Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

Supernova: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie Review

An insult to the intelligence that only gets worse with every passing moment.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 8, 2009

It will hit us like a scattergun loaded with nuclear bird shot.

A miniseries with the potential to at least deliver passable entertainment begins well enough (read: terrible by most standards, passable by miniseries standards) and ends with a fizzle of epic proportions. To cut to the chase, this disaster movie is nothing other than a complete insult to the intelligence of any viewer, both the resolution to the primary problem of a pending supernova (darn those pesky plus signs!) and the extended finale that wraps up a subplot that has absolutely nothing to do with supernovae and the end of the world are both poorly thought out, dreadfully executed, and agonizingly near-impossible to watch. Another miniseries populated by laughable special effects, a poorly executed plot, terrible writing, and stale characters, Supernova still makes for a better watch than its dimwitted sister film, Final Days of Planet Earth. A poor man's disaster movie in every respect, Supernova is a dim, fading light in a sky marked with the bright, shining beacons of the Sci-Fi Disaster genre.

Um, 959?

Scientist Austin Shepard (Peter Fonda, Easy Rider) has discovered that the sun is set to supernova. He's clandestinely left town to live it up on a remote beach, leaving his colleagues and some suspicious government agents wondering where he has gone -- and why. His colleague, Dr. Chris Richardson (Luke Perry, The Fifth Element) is approached by Lisa Delgado (Tia Carrera, Wayne's World), an agent for the National Intelligence Organization, and ordered to find Shepard and discover what it is he's hiding. As a series of natural disasters and interruptions from satellite-based technologies plague the planet, a race against time ensues to find out if the world really is living in its final days. Meanwhile, a vicious criminal has escaped from prison and is stalking Richardon's wife and daughter.

Where to begin? Supernova is a terrible film, but most of it, and the ridiculous finale to the supernova conundrum, makes for one of those "so bad its funny" sort of films, unlike Final Days of Planet Earth which is not in the least bit funny in any sort of way, that one akin to torture, suffering, and other assorted maladies that make it a pain to watch. Supernova features the usual array of have-beens that give the TV listing or Blu-ray box a list of "names" to scatter all over the place; Luke Perry, Tia Carrere, Lance Henriksen, and Peter Fonda give the movie star power but their performances -- and the characters they play -- are laughably bad at best and disdainful at worst. Supernova features the usual array of standard Disaster miniseries characters -- the scientist nobody believes, the scientist that represents Earth's last hope, the federal agent, the TV reporter, and a spooky bad guy that really serves no other purpose than to tack on an additional 45 minutes of runtime to the movie. The actors deliver their dullard lines with little depth or meaning; dialogue such as "the end of life as we know it" and "oh God help us!" are delivered with the enthusiasm of a weather report that promises a 20% chance of rain and highs in the lower 70s (though that's something to be excited about in Texas). Also included is the usual barrage of technical, scientific, and military jargon meant to add weight, reality, and tension to the movie but instead come off as consistently nonsensical and comical. The visual effects are terrible, and the premises behind them laughable, including missile-like projectiles that come from the sun and hurtle towards Earth, destroying everything from the Taj Mahal to the St. Louis Arch. It's a mess of a movie, and the absolutely ridiculous nature of the conclusion cannot be overstated enough, that fact alone reducing this one from barely passable down downright disdainful.

Supernova: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Supernova blows up on Blu-ray with a satisfactory, but by no means all that impressive, 1080p, MPEG-2, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The most glaring problem here is the presence of an abundance of artifacts that plague the print; white speckles, ranging in size from miniscule to as big as a baseball, appear frequently and in large number, sometimes to a degree that takes attention away from the story. Also visible are several black vertical lines that appear every so often. Otherwise, this one isn't too bad. There is only minimal banding, aliasing, and blocking throughout, though other issues -- red flesh tones and crushing blacks -- do mar the transfer throughout. Colors are neither bold nor dull. A solid array of color is to be found throughout the movie, from dim hues to the bright, tropical colors of some of the casual wear clothing worn by characters. Detail, too, suffices; the transfer never takes on much of a realistic or film-like look, but the imagery generally benefits from the 1080p presentation and the increased resolution offered by the Blu-ray format. An uninspiring but not truly awful presentation, Supernova's high definition transfer is about as expected of a budget made-for-TV miniseries turned Blu.

Supernova: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Supernova heats up on Blu-ray with halfway decent Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 2.0 uncompressed soundtracks. Fortunately, the lossy 5.1 mix doesn't suffer from the same imbalance problem as that found on The Final Days of Planet Earth. For the most part, this one is well-balanced, loud, and aggressive in both its music and disaster-oriented sound effects. While dialogue reproduction is clear and discernible, the 5.1 offering does suffer from some noticeable lip synch problems. The PCM track sacrifices the rear channels but plays with a bit more clarity and precision. Dialogue is improved in both delivery and synch with lip movements. The sound effects and music are no less pronounced here, and the lack of a rear soundstage doesn't hinder the presentation. In fact, it helps to organize things a bit better and this one actually delvers a more believable, lifelike presentation.

Supernova: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supernova features a collection of 1080p cast and crew interviews with Actors Luke Perry (5:50), Tia Carrere (3:38), Peter Fonda (6:00), Emma Samms (3:44), Clemency Burton-Hill (4:56), and Director John Harrison (5:44). Also included is the film's trailer (1080p, 1:42).

Supernova: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though Supernova's primary plot is resolved with the discovery of an inadvertent "plus," the movie is nothing more than one big "minus." A terrible, derivative, derogatory experience from beginning to end, Supernova at least plays out in such a manner as to open itself up for jokes and witty commentary throughout. A movie that could have been decent but is ruined by a nonstop assault on the intelligence of its viewers, Supernova makes for one of the very worst of its kind. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of this disaster of a Disaster movie isn't quite as bad as the movie. Featuring passable video and audio and a few throwaway supplements, the Blu-ray isn't a horrible investment at the current $8 asking price, if for nothing else than for a makeshift "Mystery Science Theater 3000" with a few friends.