Product Description

Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The First Officer is Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen lead by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1375 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 10
• Formats: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 10
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 1460 minutes

Amazon.com

In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. Here at last is the first season of the original series all in one box, 29 episodes in their original broadcast order. That means starting with "The Man Trap," and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The many highlight episodes include "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing, respectively, the Romulans and the Klingons), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," which featured Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise and is not included in this set), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best-ever episode of the series).

The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest (24 minutes) featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Slightly shorter are "To Boldly Go... Season One," which highlights key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," which discusses the series' great science fiction writers (most famously in "The City of the Edge of Forever"). Shatner shows off his love of horses in "Life Beyond Trek," and, more interestingly, Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock." As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic case is an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the set is a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Film is naturally HD
To rebut another review, anything professionally shot on 35 mm film, whether from the 1960s or 2007, is natively high-definition--that is, the amount of information that has been recorded on the MASTER is equal to or greater than HD standards. It's only the duplications that, until HD mastering, were of lesser definition. That's the reason studios at first were so hesitant to adopt HD DVDs--it diminished the value of their master if everyone had a copy as good. So when a film is remastered in HD from an original film master in good condition, it's true HD and not "extra pixels filling in empty space." Remastering, of course, can be done well or poorly, accounting for differing quality in the final product. Anyone who's seen these remastered episodes knows how fantastic they are--both for how great they look and, yes, how they show up the wooden sets and cheap costumes, etc. from the period. But that's part of the fun! What's astonishing is how well this show holds up in HD, and how much the new effects extend its original vision. Kudos to the remastering creative team and crew for a Star Trek experience that's reverent to the original yet new again!

5 stars for the series terrific first season, 2 stars flimsy packaging & for the price (with amazon discount).
Advantages:

1) HD-DVD/DVD dual format so fans that don't have HD-DVD can watch and enjoy the show.
2) New visual effects.
3) Beautifully restored high definition transfers
4) Nice packaging (at least for the shell itself)
5) The new visual effects are often stunning(the second season episodes "Amok Time" and "The Doomsday Machine" were the most impressive--not included here but "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and other first season episodes look terrific as well. It should be noted, however, that some fans have had issues with the new visual effects being inaccurate but these are mostly nitpicking).
6) If you decide to get an HD-DVD player you'll be set to roll with this DVD.
7) Newly recorded score, new prints struck from the original elements,some new extras including home movies shot by extra Billy Blackburn, the ability to navigate outside the ship, look at the development of the new visual efects and a couple of new featurettes highlight this set.


Disadvantages:

1)In a format that hasn't proven its staying power yet and you're paying for it.
2)Way too expensive
3)Sort of a double dip
4)Some have complained that the digital visual effects don't have the surface detail of a model or even of the original Enterprise visual effects.
5)Not available in Blu-Ray for those that don't have HD-DVD players.
6)The packaging could become easily damaged in shipping.
7) Dual sided discs which tend to be more easily damaged than single sided discs.
8)HD-DVD only Special Features that will play only on HD-DVD players (not on DVD machines).

Previewed at Comic Con, the new set will please those fans that have HD-DVD although the price for this set won't. Those that enjoyed the recent syndicated run of the series with its new visuals will also enjoy this set.

Conclusion: This is a terrific series and the first season had some of the best episodes however this is way too expensive even considering that it is in a HD-DVD/DVD dual format. Why? Because some fans may not want to commit to the new HD-DVD format since we don't know which format is going to win the high definition format war. The bottom line is that Paramount/CBS has miscalculated pricing this at an insane price. Sure many fans will buy it but I doubt that it will sell in the droves that Paramount/CBS wants it to.

Final Words:As always the series itself is terrific and this, along with the bulk of the second season, was the original series highmark. The new visual effects when they are effective only enhance the original film. Also, it hasn't been reformatted for widescreen so it keeps the original aspect ratio (black bars appear on the sides of the screen).

