 There's Only ONE Captain of The Enterprise! |
| Review Date: September 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Unlucky Frank, Lalaland, CA United States |
"Mr. Sulu, Impulse power."
I thought this might help, as there is very little info from Amazon on this product. This review is mostly for the content of this STANDARD DEFINITION 7 Disc ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE COLLECTION Box Set released Sept. 22, 2009.
Obviously, these are the 6 Original Paramount films with the Original Series cast.
STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE
THE WRATH OF KHAN
THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK
THE VOYAGE HOME
THE FINAL FRONTIER
and THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
Every film in this set is the Original Widescreen Theatrical Version. The 7th Bonus Disc is THE CAPTAINS' SUMMIT. A 70 minute round table discussion with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and host Whoopi Goldberg.
Each Movie Disc includes commentaries, a few short Special Features, and NO theatrical trailers. The Insert Card states: 2 1/2 hours of Special Features. My guess is that they're leftovers from the previous 2 Disc Editions for each film, none of which I've ever owned. So, don't take my word for it. (Anyone that thinks 5 Stars may be too generous for this Edition, I only really care about the films. And, the way they look and sound. SFs are of secondary concern to me.)
Sound for all the films is 5.1 Dolby Digital EX and maintains a good presence. There is NO 2.1 or DTS setting. As usual with big studio blockbusters, music is too far forward in the mix for my taste, and dialogue is at a lower volume. (For optimal home theater playback, your center channel should always be set at a hotter level than your front speakers. Here's a good starting point for louder films: The individual speaker volume levels for my surround receiver go to 12. Please, no Spinal Tap jokes. I usually leave my L/R front speakers at level 4, and make my center channel all-the-way hot at 12. I always leave my rear effects speakers at 8 or 10. My Velodyne subwoofer is usually set at -7 because I have neighbors, and the darn thing really pumps those ultra low earthquake frequencies.)
The transfers look EXCELLENT. I've perused them all, but I have only viewed the FIRST film in its entirety. Very nice. Good color timing. (NOSTALGIA ALERT: I really appreciate the primitive Special Effects, models, matte painting, and miniature photography of this era. With the advent of CG, these kinds of photographic effects are a rarity these days. The wormhole sequence is still awesome, and the VGER probe scene still looks really cool. I can't wait to view the rest of the films. Especially THE WRATH OF KHAN!)
This Box Set is a very handsome Edition. Each Disc comes in an ultra thin slipcase with a different cast member in silver on the cover of each case, with Shatner's photo on the Bonus Disc. (I would have preferred the Original movie poster art for each film, but the design is unique for this Edition.)
The Box has a 3D Trek logo on the front, is only 2" deep, and doesn't take up much shelf space. The entire Box is covered with a transparent slipcover that is open on the top and bottom. (CAREFUL: The insert card is glued to the outside and the bottom of the Box. If it comes off, the entire Box can fall thru the bottom of the outer slipcover and crash onto the floor. Remove it, put it under the slipcover, or throw it away.)
A very affordable way to own the 6 Original films.
SPOCK LIVES!
Enjoy. |
Fantastic Box Set.
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| Review Date: April 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jigowatt, |
| I live in the U.K. and the Box set has already landed here. I can say that the negative reviews on Amazon need to be curbed especially if you have not seen the product. To be quite honest Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection is truly magnificent. All six films look fresh and sound phenomenal. I was not expecting much based on all the venom spitting going on here but I am glad you naysayers will be proved wrong. These are the theatrical features as seen in movie theaters and that satisfies me down to the ground. Each transfer is near meticulous some minor dirt on the photo chemical opticals for Star Trek The Motion Picture, but on the whole very, very satisfying. sonically you have not heard Trek like this either. A treat for the eyes & ears. Sell your DVD copies because this is quite honestly worth the asking price. Thanks Paramount. |
Finally! STAR TREK VI at 2.35:1 !!
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| Review Date: May 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: jrc, Jonesboro, AR USA |
To echo some others' thoughts here....great set, great value at Amazon's price. I've never seen these films look so good on home video. The Star Trek summit disc is a wonderful extra feature.
