Star Trek into Darkness - Ultra HD Blu-ray

Even though the IMAX footage was originally shot in 65mm and scanned at an 11K resolution, everything here comes from a 2K digital intermediate, which was then upgraded to 4K. While visual results of the 35mm part of the movie match the quality of the 2009 Star Trek 4K release (in other words, very good), the real 'wow' factor here comes in the IMAX footage – it looks fantastic, despite being downgraded to 2K then upgraded back to 4K. Since the first portion of the movie has been shot with IMAX cameras, viewers won't need to wait long to see what I'm talking about. The rich reds of the foliage of the opening scene look even richer and deeper in 4K, with some real depth and 'pop' to the image. Every time the movie switched back to it's standard 2.40:1/35mm format, I couldn't wait for the jump back to the full-screen/IMAX scenes. It made me look forward to the day that Hollywood finally shoots one of these big budget films entirely in IMAX (which, last I heard, was happening with the next 'Avengers' film).

Parts of 'Into Darkness' are, well, dark - such as the scenes that take place aboard the Dreadnought-class starship in the second-half of the movie. The 4K boost here definitely helps those moments, as blacks are deeper and details are noticeably better than the 1080p version of the movie. In fact, details are pretty great throughout, and the fact that Director J.J. Abrams seems to pull back a bit on his lens flare obsession in this movie (although the Enterprise bridge scenes are still packed with them) is helpful.

Even though – thanks to those IMAX scenes – I think the visuals here are slightly better than the 4K release of J.J.'s first 'Star Trek' movie, I held back on giving this a reference-quality score, simply because of the 2K DI source used for this transfer. That said, it's hard to imagine anyone will find much to fault here – the image is fantastic.

Note: Since all of the bonus materials on this release have appeared on prior releases of 'Star Trek Into Darkness', the Blu-ray supplements descriptions that follow are from fellow HDD writer Joshua Zyber and taken from his fantastic review of Star Trek: The Compendium.

Also note that his 4K Ultra HD release of 'Star Trek Into Darkness' does not include the 3D version of the movie, so if you already own that on Blu-ray, you'll want to hang onto it if upgrading with this release.

4K Ultra HD Disc

• The Mission Continues (HD, 2 min.) – This is the exact same commercial for a community service group that appears on the first Blu-ray in this release (and is detailed below in our Blu-ray supplements listing), and the only bonus feature to appear on the 4K disc. It features voice-over narration by Chris Pine.
  

Blu-ray Disc 1

• Enhanced Commentary (HD, 163 min.) – This Enhanced Commentary feature allows the speakers to interact with the movie by pausing or rewinding the image, drawing on the screen or bringing up picture-in-picture windows on top of the film. This is pretty neat, for example, when breaking down individual elements of the elaborate visual effects sequences. At other times, the gimmick is a bit overused, and the movie sometimes pauses arbitrarily just to stretch the running time to fit the comments. All told, it adds about half an hour to the movie's length. The commentary is divided into segments where different speakers discuss different sections of the film. Participants include visual effects supervisors, editors, cinematographers, composer Michael Giacchino, and eventually (in the second half) writer Damon Lindelof and director J.J. Abrams. No surprise, Lindelof spends most of his time cracking jokes rather than providing any substantive information.
  
• The Mission Continues (HD, 2 min.) – A commercial for a community service group run by military veterans, some of whom appear as background extras in one of the movie's final scenes. Yes, it's a commercial, and it has next to nothing to do with 'Star Trek'.
  

Blu-ray Disc 2

• The Voyage Begins...Again (HD, 2 min.) – On the first day of shooting, everyone enthuses about the "family reunion" vibe on set.
  
• Creating the Red Planet (HD, 8 min.) – J.J. Abrams explains that he wanted the movie's opening scene to look like a 'classic Star Trek set.' In brief snippets, we see the production design team paint trees, makeup artists create the alien natives, and the costume designer fashion Spock's volcano-proof uniform.
  
• Introducing the Villain (HD, 2 min.) – "Benedict Cumberbatch, he's a fantastic actor," says a supporting player who has about three lines in the finished movie. Insightful.
  
