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Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (Special Edition)

Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (Special Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $15.99
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Underrated? Yeah, like Kid Rock is underrated.
Review: Spoilers within, beware.

Here's a few of the things that bug me about ST6 now that I'm a bitter old man:

Sulu's ship just happening to be hit by an energy wave that apparently traveled faster than light. Computers/scanners that can't tell whether two photon torpedos were fired from someplace *outside* the Enterprise, but can detect a little piece of Velcro from a hundred light-years away. Communications officers so stupid they have to look through books--and old books at that--to translate Klingon. (I thought "we'd never been this close..." so who went to the Klingon Public Library? And weren't they close enough to beam Tribbles aboard a Klingon cruiser in TOS? ) Line after endless, aggravating line of unnecessary, distracting literary references--at the expense of real dialogue. The thrilling "searching through closets and dresser drawers" scene. Valeris just happening to frame the only Enterprise crew member with size 19 feet. Assassins so stupid they hide bloodstained uniforms in a ventilation duct in the Officer's Lounge. Conspirators so stupid they hide assassins' bodies in main turbolifts. The shapeshifter inexplicably shifting into Kirk's form...and then not shifting back--why? So we could have a nifty shot of Kirk disintegrating for the movie trailers. Oh, and it was EXCELSIOR that was scouting out the "gaseous planetary anomolies," not Enterprise. This is not nitpicking. These are major plot points--and I hate to say it, but they're really quite stupid. Last but not least: UHURA. Not UHURU. Sorry if I sound a little cynical and jaded, but the best part of this movie was the smarmy manipulative pap--and that was smarmy and manipulative! I love classic Trek. But ST:TUC doesn't do it for me anymore. Now pass the Romulan Ale. I gotta get tanked.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Star Trek In The Series But With One Flaw. . . .
Review: . . . The Widescreen Version to this film has got to be the worst of all! The movie is good. Good cast and great plot. But the Widescreen was incorrectly formatted! One little line at the top and one big one on the bottom. And some scenes are misaligned and looked like the camera is looking to the left a bit much! Once is ok but now its almost bothersome. Why couldnt Paramount release the proper 2.35:1 aspect ration than this 1.95:1 ratio? I expected the 2.35:1. It shows everything better and the camera doesnt look like its drifting to the right.

I sincerely hope Paramount releases the 2.35:1 aspect ratio than this little sorry excuse.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Only one thing missing....
Review: Star Trek VI is almost the equal of Star Trek II, and the fact that Nick Meyer is the director can't be a coincidence. Maybe Christopher Plummer tries a little too hard to out-Montalban Ricardo Montalban, but he almost pulls it off.

The only down side to this DVD edition is that it does not include the several added scenes included on the laserdisc version. That's the only version I've seen the last several times and it seems strange to have those scenes missing.

It's still good to have this version available on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Final Grand Adventure
Review: The last grand adventure of the original crew of the 1701-A, Undiscovered Country is an exciting and fitting end to 25 years of exploring our hopes and dreams for the future. Produced in 1991, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the same year democracy triumphed in the former Soviet Union, the fictional collapse of the Klingon Empire and its intentional parallel to real life events is classic Star Trek.

The story line, direction, special effects, fabulous music and truly bravura acting performances (especially Christopher Plummer as a Klingon Cold Warrior) make for what many consider to be the most exciting Trek movie ever, even more so than Wrath of Kahn.

The farewell sequences will bring a tear to even the most jaded trekker. If you grew up with the series, lived through the long years of re-runs, and enjoyed the movies then you have to own this movie for posterity. And it's a damned good adventure to boot.

Farewell Enterprise 1701-A, you will always be in our hearts and minds. For out of your tall tales and adventures will spring forth the seeds of our own real need to journey where no man has gone before.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good enough, despite its flaws
Review: The Undiscovered Country is better than average Trek fare, following in the wake of the awful Star Trek V. The storyline is basically sound, projecting the end of the Cold War onto the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Even the name of the Klingon chancellor, Gorkon, is a play on Gorbachev.

Nevertheless, there are some things in this movie that just don't work for me. Spock just happens to have a microscpic locator beacon handy that he slaps on Kirk's jacket just before Kirk beams over to the Klingon flag ship. Kirk conveniently manages to keep his jacket with beacon attached throughout his captivity. it is also absurd that the Federation would discuss plans for a secret rescue of Kirk with the Vulcan ambassador present in the room. When the Enterprise enters Klingon space to rescue Kirk, surely the Klingons have the technology to distinguish a Federation starship from a Klingon supply freighter. I also do not like the music that plays in the opening credits, it is too somber in constrast to the bombastic and epic sounding scores that accompanied the beginning of the other series entries. It is also a bummer to have Admiral Cartwright turn traitor after being a good guy in Star Trek IV.

