Director John Carpenter presents a romantic science fiction odyssey starring Jeff Bridges in his 1984 Oscar®-nominated role as an innocent alien from a distant planet who learns what it means to be a man in love. When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, Starman (Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones the form of her dead husband. The alien convinces Jenny to drive him to Arizona, explaining that if he isn’t picked up by his mothership in three days, he’ll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on capturing the alien, dead or alive. En route, Starman demonstrates the power of universal love, while Jenny rediscovers her human feelings for passion. Written by Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon.

For in-depth thoughts on Starman, please see my review of the Columbia Classics 4K UHD Collection: Volume 4 here.

For a look at the SteelBook release, please take a look here.

Video Quality

Previous thoughts on Starman on 4K UHD Blu-Ray can be found below:

The 4K UHD Blu-Ray of Starman offers a noticeable uptick in quality over the already strong accompanying Blu-Ray disc, which uses the new 4K master. The transfer has been derived from a 4K restoration of the 35mm Original Picture Negative with an HDR/Dolby Vision pass. The glorious film grain remains intact and resolves favorably without being clumpy or unnatural. Even the optical shots show no signs of degradation or incompatibility with the remainder of the source. The costumes and textural output are gorgeous with everything displaying without any issues. Skin tones appear more natural with healthy doses of fine detail apparent on faces such as freckles and pores. The production design is presented with immense depth and perfect clarity to reveal so many previously overlooked details.

The greatest improvement is in the dominance of the color spectrum. The Dolby Vision brings depth to the trek across the country as hues dazzle in the natural scenery. Colors are richer, more natural, and more accurate to what was intended by the creative team. The highlights in the film are more defined with whites pure and balanced with no occurrences of blooming to be found. Black levels are especially jaw-dropping in this presentation, staying deep and inky with great detail. There has been no digital manipulation on this transfer, so this disc is free of DNR, compression artifacts, and other encoding issues. The transfer offers up a flawless presentation that should please longtime fans.

Audio Quality

This new release provides a Dolby Atmos track and lossless DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio tracks for the film. The sheer amount of audio and subtitle options Sony provides on these discs is unlikely to displease anyone. You can get our previous thoughts on the release here.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director John Carpenter and Actor Jeff Bridges deliver a terrific archival commentary track only available on the Blu-Ray in which they take you through the film offering rich anecdotes from the production, developing certain moments with the actors, thematic reasons behind certain choices, how he recruited some of the performers, the special effects work, and more. These two make this an essential listen.

Deleted Scenes: There are 21 unused scenes totaling 18 minutes provided here in HD for the first time ever. These scenes have a bit of wear and tear to them, but they are a welcome sight for fans.

Behind-The-Scenes Time Lapses: Two videos are provided in which you can see the development and execution of certain scenes from the film from a production standpoint.

- The Light at the Window (4:58)

- Pep Rally Prep (4:46)

They Came From Hollywood! – Remembering Starman: A great 24-minute documentary is ported over from the Scream Factory disc that includes interviews with director John Carpenter, actors Jeff Bridges and Charles Martin Smith, and script supervisor Sandy King-Carpenter. There are some welcome anecdotes about the development of the project, the location shooting, the performances, and much more.

Making-Of Featurette: A nearly 12-minute archival featurette that details the production of the film.

“All I Have To Do Is Dream” Music Video: A four-minute video is provided of the song as performed by Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen.

Still Gallery: A gallery of stills and promotional material is provided here.

Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided.

Final Thoughts

Starman is one of the most heartfelt and enriching narratives to be helmed by genre master John Carpenter. The fanciful elements endure throughout this story, yet there is a greater focus on personal connection and surviving your past that makes this one particularly effective. Jeff Bridges puts forth a nuanced performance in a role that could easily go too broad, and Karen Allen equals him in a much different register. This is prime, underrated Carpenter. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has provided a 4K UHD Blu-Ray disc that sports a fantastic A/V presentation and a strong array of supplements in gorgeous SteelBook packaging. Fans waiting for a standalone option will want to scoop this up quickly. Highly Recommended

Starman will be available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray SteelBook on May 27, 2025.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.