Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1 [Blu-ray]

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1. Matthew T. Weflen "Matthew Weflen"

   March 19, 2011 at 11:21 am

   370 of 377 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Spectacular visuals, nice extras, a few quibbles, May 4, 2009

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   Matthew T. Weflen “Matthew Weflen” (Chicago, IL) –
     

     

     

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   This review is from: Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1 [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

   The Program:

   If I could find something new to say about Star Trek, that would be a feat in itself. Let it suffice to say that it’s the most successful TV sci-fi franchise of all time, was a pioneering show in many respects, and is just darned entertaining to watch, whether you’re a “true believer” or not.

   Season One of the Original Series is a great place to start for newbies and fanatics alike. We are introduced to the Romulans, Klingons, Khan, Starfleet, the Federation of Planets, and the whole crew short of Chekov, who appears in Season Two. We are presented with 29 episodes, at least 6 of which are absolute masterpieces, and another 10 of which are really, really good. In this package, you’ll get classics such as “The City on The Edge of Forever,” “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” “Balance of Terror,” “The Menagerie,” “The Devil In The Dark,” and “Space Seed.” Overall, it’s the Original Series’ strongest season, and it only has two real clunkers in the group (“Shore Leave” and “The Galileo Seven”).

   There’s really not a whole lot to be faulted in this season. It’s an absolutely rock solid item for any Trekkie, and indeed any sci-fi fan, to own.

   The Blu-Ray:

   So the question becomes, how is the presentation?

   Well, it should be said right off the bat that the HD transfers of these shows are absolutely sparkling. Detail is through the roof, making every smile line, button and dial, star, and ship detail just pop right off the screen. Black levels are rock solid, especially in space scenes. Color saturation is deeper than deep, and bright colors are radiant in a way that the previous DVDs just can’t replicate. The show is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio – thank goodness CBS/Paramount didn’t try to stretch these shows in a manner similar to many “HD” rebroadcasts of older shows on cable.

   The Original Series was shot on 35 mm film stock, which has more detail than any 480i TV broadcast can resolve (or 480p DVD for that matter). Thus, it is truly benefited by a high definition transfer. This isn’t a release where you look at it and say “well, it looks pretty good for what it is.” In fact, it has just as much fine detail and the same superior color as the newest shows currently broadcast on TV in HD. And it really does blow away the previous DVDs, too. There are, of course, a few shots here and there that betray their age. This is just the nature of the beast when dealing with 40 year old celluloid elements. But all told, a good 90% of the shots are competitive with modern HD. So as far as a video rating goes, this is 5 star material all the way.

   Audio is a tad problematic. Some of the sound balancing seems to be a bit off – dialogue can have a tough time keeping up with music and sound effects. It’s perfectly clear, don’t get me wrong. But I found myself fiddling with the volume controls more than I’d like throughout an episode. On the other hand, the audio in general is great. The re-recorded theme song is breathtaking – especially when the Enterprise “wooosh-es” by from the front speakers to the rear surrounds. Red Alert klaxons and atmospheric sounds generally are mixed towards the surround channels. It’s very cool.

   Special effects sequences have been redone with modern CGI and in high definition. For the most part they look great, and it is quite refreshing in the era of the “Lucas-ing” (or is it Abrams-ifying?) of old material that the producers of the new effects went to such great lengths to respect the original design aesthetic of the 1960’s material. I will say I kind of wish they had done new model work, as CG still just isn’t to the point where it looks “real” (setting aside the fact that this is inherently unreal stuff being filmed…). But I understand that it would never have been done in that case, since it costs so much more these days to do model work as opposed to CGI. On balance, having new effects is much more good than bad.

   But the kicker, and the reason it would be no big deal even if one hated the new effects, is the fact that the original effects are on the same disc. You can watch an entire show with the old or new effects, or, if you’d prefer to irritate your friends and significant others, switch between them in real time with the “angle” button on your remote. Are you paying attention, George Lucas? This is what we want in a Star Wars Blu-Ray! The beautiful new with the respected old, side-by-side. Big kudos go to CBS/Paramount and the Trek team for the job they’ve done here.

   Also included are several extra features. Mini-documentaries, mostly reprised from the previous DVD set, are included one on each disc. The “pop-up” text commentary from the DVD has been retained as “Starfleet Access,” a combination video-text commentary. The videos are nice, but they talk over the audio from the episode, whereas the older text commentary did…

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