The best news of all: we can finally see STAR TREK VI as it was seen in theaters, at the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Previous video incarnations of this film were presented at around 1.85:1, including the SD DVD edition. Unlike the other films in the series, this title was shot in Super 35, which was basically a full-frame format. Prints could then be generated at any aspect ratio by cropping portions of the full frame. This provided a high fidelity image, shot with spherical lenses that allowed a greater depth of focus than with anamorphic (Panavision) lenses. In the old days, it was a great way to ensure that the film would also be compatable with home video's preferred 1.33:1 ratio. Most filmmakers shot with the "scope" aspect ratio of 2.35:1 in mind for their final product. STAR TREK VI was shown in theaters at 2.35:1 and was meant to be seen at that aspect ratio. Finally, Paramount got something right! |
This has been unfairly Pre-judged...
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| Review Date: May 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Steve DeVore, Forida, USA |
It's unfortunate there were so many bad reviews about this product perpetuated by people who haven't seen and don't own the product. How can you base a review of something on rumor? Yes, it's apparent in the last decade that the internet has given us access to more knowledge, but has done nothing to make us wiser.
For me, this set contains some of the best movies of the 80's. I did some research about the product before I bought it, weighed the bad reviews along with the good and decided to purchase this set anyway, not expecting too much from it.
When I sat down to watch, I was immediately pleasantly surprised with the amount of detail in the actors' faces, the colors which had been restored to a vibrancy unseen in past formats, and the thing that truly surprised me was how much better the special effects looked. For movies made in the 80's, the original special effects (which as far as I know remain unretouched) have an authenticity to them that really looks spectacular. I was expecting the opposite.
The 7.1 HD soundtrack is amazing as well as the cornucopia of special features. I was really happy with the presentation Paramount has provided with this set. These were movies that were fun to return to after so long...and to see them at their best quality in their original theatrical versions was a real treat.
Don't beleive the hate. Not sure what all the negative reviewers were expecting. But you can consider me a satisfied customer. |
Thoughts from an anal-retentive lover of Star Trek
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| Review Date: July 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Douglas Burkett, Central FL |
I can't possibly think of much more that can be added that hasn't been said but I will try. Some reviews are almost completely technical-oriented-ignoring what the everyday casual fan/viewer might think. Other reviews are based on what viewers 'think' movies on blu should look like (that they should be completely grain-free) and neglect the techincal aspects...I will try to bridge both together for this review/opinion.
First off, I think the quality of the packaging is very nice. Some people complain about the uniformality of the discs and while the on-screen menus on the discs are all similar they do show the individual title of each film on each disc. However, this is a boxed set so I like how the disc cases and the on-screen menus are uniform (and they don't look cheesy at all IMHO). There is a preview for the new 2009 'Star Trek' and for the TOS coming out on blu on each of the discs but I was able to bypass these right away with my menu buttons on my blu ray remote and go right to the menu.
As for the films themselves...
I am one of those people who grew up watching TOS re-runs on T.V. as a kid and fell in love. When the movies came out on VHS I bought them all, watched them constantly and memorized all the lines. When they came out on DVD I was there buying them all and then again when they had the Special Editions and Director's Cuts. Just as the DVD releases had their own problems, the positives far outweighed the negatives and this is exactly how I end up feeling toward this blu ray release of the first six Trek films.
Before getting too specific I will say that I have been through all six films and I found each to look much, much better than any previous version I have seen to this point. I'm not going to deny there may have been things done to the films to make them more enjoyable to the blu ray viewer who may be more interested in a clear, sleek looking picture, but when I put these discs in I was truly wowed...especially after what I have read in some of the reviews.
The first clarification I will make is that all of these films are shown in HD. Perhaps Paramount should have worded the packaging differently but by now most people understand that all of the films (except TWOK) have been transfered and remastered in HD. TWOK alone was restored and remastered (meaning they went back to do an entirely new transfer from a negative instead of using one that already existed). I could really delve into tech speak at this point in the whole process, but it's already been done so let's talk about how the movies look and sound.
TMP looks (and sounds) just incredible. The difference from the SE DVD to blu is drastic and looks far better than the SE DVD shown in upconverted format. I will admit it almost looks too clear and smooth for the purist (and I understand their complaint) but it's far better than any previous version I have ever seen; it's kind of an 8 steps forward 2 steps back kind of thing but overall I was amazed. As for the complaints about DNR on these films I am not saying it was not used, but as someone who has seen each of these films hundreds of times I found myself seeing far more detail and noticing far more new things and not once noticed anything that was lost as far as detail (and this goes for the entire six films in this set).
