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

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1. Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu...

   March 19, 2011 at 5:32 am

   27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Second season with remastered picture and new visual effects often looks great packaging on the other hand…, August 7, 2008

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   Wayne Klein “If at first the idea is not absu… (My Little Blue Window, USA) –
     

     

   This review is from: Star Trek: The Original Series – Season Two (Remastered Edition) (DVD)

   The second season of “Star Trek: The Original Series” was a particularly strong one with many outstanding episodes but it also had its share of duds as the grind of producing a weekly TV series wore down the production team. This new remaster uses digitally restored episodes along with new visual effects added recently. Episodes such as “The Doomsday Machine” and “Amok Time” both benefit substanially from the new visuals. The former episode a tense one about an ancient artifact from a long forgotten war that destroys planets features new visuals that compliment the story. The original model for the U.S.S. Constellation which is ravaged by the planet eater was an AMC model that looked terrific at home not so terrific when compared to the Enterprise model. The visual effects crew burned and damaged the plastic model but it never looked realistic. Here you can actually see the support beams where the skin was torn off the Constellation in battle. It makes the episode that much more powerful and the scenes as the Enterprise swiftly moves in to attack the machine look particularly good even if they are in standard definition on this DVD.

   We also get duds like “The Omega Glory” where Gene Roddenberry attempts to use a “Trek” episode as a metaphor for the Cold War. Gene L. Coon left during the second season which means the show lost of one its most creative writer-producers. Coon was one of the finest writers on the production team (along with D.C. Fontana and John D.F. Black during the first season)during the first and second season John Meredyth-Lucas (who wrote the classic episode “The Changling” where the Enterprise’s fate hinges on a case of mistaken identity by an old space probe and which probably inspired Alan Dean Foster’s story “In Thy Image”. That story was to be the pilot episode of the new series with most of the original cast. When “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was put into production instead Harold Livingston (with some rewrites by Gene Roddenberry) retooled the episode into a feature film directed by Robert Wise) came on board and wrote/directed a number of very good episodes filling much of the void left by the late Coon.

   We get almost all the originals special features ported over from the previous boxed set of the second season except for the text commentary tracks. We also get “Billy Blackburn’s Home Movies” which gives us more footage behind-the-scenes narrated by Blackburn that was shot when the show was in production. Additionally, we get the “Star Trek: The Animated Series” episode “More Trouble, More Tribbles” with David Gerrold’s optional commentary track and the “Trials and Tribble-ations” amusing tribute episode from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. There are also some extras ported over from the “DS9” set that had this episode on it including two featurettes “Uniting Two Legends” and “An Historic Endeavor” which discusses the challenges of creating this episode, making it work as a “DS9” episode even though it had a “gimmick” and the difficult in combining the “DS9” crew into the old “Trek” episode. We also get previews for the episodes. The menu is the same design as the previous set. Kudos to Paramount for including the other two “Tribble” episodes with the extras. While it didn’t cost them much to include they could have given us NOTHING.

   In place of a booklet we get the individual plastic cards that have a picuture on the front from an episode on that set along with details on the back about the episodes and extras. I don’t like the cards although they are a clever concept. Which brings us to the flimsy packaging. The plastic case would be great if the hinges weren’t so delicate and broke so easy. The design is sharp and the intent was good but the execution was lacking.

   The problem with this set though is simple–this was originally to be a dual sided DVD/HD-DVD combo. While the HD-DVD format may be dead, Paramount went ahead and used the two sided hybrid discs that they had purchased for the previous season set to manufacture these but didn’t put anything on the “HD” side of the disc except the same disc info as on the previous set. I understand that Paramount was reluctant (with their funding from Toshiba pulled who paid Paramount for the exclusive rights to release this to HD-DVD)to continue on but they should have finished what they started for HD-DVD owners. If nothing else, Paramount should have put episodes on the flip side with the original visual effects so fans could view either version of the show.

   I’m disappointed that Paramount didn’t put together a Blu-ray version in time to coincide with this release but I suspect they recognized that many fans will buy this AND the Blu-ray so they could double dip. The HD masters were probably already prepared so they should have come out at the same time.

   Regardless, this is a fine season with some episodes sporting new visual effects that make a…

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2. M. Herzog

   March 19, 2011 at 5:24 am

   25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

   
   A picture so clear that you see the greatness…and the flaws, September 23, 2009

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   M. Herzog (chicago) –
     

     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

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

   Star trek has been written about probably more than any show. From its countless pop culture references, to it examination of political and social commentaries, Star Trek has been talked about ad nauseam. Given the vast amount of writings, in some ways, its almost arrogant to try and add something new. However, if you’re reading this, you’re probably not as interested in a review of the series and episodes as much as you’re interested in whether the Blu Ray is worth getting. I will say this new Blu-ray is something rather special. The picture is amazing, and I feel almost like I’m watching the show again for the first time, kind of like when you’ve heard a joke a hundred times, but then one day you hear it a little different and you laugh, like its new but familiar as well.

