MISSION: TREK 2009 has an advanced review of Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One which arrives April 28th in a massive seven-disc set on high-definition Blu-ray discs. Taking full advantage of exclusive BD features, for the first time ever viewers can choose between watching the broadcast episodes as originally seen in 1966, or the enhanced Remastered versions with upgraded digital sound and visual effects — now accessible during playback with the push of a button, thanks to Blu-ray seamless branching technology.
The Star Trek: Season One box set offers all 29 episodes from the landmark show's first missions, as Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, Bones and the crew of the USS Enterprise boldly explore strange new worlds across the galaxy in the 23rd century. At last, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment give fans (old and new) the best of both worlds: the seamless ability to enjoy either the unedited broadcast or digitally remastered episodes in their separate formats, or switch between them on-the-fly with player and on-screen controls.
BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVES MAKE STAR TREK SOAR ABOVE THE REST
After a valiant but truncated effort to release Star Trek Season One - Remastered in a 2007 hybrid DVD/HD-DVD Combo pack
box set, the studios finally got it right in this superb Blu-ray collection designed to give fans ultimate control over how they watch and enjoy Star Trek: The Original Series.
Viewers are given two ways to watch these classic Star Trek episodes: each disc's main menu offers the choice to watch with Enhanced or Original effects and sound before playback; but viewers can also toggle between viewing methods during playback by either pressing the Angle button on their Blu-ray remote, or by opening the Pop-Up menu and selecting the tiny movie camera icon at the top of the menu bar.
Depending on your player's capability, there may be a slight delay in switching between Enhanced and Original modes, but playback continues uninterrupted on-screen. This is a great feature for devoted fans who literally want to compare Original and Enhanced versions of episodes in real-time, to enjoy the contrasts in artistic interpretation of these Trek stories. Of course, this toggle-view feature is available exclusively in this high-definition Blu-ray release, and not seen in the previously released standard-def DVD of Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) - Three Season Pack .
Enhanced, digitally remastered Star Trek episodes boast 7.1 DTS-HD Master quality audio soundtracks on this Blu-ray collection, along with the standard English Original, Spanish and French 2.0 Mono soundtracks for those who prefer classic broadcast quality or the convenience of foreign language dubbing. Both remastered and original video images retain Trek's 4:3 aspect ratio since the series was filmed for 1960s television viewing, but the impeccable restoration work done on these episodes present the cleanest images seen in decades.
No longer shall fans suffer through the washed-out, scratched and carelessly edited episodes of Star Trek as seen for decades in syndication. Instead, CBS/Paramount scanned the original show negatives so digital restoration artists and technicians could painstakingly remove dust and age marks frame-by-frame before restoring optimal color and contrast balance. The result: Star Trek The Original Series hasn't looked this good in forty years, and likely never looked quite this good on your 1960s TV set even during the series' first network run!
CBS Digital artisans also created all-new digital visual effects for Enhanced viewing, so the space shots of the Enterprise orbiting planets and hurtling through the galaxy would look as crisp and colorful and the restored footage of the crew on board. Maintaining the timing of each episode, these new effects shots were carefully edited into the episodes to ensure such enhancements didn't distract from the dramatic momentum of the stories. Now the Enterprise and Trek galaxy look as stunningly varied and vast as Kirk and Spock described it in their original adventures.
THE UNFORGETTABLE CREW OF THE ENTERPRISE
Naturally another main attraction of watching Star Trek: Season One is its incredibly strong collection of episodes, establishing these timeless and beloved characters while entrancing fans with thrilling, mind-bending and humorous science fiction tales. While actor Jeffrey Hunter first captained the Enterprise, as seen in flashback during The Menagerie two-part revisiting of Trek's first series pilot, William Shatner quickly claimed the center chair for his own as James T. Kirk.
Though Leonard Nimoy was there from the very start of Trek in The Cage pilot through all three seasons of the network series, perhaps no other character evolved more than his Mr. Spock. Both script demands and crew retooling altered the function and look of Spock, Nimoy's portrayal mined subtle and surprising layers found within the Vulcan science officer. Both a Star Trek icon and a fan-beloved favorite, Spock quickly came to embody the best attributes and deepest mysteries of the sci-fi series — and indeed continues to do so today in director J.J. Abrams' new STAR TREK film opening this May.
