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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH
OF KHAN
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This DVD review 
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DVD
reviews are Copyright © 2002 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
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After
having released almost all the STAR TREK films as movie only editions
on DVD, and in inverse order nonetheless, I am glad to see that Paramount
is moving forward with the franchise by revisiting the films as special
editions. Of the STAR TREK movies featuring the original cast,
the even numbered movies are certainly the best, which may be the result
of writer/director Nicholas Meyer polishing those particular screenplays.
The Meyer influenced films certainly have the best dialogue of all the
films that featured the original cast, especially numbers II and VI, both
of which Meyer also directed. I also have to credit Meyer's dialogue on
those films for bringing to life the kind of adversaries worthy of going
head to head with James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise. These
unforgettable villains truly helped make STAR TREK II and STAR
TREK VI stand out from the rest of the pack.
As
I've stated STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN ($25) is certainly
the best of the STAR TREK movies, and it is the strength of this
film that guaranteed that there would be future cinematic voyages of the
Starship Enterprise. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN is a direct
sequel to the SPACE SEED episode from the original series, although
Meyer throws in more than a few references to Moby Dick. After fifteen
years of exile on Ceti Alpha V, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban)
is able to hijack a starship and sets off on a mad quest of revenge against
James T. Kirk (William Shatner)- the man who left him and his followers
marooned all those years ago. When Khan finds Admiral Kirk, he is in command
of the Enterprise, which is on a training mission with a crew of green
cadets and is ill prepared to go into battle with another starship- let
alone one captained by an obsessed madman.
STAR
TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN features
the grandest space battles in the history of the film franchise and the
finest acting of all the films that featured the original cast. As Khan,
Montalban is the greatest of STAR TREK villains; bringing the right
quality of madness and genius to the genetically enhanced superman, who
pursues Kirk with the dogged determination of Captain Ahab in his quest
for the great white whale. Montalban also has a knack for having the character's
wonderfully florid dialogue roll off his tongue with absolutely no effort-
making for one unforgettable quotable line after another. Shatner also
does his finest work in STAR TREK II; his performance is his most
naturalistic and poignant, especially as the film comes to its climax.
Leonard Nimoy also manages his finest performance as Spock, walking a
very fine line in which the non-emotional Vulcan is the focal point for
the most emotional scene in the movie.
The
Director's Edition of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN restores
roughly three minutes of footage to the movie, which helps flesh out the
characters even further and clarifies a plot point that has left quite
a few audience members scratching their heads for two decades. None of
the major plot points are changed by the restored footage, but STAR
TREK II becomes a slightly stronger movie in its Director's Edition
form. The cast of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN features series
regulars DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle
Nichols, John Winston, as well as, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfield,
Kirstie Alley, Ike Eisenmann and Judson Earney Scott.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made the Director's Edition STAR TREK II: THE
WRATH OF KHAN available on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation
that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 displays. In terms of
video quality, this edition offers modest improvements over the previous
movie only DVD, which had been the best-looking edition of STAR TREK
II. The image is almost always very crisp and very nicely detailed.
Occasional shots appear slightly soft, but that is attributable to original
lighting and photographic factors, not a weakness in the transfer.
Color
reproduction is the area where this DVD offers noticeable improvements
over the previous DVD. All hues appear a bit more natural, as do the flesh
tones, which are decidedly realistic and appealing. Reds are strong component
of the film's color palette, and while the first DVD edition offered a
marked improvement over the wildly unstable Laserdisc and VHS editions
of the film, this DVD cleans up the reds ever further, reproducing them
with greater clarity and stability. Blacks appear solid and inky, whites
are clean and contrast is very smooth. Film stocks from early eighties
didn't have the sensitivity of those in use today, so the level of shadow
detail isn't quite as good as a new film. I should also note that some
of the darker shots appear just a bit flat, although better-lit sequences
have a very nice sense of dimension. The film element used for the transfer
displays very few blemishes; although a bit of noticeable grain does creep
into picture from time to time. Digital compression artifacts are very
well camouflaged on the dual layer DVD.
STAR
TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN features
the same Dolby Digital 5.1 channel remix that was featured on the previous
DVD release, with the restored sequences being the only difference in
the soundtrack. This is a pretty good remix of twenty-year-old material,
but there are limitations in the recordings that keep this from sounding
like a new film. Directional sound effects seem to be limited primarily
to the battle sequences, but the mix does offer a whole lot of punch during
these key moments. The forward soundstage is where most of the activity
lays, with the surround channels adding ambience, engine noise and musical
fill. Speaking of music, James Horner's fine score sounds cleaner and
more detailed in this remix than it ever did in its matrixed incarnation.
Dialogue is always completely intelligible, although anything looped after
the fact sounds a little unnatural. The bass channel is solid and enhances
the battle sequences, although it never enters planet-shaking territory.
English and French Dolby Surround soundtracks are also encoded onto the
DVD, as are English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD's nicely designed interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a solid supplemental section. Most of the
supplements are contained on a second DVD, but disc one of the set does
offer some goodies. Director Nicholas Meyer is featured on a running audio
commentary, which proves to be as entertaining as it is informative. Disc
one also features a text commentary on a subtitle track by Michael Okuda,
co-author of The Star Trek Encyclopedia. The text commentary
is great, offering everything you wanted to know about STAR TREK II
and related aspects of the Trek universe.
Moving
on to disc two, we find The Captain's Log. Running approximately
twenty-seven minutes, the program is comprised of new interview footage
with Nicholas Meyer, producer Harve Bennett, William Shatner, Leonard
Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban. The interviews are interesting and give insight
into the people who made STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN the great
movie that it is, as well as how the project developed. Next up, is Designing
Khan, a twenty-three minute program that features production designer
Joe Jennings and costume designer Robert Fletcher discuss their collaboration
with Nicholas Meyer to achieve the overall look of STAR TREK II.
Original Interviews is an eleven-minute blast from the past,
featuring interview footage with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest
Kelley and Ricardo Montalban from 1982.
Where
No Man Has Gone Before: The Visual Effects of Star Trek II
runs approximately eighteen minutes and features storyboards, photos,
incomplete effects and interview footage with members of the Industrial
Light and Magic team, who discuss how the effects for the movie were achieved-
including the use of cutting edge CGI for Genesis Project demonstration.
The Star Trek Universe is a twenty-nine-minute program that
features interviews with Star Trek fans and authors Greg Cox and Julia
Ecklar, who have created novels around the Kobayashi Maru scenario, as
well as the life of Khan Noonien Singh. Storyboard Archives
is an extensive stills gallery that covers thirteen individual sequences
in the film. Closing things out is the film's original theatrical trailer.
STAR
TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN is one
of the best, if not the best movie to feature the original cast. Paramount
Home Entertainment has done a marvelous job with the Director's Edition
release by giving fans a longer version of the movie, a better looking
presentation, plus the ton of supplements that they have been clamoring
for. If you are a Trek fan, you must own the Director's Edition of STAR
TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN on DVD- this is a truly great disc.
