Rating: 
Summary: Space Opera at Its Best!
Review: Ricardo Montelban and William Shatner take this television-episode-at-the-movies over the top with big, fast action and a larger than life plot that keeps you at the edge of your seat.To me, Star Trek was at its best when it asked big questions about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. What would you do? What would I do? It never hurt when Trek was modeled after a great WW2 Navy recruiting film, either! There's just something about shipboard combat that makes the screen come alive in a way other genres can't duplicate. Perhaps it's the sense of ordered chaos, of incredible poise and grace under fire that is the opposite of what we expect. The DVD is a beauty on my big screen projection TV. I can't wait for the HDTV versions!
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Summary: WILLIAM SHATNER'S BEST
Review: PEOPLE SAY THIS MOVIE IS THE BEST IN THE COLLECTION. IT IS. GREAT SPECIAL EFFECTS. WILLIAM SHATNER IS VERY DRAMATIC. COOL FOR A 1982 MOVIE. VHS EDITION HAS GOOD VALUE AND COVER IS VERY ARTISTIC. YOU WILL LOVE THIS FILM. TRUST ME YOU "WILL" LOVE THIS.
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Summary: Best Trek
Review: With the possible exception of First Contact this is easilly the best Star Trek film in my opinion. The extras here are interesting but the films the thing!
Rating: 
Summary: This DVD really does not make the movie any better.
Review: The new scenes pretty much destroy the movie. There are some revelations that one of the crewman killed in Khan's first attack on the Enterprise is Scotty's nephew, but this really detracts from the story. The Kirk/David relationship remains under-developed both here and in the original movie version. Dr. Carol Marcus is also a two dimensional charcter that remains under-developed. Too many loose story threads that never add to the movie. The bonus features are not that great either. There is a section about how Star Trek writers do their books. Not interesting. Interviews with Harve Bennet on how the script was written. Not interested. How ILM did the visual effects. Comes across as information overkill. The interviews were not well conducted. End result is that this new DVD really is a mess of a movie put together. One last note; I don't care what everyone else says about James Horner's music score for this movie, it is the weakest score ever done for the movies. However the display case itself might be useful in storeing DVDs from damaged other packages,
Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Trek Films
Review: The makers of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan remembered something that seemed to be almost completely lost upon the creators of the first Trek film: one of the main reasons Trekkies loved the original Star Trek was that it was FUNNY. As has been said many times before, TWOK is much more in tune with the sensibility of the original series than its predecesor, which plays more like Stanley Kubrick's 2001 than anything from the original series. TWOK's got it all, friends: tight direction by Nicholas Meyer, nifty special effects, and (of course) big laffs. This (single-disc) DVD, unfortunately, is nothing special - widescreen transfer, 5.1 surround sound, theatrical trailer... and that's about it (though I see that there's a 2-disc Director's Edition out which looks pretty kewl). Final rating (1-5 star scale):
Film: 4 stars
DVD: 2 stars
Average: 3 stars
Rating:
Summary: Star Trek II -- Entertainmentopia Review
Review: Everyone knows the curse of Star Trek movies that started with this sequel to the sci-fi pajama time known as Star Trek: The Motion Picture. With Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, this series of movies has been effected by the even-odd curse that makes all the even ones good and all of the odd one's blow. While a true fan, I don't believe any of them "blow" (sans Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, what the hell were they thinking), I do think that the odd numbered ones were not up to par with the rest of the series. After the long, drawn-out Star Trek: The Motion Picture the team returned to the series in 1982 and put together what is universally known as the best Star Trek movie ever. It has everything you could want from a movie, emotion, action, violence, and more. This makes up for the odd movies, and then some. Star Trek II begins with the Enterprise leaving on a training mission full of new recruits, many who are experiencing their first time in space. What Admiral Kirk and the rest of the crew don't know is the USS Reliant has stumbled upon the marooned Botany Bay and remains of Khan's followers exiled from earth in 1996. The center of the plot is a device called Genesis that reorganizes dead matter and brings life where there is none. Khan wants it as the ultimate weapon, Kirk is trying to prevent the destruction of the Federation at the hands of a vengeful foe, and the rest of the crew is caught in the crossfire. This movie is filled with some excellent space shots of the Enterprise in battle with the Reliant near the end of the movie. As you will see in some of the following screens there are some really neat camera angles, especially the one of the camera mounted on the nacelle of the Enterprise. While the special effects are very 80s and the new uniforms still aren't up to the one's seen in Star Trek: First Contact, this movie stands out as a Trekkie's favorite and any movie buffs favorite Sci-Fi film. Video Video quality is what you would expect from a twenty year old film. While for