Cheap Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Video) (William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley) (Nicholas Meyer) Price

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Customer Reviews of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

So....This is Goodbye......
Following the disastrous critical and box office reception of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Paramount could have easily dropped the original cast in favor of The Next Generation. However, sentiment prevailed and Nicholas Meyer, who directed The Wrath of Khan (still the most popular film with most Trekkers) and who co-wrote The Voyage Home (still the highest grossing Trek film), was called in. He, along with Leonard Nimoy, fashioned a script which features most of what has made Trek endure through the years: a relevant story drawing on then current events (i.e., the lightning paced changes in the relationship between the United States and the then Soviet Union, which precipitated the end of the Cold War), with plenty of action, drama, humor (appropriate humor, not slapstick) and character development. Thus, the original cast would be able to exit the franchise with their heads held high.

The pacing of this film is much smoother than the earlier films (even Treks II & IV took too long to get moving) starting swiftly and accelerating to the pulse-pounding conclusion. The overall tone of the film is darker and edgier than any previous Trek (perhaps the filmmakers were taking a cue from 1989s Batman, which obliterated Star Trek V at the box office). The directing is fluid, with Meyer's camera swooping around the bridge (a notoriously difficult set to film in) and the other sets, and the editing is tight. Although the story primarily (and correctly) focuses the action on the triumvirate of Kirk, Spock & McCoy, the supporting cast is given plenty to do as well. Sulu, in particular--finally Captain of his own ship--has greater involvement. Guest star Christopher Plummer molds General Chang into Trek's best villain since Khan, and David Warner makes a lends an air of dignity as Chancellor Gorkon (the name is an amalgamation of Gorbachev and Lincoln). There are a few additions from the theatrical version which have appeared on all video versions: The Colonel West plotline was not in the original film (perhaps Paramount thought the parallel to Colonel Oliver North was too obvious). For this DVD, there are also few small alterations during the Spock/Valeris Mind Meld scene.

All of the charm of Classic Trek is here: a final needling exchange between Spock & McCoy; the occasional, almost improvised humor; characters being thrown every which way on the bridge during battle; Kirk kissing a beautiful female; one last bit of scenery chewing from Shatner, who holds his own against fellow hamosaurus Plummer; and, finally, a bittersweet ending.

The visual effects of The Undiscovered Country (a reference to Shakespeare) hold up well, with very little use of stock shots (three effects shots from this film would later be used in 1994s Star Trek Generations). The score by Cliff Eidelmann accentuates the activities on screen, without overshadowing them, and adds to the dark atmosphere of the film.

The transfer on this DVD is excellent, with the colors, especially the maroon uniform jackets, crisp & vibrant--an improvement over the previous DVD, and light years ahead of the VHS and LaserDisc editions. Since the film was shot in "matted" Super 35, rather than Panavision, the aspect ratio is not as wide as the other Trek films. The sound is detailed with plenty of punch.

The bonus features are the best of any Trek film so far, including featurettes on the evolution of the story, prejudice in the Trek universe, Shatner's "reunion" with Plummer (back in the 1950s, Shatner understudied for Plummer in Henry V), and a moving tribute to the late DeForest Kelley.

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... for the movie, regarding whether to buy the DVD...
If you are a Trek fan, yeah, this is a brilliant movie, I have seen it fifty times and I never get tired of it. It has a compelling plot, first rate acting a brilliant script and it marked the triumphant directorial return of ST II: WOK's Nicholas Meyer. That however is not the reason I am writing this review. While I would certainly reccomend renting this DVD to experience the movie itself in the widescreen format with the improved picture and sound quality, I would like to warn you not to waste the money buying it. This current DVD does not have a the usual special features that are standard in the DVD versions of other movies. The studio has put out the Director's Edition DVD sets for the first three Star Trek movies, with the fourth due out in early March. These are double disc sets, with numerous tracks of audio commentary, as well as written commentary(bottom of tv screen) optional French dubbing and/or subtitles (Why no Spanish, I don't know) as well as a load of interesting special features on the other disc. The only problem is that they were released months apart from one another. Bearing that in mind, the director's edition of this won't likely be out until the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Nontheless, it will make the one available here obselete. To sum it up, rent this to enjoy the movie, but wait for the special edition before purchasing it, it will be worth the wait.

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outstanding -- the best star trek movie ever
Unlike Nemesis, which kind of left you scratching your head at how The Next Generation series of movies could go out in such an average (for TNG's high standards) bang, The Undiscovered Country closed out the original Star Trek series of movies with a BANG in 1991. This is easily the best ST movie ever, about how overmining of the Klingon moon causes a catastrophe on their planet making in uninhabitable and causing them to come to the Federation with talks of a truce. But a deep conspiracy unravels, in some ways predictable, in other ways not.......enough of my blabbering, not like you wanted to hear me tell you any more anyways, if you did I still won't spoil any more. Scenes of this movie were emulated in Next Generation movies (a certain space battle scene is emulated almost exactly in Generations, although nowhere near as well). Get it, watch it, and watch all the original Star Trek movies (except maybe the first one, unless you are INSANE for star trek). THe original movies are the best, and can be loved even if you aren't a Star Trek fan.