First 'Khan' Director's Edition Reviews

After Paramount's previous movie-only DVD releases of the Star Trek films met with a disappointed reception, reviewers of the 'Wrath of Khan' Director's Edition DVD today said the studio seems to have learned its lesson.

Paramount entered the DVD arena several years ago with bare-bones releases of all the Star Trek movies, starting with the release of the TNG films and counting down to a movie-only DVD of 'The Wrath of Khan' two years ago. Last year, Paramount released a Director's Edition DVD of 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture,' and after the success of that DVD announced the release of similar editions for the later films. Three reviewers today gave the thumbs-up to the new releases:

• "After a very long wait, fans are finally getting the special edition of Star Trek II they've always wanted," wrote Peter M. Bracke and Cliff Stephenson at DVD File. The reviewers praised director Nicholas Meyer's audio commentary track as "highly entertaining," while in the new interviews filmed especially for the disc eponymous villain Ricardo Montalban (Khan) "ultimately steals the show just like he did in the movie." In the complete analysis the DVD scored 3.5 out of 5 for video and audio, and 4 out of 5 for extras and value.

• Ronald Epstein at the Home Theatre Forum was similarly effusive, calling the two-disc set an "outstanding job from the restoration team and DVD producers at Paramount." In his review, Epstein singled out the video transfer for special commendation. "If only all catalog titles could look this sensational, it would be a perfect world," he wrote. The text commentary by Trek veteran Michael Okuda also went down well. "It's like having a Star Trek geek sitting in the chair next to you giving you all these little-known-facts about the scenes you are watching." The complete analysis can be found here.

• TrekWeb's Steve Krutzler hailed 'Khan' as "the definitive addition to even the most casual fan's movie collection." Although he felt some of the additional scenes were unnecessary, he said "even in their awkward placement these scenes provide a delightful boost to the viewing of your favorite Star Trek movie." Awarding the disc 4.5 stars out of 5, Krutzler wrote that "the movie finally gets the treatment it deserves." The full review is available at TrekWeb.

• Last but not least, over twenty high-quality screenshots from the film and the DVD's various menus have been posted at IGN DVD.

The 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' Director's Edition DVD will be released in Region 1, encompassing the United States and Canada, on the 6th of August. The DVD can already be pre-ordered from Amazon.com and Amazon Canada.

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