Product Description

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/18/2008

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2912 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-11-18
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 7
• Running time: 1320 minutes

Amazon.com
Saved from the brink of cancellation by its loyal fanbase, Star Trek's third and final season rewarded them with a number of memorable episodes. Tight budgets and slipping creative control, however, made it the series' most uneven season, though it did have some of the coolest episode titles ("For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky," "Is There in Truth No Beauty," "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). Some of the best moments involved a gunfight at the OK Corral ("Spectre of the Gun"), a knock-down drag-out sword battle with the Klingons aboard the Enterprise ("Day of the Dove"), the ship getting caught in an ever-tightening spacial net ("The Tholian Web"), TV's first interracial kiss ("Plato's Stepchildren," and it should be easy to guess who participated), Sulu taking command ("The Savage Curtain"), and Kirk's switching bodies with an ex-love interest ("Turnabout Intruder").

The 2008 DVD set benefits from the same remastering given to the other two seasons, though only the first was released in high definition (the now-defunct HD DVD format). Still, the episodes are substantially cleaned up to the point where they look quite good, rather than jarringly fuzzy to the modern viewer. And there are some new visual effects that are well-done, and obtrusive only to the strictest fans. Compare, for example, the dramatic close-up of the green-glowing U.S.S. Defiant in "The Tholian Web" with the original effect, which had the ship floating in a green haze. New bonus features are 11 more minutes of rare footage from extra Billy Blackburn; "Collectible Trek," a 14-minute discussion of rare Trek items, filmed in 2004 with the rest of the bonus content but not included on the previous DVD set; and the newly filmed "Captain's Log: Bob Justman," an affectionate nine-minute tribute to the series producer. Otherwise, the set retains almost all the special features from the 2004 set, including the features on Walter Koenig, George Takei, and James Doohan (who died the following year), plus the two versions of the series pilot, "The Cage," a restored color version and the original, never-aired version that alternates between color and black and white. Starring Jeffery Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy as a relatively emotional Spock, and Majel Barrett (the future Nurse Chapel and Mrs. Gene Roddenberry) as a frosty Number One, this pilot was rejected, but a second was commissioned, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," now considered the "official" beginning of the series. But "The Cage" is very recognizably Star Trek with its far-out concepts (telepathic aliens collecting species samples), sexy humanoid women, character development, and of course cheesy costumes and special effects. Footage was later reused in the season 1 two-parter, "The Menagerie." --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

The Final Season on the Final Frontier
I reviewed most of The Original Series episodes during the initial DVD release which began in 1999. So, the comments here focus on this new, remastered, edition.

Doubtless, Paramount will eventually release these episodes on Blu-ray. 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. Unfortunately, with the improved picture, flaws in the original production are also more noticeable: shadows from boom microphones are occasionally detectable, and the 3rd Season budget cuts show in some of the temporary sets. Still, the picture shows the obvious care taken with the lighting and composition of the original shots (very different from today's flatly-lit, smash & grab style of television filming).

Of course, the primary feature of this new release is the new CGI visual effects. Season Three had a number of effects heavy episodes, including "The Tholian Web" and "The Enterprise Incident," and they benefit the most from the new 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 the shuttle is seen exiting the Enterprise from the outside. Restraint seems to be the watchword here, and I would have liked to have seen a little bit more done, such as the replacement of some very dated tricorder screen graphics in "The Empath", and some faulty dialog looping in "The Cloud Minders." But the enhanced castle in "Requiem for Methuselah" is simply stunning, and the expanded backgrounds seen in "Spock`s Brain" and "The Way to Eden" (two otherwise weak episodes) are subtly done. By the way, my uncle, James Drake, was a background extra and can be seen in "The Way to Eden" as an orderly in sickbay. Blink and you'll miss him as a red shirt in "Turnabout Intruder".

Also included here is a totally remastered and restored version of "The Cage", the original, rejected, pilot which was shot in 1964 and starred Jeffrey Hunter. 64 minutes in length, it almost looks like a feature film, and in tone is more like an episode of The Next Generation than the Original Series. The new CGI visuals feature a slightly different version of the Enterprise (based on the original pilot model) than seen later in the series. The unrestored version, in alternating color and black & white, is also included.

With the exception of The Cage, the episodes 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. As for bonus features, most are carried over from the 2004 reissue, but the real highlight is Billy Blackburn's behind the scenes movies, which show the actors in costume but out of character - a real treat.

Final season of the original "Trek" with new visual effects arrives on regular DVD
Although not as well regarded as the first two seasons of "Trek", the third season still has some gems. Gene Roddenberry got his wish to have the show renewed but the show was moved to Friday evenings when their core audience would be out on dates or in bed. Roddenberry wasn't as involved in the third season as previous ones and the loss of Gene L. Coon was noticable even if he did contribute some good scripts (and one particularly bad one that appeared under Coon's nom de plume "Lee Cronin" that I suspect was drastically rewritten by new producer Fred Frieberger entitled "Spock's Brain"). What's odd about the third season is that it's almost like the characters don't know each other in some episodes where Kirk refers to Spock as "science officer" or just calls "Bones" doctor. I really never noticed this when it was in syndication.

The third season like the previous two looks extremely good and the new visual effects are a highlight in episodes such as, "Spectre of the Gun", "The Tholian Web" and "The Enterprise Incident". In "Gun" the art director uses imaginative surreal set designs consisting of the facades of buildings and the insides present without walls or ceilings which add to the surrealistic element of the episode.In the latter the "new" Klingon designed Romulan War Birds sport the traditional "warbird" painting on the bottom of the ships adding details that no doubt would have pleased Roddenberry.

The third season set also includes the original pilot episode for "Star Trek" starring Jeffrey Hunter with new visual effects and titles. As with the previous set, the original version with the introduction by Gene Roddenberry is included. The latter version is cobbled together from a B&W print of the pilot episode. The only two new extras are a tribute to Associate Producer Robert Justman and "Billy Blackburn's Star Trek Treasures" which features behind-the-scenes home video footage of the cast rehearsing, clowning around on the set and some footage of make up tests. The remainder of the special features are ported over from the previous set although it should be noted that not ALL of the special features were brought over (which is a bit bizarre).

I still really dislike the packaging as the plastic holder I received was broken (and it was a chronic problem with my second season set). Still, the image quality is very good with nicely cleaned up episodes and new, sharp looking visual effects. A pity there was no way for Paramount to include the original episode visual effects as part of the DVD. My guess is that we'll see that when the show receives a high def transfer to Blu-ray as an extra.

For hardcore fans, the third season is highly recommended even with the weaker episodes. I am disappointed that Paramount chose NOT to have any commentary tracks. I'm sure

Good remastering and quality, but poor packaging
This set is a very nicely done DVD set. There are not a huge amount of extras, and the lack of commentary will probably annoy die-hards, but this is a good DVD set. The episodes look great and this is probably the best that they have ever looked. Unless you have a Blue-Ray DVD player, a 1080p TV and 60/60 eyesight, you will probably not notice any difference if you hold out for Blue-Ray.

Overall, the only reason that this did not get 5 stars is because the packaging is not the greatest. I've bought all three of the remastered seasons, and 2 of them have had some type of problem. Season 1 had a broken plastic case, and this set had a busted up DVD holder.

Otherwise, it's great to see how well this show has held up over the past 40 years. I remember watching these on WPIX, NY and thinking that they were pretty good when I was a kid. They look really good with the new effects, which hasn't changed the feel of the show at all, IMO. To date, this is the most complete way to get the original series of Star Trek and you should enjoy it.