the most part everything looks good, you can see some shimmering in the print (especially during the opening Paramount logo). The colors seemed to have been preserved well on this digital transfer and they are much cleaner and brighter than the original Star Trek II DVD that was released in the film box set a few years ago. While no one generally likes to see a double-dip, if they improve the print this much, it is definitely worth the extra money. Sound Star Trek II is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and while I still prefer DTS over Dolby it is understandable to not have it on a disc that was made before the audio format's introduction. Sound is generally good, and your subwoofer gets ample work from the low hum of the warp engines throughout the movie. Positional audio is right on and all channels seemed to be moderately well. At some part during the movie I felt that the speech was a big hollow, maybe suffering from audio compression to fit on the DVD, but besides those few moments (Kirk talking to Savvik on the Simulator Bridge and Kirk screaming in the Genesis cave are two examples) the audio is great. Extras Paramount went all out with this DVD and it features interviews with the original cast at the time of the original movie as well as updated interviews with the surviving members of the crew. It was nice to hear what DeForest Kelley thought of the movie and while I would have loved to hear what he had to say today, I know it can't happen. The movie itself features four additional minutes, including the oft-neglected scene where Scotty tells Kirk that a young crewman is his youngest nephew, so the emotional reaction when he is killed in the initial attack is understood more by the audience. There are featurettes on the special effects and the movie disc features commentary by the director Nicholas Meyer as well as members of the cast and crew. All in all the second disc is packed with about five hours worth of new content. Summation Star Trek II is one of my favorite Star Trek movies, it actually comes in a close second behind Star Trek: First Contact. While most fans can't wait to see Star Trek: Nemesis this December, picking up this DVD and seeing how it was done 20 years ago is a great way to pass the time. There are rumors of the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Director's Cut to be released shortly before the 10th movie, but until then, enjoy this disc...P>-- Erich Becker is a die-hard Trekkie.
Rating:
Summary: FEATURES MAKE KAHN DELIGHTFUL EVEN TO NON TREK FANS!
Review: Certainly the best of the original cast Trek movies, Wrath of Khan the Director's Cut is augmented by fun features. Notably, Mike Okuda's "text commentary" reveals unique production tidbits that even ardent Non-Trekers will find interesting. A delight for any student of film as well. Throw in a fine audio commentary track from the director, a disk of featurettes, and the discovery that the longer version of Kahn is actually better, and you have a decent product for any film fan, and a must have collection for Trek fans (of any level).
Rating:
Summary: Clearly the greatest of the Star Trek films
Review: As a viewer that prefers the original cast films (and TV shows), I am unapologetic about calling Star Trek II the greatest Trek film, and with the passing of Deforest Kelly, it will remain the greatest. It has everything Trek fans could want: a great villain, space battles, morality conflicts, humour, and, of course, William Shatner chewing up the scenery. The best "Original Series" shows contained a mixture of philosophy and action, both of which are readily apparent here. The story: The exiled Khan escapes by hijacking a starship, then sets out to revenge himself on Kirk. Along the way he learns of the Genesis Project, basically a super-fast terraforming process that would render lifeless worlds habitable in mere days. The problem - if used where life already exists, it would wipe out that life and rearrange it to fit its new pattern (this is why the Klingons come after it in ST III). The action follows Khan's parallel schemes to kill Kirk while stealing the Genesis device. The philosophy arises from Spock and McCoy's debates on the merits of the Genesis Project, as well as Kirk coming to terms with aging (he gets reading glasses and meets his now-adult son who hates him). The acting is what you'd expect from the likes of Ricardo Montalbahn and William Shatner - emoting galore! But it works because director Meyer has arranged the film as a melodramatic space opera. Meyer also includes some nice touches, such as piping aboard flag officers, standardised uniforms, and other naval touches. Curiously, the two antagonists never meet in the flesh (and therefore the actors never worked together); perhaps this is more realistic: after all, Villeneuve and Nelson never went 1-on-1 at Trafalger. Thus, Meyer's fusion of age-of-sail naval fighting with science fiction has a neat feel of authenticity. Finally, the score is probably the best of the ST films. This DVD edition is certainly worthy of the quality of the film. There are numerous extras, from documentaries on the effects and set designs, to the fascinating text commentary by Jan Okuda. Meyer lends some nice insight in his audio commentary as well, although he sounds more like a scriptwriter (which he also does, but not on this film) than a director. With a cost that is little more than a normal DVD, it's also great value. But the absolute highlight is the suit that Leonard Nimoy is wearing in the extra "Original Cast Interviews." It has to be seen to be believed!
