Star Trek XI (3-Disc Edition) with Bonus Digital Copy [Blu-ray] [2009]
Star Trek XI (3-Disc Edition) with Bonus Digital Copy [Blu-ray] [2009]
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 List Price: £29.99 Sale Price: £10.34 Availability: unspecified 
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Product Description
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Winona Ryder, Zoe SaldanaDirectors: J.J. Abrams
Details
No features available.
Rating
OK, from a general film perspective this is an absolutely brilliant, entertaining and exciting film; the best I’ve seen for a good few years.
From a personal perspective (I Like Star Trek, and always enjoy watching it, I’m just not a card carrying, uniform wearing, kitchen converted into a transporter pad, fan) I think its a great twist on the series; the fact the film doesn’t resolve everything that happens in it by the end, means they can now do loads of different things, free from Star Trek history.
But, I can understand why some people may not appreciate it; it is a big shift in concept and implementation: the film is VERY different from olde Star Trek.
But frankly; get over it, Star Trek needed a rejuvenation, and this is a superb one.
Rating
So, I’ve something to tell you all; something not even some of my closest friends are aware of…I’m a MASSIVE Star Trek fan. I’ve seen pretty much every episode of Star Trek ever made, I’ve seen every film made (even the one where Kirk fights God!), and I could have a debate with any other Trekkie about who is the best captain (Janeway, naturally). However, in recent years, Star Trek was a franchise on its knees. Since the end of Enterprise in 2005, there was no Star Trek series on TV for the first time in 18 years and the last film, Nemesis, effectively signalled the end of the line for the Next Generation crew. What was to be done? Well step in Lost, Alias and Mission Impossible man J J Abrams to breathe life into the once great franchise. To paraphrase Spock: “It’s Star Trek Jim, but not as we know it.”
After the death of his father aboard the USS Kelvin, James T Kirk (Chris Pine) runs wild in his directionless life. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, Spock (Zachary Quinto) is ostracised due to his mixed Vulcan-human parentage. Both are headed for the USS Enterprise, both there is only room for one in the captain’s chair.
Reinventing Star Trek was never going to be an easy job for J J Abrams and his team, as there was almost forty years of canon behind them. However, from the first frames of the new film, the Star Trek timeline has been completely torn apart, due to the premature death of George Kirk, James Kirk’s father. Some fans have complained that this isn’t `real’ Star Trek, but it gives the writers the opportunity to completely reinvent the franchise, both in this film and the inevitable sequels. This is an opportunity which Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman seize with both hands, with a major re-writing of the Trek universe occurring. All bets are off from this point onwards, which is what Star Trek needed, after having picky fans moaning for years that x couldn’t have happened, as y had happened earlier, but this also affected z. Let the reinvention begin.
Despite this reinvention, the focus stays on the relationship between Kirk, the passionate human, and Spock, the logical Vulcan. Chris Pine is good as the cocky, self-assured, skirt-chasing Kirk. Although he doesn’t have the same bizarre speech pattern as Shatner, when the words come from his mouth, you believe that he is James T Kirk. The way he holds him self is similar too, especially in a moment where he sits in the captain’s chair with his fist under his chin, which is completely reminiscent of Shatner’s Kirk. The superb performance though comes from Zachery Qunito as Spock. Not only does he have the advantage of already looking like Leonard Nemoy, there is a real belief that beneath the Vulcan exterior, there is a battle raging between the human and Vulcan aspects of his personality.
The rest of the cast put in strong performances as well. Zoe Saldana’s Uhura finally has a story arc that Nichelle Nichols would have killed for, Simon Pegg’s Scotty and Anton Yelchin’s Chevok provide the comic relief, and John Cho’s Sulu getting to take part in a pretty tense sword fight. The highlight amongst the supporting cast though is Karl Urban, as Leonard `Bones’ McCoy, who has mastered the mannerisms of the grumpy ship’s doctor to perfection. More of him in the eventual sequel would be more than welcome.
Abrams has also succeeded in doing something no previous Trek did – Star Trek is now sexy. The original crew we ancient by the time they started making films, and by the time they made Nemesis, the Next Generation crew had too many wrinkles and expanding waistlines. In this film, the hem lines of the skirts are that little big higher, Kirk is caught in bed with a green alien, and the USS Enterprise is very much suited to the iPod generation. The film is also quick paced and action packed, with some fantastic special effects.
