STAR TREK: The Original Series
SEASON TWO (Blu-Ray)
Paramount/CBS TV Home Entertainment
1967, 1968, 2007 / Not Rated /1270mins.
Now Available – List Price: $129.99
2009 has most definitely been the year of Star Trek. The surprise success of J.J. Abrams' re-imagining/sequel has not only made the franchise hot again, but paved the way for fans, new and old, to visit the original series. Despite the fact that Star Trek has been a global phenomenon for decades, there are still many who remain unfamiliar with the films and television series. Season one may have introduced us to the crew of the Starship Enterprise, but season two is where the series hit its stride, producing perhaps the best episodes.
In 1967 television viewers where quite familiar with noble adventure seeker Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), his second in command, Vulcan science officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the ship's resident “country doctor” Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelly). This trio were not only the heart of the show, but would soon become cultural icons. In season two, their chemistry is stronger than ever, with Spock representing logical thinking, McCoy representing the human conscience and Kirk balancing the opinions of both to make command decisions. Their command crew consisted of Scottish Chief engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), communications officer Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and young ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) who would join helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) this season as the ship's new navigator. Despite the fact that these were the main characters of the show in charge of a starship, they were presented as noble, yet flawed individuals who often made rash decisions, but had the courage to rise above their limitations and mistakes.
Continuing what they started earlier this year, CBS Entertainment and Paramount have released Season Two of the Original Star Trek television series on blu ray. For those that remain skeptical about watching a dated sic-fi show that's more than forty years old, there's more to these releases than meets the eye. Two years ago CBS re-released the Original Star Trek series on late night television in remastered presentations. Not only were the original negatives of the show cleaned up and made to look better than when the episodes originally aired, but newly enhanced visual effects were also included. CBS digital cleaned up the negatives so well that they claim coffee stains could often be seen on the actors' clothes. The visual effects are not on par with feature film production and rightly so. They were designed with their original purpose in mind and animated as if the original effects artists had today's tools available to them back in 1966. They are quite simply astounding and not only enhance the stories, but flesh out the Starship Enterprise herself which is as much a character as Kirk, Spock or McCoy.
Original Negative Restored
Blu-ray has a greater storage capacity than HD-DVD and unlike the first HD release of the Original Series, this new set presents the option of viewing episodes with both the original visual f/x and mono soundtrack or the enhanced versions in HD with a newly created 7.1 DTS Master Audio mix. In fact not only was the soundtrack re-mixed, but the score was re-recorded with an orchestra in stereo and you can toggle between both versions with your remote while viewing the show. On top of that the picture quality is incredible in HD, with greater contrast and the vibrant colors the series was known for.
Original F/X Enhanced
As before, I won't go into precise detail of each and every one of the twenty-six episodes on this seven-disc set, but will point out a few of my personal favorites. Each episode is presented window-boxed in its original 1.33 to 1 aspect ratio with either DTS 7.1 Master Audio or Dolby 2.0 Mono and each disc includes one or two featurettes (SD), an enhanced picture-in-picture commentary option called Star fleet Access and the original previews for each episode (SD).
Disc One: "Amok Time": This is one of my all-time favorite episodes and it's also (unintentionally) one of the funniest. When Kirk and McCoy question Spock's increasing emotional outbursts, they discover their friend is suffering from a condition known as Pon farr, the burning of the Vulcan blood. This condition arises every seven years and if Spock does not return to Vulcan to mate within the next few days he will die. Despite the hilarious fact that a major character will die if he doesn't have sex, there's actually a lot of heart in this episode. Kirk takes great care to let Spock keep his dignity because he knows his friend has confided in him something that's clearly embarrassing. He also defies Starfleet orders to set the Enterprise on a new course for Vulcan to save his friend. It's also probably one of the few times you see real respect between the always bickering Spock and McCoy as when he invites the doctor to join him on Vulcan for a ritual ceremony where he is allowed to bring his best friends. 
