Star Trek – The Original Motion Picture Collection (Paramount Blu-ray)
Picture:
B (B- on III & V)/Sound: B/Extras: B/Films:
Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) B-
Star Trek II – The Wrath Of Khan (1982) B+
Star Trek III – The Search For
Spock (1984) B-
Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home (1987) B
Star Trek V – The Final Frontier (1989) B-
Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered
Country (1991) B
After an
animated series revival that was a success cut short and Philip Kaufmann
feature film ironically cancelled just before the original 1977 Star Wars was huge hit, Paramount
finally got the original live-action crew of the 1960s Star Trek TV show into a feature film series. Though the 1979 film made money, it was a
critical and fan flop, hurting the franchise and it is only because of Wrath Of Khan that a series emerged at
all. The original cast lasted six
feature films, all collected on Blu-ray for the first time in Star Trek – The Original Motion Picture
Collection.
Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) was under the creative
control of Gene Roddenberry and directed by a Robert Wise whose directorial
powers had weakened, but the studio put up much money for a film that was less
colorful (all the shades of grey emphasized by the new wardrobes) and the
result was more a recycling of 2001: A
Space Odyssey on a pedestrian level than anything groundbreaking or
innovative. Roddenberry slowly lost
control of the franchise after this in a way that would almost kill it until
the 2009 revival prequel film that finally pulled it out of its boring, military
porn state.
The film
has some great set design, a look all of its own, is shot to be a very big
screen film and thought it could be the smart Star Wars as much as the James Bond film Moonraker (the same year) was trying to be the most extravagant
space action film around. Both did big
business, but did not keep most audiences happy. In the case of this first Trek film, fans who disliked it dubbed
it “Star Trek – The Motion Sickness”
for its relentless use of optical warp effects without a story to back it
up. This “trippy” gimmick was is even a
problem for Disney The Black Hole (also
the same year) but that was not as monotonous in that respect. However, this is how Hollywood tried to catch
up to George Lucas and these films are the evidence.
The
original Enterprise crew is reunited to stop an unstoppable force that is
unknown and only their science and experience has a chance to stop. The story winds-up being a disappointment
when we find out what “it” is, but Persis Khambatta steals the show as the
in-love crew member who is killed and has her body taken over as a rebuilt
sentient being that communicated with the rest of the crew. She is underrated here, totally convincing
and one of the reasons to still see the film. Of course, to see the cast together again is a
plus and it looks like they are truly happy to be together. Even with its flaws, it is ambitious, the
money is on the screen, the studio was serious about backing it and its pluses
out-weight its negatives.
Star Trek II – The Wrath Of Khan (1982) is the best film in the
series without a doubt, delivering the kind of raw fun space opera even Star Wars could not as Kirk’s old enemy
Khan (Ricardo Montalban, reprising his role from the “Space Seed” episode of the original show in a really great
performance) happens to resurface by chance when Chekov (Walter Koenig) and
Capt. Terrell (Paul Winfield) accidentally land on the wrong planet. Taking over their Starship, they find
Enterprise and the battle begins. By
this time, the original cast is at full speed with their chemistry and the film
everyone had hoped for in the first place finally materialized. Despite a few aspects of the film dating, the
core holds up extremely well, from the shoot to the production design, the nice
new costumes and suspenseful, smart screenplay.
Merritt
Butrick is underrated as Kirk’s son, while Kristie Alley gives what is still
her best performance ever as the original Lt. Saavik. The flow of the editing, the energy of the
whole film and best directing co-writer Nicholas Meyer ever did remains a high
watermark for him and all involved.
Shatner also proves even he can act when challenged and given good
material. Note that this is not the
director’s cut version.
Star Trek III – The Search For
Spock (1984) is a
sequel that simply wraps up the previous film’s storyline, includes Christopher
Lloyd as a none-too-memorable villain, but it is still a watchable film though
you should really see Khan first or this will not play as well by any means. It was safe enough for Leonard Nimoy to take
over as director, which turned out to be part of the deal and gave him a brief
cycle of directing success inside and outside of the series. Harve Bennett’s script hits all the expected
notes and Robin Curtis replaces Kristie Alley as Lt. Saavik doing her best, but
the feeling was Alley was expected to continue in the role and be a permanent
new Enterprise crew member. That was not
to be.
Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home (1987) is the grossly underrated comic
Trek that upset some fans, but was
the first to suggest some fans need to take the franchise in moderation when it
comes to being serious about it.
Ironically, the new sequel TV shows would take themselves more seriously
than anything that had been seen with the original cast, giving this film a
whole new value. Often known as the Trek
film “with the whales”, it was not always technically accurate when it came to
the history of the franchise or loaded with much science or action, but it was
a hit and Nimoy proved his handling of the last film was no fluke. Catherine Hicks’ performance is a comic gem
and is a one of a kind Trek the new
cycle of pretension will never allow to happen again.
NOTE:
Films 2 – 4 have been issued on Blu-ray as a trilogy.
Star Trek V – The Final Frontier (1989) was a bomb on arrival, but
time and some revisionist thinking that has just started up is finally giving
the film its due for what did work.
William Shatner actually directed, later complaining he did not have
enough money to do the film and that still shows. Recycling some of the first films mistakes,
the real reason to see the film is over interactions with the original
cast. Because it is not as big a
production, they are more laid back and that plays well in ways no one gave it
credit for then. No, it has not dated
well, but seeing the cast together in ways that work (even when the film does
not) has appreciated in value and it is worth a new look.
Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered
Country (1991)
was previously reviewed on the site in its DTS DVD set and you can read more
about the film at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/714/Star+Trek+VI+-+The+Undiscovered
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 image on all 6 films disappoint in one way or another. All have softness and grain issues, plus the
optical visual effects have extra grain.
Some of this can be fixed in a lab.
Other issues have to do with what looks like older HD transfers for
cable. The smearing and softness on III and IV in particular are terrible and will make some fans mad. II
would probably look better if these were the longer prints. All were shot in real anamorphic Panavision
except VI, which was Super 35mm, but
all were intended for 70mm blow-up prints and there is no excuse for this
material to look this bad and what you see here would have never been used for
a 70mm blow-up.
As for
the camera work, Wise reteamed on the first film with Richard H. Klein, who
previously teamed up on The Andromeda
Strain (1971) and Soylent Green
(1973), explaining why this worked because those films are among the best they
ever did. Meyer had large-frame format
specialist Gayne Rescher on II with
spectacular results, then Hiro Narita (The
Arrival, The Rocketeer) on VI
with decent results as well. Nimoy
turned to Charles Correll (Animal House)
on III and Donald Peterman (Flashdance,
Men In Black) for IV and gained fine
results in both cases. That leaves
Shatner with Andrew Laszlo (The Owl
& The Pussycat, First Blood,
Remo Williams) saving his film from
being worse. All of them deserve better
transfers of their Director of Photography work.
The Dolby
TrueHD 7.1 sound upgrades might be overdoing it a bit and though new sounds
were not added as they were too often on the James Bond restorations, the first
five films originally had 4.1 Dolby mixes intended for 70mm blow-ups, with IV
and V having the added advantage of analog Spectral Recording noise reduction,
while VI was a 5.1 70mm blow-up film that also was a nearly demo for Dolby
Digital 5.1 in some cases. The sound is
more consistent throughout across the Blu-rays, but having 7.1 tracks shows how
much more dated dialogue and some sound effects are to the disadvantage of the
films. However, other sound effects are
fine and the music scores usually benefit.
Jerry Goldsmith scored the first film, the new theme song was recycled
for The Next Generation then he
returned for IV& V, while James Horner’s music for II
was a career breakthrough for him, so he did III as well, leaving Cliff Eidelman doing what remains the best
work of his career on VI.
Extras
are many and the set adds a 7th Blu-ray with interviews of the
captains throughout the franchise to tie the set with other films and TV
series, while all the Blu-rays of the films add BD Live interactive features,
audio commentaries by scholars and those involved in the making of the films
and at least three new HD featurettes on each film. Montalban gets attribute piece on II and all
are decent, though II and IV could have even had more and they are loaded. That might maker fans happy, but the film
playback is a major issue, so only serious fans should apply.
For more Trek, try these links:
Season One Original Series Blu-ray
Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8530/Star+Trek+%E2%80%93+The+Origin
The Animated Series DVD Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4713/Star+Trek+%E2%80%93+The+Anim
- Nicholas Sheffo
