Star Trek VI Collector's Edition

[The Shade]

Well, I purchased the ST VI DVD the other week, but was only able to watch it tonight. Like the other "collector's edition" from this series, this new DVD release featured an anamorphic widescreen film presentation on the first disc and lots of extras on the second disc.

SPOILER ALERT for this DVD release!

A curious thing about this version: this one includes 2 scene revisions by the director, Nicholas Meyer. I myself could only find one scene that was altered in 2 places (maybe this counts as 2 scenes, I don't know): when Lieutenant Valeris is questioned by the Enterprise crew who are trying to learn who is behind the assassination plot. The first part is when Valeris states that they have no proof that she is a traitor and Kirk replies "At the trial, my personnal log was used as evidence against me" versus "At the trial, my personnal log was used against me" from the original release. Not much, just a different take. The second revision is the mind meld between Spock and Valeris. When she states who are the prime conspirators, after their names are mentioned, you now see shots of them instead of the continuous shot of Spock and Valeris in the original version.

Now, the glitches. Before I go on, I must inform you that I am a Canadian, and that the DVD that I purchased is authorized for sale only in Canada. The US may have a slightly different version. If the American version does not contain any of the glitches listed below, please let me know.

The movie had originally been shot in the aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1. My original VHS version had this ratio as well. I don't know about the first DVD release. This current DVD release has an aspect ration of 1.85 to 1. After having watched this movie in its original aspect ratio for so long, all I can say is that this new version just seems wrong to my eyes.

A second glitch, and this is a very curious one. The subtitles for the translated Klingon speech is located in an area of the screen that suggests they were originally coded for a 2.35 to 1 picture. The result is that, because of the aspect ratio of 1.85 to 1, the subs are now too high on the screen, very close to the middle of the image.

A third glitch involves the regular subtiles. There are 3 of them: English, French, and a commentary text in English. The 2 English ones are ok, but the French one doesn't work at all. Now, I will not watch the film with French subs, but this is still one big fowl up by the DVD authoring crew here.

Overall, if you were planning to purchase this DVD, be prepared for a very bad DVD release.

[Panon]

The movie had originally been shot in the aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1.  My original VHS version had this ratio as well.  I don't know about the first DVD release.  This current DVD release has an aspect ration of 1.85 to 1.  After having watched this movie in its original aspect ratio for so long, all I can say is that this new version just seems wrong to my eyes.

A second glitch, and this is a very curious one.  The subtitles for the translated Klingon speech is located in an area of the screen that suggests they were originally coded for a 2.35 to 1 picture.  The result is that, because of the aspect ratio of 1.85 to 1, the subs are now too high on the screen, very close to the middle of the image.

This is not a glitch. The film was shot on 35mm, which is a square frame allowing the director to crop it to his preferred ratio.

Previously, ST6 was released on the big screen at the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but for this release and the previous dvd release, the director chose to format it in the 2.0:1 (not 1.85:1) aspect ratio.

Since the Klingon subtitles were hard matted into the original film source, opening the print to 2.0:1 makes them appear higher in the picture.

I personally didn't like the image flashes during the Spock/Valeris interrogation. It kind of broke up the scene instead of having it flow properly.

Edited February 13, 2004 by Panon

[UN Spacy]

I picked up the official US release two weeks ago and noticed the second "glitch" (if you can call it that), but (as Panon mentioned) since they were hard matted you can't do anything about it.

Personally. The video is a LOT cleaner than the previously released (Undiscovered Country) DVD. I also think Paramount did some work on the sound, and you can't go wrong with a true widescreen format.

The French subtitles aren't working for me also. Oh well. It's not like I need em.

I can't wait to see what Paramount does for TNG movie DVD's.

[uminoken]

You forgot to mention that disc 2's pic (Excelsior) is upside down! Other than that, I liked the release, with the extra documentaries and it was only $14!

[Duke Togo]

That's not a glitch, its just a bad movie.

[MSW]

I'm no ST fan...but I just want to clear up some misconceptions

This is not a glitch. The film was shot on 35mm, which is a square frame allowing the director to crop it to his preferred ratio.

Erm...If the film was shot with an anamorphic lens then it must be projected with an anamorphic lens else the image will appear very distorted...

There are basicly two types of 35mm film (actualy more, but I wo't go into the details as it pretty much boils down to these two for movie production anyway)...the normal basic type...and super 35mm...difference being that the super varient doesn't have the sound recording strip on the negative so a larger portion of the negative can be used ... 35mm film aspect ratio is almost 4:3 (with super 35mm being something like 4.3:3) not square (1:1 ratio), which is about the same as a normal TV aspect ratio...

an anamorphic lens acts sort of like one of those fish eye lens...it crams a larger viewing angle onto the film by refracting the light coming through it...thus the image on the film looks very distorted unless it is projected onscreen through an anomorphic lens...

Previously, ST6 was released on the big screen at the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but for this release and the previous dvd release, the director chose to format it in the 2.0:1 (not 1.85:1) aspect ratio.

Since the Klingon subtitles were hard matted into the original film source, opening the print to 2.0:1 makes them appear higher in the picture.

yeap...that is correct if the film is ment to be shown in 2.35:1 ratio...then changeing it to 2:1 or 1.85:1 will force hard matted subtitles higher in the frame...

film ratios are always in width to height format so a 2.35:1 ratio means the intended image width is 2.35 times wider then it is tall...2.0:1 means it is twice as wide as tall, etc...4:3 ratio works out to 1 and a third times as wide as tall (or 1.3333333333333333333333333:1 course the 3's go on to infinitety as such it is often expressed as 4:3 for simplicity sake