Blu-Ray Review: See Origins of Kirk, Spock in ‘Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy’

CHICAGO – It’s a cliched line, but the Blu-Ray release of “Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy” has something for everyone. It’s a release that will satisfy a generation that grew up in the prime theatrical era of this franchise and give young viewers who fall in love wiht J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” more of their new favorite series of films.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Buyers unfamiliar with the history of the franchise would naturally assume that “Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy” consists of the first three films in the now-eleven film series. Nope. Paramount cuts out the first film, the mediocre “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and focuses on what is easily the most beloved sub-series in the entire theatrical run of the Enterprise - “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock,” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Trilogy will be released on Blu-Ray on May 12th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

It will make sense to anyone familiar with the films that these three sci-fi adventures make up the “Trilogy,” especially after seeing how much the new film focuses on the Kirk/Spock dynamic. The canon of that relationship was greatly influenced by these three successful ’80s films, three works that make up some of the best “Star Trek” films to date (to see where they rank in the entire series, check out “Not All Treks Are Created Equal”).

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Trilogy will be released on Blu-Ray on May 12th, 2009. Photo credit: Paramount

All three films have been remastered with brilliant picture and sound quality. Coming from someone who grew up watching these films, especially “Khan,” on small ’80s TV sets and VHS, the movies look amazingly new. When Paramount remasters, they do it very, very well.

The movies also include over 90 minutes of all-new special features plus over 6 hours of previously released content (the formerly available content is in standard definition). The set also includes new interactive content exclusive to Blu-Ray - “Library Computer: Interactive playback mode displays information on the characters, ships and planets that appear on-screen” and “Star Trek I.Q.(BD-Live): Test your Star Trek I.Q. with custom trivia games.”

With the new picture/sound quality and the great “Library Computer” feature, along with all the old bonus content, there’s only reason that fans of these movies or the new one shouldn’t pick up this set and that’s if they’re going to go all the way and buy the six-film Blu-Ray set that also includes “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”. Sadly, that version was not available for review.

All three discs include over 2 hours of previously released content along with “Library Computer” and “Star Trek I.Q.”.

The new special features on “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” include a commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and Manny Coto, “James Horner: Composing Genesis,” “Collecting Star Trek’s Movie Relics,” “A Tribute to Ricardo Montalban,” and “Starfleet Academy: The Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI”.

The new special features on “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock” include a commentary by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor, “Industrial Light & Magic: Visual Effectsm,” “Spock: The Early Years,” “Star Trek and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame,” and “Starfleet Academy: The Vulcan Katra Transfer”.

The new special features on “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” include a commentary by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (writers of the new “Trek” film), “Pavel Chekov’s Screen Moments,” “The Three-Picture Saga,” “Star Trek for a Cause,” and “Starfleet Academy: The Whale Probe”.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com