Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut (4K Ultra HD)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut is a two-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray Disc/Digital set, released on , featuring the 4K UHD release of two versions, the "Theatrical Cut" and the extended "Director's Cut" (formerly the "Director's Edition"). As is currently usual with UHD/Blu-ray double releases of older productions, all special features (excepting the audio commentaries and isolated music score tracks, which are present on the 4K UHD disc as well) are only included on the Blu-ray disc of the release. The two discs are mounted in a standard plastic snapcase, which itself was for the North American release issued within a matching softboard slipover sleeve. The other releases came without the sleeve.
The 4K UHD standalone version of the film was released on the occasion of the completion of the long awaitedTalks of a High Definition release of the Director's Edition had been floating around since April 2013, but various reasons conspired against such a release for nearly a decade. For further background information on this subject matter, see main article. in remastered version of the in 2022, and was simultaneously released as part of the 4K UHD set. Actually, the remastering of The Wrath of Khan had already been completed in 2016 for an intended 4K UHD release the pursuant year to celebrate the film's 35th anniversary, though it was eventually decided to postpone that release as the 4K UHD format had yet to make more substantial inroads into the physical home video disc market at that time. That postponement decision was only reinforced by the two years later made decision to remaster the The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition as well for a 's 55th anniversary release.It turned out that the franchise's 55th anniversary release encompassed more than just the 4K UHD versions of The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition and The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut alone, as the other four Original Crew film were to be remastered to 4K UHD standards as well. By the time of the anniversary in 2021, only the remastering of the first four films was completed, resulting in the release of the set release that year of which The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut was a part. And while individual downscaled standalone Blu-ray version were (which in the case of Khan merely consisted of a reissue of the 2016 release, contrary to the other three which were actual technological upgrades), it was decided to wait with the individual releases of the standalone 4K UHD versions until the remastering of the last two original crew films was completed a year later. Incidentally, a happy coincidence was that 2022 was also the year of The Wrath of Khans 40th anniversary, as emphasized on the North American slipover sleeve. Still, an individual downscaled standalone Blu-ray version was released internationally in 2016.
File:Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut UK 4K UHD back cover.jpg|UK box back cover (notice lack of the digital download option)
File:Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut Australian 4K UHD cover.jpg|Australian cover (notice lack of digital and Blu-ray options)
As usual with these releases (geo-restricted to North America only, as the – former Blu-ray Region BThe Region geo-restricting encoding had, for all intent and purposes, been dispensed with all together by the industry upon the advent of the UHD format, even though that policy change has never been made public officially. This incidentally, has also applied for the Blu-ray disc format, whose region encoding was since late 2009 silently, but gradually, abandoned as well – which in Star Treks case started with the Blu-ray releases of TOS Season 2 and – only to pick up speed from the mid-2010s onward. – European/Australasian releases do not have these) a redeemable code is included to download the film in 4K resolution digitally.
As is increasingly becoming commonplace, no DVD counterpart was issued for this particular release. Those dwindling number of DVD customers still wanting one, had to make do with the original DVD release from 2002.
== Special features ==
As well as all extras originally featured on the prior Director's Edition DVD, excepting the Easter egg, the release also featured the special features in high definition, as included on the 2016 release.
*Audio commentary by Director Nicholas Meyer (Director's Cut)
*Audio commentary by Director Nicholas Meyer and Manny Coto (Theatrical Version)
*Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda (Director's Cut)
*Library Computer (Theatrical Version, embedded)
*The Genesis Effect: Engineering The Wrath of Khan † (28:11)
*Production
**The Captain's Log (27:21)
**Designing Khan (23:55)
**Original interviews with DeForest Kelley, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban (10:57)
**Where No Man Has Gone Before: The Visual Effects of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (18:15)
**James Horner: Composing Genesis (9:33) †
*The Star Trek Universe
**Collecting Star Trek's Movie Relics with Alec Peters (11:00) †
**A Novel Approach (28:56)
**Starfleet Academy SciSec Brief 002: Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI (3:07) † 
*Farewell: A Tribute to Ricardo Montalban (4:43) †
*Storyboards
*Theatrical Trailer (2:22) †
;† - in 1080p (others in standard definition)
== Background information ==
* Contrary to the Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition and last two original crew films, Scandinavia waived the standalone version release of The Wrath of Khan - Director's Cut, as it had already seen a release a year earlier, albeit as part of their Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection only, but which was not that much of an issue for the customer base over there as any import would do.
* In similar fashion, the two Australasian (Australia and New Zealand) releases had dispensed with the separate Blu-ray disc in the set, as that territory had already seen its own original 2016 individual standalone release, as mentioned above.
== Footnotes ==
== External link ==
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