Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season
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DVD details
Actor: Deforest Kelly, James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, William ShatnerDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1307 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
DVD Reviews of Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season
DVD Review: A preview of the special features on the second season
Summary: 5 Stars
With ratings that disappointed NBC, "Star Trek" quickly became targeted for cancellation by the end of the second season. The second season doesn't lack quality however it ranked in the ratings. Noted science fiction writers Theodore Sturgeon and Norman Spinrad along with fantasy and horror writer Robert Bloch turned in some of the finest episodes during season two. Sturgeon's "Amok Time" established a culture for Spock and established much of the mythology of the planet Vulcan. Spinrad's well written "The Doomsday Machine" proved a brilliant metaphor for the arms race when a machine that literally eats planets as part of its destructive pattern appears in our galaxy. While the optical effects were underwhelming at times (the USS Defiant which is destroyed is built from an AMC home model kit of the USS Enterprise and doesn't look at all convincing), the acting of guest William Windom was top notch and the taunt direction overcame these defects. Bloch's two contributions included the Halloween thriller "Catspaw" and the murder mystery "Wolf in the Fold". Both are top notch with strong performances from all the regular cast. Jerome Bixby ("Fantastic Voyage", the classic short story "It's a Good Life") contributed the alternate universe episode "Mirror, Mirror" where, due to a transporter accident Kirk, Bones, Scotty and Uhura are transported to an Enterprise whose mission is to conquer alien races, take what they want and kill those who get in the way. The late producer/writer Gene L. Coon contributes the terrific "Metamorphosis". Coon's humorous "A Piece of the Action" mined new territory for the series with its witty script and tongue-in-cheek tone. The talented writer Dorothy Fontana provides one of the finest episodes of the season with "Journey to Babel" about a meeting on the Enterprise between a variety of alien races and the discord one terrorist tries to create by murdering one of the delegates. Then of course there was neophyte writer David Gerrold's "The Trouble with Tribbles" (and his uncredited rewrite on the humorous "I Mudd"). Gerrold later became a Hugo and Nebula winning writer and his early career was nurtured by Roddenberry among many others.
There are many that felt that the second season didn't quite live up to the first but the characters had clear identities and the writing was just as strong with some of the finest episodes produced during season two. Certainly there were clunkers (Roddenberry's own "The Omega Glory" is among the worst the series ever produced) but the second season was every bit the equal of the first season. The optical effects also improved with fewer bad mattes (in some of the first season episodes the Enterprise appears transparent at times) and the acting became more self assured.
The picture quality is still stellar. Produced from the same master Paramount used for the Sci-Fi Channel debut and those produced for the individual sets released a couple of years ago, "TOS" looks exceptionally good with its rich day-glo 60's colors. The optical effects still look a bit dodgy but that's because they were produced using multiple exposures and, as a result, they're a bit less sharp with more grain (not a problem with the transfer per se)and also signficantly more analog debris.
The special features will be of particular interest to "Trek" fans and I've got a preview from my promo copy of the last disc of the set I received. "Life After Trek" focuses (as did the first) on a hobby of a cast member. This time Leonard Nimoy's hobby of still photography is examined. I don't know that I would call it a hobby based on the quality of the images we see. We also here Nimoy discuss his passion for photography and see some of his prints, his darkroom, etc.
"To Boldly Go" once again has Associate Producer Robert Justman, fan Bjo Trumble, Shatner and others dicuss their favorite episodes from season two. George Takei mentions his discomfort when Walter Koenig joined the show because he felt that Koenig might get some of his lines and screen time. Koenig points out that he never knew any of this and both comment on how they became good friends. The featurette focuses on the classic David Gerrold episode "The Troulbe with Tribbles" as well discussing how the producers wanted to experiment with the tone of the show more.
Walter Koenig also discusses his reception among the cast and why the show introduced his character (they were going after the "Davy Jones" look with his haircut). His character was designed to try and expand the audience as well. D. C. Fontana and the cast and crew also focus on their favorite episodes of season two as well.
"Kirk, Bones and Spock: Star Trek's Great Trio" consists of interviews of Shatner, Nimoy and D. C. Fontana discussing the chemistry of the trio of actors playing the main roles. Fontana mentions that Deforest Kelley wasn't original a top billed actor in the series but became so as the chemistry of the three actors became apparent. George Takei focuses on the presence that Shatner brought to the role of Shatner (without dishing on their differences in the past). John D. F. Black (former story editor and writer on the show), Mary Black as well as fan Bjo Trimble (who spearheaded the save Star Trek campaign that kept the series on the air for a third seasons) also comment on how the three interplay of the three actors brought the show its unique flavor that reached out and appealed to the broader audience that NBC couldn't bring to the show. There's quite a bit of discussion also about the late Kelley's unique southern charm and how he integrated into the role of McCoy.
"D.C. Fontana's Writer's Notebook" has former Trek story editor and writer Fontana expanding on the job of the story editor and what she brought to the table as both writer and editor expanding, revising and rewriting scripts with the participation of the show's writers. "Divine Diva: Nichelle Nicholls" focuses on the talented lady who played Uhura on the show. She discusses her beginnings in musical theater and how she ended up working on "Star Trek" Nicholls discusses how Roddenberry first cast her in his series "The Lieutenant" and how Roddenberry had the vision and guts to cast an African American actress in a prominent role on a prime time series that didn't fall into a stereotype. Evidently Nicholls suggested the name of Uhura for the character Roddenberry created for her (she actually read for Spock originally as the character didn't exist in the original series bible). It's a nice profile of one of Trek's most talented performers.
"Designing the Final Frontier" features designer Matt Jeffries discussing how he came to "Star Trek". Originally Jeffries was going to work on one of three new series "Mission: Impossible", "Star Trek" or a new western. "Star Trek" came up for production first. His unique designs are also highlighted in both this featurette as well as a stills gallery. Associate Producer Robert Justman highlights the unique qualities that Jeffries brought to the show and how he tried to give it a fantastic element that had just a touch of reality to make it something the audience of the 20th Century could relate to as well. Jeffries focuses on his collaborative efforts with the optical effects house Howard Anderson Company, how he interacted with the other production members and the difficulty of juggling as many as seven episodes at a time when it came to pre-production.
The set comes once again in the blue clam shell case (I believe it's designed to mirror the colors of the different shirts worn by the various crew members. If that's the case, it's ironic that the last season is red given that the red shirted characters frequently died and that the third season was the final one). Personally, I like the packaging but I also believe that the DVD holders should be more sturdy than they are here.
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