While it's arguable whether it's better than the first season, the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series contains many of the show's most memorable episodes and introduced characters and lore that helped make Trekwhat it is today. This seven-disc Blu-ray edition features digitally remastered episodes that were televised for the series' 40th anniversary, allowing both the hardcore Trekker and the casual viewer to appreciate some of the best episodes of the Original Series with new and improved special effects.
The enjoyment of this edition still obviously derives from the 26 episodes themselves – which are among the funniest and most colorful in the Original Series' three seasons – but the remastered picture and sound, along with the new CG effects, definitely succeed in enhancing the overall viewing experience. 
Season Two is also notable for introducing the character of Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), who was meant to draw in younger viewers by making him look like Davy Jones from The Monkees (the ploy worked). The season featured forays into both humor and horror: The Trouble with Tribbles and A Piece of the Action were farcical stories that showcased the deadpan comedic skills of stars William Shatner and Nimoy, while the Halloween episode Catspaw and Wolf in the Fold (featuring the spirit of Jack the Ripper) were both scripted by Psycho's Robert Bloch. 
There were several cautionary tales about technology in the second season: The Changeling (about a murderous little space probe named Nomad), The Apple (about an edenic planet controlled by a god-like computer), The Doomsday Machine (about a planet-eating machine rampaging through space), I, Mudd (featuring the return of first season comic relief Harry Mudd, now with an android army), and The Ultimate Computer (about a new computer system that wreaks havoc). The second season even got political with Vietnam allegories such as "Friday's Child," "A Private Little War" and "The Omega Glory." 
Overall, Season Two offers fans an enhanced entertainment experience, although that's thanks more to the remastered color, picture quality and audio than to the inclusion of new and improved special effects. Indeed, part of the charm of watching this four decades-old series is seeing the budgetary limitations the series' creators had and how they used their imagination and ingenuity to overcome those challenges, no matter how cheesy the end results may now appear to viewers. What's next? RemasteringAdventures of Superman with a CG-rendered George Reeves flying around? Hmmm …
Black levels are exceptional and the only issue one could take up is a trace amount of noise here and there, most noticeable (surprisingly) during the remastered opening titles on "Tribbles" and the climatic scenes of "Doomsday Machine". And for the forever Trek fans out there, the original episodes and their static special effects have been included as well, and look great through rose-colored glasses, despite the model-on-a-string feel.
Score: 9 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Paramount has catered to everyone with this set, providing both a 7.1 DTS HD track and the original mono track. The 7.1 is on par with the Season One set's audio, and in some ways gets more of a chance to show off here given the story demands of some of Season Two's episodes.
The fan-favorite battle between Kirk and Spock in "Amok Time" allows for some sound effects to play in the surrounds, with the clank of dueling weapons. "Doomsday Machine" has some fron playing with the titular baddie's weapon effects and the episode's space-based scenes. And any episode feature a beam in or phaser fire comes in crystal.
Dialogue is sharp and clear through the front channels and never sounds tingy. Overall, a great mix.
Packaging and Extras
The clam shell packaging comes with plastic flaps that house each disc. A sepearate booklet containing episode listings and disc content would have been preferred, but Paramount prints that info on the reverse side of the front and back art covers instead. So you can only read the info once you open the packaging and look through the plastic cover, or you can remove the slip cover.
Now that that anal-retentive analysis is over, here are the special features:
Disc One:
- Starfleet Access: "Amok Time"
- "Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories, Part 2"
Disc Two:
- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
Disc Three:
- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
Disc Four:- Commentary with Writer David Gerrold on "The Trouble With Tribbles"
- Starfleet Access: "The Trouble With Tribbles"
- "More Trouble, More Tribbles" Animated Series Episode (HD)
- "Trials and Tribble-ations" DS9 Episode (HD)
- "Trials and Tribble-ations: Uniting Two Legends" Featurette (SD)
- "Trials and Tribble-ations: An Historic Endeavor" Featurette (SD)
- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
Disc Five- "To Boldly Go..." Season Two Featurette
- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
Disc Six- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
- "Designing the Final Frontier" Featurette
Disc Seven- Original Preview Trailers for Each Episode
- "Star Trek's Favorite Moments" Featurette
- "Writer's Notebook: D.C. Fontana"
- "Life Beyond Trek: Leonard Nimoy" Featurette
- "Kirk, Spock and Bones: Star Trek's Great Trio"
- "Star Trek's Divine Diva: Nichelle Nichols"
- Enhanced Visual Effects Credits
Catch your breath, it's a lot. Disc Four is devoted entirely to "Tribbles", as it is the only TOS episode on the disc to make room for special features, which include our first taste of what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Animated Series will look like on Blu.
