Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Theatrical Cut was already available in 4k in The Original 4-Movie Collection released exactly a year ago on Ultra HD Blu-ray. The 4k video and Dolby Vision/HDR10 color specs are the same on the Director’s Edition, but the English audio was upgraded from Dolby TrueHD 7.1 to Dolby Atmos. What’s more, there are deleted scenes, production tests, and an 8-part documentary detailing how the Director’s Edition came to life all added as new extras along with legacy bonus material.
Colors are extremely vibrant with HDR (expanding the color depth limits up to 10-bits) on the 4k Blu-ray edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Directors Edition. The bitrate averaged around 50-60Mbps with variations depending on the depth of color and detail in the scene. There are some shots that are somewhat blurry (like when the Klingons encounter the massive energy in the opening scene) but for the most part the restoration has delivered a vastly improved image in terms of both sharpness, highlighted by the U.S.S. Enterprise that had shots rebuilt using 3D software and the original scale model as reference.
As far as sound, Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Directors Edition offers object-based Dolby Atmos immersive audio. This is an upgrade from last year’s Theatrical Cut with Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, we were excited to review this disc from Paramount.
The introduction composition with credit is more crisp and detailed, with horns and instrumentals more focused in surround speakers. There are some bright chimes (a common thread throughout the soundtrack) in the front center speaker that are so crisp it’s as if the instruments are there in the room with you. Expectations were exceeded on the upgraded audio. The new Atmos mix doesn’t seem forced or gimmicky — it just seems like a great soundtrack to what some consider the best of the six original Star Trek films.
It was said that Jerry Goldsmith created a score so good that the filmmakers wished they had made a film that was as good. The soundtrack to Star Trek: The Motion Picture is as iconic as the movie itself (the number of CDs sold can attest to this). With sweeping orchestral movements and a theme that’s so easy to remember it’s a soundtrack that can easily be enjoyed without any visuals.
See scores and read the full review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Directors Edition on 4k Blu-ray Disc.
