Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]
by Don McDougall, Gerd Oswald, Harvey Hart, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone
![Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]](/images/Star-Trek-The-Original-Series-Season-1-Blu-ray-B001TH16DS-L.jpg)
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Blu-ray details
Actor: Jeffrey Hunter, Leonard Nimoy, Malachi Throne, Susan Oliver, William ShatnerDirector: Don McDougall, Gerd Oswald, Harvey Hart, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), DTS-HD High Res Audio; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1460 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-04-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Blu-ray Reviews of Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: TOS has never looked better
Summary: 5 Stars
Star Trek fans can be a picky bunch, and I reference the mixed reaction to the reboot film as an example. However, I can't imagine that any fan would approach this Blu-ray set with anything but enthusiasm and grateful anticipation. As I said in my title, the shows have never looked better, including in their original broadcasts on NBC. The restoration process for this presentation was performed with reverence from the original film negatives. Defects in the picture due to tears, stains, and other causes were painstaking cleaned up after the scan to digital files. Colors and contrasts were adjusted correctly. Even the famous theme music was rerecorded using the original arrangement and an orchestra of the correct size and mix of instruments.
I like to let people know in my reviews of Star Trek products that I watched, with eagerness, the first episode broadcast. Back in those days networks sometimes did what they called a "sneak preview" week. Each fall the premier week for new series was more of a big deal than it is today, because you only had three networks and limited choices. For a kid, in particular, it was always an exciting time of promise and adventure. I never felt that more than in 1966 when I saw the lead up commercials for Star Trek. The "Sneak Preview" week was just a tactic to try to get in ahead of the other networks, but they were all three quickly doing it. I had just started to become interested in science fiction, having recently read my first science fiction book (Robert Heinlein's "The Star Beast"). When I finally saw the Star Trek's 'sneak preview' episode, "The Man Trap", at first it was a bit disorienting for a 9 year old. I thought maybe the bridge was the only working area of the space ship, for example. LOL As the series progressed, though, I quickly caught on. I loved every minute of Star Trek I could watch, and that has pretty much remained true now for 44 years.
In making a Blu-ray presentation of the Star Trek series, the producers of this product knew they had an issue to resolve. Although the resolution of the live action scenes was more than sufficient to create high definition images, the special effects shots just were not on the same scale. So they took the amazing action of recreating the effects shots. I'll have to say, they did a great job of it too. For purists, the original effects shots are also included ... in fact you can skip back and forth between the two sets of shots 'on the fly' as you watch an episode! However, a lot of thought went into the creation of the new effects. They are a distinct improvement over what the original production crew was able to do with the limited budget and technology available during the show's production. I only wish Roddenberry could have seen the results of this work. It is precisely what he would have done in the 1960s had he the means to do so.
The special features are a nice addition to the episodes, particularly the HD tour of the Enterprise, and the documentary about the restoration and effects.
Season One has some of the most memorable episodes in the series. A few highlights:
* "The Man Trap" is mostly notable for being the first aired, but its treatment of the "monster" in a somewhat sympathetic light was unusual for scripts of that day.
* "Charlie X" was the Enterprise crew's first encounter, of many, with beings who exhibited god-like powers.
* "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the first show FILMED which included being with god-like powers LOL, as it was the second pilot for the show, and the one that included some of the permanent cast to come.
* "The Enemy Within" gave Shatner a chance to shine, as the transporter split him into his "good side" and his "bad side". This would be the first of several Kirk "evil twin" stories. LOL (Shatner had evil twins, Picard always seemed to get brain-washed! LOL)
* "Mudd's Women" introduced Harry Mudd, one of the very few guest starring roles to appear more than once. In this first episode, Mudd has a very serious side, unlike the out and out comedy of his second appearance. The show has a very nice message about a person's inner beauty.
* "The Menagerie, Parts I and II" was produced as an excuse to not waste the work done filming the very fine first pilot. Here, the story is interleaved with a "current" story, as told by Spock and logs from an earlier Enterprise mission with its second captain, Christopher Pike. (In Star Trek lore, the first captain was an older captain named Robert April. Robert April was a favorite character name for Gene Roddenberry, who penned a minister by that name for two episodes he wrote for the western "Paladin", several years before he created Star Trek). Jeff Hunter did a fine job as Captain Pike in the first pilot, and would have been a great star for the show, but circumstances dictated otherwise.
* "The Conscience of the King" was one of many very thoughtful Star Trek episodes. This one explores whether it is correct to take violent action against some to save all, and whether one who takes that course deserves, or can find, redemption.
* "Shore Leave" was a surprisingly delightful episode, and could be called the first Star Trek comedy to air ... though it didn't always look like a comedy when Dr. McCoy was getting run through by a knight's lance, and a female crew member was strafed and killed by a WWII vintage fighter plane!
* "Arena" was one of my favorite episodes, pitting Kirk in a battle of strength and wits against a stronger opponent. This episode introduced one of the two space-faring races most unlike us (along with the later Tholians) that would appear on Star Trek. And once again, the "monsters" turned out to be not so evil after all ...
* "Space Seed", one of the more famous episodes with the rock solid Ricardo Montalban, was of course the inspiration for the second Star Trek film, "The Wrath of Khan".
* "A Taste of Armageddon" explores the utter stupidity of war for the sake of vying political ideologies. By that I don't imply that the people behind Star Trek were doves. They were against senseless war, which I can imagine they perceived our involvement in Viet Nam to be. They were quite clear in other episodes that they felt war was an acceptable remedy to prevent atrocities (as per WWII). You'll see this evidenced just three episodes later in "Errand of Mercy".
* "The Devil in the Dark" is Star Trek's one true "Monster Hunt" show. Yet once again, everything is not as it seems.
* "The City on the Edge of Forever" is possibly Star Trek's most highly acclaimed episode, and the second involving time travel. It was written by the noted Sci-fi writer, Harlan Ellison.
There is nothing wrong with the 15(!) episodes I didn't mention above. Those noted are some of my personal favorites from Season One, and I think I'd find a lot of agreement from long time Star Trek fans that they deserve highlighting. And yes, add the 14 I mentioned to the 15 I did not, and you have 29(!!) episodes in the first season. That is a production number not seen for a season of a TV series in a very long time.
If you're a Star Trek fan still without a Blu-ray player ... well ... this gives you a great excuse to get into Blu-ray and hi-def. Luckily the road is paved and Blu-ray players now cost what had at one time become common (and low) prices for DVD players. Even HD TVs are a fraction of what they once cost. The "early adopter" period is long passed, and prices are good on these wonderful viewing technologies. There is no better way to enjoy hi-def programming than by viewing an outstanding transfer of a long beloved series of programs like this.
Description of Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]
Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The First Officer is Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen lead by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. Here at last is the first season of the original series all in one box, 29 episodes in their original broadcast order. That means starting with "The Man Trap," and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The many highlight episodes include "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing, respectively, the Romulans and the Klingons), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," which featured Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise and is not included in this set), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best-ever episode of the series).
The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest (24 minutes) featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Slightly shorter are "To Boldly Go... Season One," which highlights key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," which discusses the series' great science fiction writers (most famously in "The City of the Edge of Forever"). Shatner shows off his love of horses in "Life Beyond Trek," and, more interestingly, Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock." As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic case is an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the set is a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi
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