The third IMAX space film in 3D makes it to DVD, BR, and BR-3D, and while it’s still spectacular on a blah 2D screen, far more attention was given towards creating a film whose visual elements are within the audience’s grasp. Perhaps more than the animated films of 2010, Space Station 3D should be a mandatory purchase for 3D TV owners – and the bigger the set, the better. Even with a 2D HD projection system splashing the film on an entire wall will be an immersive experience because many shots are design to centralize the action, while the intricate 5.1 sound mix just hangs over one’s head.

The narration is above par, largely since the film’s focus is on what’s billed as the final shuttle flight to the Hubble Large Space Telescope and commit one final equipment upgrade before it’s allowed to age and eventually decay (criminal as that sounds).

The doc covers the training of the astronauts in NASA’s giant, 4 storey deep underwater tank to ensure the delicate repairs are done accurately, the shuttle launch, and the repair work that relies on the Canadarm to support the astronauts as they remove and augment the innards of the massive telescope.

The details of Hubble were previously covered in a 15th anniversary doc, so this 2010 film is more of an addendum, if not a progress report on the marvelous images Hubble’s managed to capture since its flawed mirror was fixed two years after its launch. Director Toni Myers had effects artists splice the high definition Hubble stills into layers and create 3-dimensional images designed to hang as far out into the audience as possible (an immersive trick also employed in Under the Sea, where sea snakes swirled just above one’s lap).

Once the telescope’s been given its final tweak, the film launches into a trippy montage as we travel through the images of galaxies Hubble gathered after the hardware upgrade – and they rank as some of the most hypnotic flying-thru-space montages on film, largely because the layers of passing stars are so detailed in movement. It feels like a natural ride through space, with the payoff being 3D renditions of distant stars and mega-galaxies that look far more impressive than the soft focus images seen on websites and news reports. Aided by Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon’s gentle score, the montage forms a perfect finale to what may be one of the last tributes to a great feat of observational engineering.

Perhaps NASA might have second thoughts, and like the two Voyager crafts that still fly through space, gathering data and images since their launch in 1977, they’ll keep Hubble alive and well, because to lose it at all would be tragic.

Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray combo set includes a DVD + Digital copy and 2D BR edition, plus a making-of featurette with director Myers as the chief guide, and 7 webisodes offering further production minutia in small, easy to digest morsels.

This title is part of several IMAX 3D films available as standalone DVD, Blu-ray combo and Blu-ray 3D combo editions, including Deep Sea 3D (2010), Hubble 3D (2010), Space Station 3D (2002), and Under the Sea 3D (2007).

The main run of IMAX space documentaries includes Blue Planet (1990), Destiny in Space (1994), Dream is Alive, The (1985), Hail Columbia! (1982), Hubble 3D (2010), Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005), Mission to Mir (1997), and Space Station 3D (2002).

Also available: a 2002 interview with the film’s co-composer, Maribeth Solomon, and director Toni Myers on working in 3D in 2007.

© 2011 Mark R. Hasan