Paramount's Blu-ray of Star Trek (available next Tuesday, 11.17) is one of the most sensibly-designed I've seen in terms of packaging and extras. They've wisely put the feature & commentary on one disc and all other supplemental materials on the second. One would assume they did this to preserve picture and audio quality, since the featurettes, deleted scenes, and gag reel on disc 2 add up to over three and a half hours of material.
The front of the cardboard slipcase and the front/back of the case.
More than once in the commentary (recorded a month after release), the producers bring up the super-early Alamo Drafthouse screening I attended in April. As enthusiastic as everyone was coming out of that show, Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof speak of it equally so. Approaching the first moment of Spock/Uhura intimacy, they mention having been on pins and needles while sitting there watching it with us, worried they would lose the audience right there. Hearing bits of what they were feeling during that screening brought my memories back vividly. Whoever signs Paramount publicist Tamar Teifeld's paychecks really should write her a few extra for the end of the year. Someone should buy Tim League a castle, because after that, he's the immortal king of all showmen. That show has firmly entered the annals of Austin film exhibition legend.
These are among the most efficient and cleanly-navigable menus I've seen on Blu-ray thus far. Disc producers take note: this is how it's done.
The supplements, just as the movie, do a great job of delivering for longtime followers of the franchise and new fans alike. The extras are so comprehensive that I wouldn't worry much about a double dip. I'm not certain what else they'd have to throw into the nearly four hours of content on display. As far as 2009 theatrical releases on disc are concerned, this is the only one I consider completely flawless in execution.
The extras are divided into topics. Of the ten "featurette" topics, six include tangential mini-featurettes lasting in length from 45 seconds to 3.5 minutes. They're accessible by pushing the Enter button when the Trek logo appears on the screen. The order in which the topics appear in the menu pictured above follow a logical progression deeper and deeper into the development and execution of the film. The only thing I would have added here would be a "Play Everything" option that covers all supplements and branching featurettes.
The contents of the case and the back of the slipcase. The standard "DVD back" text and summary of features is on a piece of paper spot-glued to the back of the cardboard, similar to recent "Blu-ray book" releases for Warner Bros.
I won't go too deeply into spoiling the content of each featurette, but I will list runtimes and topics with a bit of detail on a few. The parts I was most eager to watch were anything and everything to do with the deleted scenes involving the Klingons.
To Boldly Go [16:40]
- The Shatner Conundrum [1:58]
- Red Shirt Guy [:43]
- The Green Girl [3:25]
- Trekker Alert [2:22]
This section deals with preproduction, scripting, and general conceptualization. More specifically, it gets into how and what they chose to draw from in canon for the new film. Watching this first primary featurette, I did a double-take when I thought I saw my first college roommate, Joshua Rosenfield. I went back a few seconds, and sure enough, it was him. A few moments later, a logo popped up. I hit enter, and there he was front and center in "Trekker Alert", a 2 minute and 22 second featurette about Trek fans that were extras in the movie. For better or worse, I'll say that he is portrayed very authentically.
Casting [28:53]
This bit hits on the casting process with regard to every main character, with a fair amount of time rightly spent on Nimoy and Quinto.
A New Vision [19:31]
- Savage Pressure [3:08]
This focuses primarily on JJ Abrams and his particular flavor that he added to the property. There's some coverage of the lens flares and camera shakes so many have decried. "I would have done..." they all futilly directed from their armchairs! I defended them then, and I defend them now. Before Abrams, Trek style was all about a flawless, dirt and imperfection-free universe. I like the rough edges. "Savage Pressure" gives some love to Assistant Director Tommy Gormley. As is often the case, the audience sees the movie, but doesn't appreciate the tremendous contribution of the 1st AD.
Starships [24:33]
- Warp [1:22]
- Paint Job [1:12]
- Bridge Construction Accelerated [1:18]
- The Captain's Chair [:42]
- Button Acting 101 [1:41]
- Narada Construction Accelerated [1:20]
- Shuttle Shuffle [1:46]
This is the first featurette that really digs into the design updates and reasoning behind different choices, like changes in scale. The 2009 Enterprise is over twice the size of the Original Series Enterprise, and it makes sense. The design choices made on the Starfleet bridge sets are inspired in execution, but you only get a really good, up-close look at them here. The time lapse construction bits are great. I watched them twice each. My favorite things they covered here are the locations used for various interiors, from the Enterprise engine room (a Budweiser plant) to the Kelvin escape pod deck (a power plant) to the shuttle hangar seen early on (a WWII zeppelin hangar).