   However, the trouble is that the Blu ray is almost too good. I can tell when the make up meshes with real skint. I can tell when a punch misses the target. In fact, the Blu Ray is so clear that you can actually see and clearly identify the stunt doubles as they are intermixed with the close up of kirk or whoever is fighting. So your interest in the Blu ray may vary. While the show’s strengths in story and acting are highlighted, the weaknesses of the technology are made the more apparent. That being said, I love having the ability to watch both the new and old effects addition, as well as the slew of special features included makes this a must have for me.

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3. Talk Story Bookstore

   March 19, 2011 at 4:58 am

   92 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

   
   A Dream Come True, April 30, 2008

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   Talk Story Bookstore (Hawaii) –

   This review is from: Star Trek: The Original Series – Season Two (Remastered Edition) (DVD)

   Ever since I watched the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” back in 1996 and saw the classic Enterprise displayed with modern effects, I dreamed about one day seeing the entire Orignal Series retouched in such a magnificent way. 10 years later, that dream came true. Granted, the series does still retain that 60’s feel (especially with the bombastic style of the music, and of course the “military uniform” mini-skirts), there was so much of it that made for great television even for today. The effects being updated really gives the series credibility and believability for viewers and allows the original series to fit in properly with all the incarnations that came afterward. Bringing it to High-Definition was truly a great idea, and the live-action image quality is drastically improved, so much so that at times it gives the series an entirely new feel!

   Agreed by both casual viewers as well as die-hard fans, the second season of “Star Trek” provides us with a multitude of favorite episodes. Two episodes in particular that are given excellent treatment and incredible updating are “The Doomsday Machine” and “The Immunity Syndrome”. “The Doomsday Machine”, next to “The City on the Edge of Forever” is considered one of the best from the Original Series, even in its unrefined form. The updating on this episode put it into near movie-quality, far surpassing many Star Trek episodes, includng many from other spin-off series, and even perhaps a couple of the motion pictures. An interesting effect, to me, was how the remastering of “The Immunity Syndrome” made a not-so-great episode into a spectacular episode! The 1966 effects were good at the time, but the remastering gives it a whole new sense of realism and scope. Other classic episodes like “Amok Time”, “The Trouble With Tribbles”, and “Mirror, Mirror” are given good treatments, also.

   As of August 6th, I’ve purchased this set and have been thoroughly enjoying it as much as I knew I would. One of the most common complaints of one-star reviewers is that this season, unlike the previous season’s release, is ONLY on DVD, not on Blu-ray or even HD-DVD. Don’t let that discourage you. Even in this standard DVD version, Star Trek is given new life unlike ever before. This DVD’s visual quality is far better than any previous releases, especially since that this is a down-conversion of the cleaned-up High-Definition source. On a regular 480i/p CRT TV, it looks superb. On an HDTV, a good 1080p DVD up-converter will give you an excellent picture from the DVD; granted of course, it will not be the same as an HD release (no up-converter can do that, but they can get close). The truth of it is that this DVD will be better than what you can see on broadcast TV. I’ve even noticed that the standard DVD quality is better than the “HD” TV broadcasts.

   There have also been those who have wondered what Gene Roddenberry would have thought of this rebuffing of the series. To answer that, here is a segment from an interview with the executive producers of the remastered project on that very question:

   “What do you think Gene Roddenberry would think of the remastered effects?

   Dave Rossi: When Gene passed away and his estate requested that all memos and paperwork from the Original Series through TNG be turned over, I was the person whose job it was to wade through 27 years of material. One theme that popped up with some regularity in Gene’s memos was “What can we do to improve the visual effects?” While that alone isn’t an answer, the support the Roddenberry family and people like Bob Justman have shown during this project really reinforces the notion that Gene was always striving to improve the effects to help bring the world of Star Trek alive. We’re honored to help fulfill that wish.

   Mike Okuda: We had a number of long talks with Matt Jefferies before he died. For understandable reasons, Matt was one of our heroes. He was inwardly very proud of his work on Star Trek, but he was always very apologetic for the limitations of 1960s production techniques. He kept saying how he wished he had the technology that was developed after the show ended. We always responded by reminding him that his designs were a major reason why the show remains successful and watchable to this day. At the same time, it convinced us that he would have been the first to stand in line to update his own work, if he had been able.”

   Bottom Line — If you are willing to wait for the Blu-ray versions, that’s fine. I’m not. As a lover of the Original Series, it’s just too good to pass up. My hat’s off to to all those who participated in this extraordinary remastering effort and for turning a dream of mine into reality.

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