Ahira's Hangar

glad you enjoyed, neo

Yeah, it's not Sagan or Attenborough
but it was A&E, not PBS or BBC
ya know?

and yeah, it was much better resolution on the free DVD father-of-love received with his Astronomy Magazine subscription.

So, over the weekend, I watched the first four Trek films on blu-ray. I bought the "original motion picture collection" that contains the first six Trek films with the original cast, but ST V and VI are my least favorite of the six.

My first observation is that I'm a bit surprised by how soft Wrath of Khan looks compared to the others. Since the other films look pretty sharp in comparison, I have to conclude it's not some problem in the digital transfer, but that Wrath of Khan had an inherently softer picture. I don't know why. Maybe the film stock used for that movie was subpar.

The other thing is that I'm disappointed that these blu-ray versions aren't the "Director's Cut" versions as released on the earlier double DVD sets. Rather, the blu-rays all appear to be the original theatrical versions. It's especially disappointing in the case of The Motion Picture. For the DVD release, Robert Wise and company had given TMP a lot of TLC, restoring it to its rightful place as a sci fi masterpiece (in my opinion). The Director's Cut of that film was as definitive as one could have hoped for.

The most pleasant surprise of the bunch, image quality-wise, was The Search for Spock. I couldn't believe how clean and crisp the picture was: it jumped out at me. The Voyage Home looked very good, too, though it didn't knock me out like Search for Spock.

Also, in watching ST III, I was struck again by its bittersweet quality, an emotional vulnerability - and grace - that is unique to it. That was the genius (if I may call it that) of the film: that the whole thing revolved around getting Spock back, so that when Spock did return, it felt like a hard-earned return. ST III did an extraordinary job of making Spock's return not look like a big cinematic cheat. Imagine if there were no Search for Spock, if they went right to Voyage Home and Spock's resurrection only occupied the first 10 minutes of the film before everyone went to save some whales. Oh, and I'm more convinced than ever that ST III represents Kirk's finest hour (and a half) on the big screen. Montalban may have owned Wrath of Khan, but the depth of feeling Shatner puts into Kirk in ST III is something special, too.

The Voyage Home, meanwhile, remains the most fun Trek film ever. The camaraderie here has never been matched. I like to think that, in some alternate movie universe, Kirk and crew went on to more awesome adventures after they had boarded their new Enterprise at the end of ST IV.

The new bonus blu-ray features are, annoyingly, randomly inserted in with material previously released on the DVD sets. Not that there's much in the new stuff, as the material from the DVD releases was already fairly deep. I haven't listened to the new commentaries - that may be the only way that I'll sit through ST V and VI.

Haven't watched it yet, but this blu-ray collection also has a seventh disc called "The Captain's Summit" - a round table discussion featuring Shatner, Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and Whoopi Goldberg. (Gee, Goldberg was a starship captain on Trek? That's news to me.)

Gotta say that STIII was always one of my favourites...if not the favourite of the series. TMP was great, especially for it's premise, and you gave me a much better appreciation of WoK, but SfS has always had a special place for me.

--A

I've never seen any of them, so can't comment. The word Solaris always makes me think of Asimov's Caves of Steel books. It's a world agoraphobic earth policeman Elijah Bailey visits in one of the books...Robots of Dawn, IIRC.

--A

I have not seen the original, but liked the remake of Solaris. Quiet and intelligent science fiction films are always something to appreciate.

I can only agree about the "how to depict aliens." I've always suspected that real aliens would be...well...alien. With motivations etc we cannot comprehend because of their alieness.

Sounds like I'll have to track down the book...I've always had a taste for Eastern European sci-fi. And Lem sounds familiar, although a quick look at his bibliograpghy confirms I haven't actually read any of his books.

--A

To clear my mind of all the stupid and depressing news of the week, my Friday night DVD movie was The Bourne Ultimatum. This was actually the first time I watched the movie since I saw it at the theatre, which may seem strange since I totally love this movie. Guess I didn't want to diminish the magic from too much repeated viewing. Anyway, I think the whole Jason Bourne trilogy is amazing - for the action, but also for the great casting.

In this one, David Strathairn is a perfectly slimy adversary to both Matt Damon and to "good" CIA gal Joan Allen. She is awesome. For pure action, the Tangier street/rooftop chase is a classic. I mean, it is just insane! My heart was thumping, probably just as hard as when I first saw it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Matt Damon's Jason Bourne has all but supplanted James Bond in my mind as the best action superspy ever. Add the strength and appeal of Joan Allen and Julia Stiles, and the Bourne films leave Bond far behind.

I've had "Australia" sitting on the coffee table for about two weeks now. And I probably won't get to it this weekend, either. But I do have some motivation to watch and return it, because next up in my Netflix queue is the final season of BSG (tho they won't ship it to me any earlier than the 14th...).

I did make an effort to follow the final season of BSG, but never did catch the final half-dozen or so episodes. It just seemed to me like they dragged out the last episodes for all their worth. I just got fed up -- I'm not a very patient TV viewer these days. But I hope you enjoy whatever happens to Adama and the gang in the finale. Hopefully it's a meaningful resolution instead of something lame (which is what I'm expecting, since that is the curse of all shows that start strong).

Long weekend this weekend, (women's day), so I'm planning a LotR marathon.

--A

Hahaha, my woman will be watching LotR along with me.

--A

I have been watching season one of The Tudors. The history is somewhat shakey, and at first I just couldn't get over how they cast a short dark haired guy as Henry VIII (who was a six foot plus red head, a giant for his time). But you know what - he is a really good actor, so I am getting used to him pretty quickly. And while the history is shakey (they have the wrong sister of the King getting involved with Charles Brandon, for example), they do get the main storyline down pretty well (though they probably do not want to take too many liberties with Henry's first two marriages, as too many people are familiar with those stories).