Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) - Three Season Pack

 

 

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The collection contains all the original shows cleaned up and re-scored. For the younger veiwers brought up on Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) it brings familiar graphics and beauty shots of the ship, sets and planets to a current level of believability. All the cheesy special effects of the 60's original broadcasts are now gone. With a new score and all the cleaning up, it broadcasts well on any modern TV.
One drawback my wife and I found was that the first season set is also in the now dead HDDVD format which gets a little annoying when you forget to flip the disc over to get the DVD version. The second and third seasons are only in the current format.
A definite must for the Star Trek fan and an interesting way for the new viewer to Star Trek to see how it all began in the 60's, Especially good to see before the new Abrams Star Trek pre-quel movie comes out in May 2009.

Don't read this if you are a Star Trek fan! (It may offend your sense of intelligence)

In 1964 Gene Roddenberry created a proposed pilot for a science fiction TV series called `The Cage', starring Jeffery Hunter, it was rejected.

In 1965 there was a reprieve, and a second pilot called `Where No Man Has Gone Before' was made starring William Shatner, it was accepted.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before".

From 1966 to 1969 Star Trek the TV series was aired, and then cancelled after three seasons due to poor ratings in its 10pm time slot on Friday nights, but through re-runs and syndication to achieved cult status.

In 2006 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, the powers that be had done the unthinkable, they redid the original series...and how did they fare? Well, I won't bore you too much, but in short, under Mike Okuda, CBS (under CBS Digital) began restoring and updating the original series. All live-action footage was scanned in high definition from its first generation 35 mm film elements, (which included the original camera negatives) while visual effects shots have been digitally reproduced.

Notable changes include new space shots with a CGI Enterprise, and other new models (for example, a Gorn ship is shown in Arena, which you could hardly see anyway), redone matte background shots, and other minor touches such as tidying up viewscreens (which they did not do a proper job especially the wall surrounding the Bridge viewscreen-read below for more details on this). A small number of scenes have also been recomposed, as well as adding new ones and in some cases new actors have been placed into the background of some shots (for example in A Taste of Armageddon). Not only that but every planet that the Enterprise visited was also redone, we can see this as the Enterprise orbits the planet, this in itself was a nice touch and necessary to give the original series a definitive new look.

In addition, the opening theme music of Star Trek has been re-recorded in digital stereo. Perhaps that's why in the first season, Kirk's voice-over is hardly heard. You would need a stereo-phonic sound system to hear it clearly perhaps? In any case in season two and three, Kirk's voice-over is as clear as day.

I believe (arguably) that the golden age of science fiction TV series was in the 1960s, 1970s and to some extent the 1980s, this was the period where imagination for such shows was at its zenith and when it comes to science fiction television series, you can't go pass Star Trek as being an icon of the genre and one of the key corner stones in science fiction influences. Star Trek itself the original series is not only the Bible for other Star Trek sequels (movies) and TV series (Star Trek: Animated, Star Trek: TNG, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise), it is the Holy Grail that cannot be altered or changed, and if done would be sacrilege to the hard core fans of the series, any slight change would come under intense scrutiny if not done exactly right...so?

I have viewed all three remastered seasons and herewith are my comments on notable criticisms I have observed including scenes that have not been remastered by CBS Digital...well, the ones I noticed anyway.

"CBS Digital: The Remastered Series. These are the stuff-ups of `Star Trek: The Original Series'. Its two-year mission: to touch-up old scenes that they didn't and add new CGI scenes, to seek out defective negatives and series film with eyes closed for remastering; to boldly go where no computer technology which has not been effectively used has gone before".

Does the above sound familiar?

First Season Remastered Series released on November 20, 2007.

1] The Corbomite Manoeuvre - Balok's ship the Fesarius has been redone here, but it is too detailed in extreme close up when compared to the Enterprise when both are in the same spot; it would have been better if Balok's ship had smooth round spheres (like in the original) with a very soft glow against the hard detailed Enterprise.

2] Balance of Terror - The Romulan `Bird of Prey' was digitally redone here, but again the ship lost its blue tinge, which I believe should have remained, what were CBS Digital thinking?

3] The Galileo Seven - We see the CGI shuttle leave the launching bay of the Enterprise, it wobbles back and forth; you think CBS Digital would make the Galileo lift smoothly out into space, bad work there.

4] Arena - The Gorn in this episode was given eyelids. Question: Do Gorns really have eyelids? Looking at the whole episode it would have been better if the Gorn had no eyelids as in the original; I think CBS Digital should have left this alone.

Best personal visual effects in Season One:

1] In the episode `A Taste of Armageddon' as Kirk and party beam down to the planet Eminiar VII, we see the city in the background redone with a moving figures and a monorail no less, very well done indeed.

Personal Note: I may have not noticed too much as far as defects/dirt and the like in this first season, as I was enjoying watching the episodes. Either CBS Digital did their job (surprise-surprise) or I wasn't looking for anything special, in any case seasons two and three made up for this.

Second Season Remastered Series released on August 5, 2008.

1] The Changeling - In one scene with Kirk and Spock we can actually see the black thin string that holds up Nomad.

2] Mirror, Mirror - When Kirk talks to the leader Tharn on the Bridge's viewscreen, in the mirror universe, we see a small black dot (dirt or defect from the original negative), which should have been removed by CBS Digital, sloppy work there.

