Customer Reviews

Star Trek Sr V40

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD is a must for the collector. It contains a lot of Star Trek history.

A) First the original pilot - complete and in full color. The full color print was found in the vaults of Paramount. (Apparently found in the 90's)

B) The original piot TV Special airing "The Cage" - the original pilot when they only had the orignal black and white prints and used material from another two-part episode - "The Menagerie". This is because the original full color print was thought to be lost in the Paramount Vaults. (Apparently found int he 80's)

C)The very last episode to air. "Turnabout Intruder". (William Shatner gets to play a woman!)

Basically you are getting three epsiode. See Spock before he was the Spock we knew. The Doctor before McCoy and a female in the "second in command" position. (The wife of Gene Roddenberry, the Creator, himself - Majel Barret who later is Nurse Christine Chapel.)

The costumes were espcially influced by the 60's. And the props, well, you just have to see them.

So in essenace you get to tsee the first and the last of the original Star Trek. A must DVD for every Star Trek fan!
Live Long & Prosper!

I'm just gonna go ahead & skip any kind of review of "Turnabout Intruder". More eloquent slams of this episode have been made by others, so there's no need to go into it again.

The primary reson to buy this DVD (whether you're a die-hard Trek geek or just a casual sci-fi fan) is to see the unaired, uncut 1964 pilot, "THE CAGE", and Roddenberry really had it on the money with this one.

Jeffrey Hunter's turn as Captain Christopher Pike exudes the stern, stoic demeanour that would become such a trademark of Jean-Luc Picard, yet he does manage to showcase a glimpse into his humanity, which he keeps hidden from most of the crew, as every good captain must. There are moments in this pilot that act as harbingers of things that audiences would take for granted some thirty years hence on other incarnations of TREK, but they'll more than likely fail to remember or appreciate that it ALL began here. Without this pilot, there would be no Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer.

The SPFX in this show, while cheesy by today's ILM-on-Steroids standards, were surprisingly good & still manage to impress, even today. This pilot, which was ultimately refused by NBC (Shatner's "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE" was what finally sold the suits on the show), is TREK at its most distilled. There was really no guideline to go by, no Prime Directive, no purists' / revisionists' history, no continuity to adhere to, no writers' staff to make sure everything fit in the box -- just plain ol', good character-driven science fiction TV.

It's a shame that there wasn't an opportunity to see where Jeffrey Hunter & HIS Enterprise crew would have gone, but thank goodness he was there at all.

I only give this one four stars because the final episode--"Turnabout Intruder"--was pretty lame. Bad way to end the series. The inclusion of two versions of "The Cage" makes the DVD worthwhile, however, along with Gene Roddenberry's little featurette. One point of contention with Jared's review: "The Cage" has, in fact, aired during reruns. While I still have my "all-colour collector's edition" VHS copy, it was played at least once on the Sci-Fi Channel, back when Sci-Fi ran sort of a 23rd-century two-hour program block (Star Trek the first hour, and Babylon 5 the second, which is when I actually got into J. Michael Straczynski's television gem).

I only watched the the B&W/Color version of "The Cage," once for the novelty of it.

Turnabout Intruder-Star Trek closed with one of its oddest and campiest offerings, in which an old flame switches bodies with Captain Kirk. In no other episode is there such a palpable sense of the personnel's detachment from the material. This detachment is presumably attributable both to the episode's dubious content and the knowledge that the show would not be renewed. The basic premise is interesting enough and the effects during the transfer are cool, but the episode quickly runs into trouble. First off, the episode is very sexist even by the standards of the day. Lester's character is an amalgamation of stereotypes including:
1) the scorned lover, who made too much out of a fling, 2) the woman unable to 'face the reality' that she wasn't 'cut out' for command of a starship, and 3) the sadistic, murderous woman who will stop at nothing to preserve her deluded sense of reality. These stereotypes are obviously all very pernicious, and this is one case where Shatner's acting (which I generally find solid) didn't help matters any. Odds are he was told to play the part this way, but it's still enough to make you cringe. Not to mention his scenes with the hapless Harry Landers; did Landers think about what he was signing on for beforehand? Smith on the other hand is decent enough, but it isn't enough to lift the episode through the tedious court room proceedings.

