Blu-ray Review Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Director's Cut Blu-Ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm usually not a big fan of paying to see a DCP made from the same master as the disc I already own...but Wrath Of Khan is probably an exception to that rule.

 

[Osato]

I'm usually not a big fan of paying to see a DCP made from the same master as the disc I already own...but Wrath Of Khan is probably an exception to that rule.

"No truer words....have ever been spoken."

 

[Osato]

Wasn’t sure where to post this, but wrath of khan is mentioned...

https://www.pcmag.com/news/359197/a...ve-themselves?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Wasn’t sure where to post this, but wrath of khan is mentioned...

https://www.pcmag.com/news/359197/a...ve-themselves?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true

Thanks for sharing that! I actually interviewed Andrea Kalas for the release of Wings for HTF - one of my favorite chats!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Thanks for sharing that! I actually interviewed Andrea Kalas for the release of Wings for HTF - one of my favorite chats!

And I met Ben Burtt in NYC presenting a screening of that new restoration - what a glorious job they did on that one.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Thank you for posting this. It's an interesting article but overall a bit off the mark.

Digital preservation is fine but it's not an archive. That's where it becomes an oxymoron. Multiple copies of a digital file, even in different physical locations, only protects with a degree of certainty against a hard drive crash. It doesn't do anything to address issues in the digital realm that may only be discovered later. If there is such an issue it will be on all current and subsequent copies no matter how many humans or systems back them up. Unless they're discovered and addressed, but that can be harder when you're dealing with 1's and 0's instead of physical items. Hence a major difference between the types.

It is, however, a worthwhile endeavor. Copies not in film format have value, just as in a video vault. But they're not replacements.

This article describes film archiving and digital preservation as living side-by-side at the studio, which is good. What it does not do is distinguish between the two, and that should always be done. Especially if we're educating those future archivists.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I feel that it's basically inevitable that while a film from 50 or 100 years ago will remain accessible, a film from the modern era of DI posting will be lost due to bad data preservation techniques. They said that in this article, prior to a certain time, Paramount only get one copy of the final master. That's a recipe for disaster and one wonders if any of the other studios do the same.

As much as I don't want to see this happen, one day, one studio is going to discover that one of their modern hits from the 2000s era will no longer be available to them in a high quality version. The physical discs that we have will still exist, and the versions they've posted to streaming services will still be there, but especially for titles that were shot digitally, finished digitally, and never had a protection negative printed out to film, there may be titles that studios will no longer be able to offer for theatrical exhibition because the DCP has become corrupted and the DI is no longer accessible. It's just a matter of what title and when.

And that doesn't even take into account changes in software and hardware from over the years. There are some computer programs from as recently as then years ago that I can't open on my computer, because they were all designed for an older processor and aren't compatible with the newer processors. Nevermind programs and files from twenty years ago. And if that's just how it is now on the consumer level, where millions of people used some of these applications, what's it going to be like for digital movie data, where there's a much smaller market for hardware and software? If I shouldn't expect to be able to use a piece of computer software and/or hardware that's twenty years old, why should we assume that none of the studios will encounter anything similar?

Meanwhile, Star Trek II will always be fine, because in addition to the digital data newly created for this restoration, the actual original camera negatives and other high quality elements still exist.

 

[KPmusmag]

Good comments on the digital realm. I have files I have to jump through hoops to use now because of similar issues.

And - I posted this on another thread but thought I would repeat it here as it pertains in a way to Wrath of Khan.

Not long after Wrath of Khan opened, I went to a bank in Larchmont (near Paramount Studios) to cash a check (remember before ATMs?) and George Takei was in front of me in line. I am afraid I gushed a bit, along these lines: "I have seen Wrath of Khan at least 10 times already and it's so great to have Star Trek at the movies again and I hope there are lots more movies and I have memorized every episode of the series!" Mr. Takei laughed - and he has a booming, joyous laugh - I could feel the vibrations in my bones - and he pulled this photo out of his satchel and signed it for me in line at the bank! He was so very nice, and he seemed magnetic, charisma, I guess. The encounter left me aglow all day. (Still gushing 35 years later LOL).

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Good comments on the digital realm. I have files I have to jump through hoops to use now because of similar issues.

And - I posted this on another thread but thought I would repeat it here as it pertains in a way to Wrath of Khan.

Not long after Wrath of Khan opened, I went to a bank in Larchmont (near Paramount Studios) to cash a check (remember before ATMs?) and George Takei was in front of me in line. I am afraid I gushed a bit, along these lines: "I have seen Wrath of Khan at least 10 times already and it's so great to have Star Trek at the movies again and I hope there are lots more movies and I have memorized every episode of the series!" Mr. Takei laughed - and he has a booming, joyous laugh - I could feel the vibrations in my bones - and he pulled this photo out of his satchel and signed it for me in line at the bank! He was so very nice, and he seemed magnetic, charisma, I guess. The encounter left me aglow all day. (Still gushing 35 years later LOL).