Ultimately your decision about whether you want to get this depends on how badly you want it given the price. Priced at nearly TWICE the original DVD box sets, my advice is to wait until Paramount lowers the average retail price or grab it at a deep discount while you can.

More info on the set (added): The content has all the first season episodes. I suspect that "The Cage" will probably be held over (as with the original box sets) for the third season as an enticement for fans since that is the worst selling of the three seasons. There are a number of featurettes including "Starfleet Academy" special features are tied into the HD side ONLY as is the tour of the ship. We do get Billy Blackburn's "Treasure Chest" a series of home movies shot behind-the-scenes in Super 8 with comments from Billy who was an extra on the series.

DVD Featurettes:
Birth of a Timeless Legacy
Billy Blackburn's Home Movies
Life After Trek: William Shatner
Reflections on Spock
Sci-Fi Visionaries
Kiss and Tell
To Boldly Go
Trekker Connections
Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier
Preview of online game

Many of these featurettes were available in one form or another on the previous release.

The HD side has seven episodes highlighted; "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Menagerie, Parts I & II", "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Space Seed", and "Errand of Mercy". Because "Trek" is presented in its original 4x3 transfer so there are black bars on the side of the screen where you can select more information. YOu can watch a split screen with comments on the episodes mentioned.

There's also the HD tour of the "Enterprise".

Episodes:

The Man Trap
Charlie X
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Corbomite Maneuver
This Side of Paradise
A Taste of Armageddon.
The Naked Time
The Enemy Within
Mudd's Women
What Are Little Girls Made of?
Miri
Dagger of the Mind
The Menagerie Parts 1 and 2
The Conscience of the King
Balance of Terror
Shore Leave
The Galileo Seven
The Squire of Gothos
Arena
Tomorrow Is Yesterday
Court Martial
The Return of the Archons
Space Seed
The Devil in the Dark
Errand of Mercy
The Alternative Factor
The City on the Edge of Forever
Operation: Annihilate

Video 5 stars, Audio 3 stars
I reviewed most of The Original Series episodes during the initial DVD release which began in 1999. So, the comments here focus on the new edition.

I don't have an HD player or TV, but even at standard definition, the picture has never looked better. The colors pop off the screen, scratches have been removed, and grain, while noticeable, has been reduced to a bare minimum. Seeing the new remastering alters one's perceptions of the series. I had never noticed the tear streaming down the crippled Captain Pike's cheek as Spock reveals his plan in "The Menagerie." Unfortunately, with the improved picture, flaws in the original production are also more noticeable: shadows from boom microphones are detectable, zippers can be clearly seen in many of the uniforms, and a certain hairpiece has never been more obvious. Still, the picture shows the obvious care taken with the lighting and composition (very different from today's flatly-lit, smash & grab style of television filming).

Of course, the primary focus of this new release is the new CGI visual effects. Most of the new space shots are very convincing, remaining in the original spirit of the series. Only a few of the shots are major deviations from the originals, such as when satellites are launched from the Enterprise in "Operation: Annihilate," or the addition of a previously unseen ship in "Arena." Restraint seems to be the watchword here. There was an earlier Enterprise model which was used for a few episodes, including "Miri," and these shots are not as successful as those using a later model. But as the episodes progress, the quality generally improves. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more done, such as the replacement of some very dated viewing screen graphics in "Where No Man has Gone Before" and "Balance of Terror." The enhanced matte paintings of Starbase 11and Eminiar 7 are simply stunning.

There are a number of errors. The opening credits of "Where No Man has Gone Before" contain Kirk's opening monologue ("Space, the Final Frontier") which was not heard in the original broadcast episode and home video versions, and the sound mix for "The Menagerie" is botched, with music from Season Two tacked on, and the Talosian singing plants incorrectly channeled.

The discs also include audio tracks in Spanish and French, although my partner (fluent in Spanish) tells me many of the Spanish translations are not faithful to the English originals.

Bring on Season Two!