Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country



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


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Movie
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country brings us back to the final mission of the original voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Captain Kirk is called back out for one final voyage as he escorts a Klingon Ambassdor to a legendary treaty that will include their life long enemies into friends once and for all. Kirk’s (William Shatner) hatred for the race is still running high due to his son being killed by them kind of clouds his judgment, but he reluctantly allows the ambassador and his delegations on board nonetheless. However, things turn deadly when the Klingons return to their own ship and the Enterprise fires upon them without command, killing the Ambassador.

Stunned and shocked, Kirk, McCoy and Spock try to figure out what just happened, with Kirk realizing the gravitas of the situation and turns himself over to the Klingon authorities so as not to spoil the peace negotiations. Despite not pulling the trigger, the Klingons are out for blood and put McCoy and Kirk onto a penal colony for the rest of their lives. While Kirk and McCoy figure out a way to get off of the colony and figure out what’s going on, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and his soon to be replacement Lt Valeris (Kim Cattrall) run a methodical investigation on board the Enterprise to find out WHO framed them for murdering the Klingon ambassador.

It’s pretty obvious that someone set them up as no one on board seems to have authorized a firing of proton torpedoes, especially when they realize that even though the logs SAY that they fired, the munitions are all accounted for. The film splits off into two separate but conjoined storylines, with Kirk doing his Kirk method of escaping from trouble, and Spock leading a full fledged investigation into the source of the traitors, leading up to a conspiracy that stretches much further than anyone had ever thought possible. Up to and including an experimental Bird of Prey that is still lurking out there, and willing to destroy the Enterprise to cover up their misdeeds.

The Undiscovered Country is a fantastic bit of Trek lore, made all the better by the intense mystery aspect of the show with Spoke and Valeris. It doesn’t hurt that at this point EVERYONE and their mother wanted to be on Star Trek, so the movie is a revolving door of cameos and bit parts played by Christopher Plummer, Kim Cattrall, Christian Slater, David Warner, Michael Dorn (not as Worf, but as a Klingon), and even Kurtwood Smith (all I can see is Red Foreman when I see him anymore). Plummer is especially delightful as the Shakespeare quoting Klingon General and he makes for an exceptional villain.

The action is tight and well done, and the mystery investigation with Spock and Valeris makes the film so much deeper and more intense than a simple action movie. It’s longer, and the director’s cut is definitely the superior version of the film, and probably the single best sendoff that a crew could get (I still sob at the weak ending that Picard got with Star Trek: Nemesis). Easily the second best film of the entire original series film set right behind The Wrath of Khan.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

Much like The Final Frontier, The Undiscovered Country was NOT that great on the 2009 Blu-ray release. It was blown out, a bit soft, and generally not a great looking disc. This new 4K master (which is included on the Blu-ray that is part of the combo pack instead of recycling the 2009 disc) is really great. It breathes new life into the aging film, giving it a very filmic look that is unmarred by the excessive contrast boosting and DNR that the old waxy transfer suffered from. You can see everything with pinpoint clarity and the grain is even and incredibly textured. The HDR application really makes some of the skin tones and the blackness of space truly pop. There is the horrible purple CGI blood that will ALWAYS look crummy (1990s CGI for you) and the uniforms don’t exactly have that super rich “pop” to them, but it’s a much tighter and cleaner look considering how incredibly dim most of the film is. Black levels are spot on perfect almost, and the softness you see in older Trek films is not there this time. This is one of the best looking of all 6 films, and showcases how to make a dark film look great.








Audio:

I’m a broken record here, but you know the drill. All 6 of the original films (minus the newly minted Atmos track for The Motion Picture Director’s Edition) retain their original 7.1 Dolby TrueHD track from the 2009 release. Again, not a bad thing as the track is pretty impressive and agile for an aging 1990s film. The action against the Klingon Bird of Prey prototype fill the sound stage with visceral explosions, shattering LCAR panels, and deep bass response to accompany said explosions. Scenes like the Klingon trial center echo and shift voices around the room, and the rumbling clash of the stone gavel reverberates throughout the listening position. However, it’s never truly awe inspiring as there is a LOT of dialog heavy scenes that really don’t require much surround or bass at all, so it’s a bit of a give and take. All in all, a good track that has held up some 13 years later.









Extras:

4K UHD Disc
• Theatrical Cut Audio Commentary featuring Nicholas Meyer and Denny Martin Flinn
• Theatrical Cut Audio Commentary featuring Larry Nemecek and Ira Steven Behr
• Director’s Cut Text Commentary featuring Michael and Denise Okuda


Blu-ray Disc
• Audio Commentary by Nicholas Meyer and Denny Martin Flinn
• Audio Commentary by Larry Nemecek and Ira Steven Behr
• Library Computer
• The Perils of Peacemaking (SD 26:30)
• Stories from Star Trek VI
-- It Started with a Story (SD 9:46)
-- Prejudice (SD 5:02)
-- Director Nicholas Meyer (SD 5:57)
-- Shakespeare & General Chang (SD 5:53)
-- Bring It to Life (SD 23:26)
-- Farewell & Goodbye (SD 7:04)
• The Star Trek Universe
-- Conversations with Nicholas Meyer (SD 9:33)
-- Klingons: Conjuring the Legend (SD 20:43)
-- Federation Operatives (SD 4:53)
-- Penny’s Toy Box (SD 6:06)
-- Together Again (SD 4:56)
-- Tom Morga: Alien Stuntman (HD 4:57)
-- To Be or Not to Be: Klingons and Shakespeare (HD 23:04)
- Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 006: Praxis (HD 2:38)
• Farewell
-- DeForest Kelley: A Tribute (SD 13:19)
• Original Interviews
-- William Shatner (SD 5:05)
-- Leonard Nimoy (SD 6:26)
-- DeForest Kelley (SD 5:00)
-- James Doohan (SD 5:33)
-- Nichelle Nichols (SD 5:39)
-- George Takei (SD 5:28)
-- Walter Koenig (SD 5:28)
-- Iman (SD 5:04)
• Production Gallery (SD 3:24)
• Storyboards
-- Praxis
-- Assassins
-- Rura Penthe
-- Leaving Spacedock (Omitted)
• Promotional Materials
-- 1991 Convention Presentation by Nicholas Meyer (SD 4:43)
-- Teaser Trailer
-- Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is one of the best films of the entire original 6 film set, and is greatly enhanced by the smart writing from Nimoy (he does some of the best in the series) as well as Christopher Plummer hamming it up as the villainous Klingon general. It’s fun, exciting, brutal, and a blast to watch as we finalize the last of the Captain Kirk era of Star Trek and move on to Picard’s reign. The 4K UHD disc is lavishly packed with tons of extras, a fantastic new 4K remaster and is generally an all around safe bet for “GET THIS MOVIE!!” recommendation from yours truly.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Christian Slater, Christopher Plummer
Directed by: Nicholas Meyer
Written by: Gene Roddenberry (Based on), Leonard Nimoy, Lawrence Konner
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 German, Spanish, French, Japanese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 114 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 6th, 2022

Recommendation: Great Buy.