NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (January 2021): Imprint, for title #26 in their catalogue, have transferred Robert Lieberman's Fire in the Sky to Blu-ray. It looks excellent - for a while I thought 'too good' expecting to find some digitization. The image has some appealing gloss, very tight lines and a consistent, if faint, grain texture. If there is some digitization, it's pretty light and there may be very minor macro-blocking. I never noticed this on my system - only when zooming into the screen captures. The 1080P really supports the film's varied visuals and art direction. The 2.35:1 widescreen is housed on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc with a high bitrate. Most will be very impressed with the appearance on their HD system. 

NOTE: We have added 78 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint give the option of a very robust DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track or a linear PCM stereo track (both 24-bit) in the original English language. There are some deft, spaceship-related, separations and the film's audio really adds to the viewing experience exporting intense depth in spots. The score is by Mark Isham (Short Cuts, Little Man Tate, Of Mice and Men, Crossing Over, In the Valley of Elah, A River Runs Through It). It suits the film's moods very well from intensity to warmth. Imprint offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Imprint Blu-ray offers a new commentary by director Robert Lieberman. He talks about the screenplay written by Tracy Tormé - jazz icon Mel Tormé's son! (from Travis Walton's book), he talks about wanting to ground the story in characters - not a typical theremin-infused science-fiction film. He says that Robert Patrick, in his interview for the part, claimed he was actually cousins with Mike Rogers, the character he plays in the film! He talks about actor Peter Berg (playing David Whitlock) turning out to be a director (The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights), he talks about using the steady-cam, the lads passing a lie-detector test in real life, he adores James Garner (RIP) and discusses him and the other performers, how he had worked with children in his career... a very good commentary. I enjoyed it. There are also four new, 2020, audio interviews with visual effects art director Harley Jessup and visual effects supervisor Michael Owens entitled “Fear From Above: The Practical Effects of “Fire in the Sky” discussing their interesting contributions to the film's visual effects for 10-minutes. “Borrowed Time: Scoring Fire In The Sky” is a new dozen-minute interview with composer Mark Isham who talks about seeking out 'other-worldly' sounds to utilize in his score and developing a motif. “We Gotta Go Back: Robert Patrick On Fire In The Sky” talks with the actor for 7-minutes. He discusses rejecting robot/action film roles wanting to find more juicier parts. He gained weight and grew a beard. I found it very interesting. The last audio interview is entitled “Touched By Light: D.B. Sweeney on Fire In The Sky” and runs 1/4 hour with D.B. Sweeney who discusses trying to find a variety of roles in his career, liking the script and was impressed that Industrial Light and Magic were on tap to do the effects, wanting the role of Spiderman and much more. I appreciated his honesty. There is a photo gallery that runs shy of 5-minutes and there is also a short theatrical trailer. The Imprint Blu-ray package offers a limited edition slipcase with unique artwork on the first 1500 copies.

Robert Lieberman's Fire in the Sky is one of the better alien abduction feature films - easily behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind but not much else comes to mind that would be in the same class (Dark Skies? Knowing? - one day I hope to see Communion with Christopher Walken and Lindsay Crouse). It was very enjoyable to revisit the always intriguing Travis Walton story via this very well-made movie production with a great cast and effects. It had been many years since I had last seen it. The Imprint Blu-ray provides an upper-tier HD presentation (never seen it look or sound this effective) and valued new extras including a director commentary and interview with 4 of the cast/crew. Wow - Imprint just keep pumping out appealing films with solid transfers and extras. This is another keeper. Certainly recommended!

Gary Tooze