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Episodes
Disc One: “The Man Trap”, “Charlie X”, “Where No Man Has Gone
Before”, “The Naked Time”
Episodes
Disc Two: “The Enemy Within”, “Mudd’s Women”, “What Are Little Girls
Made Of?”, “Miri”
Episodes
Disc Three: “Dagger Of The Mind”, “The Corbomite Maneuver”, “The
Menagerie, Part 1”, “The Menagerie, Part 2”
Episodes
Disc Four: “The Conscience Of The King”, “Balance Of Terror”, “Shore
Leave”, “The Galileo Seven”
Episodes
Disc Five: “The Squire Of Gothos”, “Arena”, “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”,
“Court Martial”
Episodes
Disc Six: “The Return Of The Archons”, “Space Seed”, “A Taste Of
Armageddon”, “This Side Of Paradise”
Episodes
Disc Seven: “The Devil In The Dark”, “Errand Of Mercy”, “The
Alternative Factor”, “The City On The Edge Of Forever”
Episode Disc Eight: “Operation Annihilate!”
Stars:
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei,
Nichelle Nichols, Grace Lee Whitney, and Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Guest
Stars: Gary Lockwood, Sally Kellerman, Clint Howard, Roger C. Carmel, Mark
Lenard, Michael Strong, James Gregory, Michael J. Pollard, William Campbell,
Harry Townes, Ricardo Montalban, Jeffrey Hunter, John Colicos, Joan Collins,
Writers:
Samuel L. Peeples, Jerry Sohl, Stephen Kandel, Richard Matheson, George Clayton
Johnson, John D.F. Black, D.C. Fontana, Paul Schneider, Robert Bloch, Simon
Wincelberg, Adrian Spies, Barry Trivers, Oliver Crawford, S. Bar-David, Don M.
Mankiewicz, Steven W. Carabatsos, Gene Roddenberry, Theodore Sturgeon, Gene L.
Coon, Frederic Brown, Don Ingalls, Borris Sobelman, Robert Hammer, Carey Wilber,
Nathan Butler, Jill Ireland, Ken Lynch, Harlan Ellison, and Steven W. Carabatsos
Created
By Gene Roddenberry
Directors:
James Goldstone, Joseph Sargent, Harvey Hart, Leo Penn, Marc Daniels, Lawrence
Dobkin, Vincent Mc Eveety, Gerd Oswald, Robert Gist, Robert Butler, Robert Sparr,
Don McDougall, Joseph Pevney, Michael O’Herlihy, Ralph Senesky, John Newland,
and Herschel Daugherty
Executive
Producer: Gene Roddenberry
Feature
length: 24 hours and 21 minutes
Extras:
The Birth Of A Timeless Legacy,
Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner, To Boldly Go… Season One, Reflections On
Spock, Sci-Fi Visionaries, Photo Log, Original
Promotional Trailers, Text Commentary For Select Episodes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Close Captions
Packaging:
8-Disc Book Style Digipack Within A Plastic Case
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1966-1967/DVD Release: 2004
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Watching
season one of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” which is now available in an
8-disc set from Paramount Home Entertainment, I was reminded just how great the
original “Star Trek” was and how much “Star Trek” has evolved since
then. Sometimes change can be quite scary and yet it is an inevitable part of
life. We can never have the same “Star Trek” as it was in the 1960s anymore
than we could have another “Next Generation.” Each “Star Trek” has
successfully achieved a variation on Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future
and for the most part “Star Trek” has endured because it has changed with
the times. Where I think the creative people behind “Star Trek” could
benefit from watching “Star Trek: The Original Series” is not in trying to
imitate it. I think they should look at how Roddenberry hired a pool of talented
and true science fiction writers as well as television writers and then gave
them room to tell an intriguing and contemporary tale. I have often noted that I
feel “Star Trek” needs new creative blood, but that doesn’t mean that Rick
Berman has to step aside for someone else. Far from that, I think “Star
Trek” needs to open up their fraternity doors again and allow new writers to
submit scripts regardless of whether or not they have a literary agent.
