Star Trek Into Darkness – Blu Ray/DVD Date and Details

 

I haven’t typically been reporting on Blu Ray/DVD news, but it occurs to me that as the big summer releases start to announce when they’ll be pillaging our wallets again, that I should pass along release dates and goodies that will be accompanying the year’s big films.

I really liked Star Trek Into Darkness (if you want to read my original review: http://wp.me/p36nPa-Cf) and, despite the problems I had with the back third of the movie, I thought it was a blast and I’ll definitely be adding this to my Blu Ray library when it hits stores on September 10th.  JJ Abrams was very invested in making the Blu Ray a worthwhile purchase for the fans and talked about some of the things in the set.  I’ll follow his quote with the official release specs for the special features (which is what we really want to know about).

“I’m excited for viewers at home to check out Star Trek Into Darkness on Blu-ray and DVD,” said J.J. Abrams. “They did a great job and I’m thrilled with how everything looks and sounds. We also have some really fun behind-the-scenes special features that we shot on the Red and created entirely in-house at Bad Robot. They really look amazing and unlike anything I’ve seen on DVD or Blu-ray before.” Abrams added “I hope fans enjoy seeing the process that went into making the movie and the truly amazing work of our most spectacular cast and crew.”

The Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray/DVD and Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo packs with UltraViolet™ are bursting with behind-the-scenes material detailing how the filmmakers delivered a rousing epic filled with both spectacle and soul. For the first time, the special features included in the combo packs were produced entirely by Abrams’
Bad Robot Productions and captured in spectacular high quality on Red Epic cameras for a uniquely intimate perspective of the filmmakers’ process.

Blu-ray Special Features:
– Feature film in high definition
– Creating the Red Planet – Experience the creation of a never-before-seen alien world, as featured in the action-packed opening sequence of the film.
– Attack on Starfleet – Go behind the scenes with the cast and filmmakers and witness the creation of the shocking attack on Starfleet Headquarters.
– The Klingon Home World – Discover the stunning world of Kronos, and see how the filmmakers reinvented the Klingons for a new generation.
– The Enemy of My Enemy – Find out how, and why, the identity of the film’s true villain was kept a mystery to the very end.
– Ship to Ship – An in-depth and thrilling look at the filming of the iconic space jump sequence, which both defied the laws of physics and pushed the limits of visual effects.
– Brawl by the Bay – Sit in with Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch as they revisit their intense preparation for the film’s breathtaking climax.
– Continuing the Mission – An inspiring look at the partnership between the film’s crew and the organization that assists returning veterans to find meaningful ways to contribute on the home front.

Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) SPOILER FREE-ISH

In 2009, something of a movie miracle was accomplished when JJ Abrams and company recast, rebooted and yet did not discard the canon of Star Trek.  It was a nuanced and brilliant feat.  They cast a crew that is more cohesive and believably loyal to one another after one movie than the original cast was after three years of TV shows.  They were set up to move in a new direction, take the training wheels off, and let this crew shine in Star Trek Into Darkness.

For the movie’s first hour, that’s precisely what you get and it is glorious. I look at Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and I see Kirk and Spock now.  That’s just astounding.  The opening sequence was something straight out of the TV show (had the TV show possessed a several hundred million dollar budget).  The Enterprise is quickly redirected from its exploratory activities following a tragedy in London and sent after rogue Starfleet operator John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch).  The manhunt for Harrison takes the crew to locales familiar to Trek fans and introduces into this new timeline old friends reimagined (in quite brilliant ways).

It is at this point that I cannot talk plot any longer.  The movie has been out for less than a week and I don’t think it’s fair, when the entire debate and back and forth I want to have is on plot, to lay it all out in a review for someone who might have the experience spoiled.  I don’t like having it done to me and I won’t do it to them this soon to an opening.  The bottom line is: does this live up to Star Trek XI?  No.

The good news in that is not because of a bad performance, bad F/X (which are stunning; you are stone cold stupid if you don’t see this in IMAX if it’s close to where you live) or any technical detail.  The problem I have is quite simply I feel that there is SO much in this movie that it collapses in the second half under the weight of what it tries to take on and, as a result, cannot give the events of the second half the time and gravity they require to have any sort of lasting meaning.  Benedict Cumberbatch was superb.  He’s Cumberbatch.  It’s that simple.  You have Cumberbatch in your movie; keep him onscreen.  Due to the amount of plot, he disappears for nearly an hour and that’s an extreme pacing issue.  What WAS onscreen was fantastic.  This crew needs all training wheels removed and it is time to let them go their own way and blaze their own trail.

