Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released to 2002 IMAX documentary film 'Space Station' to the UHD format. The film was previously released by Warner Brothers in 2010 on the Blu-ray 3D format. That disc was featureless and included a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack; for this release Mill Creek has added a commentary and three additional extras while upgrading the audio presentation to a superb DTS:X experience.

Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

The UHD's clarity is stellar. The components that make the station's exteriors, panels and readouts in the interior, everything manmade is gorgeously crisp and revealing. The UHD finds a new level of precision that the Blu-ray cannot replicate along skin, space suits, basic attire, and environments down on Earth, but it's the HDR colors where the two formats are truly distinguished. Colors pop with resplendent intensity. Whites, which are plentiful around the ISS, are eye-popping for luminance and crispness. Red stripes on a shirt seen at the 8:48 mark are much more intensely deep and bright on the UHD. Black level depth in outer space shots is first-rate, particularly when it's offset against a bright white shuttle or the blue planet below. There are a few strange background anomalies. Look at a shimmering, shaking panel at screen's top-left at the 23:42 mark. The good news is that some of the issues the Blu-ray runs into, like banding at the 14:48 mark, are rendered far less visible on the UHD. The movie looks terrific on the format. The large-format IMAX footage, presented here at 1.78:1, certainly benefits from the resolution bump and color adjustments that bring the material to life like never before. Even absent the awe-inspiring 3-D visuals from the older release, the film has tremendous value on UHD for a new kind of immersion, this one by way of top-flight clarity and stupendous color reproduction.

Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Space Station's DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack is regularly, and fully, fantastic. The multichannel configuration only adds to the IMAX experience, offering a tremendously large, airy, fully realized presentation even from the opening sounds where it seems each minuscule detail has been hand-placed around the stage. The feel for openness, width, and depth is practically uncanny, yielding one of the most precise and positively immersive experiences one can have in a home theater in 2019. But it's not just light and precise sound details that see the track excel. Voices pepper the listening area for effect, seeming to emanate from anywhere and everywhere, while narration maintains a firmly entrenched front-center location and presents with the appropriate level of clarity and prioritization. On the opposite end of the spectrum are two of the most incredible sound moments any track has on offer. A rocket blasts off at the six-minute mark and the presentation is simply something else. The feel of powerful thrust and rushing debris (which breaks the camera lens) is spectacular. It's a rare occurrence when the combination of raw power and seemingly random excess and jumbles of noise merge in harmony to absolutely pull the listener right outside the launch. A similar effect is heard -- and felt -- in chapter five when Discovery blasts off with so much force and feeling and sounding so close that it's amazing one's skin isn't seared by the fiery blast. The track is a finely engineered masterpiece and is alone reason enough to warrant a purchase; the quality of the film and the superb 4K/HDR visuals are almost just icing on the cake.

Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Space Station contains an audio commentary track and several video-based features. The extras appear on both the Blu-ray and UHD discs so there's no need to swap out discs (both are also in the same video resolution on each disc). A Moviespree digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: Producer/Director Toni Myers and Astronaut Marsha Ivins discuss the Lockheed/NASA partnership with IMAX, photography both on Earth and in space, ISS technical details, the ISS crew featured in the film, life in space, and more. Some of the comments are specific to shooting for the 3D presentation but it's a solid commentary even watching it in 2D.
• Adventures in Space (1080p upscaled, 22:12): A look at the partnerships that made the movie successful, the movie's detailing of life in space (exercise, hygiene, privacy, eating, communicating with other astronauts), the crew's training in moviemaking, and the challenges and limitations of shooting the film (13 miles worth) in space.
• Expedition 7 (1080p upscaled, 16:14): A comprehensive tour of Expedition 7 narrated by Astronaut Dr. Ed Lu.
• STS-108 (1080p upscaled, 18:40): Commander Dom Gorie, Mission Specialist Linda Godwin, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialist ISS Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani, and Former Astronaut Captain Frank L. Culbertson, Jr. narrate this tour through STS-108's launch, journey to and docking with the ISS, taking a space walk, the change-of-command ceremony, and returning to Earth.

Space Station 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Space Station is one of the finest IMAX experiences out there, and few translate so well to the home any better. The UHD is terrific for its video and audio presentations, and while it's missing the 3-D visuals, what is essentially 3-D sound does help draw the viewer into the experience alongside a strikingly crisp and colorful 4K/HDR replication. This set adds some supplements that the old 3-D disc didn't have on offer. Very highly recommended.