Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig
• Directors: Nicholas Meyer
• Writers: Nicholas Meyer, Harve Bennett, Gene Roddenberry, Jack B. Sowards, Ramon Sanchez
• Producers: Harve Bennett
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: August 6, 2002
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (542 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000683DH
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,987 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Although Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a box-office hit, it was by no means a unanimous success with Star Trek fans, who responded much more favorably to the "classic Trek" scenario of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Inspired by the "Space Seed" episode of the original TV series, the film reunites newly promoted Admiral Kirk with his nemesis from the earlier episode--the genetically superior Khan (Ricardo Montalban)--who is now seeking revenge upon Kirk for having been imprisoned on a desolated planet. Their battle ensues over control of the Genesis device, a top-secret Starfleet project enabling entire planets to be transformed into life-supporting worlds, pioneered by the mother (Bibi Besch) of Kirk's estranged and now-adult son. While Mr. Spock mentors the young Vulcan Lt. Saavik (then-newcomer Kirstie Alley), Kirk must battle Khan to the bitter end, through a climactic starship chase and an unexpected crisis that will cost the life of Kirk's closest friend. This was the kind of character-based Trek that fans were waiting for, boosted by spectacular special effects, a great villain (thanks to Montalban's splendidly melodramatic performance), and a deft combination of humor, excitement, and wondrous imagination. Director Nicholas Meyer (who would play a substantial role in the success of future Trek features) handles the film as a combination of Moby Dick, Shakespearean tragedy, World War II submarine thriller, and dazzling science fiction, setting the successful tone for the Trek films that followed. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Admiral kirks midlife crisis is interrupted by the return of an old enemy looking for revenge and a potentially destructive device Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: William Shatner Nichelle Nichols Run time: 116 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Nicholas Meyer

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie/DVD; Star Trek 3 Director's Edition coming soon! July 28, 2002

By J. F. Cramer

Format:DVD

I just bought this DVD..., and the verdict is in: It's a blast!!!

THE MOVIE: Certanily one of the best Star Trek movies. Although the main plot about revenge is a bit too basic, the sub-plots, including the addition of Kirk's ex-wife and son, makes the movie better. The action is well paced and the special effects are marevelous. Also, the "expanded director's edition" featured on this DVD adds about 5 extra minutes to the movie. The added footage does little to help the plot, but does a great deal to flesh out more of the minor characters, such as Kirk's son and Lt. Saavik. Also, the last 15 minutes of the film (some added dialogue was put in there to have a little bit more emotional impact at the end of the film) made me jump the grade of the film from a "B" to an "A+."

THE DVD: In addition to having a crisp, clear picture transfer of the film with oustanding sound, the first disc has a nice audio commentary from the director and an even nicer text commentary from Michael Okuda, co-author of the Star Trek Encyclopedia. (That guy knows EVERY SINGLE LITTLE DETAIL THAT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD NOT EVEN KNOW A THING ABOUT that regards to Star Trek.) The second disc contains the following:

1) The Captain's Log: A 27-minute documentary featuring brand new interviews with Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, director Nicholas Meyer, Ricardo Montalban, and others. They talk about how they originally intended to put the film together, how they eventually ended up completing that task, and other things.
2) Designing Khan: A 23-minute documentary that features interviews with director Nicholas Meyers, the costume designer, and the production designer. They discuss the transitions they made in costume and production design from the ST:TMP to ST2:TWOK.
3) Visual Effects: An 18-minute featurette that has interviews with the FX crew. They explain how they executed and completed the FX shots. (Big surprise there)
4) The Star Trek Universe: A 28-minute documetary that features interviews with two Star Trek novel writers. They discuss how they fill in the gaps between the movies with their books and where they get their ideas.
5) Original Interviews: Basically 10 minutes of interviews (from 1982) featuring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban, and Deforest Kelley.
6) Archives: The archives feature 10 original storyboard sequences. (That sure beats the storyboard archives on the ST:TMP DVD, which features a mere 3 storyboard sequences.) There is also a thatrical trailer.

So, there you have it. A great movie with a packed DVD equals a great purchase. Buy as soon as possible.

1982; 116 minutes; Rated PG for mild obscenity, some sequences of sc-fi action/violence, and brief shots of the aftermaths of brutal murders.
(I DO think this movie should have been rated PG-13, but the rating didn't exist then. See and judge for yourself.)...

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Well, I think it looks good... December 5, 2009

By Little Roy Blue

Format:Blu-ray

I'm relatively new to the whole Blu-ray thing; indeed, I resisted buying a Blu-ray player for a long time because I imagined that older movies (e.g., Wrath of Khan) would look grainy and dated in this format, which mercilessly exposes the flaws in older film prints.

So I was pleasantly surprised when "Wrath of Khan" ended up looking, to me, rather good on Blu-ray. It's by no means a perfect print; for example, there's usually some fuzz (or whatever the technical term is) visible on scenes with dark lighting, such as when the Enterprise bridge goes to red alert. But by and large, this print is much nicer than the previous DVD versions.

I compared some DVD scenes to Blu-ray ones to determine whether the upgrade was worth it, and I think it was. Check out the scene when Spock gives Kirk his birthday present; on Blu-ray, you can see all the fine details on that giant globe they're standing next to, whereas on the DVD print it just looks like some glass blob. Similarly, the nebula scenes look much clearer on the Blu-ray.

