Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (Star Trek I, II, III, IV, V, VI + The Captain's Summit Bonus Disc) [Blu-ray]

Description

Product Description Prepare to boldly go where no man has gone before with the Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, an action-packed box set featuring the six films in their original theatrical versions starring the U.S.S. Enterprise's legendary crew. The films have been digitally remastered and The Wrath of Khan has been fully restored in high definition with brilliant picture quality and 7.1 Dolby TrueHD. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek: The Search for Spock (1984) Star Trek: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989) Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991) desertcart.com Star Trek I : The Original Motion PictureBack when the first Star Trek feature was released in December 1979, the Trek franchise was still relatively modest, consisting of the original TV series, an animated cartoon series from 1973-74, and a burgeoning fan network around the world. Series creator Gene Roddenberry had conceived a second TV series, but after the success of Star Wars the project was upgraded into this lavish feature film, which reunited the original series cast aboard a beautifully redesigned starship U.S.S. Enterprise. Under the direction of Robert Wise (best known for West Side Story), the film proved to be a mixed blessing for Trek fans, who heatedly debated its merits; but it was, of course, a phenomenal hit. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) leads his crew into the vast structures surrounding V'Ger, an all-powerful being that is cutting a destructive course through Starfleet space. With his new First Officer (Stephen Collins), the bald and beautiful Lieutenant Ilia (played by the late Persis Khambatta) and his returning veteran crew, Kirk must decipher the secret of V'Ger's true purpose and restore the safety of the galaxy. The story is rather overblown and derivative of plots from the original series, and avid Trekkies greeted the film's bland costumes with derisive laughter. But as a feast for the eyes, this is an adventure worthy of big-screen trekkin'. Douglas Trumbull's visual effects are astonishing, and Jerry Goldmith's score is regarded as one of the prolific composer's very best (with its main theme later used for Star Trek: The Next Generation). And, fortunately for Star Trek fans, the expanded 143-minute version (originally shown for the film's network TV premiere) is generally considered an improvement over the original theatrical release. --Jeff ShannonStar Trek II :The Wrath of KhanAlthough Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a box-office hit, it was by no means a unanimous success with Star Trek fans, who responded much more favorably to the "classic Trek" scenario of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Inspired by the "Space Seed" episode of the original TV series, the film reunites newly promoted Admiral Kirk with his nemesis from the earlier episode--the genetically superior Khan (Ricardo Montalban)--who is now seeking revenge upon Kirk for having been imprisoned on a desolated planet. Their battle ensues over control of the Genesis device, a top-secret Starfleet project enabling entire planets to be transformed into life-supporting worlds, pioneered by the mother (Bibi Besch) of Kirk's estranged and now-adult son. While Mr. Spock mentors the young Vulcan Lt. Saavik (then-newcomer Kirstie Alley), Kirk must battle Khan to the bitter end, through a climactic starship chase and an unexpected crisis that will cost the life of Kirk's closest friend. This was the kind of character-based Trek that fans were waiting for, boosted by spectacular special effects, a great villain (thanks to Montalban's splendidly melodramatic performance), and a deft combination of humor, excitement, and wondrous imagination. Director Nicholas Meyer (who would play a substantial role in the success of future Trek features) handles the film as a combination of Moby Dick, Shakespearean tragedy, World War II submarine thriller, and dazzling science fiction, setting the successful tone for the Trek films that followed. --Jeff ShannonStar Trek III : The Search for Spock You didn't think Mr. Spock was really dead, did you? When Spock's casket landed on the surface of the Genesis planet at the end of Star Trek II, we had already been told that Genesis had the power to bring "life from lifelessness." So it's no surprise that this energetic but somewhat hokey sequel gives Spock a new lease on life, beginning with his rebirth and rapid growth as the Genesis planet literally shakes itself apart in a series of tumultuous geological spasms. As Kirk is getting to know his estranged son (Merritt Butrick), he must also do battle with the fiendish Klingon Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), who is determined to seize the power of Genesis from the Federation. Meanwhile, the regenerated Spock returns to his home planet, and Star Trek III gains considerable interest by exploring the ceremonial (and, of course, highly logical) traditions of Vulcan society. The movie's a minor disappointment compared to Star Trek II, but it's a--well, logical--sequel that successfully restores Spock (and first-time film director Leonard Nimoy) to the phenomenal Trek franchise...as if he were ever really gone. With Kirk's willful destruction of the U.S.S. Enterprise and Robin Curtis replacing the departing Kirstie Alley as Vulcan Lt. Saavik, this was clearly a transitional film in the series, clearing the way for the highly popular Star Trek IV. --Jeff ShannonStar Trek IV : The Voyage Home Jumping on to the end-of-the-century bandwagon a little early, Paramount Pictures released 10 of their top films in one 10-pack, the Millennium Collection, in 1998. All the films are presented in their widescreen editions; one, Breakfast at Tiffany's, is offered in this format for the first time. The set includes 5 Best Picture Oscar winners and films that took home an additional 33 Academy Awards. All the tapes are available to buy individually. The pack, with a handsome mosaic of faces from the movies, also features collector gift cards (a movie version of baseball cards) and a commemorative booklet detailing the productions of all 10 films. The collection is oddly weighted toward the last 25 years, offering only one film from the 1950s and