Tidbit: NBC didn't finally get around to airing this episode until June of 1969, more than 2 months after the penultimate 'All Our Yesterdays' had aired. (2.5 stars)

The Cage-The pilot episode of the show, which featured a different captain (Jeffrey Hunter) as Pike would be worth watching for comparative purposes even if it was not an interesting episode. Much feels clumsy and disconcertingly different in this episode, but how could it be any other way, given that this was their first attempt, and so much was rejected by the suits? But a female second in command would have been really interesting (I'm not sure Barrett would have been up to the task though), as would a more emotional Spock and a more introverted Captain (I prefer Shatner's interpretation though).

The story is also good enough, with aliens reminiscent of the Vians from 'The Empath'. The episode explores the nature of reality and illusion, as well as the human need for companionship and love (themes also explored in 'The Empath', come to think of it). A strong if inevitably somewhat clunky episode, but one ultimately most valuable for the fact that it makes us ask ourselves, "What if.." (3.5 stars)

Roddenberry's original pilot plus the reworked version which showed up as the two part episode The Menagerie are included on this DVD. The former shows a television series with promise. It's a solid, very good pilot episode although it was missing important elements. It's clear why NBC rejected the original;most of the cast lacked the chemistry of Shatner-Nimoy-Kelly.

When it was reworked into The Menagerie, the wrap around story devised by story editor John D. F. Black provieded added punch to the original pilot; there was the seeming betrayal of Kirk by Spock and the tragedic accident that disabled Christopher Pike. This episode won a Hugo (much deserved I might add) for the efforts of Roddenberry and Black (although Black never received credit and, assuming Roddenberry would take care of him, never took it to arbitration. It never happened). The Menagerie focuses on Spock highjacking the Enterprise to take Pike back to a planet where an alien race once imprisoned him. The dying race hoped to pass along their values and use Pike as breeding stock in an effort to survive. They pitted him against real incidents from his past and imaginery situations using the power of illusion to try and break him down.

Kirk catches up with Spock and a Court Martial is initiated against Kirk's first officer. Spock, in his defense, wants to show Pike's story to give the other officers an understanding as to why he behaved the way he did. It turns out that Federation ships are forbidden to visit the planet which complicates matters for Spock.

Everyone gives terrific performances particularly Shatner, guest star Thorne and Nimoy. The material is reworked into a powerful episode.

Turnabout Intruder was the last episode of the original series broadcast. It's based on a story by Roddenberry. Unfortunately, it's not the best episode and the only highlight is the terrific acting from the regular and guest cast.

3 1/2 stars for the original pilot, 4 1/2 for the reworked version and 2 stars for Turnabout Intruder with an average of 3 1/2 stars for all three.

It is obvious that Turnabout Intruder was meant to be a slap in the face of the NBC suits who tried to kill Star Trek. The plot and story were cliche in the extreme; I can't imagine Gene Roddenberry signing off on something like this if he wasn't completely offended by the way NBC treated him and his creation. That being said, anyone who says William Shatner cannot act should screen this episode. One could tell that there was considerable effort expended in getting the acting job "just right." This wasn't just any "contractual obligation" job; this was art.

As for the pilot, I always thought the tone was a lot closer to Star Trek - The Next Generation. The bridge was a lot quieter than it usually was in the original series, and the acting was far less "over the top." With a little more work, and a lot more money, this could easily have been done to cinematic standards. One can easily imagine a remake directed by Stephen Spielberg.

The final DVD of The 40 volume Star Trek DVD series contians the series incredibly weak and uneven finale and special treat: the unaired original pilot that NBC rejected which is what really sells this one.

