With another birthday rolling by and younger trainees handling the USS Enterprise, Admiral James T. Kirk misses his younger years of leading his crew of new adventures. His wish is granted too soon when an old nemesis named Khan Noonien Singh (Season 1 guest star Ricardo Montalban) kidnaps two Starfleet crew members, one of whom is Kirk's old friend Pavel Chekov. Khan's goal is not only to avenge Kirk for both his own marooning and the death of his wife, but to possess the Genesis, a tool designed to create new life while wiping away old ones. Note that this is the 113-minute theatrical cut of the film and not the 116-minute director's cut previously released to DVD.

Still mourning the death of his best friend Spock, Admiral Kirk notices strange behavior being exhibited by Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. He discovers from Spock's father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), that Spock may still be alive and communicating through McCoy via a mind meld. Despite the USS Enterprise being decommissioned, Kirk and his crew steal the ship in order to search for their old friend. Unbeknownst to them is a Klingon commander named Kruge who has found out about the results of the Genesis device and wishes to use it for own race.

Admiral Kirk and his faithful crew must return home to face the consequences of their actions involving the USS Enterprise. Before that can happen, though, a strange space probe is terrorizing planet earth and won't stop until its bizarre language is responded to. It is discovered that the probe is actually communicating through humpback whale calls. With no humpback whales currently in existence, Kirk and the others time travel to the year 1986. Jarringly out of place in this time period, they meet Dr. Gillian Taylor, who may be able to assist them in their search for the whales.

VIDEO and AUDIO

All three films in the Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy are presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 transfers. It's been reported that only The Wrath of Khan has received an extensive restoration while The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home were simply remastered. If that's truly the case, the differences may be more noticeable on Blu-ray than on DVD, for in this set all three look to be about the same. Each offers very clean images with no noticeable print flaws (except in a blizzard scene from the third film). Colors tend to look a bit muted, especially in the second film, but they seem reasonably accurate. The main two problems present are edge enhancement and artifacting. The former is only truly noticeable when dark figures are against light backgrounds, but it's still more present than expected. The artifacting crops up during scenes taking place under red lighting. Because red is the most difficult color to reproduce on DVD, this may stem more from format limitations than any authoring errors. Overall, while certainly flawed, the three films look better here than on any previous edition.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtracks are also pretty adequate. Dialogue was comprehensible but at times came across as a bit hollow. Score and effects came off stronger, Surrounds were utilized more often than anticipated and gave the action sequences some life. The music as well remained fairly rich and strong. As expected, the clarity of all these components improved a bit with each installment.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, and PACKAGING

This motion picture trilogy set drops all of the supplements created for each of the films in their previous Special Editions in favor of some new ones. The Wrath of Khan's collection begins with an audio commentary track by director Nicholas Meyer and "Star Trek: Enterprise" writer and producer Manny Coto. Meyer goes into great detail about the production, recounting various anecdotes and explaining the symbolism and deeper themes. He occasionally goes off on tangents, but Coto helps moderate the discussion, even if he can't help but gush about the feature presentation. Together, they both provide a well-rounded track that's the strongest of the three newly-produced ones.

Next comes "Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 002: Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI" (3:08). Designed as a mock tutorial for Starfleet Academy students, this piece explains how Ceti Alpha V (the planet Khan was exiled to) might've switched places in orbit with Ceti Alpha VI (the planet Chekov and Terrell planned to use for Project Genesis). It's a slick and interesting examination.

"Collecting Star Trek's Movie Relics" (11:05) is a featurette hosted by Alex Peters, CEO of Propworx. He takes the viewer on a tour of different Star Trek memorabilia currently on public display. Along the way, he and other collectors weigh in their thoughts on these props and provide some backstory for many of them. It's always fascinating to see such archival material outside of its original context, and the comments provide fun trivia for fans.

"James Horner: Composing Genesis" (9:33) is a sit-down interview with the composer of both The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock. He touches on the different themes he created for both characters and situations, explaining the meaning behind his choices. His detailed reflections on both films and how they compare to both the original series and the first film make for a satisfying piece.

The final feature for the second film is "A Tribute to Ricardo Montalban" (4:44). Here, director Nicholas Meyer shares his personal experience working with the actor and relates some behind-the-scenes stories. Much of this information was already touched upon in the commentary, but it's still good to have a tribute to Montalban, who passed away four months before this DVD release.

The Search for Spock's supplements start with a commentary by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor, two writers who participated in several Star Trek films and series from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" onward. Their lack of involvement in this specific picture means that they don't really divulge into this production. Instead, their track covers Star Trek in general, their personal experiences as writers, and how this film influenced them. It's not terribly enlightening as it's essentially a fan track, but devotees may want to give it a listen.

"Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 003: Mystery Behind the Vulcan Katra Transfer" (2:42) continues the tutorial series, this time focusing on the mind meld. The connection made between Spock and Bones is analyzed, and while much of this was already explained in the film, it's convenient to have in one short piece.

"Star Trek and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame" (16:51) starts with a one-on-one interview between Seattle Times critic Mark Rahner and Trek writer and producer Harve Bennett. Bennett details how he first came aboard the franchise and his goals for each of the films he worked on. After the chat, Rahner and Bennett tour the Science Fiction Museum, taking a look at the different Star Trek props on display. Lots of good information is covered in this feature, even if Rahner makes for a slightly irritating host.

"Industrial Light & Magic: The Visual Effects of Star Trek" (13:49) is perhaps the strongest of all the new featurettes. Various effects crew members from all three films breakdown how certain sequences where handled. The comments and film clips are interspersed with behind-the-scenes photos demonstrating the processes used. It truly makes one appreciate all the work that went into practical visual effects before CGI came along.

Finally, "Spock: The Early Years" (6:22) is an interview with Stephen Manley, who played Spock at age 17. He explains how he was cast, the specifics behind an intimate scene he shared with Robin Curtis, and fan interactions today. It's a fun and engaging look back.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home begins with another commentary, this time by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, writers of the 2009 Star Trek film. Like the Search for Spock's track, this boils down to a fan discussion that occasionally veers off into personal writing experiences with the franchise. The difference here is that Orci and Kurtzman are more engaging speakers and also relay more facts and trivia about both this film and Star Trek as a whole. That means more information is gleamed about the specific movie at hand than in the other track. It's a worthwhile listen.

Another educational piece emerges in "Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 004: The Whale Probe" (3:41). Hosted by the same unnamed tutor from the previous two Scisec Briefs, this piece delves into the origins and characteristics of the whale probe that threatens planet earth. Because the probe is treated so vaguely in the actual film, this clip becomes useful, and the presentation remains polished.

"Star Trek for a Cause" (5:40) interviews several officials from Greenpeace about humpback whales and their relationship to humans. The Voyage Home's awareness of certain issues is touched upon, as is William Shatner's personal involvement with the cause. It comes across as a public service announcement, but at least it bears some relevance to the feature film.

"Star Trek: Three Picture Saga" (10:12) acts as a broad "making of" featurette for all three films in this set. Various crew members found in previous supplements are interviewed along with a few new ones. They all explain the links between the three films, canonical inconsistencies, and story ideas that never came into fruition. Despite the brevity, much is divulged here.

The final bonus feature for both this film and the whole set is "Pavel Chekov's Screen Moments" (6:10). The only main cast member to appear in any of these supplements, actor Walter Koenig reminisces about his expanded roles in both the second and fourth installments. He compares his role in the features to his role in the original series and shares some fun on-set anecdotes. Koenig is an enjoyable speaker, which makes the featurette's brevity all the more apparent.

All three discs behind with trailers for the new Star Trek film, "Star Trek": Season One on Blu-ray, and the original motion pictures on both DVD and Blu-ray.

Each film features the same menu interface. The main menus contain the iconic Starfleet logo spinning toward and away from the viewer while planets and constellations are reflected on it. The main theme from each respective installment plays over this animation. The submenus are static and silent, following a similar design of space reflections against a white background.

The gray discs come housed in a six-sided Digipak. The exterior of this lists all of the supplements and provides film summaries. The interior, where the discs are held, features the USS Enterprise and the USS Reliant battling in space. Each disc panel features the technical information for that respective disc. The Digipak slides into a cardboard slipcover that features embossment and reflective shine.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy contains what most fans consider to be the three best films featuring the original Enterprise crew. While the light storylines tend to feel stretched, there's enough meaningful content in each to make them more substantial and entertaining. The new transfers are a mixed bag but lean more towards the positive side of that classification, while audio remains very good.

It comes as a disappointment that the commentaries and documentaries from the previous DVD releases aren't replicated here. The new features are well-produced, but work better as a supplement to the old collection rather than a replacement. To get both the new and old bonus material in one collection, one would have to turn to the more elaborate Blu-ray-only Star Trek Original Motion Picture Collection. That set contains the six films starring the original crew, accompanied by a wealth of supplements. This renders this Motion Picture Trilogy set somewhat useless for most. A mega box set of all eleven Star Trek installments seems inevitable sooner rather than later and would be a better purchase for Trekkies over either of these new sets. This trilogy is recommended as a rental for fans wishing to see the new transfers and supplements and for newcomers who wish to dip their toes into the Trek universe.

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