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Just like the Season 1 Blu Ray release of Star Trek: The Original Series, the quality of the transfer and restoration work is stunning. Contrast has been improved, colors enhanced, and scratches and dirt specks have been almost entirely eliminated. The show never looked better than it does on these Blu Ray discs. (Although the remastering does expose some of the budget cuts suffered by the show between its first and second season. Colors are sometimes inconsistent from shot to shot, lighting is not as precise or artistic, the picture is occasionally overexposed, and camera focus doesn’t always hit its mark, all very likely the results of a production team that did not have the time and resources to give the show the same polish that it had in its first season. This is obviously no fault of the restoration team. They have simply preserved what the show originally looked like, and I’m perfectly fine with that.) I'm also pleased that the restoration process does not appear to have used aggressive film-grain removal so that the footage still looks like 1960s film stock, just extraordinarily sharp and clear 1960s film stock. Sound is also excellent, whether you select the original monaural broadcast audio or the new 7.1 surround mix featuring a newly recorded music track using the original sheet music.
However, the producers didn't simply restore the original footage but also replaced the original special effects with "enhanced" CGI recreations, but about this I am less enthusiastic and would have considered this a deal-breaker if not for the fact that Paramount wisely utilized seamless branching to include both the original effects and the new CGI effects on the same disc, leaving it up to the viewer to decide which version he prefers. The problem with the new and "improved" CGI effects is that they were done around 2007, and despite being only 14-years old at this point, have not aged nearly as gracefully as the original effects which are now over 50-years old. I know the CGI artists tried to capture a 1960s aesthetic so that their work wouldn't look out of place within the context of the episodes, but the problem is, they captured a 2007 CGI aesthetic instead which, in my opinion, has not held up well and resembles something you would see in a video game cinematic. The original effects are certainly crude by today's standard, but there's a realness to them that I think is timeless. The thing to remember is that the original creators were not trying to achieve a 1960s aesthetic but were simply doing the very best work they could with the technology and techniques available at the time. I think the CGI team should have done the same. The more unforgivable problem with the new effects is that in some instances, dissolve transitions to special effects shots are necessarily started several seconds earlier than in the original episodes which ends up truncating several seconds of actor performances at the ends of scenes. For instance, an original edit will show Kirk turn and raise his eyebrows at Spock. In the “enhanced” version, Kirk’s turn and raised eyebrows are eliminated in favor of an early dissolve to a new CGI shot. I personally find this unacceptable and will always prefer the episodes as they were originally broadcast.
Of special note in the Season 2 boxset is disc four which is entirely devoted to the Original Series' most well-known episode "The Trouble With Tribbles". Not only does the disc contain the original episode gloriously restored in high definition, but I was delighted to find the sequel episode from the animated series "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and the DEEP SPACE 9 classic "Trials and Tribble-ations", which uses a time travel MacGuffin to seamlessly integrate the DEEP SPACE 9 characters into the original episode as they have their own parallel adventure. In addition, there are two documentaries about the writing and production wizardry used to make the latter episode, audio commentary tracks from writer David Gerrold for the original episode and the animated sequel, and finally, a picture-in-picture commentary/documentary to accompany the original episode. There is enough content on this disc alone to justify the purchase price of the entire boxset!
Bottom line: this is a “must have” for any Star Trek fan.
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Reviews with images
Almost perfect
My case came broken, once I took the cling wrap off a plastic piece fell out on the table, and I can’t pop them back into the case so they just have to be set in there before it can close. However all of the DVD’s came in good shape so I am excited to play them and see if they run well! Aside from the damages to the case I think the packaging is so cute! I would recommend wrapping DVD’s in bubble wrap at least once to help make sure this doesn’t happen.
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