What happens when you ask an 11-year-old who knows absolutely nothing about Star Trek – who’s never seen a single TV episode, much less any of the movies – to jump directly into Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? A little confusion is expected, but my son Thomas kept up with the film well enough. However, I think I was also hoping for a little more enthusiasm out of him than I got. Were my expectations misplaced?
Thomas had a mild cold as we recorded this episode of the Film at 11 podcast and claims he wasn’t feeling well, but I don’t think that’s entirely to blame. Perhaps I should have started him somewhere else in the franchise and then worked up to this entry? Or perhaps Star Trek just isn’t going to be one of those father/son bonding experiences for us like I’d hoped? It may be too soon to tell just yet.
In any case, that’s a bummer, because this movie is still great.
| Title: | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
| Year of Release: | 1982 |
| Director: | Nicholas Meyer |
| Watched On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | Blu-ray Paramount+ Hoopla Kanopy Roku Channel Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan beamed onto Blu-ray a few times, both individually and as part of franchise collections. Paramount first released the theatrical cut in 2009, followed in 2016 by a remastered disc with both that version and the so-called Director’s Cut (previously called the “Director’s Edition” on DVD). Differences between the two are mostly insignificant, and the longer cut was actually first created to pad out the running time for television broadcast. Director Nicholas Meyer has stated that he was perfectly happy with the theatrical cut, but also considers the longer cut legitimate if people like it.
A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray upgrade arrived in 2021. My copy came as part of a box set called Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection that stopped after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Again, the Wrath of Khan disc contains both the theatrical cut and Director’s Cut, selectable via seamless branching.
Initial pressings of the 2016 Director’s Cut Blu-ray had a small (barely noticeable) editing error slightly over four minutes into the movie. That was corrected in later pressings of the Blu-ray and on the 4K UHD.
The Wrath of Khan was produced for a smaller budget than its predecessor, 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and has always had rougher, less glossy photography. It’s flatter and dimmer, and a number of scenes have obvious focal errors. The 2009 Blu-ray was over-processed in a misguided attempt to sharpen, DNR, and brighten the image, to disappointing results. The 2016 remaster undid most of that and had a more natural filmic appearance, but consequently also looked kind of dull.
To be honest, I don’t see a lot of difference between the 2016 Blu-ray and the 4K Ultra HD. They’re both obviously sourced from the same video master. The movie doesn’t have anything approaching real 4K detail in the 2.39:1 image, and the HDR grade is so restrained as to be not noticeable at all.
Could anything better be done with this movie? I don’t know. Frankly, maybe not. Nonetheless, if I only owned the Director’s Cut Blu-ray, I wouldn’t be in a rush to upgrade to 4K just for a different logo on the packaging.
The 4K UHD’s audio is unchanged since the last Blu-ray (no Atmos upgrades in this box set). The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack sounds pretty thin and has weak bass. Even with my volume cranked up higher than usual, the James Horner score lacks heft or impact. Sound effects occasionally steer to the surround channels in a fun way, and the sound of the transporter beam nicely fills the room, but the mix isn’t terribly aggressive overall.
The 4K disc has no bonus features on it. All supplemental content is found on the accompanying Blu-ray, which is mostly a copy of the 2016 disc except re-authored with simplified (non-animated) menus. Extras include two audio commentaries, a text trivia track, the interactive “Library Computer” graphic trivia interface, ten featurettes (a few of them reasonably substantive), some storyboards, and a trailer.
Related
- Wrath of Khan
- Other Star Trek
- Leonard Nimoy
- Ricardo Montalban
Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the standard Blu-ray edition of the film and are used for illustration purposes only.
The Video File Blog 
I mean, it’s Star Trek. Think of all the incarnations. You kind of have to grow up with a particular generation of Trek in order to appreciate it. I watched TOS in re-runs, caught the first couple movies on home-video, got all excited about TNG and only made it through the first half of the first season. Circled back after season 3 and was hooked for the rest of its run. I’m not sure a kid today could appreciate the creaky sets and hammy acting of the original cast movies. TMP and WoK do manage to look pretty majestic on-screen, though. Cerebral is the work that always comes back to me – Roger Ebert used it to describe Search for Spock, I think. Cerebral is how I like my sci-fi, and Star Trek frequently fits the bill, at least on the small screen and for several of the movies.
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dang it. Word. Cerebral is the word.
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