The Verdict
Set expectations to stunning – thanks to J J Abrams, Star Trek will live long and prosper. Oh, and it made me cry…twice
Rating
I had to be dragged into the room and threatened with being tied to the chair when we watched this movie. I’ve hated Star Trek since I was a child – it was one of my father’s obsessions and I was put off by his need to watch it over and over again, ad infinitum (especially when he decided to tell me what was about to happen several seconds before it did happen). I thank goodness for the invention of the media player and the personal dvd player, which means that I don’t have to inflict my obsessions on my family.
This film had action, romance (thankfully very limited), comedy, tension and more.
I was relieved to see that they had chosen new actors to play the roles. James T Kirk (Chris Pine – The Princess Diaries 2 – Royal Engagement [DVD] [2004]) is, er, shall we say self-assured and brash. After trying to pick up Uhura (Zoe Saldana) in a bar he is talked into joining star fleet academy (again) by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). On the transporter he meets a recently divorced, jaded and overly anxious Dr Leonard McCoy aka Bones (Karl Urban – The Truth About Demons [DVD] [2007], Out Of The Blue [2007] [DVD]).
Three years later Bones is a changed man, much more relaxed, but, unfortunately, his friend Kirk isn’t. Spock (Zachary Quinto – 24 : Complete Season 3 [DVD]) is at the academy too, but in a more senior position than Kirk.
After Starfleet intercepts a distress call and the fleet set off to help. Kirk, having been “grounded” is smuggled aboard the Enterprise by McCoy. On board the Enterprise we meet Sulu (John Cho) and teenage genius Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin – Terminator Salvation [DVD] [2009]). Later in the film we meet Scotty (Simon Pegg).
Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down (2 Disc Set) [2002] [DVD], Troy (Director’s Cut) [DVD] [2004]) is Nero, a Romulan who is out for revenge on those he believes allowed his planet and, therefore, his family to be destroyed.
Guest appearances include Winona Ryder as Spock’s mother, Ben Cross as Spock’s father, and Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock.
The cast were outstanding. I particularly enjoyed watching the start of the friendship between Kirk and Spock, as well as the friendship of Kirk and McCoy. All the cast performed well – it was, however, unfortunate that we did not see more of Karl Urban’s McCoy.
This film has converted me to Star Trek. I am still not sure I would be able to watch the various series that were made, but I would certainly watch a sequel to this movie – providing they could get the same Enterprise cast back. I would like to see more of McCoy and the others too.
I really wanted to dislike this film, I really did, but unfortunately I found I couldn’t. I never thought I would ever say this, but I really liked this Star Trek movie.
— For Information Purposes —
Disc 1 – feature film
~ Commentary by JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and Roberto Orci
~ A New Vision
~ Gag Reel
~ Audio tracks available: English only
~ Subtitles are in English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish for the main feature film.
Disc 2 – special feature
~ Deleted Scenes (commentary optional)
~ To Boldly Go featurette
~ Casting
~ Aliens
~ Score
~ Audio soundtrack – English only
~ Subtitles (disc 2 only) – English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish
The comic is entitled a “Star Trek Countdown” and is 10.7 cm by 16.9 cm with a depth of 0.5 cm. It is based on the “Star Trek Next Generation” TV series and is published by Titan Books.
— UPDATE Nov 2009 —
A sequel has now been announced – the main cast is expected to return
Rating
THIS YEAR’S IRON MAN
I guess there are different sorts of die hard fans. I’m of the type who has lapped up everything Star Trek for 40 years. The orginal series was great and so were most of the even numbered movies. TNG was a great ride but with each successive series thereafter, the ideas got less an less original – not that the shows weren’t created by hugely talented people but how could they stay hot after hundreds of episodes? By the time we limped to Enterprise, the franchise needed a shot in the arm if it was going to survive. I was hugely sceptical about Abrams’ version – Simon Pegg as Scotty, come on! I mean we love him but that definately felt like credibility was being stretched.
What a true delight it was then to see a true pumped up, rock ‘n’ roll version of Star Trek! Abrams and his gang did a clever thing, they created their very own Star Trek leaving the original series and everything we know fully intact sat happily in its own time line. Don’t misunderstand though, this is the very same Kirk, Spock, McCoy and co. we all know and love, just sent down a slightly different path. So we can take a few liberties, mix things up a bit and generally have a ton of fun.
The story does what it needs to, the casting is great (especially Spock and McCoy), the effects are fantastic and Abrams manages to do character moments on the move so there’s hardly time to take a breath – oh and Simon Pegg is great as Scotty!
Overall I got a real sense of joi de vivre, hence it being this year’s Iron Man something that’s been missing from Trek for a long time.
Maybe the best thing is, die hards and newbies alike will all find something to like.
Buy it!
Rating
I’m not a trekkie, and I absolutely loved this film – it’s a great action blockbuster full stop. Chris Pine is the perfect cast for our young Kirk, and this brings an aging franchise into the 21st century. If you like stunning action scenes, this is the one for you. Can’t wait to see it again, especially on Blu-ray.
Rating
The latest Trek film cleverly manages to be a sequel, a prequel and a re-boot. It achieves this through the most over-used plot device in the Trek library of time travel, but for once it’s justified as the result is an interesting set-up to an adventure that’s a great deal of fun. Bad guys from Picard’s era go back in time seeking revenge. They return to a time before Kirk and co embarked on their five-year mission, but their arrival changes the time-line, which means the established history doesn’t have to follow the same course as it did previously. This is a neat idea, which you can either accept or not. I did.
I’ll lay my cards on the table as being a fully-fledged Trek geek. I’ve watched every version many times, and yet there was nothing within the established history that was changed here that caused me any problems, but then again to my mind there wasn’t much in the way of an established history that was all that important anyway. I certainly don’t want to see flower people, mini-skirted Romulans and all the other aspects of a quaint 60s look at the future maintained forever. Plus, every version of Trek re-invents itself. The original series and the characters of Kirk, McCoy etc were a re-invention after the studios rejected the original pilot featuring Captain Pike. The Next Generation made peace with the Klingons. Deep Space 9 rewrote the established history for Cardassia and Bajor. Enterprise played fast and loose to allow Borg and Ferengi to appear and the crimes against good story-telling committed by Voyager are long and painful. Frankly, if we Trek fans can swallow Janeway and Paris mating after going at Warp 10 and changing into giant lizards, then there is nothing, but nothing in here to give concern.
Even when something important changes, there’s always a good reason behind it. Initially, a romance sub-plot feels wrong, but then again it’s a logical aspect of the characters’ journey. Clearly the makers cared enough to think about what made the characters tick, and they did their homework. The best example of this is the Kobayashi Maru scene, a sacred piece of Trek law that is played for laughs. At first this felt as if it were diminishing the significance that The Wrath of Khan placed on the incident, and yet it is a valid way for Kirk to behave, and it wasn’t until later that I clicked that the apple-eating was a homage. It’s things like this that make the movie work for rabid Trekkies like me, but it also works for the less committed fan because the story returns to the old-fashioned values of rip-roaring space adventure that the franchise had forgotten about delivering some years ago.
In the opening ten-minute prologue Trek re-boots itself with more non-stop movement, action, self-sacrifice and corny drama than in the entire previous two movies. Once the human drama has been presented as being as important as the space battles by raising Kirk’s birth to mythological levels, we get to see how the original crew meets up. Some of the crew such as Spock look like the original actor, some like McCoy have the essence of the original, and some like Scotty owe nothing to the original. But in all cases the comparison is with the actor, not with the character, and after living with them for a while all the characters feel right.
The adventure itself is as nonsensical as they ever were, but it carries the day with speed, humour, and some well-filmed action scenes along with underplayed special effects. My only complaint is the flares in which bright lights are repeatedly shone at the screen, although I think they won’t be so intrusive when seen on tv. Other than that this film gets everything right, especially the big surprise plot twist, one that those who know their Trek would never expect. The fact that it’s there is a brave testament to the fact that these are a new set of adventures, and they’re adventures I’ll be looking forward to.
Rating
Amazing blu ray transfer and thanks to the boys in blue (Royal Mail Blue that is) causing much mayhem, many online retailers are shipping early I have just received my copy and I’m 100% happy with it.
Many people are not happy with the new film but I really don’t understand why? It is a fantastic way to refresh everything and while it rewrites history it is done in a completely explainable way and I look forward to many more films with hopefully the same actors who play their respective characters to perfection.
CGI has come a long way over the years and this is just about the first time I didn’t think “you can tell that’s done with a computer”.
The Blu ray comes with a second disc jam packed with extras and the extra scenes are fantastic to watch. We all know a directors cut that will include them will be released in the next 12 months though.
All in all this is one of the best modern films I’ve watched and unlike most modern films I will be watching this on more then one occasion.
Looking forward to Star Trek 12.
5 Star Film and a 5 star Disc
Rating
Every franchise, from time to time, needs to reinvent itself in order to stay fresh. Star Trek, after years of tv shows that were rehashing old stories and getting tied up in continuity and facing an ever declining audience, had come to the point where it needed to do the same. Fans would often say that the show needed new blood on it.
And that’s what the studio have done. Brought in new creators who can take the whole thing in an entirely new direction. No longer on the small screen either.