Actor DeForest Kelley completes the classic Trek trinity with his indelible portrayal of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, a southern country doctor at heart who finds himself flung to the outer expanses of the universe. This intergalactic grouch was the perfect foil for Spock's relentless logic and the trusted confidant of the Enterprise's captain, though Kelley's talents revealed many dimensions to Bones and the show writers capitalized on this troika consistently.
One of Star Trek's enduring strengths is the depth of its cast, as Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), James Doohan (Scott), George Takei (Sulu) and later Walter Koenig (Chekov) made invaluable contributions to the crew and storylines.
CLASSIC STAR TREK EPISODES THAT STARTED IT ALL
The series enjoyed a further wealth of riches thanks to its numerous high-quality guest actors, including Mark Leonard who introduced the ruthless Romulan warrior race to Star Trek in Season One's popular episode, Balance of Terror. As only the fourteenth show in the opening season, Balance of Terror established a major plot line and villain supply in Trek while also delivering a cracking good episode of action and spacefaring strategy.
And no one can forget the mythological genesis of Ricardo Montalban's Khan in Space Seed, which not only added another sterling episode to Season One but launched the second STAR TREK feature film, THE WRATH OF KHAN, in 1982. For new fans of Trek, this truly is a must-see episode if you only know the popular films of the series, and for longtime Trekkers it's great to finally see this classic confrontation between Khan and Kirk in hi-def.
It's one of the many must-see chapters arising from the first season including Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Corbomite Maneuver, Arena, Shore Leave, The City on the Edge of Forever and more. Here is the complete list of 29 episodes collected in Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One:
The Man Trap • Charlie X • Where No Man Has Gone Before • The Naked Time
The Enemy Within • Mudd's Women • What Are Little Girls Made Of? • Miri
Dagger of the Mind • The Corbomite Maneuver • The Menagerie Part 1 & 2
The Conscience of the King • Balance of Terror • Shore Leave • The Galileo Seven
The Squire of Gothos • Arena • Tomorrow is Yesterday • Court Martial
The Return of the Archons • Space Seed • A Taste of Armageddon
This Side of Paradise • The Devil in the Dark • Errand of Mercy
The Alternative Factor • The City on the Edge of Forever • Operation:Annihilate!
Review this episode list and you see a most impressive array of many unforgettable Star Trek stories and classic moments in science fiction drama, and this Season One set is your only opportunity to enjoy them all over again in high-definition Blu-ray.
SPECIAL FEATURES BEAM YOU BEHIND THE SCENES
Another exclusive benefit of Star Trek: Season 1 on Blu-ray is Starfleet Access, a picture-in-picture commentary track available on six selected episodes interviewing the CBS Remastering team, Michael and Denise Okuda and Trek guest stars including Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman. Participants discuss story elements, Trek history and episode memories for unique HD-only bonus material.
Along with previews and trailers for Trek episodes, the Season One set also offers nine featurettes discussing: how Star Trek was remastered for the 21st century, how the original cast defined their characters to last forty years and beyond, an overview of this first season, tributes to the legendary science fiction writers who contributed to Trek mythology, Billy Blackburn's rare home movies from the Trek set and more.
Fans also have the opportunity to take their own HD-exclusive fly-around tour of the USS Enterprise, inspecting Starfleet's flagship through an interactive digital experience which reveals the iconic ship's futurist features.
BOLDLY EXPLORE THE FIRST MISSIONS OF STAR TREK AGAIN
CBS and Paramount finally and successfully transport Star Trek into the 21st century of home entertainment with their feature-packed box set of Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One soon available on seven high-definition Blu-ray discs. Boldly go back to the origins of the Original Series as it's never looked and sounded before, and join Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the Enterprise crew just in time for Paramount's feature film STAR TREK opening this May.
Star Trek: The Original Series Seasons Two and Three are already in the works and MISSION: TREK 2009 will bring you our in-depth reviews of those Blu-ray sets as soon as they're available — if not before! Thanks to CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment for giving MT09 this advanced preview of Star Trek: Season One.
Street date: April 28, 2009 •
Runtime: 24 Hours, 20 Minutes
MSRP: $118 US • Pre-order for $72.99 at Amazon.com |
