Star Trek Beyond (DVD) : Review

Film

Just a few months ago, the latest installment in the Star Trek universe beamed on to our screens (including the eye candy in Imax 3D). The release of Star Trek Beyond coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the popular television and film series. Wowing audiences with its spectacular visual effects, and not forgetting familiar musical score.

This thirteenth cinematic outing sees the Kelvin Timeline members of the USS Enterprise encounter a ruthless enemy, where they have to pit their wits against nature on an alien planet, and race to save a massive, technologically advanced space station, and those in danger beyond that.

Star Trek Beyond is a fun space outing. The rewatch value is high, owing not only to the many fast paced scenes, and extraordinary locations, but the many hidden easter eggs of creatures, nods to the original series, in-jokes and science fiction references. There are a good many of these, and they fly past far too quickly in many cases to catch on a first viewing, needing subsequent sittings to catch them all.

Read the full SAMDB review of Star Trek Beyond.

Disc

Overall, the disc is of a high technical quality, with a fair amount of bonus material, while maintaining a decent bitrate for the main feature.

Star Trek Beyond is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.

Video

Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen. Colours are vibrant, with no bleed. Detail is maintained in darker areas of scenes, or in the several darker scenes of the film.

Viewers with the relevant hardware or software could scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.

Audio

Audio is encoded at a high average bitrate, with dialogue clear via the centre channel. Music and other on-screen events are pushed via the front speakers. There is ample use of the surround channels, with the LFE channel used to great effectiveness.

Navigation

As with what one would expect from a Star Trek disc, the menu system looks fancy. With some short clips from the film as background, and accompanying music. These loop, while you decide on an option.

There are selections for set up, leading to an audio options and subtitle sub-menu. A menu for special features. And finally a menu for scene selection, with sub-menus containing large, colour thumbnails. These are stills, and numbered, but with no chapter titles, so there may be some guesswork in finding a specific place in the film, if you are not sure.

Bonus Features

Beyond The Darkness:

Listening to Star Trek directors J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin, with input from the cast, we learn where Beyond fits into the overall story of the Kelvin Timeline.

The first of the new film series introduces us to the main characters. In Star Trek: Into Darkness we see them established and fighting against a powerful foe, and now for the first time, we get to experience them on their five year mission.

Beyond The Darkness gives a great deal of insight in to why certain characters, settings and story choices were used.

Trekking In The Desert:

Input from Justin Lin and the choice of shooting in Dubai, showing how the in-place architecture was put to great use to become Yorktown. Some great visuals of the Federation Outpost.

Four Leonard And Anton:

A tribute to the Star Trek stars we lost since Star Trek: Into Darkness. The cast and crew reflect on their time with Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin.

Music Video – Sledgehammer:

The music video by Rihanna.

Trailers:

Some trailers for the main feature.

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb