Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Special Edition (1991)

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General		Extras
Category	Star Trek	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director and Screenwriter Subtitle Commentary-Michael Okuda & Denise Okuda Featurette-The Perils Of Peacemaking Featurette-Stories From StarTrek VI: It Started With A Story, Prejudice Featurette-Stories From Star TrekVI: Director Nicholas Meyer Featurette-Stories From Star TrekVI: Shakespeare And General Chang Featurette-StoriesFromStarTrek VI: Bringing It To Life,Farewell&Goodbye Featurette-The Star Trek Universe: Conversations With Nicholas Meyer Featurette-The Star Trek Universe: Klingons - Conjuring The Legend Featurette-The Star Trek Universe: Federation Operatives Featurette-The Star Trek Universe: Penny's Toy Box, Together Again Featurette-Deforest Kelley : A Tribute Interviews-Cast Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Featurette-1991 Convention Presentation By Nicholas Meyer Featurette-Production Gallery Storyboards-4
Rating
Year Of Production	1991
Running Time	108:40
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:58) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nicholas Meyer
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	William Shatner Leonard Nimoy DeForest Kelley James Doohan Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols George Takei Kim Cattrall Mark Lenard Grace Lee Whitney Brock Peters Leon Russom Kurtwood Smith
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Cliff Eidelman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.00:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Greek English Spanish French Croatian Italian Hebrew Dutch Portuguese Slovenian Serbian English Titling Spanish Titling French Titling Italian Titling English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary French Audio Commentary Italian Audio Commentary English Text Commentary Spanish Text Commentary French Text Commentary Italian Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the last of the Star Trek feature films based solely around an adventure of the original Enterprise crew. Although Kirk (William Shatner), Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig) would return for Star Trek: Generations, this was the last time that the whole crew were on screen together – particularly the infamous trio of Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley).

    Written around the time of the break up of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the plot of Star Trek VI could not help but mirror the international political climate. As such, this plot too involves the dissolution of a cold war, although in this instance we are concerned with the long-standing war between the Federation and the Klingons.

    After the Chernobyl-style meltdown of the Klingon energy production moon Praxis, the Klingon Empire is unable to support its population and seeks peace negotiations with the Federation. Captain Spock is to meet the Klingon envoy in neutral territory and escort Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) and his entourage, including military advisor General Chang (Christopher Plummer), back to Earth. However, while en route, the ambassador is assassinated, apparently by Starfleet personnel. With Kirk and McCoy taken back to the Klingon home world for trial, Spock and the rest of the crew must discover the truth of the events and save their friends in order to advert an interstellar war.

    The Undiscovered Country is a great Star Trek movie. Although it lacks the old-school cinematic majesty of the first four movies, it has its operatic tones and socio-political themes in all the right places, and therefore makes a worthy edition to the canon of Star Trek big screen ventures. Sure, there’s the Klingon blood issue, and the Rene Auberjonois cameo that doesn’t sit exactly well with Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But it has an intriguing plot that keeps you guessing, action and adventure, and a confrontation in space that is reminiscent of the finale from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. The Star Trek propensity for incorporating themes from the classics of literature is also well handled here with much quotation from Shakespeare that just adds to the texture of the film (something that was sadly lacking a little in later movies, although we had some Gilbert & Sullivan in Star Trek: Insurrection – certainly no match for Melville and Dickens in Wrath Of Khan).

    Despite its occasional faults, The Undiscovered Country is a very entertaining instalment and has a lot to say about who we are as people and our capacity to change and forgive. Now, the big question is just how special is this new Special Edition...?

Video

    Presented in the unusual aspect ratio of 2.00:1, this is apparently a director’s approved ratio that largely mirrors the ratio of the flat 70mm blow-up that was projected in certain cinemas. Although originally shot in a ratio of 2.39:1, this DVD transfer ratio is the ratio in which Nicholas Meyer intended the audience to see the film. Furthermore, the image is 16x9 enhanced, elevating this Special Edition above its R4 (and R1) predecessors off the bat.

    Overall, the picture is very good. While still suffering from some minor film grain, there is an improvement here on the original release. More importantly, however, colour has been given first rate treatment in this transfer and it is intensely saturated, well balanced and adds a whole new level to the film.

    There are no MPEG artefacts, and film-to-video transfer artefacts were extremely limited.

    There is some dirt on the print that can be a little annoying, which is hardly surprising given the age of this film. Mostly it is just minor, but you do notice it from time to time.

    Subtitles are available in English, Greek, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Croatian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Slovenian, and Serbian. They are white with a grey border, clear and easy to read, and follow the dialogue fairly closely.

    The dual-layer pause is at 53:58. It is well placed during a scene change and is barely noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in English, German and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. As with the updated release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, this new release is also encoded at the same bitrate as the previous release (448Kb/s), but when compared back to back with its predecessor there is a noticeable improvement in the more recent edition. Rumour has it that this new transfer is an unflagged Dolby Digital 5.1 EX mix which would account for the difference in quality.