Star trek movies can’t make a profit if they appeal solely to the fan base. They have to be a hit with the general public as well. And to the latter, star trek is kirk and spock and crew.
So, given the age of those left from the original cast making their return impractical, the whole thing had to start afresh. Tell a tale of how kirk and his crew came to be.
In addition to doing that, it also needed to satisfy all the viewers. provide an exciting action adventure movie and deal with the existence of all the previous incarnations of the show.
And it manages to do all that and more. The tale of how jim kirk and his crew came together whilst dealing with a deadly threat from a vengeance crazed alien, this is exciting and entertaining. a superb cast manage to bring in their own fresh takes on the original characters rather than do a straight impersonation, there are references that will appeal to fans but that won’t get in the way of the general publics appreciation of the film, and it also through some deft plotting manages to wipe the slate clean and leave us with no idea what will happen next to these characters. The original series continuity still exists, but this crew won’t be going through it. Star trek is boldly going where no man has gone before once again. I can’t wait to find out where it ends up next. And all fans should embrace this new direction in the same way.
As should any members of the general public who want to watch an entertaining film.
This is the two disc edition of the movie.
The first disc contains the film itself, plus three extras: a commentary from some of the production staff.
An eighteen minute long making of the movie documentary. this cant cover everything in such a brief running span but the technical tricks it demonstrates which the crew used to avoid having to shoot with cgi are quite fascinating.
There’s also a six minute long gag reel. Like most of these it involves people pulling funny faces and making silly noises, which must have been fun at the time but gets a bit wearing very quickly when watching. there are a couple of funny outtakes in the middle of it, though.
langauges on the disc: english and english audio descriptive
subtitles: english danish dutch finnish norwegian swedish
disc two also has subtitles in french german and italian in addition to the above [but be aware these three are not on the movie on disc one]
extras on this disc: thirteen minutes worth of deleted scenes. these include a few more appearances for spocks mother and a longer version of the kobayashi maru scene and are worth a look. and when watched you can watch them again, should you choose, with a commentary from the production staff as to why they were cut.
to boldly go is a sixteen minute long documentary about the genesis of the project.
casting looks at how each actor was selected in a thirty minute long feature.
aliens looks at the prosthetics and make up used for all the aliens on display in the film and runs for sixteen minutes
and score runs for six minutes and is about the music used in the film.
all of these are pretty absorbing viewing although some might find the casting one a bit of a love in. But it was evidently a very happy set, so it’s nice to see.
The extras arent the longest in the world, but they make this edition worth the extra outlay. And of course, there’s a great movie to go with them
Rating
First of all, I am not a die hard trekkie, have never worn the outfits or been to a convention, but I love and have watched star trek since I was young though I do prefer the newer Star Treks.
I have watched this movie a couple of times now and, although I can understand the criticisms of other reviewers here, I really enjoyed it. The film didn’t pretend to be something it’s not. I expected a high paced, fast action, rather cheesy blockbuster but hoped it would still remain mostly true to the appeal of Star Trek and I wasn’t disappointed.
For me the main point of Star Trek is the relationships between the characters and the individual characters themselves and in that respect I thought the film was fantastic; Scotty as the enthusiastic engineer, Uhura for the exotic, alluring aspect, Sulu with his calm exterior and Chekov as the slightly zealous ensign.
Then of course there are Spock, McCoy and Kirk. These are the characters who make Star Trek what it is and I thought the cast choices were spot on, they really worked well together building believable relationships; Spock representing science and logical reasoning, McCoy providing the scepticism and doubt and Kirk bringing the two together along with natural human intuition and a dare devil attitude.
There are bits of the film that are not brilliant – the time travel and alternative universe storyline was not entirely convincing, Spock’s romance with Uhura was out of character but if you approach it with an open mind then you’ll probably enjoy it. Plus, if Leonard Nimoy is happy to put his name to it, that’s good enough for me!
Rating
The only thing that surprises me about this film is that all of a sudden people who haven’t watched Star Trek before and laughed at it’s fans are suddenly in awe of the subject!
Yes this is a great film with an excellent story and special effects, good characters and well acted but is it any better than the previous versions of Star Trek stories, sfx etc? No!
Star Trek is eleven films, six versions (TOS, TNG, DSP, VOY, Enterprise, Animated), hundreds of books, fans blah blah blah and arguably more successful than even the biblical Star Wars!
To be truly appreciated this should be seen on the big screen for the sfx. I just wonder how long it will be before the directors cut comes out because there were chopped elements taken out!
Bring on the next film!