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| William
Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban, DeForest Kelley,
Kirstie Alley |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Khan (Ricardo Montalban):
Ah Kirk, my old friend. Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells
us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in
space.
A banished villain is accidentally
discovered on a remote planet and immediately starts plotting his
revenge.
 As
rare as it is for a sequel to improve upon the original, it is even rarer for
a movie as dull and lifeless as Star Trek: The Motion Picture to
spawn a sequel at all. But although the chances this second Star Trek picture
had of succeeding were slim at best, it ended up taking both fans and
critics alike by surprise, not only scoring a huge hit at the box office
but also winning over countless new fans to a franchise that had been little
more than a cult phenomenon. To this day, it remains the fans' favorite of the
ten films so far, and rightly so.
For not only does the movie strike just the right balance between humor
and tension, lightness of touch and thundering action sequences, it's also
the only Star Trek movie yet produced that is fully accessible to those not
steeped in Star Trek lore and unfamiliar with the characters and basic premise
from the TV show. It's a perfectly paced, wonderfully old-fashioned adventure
story; a classic action picture that could just as easily have been set upon
the high seas, with navy officers chasing pirates, as in deep space with
Star Fleet officers chasing genetically engineered superhumans. Easily
the best film ever made in the franchise and a minor science-fiction
classic in its own right. |
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First released on DVD as a bare-bones
release, of which the Region 1 version even lacked anamorphic enhancement.
The film has more recently been re-released in a two-disc 'Director's
Edition' that includes some short scenes that hae been reinstated
as well as a few alternate shots used in some scenes. Identical
releases of the Director's Edition DVD are available for Region
1 and Region 2. The Region 2 release comes in a handsomely designed
carboard slipcase surrounding the standard dual keepcase.
The anamorphic widescreen image
is framed at an aspect ratio of approx. 2.35:1. The new transfer
on this release improves greatly on the previous DVD version, which
was very grainy, with muted colors. The new DVD has vastly improved
clarity with strong, bold colors. There is still some very fine
grain in occasional shots but nothing that's distracting, and blacks
are far more solid than they were in the recent Star Trek: TMP
DVD release.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 sound mix is also surprisingly strong, most notably
in the action sequences and its enveloping use of the engine sounds
on-board the Enterprise, which exhibit deep, well-chosen use of
the subwoofer channel and plentiful directional effects.
Director Nicholas Meyer starts off
his excellent audio commentary by stating that he didn't
really want to record a yack track for this picture at all. The
comments he then continues to add to the film are however so entertaining
and interesting, and told with such energy and articulate conviction
that one can only be relieved he decided to yield and record one
anyway. Übernerd and offical Lord of All Trekkies Michael Okuda,
author of various Star Trek encyclopaedias, again provides a text
commentary as optional subtitle track, containing more trivia tidbits
than one would ever wish to know about the film's production and
various related matters.
 Disc
two houses three half-hour featurettes, all of which were
newly produced for this DVD and are presented in anamorphic widescreen.
The first, 'Captain's Log', provides the required general overview
of the production history, filled with generous anecdotes from all
major participants, including an unusually morose William Shatner
growling at the camera from the comfort of his armchair. 'Designing
Khan' takes a look at the movie's costume and uniform design, which
would become a kind of template for later movies and TV shows in
the Star Trek universe, and 'Visual Effects', in which we take a
closer look at the still-impressive visual effects and how the creativity
and craftsmanship of Dennis Muren's effects team made a relatively
modest budget go a long way.
Also included here is a 30-minute featurette that brings two of
those obsessive fans of the series into the limelight, who take
their time showing off their collections of Star Trek memorabilia.
It's a mildly entertaining footnote that illustrates the series'
obsessive fan base, but at its half-hour running time hardly offers
enough material of interest to truly grab the average viewer.
Of more interest to those with an interest in filmmaking and design
is the hugely extensive selection of storyboards, with all
seventeen major sequences from the film presented in impressively
detailed designs. Finally, the original interviews from 1982
with stars Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley (in hilariously dated casual
wear) are included here as well, offering little but the usual promotional
TV chitchat, but a nice inclusion if only for historical purposes.
The memorable theatrical trailer rounds out these impressive
extras. Menu
screens are fully animated on both discs, with a CG-rendered space
station environment used on disc 1 and the Genesis planet surface
as a backdrop for disc 2.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
December 13, 2002
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Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
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