Starman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Starman Blu-ray Movie Review

After Christine held the number one spot atop the box office (as well as placing first on the New York Times bestseller list), Columbia Pictures offered John Carpenter the opportunity to direct a romantic comedy, a rarity for the sci-fi/horror master. Starman had already been in development for about four years at the studio. Columbia contemplated (rather infamously) whether it should back that project or Spielberg's E.T.. In an interview with the Detroit News' Susan Stark, Carpenter recalled that studio conducted market research on the concepts of both Starman and E.T. and the former pulled out in front. Four previous directors of Starman either bowed out or were fired. According to film journalist Deborah Jerome, these included Adrian Lyne, Mart Rydell, John Badham, and Tony Scott. Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon wrote the first draft of the script. Dean Riesner was brought in to do a rewrite and reduce the similarities to E.T. Carpenter says he was brought in October 1983 by Columbia's top brass. Working with a budget of $24 million, Carpenter and his crew filmed Starman over the course of seventeen weeks. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Rick Lyman reported that the movie had preview screenings on the West Coast and test audiences received them "exceptionally well." Carpenter told Lyman that Columbia did a word-association survey with patrons. When test marketers gave them only John Carpenter's name, it didn't signify anything. However, when they paired the director's name with a particular film, respondents associated it with "good" movies (not "horror" movies or a specific genre).

For a story synopsis and analysis of the film, please see my colleague Marty Liebman's review of an earlier edition here.

Starman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream Factory has brought Starman to Blu-ray as a Collector's Edition that comes with a slipcover and reversible poster art on the inside. Carpenter's eighth feature appears in the director's favorite aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (which mimics the original theatrical exhibition) on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. This 2K scan appears to be sourced from the same print prepared by Sony, which Marty reviewed about a decade ago. The image looks smooth and film-like without any artifacting. Scream has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 25994 kbps.

Scream accommodates the nearly two-hour film with the studio's de-facto twelve scene selections.

Starman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround remix (2945 kbps, 24-bit), which is essentially a refashioning of Sony's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. I thought the DTS-HD MA really came to life during the film's climatic sequence. Jack Nitzsche's warm and wistful score is given a well-balanced presentation. Production information reveals that Nitzsche performed it entirely on the Synclavier Digital Music System; it's one of the rare electronic scores from the Eighties that doesn't sound dated. My comments echo Marty's from his critique: "Background information is superb, too; chatter and the sounds of clunky 1980s computers, ringing telephones, and other niceties fill the soundstage in several scenes, creating a fairly realistic audible atmosphere. The presentation of the score never disappoints as it is delivered with the utmost clarity across the front. Dialogue reproduction never falters."

I watched Starman a second time with the optional English SDH enabled and the transcription looks complete with no misspellings of characters names and the like.

Starman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges - At last! North American movie fans have waited over fifteen years for this track to appear on DVD or BD (the US high-def release was featureless.) Bridges mentions that he recently finished appearing in The Contender so the recording date of this commentary dates back to 2000. It initially appeared ca. 2002 on all the Columbia TriStar European SD discs. (A fan once asked Carpenter following a special screening of one his films why the commentary wasn't on the US DVD and when Sony would issue it in the States. The legendary filmmaker replied, "I have no idea.") This is one terrific track with very few pauses. Carpenter's memory of the shoot is sharp as he's highly complimentary of all his collaborators. Bridges is very enthusiastic about the role he played and reminisces about carrying his Widelux camera around the locations and eventually producing a book. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW They Came from Hollywood: Re-visiting STARMAN – Featuring Director John Carpenter, Actors Jeff Bridges and Charles Martin Smith, and Script Supervisor Sandy King-Carpenter (23:55, 1080p) - Scream produced this new retrospective doc that incorporates four new interviews. Carpenter and his wife Sandy appear interviewed at their home. Bridges and Smith are interviewed separately. They each share their memories of filming this road movie and offer anecdotes from on the set. Unfortunately, Karen Allen is missing. In English, not subtitled.

• Vintage Featurette (11:20, upscaled to 1080p) - this is an original EPK featurette produced by Columbia with voice-overs orienting the viewer to the different locations and actors involved. Carpenter appears relaxed on the couch, musing about how he wanted to broaden his horizons and add to his already accomplished CV. Allen and Bridges discuss older films that remind them of Starman. In English, not subtitled.

• Teaser Trailer (0:50, upscaled to 1080p) - a teaser for Starman that's riddled with artifacts and light scratches. Screen ratio appears to be around 1.78:1.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:18, upscaled to 1080p) - Columbia's official trailer that's in a little better shape than the teaser.

• TV Spots (1:51, upscaled to 1080p) - four promotional spots for Starman that are presented in 1.33:1.

• Still Gallery (8:02, 1080p) - a slideshow consisting of eighty-three images made up of on-set photos, posters, lobby cards, video ad slicks, and even folder artwork from Columbia's press kit. They appear in color and black-and-white. There's also some stunning panoramic shots courtesy of Bridges's signature camera.

Starman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Starman proves how successful a crossover auteur John Carpenter really is and how capable he is of making a moving romantic comedy. Jeff Bridges is completely convincing as the humanoid and was deserving of his third Academy Award nomination, which is still the only Oscar nod for a Carpenter film. Scream Factory has repurposed the same transfer and sound mix from Sony's Blu-ray ten years ago. The film looks and sounds very good. We finally have the archival commentary with Carpenter and Bridges. The new documentary runs under a half hour and includes quality nuggets from the filmmakers but I wish it could have been longer. Scream has also added its usual ancillary features. If you own the Sony disc, I'd advise waiting for the price to go under $20. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for a CE that receives a moderate upgrade over its predecessor.