MISSION: TREK 2009 offers our review of The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series
which arrives May 12th, just in time for new TREK fans who want to learn more about the classic origins of this exploding sci-fi franchise!
CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment collect four of STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES's best episodes from the historic 1960s television landmark. Set in the 23th century amid the five-year mission of Captain James T. Kirk commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise, he and his crew boldly explore strange new worlds and civilizations. These selected episodes truly represent STAR TREK's broad range of entertaining, thrilling and thought-provoking science fiction of its time, and remain timeless today:
THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER
This DVD collection opens with one of TREK's most popular, iconic episodes. Striking a similar note to the hit film now playing in theaters, THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER leaps into action as Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley) accidentally receives an overdosed inoculation which induces manic paranoia in the doctor. He beams down to an alien planet and leaps though its ancient time portal, known as The Guardian, to disappear into history. The Guardian warns the Enterprise away team that McCoy's intrusion has erased their 23rd century timeline, leaving them stranded in time and space.
Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) attempt to follow him back in time, arriving in the midst of the Great Depression in 1930s America — only to discover McCoy has not yet arrived. The brilliant Vulcan first officer, Spock warns Kirk they must wait for McCoy to appear and undo his actions in order to restore their 23rd century reality, yet avoid changing history themselves while in the past. The two incognito refugees meet the benevolent social worker, Edith Keeler, who takes in Kirk and Spock off the streets. Kirk is quickly taken by Edith's altruistic visions of the future, where mankind explores the stars in peace and brotherhood, sensing Kirk believes in the same.
Meanwhile, Spock continues monitoring 1930s news and sees a disturbing trend of changes which will change the 20th century forever. There are two possible futures from this point in history: Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) becomes a prominent leader of the peace movement, delaying America's entry into World War II and allowing Hitler's Nazi Germany to conquer Earth, or Keeler must die as history somehow intends.
When McCoy finally steps out of the portal into the 1930s, fates collide as Kirk must choose between saving Bones or preventing Edith Keeler's death in an auto accident. This moral and personal dilemma puts a highly dramatic burden of leadership on Captain Kirk's shoulders and conscience, where personal choice conflicts with duty. One of STAR TREK's best episodes, this classic mind-bender written by Harlan Ellison still stands today as superb storytelling.
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
A humorous and crowd-pleasing favorite among devoted fans and casual viewers alike, THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES dramatizes the lighter side of Starfleet duty as the Enterprise answers a distress call at station K7. Located in a disputed region between the Federation and Klingon Empire boundaries, the station finds itself hosting both crews on shore leave with antagonism running high. Kirk's orders are to protect the transfer of a rare grain shipment which will help feed and develop a planet caught in this galactic tug of war.
Yet a conniving salesman, Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams), cons the station bartender into buying his own shipment of Tribbles, purring little furballs who have a calming effect on humans yet recoil from the brutal Klingons. Oh, and Tribbles have one other notable quality: when they are fed, the reproduce quickly and in great numbers. When Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) brings her new Tribble back aboard the Enterprise, soon the entire ship is populated with the fluffy pets!
Meanwhile on shore leave, Engineer Scott (James Doohan) and new Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig) are challenged into a bar brawl by Klingon officers as security on the station soon dissolves into chaos. Kirk must intervene to prevent injury and outright war breaking out between the two antagonistic crews. Worse yet, the Enterprise's coveted and crucial grain shipment has been infested and devoured by the relentlessly hungry and replicating Tribbles. When many of the Tribbles in the grain stores are found dead, McCoy deduces that the grain had been poisoned before transfer to the Enterprise, exposing a Klingon plot to undermine the Federation's famine-ending mission. While one of the lightest and most laugh-filled episodes of TREK's second season, THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES also makes a good entry in the Federation/Klingon arc of plotlines and is a great entry-level episode to the first and best STAR TREK series.
BALANCE OF TERROR
Short on humor and very long on spacefaring action and thrills, BALANCE OF TERROR pits Captain Kirk against an equally brave and bold Romulan Commander (Mark Leonard) in a tense battle of wills and starships in this top notch episode. Responding to emergency calls for help from Earth outposts along the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise crew finds stations destroyed by a mysterious new plasma weapon — the Romulans have just escalated their arms race with the Federation.