Things really get heated up when Spock's mate T'Pring (Arlene Martel) arrives with her paramour Stonn (Lawrence Montaigne) and protests their union, challenging Spock to combat. But instead of choosing her lover Stonn, T'Pring elects Kirk to serve as her champion who only agrees because he thinks he'll just let Spock win. The problem is, it's a fight to the death and we all know that with Spock's super strength and extreme “condition” he's gonna end up killing Kirk and actually does. Well, sort of. This was the fight scene that was parodied perfectly by Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick in 'The Cable Guy'.
One of the emotional highlights of the episode is where Spock, distraught over killing his commanding officer and best friend, completely lets his guard down and displays emotion upon discovering Kirk is alive and well. Amok Time also features Starfleet Access picture and picture special feature commentary. Disc one also includes the episodes “Who Mourns For Adonais?” where the crew are held captive by an alien claiming to be the Greek god Apollo and “The Changeling” an episode which introduced the planet-destroying probe Nomad, who saw Kirk as its creator. The premise of this episode was later expanded for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Rounding out the disc is another favorite, “Mirror, Mirror”, in which a transporter accident leaves Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura in a parallel universe where the Federation is an evil empire that enforces its power through brutality. In this mirror world, everyone they know, including Spock, exists as an evil version of themselves, where officers move up in rank by means of assassination.
I don't know about you, but I can't keep my eyes off Uhura's abs of steel in this shot.
Disc Two: Begins with “The Apple”, where a mysterious paradise planet the Enterprise visits is actually controlled by a super-computer. “The Doomsday Machine” is another popular and exciting action packed episode where the Enterprise stumbles upon the remains of an entire planet system which has been mysterious destroyed. Not even a supernova would be capable of such destruction and upon discovery of the battered USS Constellation, Kirk and Co. learn they must engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a planet killing machine whose origin remains a mystery.
Also included on disc two are the episodes “Catspaw” where the well being of the Enterprise and her crew are threatened by two aliens with magical powers; the infamous con man Harry Mudd is re-introduced in “I. Mudd”, where this time he's made himself King of a planet of androids and “Metamorphosis” where a castaway discovered by a shuttle crew appears to be Zefram Cochrane, the father of the warp drive. Special features include the Mobile Blu featurette Creating Chekov, which is available for iPhone users.
Disc Three: “Journey to Babel” first introduced us to Spock's father Ambassador Sarek played by the late Mark Lenard who encounters the Enterprise crew during a peace conference. Lenard is perhaps the only actor to have played three of the main alien races in Star Trek, (a Romulan in the season one episode “Balance of Terror” and a Klingon Captain in the opening scene of The Motion Picture) but Vulcan Ambassador Sarek is his signature role. Like Leonard Nimoy he brought a sense of dignity to this alien race and spoke volumes with gestures and the tone of his performance.
“Friday's Child” may have involved the crew of the Enterprise getting entangled in a planet's tribal power struggle, but personally I had trouble following the plot because I could never keep my eyes off its very beautiful guest star Julie Newmar. Strange radiation causes the crew to age rapidly (via poor make-up) in “The Deadly Years”, while Kirk grows hellbent on destroying an entity that murdered most of his old crew in “Obsession”. Then there's Scotty's implication in a series of bizarre murders in “Wolf in the Fold.” The Mobile Blu featurette Listening to the Actors rounds out the disc.
Disc Four is all about Tribbles featuring the classic “The Trouble With Tribbles” which introduced the cuddly, fuzzy, yet annoying little creatures to the Star Trek universe. The episode also features an audio commentary by David Gerrold as well as Starfleet Access enhancement. Like the original series, the elements of the Star Trek animated series also originated on film and CBS was able to create a high-definition master of the Tribble themed episode “More Tribbles, More Troubles”. Despite the fact this is a cartoon over thirty years old, the presentation of the episode is in such pristine shape that one could hope CBS will soon remaster the entire season of the animated series for blu-ray. Gerrold also provides an audio commentary for this episode and the disc's Tribbles theme is rounded out with an HD (upconverted) presentation of the Deep Space Nine episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” where Captain Benjamin Sisko and crew travel back in time and through digital magic interact with Kirk and his companions in the original Tribbles episode. Featurettes include Trials and Tribble-ations: Uniting Two Legends, Trials and Tribble-ations: A Historic Endeavor, Star Trek:TOS on Blu-ray and the Mobile Blu featurette Spock's Mother.
