Displaying items by tag: Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Director's Edition

While all the talk about digital and the implosion of some of the most high-profile streamers purging content from their services faster than Stalin and his politburo, it’s worth spotlighting the fact that it was still a fairly impressive year for physical media whose death, much like Mark Twain, has been greatly exaggerated.

While there’s still too many A-list titles that are MIA that haven’t migrated to 4K Ultra HD yet and other films in desperate need of upgraded hi-def masters (including, self-promotion alert, Free Enterprise), several labels have stepped up their games in a big way ranging from Shout to Arrow and, most impressively, Kino-Lorber.

And, of course, as always, Warner Bros has brought it with their classic titles (although I still have to wonder where the hell North By Northwest is). So even though it’s almost March 2023, these are some of the stellar titles of 2022 that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

If there’s only one vexing trend in the home entertainment market today, it’s how rare it is to find many re-issues featuring compelling new bonus material instead consistently relying on re-purposing old VAM. [Read on here...]

Today’s new update is a quickie, as we’re in full Blu-ray and 4K review mode here at the site, trying to catch up on a backlog titles worthy of our attention. As such, we’ve just posted my thoughts on the Russos’ Avengers: Endgame in 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney, along with a tag-team review by Tim and myself of Duncan Jones’ Moon in 4K from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both are well worth a look, and Endgame in particular really shines in 4K with HDR, with a great Dolby Atmos mix to boot. So don’t miss them.

And we’re working on more, including Jonny Quest: The Complete Series, Alita: Battle Angel (4K) and much more.

Now then, the big news today is that Paramount has finally relented to releasing its beloved holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life on physical 4K Ultra HD. Look for it on 10/29, months after it first became available digitally in 4K. The good news is that the film has been completely restored and scanned in full native 4K from the original nitrate camera negative (along with two fine grain masters made in the 1940s), so it should look and sound fantastic. Extras will include the colorized version of the film on Blu-ray along with the classic extras. You can see the cover artwork at the left. [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks. I’ll have another post later today – I’m back in the office after a day at Comic-Con to appear on the Inglorious Treksperts panel there – and we have some good news for you therefrom.

First up, the panel was great. Mark A. Altman, Daren Dochterman, Ashley Edward Miller, Rob Burnett and I a blast talking about Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a movie near and dear to each of us, which turns 40 this year.

The panel room at the Con was absolutely packed – a good full house – which was awesome to see. We showed rare clips related to the film, told interesting stories, and made a lot of people (including ourselves) laugh.

You will all be able to hear the panel for yourselves in the next few weeks, as it will be released as an official Inglorious Treksperts podcast (listen here or wherever your great podcasts are found). [Read on here...]

Today’s Retro Release Day title here at The Bits is a favorite of mine personally, as well as a favorite of our readers and classic Star Trek fans overall. It’s the acclaimed 2-disc Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition DVD, released by Paramount Home Entertainment in 2001.

The film was directed by the great Robert Wise, who had previously directed the Best Picture winners West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), as well as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and who was an editor on Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) at RKO early in his career. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in theaters on December 7, 1979 and this year celebrates its 40th anniversary.

As many Trek fans know, Star Trek: The Motion Picture began life as an effort to return the franchise to TV with Star Trek: Phase II, but the box office success of other science fiction films convinced Paramount to try bringing the property to the big screen. The film reunited the entire original series cast, along with newcomers Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins. The legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith was hired to score the film, which would become among his most iconic and widely-recognized works. [Read on here...]