Rating:
Summary: great dvd!
Review: The dvd is packed with great material. The old interviews of the stars are great. The movie itself is in my opinion the best Star Trek flick. It is a good continuation of the series. Extenede directors edition does not have much movie film. Overall a must have and joins The Motion Picture as a classic. Cannot wait to see the new edition of Search for Spock
Rating: 
Summary: The DVD gets five stars, the film gets four
Review: I am one of the 3% of the US population who happens to believe that "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" is inferior in quality to its predecessor, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". The first Star Trek film had been a unique achievement in sci-fi, one which matched a brilliant score to absolutely stunning visual effects and a highly cerebral plot that was undoubtedly over the heads of the masses of moviegoers with short attention spans. As a result, it is repeatedly slammed as "boring" (a highly subjective term, when you consider the film's pivotal importance in the development of Kirk's and Spock's characters, and the mature and sophisticated acting displayed by Shatner and Nimoy),
while "The Wrath Of Khan" is to this day revered as one of the finest of the ST film series for being its action-packed antidote. There is no doubt that "The Wrath Of Khan" is the tighter paced, tighter edited and more action-packed film of the two. It also features a powerful, almost-iconic performance by Montalban as Khan and elements of humor which keep the tone light on its feet.
Its parallels to "Moby Dick", its themes of revenge and self-sacrifice, and of course Spock's final death scene are appealing and well-executed. It is never less than enjoyable. However, to these eyes it is actually *less* of a Star Trek movie than the first film. Its brand of shoot-em-up battle pyrotechnics and over-the-top spectacle seems more influenced by the "Star Wars" blockbuster mentality than the quiet, graceful subtleties and artistic beauty of "The Motion Picture". The themes of artificial intelligence, exploration and most of the character portrayals in "The Motion Picture" all smack of Roddenberry's original vision, whereas "Wrath Of Khan" gives one easier, more simplistic payoffs that remind one of the kind of formula television Harve Bennett cut his teeth in. To be sure, Bennett saved the franchise--he brought the film in under budget and made Star Trek a success with the mass audience blockbuster mentality. And it is a fun movie; it is not my intention to change anybody's mind with this review (by now, 99% of all Star Trek fans have their minds firmly made up regarding their opinions of all nine films). However, I simply prefer the careful details, deliberate pacing and complex themes of the debut film, and have never found them "boring", "silly" or "pretentious". I have never figured out how the film which played such an important role in the maturation of Spock's character could be so panned by audiences; by contrast, all he does in "Wrath Of Khan" is sacrifice himself for the ship, something we saw him do many times over in the original series. Anyways, this new director's edition adds two or three extra minutes dealing with Scotty's nephew which are OK but not essential (there's nothing as radical as the major SFX rehaul or edits found for "The Motion Picture"); on the other hand, the picture and sound quality are perfect. The special features on disc two are all interesting and worthwhile, especially the interviews with the cast and crew. As a whole, the new editions of both the first two Star Trek films are up to a very high standard, and I look forward to seeing the rest in this manner.
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