It's a real shame that the Star Trek series couldn't have ended a little better than TURNABOUT INTRUDER but sadly it's this awful episode that ends a TV series that still had a ton of promising aspects left in it. Looking back it's easy to say that Star Trek should never been cancelled so early. It's also easy to say that an episode this bad should have never ended the series. TURNABOUT INTRUDER does have to be one of the worst Star Trek episodes to go into production. The plot is simply goofy and weak. A deranged woman swapping her soul into Kirk's body in order for her to fufill her dreams on running a starship is a bad enough idea. However having William Shatner act like a lady trapped inside a man's body is just a sad joke. Shatner (who at the time was suffering from a severe fever during the filming of this episode) turns in perhaps his worst acting performance ever in the series. It's so bad that it's laughable but this episode is downright boring and I wouldn't doubt that poor William Shatner (who I feel is generally a decent actor) begged for another episode of Star Trek to end the series on a stronger note. Unfortunetly this never happend.

The real reason to buy this DVD is of course the unaired pilot THE CAGE. It's not really available anywhere else and has never been included in the TV reruns. It's interesting to watch and see Jeffrey Hunter as Cpt.Pike and a younger more emotional Spock. The episode is pretty good but is ment more for historical or cult purposes. Still it what saves this DVD from being awful.

In conclusion this DVD is still a must despite the awful sad finale. The pilot is essential for Trekkies and is a must see anyways for fans of the Original series like me. This is classic Trek despite the depressing ending of the series so it's recommended but mainly for the Pilot.

*I can't believe I reviewed all forty volumes!*

"Turnabout Intruder" is only watchable if you have both: a) consumed adult beverages immediately prior to watching; and b) are looking for something incredibly bad to laugh at. This one is so bad that when I saw it on TV I KNEW that the series was going to be cancelled. No more money for scripts. That's all there is to be said about that.

On the other hand, "The Cage" is a wonderful find. As every Trekkie knows, this is the original pilot of the series, which was never presented on television because the TV executives told Roddenberry that he had to make changes. For example, the idea of a woman second-in-command was more than they could handle. Well, it was 1966.

"The Cage" is a superb episode which captures the optimism and wonder that the best "Star Trek" episodes brought to the screen. Mankind has only been exploring other star systems a short time. The Enterprise encounters a new race with powerful mental abilities, which race has hostile intentions. All of the ingredients for a fine story, and that is exactly what this is. One of the flaws in The Original Series after awhile in my opinion was that the Galaxy became too well-known and well-travelled, the aliens too familiar. Here, the Enterprise is meeting a new race that is not known. And the Talosians (the new race) are plausible and believable.

I loved William Shatner in the Trek series, but here we have a different actor--one Jeffrey Hunter. (He was dropped from the series, evidently the studio couldn't cut a deal with him). Hunter is a very different captain of the Enterprise. I thought he lacked chemistry with the other characters--he was more aloof than Kirk, and lacked Kirk/Shatner's ability to occasionally laugh at himself. Having said that, Hunter had his own strengths--I thought he did a good job projecting the notion that he was in command. He is a self-doubting, self-critical captain.

Spock in this episode is quite different from the Spock of the actual series--he smiles occasionally, but nonetheless does not seem quite human as indeed he is not. I liked the technology and sets in this episode too: I always thought it was asinine that Landing Parties wore their aboard-ship uniforms down even to pretty hostile planets. In "The Cage" they do not do this.

The worst "Star Trek" episodes in my opinion were episodes that refused to deal with the limitless possibilities of human travel to other worlds, and meetings with other civilizations. There is no need for time travel, stupid fantasy about magic, Greek Gods, the Roman Empire, etc. "The Cage" is a fine episode that deals with what the show was supposed to be about: seeking out new life and civilizations....! And it is a smashing episode.

Before STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, before STAR TREK: VOYAGER, before STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, before even STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, there was STAR TREK.

I would have given my right arm for this DVD as a boy in 1973! This is the stuff of dreams for the original Trekkers. We had only vague notions, glowing descriptions from Those Fortunate Few who saw it at private screenings by Roddenberry himself.

"The Cage" is probably one of the best science fiction movies made. Its influence on all that followed is obvious, even beyond the Star Trek series itself.