• Rebuilding the Enterprise (HD, 6 min.) – Abrams is very excited about shooting on a larger soundstage than the last movie, which allows the various portions of the ship set to be interconnected. Neat (though brief) time-lapse and BTS footage shows those sets being constructed. The production designer points out which fixtures were purchased at Ikea.
  
• National Ignition Facility: Home of the Core (HD, 5 min.) – The ship's engineering room was filmed at a real nuclear fusion research lab. Actual engineers appear in the film as Redshirt extras to ensure that the cast and crew don't touch anything important. "No fighting in the laser bay," instructs one.
  
• Attack on Starfleet (HD, 5 min.) – Stunts, explosions, and destroying the set. Interestingly, Abrams strove to use as many practical props and effects as he could, even though he intended to smother them all in CGI later anyway. Seems wasteful, if you ask me.
  
• Aliens Encountered (HD, 7 min.) – Zachary Quinto spends hours in the makeup chair every morning just to put on his ears and eyebrows. Other, more elaborate creature effects are shown being designed and made. Most of them will barely be glimpsed in the movie. Heather Langenkamp, star of the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street', is totally obscured by a giant full-facial mask to play a background character with no dialogue.
  
• The Klingon Home World (HD, 8 min.) – Building and lighting a huge set, plus designing a new look for the Klingon makeup. The production crew wanted to, 'Do something new, but don't violate the lore.' Whoops.
  
• The Enemy of my Enemy (HD, 8 min.) – Abrams tries to explain why he used Khan in this movie, and why he cast Benedict Cumberbatch despite the actor being completely inappropriate for the role. In the nicest, friendliest, most pleasant way possible, he essentially tells fans concerned with things like continuity or logical coherence that they can go screw themselves because he's going to do what he wants to do anyway.
  
• Vengeance is Coming (HD, 5 min.) – Designing the enemy spaceship. Abrams calls it 'very anti-Roddenberry.' To make sure you get the message that it's evil, everything is painted black.
  
• Ship to Ship (HD, 6 min.) – Pre-viz VFX, green-screen, shooting in a warehouse, and wire stunts.
  
• Mr. Spock and Mr. Spock (HD, 4 min.) – Leonard Nimoy puts his ears on. Zachary Quinto pays a visit. When finally filming his scene, Nimoy ad-libs a great line and demonstrates that he still has a much quicker wit than the movie's writers.
  
• Down with the Ship (HD, 6 min.) – Shooting the big crash scene. Stunt people roll around on the floor a lot while VFX artists do stuff on computers.
  
• Kirk and Spock (HD, 6 min.) – Abrams and the actors explain the motivations of the characters, which are perfectly clear in the movie without needing to be explained.
  
• Brawl by the Bay (HD, 6 min.) – Fight training, the garbage scow set, and the actors blather a little about being true to their characters.
  
• Fitting the Future (HD, 5 min.) – Costumes are designed for hundreds of characters. The actors bemoan the form-fitting wetsuits, except Zoe Saldana who weighs about 70 pounds and can slink into anything.
  
• Property of Starfleet (HD, 5 min.) – The challenge of making props that look both retro and futuristic at the same time.
  
• Unlocking the Cut (HD, 5 min.) – The editors shape the story by playing around with the arrangement of footage. The actors redub their lines in post production. Scenes that don't work are reshot.
  
• Visual Affection (HD, 9 min.) – The VFX artists insist that their job is more than just clacking on computers. Every shot shows them clacking away on computers. Also, VFX artists are very poor spellers.
  
• The Sound of Music (and FX) (HD, 6 min.) – Michael Giacchino describes his philosophies on composing the score. Legendary sound designer Ben Burtt creates sound effects.
  
• Safety First (HD, 3 min.) – Simon Pegg plays a prank on his co-stars involving "neutron cream." The takeaway on this: actors are dumb.
  
• Continuing the Mission (HD, 2 min.) – As if this were at all relevant to the film, here's some more info about that community service group featured in 'The Mission Continues' commercial on Disc 1.
  
• Gag Reel (HD, 6 min.) – Actors fall down and screw up their lines. Mostly Simon Pegg. 30 seconds of this goes a long way.
  
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 min.) – Less whole scenes than brief scene extensions, these seven clips fill in minor details and would not have added anything significant to the movie. Some of them have incomplete visual effects.
  
• Theatrical Trailers (HD, 6 min.) – Three very action-packed previews.