Disc Five: “The Gamesters of Triskellion” has Kirk and his companions fighting as gladiators for the entertainment of three God-like beings, but “A Piece of the Action” is where the real action and humor is. The Enterprise crew encounter an alien humanoid race that was culturally contaminated by the arrival of a Federation vessel a century earlier and they result is that they've assimilated Earth's gangster culture of the 1920's. This was just an episode primarily for Shatner and Co. to have some fun and they do as Kirk and Spock must find answers by playing along with this alien race, dressing in their clothes and adopting the lingo. I used to hate this episode because it seemed like the one that was repeated the most in syndicated re-runs, but after not seeing it for some time it's now quite refreshing and still funny. I love watching Kirk trying to figure out how to start a car's engine with Spock's help and when he finally does saying “I like this, I'm gonna get one of these myself!”
An energy-draining space creature presents a problem for the crew in “The Immunity Syndrome” while Kirk must decide how to save a primitive people from the technological interference of the Klingons in “A Private Little War”. The supplemental featurette To Boldly Go...Season Two is BD-Live and Mobile Blu enhanced.
Disc Six: Telepathic aliens take control of Kirk and Spock's bodies in “Return To Tomorrow” and an alien planet is dominated by Nazi culture in “Patterns of Force”. The Enterprise is stolen and modified by beings from the Andromeda Galaxy attempting to return home in “By Any Other Name” and Kirk must prevent an inter-tribal war while battling a deadly virus in “The Omega Glory”. The featurette Designing The Final Frontier is BD-Live and Mobile Blu enhanced.
Disc Seven: Kirk finds himself no longer in command of his ship when the Enterprise is placed under the automated control of the M5 computer for war game simulations in “The Ultimate Computer”. Kirk and his companions must once again fight in gladiatorial games, this time on a planet modeled after the Roman empire in “Bread and Circuses”.
Rounding out the twenty-six episodes of season two is the fan favorite “Assignment: Earth” which introduced the crew to the mysterious Gary Seven (Robert Lansing). While time-traveling to 1968 on a research assignment, Kirk and Co. encounter this interstellar human agent trained by an alien race to serve as a protector and custodian Earth. Seven's story was fashioned by Gene Roddenberry to serve as a pilot for a spin-off series where he would be a James Bond-type in space. He not only carried with him a mysterious black cat (who in human form was cult actress and Playboy playmate Victoria Vetri), but proved to be resistant to Spock's Vulcan neck pinch. This episode also featured a young Teri Garr as Seven's secretary Roberta who is unaware that her employer is an agent working for an alien race.
Featurettes on disc seven include Star Trek's Favorite Moments, Writer's Notebook: D.C. Fontana, Life Beyond Trek: Leonard Nimoy, Kirk, Spock & Bones: Star Trek's Great Trio and Star Trek's Divine Diva: Nichelle Nichols.
One of my favorite supplements for these releases of Star Trek: The Original Series are the Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Moments featurettes. Part Two is included on disc one and features Blackburn (looking strong and fit at nearly 80) speaking of the three years he served as a background player on the series. Blackburn played just about any kind of alien, crewman or monster you can think of on the series and has a vast collection of behind-the-scenes home movies that have held up very well. In part two he speaks of what the alien costumes were made of, the various make-up techniques used (which would seem barbaric today) to make him appear as an alien on android, and small anecdotes like what a joy it was to meet and work with a very pregnant Julie Newmar during her “Friday's Child” guest appearance.
As I said before, you don't have to be a 'Star Trek' fan to appreciate this set. What CBS Entertainment has done is remarkable and should be a standard for archiving and remastering old television programs as well as films. 'Star Trek' has never looked better in HD and surpasses the original broadcasts. This is a set I highly recommend and should be treasured as well as appreciated. These releases are not only of the highest caliber and quality, but represent the potential of blu-ray and can be a great way to start your collection.
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