Aliens [16:29]
- The Alien Paradox [1:40]
- Big-Eyed Girl [1:25]
- Big Bro Quinto [1:25]
- Klingons [1:57]
- Drakoulias Anatomy 101 [1:34]
The approach they took to the aliens in the new Trek feels very much like what the franchise wishes it'd had the money to do previously but couldn't. The mix of practical and CG applications look great in the finished product, and pulling back the curtain on how they were done is indeed fascinating here. The "Klingons" branching featurette includes the only look at the partial makeup application they did on Victor Garber as the lead Klingon. You see him as he looks underneath the metal mask he's seen wearing in the deleted scene. The didn't do the full face, so the makeup ends at his brow.
Planets [16:10]
- Extra Business [2:29]
- Confidentiality [2:45]
The primary piece here looks at outdoor locations used, but the coolest bit for me was on how information was managed throughout production. Secrecy was a big deal on this set more than any franchise property in recent memory. How long did everyone go not even seeing the crew uniforms? Here they pinpoint the moments where people were caught outside of "tent city" in costume by paparazzi, including Chris Pine running off to take a leak. The intricacy of the operation is really impressive from the other side of the tent flaps. Abrams runs about as tight a ship as one can.
Props and Costumes [9:22]
- Klingons [1:08]
I didn't realize that the costume designer from Blade Runner worked on this movie until I watched this. The Klingon trench coat getup was the most Blade Runnery in the production, and here they get the attention they missed out on thanks to being cut out of the movie. People who've never been inside a theatrical costume shop will gain a new appreciation for the art of design here.
Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek [11:45]
Burtt, famous for sound designing no less than Star Wars, gets to come full circle. He was a die-hard Trek fan before Lucas started the first draft of Wars. Abrams tasked him with recreating and updating the classic sound effects, from the transporter to photon torpedoes. The sad state of archival materials on original Trek production sound methods and tools is on full display when the voice of R2D2 goes to the studio vault and can't find much at all.
Score [6:28]
Michael Giacchino turned in a score that managed to pay tribute to familiar themes, but really pumped Star Trek up to epic action film tempo. This is more substantive than what I'm used to on this subject. I'm used to anemic two minute blips on "so there was music in this movie, and it was totally awesome" covering the score. They wisely chose to focus specifically on the new theme and the adaptation of the Alexander Courage classic.
Gene Roddenberry's Vision [8:47]
This is the obligatory look at how much affection the writers (Bob Orci in particular) have for the source material. Orci/Kurtman understandably put a great deal of emphasis on how much they wanted to pay proper tribute to Gene's intentions. A cynic could try to call foul on their claims of faithfulness, but they'd have to know nothing about Trek in the first place. I can assure you that their hearts are in the right places. Anyone who still doubts their respect for and faithfulness to canon should listen to the duo's commentary on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
9 Deleted Scenes [13:30] with optional commentary by JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, & Bryan Burke
- Spock Birth
- Klingons Take Over Narada
- Young Kirk, Johnny, and Uncle Frank
- Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights
- Prison Interrogation and Breakout
- Sarek Gets Amanda
- Dorm Room & Kobiyashi Maru (original version)
- Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl
- Sarek Sees Spock
Right off the bat, I should state that there is no reason they would ever do an "Extended Edition" or "Director's Cut" of the movie. These scenes and the movie wouldn't work if reincorporated into the movie. They're cool, and I'm glad to see them, but it they are wisely removed. The gold here is the pair of excised scenes involving the Klingons and the prison planet of Rura Penthe (used in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). I'd love to have seen the Klingons and Victor Garber in the movie, but there's always the sequel.
The commentary details which of the scenes originally opened the movie and when you think about it, the opening they used is many, many times better in terms of pacing. The original Dorm/Kobiyashi scene was too explicit in showing how Kirk beat the test to the point it really made him rather unlikeable. The scene in which Diora Baird appears as a green Orion girl is included, and it's pretty funny thanks to Kirk becoming an accidental racist. Watch all of these first without and then with commentary.
Gag Reel [6:22]
There are a couple really solid laughs in this, but it isn't a rip-roarer like other gag reels on other discs. Quinto and Pine's lousy Scottish accents were what got me the most. I suppose that's a testament to how well everyone concerned did their jobs and stayed professional.
Also included are the trailers, disc credits for the sharp folks who put this thing together, and a Starfleet Vessel Simulator very much like the one on TOS Blu-ray sets. The first disc gives you access to Nasa News, a BD-Live specific feature that connects you to the latest updates from NASA. There's a Digital Copy on the third disc. The 2-disc DVD edition features the commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, digital copy, and some of the featurettes without their branching bits (To Boldly Go, A New Vision, Casting, Aliens, and Score). If you're buying Star Trek on disc, buy the Blu-ray or wait until you have a Blu player.
