No I haven't seen the movie yet, and I probably won't care to watch all the special features. But I hate to be missing something that I could in theory watch (someday)...
How much does it cost to acquire the “complete” Star Trek Into Darkness blu-ray
and how much effort does it take to enjoy it? That would normally seem
like an odd question, but Paramount’s inexplicable release strategy has
left Trekkies and general blu-ray completists scratching their heads in
confusion and frustration. You see, unlike most blu-ray releases, where
the studio puts the respective bonus features either on the disc that
every consumer can buy from every outlet, Paramount has done something… a
little silly. They have spread out the available special features into
several different retail outlets. So basically, if you want the
“complete” American Star Trek Into Darkness blu-ray, you have to buy it twice. Oh, and you can’t even enjoy some of those features on your television.
Offering an exclusive bonus disc to a consumer if you buy a given film
at one specific store is not new. However frowned upon it might be, it
isn’t that much of a headache to, for example, buy Disney’s The Avengers at Target instead of Best Buy or
Amazon in order to get a 90-minute documentary that isn’t available
anywhere else. It’s annoying, as when Paramount put most the deleted
scenes of Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol in the Best Buy
bonus disc, but most studios at least have the decency to usually keep
their content-related exclusives (as opposed to special packaging) to a
single establishment.
What Paramount has done is an enhanced variation of this kind of release pattern. They have offered a near-barren disc for Star Trek Into Darkness and instead offered the various special features as exclusives at two different retailers.
On the standard release, you get 42 minutes of mostly solid documentary
featurettes, eight in all, including an amusing seven-minute bit where
the filmmakers try to justify their pointless inclusion of a certain
major character from the prior canon. And that’s pretty much it, save
for a PSA for a group called ‘The Mission Continues‘,
which helps returning war veterans re-acclimate to civilian life
through service projects. There are no trailers, no deleted, scenes, and
no commentaries on the standard release disc.
If you must buy only one version of Star Trek Into Darkness, get the Target disc.
The disc set contains the feature on a separate disc, with the 42
minutes of bonus features from the normal release, as well as thirty
minutes of additional featurettes, along with the domestic trailer
campaign, which is a nice touch.
Unlike the Canadian Best Buy version, the American Best Buy bonus content isn’t disc-based.
It’s only accessed through their online service CinemaNow. One can’t
just go onto CinemaNow and watch the stuff either. You have to actually
get an account with them first.
Now if you’ve bought both retail versions for approximately $40 plus
shipping or taxes, you’ve got the film itself, the three American
trailers, and about 105 minutes of relatively solid bonus material. But
the adventure is not over yet, folks. Because here’s the goofiest and
most frustrating part of this release pattern. There actually is a
commentary track for Star Trek Into Darkness - a pretty darn
good one no less. But it is only available as an iTunes download. The
good news is that the retail version comes with the iTunes download,
meaning you don’t have to buy the film a third time to get that
commentary track. The bad news is that it’s once again a major bonus
feature that isn’t on the disc or even on a bonus disc. Not only is it a
commentary track, but it’s a full video-based commentary track, a
separate video file that is filled with talking heads and
behind-the-scenes footage that runs nearly 30 minutes longer than the
actual 132 minute feature. But you can’t watch it on your television and
you have to sign up for an iTunes account and then download the hefty
file before you can watch it on your computer.
Star Trek is the kind of franchise for which the fans will
crave the most complete versions of the newest incarnation and will
still devour any and all supplements offered. What Paramount has
inexplicably done here is basically punish the fans both for their love
of Star Trek and the general consumers who still prefer the physical media that everyone tries to claims is dead.
***
trekmovie.com has more info on the special features
Wait. The CinemaNow features are now free?
And here's commentary on the commentary.
bonus article: 15 things you (probably) didn't know about Star Trek
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