The Dream Is Alive [IMAX]

"Shot in the IMAX format and presented on DVD in a 1.33:1 screen ratio, The Dream Is Alive certainly loses some of its majesty; however, some of the space footage is still extremely impressive, even on a television screen. The feature compiles footage from several periods, including the Challenger and Discovery missions, as well as the Solar Max repair mission. As a result, the overall image quality varies from section to section, with some footage being quite smooth and stable, while other pieces display grain and camera instability. Overall, the image quality is very good, and there is no sign of either compression artifacts or edge enhancement. Blacks are extremely solid and detailed, and the disc transfer seems, overall, quite masterful. This title was previously released in laserdisc form, and this edition seems an improvement in terms of the image. The soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby 5.1, which might have been a minor miscalculation, as it has robbed the track of some of its original (if punchy) dynamics -- the sonic boom at the start now gives the subwoofer a good thump but no longer has the sort of wonderful atrociousness of the original Surround track. Walter Cronkite sounds just the same, and the music and effects are more or less unchanged (with, perhaps, a little better separation in the mains). There is a French soundtrack with an uninspired narrator and a muddier soundtrack mix. Subtitles are offered in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The only extra item on the disc is a generic IMAX trailer, and the disc is packaged in a cardboard snap-case."