Fishing in the Discount Bin - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan -- Theatrical Edition

Here we go again on Fishing in the Discount Bin, as I ramble about one of the many movies I own on Blu-Ray.  Gotta revisit the classics with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  This is in my notes at September 8, 2016.

I jot this down on September 8, 2016...the official 50th anniversary of Star Trek.  So what better way to celebrate than by watching The Wrath of Khan again?  Makes sense, seeing as to how I just picked up on Blu-Ray again. 

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, Paramount has finally released the director's cut on Blu-Ray.  And this is where my meticulous nature gets the better of me.  There was an editing flaw on the Blu-Ray, and Paramount issued a recall.  I started going through the procedures to get a corrected disc, but Paramount came back to me and said, "Oh, you're in Canada?  The flawed disc was never released in Canada.  You've got the right version."  Well, I've looked it up online and confirmed it, and yup, my disc is the flawed one. 

So the question was, how hard do I pursue this?  I mean, I already own Wrath of Khan three times.  I have the director's cut when it was first released on DVD.  I have the theatrical edition when it was first released on Blu-Ray.  And now I have this new Blu-Ray that has both.  So do I really need to push it just because they use the wrong reaction shot of Sulu for 3 seconds in one scene?  I don't think so. 

Anyway, that leads to what version to watch tonight?  When I did my epic watch of every Star Trek movie leading into Into Darkness a few years ago, I watched the director's cut, as that was the only version I had at the time.  But I just bought the director's cut on Blu-Ray!  So, I decided to watch the original theatrical version. 

Not much more to say about the film, as I said it all three years ago when I watched everything.  And the difference between the original theatrical version and the director's cut is quite minor...only about four minutes of scenes, mostly consisting of extended dialogue.  The most significant change has to do with Scotty.  You might remember that Kirk meets an excited young crewman named Preston.  In the director's cut, there's more dialogue explaining that Preston is Scotty's nephew, which makes Scotty's breakdown at his death more understandable. 

So, it's still as amazing a film as it ever was.