    As before, dialogue is no problem, and neither is sync, and I felt that the dialogue track was a little crisper this time around than with the previous release.

    The use of the surrounds in this release is a significant improvement with an aggressive mix from the rear speakers creating a fully enveloping sound field. Even when just on the bridge of the Enterprise you feel like you are actually there, given all the ambient noises and the people wandering through and around

    The amazing score by Cliff Eidelman, one of my favourites out of all the Star Trek movies, is given an immaculate remixing here with a full range and a depth that was just not present in the earlier release. Truly stunning.

    The subwoofer use was intense in certain scenes and certainly rattled your ribcage when called upon. It is heavily employed in the Klingon court sequence and also the final climactic battle.

    As usual, the foreign language tracks were fine, but the overdubbing of the dialogue reduces the ambience and hence the depth of the audio.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. The main menus have a 2.0 Dolby Surround audio track, with the track on Disc 1 containing the sounds from the Klingon court and the track on Disc 2 containing the sound of the snow storm outside the entrance to the Klingon prison Rura Penthe. The other menus usually have some form of ambient noise depending on their setting (ship noises, gulag noises, etc.).

Disc 1

Audio Commentary – Nicholas Meyer (director/co-writer) and Denny Martin Flinn (screenwriter)

    Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, these two are fairly entertaining and have lots of information to impart about the making of the movie and other information, particularly about the original series. Meyer does most of the talking, but when he goes quiet Flinn prompts him along.

Text Commentary – Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda

    Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda’s text commentary is, as per usual, full of little tidbits of information, pointing out inconsistencies and spreading rumours about behind-the-scenes mischief.

Disc 2

Featurette: The Perils Of Peacemaking (26:31)

    Presented in 2.00:1, non-16x9 enhanced (letterbox), this is an interesting featurette on the struggles of diplomacy and peacemaking in the real world and how this is mirrored in the Star Trek universe. Features interviews with Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy.

Stories From Star Trek VI (57:13)

    There are six featurettes here:

• It Started With A Story (9:42) – includes interviews with William Shatner, Ralph Winter, Leonard Nimoy, Nicholas Meyer, and David Loughery on the genesis of the movie.
• Prejudice (5:00) – look at how prejudice was incorporated into the story and the issues that Gene Rodenberry and the cast had with the script.
• Director Nicholas Meyer (5:55) – a look at Nicholas Meyer as director and co-writer including behind the scenes footage and interviews with those who worked with him on this film.
• Shakespeare & General Chang (5:51) – the part of Chang was written for Plummer and this featurette includes interviews with Plummer and other cast and crew about getting him into the movie and the incorporation of his Shakespearian acting.
• Bringing It To Life (23:24) – a look at the shooting of the film from cinematography to production design to special effects.
• Farewell & Goodbye (7:02) – a look at the last day, being the last scene.

The Star Trek Universe

    There are five featurettes here:

• Conversations With Nicholas Meyer (9:30) – an extensive interview with the director.
• Klingons: Conjuring The Legend (20:43) – a look at the creation of the Klingons and their evolution through the various Star Trek series and movies.
• Federation Operatives (4:51) – a look at the ‘regular’ extras and cast members who not only appeared in Star Trek VI but some of the other movies and the various series in or out of make up or both.
• Penny’s Toy Box (6:03) – an interview with the archivist of Star Trek merchandise who has something special to show us from the set of Star Trek VI.
• Together Again (4:54) – interviews with Chris Plummer and William Shatner who knew each other and were happy to be working together again.

Farewell

    There are two featurettes here:

• DeForest Kelley: A Tribute (13:18) – a look a the career of Deforest Kelley who played the role of Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy and who was very favourably thought of by all who ever worked with him.
• Original Interviews – these are interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig and Iman from the time of the release of the movie. Each interview lasts around 5 minutes.

Advertising

• Teaser Trailer (1:18) – presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:10) – presented in 200:1, letterboxed.
• 1991 Convention Presentation By Nicholas Meyer (4:47) – a special interview provided at a Trek Convention by Meyer discussing the upcoming movie. Includes some behind-the-scenes footage.

Archives

    As with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, this is divided into two categories:

• Production Gallery (3:22) – which is basically behind the scene footage; and
• Storyboards – which contains four sets of storyboards for four sequences in the film: Praxis; Assassins; Rura Penthe; and Leaving Space Dock, some of which was not filmed.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    This new release is far better than any previous release, given that the previous R1 and R4 releases were not 16x9 enhanced. The new R1 release would appear to be identical in terms of special features and movie content, making the differences only the NTSC/PAL format and the language options. Choose with your wallet or your language barrier.

    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a rip-snorter of a Star Trek movie. Sure there are inconsistencies with the overall series, but as far as writing goes this is done very well and makes for an entertaining evening in.

    The video is infinitely better than the earlier release, with a 16x9 enhanced image and a director’s approved aspect ratio.

    The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is better than that done for the original release with some great enveloping sound fields.

    The extras are excellent and add a lot to the understanding of the movie.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall