Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I was a bit puzzled by Paramount last year. they releases the first 4 films on 4K UHD in a box set (and separately), but left the Director's Cut of the Motion Picture out, as well as V and VI. Well, Paramount has gone back and done what they should have done last year (my only guess is work on the masters needed some extra fine turning, or something of that nature) and releases Star Trek: The Motion Pictuer Collector's Edition as well las Star Trek V and Star Trek VI as singles to round out the series. ALSO they have included a complete boxset of all six films (my opinion iis that this should have been done from the get go) as one big bite. As much as the OCD nature of my collecting really wishes we could have had a boxset from the beginning, I'm certainly happy to see that Paramount has finally completed the series (now lets see if we can get the Picard films in 4K next).

I hate to say it, but The Motion Picture just isn’t THAT good. Yes, it is one of the seminal sci-fi movies of all times as it bridge the gap between the 60s TV show and the 1970s big blockbuster arena, AND it kick started one of the most massive sci-fi film franchises of all times….but the movie isn’t that good. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was one of the last highly publicized sci-fi movies of the 1970s, reaching a global audience of 1.2 BILLION viewers, and was considered a commercial success. However, it is also the driest of the series, playing out more like 2001: A Space Odyssey rather than a blockbuster film.

The film opens up with now Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) coming back to the Enterprise after several years of leaving the captain’s chair behind. It seems a mysterious cloud has come out of space and destroyed several Klingon vessels, and federation vessels, and is on a crash course for Earth. Pulling some strings to get back in space, Kirk takes command of the Enterprise and heads out to find out what is really going on before it’s too late.

Captain Decker (Stephen Collins, who is most famous as the dad on 7th Heaven) has been supplanted by Kirk and is none too happy, but he agrees to assist the aging Admiral in their mission. However, things go awry when they actually MEET the ship face to face and find an artificial intelligence that takes over one of the crew members. It seems the ship is named Vger, and has a mission to find it’s creators. A mission that very well may bring humanity back in touch with it’s own past.

I used to joke that The Motion Picture has to be included in any Star Trek boxset simply due to the fact that no one would buy it if it was released on it’s own. All joking aside, the film is a bit dry and plays more like a spectacle rather than a movie. By that I mean we get to see gigantic sweeping space shots and minutes upon minutes of the ship traveling in space, or Decker dealing with Vger in order to showcase the technical prowess of the movie. Especially after Star Wars dazzled audiences 2 years prior. The director's cut isn't going to save the movie from being the dullest of the original 6 films (even though V is pretty terrible, it's at least not BORING), but it is the better version of the film, and the most highly sought after version by fans. The Director's Edition changes the VFX of V'ger a bit, giving it a more alien and lifelike appearance than what was available in 1979. It's alo paced a bit better than the theatrical cut (even though the film is barely 4 minutes longer). There are several character based scenes (such as Spock crying for V'ger, or Kirk telling Scotty to prepare for self distruct), and generally feels all around more satisfying of a viewing. Again, this isn't going to blow you away and turn it into a completely different film, but the Director's Edition IS distinctly more entertaining to watch.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

The master for the Director's Edition stems from the same master used for last year's theatrical release, so my comments about the picture quality will largely stay the same. The 4K UHD disc is a massive improvement over the edge enhanced Blu-ray disc we’ve used for years. It’s a very nice uptick in clarity and detail levels, despite the grainy source material. Edge enhancement and banding are all but eliminated, and except for some of the weird optical effects that were used back then (one major one is where everything in the foreground is sharp and clear, and everything in the background was blurred), or the obvious lines from the special effects (again, simple source related issues that can’t be undone) it is one incredible looking image. The HDR is judiciously applied here, ramping up the mild colors on the ship, or the bright blue of Vger and the bursts of lightning. The uniforms and ship wide backdrops aren’t the best for colors, but this film is rich and vibrant with what colors it does show, as well as the absolutely stunning black levels. My only complaint is that some of the newer footage looks a bit more worse for wear than the theatrcial image. In that respect I'd have to knock half a star off from my theatrical review, but it was a really tough call as both are extremely similar.








Audio:

I originally wrote in my review of the theatrical cut last year that I was kind of glad that they didn’t upgrade the audio to Atmos but left it the same 7.1 Dolby TrueHD track from the Blu-ray set due to Atmos being overkill. I kind of have to eat my words as the director’s cut is home to a fantastic Atmos track that really makes me eat some crow. Now, it’s not going to blow the 7.1 mix out of the water, but the new Atmos track (the only Atmos track out of all the 4K UHD disc for the 6 films) is richer, fuller, and more vibrant in ways I didn’t think was possible. The track is light and airy, dancing around the sound stage with beeps, boops, and rumblesl from V’gers motions. Overheads are actually utilized quite nicely with V’ger, and there are a few discrete sound effects from the Enterprise that keep them utilized here and there. Bass is tight and powerful, and overall this is just an incredibly immersive version of the 7.1 mix. So once again, have to eat a little crow from last year’s comment about Atmos not being necessary.









Extras:

4K UHD
• NEW Audio Commentary with David C. Fein, Mike Matessino, and Daren R. Dochterman
• Audio Commentary by Robert Wise, Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, Jerry Goldsmith, and Stephen Collins
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda


Blu-ray Special Features
• NEW The Human Adventure—An all-new 8-part documentary detailing how the Director's Edition came to life
-- Preparing the Future – How the remastering began
-- A Wise Choice – The storied history of Robert Wise
-- Refitting the Enterprise – How the Enterprise design shaped future federation starships
-- Sounding Off – Exploring new dimensions of sound in Dolby Atmos
-- V'ger - The conception and restoration of an iconic alien antagonist
-- Return to Tomorrow – Reaching an already high bar with new CGI effects
-- A Grand Theme – Behind the iconic, influential music score that shaped the franchise's future
-- The Grand Vision – The legacy and evolving reputation of this classic movie
• NEW Deleted Scenes
• NEW Effects Tests
• NEW Costume Tests
• NEW Computer Display Graphics

Legacy Features
• The Star Trek Universe
• Storyboards
• Additional Scenes 1979 Theatrical Version
• Deleted Scenes 1983 TV Version
• Trailers
• TV Spots

Final Score: ​

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a fun, if not slightly dry, character driven Science Fiction film, and the progenitor to all the films that come after it. The Director's Edition is a fan favorite version for a reason, as it is easily the superior version of the film. It's nice to see it released in a single set as well as the massive "box-o-swag" edition that comes with the newly remastered Blu-ray version as well (this version was 4K UHD and Special Features Disc only). A classic film that has highly polarized audiences over the years as to whether it is up to being Star Trek, or simply an effort for Paramount to have their own Star Wars: A New Hope.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Majel Barrett, James Doohan, Stephen Collins
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Gene Roddenberry (Based on), Harold Livingston (Screenplay), Alan Dead Foster (Story)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core) German DD TrueHD 2.0, French DD 2.1, Japanese DD 5.1, Music DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 136 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 6th, 2022

Recommendation: Recommended Watch