Honestly, I have done better in my own career without an agent than I have when
I had one. They may only use one unsolicited story a season, but in doing so
they could truly discover great talent. I think that open door policy that was
present when “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was in production is part of
the reason why “The Next Generation” has so far been the most successful
spin-off “Star Trek” series and a true classic in it’s own right.
There
are just so many great episodes in the first season alone that it is impossible
to do a synopsis of them all and those familiar with the series already know
about them anyway. Yet undoubtedly there are a few to note here such as the
series’ second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” “The Corbomite
Maneuver,” “Balance Of Terror,” the Hugo Award winning two-part episode
“The Menagerie,” “The Squire Of Gothos,” “Space Seed,” and “The
City On The Edge Of Forever.” A brief synopsis for each episode is included
within the insert that comes with the DVD set and it also features some cross
referencing where applicable to some of the “Star Trek” feature films as
well as notes on Starfleet Command, an introduction to “Star Trek” circa
2264, which is when the first season is supposed to take place, and even a look
at the evolution of the Romulans, who were first introduced in the original
series first season episode “Balance Of Terror.” In some ways I think the
notes in this insert ties the whole “Star Trek” universe of TV shows and
movies better than any one episode has since the first episodes of “The Next
Generation” aired in syndication back in 1987. A text commentary by Michael
and Denise Okuda is provided for three episodes in the first season set too. As
can be expected, the mix of facts, trivia, and anecdotes are quite illuminating.
The text commentary tracks appear for the episodes “Where No Man Has Gone
Before,” “The Menagerie, Part 2,” and “The Conscience Of The King.”
The original TV spots for all 29 season one episodes are also included. I wish
the TV spots for the subsequent shows like “The Next Generation” and
“Voyager” were made available in their respective DVD sets..
Uncut
and beautifully restored, each episode tends run just over fifty minutes and
although these appear to have been mastered from the same source materials used
when the series was first released on DVD in forty volumes sold separately, the
technology of mastering digital media has improved since the first few episodes
began to appear on DVD back in 1999. Each episode is presented in the original
(1.33:1) aspect ratio of their television broadcast and they look quite
stunning. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is adequate
considering the age of the series in general. An English Dolby Surround
Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions are encoded on to all eight
discs as options too.
The
featurettes are all on the eighth disc and they include a look at the
development of the show in “The Birth Of A Timeless Legacy” (24:14) and a
retrospective journey back to the roots of the series with “To Boldly Go…
Season 1” (18:59). Unless you are really into horses, you might find the
featurette “Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner” (10:27) to be a bit dull.
Nimoy’s “Reflections On Spock” (12:13) is far more interesting and
relevant to the series with a look at the ramifications and misunderstandings
that occurred after his book “I Am Not Spock” was published and how his
continued participation in the venerable franchise led to his updated book “I
Am Spock.” There is a touching if not inspirational look at how the Writers of
the original “Star Trek” helped bring science fiction to the masses with
“Sci-Fi Visionaries” (16:39). There are also six “Red Shirt Log” Easter
eggs that are easy to find and like in previous
“Star Trek” TV sets cover some more specific episode related information
that may not have fit into the general content that has already been covered. A
photo gallery of season one production shots concludes the extra value materials
included in this set. The menus are well rendered with a look at the bridge of
the original Starship Enterprise and they are also easy to navigate. The
discs come packaged within an eight disc book style Digipack about the size of a
fat CD jewel case with a cardboard slip and then it is housed in a large yellow
plastic case that looks like a tricorder. While the packaging looks nice, I
sometimes wish Paramount had released all the Trek shows in packaging that was
uniform so it all matched better in one’s library. Regardless, “Star Trek:
The Original Series: The Complete First Season On DVD 8-Disc Set” is a must
have for any Trek fan and is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and
offline from Paramount Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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