Still, in spite of its weaknesses, the original cast do themselves credit and go out in style in this film. It is good to see Sulu promoted to command of his own ship. Christopher Plummer is excellent as the Klingon nemesis Chang spouting Shakespeare as he torpedoes the Enterprise. Also, anybody notice the Christian Slater cameo? He must have been a Star Trek fan and talked his way into getting a brief scene, even though his face is half shadowed. Michael Dorn of TNG cast also has a small part as Kirk and McCoy's Klingon "public defender".

In spite of its flaws, The Undiscovered Country merits inclusion into the library of any Star Trek fan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nothing Hidden Here¿
Review: Witty, Thoughtful, Impactful - this movie takes a well established character base, combines it with a fabulous script, and mixes it with stunning visual effects. The result is a great movie, that is even better on DVD. My only gripe is that the chapter selection seems too infrequent compared to First Contact and Insurrection, but that's pretty minor. This is a wonderful send-off for the TOS crew, and it was a wonderful way to say good bye. Myers understood star trek in TWOK, and he continues here. True thought went into each of the scenes. A great movie on a great DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: only Nixon can go to China
Review: This movie is the end of the James T. Kirk movie era, and it passes the torch nicely. As the Cold War recently ended before it came out, so does Trek end the hostility between the Klingons and the good guys. Kirk has to confront his fears of retirement and of Klingons, as his conservative streak is tested by the prospects of peace and people who hate Klingons just as much as he does.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fond Farewell
Review: When I watch this movie, I wonder why director Nicholas Meyer isn't more well known. As he did in Star Trek II, he created a story that works both on the surface (as a terrific action/whodunit film) and underneath (as a parable about the cold war).

The parallels to the Soviets/Russia are everywhere, and admittedly not hard to miss. Instead of being simpleton bad guys (as in Trek III) or clumsy characatures (as they often were in the Next Generation series), here Klingons seemed like real people with real concerns. Different Klingons actually held differing opinions for once!

There are times when suspension of disbelief is necessary, but the viewer goes along willingly because the ride is absolutely worth it. This isn't a complicated story, but it doesn't need to be, and you'll find yourself cheering at the right spots, too. (My nine-year-old son jumped off the couch yelling when Sulu said, "Target that explosion and FIRE!")

Visually the movie has held up well; the space scenes are terrific, and the zero-gravity gunplay looks very cool (including the Klingon blood, tinted pink to avoid an R rating).

The DVD's picture and sound quality are terrific. The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras (a couple of trailers), which is too bad, but you take what you can get.

So watch the movie again, enjoy the fun story, and maybe you'll start thinking of Klingons as three-dimensional people.

Russians, too.

--Chris

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Underrated and very enjoyable film
Review: Among the "original cast" Trek films, "The Wrath of Khan" gets all the press, but this one is a winner too. And it's no coincidence that both were briskly directed by Nicholas Meyer. Perhaps he could be recruited for the next "Next Generation" Trek film...

"The Undiscovered Country" features some outstanding fx work, most notably the opening sequence featuring Captain Sulu's Excelsior and an energy wave.

In any case, "The Undiscovered Country" finds the Enterprise gang fighting all kinds of built-in (and very un-Federation) prejudices about Klingons. For Trekkers who grew up on the PC sensibilities of the "Next Generation", hearing some of the ethnic slurs hurled at Klingons might be quite jarring (that is, if you never watched the original series).

But if "The Undiscovered Country" has a point, it's that everyone can change in the name of peace. Let's hope it doesn't take 400 years to learn that message.

And how did you KNOW Kirk would go for the orange-haired, cigar smoking chick in the Klingon penal colony? If only Picard would develop a libido...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Second best of the original Trek Movies
Review: There are 3 really outstanding Star Trek films, Star Trek 2, 6 and First Contact (although most of the others are good too).

The Undiscovered Country could almost be a "Tom Clancy Lite" movie. What gives it the sustained enjoyment is the decent plot surrounding the assination. Although it doesn't go quite deep enough and the film feels slightly short at 1hour 40 minutes or so, it's very tight.

There are some good space battles with both the Enterprise and the Excelsior. As always with Star Trek, these seem slow and 2 dimensional (ie the ships are always the "same way up" as each other (there's no "up" in space guys).

Picture quality on this DVD is very good but not as breathtaking as Star Trek Insurrection. Sound also is good but not spectacular.


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