"Tribble-ations" is one of DS9's best episodes, taking Sisko and crew back in time to the incident on K-7, and integrating them in scenes, Gump style, with classic Kirk and Spock. The episode is both fun and dramatically satisfying, and not just a gimmick to satisfy the then-30th anniversary celebration. The episode looks great, despite the show's intentionally muted, gray pallet. The colors pop and the CG effects play better here than they do in the remastered versions.
The two featurettes about the making of this episode are from the originalDS9 DVDs and are in SD, providing a great quality comparison opposite the Blu-ray transfer.
"Uniting Two Legends" and "Endeavor" extensively profile the story's development by Ronald D. Moore as well as the extensive special effects used. A blue screen test was made incorporating a modern day actor into a scene on the original Enterprise bridge and shown to Moore. He wasn't impressed, as he thought he was just shown a clip from "Tribbles". But on a second viewing, the special effects head pointed out the seamless inclusion of his actor and Moore was both blown away and convinced that "Tribble-ations" could work.
The crew also made a full-size model of the Enterprise for effects passes, even though the ship used in the final episode looks CG. (Me thinks someone just wanted a cool show piece for his office.)
The Animated Series, a transfer struck from the original master, looks great but has dirt and grain issues associated with cheaply produced cell animation. Still, the rotating light pattern of the nacelles and the bridge scenes have a dynamic the SD versions of the cartoon just don't. The detail is impressive, and damn you, Paramount for teasing us like this! We want them now, so please, make it happen soon.
Gerrold uses his commentary to tell us how his spec outline for the episode lead to a job writing the episode, despite a higher up's recommendation that the episode be written by a more seasoned author. Gerrold talks about how he came up with the Tribble, based on past girlfriend's fuzzy keychain. We wonder if that ex ever called about the ridiculous merchandising residuals this episode generates…
The rest of the featurettes listed above are mostly fluff and can be figured out using context clues. But there are a few standouts. "Starfleet Access" runs throughout the set and is episode-specific, providing video commentary from episode keys and trivia tracks that previously ran on the DVDs.
Billy Blackburn and his red shirt diaries return, offering more home movie footage from behind-the-scenes of Season Two's production. To see Shatner and Spock in between takes is a nice extra, as are Blackburn's anecdotes about working on the show.
"To Boldly Go" is a 20-minuted cursory piece looking back at Season Two's production schedule. Matt Jeffries on "Final Frontier" spends 22 minutes discussing how he went about designing interior and exterior sets given his limited production budget. "Favorite Moments" is just that, with various cast members waxing nostalgia on their favorite scenes from Season Two episodes.
D.C. Fontana is a Trek institution, having spent a lot of time in both the live-action and animated series' writers rooms. "Notebook" profiles her extensive contributions to Season Two. Her role in getting "Tribbles" off the ground is echoed in that episode's "Starfleet Access".
Like Season One before it, the only featurette missing here are commentaries with Shatner and Nimoy. Also, it would have been nice to have some sort of featurette connecting Abrams' Trek with the classic one, similar to the special commentaries recorded for the original cast's movies on Blu.
Score: 8 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Any Trekker worth their quadro-triticale will most likely pick up this remastered edition, despite the mostly fluff extras and lack of Shat commentary. The visual presentation may melt your LCDs, but your fellow Trek fans will look up to you. A win-win, ish. - Commentary with Writer David Gerrold on "The Trouble With Tribbles"
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