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Star Trek, The Original Series:
The Complete First Season
Click
pictures to order this season on DVD
The Series :
Forget The Next Generation. Forget Deep
Space Nine. Forget Voyager, and any Enterprise other than that
of Captain James T. Kirk. The truth is: Star Trek as it originally was in
1967 was a definitive pinnacle in sci-fi television. Prior to Kirk,
McCoy, and Spock, all sci-fi was a cliché within a cliché; a world of a
thousand flying saucers, a million rocket ships and not a single piece of
imagination between them. Star Trek changed all that...or more
specifically, series creator Gene Roddenberry did. The rest is not just
sci-fi history; it was a television phenomenon.
So, why the long wait for it on DVD?
Because originally, the series was only sold as two-episode DVD sets;
that's why. Whatever. The point is that the full season sets are being
released now, and they're even in totally cool packaging; the first season
being in the same color as Captain Kirks' gold uniform, with later seasons
in the same colors worn by Spock/McCoy (Blue) and Scotty/Uhura (Red). They
also have a ton of extras --particularly this first season!-- as reviewed
later on this page.
However, how good were these
episodes...really? I was about to offer an episode by episode commentary,
a la the many seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation
(whose best season to this Trek fan, in case you were asking, is season
three). Then I found myself cutting and pasting  Deep
Impact icons on the better 99% of the entire season. Seriously; this is
the first Star Trek season, ever. How could it not be classic, when such a
season spawned not just two additional seasons, but also a "Next
Generation" series, three spin-offs, and ten movies? These were great
moments in classic sci-fi. Anyone who'd disagree, is, well...wrong.
You'll notice I fairly said
"99%." What was the episode I didn't like too much, you
ask? That would be the one where they try and find an old murderer, only
to find he's a Shakespearean actor, or...whatever. I never really
understood that one. Yet there's so much more classic moments to make this
a must-own season. From the giant, single-celled alien brains that took
over a colony in "Operation Annihilate," to the episode
every Trek Fan Survey touts as the most favorite episode of all time,
"City on the Edge of Forever," this season has it all,
and a whole lot more.
I really don't want to bore you with the
details. You're either a fan, or...well, if you're not, you don't know
much about sci-fi, so why are you reading this? This is the definitive
science fiction season to have on DVD, and now it's here. Let's just jump
to the extras. Make it so.
The DVD :
First; the packaging! This season is in a "Captain's  Gold"
colored clamshell of sorts, that opens up vertically along the middle,
with a hinge at the bottom. In the center of this clamshell is a small,
jewel-case sort of collection of the many discs of the set. It is the
front of this jewel case which can be seen through the window in front of
the clamshell. Word is that the next two seasons of the series will be in
similar packaging, only with Spock's blue colored uniform the color of
season two, and Scotty's red uniform the color of season three. This is a
pretty cool idea.
A packaging concept this ingenious can only
be a sign of the ingenuity of the extras held within. Sadly, those
extras would not include much in the way of audio commentary. Only
"text" commentary is offered, as an option to only four random
episodes. What's more; you'd be surprised which four they chose to comment
on, since on of them isn't City on the Edge of Forever. So sadly;
commentary is one feature sorely lacking.
That is the sole gripe I'll be stating
here, however, with all other extras being top-notch. The season finale,
Operation Annihilate, is on a disc all its own, with the rest of the video
on that disc being nothing but extras. Let's begin with the core
featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy." This 24 minute
featurette is as intriguing as those similar featurettes on the DVD sets
of Star Trek the Next Generation, if not more so, since they
include anecdotes from the classic cast: Leonard Nimoy, William
Shatner, and so on. This is the tale of how it all began. Cool.
Then there are separate featurettes.
"Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner" is apparently one of similar
featurettes which we'll see in later season sets. In this first
installment, Shatner shows us his real life these days, post Star Trek, at
his ranch. He also talks of his love for horses. This should be a real
treat for all fans of both Kirk, and the actor playing him.
Not to be outdone, Nimoy has his time in
the spotlight here, as well. "Reflections on Spock" gives
Leonard Nimoy the chance to discuss his classic character, as well as his
two dual books on the subject, titled ambiguously "I am Spock"
and "I am not Spock."
Neither star would've been able to do much
without great stories to work with, and that leads to the even better
extra feature, of "Sci-Fi Visionaries." What makes this
featurette all the nicer to see, is that the majority of these writers rarely
get screen time in front of a camera. There are a lot of interviews with
Trek's most renowned writers here, including new interviews with D.C.
Fonatana, Bob Justman, and John D.F. Black.
Then there is "To Boldly Go...(Season
One)." This is another potential series of featurettes begun in this
first season's DVD set. This feature in essence makes up for (slightly)
the lack of commentary in the most popular episodes of the season, with
anecdotes regarding such stories as "The Naked Time," "City
on the Edge of Forever," "The Devil in the Dark," and
"The Lonely Squire of Gothos."
Then there are the "red shirt
logs." On the bonus disc, be sure to go to every menu screen possible
(noting that the "more" pages count as other menu screens), and
move the cursor around to try and find a button on the
"consoles" that you can click on. Doing so reveals eight
separate logs of various anecdotes, from the creative crew behind key
episodes, to even Sulu's George Takei, who muses on his swordplay in
Naked Time.
In the end, this was a long time in coming.
The offering is just barely enough to have us all forget the near-decade
of "two episodes per DVD," which was until now the only way to
buy these episodes at all...and with not a single bonus feature! This is
the way Star Trek deserves to be preserved for all time. Indeed; it's been
a long time in coming...but seeing the final result, it was worth the
wait.
Click
picture to order this 6-disc DVD set
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
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