STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL
SERIES
THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
.
.
In my youth, STAR TREK was at the height of its syndicated
popularity, and as a dutiful science fiction fan, I watched the show each
and every day for years and years. As time rolled on, the popularity of STAR
TREK continued to increase, which gave rise to the movie versions of
the television series, followed by THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP
SPACE 9, VOYAGER and finally ENTERPRISE. Of course,
across that expanse of time, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES (as it
is now referred to) had become a bit more difficult to see, as it was no
longer the syndicated darling that it once was.
As
you might expect, I stopped watching STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
on a regular basis, and only caught part of an occasional episode on the
Sci-Fi channel. Not having watched STAR TREK with any regularity
for quite a long time, spending time with the DVD release comes as
something of a revelation, as I had honestly forgotten how good this
television series actually was. STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
really was well written and a rather intelligent science fiction series.
Sure, there were some stinkers that crept up during the show’s all too
brief three year run (Spock’s Brain immediately comes to
mind), but for the most part, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES never
failed to entertain. Cementing the show’s entertainment value was the
show’s three leading characters, who had a perfect chemistry, based upon
their divergent personalities, which many have compared to the Freudian
concepts of Id, Ego and Superego. Therefore any heated debate, or
conversation in general, in which the three participated, always made it
fun to tune in to STAR TREK.
For
those of you unfamiliar with STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES the
show was the brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, who pitched the science
fiction series, at a time when westerns were popular TV fodder, as a Wagon
Train to the stars. Set several centuries in the future, STAR TREK
takes place on board the Starship Enterprise, whose five-year mission was
to explore strange, new worlds… seek out new life and new civilizations…
to boldly go where no man has gone before. The cast for the first season
of STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES featured William Shatner as
Captain James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as the ship’s Vulcan first officer
Commander Spock, DeForest Kelley as ship’s surgeon Dr. Leonard McCoy,
James Doohan as ship’s engineer Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott,
George Takei as helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as
communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine
Chapel and Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand.
STAR
TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ($130) comes to
DVD in a eight-disc set that features all twenty-nine episodes that were
aired in that freshman year. The twenty-nine featured episodes are as
follows: The Man Trap, Charlie X, Where
No Man Has Gone Before, The Naked Time, The
Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, What Are Little
Girls Made Of?, Miri, Dagger Of The Mind,
The Corbomite Maneuver, The Menagerie Part 1, The
Menagerie Part 2, The Conscience Of The King, Balance
Of Terror, Shore Leave, The Galileo Seven,
The Squire Of Gothos, Arena, Tomorrow Is
Yesterday, Court Martial, The Return Of The
Archons, Space Seed, A Taste Of Armageddon,
This Side Of Paradise, The Devil In The Dark, Errand
Of Mercy, The Alternative Factor, The City On
The Edge Of Forever and Operation -- Annihilate!.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all twenty-nine episodes from STAR TREK:
THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON available on DVD in the
proper full screen aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts.
With some minor variations in quality, every one of these episodes really
looks great on DVD. Each episode features an image that appears quite
sharp, with more picture detail than was seen during the initial
broadcasts or in syndication. Sure, there are shots within episodes that
are somewhat soft, but it is generally related to the original photography
and not a flaw in the transfers. Colors are generally quite bold and
appear fully saturated, without any noise or noticeable fuzziness. Blacks
are accurate, whites are crisp and contrast is quite smooth. The film
elements are pretty clean for a mid-1960s television series, with only
very minor blemishes being present. A noticeable grain structure crops up
from time to time in the episodes, but it never becomes bothersome. Even
with four episodes on a dual layer disc, digital compression artifacts are
well concealed.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE
FIRST SEASON come with upgraded Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtracks.
