quite upset (to put it mildly) if Khan looked this dark (as above) on this Star Trek DVD release! :)
Thank you, Mike, for your helpful post.
It must be quite difficult then to accurately ascertain how the actual image is going to appear on your TV screen, when the screenshot representative samples are so very dark.
Must be a quandry Mr. Epstein has to face every day!
Too bad something can't be done to give a more accurate view of the screenshots.
 

Jonny R

Agent
Joined
Jan 16, 2002
Messages
39
I think the MSRP is $29.99. Best Buy will charge $19.99 for the first week. The Star trek barebones DVD prices should be dropped. How can the new SE be the same price as the old garbage? I was at Best Buy and saw V and Insurrection for $27.99. The others $24.99. Sad.
 

Adrian_P

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 24, 2000
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83
Great review! Definately picking this one up as I hadn't got around to buying the original release yet.

Great job Paramount! Looking forward to many more Star Trek special editions.
 

Neil S. Bulk

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Sep 13, 1999
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Real Name
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The ABC version contains a scene where Kirk and Spock are discussing Saavik being half Romulan. It is my understanding that this scene is not on the SE DVD.
This scene is not on the new DVD. It also was never part of the ABC version. It has shown up in promotional materials for the movie. It may have been featured in a "making of" special at the time of the film's release and it was part of a ShoWest trailer shown to exhibitors in 1982.

Neil
 

Mike Graham

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 31, 2001
Messages
766
David VP
Too bad something can't be done to give a more accurate view of the screenshots
An adjustment in the DVD software or the Video Overlay options of the video card could make the screen shots brighter or have a higher level of contrast (along with color, etc.). On an older system that uses software decoding, this would cause a major performance hit. However, on a system that has an acceptable processor (eg, above 500 or 600mhz) or hardware decoding on the video card can easily have its overlay or DVD software options seamlessly adjusted.
 

Dan Hinson

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This scene is not on the new DVD. It also was never part of the ABC version. It has shown up in promotional materials for the movie. It may have been featured in a "making of" special at the time of the film's release and it was part of a ShoWest trailer shown to exhibitors in 1982.
Oops! You are absolutely correct! I pulled my VHS copy of the ABC version (terrible quality!) and took a look. The scene to which I had referred was not in that version, just as you pointed out.

I then began to search through my other Star Trek VHS materials, and found one of those “convention” tapes that had the ShoWest trailer on it, and discovered that is where I saw the scene. Sorry ‘bout that…
 

Dome Vongvises

Senior HTF Member
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May 13, 2001
Messages
8,172
This is probably my favorite Trek movie of the entire series, although I still like four quite a bit. :) Well, there goes more money from my wallet. :laugh:
 

Jeremy Conrad

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 27, 2000
Messages
529
When reviewing the disc, I watched the movie with a guy in the office who hasn't seen Star Trek II since he was real little and didn't remember anything really about it (he didn't even remember the whole Spock thing).

It was kind of cool to see the movie that way as he was like "oh whoa" and "cool" at some of the good parts in the movie.
 

Dewitte

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Apr 25, 2002
Messages
173
While I appreciate the glowing review of the film and most of its supplements, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take issue with the treatment of "The Star Trek Universe" segment.

"Geek alert"? Not having seen the supplement yet, I cannot judge on its quality. However, this was the second review in a row that I read calling these authors geeks and warning people that they may not be able to stand the segment for too long. Having met Greg Cox last year, I found him to be incredibly articulate and yes, enthusiastic about his work. His two-part novel about Khan was wonderfully done, not to mention quite clever by tying in a fictional universe to the one we lived in. Julia Ecklar's novel about the Kobayashi Maru scenario was the first Trek novel I ever read and was quite accessible to someone who didn't know all the nooks and crannies of Star Trek (at least, not yet).

Heaven forbid that someone be knowledgable about Star Trek and not earn the geek moniker immediately. It also seems a bit hypocritical, considering this forum is a haven for cinephiles, videophiles and, to an extent, audiophiles. Is it really necessary to condemn others for having an interest different from ours? Considering the producers of this disc could have included a segment on Star Trek conventions showing uber-fans in poorly-fitting costumes shooting their toy phasers at each other, I think a segment showing two authors who have made relevant contributions to the franchise is rather tame by comparison.

Sorry to explode like this in my first post (containing any content) to the forum, but I wanted to defend the segement, as it was something I was looking forward to. Having it be dismissed so casually in not one, but two reviews in a row, didn't sit so well with me.

In closing, I look forward to more reviews from you Ron and have immensely enjoyed the ones you've already done (the John Q review saved me some money).

Dewitte Baisch
 

nousername

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 26, 2001
Messages
614
What I'd really like to know is, special features aside, is the new transfer significantly better than the first version? If it's only slightly better, I'll probably skip this one. But if it is much better, I might consider it.
 

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