Some fans seem annoyed that "digital noise reduction" has been applied to the Star Trek movies. Again, I'm no technical expert, but I believe this means that the artifacting/fuzz/whatever-you-call-it has been digitally "painted out" to give the film a cleaner look. This has led some fans to complain that the ST films now look artificially painted over, or waxy, or whatever. I sympathize with this complaint, but I think there's a tough choice to be made here; either studios can digitally "paint out" flaws, resulting in a slightly artificial look, or they can leave the flaws in, resulting in a distracting grainy look. Based on my Blu-ray experiences so far, I favor the noise reduction; for example, the Star Trek Blu-rays look much nicer to me than Fargo, which looks like it was shot through a layer of gauze.

The only real disappointment is that "Wrath of Khan" is only available in its theatrical cut, not the (slightly) better extended cut. It's a shame that Paramount doesn't give you a choice between the two versions; for "Khan," I'd pick the extended cut, and for "Undiscovered Country" I'd go with the theatrical one, but so far Paramount has not released versions that offer the option of switching.

But still, I think "Khan" looks so much nicer as a Blu-ray that I'd rather watch this copy than the special edition DVD. I don't even have a problem with the much-loathed "Delta shield" menu, which may be basic, but has a certain elegance to it...

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The royal treatment comes to the most famous TREK film August 27, 2002

By James Mason

Format:DVD

In the wake of Robert Wise's "director's edition" of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, it was only a matter of time before Nicholas Meyer's STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN was awarded the same treatment. Half a year later, KHAN does indeed get the royal treatment with a 2-disc set loaded with extras and fan tidbits galore. The package includes a slightly extended "director's cut" of KHAN that restores a critical plot point (namely, the young cadet who dies in Scotty's arms is actually Scotty's nephew) and a few brief clippings of dialogue (mostly back-and-forth exchanges among the main cast); a commentary by Meyer in which he discusses both the film and his approaches to filmmaking; a text commentary by STAR TREK's long-time technical point man Michael Okuda that's packed with more fanboy knowledge than a game of Trivial Pursuit; cast interviews from 1982 (in which Leonard Nimoy wears a pink and white striped suit that makes him look like a pimp); three documentaries covering the making of the film; "A Novel Approach," a documentary where TREK authors Julia Ecklar and Greg Cox discuss how KHAN's plot elements spun off into the TREK novels; the film's FX storyboards; and of course, the theatrical trailer. Let's look at each of these:

THE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF KHAN - the film makes a bit more sense now that the scenes establishing the doomed cadet as Scotty's nephew have been restored, and the restored dialogue adds a little extra kick to the proceedings (it's especially funny to hear Spock respond to Kirk's telling him about his son with a disinterested "Fascinating"). But the film is still as tightly structured and fast-paced as it's ever been; the added footage does nothing to slow the film down or to harm the story (although some nit-pickers will make the hilarious claim that the whopping THREE minutes restored to the film "butcher" it and ruin the pace-how can this be when the added three minutes are spread out over the whole film?). Rather, it gives it a bit more punch. As for the look of the film, it's certainly a lot cleaner and brighter than most other prints, but even with the digital re-mastering, there's still a lot of visible film grain. Like STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE before it, KHAN looks its age regardless of the print quality. But this is a minor detail. Overall the film looks pretty good.

COMMENTARIES - both interesting and enjoyable. Meyer's regular guy vibe and insights into the making of the film are engaging, and Okuda's trivia-heavy text comments are a joy for anyone who thrives on knowing useless fanboy tidbits.

CAST INTERVIEWS - a unusual time capsule in which the film's leads plug the film. But let's face it; the coolest thing about this insert is seeing Leonard Nimoy dressed like a pimp. Spock in a pink suit is perhaps the greatest source of laughs you'll ever find.

DOCUMENTARIES - by far, the coolest of these is "Where No Man Has Gone Before," which covers the stylish FX work ILM did on the film. The giddiness with which the film's FX crew recalls their work on the film is enormously contagious. "Designing KHAN," about the film's costume and set designs, is pretty good, too. "Captain's Log," about the overall making of the film, is uneven though. Where Meyer, producer Harve Bennett, and Ricardo Montalban are discussing what went into the making of the film, William Shatner spends his time being a total wiseacre, either mercilessly razzing his pal Nimoy ("I think the death scene would have been better if we DIDN'T see him thru the glass!" and "Oh, he knew he was coming back, he set me up to think he was leaving...I'll get him one day!") or joking about how he used women's cosmetics to look younger. And Nimoy is no better, cracking wise about how much older Shatner is than he. (For those of you wondering, this is how they act around each other all the time.) The insight/clowning-around mixture simply doesn't jell. But to be fair, at least Nicholas Meyer is finally acknowledged as the author of KHAN's shooting script, not Jack Sowards as has been erroneously credited. "A Novel Approach" is interesting, but dry; it bogs down when the authors recite passages from the novels. The moments where they discuss how KHAN formed the backbone of their work and display their fan knowledge are the most enjoyable, even if the supertitles used during the film clips steer too much into jokiness.

STORYBOARDS - mind-blowing. We're treated to the conceptual sketches of the film's FX shots (including the combat sequences, which match those in the finished film almost exactly), as well as some terrific concepts for the opening title sequence and the "Spock monologue" finale that really should have been used in the film. Illustrated by the late Mike Minor, these storyboards read like a really good comic book.

THEATRICAL TRAILER - pretty dramatic for a teaser, and it gives a good idea of what the film was going to be.

Despite a couple of rocky patches, the "director's edition" of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN is a worthy package to a really good film. Highly recommended.