STAR TREK II: WRATH OF KHAN

SUPERGIRL

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STAR TREK II
SUPERGIRL

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The Movie

Arguably the best Star Trek ever made – series or movies – writer-director Nicholas Meyer’s first entry in the franchise finds Admiral Kirk without a command and suffering a mid-life crisis. Things start to heat up when Kirk’s old nemesis Khan (Montalban) is found after 15 years of exile and they don’t cool down until the very end.

Meyer’s screenplay gives Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley a marvellous opportunity to dig deep into their characters and to turn in some of their best performances. One of the lynchpins of the movie’s success is, of course, Montalban, who infuses Khan with a larger than life energy that makes you root for him as much as for the crew of the Enterprise.

The Extras

With several minutes of interesting cut footage that has shown up over the years in exhibitor’s reels and the ABC-TV broadcast years ago, Paramount had a golden opportunity to create a package of extras worthy of the movie. Instead, they opted to take the cheap and easy route and release the DVD with only the theatrical trailer.

James E Brooks

Cast
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
Kirstie Alley
Ricardo Montalban
Director • Nicholas Meyer
Duration • 112 mins
Screen Ratio • 2.35:1
Anamorphic • Yes
Audio • Dolby Digital 5.1
Chapters • 17
Languages • English, French
Subtitles • English
Release Date • July 11
Distributor • Paramount

Highlight

Chapter 16 – Life and Death
Although there are so many outstanding scenes in this movie, the best unquestionably is the death scene of a regular character. As the 20-year friendship ends with a brave sacrifice, the goodbye rarely leaves a dry eye.

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Is it a plane? Is it a bird?

The Movie

With Superman having turned in an successful trilogy, where else could legendary producers Ilya and Alexanger Salkind have taken the super-story other than to introduce Supes’s rather more glamorous cousin, Kara, otherwise known as Supergirl.

After having accidentally lost the power source to her city within inner-space, the beautiful and headstrong Kara sets out on a mission to recover it, which takes her to outer-space and her cousin’s home planet of Earth. Upon arrival she is instantly Supergirl, adorned with all the fancy powers that you’d expect from someone with the 'S' symbol, as well as flowing blonde locks, gorgeous blue eyes and a lovely pair of… erm… boots. The trouble is the power-source (the Omegahedron) has fallen into the possession of a witch-wannabe, who instantly uses its energy to do very bad things indeed.

There are problems with this film. It skips over such subjects as where the costume comes from and how she can change the colour of her hair without the aid of a cellophane hat and a bottle of peroxide, instantly taking its audience down by almost a decade.

That aside, this isn’t really a bad feature; in fact with the Director’s cut being a full 24 minutes longer than anything ever seen in the US, a large amount of added character development has been replaced, giving texture and depth to the comic-book adventure. Also, Slater is an absolutely stunning Supergirl, with haunting eyes and a heart-aching smile, not to mention the lycra costume and the mini-skirt, which is enough to keep the Dads watching with their kids if nothing else.

The Extras

A comprehensive extras selection here: Five trailers (US, UK, International, German and Teaser), three TV Spots, exquisitely drawn storyboards, still galleries which include posters, colour and B&W stills as well as a plethora of Helen Slater shots.

This does of course also come with a Director’s Commentary, in which we learn many things about the film, most interestingly that until just before production, Christopher Reeve was supposed to be in the movie, until he decided against the idea at the last minute.

The real gem here though is The Making of Supergirl, an original 1980s 50-minute documentary of the story of the production. It features Helen Slater’s screen-tests (showing the original Supergirl costume), interviews, effects work and plenty of interesting information.

The one gripe with this is the almost superfluous second disc. With the main DVD including 10 minutes of footage never seen in the US, why then include a second disc with a further 14 mins? Granted the 124-minute version has the commentary, but surely you could still use it on the 138 version, just dropping the sound when the new scenes arrive (which are nothing special – hence being locked away in Pinewood’s vaults with the words ‘Do not use!’ written on them).

A great release nonetheless.

Grant Kempster

Cast
Helen Slater
Faye Dunaway
Peter Cook
Mia Farrow
Peter O’Toole
Director • Jeannot Szwarc
Year • 1984
Duration • International Version – 124 min, Director’s Cut – 138 min
Screen Ratio • 2.35:1
Anamorphic • Yes
Audio • Dolby Digital 5.1 / Dolby Digital Surround 2.0
Chapters • 24
Languages • English
Subtitles • None
Release Date • August 8
Distributor • Anchor Bay

Highlight

Chapter 4 – Flying Ballet
A beautifully graceful scene, where Supergirl emerges from a lake and prances around learning how to fly. .

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