Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41456 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With the return of director Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country restored the movie series to its classic blend of space opera, intelligent plotting and engaging interaction of stalwart heroes and menacing villains. Borrowing its subtitle (and several lines of dialogue) from Shakespeare, the movie finds Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and his fellow Enterprise crew members on a diplomatic mission to negotiate peace with the revered Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner). When the high-ranking Klingon and several officers are ruthlessly murdered, blame is placed on Kirk and crew. The subsequent investigation, which sees Spock taking on the mantle of Sherlock Holmes (and even quoting some of the great detective's lines), uncovers an assassination plot masterminded by the nefarious Klingon General Chang (Christopher Plummer) in an effort to disrupt a historic peace summit.

As this political plot unfolds Star Trek VI takes on a sharp-edged tone with Kirk and Spock confronting their opposing views of diplomacy and testing their bonds of loyalty when a Vulcan officer (Kim Cattrall) is revealed to be a traitor. With a dramatic depth befitting what was to be the final movie mission of the original Enterprise crew, this film took the veteran cast out in respectably high style, with the torch being passed to the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the following movie, Star Trek: Generations. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a two-disc set with the main feature presented in anamorphic widescreen at the fascinating (as Mr Spock would say) ratio of 2.00:1. Sound is strong Dolby Digital 5.1. Director Nicholas Meyer and screenwriter Denny Martin Flinn provide an audio commentary and Trek-trivia gurus Michael and Denise Okuda give another of their fact-packed text commentaries. The second disc has several lengthy and interesting documentaries: The Perils of Peacemaking delves into the many deliberate parallels with the Cold War; Stories from Star Trek VI consists of eight separate chapters about the making of the film (where it's revealed that "Gene Roddenberry hated the script", and that "The studio was not ready to relinquish the original actors possibly because they were still ambulatory"!); The Star Trek Universe has various nuggets of information, including the creation and evolution of the Klingons. Finally, in Farewell there are interviews with the principal cast from the set, plus a tribute to DeForest Kelley. Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner all provide up-to-date contributions throughout. --Mark Walker

Special Features
Disc 1
Commentary by Director Nicholas Meyer and screen writer Denny Martin Flinn
Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
Digitally re-mastered picture & 5.1 digital surround sound

Disc 2
Six featurettes on the making of ST VI including interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer and Director Nicholas Meyer
Original cast and crew interviews - a collection of interviews by the filmmakers and cast of ST VI
DeForest Kelley: a tribute - An endearing look at the career of DeForest Kelley (Dr McCoy) with interviews by cast and crew
A conversation of Nicholas Meyer - a biographical overview of director/writer Nicholas Meyer's career
Klingons: conjuring the legend - A review of the historic, cultural and mythic traditions of the ST infamous warrior race
Federation operatives - A roster of ST VI performers who went on to appear in related ST films and TV series
Penny's toy box - ST archivist Penny Juday displays original props from film
Together again - William Shatner and Christopher Plummer reminisce about their friendship as young actors who had worked together in the theatre
The Perils Of Peacemaking - A discussion of the uncanny parallels between the plot of ST VI and historic global events in the Soviet Union, with commentaries by Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy and others
Theatrical trailers
1991 Convention presentations by Nicholas Meyer
Production Gallery
Story Boards

Synopsis
In STAR TREK VI - THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, the cold war between the Federation and the Klingons thaws out when the leader of the crumbling alien empire makes a peace offering. Admiral Kirk (Willliam Shatner) and the crew are sent to escort the Klingon ruler to treaty talks, but they unknowingly stumble into the middle of a political assassination--and soon Kirk and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are framed for the dignitary's murder. Sent off to a frozen prison planet, the two plot their escape while Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the rest of the crew try to find out who the real killer is. The future of the intergalactic peace movement depends on their success.

Customer Reviews

Finally
Just like all the films in this series, Paramount initially released a bare-bones edition when dvd's first came out, finally now this film gets the special edition treatment it deserves.
Although often paling in comparision with ST:2, Undiscovered Country is very underrated and easily one of the contenders for best in series. Carrying on some of the themes from Khan, such as old age and fear of change and combining them with an intelligent and effective plot. This is what the TNG crew should have had, a dignified exit, going out with an emotional bang, instead of a pyrotechnic whimper.
On the dvd there are multiple featurettes and you realise just what an arduous process it was to get this made. Nicholas Meyer confirms all the "rumours" that this film was based on "the wall coming down" and in the commentary actually talks a lot about politics and history which play a central theme. The final farewell is interesting and the tribute to DeForest Kelly is a touching finale.
All in all a fine package

A Fitting Final Goodbye
It's a toss up between this and the Wrath of Khan for the best Star Trek film, but the Wrath of Khan just shades it for the acting, story and music all combined.

However, the story for The Undiscovered Country is a welcome return to something really watchable after the disastrous Final Frontier. Kirk and his crew are framed for firing on the Klingon Chancellor's ship and killing him, and it is then up to Spock and the crew to piece together the mystery of what happened while Kirk and Bones initiate their escape. There's a few bits of deadpan humour in the film as Spock takes quotes from various parts of Earth's history, such as from Sherlock Holmes and "Only Nixon could go to China" and passes them off as his ancestors or Vulcan proverbs.

Nicholas Meyer again shows that he understands what really works, not just with Star Trek but just in general. There's a good final battle scene as the Enterprise faces down the Klingon ship, and Sulu, now captain of the Excelsior, covers for his friends and rushes to their aid.

The only thing terribly negative about this film is that the music, compared to the rousing scores of James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith, is pretty forgettable.

If only The Next Generation crew could have had a send off like this.

Have other reviewers actually seen this film?
I am a Trek fan. I have seen every TV episode of every series, mostly several times, I have gone to see every movie in the cinema (again sometimes more than once) etc. I had high hopes for this one as it was directed by the same man who had directed Star Trek II. However I found this one so bad it was cringe worthy. The whole theme was just stupid. A Klingon moon explodes with so much force that Excelsior is badly shaken in some distant part of the galaxy. This explosion is so severe it threatens the environment of the Klingon Empire. Note the whole empire not just a planet! Then we have some really stilted dialogue between Spock and Kirk concerning this and off the Enterprise warps to the Klingon Empire. She manges to warp so quickly from Earth to the Federation/Klingon border that Kirk etc. has no time to spend even a single night in his cabin! Then we have a cloaked Klingon ship sitting beneath the Enterprise firing a Klingon Torpedo at the Klingon Leaders Battle Cruiser! What is wrong with this you ask? The fact that despite having 23rd C technology's the crew of Enterprise can't tell that they didn't fire the torpedo (despite it being of alien manufacture and fired from a point outside of their own ship. Even today a war plane pilot or warship captain would know if a torpedo/missile had originated from his plane/ship without having to go and count his weapons). Even that is not the worst of it. Spock plants a tracking device on Kirk's shoulder. It is rather large and very obvious, but none of the Klingon's see this (let alone detect its transmissions). Added to this we have Enterprise being able to violate Klingon security by having Uhuru read klingon out of a dictionary when the ship is called by Klingon Border security.

I can only but think that other reviewers missed all these terrible faults because of their emotional reaction to the end of Kirk's crew on film. Star Trek V is usually sited as the worst Trek film, but believe me this one is by some distance.