Trek movies on Blu-ray question

[David Brown]

Long time Trek fan, this is my first ever venture onto the bulletin boards. Bodly going...

Really quick question, I have all of the Trek movies on DVD. I'd like to upgrade them to Blu-ray.
For the 2009 movie and Into Darkness, I'm interested in the regular Blu-ray release (not the 3 disc version nor any 3D release). Did those standard releases have a slipcover over the case? Saw them at a local store without the slipcover and was just curious.

Thanks very much. Looks like I'll be picking up the 50th anniversary Blu-ray set as well. I wish Paramount would have gone the extra mile to give us the Theatrical, Special Longer Version and Director's cut of The Motion Picture and the Director's Cut of Wrath of Khan as well as it's theatrical version in the set. This seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to do something special (which I'm sure they'll make up for sometime down the road). Thanks! Live Long & Prosper.

 

[drt]

Long time Trek fan, this is my first ever venture onto the bulletin boards. Bodly going...

Really quick question, I have all of the Trek movies on DVD. I'd like to upgrade them to Blu-ray.
For the 2009 movie and Into Darkness, I'm interested in the regular Blu-ray release (not the 3 disc version nor any 3D release). Did those standard releases have a slipcover over the case? Saw them at a local store without the slipcover and was just curious.

For the new movies, I'd get the Compendium release, it has both movies and all of the special features, only $20 at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Compendium-Darkness-Blu-ray/dp/B00LCAD24S

 

[Campe]

For the 2009 movie and Into Darkness, I'm interested in the regular Blu-ray release (not the 3 disc version nor any 3D release). Did those standard releases have a slipcover over the case? Saw them at a local store without the slipcover and was just curious.

Agreed with @drt on the Compendium release. It's a beautiful little case and there are features on Into Darkness that are not included in the regular blu-ray set of that movie.

Looks like I'll be picking up the 50th anniversary Blu-ray set as well. I wish Paramount would have gone the extra mile to give us the Theatrical, Special Longer Version and Director's cut of The Motion Picture and the Director's Cut of Wrath of Khan as well as it's theatrical version in the set. This seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to do something special (which I'm sure they'll make up for sometime down the road). Thanks! Live Long & Prosper.

I'm hopeful that on the 40th anniversary of TMP in 2019, we'll see an updated set that has all of that. Hopefully in 4K! (We're upgrading to a 4K TV this fall and hope to have a 4K blu-ray player by the end of 2017 once prices settle a bit.)

 

[Shalashaska]

Whether or not you end up upgrading, make sure to hold on to your DVDs for at least IV, V and VI just in case. They look hideous on Blu-ray.

 

[Kor]

Releasing the TMP DE in a high definition format is problematic.

Kor

 

[BJ Wagner]

Releasing the TMP DE in a high definition format is problematic.

Kor

Agreed, but we can hope.

 

[David Brown]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe (just maybe) I'll upgrade the 2009 movie and Into Darkness to Blu-ray as a good starting point and hold off the others until they are possibly remastered and re-released? I've read about the difficulties in releasing that version, Kor.

I AM curious to see the theatrical version of The Motion Picture. I can't say with certainty I've ever seen it. I know I saw the Special Longer Version and I have the Director's Edition on DVD, but I'm really not sure if I ever saw the theaterical cut. If I have, I would have been young enough that I don't recall it. I'll have to remedy that somehow.

I just noticed my little avatar is a redshirt guy. That's great.

 

[Shalashaska]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe (just maybe) I'll upgrade the 2009 movie and Into Darkness to Blu-ray as a good starting point and hold off the others until they are possibly remastered and re-released? I've read about the difficulties in releasing that version, Kor.

I AM curious to see the theatrical version of The Motion Picture. I can't say with certainty I've ever seen it. I know I saw the Special Longer Version and I have the Director's Edition on DVD, but I'm really not sure if I ever saw the theaterical cut. If I have, I would have been young enough that I don't recall it. I'll have to remedy that somehow.

I just noticed my little avatar is a redshirt guy. That's great.

ST09 and STID wouldn't hurt a bit. They're some of the best-looking and sounding Blu-rays out there.

