Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection comparison *PIX* + reviews - Page 44

Oddly, I didn't mind that at all. Both versions of Star Trek: The Reaction Shot...er, The Motion Picture play out like a long-form TOS episode, which works to some degree in its favor IMO (on the other hand, the "wormhole" scene...it gives me giggles just thinking about it). I guess we'll get a BD of the DC for the film's 40th Anniversary, knowing Paramount's tendencies.

I hope it's a 35th anniversary instead...

The anamorphic dvd's looked better (by dvd standards) than the blu-rays do (by blu-ray standards). Whether or not Paramount feels like acknowledging this right away is a separate matter, but I do think they should acknowledge it eventually. Right now, we've sorta got the blu-ray equivalent of the initial dvd releases, in that Paramount took whatever video masters were lying on the shelf and dumped them to the latest disc format. They didn't even bother to do new anamorphic transfers for 5, 6 and 7 since not many people had widescreen tv's back in the late 90's. I think even that first bare-bones dvd of WoK recieved a little more tlc than the others (again, just like the blu-rays).

Right. Think I'm gonna re-buy TSFS on DVD. That one (anamorphic release) was highly regarded back in the day. Now what about IV?

I held on to the SE DVDs of 1, 2 and 6 (because they're different cuts to what's on the Blu-rays) and sold the rest, but I think I'll rebuy the others. As the years pass by and we see what new miracles can be done with catalogue titles, the Trek BDs just get worse and worse. Sure, Khan got a 4K master and looks very respectable on Blu but I don't dig the revised colour all that much, and while Nemesis looks fine it's a terrible film so it doesn't count.

I'd rather watch a good DVD version of a movie than a shite Blu-ray. Yes, really.

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Tragic Thread!
DVD's over Blu's!!
Paramount Disaster!!!

That scene is damned silly, not least when Koenig gets going: Phoooootonnnnnnnnnn Torrrrrrrrrrrrrpeeeeeeeeedoooooooooos

I've been following this thread for awhile and have been on the fence regarding whether or not I should buy this set. I broke down last Friday and bought it. Last night, I went through each movie, starting at TMP and worked my way up (just picked random scenes).

I was pleasantly surprised!

Keep in mind this is just one person's opinion, so don't shoot me. I've owned the VHS and DVD versions of these movies and seen them more times than I can count. I did not find anything offensive about this blu ray set...they've never looked or sounded better! I own a semi-calibrated (Disney WOW) LG 60LM7200, and the clarity of the films surprised me. Just for reference, I watched an HDX stream of Star Trek IV a few weeks back and was not impressed. I figured it was encoded from the blu ray version...but the version on this set looks far better.

Some people have complained about blurry scenes that supposedly apply too much DNR. Based on the clarity of the other shots, I think those shots are just moments where the camera was slightly out of focus. Wrath of Khan has many of these instances. Everyone seems to dislike Star Trek VI...all I saw was an abundance of makeup. It wasn't blurred...you could still see every wrinkle and pore on the actor's faces (Doh!) buried under that pancake make-up. But to my eyes, the image was still sharp and looked great.

I would love to have these movies (in addition to TWOK) scanned at 4K and re-released, but for me, this set will do just fine in the meantime.

Just my .02.

Cheers!

Yeah, the comic slowdown sequence... one of the parts that should have been changed in the script before shooting began.

WHY???? I don't see a problem with the wormhole scene. I think it's fine just as is.

It would be fine if they didn't speak during that sequence. Instead, it kind of comes across as goofy with the speech slowdown. IMHO.

it might come across goofy but it doesn't bother me, for some reason it fits the scene IMO that is.

If I only had an unlimited lifespan all would be good.

Art

Agreed. I was reasonably happy with the special edition DVD releases (and the cases with the original art and extras disc were all nice - looked great lined up together on the shelf).

C'mon, man, don't be like that! You could always set up life support inside your theater - it's big enough.

How long has it been since you've watched the DVDs? As problematic as the Blu-rays may be, the DVDs are much, much worse. All of the DVD transfers are covered in dirt and grime that Paramount digitally cleaned up for the Blu-rays. The Voyage Home Blu-ray may look barely better than upconverted SD in quality, but the actual DVD for that movie looks about VHS quality.

I'll take dirt and grime over plastic-faced nastiness.

+1

If you look at Spock early on in VI his face looks clay, but I wonder of that was done in the original film to smooth out his face (just like they do with young female actresses with bad complexion in HD programs) and then matters made worse by a moderate amount of DNR.

I haven't seen III on BD yet but I read that the DNR is the worst. It shouldn't have been necessary as the last DVD was one of the better ones.

Heh. When they're on the Genesis planet in III and it's snowing, you can literally see the grain turning on and off as the DNR (and/or dirt removal pass) struggles to separate the snow from the grain.

VI's Blu-ray catches a lot of hell, and rightly so, but IV might actually be the worst for me. The darkness of the sets and interiors in the prior films tends to reduce the impact of the DNR because the detail is softened to begin with, but the brightness of those San Francisco exteriors in IV shows it up horribly (much like Nimoy in the spotlight in VI).

Are the Star trek Films being re-released?

They need top notch 6k transfers from the OCN's, the extended directors' cuts added before they're re-released.

You can't see the plastic faces on the DVD because the picture is so blurry. What you get is dirt, grime and VHS fuzziness.

Yes, the Blu-rays are problematic, but you're seriously romanticizing if you think the DVDs were in any way better.

Heh. I've got the TOS movies on VHS as well as LD, and the DVDs comfortably spank them both. I'm not rocking a massive screen - only a mere 55" - so the DVDs look pretty darned respectable. Hell, I watched my DTS LD of Die Hard the other night and quickly forgot about the shite picture quality. (It even brought back fond memories of watching my all-time favourite movie on various crappy formats over the years.)

But I don't think I've said that the Trek movie DVDs are "better" than the Blu-rays by any sort of qualitative measure you'd care to name, it's purely my personal preference. Don't get me wrongo, I love Blu-ray for what it can do (I've got 776 titles at the last count), but when it falls short it has this uncanny ability to produce a picture that's so grossly over-exaggerated it's distracting, in spite of the other benefits the transfers may have.

You we're just talking to the "Curator, Laserdisc Forever"

I still regret selling those DVDs. Damn Paramount, making me assume the Blu-rays would be better as soon as they were announced! Didn't even consider they'd regress and give us the shorter cuts. At least that increases the chance for a double dip, without DNR, like LOTR.

Which is "better" depends on which artifacts you find least distracting.

I have similar regrets about selling my dvd's. My thinking at the time was "the movies have been officially announced for blu-ray, better sell my dvd's while they're still worth something!"

Never, ever would've expected them to get such shoddy transfers as these. What should've been an improvement in all areas has instead become a tradeoff. The bump in resolution gets cancelled out by the lack of fine detail.

The dvd's, while only standard def, at least looked like transfers of actual films.

I've still got mine

I think most of the discs for the Trek films are pretty awful but I don't know if I'd agree with that entirely. Then again, I held the same opinion as yours when it came to the original Gangs of New York release. I thought it was so godawful that I'd rather just watch the terrible DVD because at least then I was just watching something that looked dirty and low def, not plasticine tripe with forcefields.

Thankfully, GoNY got a proper release eventually. I really hope Paramount comes back to Trek.

That right there is the crux of my whole rationale; I find the analogue-style softness, dirt & grime of the DVDs to be preferable to the overbaked, harshly digital appearance of the Blu-rays.