Because of the clarity and detail you do notice a lot more 'issues' in TMP that look bad or out of focus but this is the direction and photographic effects of the filming and not the transfer. In addition, some composite shots with special effects in them still look grainy due to the way these were filmed in those days but there isn't much that can be done without damaging the detail of the shot (which tells me they were thoughtful not to over use filters, DNR in the processing of the film for blu). One example in TMP is the scene in which the 'probe' from V'ger comes onto the Enterprise and ends up taking Lt. Ilia. The quality of this scene looks no better than what was on DVD but once the shot is over the amazing blu ray picture comes back once the effects shots are done. This is more distracting than before but all the other parts are so good I am not swayed otherwise.
The only real problem I have seen in TMP are tracking shots of the Enterprise leaving spacedock and a few other exterior shots of the ship-there are these odd, stationary black spots in the picture that look like they must be on the print as they are in the same place on the various 5 or 6 tracking shots of the ship in different places throughout the film.
Yes I understand why people might be mad the Director's Cut is not included, but personally I like the Theatrical version better-heck, I wish the extended cut was included on blu but we do at least get the deleted scenes from that cut on this disc. And, there is the issue of the resolution of the new effects that were added to the DC version not being suitable for blu.
I do wonder why the same people who refuse to purchase this set because they are irritated by the films not being an accurate, true representation as far as being accurate transfers go are not upset about the fact that both visual and audio special effects were cut and added to TMP when they released the Director's Cut. I find this contradictory to be so concerned about preserving the original film so perfectly but feeling it ok to add in special effects, cut scenes and change sound effects years later. All IMHO of course.
TWOK: The beginning of this film does look bad as some have said-it looks no better than an upconverted DVD for the first part of the film. After the first few minutes though the image becomes much better. There is grain throughout but it seems like a very 'natural' grain. I think this film best represents what the critics on both sides are complaining about: On one hand for the purist this is probably the best, truest transfer of the set with the least amount of DNR/filtering. However, to those who want the clear, grain-free picture this film probably looks the worst of the set (but still much better than any DVD versions). Detail and color are still far superior in every way. So the purists will wish all of the films looked like this one and all of those wanting grain-free images will want it the way TMP looks.
A quick mention about the hue/color timing of TWOK. This is a much 'cooler' look than previous DVDs but after watching TWOK and TSFS back-to-back I find the color hue and timing of TWOK to be much, much more consistant with that of TSFS so I was very pleased. I always thought the early DVD versions of TWOK were much warmer than I remembered the film being.
As for the remaining films I found them similar in quality...kind of between TMP and TWOK. They were not quite as clear as TMP but did not contain as much grain as TWOK. Again, composite shots with effects in them still have some grain and stand out, but every movie in the set is far superior visually to anything I have yet seen. I didn't notice enough difference between III, IV, V and VI other than that III seemed perhaps just a bit sharper than the rest and it was a pleasure to see planet Genesis come alive in sound, color and detail. Some have said that the shots of San Francisco in TVH didn't come alive as much as they had hoped but it was still far, far better than the most recent DVD and I would say was an easily discernable improvement.
The only other main issue I have read and seen is regarding some of the capture photos many have posted up on the web showing what looks to be waxy faces, heavy DNR and filters applied to shots. I have seen these shots and was actually worried and was second guessing buying this set. However, while watching the films I never noticed any scene looking as bad as any of the screen captures show. I'm not saying they are not real captures, but I was simply unable to pick this out or notice this during my viewing the film and I was looking for it in the spots/scenes I have seen these screen captures from. Perhaps on a very large screen it is noticible but on my 32" LCD I did not notice this (I am only about 5 feet away from the screen so I am still relatively close).
So, from someone who was very hesitant, without reservation I recommend this set. With the quality that I see in these films I was very happy (even excited) seeing and hearing each film. It's a pretty comprehensive set so I would not expect Paramount revisiting these on blu anytime soon. I do understand the complaints from the purists and I began watching these as a skeptic but I was unable to really pick out any noticable issues that have been brought up. Again, 8 steps forward for the detail and picture, 2 steps back for no Director's Cuts (when possible) and for the issues like the purists mention. Compared to the DVDs, this is still a 5-star product.
Hope this helps those sitting on the fence leaning one way or the other.
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