3] The Doomsday Machine - When Decker leaves in the shuttle through the launching bay, the shuttle could've had a smoother ride out into space. CBS Digital must have rushed this one.

4] Catspaw - In one of the final scenes showing Sylvia and Korob's true alien forms, we can still see on the left alien (puppet) the remains of the black string used to move the puppet, CBS Digital must have tried to clean this up, but have only partially succeeded, perhaps they couldn't do much here because the black string was also in front of the puppet at times and could not be digitally removed, so I will forgive them here.

5] Journey to Babel - When Kirk is fighting Thelev, we see his neck not covered in blue, I know this is in the original, and it may be nit-picking but if the technology is available couldn't CBS Digital clean it up?, if not, I will let it pass...for now.

6] Friday's Child - Kirk and Spock are behind a rock waiting for a rock slide to occur, we see in the sky's background above their heads, going across the scene horizontally a very thin black line, and a vertical dark mark near Kirk's head on the right side as we view the scene. I can't believe CBS Digital missed that.

There is also a scene where Scotty is looking at the Bridge's viewscreen searching for the destroyed freighter, the scene cuts to the Bridge's viewsrceen and we see bits of black dots and the like (an uncleaned negative) around the Bridge viewscreen. CBS Digital didn't even bother cleaning up this scene, this is just pure unprofessionalism at its worst!

7] The Deadly Years - When the Enterprise is being attacked by the Romulans, their ships have no blue tinge again. Remember, the Romulan `Bird of Prey' is blue coloured, so why again did CBS Digital ignore this important distinction?

8] Obsession - When Kirk uses the intercom in McCoy's sick bay, we see in close-up a couple of small black dots that CBS Digital did not clean to remove them around the intercom scene.

9] The Trouble with Tribbles - Kirk and Spock are in the Briefing Room, when Kirk gets a call from Uhura to talk to Admiral Fitzpatrick, as Kirk turns on the intercom we see for a couple of seconds just above to the right of the intercom a small thin dark line, that CBS Digital missed.

Also when we see a close-up of Admiral Fitzpatrick on the intercom, in the scene, there is a small black dot at the bottom left shoulder of the Admiral as we view this scene. CBS Digital again missed this one.

10] The Immunity Syndrome - Kirk looks at the Bridge's viewscreen for the first time seeing a dark black blob; around the Bridge's viewscreen at the top and the right side, we see little black specks.

In another same scene as above, with a closer look at the dark black blob, again an unclean negative film shot missed by CBS Digital.

And again in another scene with the Bridge's viewscreen when it is showing black (inside the black blob), a couple of small black dots at the top and bottom of the Bridge viewscreen

One more time; in a Bridge viewscreen scene showing the cell creature, at the top are small dark dots.

Finally; in one of the last scenes with the Bridge viewscreen, showing space/stars, at the bottom of the Bridge viewscreen, just a couple of small black dots again.

11] Return to Tomorrow - In the opening scene on the Bridge at Spock's station on close-up, the grey sensor device has a small black dot showing on the front face.

After the opening credit sequence, we see a panned view of the Bridge, at the top corner of the scene there is a black dot missed by CBS Digital.

12] Patterns of Force - In the opening scene on the Bridge, the picture of John Gill in the background has some black dots on it that has not been cleaned up, and again in close-up, the four black dots are... Read more ›

Excellent remastered series - true to the originals, clean and clear. Thanks to amazon for turning the order around in less than 1 week.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great picture
My daughter said that it is awsomely radical my husband said the remastered picture is really good I thought the picture was realy good no grain in the picture a good remastered... Read more

Published 4 months ago by web shopper

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Old Series
This series is a lot of fun and appropriate for the whole family. I've turned my 10 year old into a Trekkie - poor thing! I'd highly recommend it for fans of science fiction.

Published 14 months ago by Ima Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek Original Remastered
Fantastic re-mastering of the original footage. The new graphic elements have been intelligently and seamlessly integrated into the original so that you hardly know they're there... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Trekker

5.0 out of 5 stars Space Saga
Received promptly and was as anticipated.
I watched the original on TV when they first came out. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Christopher R. Carlisle

5.0 out of 5 stars Ken's Review
The original Star Trek series has always been the best of the many versions it later inspired. The characters worked well together and the writing was first-rate. Read more

Published on April 28 2010 by K. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection
The episodes are gems, the stories and characters will stay with you for the rest of your life. The new effects and remastering of sound and video quality make the show even more... Read more

Published on April 27 2010 by Douglas E. Musk

5.0 out of 5 stars Really well done, worth adding to the collection.
I thought that maybe they would have ruined the original intent of Gene Roddenberry's vision. But they only enhanced the images and audio. Read more

Published on April 27 2010 by Pete

5.0 out of 5 stars Boldly Going
The quality of the remastered discs is great. The extras are fun as well. Really glad I made the purchase. The delivery was also very fast.

Published on Dec 14 2009 by Zackary

5.0 out of 5 stars Great DVD set to have for science fiction fans
This is the best Star Trek set. I have watched all the other Star Trek series but nothing compares to the original. It's a must have for science fiction buffs.

Published on April 7 2009 by Wariner

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek Original Series
I must admit I am a huge trekkie. I have watched the original broadcast, commercials and all. But when it was cancelled I was disappointed. Read more

Published on Jun 2 2006 by david

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