Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | 1992 Home Video Version HD Preservation

It has been so long since the last time I was active on the site. That said, I have been learning a lot more about fan preservations and how people handle them and decided to put them to the test with this specific project.

To commemorate the 35th anniversary of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, I am going to do another HD project but on the 1992 VHS & Laserdisc/1999 DVD release of the film.

This version included new footage never seen in its original theatrical release, although the same footage (in addition to some alternative takes) were carried over to the director’s cut in 2004. Out of all three versions of the film, the home video release was the one I saw when first watching the final outing of the original series cast and, to this very day, it does NOT have an HD/4K release.

PM me if you want to see it! LLAP \//

Sources:
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2022 Remastered Blu-Ray) (Main video source)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2004 Director’s Cut/2022 Remastered 4K Blu-Ray) (For the additional 3 minutes of footage, downscaled to 1080p HD Rec. 709 Colorspace)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1999 DVD Release) (For audio, visual reference, and subtitles)

UPDATE: v1.0 is exporting as I am typing this! Let me know in PMs!
UPDATE: v1.1 was recently exported when I noticed that the subtitles were hard-coded.

What’s the difference between the 2022 4k release, and the 1999 DVD. Surely not much right?

The 4K has two cuts the updated director’s cut. and the theatrical. It has the Scooby Doo like showing the images of the characters faces as they are named which was not on the 1991 home video release. Both are in the same theatrical ratio the matte was not opened up. They are seamless branched. It has the 7.1 audio mix and not the 1991 home video mix. It does not have the Dolby Stereo on either cut of the film.

the 2 Disc DVD the matte is opened. The original 1999 is non anamorphic and fully open matte at the same time. providing a letterboxed image. Both those including the original 2 channel mix. or some form thereof likely the home video 1991.

The theatrical DVD in 2009 had no original stereo mix. and heavy DNR. first time the film was in the 2:40:1 ratio in the home.

Only the original DVD does not have that silly added scene to Spock’s interrogation. Or the theatrical cut.

I also don’t like how Meyer removed the he’s my son line from the Directors cut of Star Trek II. I always liked Spock’s response.

That was on the directors DVD and removed on the Blu-Ray and 4K.

The 4K directors cut of TUC isn’t open matte? That’s a shame. The directors cut of that film is my personal number 1 ST film and I was hoping to buy the 4K for it but it having less of the film available is a sour note.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

What’s the difference between the 2022 4k release, and the 1999 DVD. Surely not much right?

Not much of anything but the interrogation scene is the same as the theatrical cut though.

JadedSkywalker said:

the 2 Disc DVD the matte is opened. The original 1999 is non anamorphic and fully open matte at the same time. providing a letterboxed image. Both those including the original 2 channel mix. or some form thereof likely the home video 1991.

Because it was a straight-up port of the 1992 Special Home Video laserdisc version as far as I am concerned.

Artan42 said:

The 4K directors cut of TUC isn’t open matte? That’s a shame. The directors cut of that film is my personal number 1 ST film and I was hoping to buy the 4K for it but it having less of the film available is a sour note.

No because there would have been two separate versions or ratios. So they selected one for seamless branching. And the director’s cut of course is only on the 4K. If you don’t want to go back to the DVD. The included Blu is merely the theatrical cut.

v1.1 is already prepared and is waiting for viewing. Just gonna paste a couple of changes I did. On the 4K/Blu-Ray release, the Klingon to English subtitles were not hardcoded on the remasters, like the 2009 DNR’d-to-death Blu-Ray. So I used the 1999 DVD release as the source. And yes, I tried to research the font. It is part of the Verb family but it isn’t available publicly anymore. And the closest you can get is a demo, which is garbage.

ORIGINAL:
https://prnt.sc/DCwz9xzBKueq

SPECIAL HOME VIDEO VERSION HD:
https://prnt.sc/PqgL8FxXoZVE

And here is another change I did. This is a problem I had with both the 2009 Blu-Ray and the 2022 Blu-Ray/4K release. The one shot where Kirk is looking around before the Enterprise is severely hit during the Battle of Khitomer is like so dim that it doesn’t exactly match with the rest of the footage. It especially plagued the 2009 Blu-Ray. So I went in and corrected this for the Special Home Video Version reconstruction.

1999 DVD:
https://prnt.sc/9P-A2I6gvjG0

2004 Director’s Cut DVD:
https://prnt.sc/u3ITxvhAlQ-T

2009 Blu-Ray:
https://prnt.sc/TRr6jqz-dV-q

2022 Blu-Ray/4K:
https://prnt.sc/yg5TNigAFLcV

Special Home Video Version HD:
https://prnt.sc/GHMQetpitqNV

Everything you’re doing so far shows good promise. I look forward to your released version.

The Shade said:

Everything you’re doing so far shows good promise. I look forward to your released version.

v1.1 is already ready to be shown.

Going back to the editing room here for v2.0. Here are the goals.

Removing the Klingon subtitles I used from the DVD version.
Re-regrading the 4K Director’s Cut footage to match with the Blu-Ray 2022 Theatrical footage.
Recreate the audio using the 7.1 Surround audio tracks of the theatrical and director’s cuts AND the 1999 DVD for syncing.