Considering that the show was originally monaural and intended for the
fidelity of television speakers, these new 5.1 channel remixes are quite
wonderful. Most signs of background hiss and noise have been cleaned up in
the mastering process, which leaves each episode with a generally smooth
sounding quality. Channel separations are well done, giving the music a
stereo quality, while sound effects are effectively spread to the various
outlying channels. Since there are a limited number of sound effects to
work with in the original recordings, none of the remixes are aggressively
implemented. Voices are cleanly rendered and the dialogue is always easy
to understand. The bass channel provides a surprising bit of depth to the
sound, but is never overbearing. English Dolby Surround soundtracks are
also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s cool interactive menus-
CGI renderings of plywood sets are always cool in my book. The menus
provide access to the set up and episode selection features, as well as
the supplemental materials, most of which are presented on disc eight of
the set. However, throughout the set, one will find a preview trailers for
each of the episodes, while Where No Man Has Gone Before, The
Menagerie Part 1, The Menagerie Part 2 and The
Conscience Of The King feature popup factoid text commentaries by
Michael and Denise Okuda. On disc eight one will find the rest of the
supplemental programs and features. The Birth of a Timeless Legacy
is a twenty-four minute program that looks at the shows origins, and
features recent interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle
Nichols, George Takei, Robert Justman, as well as archival interviews with
James Doohan and series creator Gene Roddenberry.
Life
Beyond Trek: William Shatner runs ten minutes and features the
actor talking about his love of horses and horsemanship. To Boldly
Go"... Season One is almost nineteen minutes in length and
looks at the difficulties in producing the sci-fi series first year on a
small budget, as well as some of the standout episodes including Space
Seed, which features archival interviews with Ricardo Montalban,
as well as a recent interview with William Campbell who had the title role
in The Squire Of Gothos. Reflections On Spock
clocks in at twelve minutes and features Leonard Nimoy discussing his
character and its relationship to him as an actor. Sci-Fi
Visionaries is a sixteen-minute program that pays tribute to the
great writers that helped make STAR TREK the classic it has become.
A photo gallery closes out the supplements.
Having
STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on DVD
allows both fans and non-fans to see how great the television show that
spawned an empire actually was. Paramount has done a truly fine job with
the set, offering the episodes with the kind of visual and audio quality
they never saw in syndication, as well as some great supplemental
features. If you are a fan and haven’t picked up the individual releases
of the episodes, this set is an absolute must have. Highly recommended.
.
As
you might expect, I stopped watching STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
on a regular basis, and only caught part of an occasional episode on the
Sci-Fi channel. Not having watched STAR TREK with any regularity
for quite a long time, spending time with the DVD release comes as
something of a revelation, as I had honestly forgotten how good this
television series actually was. STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
really was well written and a rather intelligent science fiction series.
Sure, there were some stinkers that crept up during the show’s all too
brief three year run (Spock’s Brain immediately comes to
mind), but for the most part, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES never
failed to entertain. Cementing the show’s entertainment value was the
show’s three leading characters, who had a perfect chemistry, based upon
their divergent personalities, which many have compared to the Freudian
concepts of Id, Ego and Superego. Therefore any heated debate, or
conversation in general, in which the three participated, always made it
fun to tune in to STAR TREK.
For
those of you unfamiliar with STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES the
show was the brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, who pitched the science
fiction series, at a time when westerns were popular TV fodder, as a Wagon
Train to the stars. Set several centuries in the future, STAR TREK
takes place on board the Starship Enterprise, whose five-year mission was
to explore strange, new worlds… seek out new life and new civilizations…
to boldly go where no man has gone before. The cast for the first season
of STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES featured William Shatner as
Captain James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as the ship’s Vulcan first officer
Commander Spock, DeForest Kelley as ship’s surgeon Dr. Leonard McCoy,
James Doohan as ship’s engineer Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott,
George Takei as helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as
communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura, Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine
Chapel and Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand.