one from the 1960s. Your taste in current cinema will define the value of the set. Besides Tiffany's, one of Audrey Hepburn's finest films, the collection contains: The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston, Grease with John Travolta, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and The Godfather, the funny, whale-saving Star Trek IV--The Voyage Home, Tom Cruise's hit Top Gun, the smash hit Ghost with Demi Moore, Mel Gibson's Celt fest Braveheart, and Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks. --Doug ThomasStar Trek V :The Final FrontierMovie critic Roger Ebert summed it up very succinctly: "Of all of the Star Trek movies, this is the worst." Subsequent films in the popular series have done nothing to disprove this opinion; we can be grateful that they've all been significantly better since this film was released in 1989. After Leonard Nimoy scored hits with Star Trek III and IV, William Shatner used his contractual clout (and bruised ego) to assume directorial duties on this mission, in which a rebellious Vulcan (Laurence Luckinbill) kidnaps Federation officials in his overzealous quest for the supreme source of creation. That's right, you heard it correctly: Star Trek V is about a crazy Vulcan's search for God. By the time Kirk, Spock, and their Federation cohorts are taken to the Great Barrier of the galaxy, this journey to "the final future" has gone from an embarrassing prologue to an absurd conclusion, with a lot of creaky plotting in between. Of course, die-hard Trekkies will still allow this movie into their video collections; but they'll only watch it when nobody else is looking. After this humbling experience, Shatner wisely relinquished the director's chair to Star Trek II's Nicholas Meyer. --Jeff ShannonStar Trek VI : The Undiscovered CountryStar Trek V left us nowhere to go but up, and with the return of Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI restored the movie series to its classic blend of space opera, intelligent plotting, and engaging interaction of stalwart heroes and menacing villains. Borrowing its subtitle (and several lines of dialogue) from Shakespeare, the movie finds Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and his fellow Enterprise crew members on a diplomatic mission to negotiate peace with the revered Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner). When the high-ranking Klingon and several officers are ruthlessly murdered, blame is placed on Kirk, whose subsequent investigation uncovers an assassination plot masterminded by the nefarious Klingon General Chang (Christopher Plummer) in an effort to disrupt a historic peace summit. As this political plot unfolds, Star Trek VI takes on a sharp-edged tone, with Kirk and Spock confronting their opposing views of diplomacy, and testing their bonds of loyalty when a Vulcan officer is revealed to be a traitor. With a dramatic depth befitting what was to be the final movie mission of the original Star Trek crew, this film took the veteran cast out in respectably high style. With the torch being passed to the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation, only Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov would return, however briefly, in Star Trek: Generations. --Jeff Shannon Review: Still a Trekkie and they were in perfect condition! - If you are a Trekkie you will love these DVD’s. I bought a Blue-Ray and play my DVD’s on it and they look awesome! They are awesome on it! The DVD’s were perfect! Review: Blu-Ray - so far, so good. Theatrical Releases. - Just got started with this set. Decided to start in the middle, and will have to get to all of them soon. I'm perfectly fine with the fact that these are all supposed to be the theatrical versions. I like some of the little changes on the previous home releases of these movies, but it's kind of nice to see them make these available in their "original" form. I'm sure that if they didn't, some would surely complain, and it'd be kind of sad. Think about it - the real original Star Wars movies (4-6) are only available on a badly transferred, letterboxed-inside-4:3-Standard-def-DVD, as a bonus disc, on out of print DVDs (circa 2006, which, I do own). These Star Trek movies are high quality, high definition transfers of 6 classic movies, as they were, "warts and all," and I'm fine with that. Maybe someday, they'll put out a set with "directors cuts" etc, and sure, I do see the point some have made about "why couldn't they have just done seamless branching" - but - this is still really nice to have the best qualtiy copies of these movies, using as much of a disc as they can, even with a few extras on each one. Nice set. Well done. Not overdone. Nice simple menus, though I don't understand the promo for the 11th movie on these in the beginning. It's a box set. If anything, they should've put that on the bonus disc, as a bonus trailer or something. No reason for it to be on the main discs. Kind of cheesy. Kind of lame. It's not like most fans haven't heard of this, or wouldn't go see it. Then again, I suppose it doesn't really hurt anything. I do have an individual blu-ray of IV, so I'll have to see if it's also on that too. At least it's not taking up too much space. Transfer seems nice on III so far. I'm sure the others also look great. Pretty cool to have a good box set of all of these on blu-ray. Checked one extra on III before starting the movie, and it was really cool to see and hear the stories from some of the folks who worked on these movies. Digital effects are neat at times, sure, but these guys really made some great things happen with the tech they had to work with. Real models and effects are still great. No matter how great computer graphics get, and no matter how cool some of it really is, the capture of something really tactile and really reacting is ...well... more real... These folks also have another great point - they had a lot of fun doing a lot of this work, and I can really respect the work they did to bring us their efforts. All in all, this is a good set. If you already have a DVD set, it might not interest you that much. If you don't care about the theatrical versions, it might not matter to you. To me, it just seemed like a fair deal to finally get this collection, and as a long time fan, I am not in the least bit disappointed. I am quite happy to have this set, and to be able to enjoy these classic films once again.