View attachment 44111

That’s just wonderful! Thanks for sharing it and putting a smile on my face tonight!

 

[Osato]

Good comments on the digital realm. I have files I have to jump through hoops to use now because of similar issues.

And - I posted this on another thread but thought I would repeat it here as it pertains in a way to Wrath of Khan.

Not long after Wrath of Khan opened, I went to a bank in Larchmont (near Paramount Studios) to cash a check (remember before ATMs?) and George Takei was in front of me in line. I am afraid I gushed a bit, along these lines: "I have seen Wrath of Khan at least 10 times already and it's so great to have Star Trek at the movies again and I hope there are lots more movies and I have memorized every episode of the series!" Mr. Takei laughed - and he has a booming, joyous laugh - I could feel the vibrations in my bones - and he pulled this photo out of his satchel and signed it for me in line at the bank! He was so very nice, and he seemed magnetic, charisma, I guess. The encounter left me aglow all day. (Still gushing 35 years later LOL).

View attachment 44111

Awesome. Around the same time I ordered the khan soundtrack on vinyl through an ad in starlog, when I received it in the mail there was a hand written picture and note from James Doohan to me! I still have it in a safe place. I’ll have to find it and post a pic.
I was blown away as a 7-8 year old to receive that!!

 

[Worth]

I feel that it's basically inevitable that while a film from 50 or 100 years ago will remain accessible, a film from the modern era of DI posting will be lost due to bad data preservation techniques...

I was under the impression that most films create a film out negative of the DI and place it in storage, precisely to avoid such an outcome.

 

[Camper]

Interesting that she was ostensibly speaking about Wrath of Khan, but she specifically spoke about Klingon make-up. As we know there were no Klingons seen in Star Trek 2 -- could she have been thinking about Star Trek 3, 4, 5 or 6? It would be damn exciting to know if they had been restoring the other Trek movies without fanfare for future release.

 

[Blimpoy06]

As we know there were no Klingons seen in Star Trek 2 -- could she have been thinking about Star Trek 3, 4, 5 or 6?

It is quite possible that there are people out there that haven't watched all the Star Trek films hundreds of times and make broad statements out of ignorance.

 

[Dave H]

With Paramount seemingly revisiting catalog titles again on BD and UHD BD, I just hope they go back and release all of the original Trek movies for UHD BD. The BD of remastered Khan (from 4K) just looks gorgeous and only makes me imagine how nice the rest would look.

 

[Camper]

She kind of seemed to be talking of a specific thing rather than a hypothetical example.

 

[Nelson Au]

Just read that article. Maybe Miss Kalas thought the Vulcan’s are Klingons. And strings on the ships? They are all motion controlled, but it sounds like as Darin said, she isn’t a full on fan who knows all the specifics about Star Trek. . Or hopefully as David has mentioned, they are quietly working on the TOS films. And I really hope that includes the Robert Wise cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture.

I read with interest the effort made to preserve To Catch A Thief, one of my favorites. One of these days I have to check out Wings.

 

[Camper]

Yeah, the "strings on ships" was weird. Maybe she just didn't know the correct term for the armature that holds the ships -- which are visible in a couple of shots especially if she is seeing the original footage in high resolution.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I was under the impression that most films create a film out negative of the DI and place it in storage, precisely to avoid such an outcome.

That's what's supposed to happen, but I can imagine shortcuts being taken for films with more limited budgets, or films not in the control of major studios. A lot of studios have already no longer provide physical film prints for titles - it's digital or nothing. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for me to believe that some of those titles didn't get film outs, or that at least one out of many titles were done poorly and the film out ends up being useless. Preservationists for classic film titles discover the film equivalent of that happening when they go to separation masters or other preservation dupes, and discover that they weren't made well at the time, and are essentially useless towards restoration efforts. I'm not saying that'll be the case for every or even most modern titles, but I could absolutely believe that the odds are that it'll happen to at least one title.

 

[KPmusmag]

Just read that article. Maybe Miss Kalas thought the Vulcan’s are Klingons. And strings on the ships? They are all motion controlled, but it sounds like as Darin said, she isn’t a full on fan who knows all the specifics about Star Trek. . Or hopefully as David has mentioned, they are quietly working on the TOS films. And I really hope that includes the Robert Wise cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture.

I read with interest the effort made to preserve To Catch A Thief, one of my favorites. One of these days I have to check out Wings.

Wings is SO worthwhile. Don't wait any longer.

 

[B-ROLL]

Wings is SO worthwhile. Don't wait any longer.

+1