STAR
TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ($130) comes to
DVD in a eight-disc set that features all twenty-nine episodes that were
aired in that freshman year. The twenty-nine featured episodes are as
follows: The Man Trap, Charlie X, Where
No Man Has Gone Before, The Naked Time, The
Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, What Are Little
Girls Made Of?, Miri, Dagger Of The Mind,
The Corbomite Maneuver, The Menagerie Part 1, The
Menagerie Part 2, The Conscience Of The King, Balance
Of Terror, Shore Leave, The Galileo Seven,
The Squire Of Gothos, Arena, Tomorrow Is
Yesterday, Court Martial, The Return Of The
Archons, Space Seed, A Taste Of Armageddon,
This Side Of Paradise, The Devil In The Dark, Errand
Of Mercy, The Alternative Factor, The City On
The Edge Of Forever and Operation -- Annihilate!.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all twenty-nine episodes from STAR TREK:
THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON available on DVD in the
proper full screen aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts.
With some minor variations in quality, every one of these episodes really
looks great on DVD. Each episode features an image that appears quite
sharp, with more picture detail than was seen during the initial
broadcasts or in syndication. Sure, there are shots within episodes that
are somewhat soft, but it is generally related to the original photography
and not a flaw in the transfers. Colors are generally quite bold and
appear fully saturated, without any noise or noticeable fuzziness. Blacks
are accurate, whites are crisp and contrast is quite smooth. The film
elements are pretty clean for a mid-1960s television series, with only
very minor blemishes being present. A noticeable grain structure crops up
from time to time in the episodes, but it never becomes bothersome. Even
with four episodes on a dual layer disc, digital compression artifacts are
well concealed.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE
FIRST SEASON come with upgraded Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtracks.
Considering that the show was originally monaural and intended for the
fidelity of television speakers, these new 5.1 channel remixes are quite
wonderful. Most signs of background hiss and noise have been cleaned up in
the mastering process, which leaves each episode with a generally smooth
sounding quality. Channel separations are well done, giving the music a
stereo quality, while sound effects are effectively spread to the various
outlying channels. Since there are a limited number of sound effects to
work with in the original recordings, none of the remixes are aggressively
implemented. Voices are cleanly rendered and the dialogue is always easy
to understand. The bass channel provides a surprising bit of depth to the
sound, but is never overbearing. English Dolby Surround soundtracks are
also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s cool interactive menus-
CGI renderings of plywood sets are always cool in my book. The menus
provide access to the set up and episode selection features, as well as
the supplemental materials, most of which are presented on disc eight of
the set. However, throughout the set, one will find a preview trailers for
each of the episodes, while Where No Man Has Gone Before, The
Menagerie Part 1, The Menagerie Part 2 and The
Conscience Of The King feature popup factoid text commentaries by
Michael and Denise Okuda. On disc eight one will find the rest of the
supplemental programs and features. The Birth of a Timeless Legacy
is a twenty-four minute program that looks at the shows origins, and
features recent interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle
Nichols, George Takei, Robert Justman, as well as archival interviews with
James Doohan and series creator Gene Roddenberry.
Life
Beyond Trek: William Shatner runs ten minutes and features the
actor talking about his love of horses and horsemanship. To Boldly
Go"... Season One is almost nineteen minutes in length and
looks at the difficulties in producing the sci-fi series first year on a
small budget, as well as some of the standout episodes including Space
Seed, which features archival interviews with Ricardo Montalban,
as well as a recent interview with William Campbell who had the title role
in The Squire Of Gothos. Reflections On Spock
clocks in at twelve minutes and features Leonard Nimoy discussing his
character and its relationship to him as an actor. Sci-Fi
Visionaries is a sixteen-minute program that pays tribute to the
great writers that helped make STAR TREK the classic it has become.
A photo gallery closes out the supplements.
Having
STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on DVD
allows both fans and non-fans to see how great the television show that
spawned an empire actually was. Paramount has done a truly fine job with
the set, offering the episodes with the kind of visual and audio quality
they never saw in syndication, as well as some great supplemental
features. If you are a fan and haven’t picked up the individual releases
of the episodes, this set is an absolute must have. Highly recommended.