Clearly influenced by the Cold War politics and international tensions of the 1960s, with a nod to classic World War II submarine films, this episode tests Kirk's superior mind for strategy and guile in armed conflict against a foe who seems his psychological mirror image. Another shocking revelation comes at the crew's first look at Romulans, who bear a striking resemblance to Spock's Vulcan appearance. While he and the crew attempt to form new strategies to deal with the Romulan's new threat, a cloaking devices which hides their Bird of Prey ship from view, suspicions arise from a helmsman who accuses Spock of being a secret Romulan spy.
A thrilling and lethal game of cat and mouse ensues between the two captains, each testing the others' skill and patience while hammering away with their weapons. The conclusion of this tense duel provides a seminal moment in STAR TREK mythology and lore among its fans, setting up a historic conflict with the Romulans which carries on even in today's hit feature film. For anyone wanting to learn more about where STAR TREK came from and why it's still so popular today, BALANCE OF TERROR cannot be missed.
AMOK TIME
This skillfully written and directed character piece gives audiences a glimpse into the alien culture and mystery of Vulcans, specifically Spock whose seven-year mating cycle drives him to near madness and a return to his home planet. Usually calm and utterly logical, Spock's controlled emotions boil over to challenge his crewmates and even Captain Kirk, to point he's nearly incapacitated in his duties as science officer.
Kirk faces the dilemma of fulfilling his Starfleet mission or aiding his first officer and good friend spock, who may well die if he does not return to Vulcan in two days. Ever a captain who remains as loyal to his crew as to his duty, Kirk orders a quick diversion to Vulcan to help Spock — but their troubles only begin there. T'Pring, Spock's betrothed wife-to-be, challenges their arranged engagement, insisting that Spock fight her choice of champion to prove his willingness to marry her. Spock is honor bound to agree, but it shocked when T'Pring chooses James Kirk as her champion.
A dangerous hand-to-hand battle ensues between Spock, enraged by his Pon Farr mating drive, and Kirk, who falters in their fight amid Vulcan's thin atmosphere. McCoy pleads with the Vulcan leader to give Kirk an injection which will at least even the odds for the disadvantaged human combatant. Yet it's of little help as Spock overpowers his captain, strangling him with a belt. The shock of this crime brings Spock out of his Pon Farr trance, baffled why T'Pring would challenge their betrothal. She wanted another Vulcan mate the whole time, and the combat was the only way to break their engagement.
Spock returns to the ship, intent on relinquishing his command and surrendering to Starfleet for killing Kirk — but McCoy turns out not to be the simple country doctor he professes, and he has a stunning surprise for Spock awaiting in the medical bay. AMOK TIME illustrates best how STAR TREK successfully blended character drama and thrilling action, advancing both the plot of the episode and the friendships these three men share.
EXPLORE THE BEST OF STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES
CBS and Paramount offer new TREK fans a smart and satisfying entry into this enduring and popular franchise with The Best of Star Trek: The Original Seriesfour-episode DVD collection. All four highlight the great action, complex character relationships and involving drama which typified the entertaining heights achieved by this classic science fiction landmark in television. The strength of this DVD collection is the variety of stories contained in it, from intellectual time travel concepts to light-hearted comedy and taut action adventure, all of which stand apart and together as iconically STAR TREK in their nature.
All four Best Of TOS episodes are presented in their original 4:3 full frame video aspect ratio, remastered with brand new digital transfers and enhanced visual effects which make classic TREK look better than ever! Remastered audio is also available in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, or Spanish and Portuguese Mono plus Closed Captioning and multi-lingual subtitles.
MISSION: TREK 2009 gladly rates this introductory DVD collection 5 out of 5 stars as a strongly recommended of the best THE ORIGINAL SERIES offers as classic achievement of televised science fiction. If this DVD collection hooks you on TOS, take the next step and explore Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) - Three Season Pack
or Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 on Blu-ray
to enjoy the further adventures of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the original crew of the starship Enterprise, boldly going into their fourth decade of entertaining audiences across the galaxy.
Street date: May 12, 2009 •
Runtime: 3 Hours, 21 Minute
MSRP: $14.99 US • Order for $9.99 at Amazon.com
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