You also wouldn't regret upgrading to the new Director's Cut Wrath of Khan Blu-ray. Taken from a new 4K master under the supervision of Nicholas Meyer, it's a big improvement over the DVD and the original Blu-ray release.

The Motion Picture isn't the best-looking of the bunch, but it looks much better than all of the original cast films after II.

 

[BillJ]

Whether or not you end up upgrading, make sure to hold on to your DVDs for at least IV, V and VI just in case. They look hideous on Blu-ray.

Yet they still have much better picture quality than the DVD's.

 

[Shalashaska]

Yet they still have much better picture quality than the DVD's.

Resolution =/= picture quality.

Yes, they're higher resolution, that comes with the format, but the horrendous overuse of noise reduction and absence of grain makes the image look lifeless, smooth, flat and unnatural.

It depends what you're looking for, I never said the DVDs looked better, but I wouldn't give them up either way as some people much prefer their films to look like films and not oil paintings.

The majority of the Blu-rays were bad back in 2009, and they're especially bad in 2016.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Arguing for analog properties in a digital medium is ridiculous.

*It's about as silly as when people pay $30 for an LP pressed from a digital master.

 

[Kor]

I came across an LP from around the early days of CD that had a slip cover proudly proclaiming "CD quality!"

As for ST09 and ST:ID, another plus of the "Star Trek Compendium" blu ray set is that ST:ID has those fancy IMAX sequences with the image expanded to fill your 16:9 TV.

Kor

 

[Shalashaska]

Arguing for analog properties in a digital medium is ridiculous.

*It's about as silly as when people pay $30 for an LP pressed from a digital master.

I'm not sure if you know what you're talking about.

There's hundreds of Blu-rays out there with a natural film look and helping of grain. If the Star Trek Blu-rays are your standard-bearer for what an analogue film should look on digital media, I am so so sorry. Branch out more and you'll see the benefits of retaining much of the original presentation

 

[CorporalClegg]

If I wanted the look of film. I'd buy a projector and reels.

 

[Shalashaska]

If I wanted the look of film. I'd buy a projector and reels.

Have you even watched one Blu-ray?

Serious question.

 

[BJ Wagner]

It all depends on how you watch these films. Although not the best transfers by far, all 6 original movies offer higher dynamic range and lossless audio then their DVD counterparts. If you have a good home theatre to take advantage of it all, you'll probably notice a big enough improvement that it would justify the upgrade. If you watch the movies on a 40 inch TV 10 feet from the screen and using the tiny speakers built into it, the DVD's you have will be just fine.

I have a THX calibrated JVC projector and 118 inch screen in a dedicated home theatre. The projector produces a much more film-like look to Blu-rays. These moves look quite good on my system as it's very forgiving to things like heavy noise reduction. However on my 50 inch Sony LCD TV, the same Blu-rays look very digital and their weaknesses become much more clear.

 

[Shalashaska]

TNG on Blu-ray looks fantastic.

The films look terrible.

I don't see how that's being "ridiculous" at all.

 

[drt]

I think the bluray transfer of TMP looks pretty good, TVH is OK, it's TFF and TUC where they went overboard on the DNR (maybe they were originally shot on cheaper film stock so it was thought it needed additional cleaning up, or maybe they were trying to take a few years off of the actors).

 

[BillJ]

However on my 50 inch Sony LCD TV, the same Blu-rays look very digital and their weaknesses become much more clear.

Even on my 50" 4K TV, the Blu-ray's blow the DVD's out of the water. Just no comparison.

Plus, the Blu-ray of The Undiscovered Country is the only one to have the original aspect ratio, theater cut of the movie.

 

[David Brown]

Yes! My first post on the board and it's led to debate.
Seriously, thank you for the responses.

My own humble opinion is that I desire a Blu-ray to retain the look of the film as it appeared in the theater. If that's a 1982 movie shot on film stock, I understand that and want to retain that experience as much as possible. If it's a more recent special effects, sci-fi extravaganza shot digitally, I understand that may appear differently, but I still hope my home theater experience will duplicate that as much as possible.

I'm also a fan of the "other" big space sci fi series and I've been burned by it. I'm not going to get sucked in to buying multiple releases of the same movie over and over. I'll upgrade the format (as DVD to blu-ray), but I'm going to be judicious about re-purchasing movies I already own because there is a newer release.