I want to debate finer points.  I want to sift through Trekkie minutiae.  I want to hear what others thought, but let’s keep it in the comments and let others, for at least another week, have a chance to go into this fresh.  I want to slap it harder on the wrist for the back half but I’m hard pressed to find a movie in memory where there was TOO much awesome.  this should have been two movies at 1:45 each; not one movie at 2:15.  I think concerns about getting the cast and Abrams back panicked them into packing the back-end and what should have been a solid, solid 10 is a generous:
9.0/10

Star Trek: Into Darkness IMAX Poster

As the countdown to the arrival of the newest entry in the Star Trek pantheon ticks down, we have a poster for the IMAX theaters showing the film.  It features what, to me, was the jaw-dropping moment from the last trailer.  Does John Harrison’s ship not look like a Next Generation class Enterprise?  Who IS this guy?  Any theories on the ship?  I paused that moment in the trailer and just stared and stared.  I do believe Kirk and company are going to get themselves Cumberbatched (I’m making this my new verb of choice).  Star Trek Into Darkness opens in just TWO WEEKS!

JJ Abrams on the Future of Star Trek and Star Wars

JJ Abrams is hard at work promoting Star Trek: Into Darkness and sat down to talk about that movie, Star Wars Episode VII and the possibility of a third Star Trek film.

“I learned so much doing the first Star Trek—a movie. I’d never done any kind of space adventure before or anything on that scale. We knew the second one had to be bigger and not just for bigger’s sake. It was where the story was taking us. We got really cool glimpses of the Enterprise in the first movie. This time we get to see areas of the ship nobody’s seen before. And the villain is more complex now. In our first film Eric Bana plays a wonderfully angry Romulan dude, pissed off and full of vengeance. In this one, the bad guy is still brutal and fierce, but he’s got a much more interesting and active story. We have to grapple with many layers of his character. He’s essentially a space terrorist, and Benedict Cumberbatch, whom people know from BBC’s Sherlock, is kickass in the role. Kirk and the rest of the crew are figuring out how the hell to get an upper hand with this guy. The darkness is real in this movie, and it’s incredibly challenging and terrifying, and it can certainly be lethal. You need that edge, partly because Star Trek has been so relentlessly parodied over the years.”

“The worlds are vastly different. Honestly, that was why I passed on Star Wars to begin with. I couldn’t imagine doing both. But when I said that my loyalty was to Star Trek I was literally working on finishing this cut. I couldn’t even entertain another thought. It was like being on the most beautiful beach in the world and someone saying, “There’s this amazing mountain over here. Come take a look.” I couldn’t balance the two, so I passed on Star Wars.”

“I was near the light at the end of the tunnel with my work on Star Trek. I felt I needed a bit of a breather, actually. But then Kathleen Kennedy [the new Lucasfilm head who oversees Star Wars] called again. I’ve known her for years. We had a great conversation, and the idea of working with her on this suddenly went from being theoretical and easy to deny to being a real, tangible, thrilling possibility. In the end it was my wife, Katie, who said if it was something that really interested me, I had to consider it.”

“As with anything, because these are very different worlds, they shouldn’t feel the same aesthetically. They can’t. You’re right. But again, I don’t apply aesthetics first and fit a movie into that aesthetic. If I had come into Star Trek with those eyes, I would probably have been paralyzed. The advantage here is that we still have George Lucas with us to go to and ask questions and get his feedback on things, which I certainly will do. With Star Trek it was harder because I wasn’t a Star Trek fan; I didn’t have the same emotional feeling, and I didn’t have Gene Roddenberry to go to. But I came to understand the world of Star Trek, and I appreciated what fans felt and believed about this universe and this franchise.”

Star Wars Episode VII is slated for summer 2015, Star Trek: Into Darkness opens May 17th and Abrams did not close the door on returning to the Enterprise.

“I would say it’s a possibility. We’re trying to figure out the next step. But it’s like anything: It all begins with the story.”

Star Trek: Into Darkness Viral John Harrison Video

Oh, Cumberbatch, cleverest of devils!  Is it not enough you’ve had five trailers to menace us as John Harrison (at whom we’re bursting brain vessels trying not to mutter “Khan” under our nerdy collective breaths)?  Did you really need to go viral and taunt our James Tiberius Kirk?  I forgive you, Cumberbatch.  Your name ensorcles me.  Enjoy!