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Star Trek: The Original Series Season Two Blu-ray Disc Review

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES SEASON TWO (1967-1968, Blu-ray released September 22, 2009 – MSRP $129.99)

Star Trek: TOS Season 2 Blu-ray ReviewDo I even have to review this for you? Is there anything I can say about the Star Trek: The Original Series Season Two Blu-ray Disc set that won’t make me sound like a broken record? In my eyes, the previous set was the best thing going for the last few months. And this follow up hits all the same notes – amazing video transfer, fantastic sound and great features in a near-pitch perfect comprehensive collection of the classic 60s sci-fi television series. Sigh…I think I’ve fallen in love all over again…

There isn’t much point in going over the main content of the second season set. All 26 episodes are present from the awesome Amok Time (Spock needs sex, kills Kirk!) to the less-than-awesome Catspaw (magic cats in space.) and look far better than ever before. Far better than they even deserve to, given their age and origin. The team responsible for restoring the show and adding the new HD special effects should be proud of the amazing work they’ve done in rejuvenating Trek. I, for one, love watching the episodes with the new CGI effect work. I think it’s incredibly effective and in the spirit of the original work. And, hey, if I want to see the old, cheesy 60s effects, they’re a mere button push away. That’s right, you can toggle back and forth between old and new effects as you watch the episodes. Sheer bliss!!

Speaking of bliss, the restored audio is amazing too! You can choose to listen to episodes in their original mono or the brand spanking new, clean as a whistle 7.1 DTS HD audio! EXCLAMATION MARK! I’m getting too excited for my own good here…

There’s good, even great news about the bonus features, along with some not-so-great news. Let’s start with what I loved. This set has a metric ton of extras (for a full list of features and episodes, read the press release here)! Disc four alone blows away most stand alone Blu-ray releases. It’s like a loving tribute to the episode Trouble with Tribbles, including the original Tribble episode, the sequel from the animated series, the Deep Space Nine follow up (made in the 90s, digitally inserting actors into footage from the original episode), documentary featurettes, commentary tracks and the Starfleet Access Mode picture-in-picture track. So much to take in…and that’s just on Disc 4!

A handful of short clips and featurettes are littered throughout the other 6 discs in the set, most in standard def and culled from previously available DVD season sets with a few new HD ones thrown in to keep things fresh. A Starfleet Access Mode picture-in-picture track pops up on the episode Amok Time (I need more of these, CBS!) and proves to be one of the most consistently enjoyable and informative features available.

The not-so-great news is that the rest of the special features are only available through BD-Live and the new Mobile-Blu (watch videos and control BD from your iPhone) platforms. I’m kind of picking nits here but I find both means of viewing content aggravating. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to check out what amounts to a collection of very short (I’m talking one to two-minute clips here), often barely informative Trek video-bites. I love the idea of being fed new content over time and for that reason, I see a great future for both formats. But almost everything available now could have been included in the Star Trek: The Original Series Season Two Blu-ray set. There was some good stuff here – examinations of new CGI on select episodes, short conversations with those responsible for the episodes – but not enough to warrant having to sign up for a BD-Live account, long load times, application downloads and clumsy phone pairing. Sheesh. I wasted a lot of time with this on the weekend only to discover that the content wouldn’t be available until the 22nd. Perhaps that coloured my impression of the experience.

NOTE – The Deep Space Nine episode is HD on the disc but is clearly an up-convert from standard-def sources, as speculated some time ago. It turns out that all of the effects were created in SD back in the day and would have to be re-created for a proper HD transfer. As it is, it looks pretty decent. But the exteriors (space ships, stations, etc.), especially during the opening credit sequence, look aliased and nasty. Outside of that, I can’t really complain. I’m kind of just happy to own a copy of Trials and Tribble-ations. It’s a lot of fun.

FINAL NOTE: The Star Trek: The Original Series Season Two Blu-ray set is currently on sale at Amazon.com for only $59.99. That’s a whopping 54% off of the retail price! I don’t know how long this sale will last. Get over there and snap one up now, while you still can!

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2 comments for “Star Trek: The Original Series Season Two Blu-ray Disc Review”

  1. Great review. Thanks for the Amazon pointer. I was going to wait until the next DeepDiscount sale but the Amazon price was cheaper than I got the first season set for on DD.

    Posted by Vince | September 24, 2009, 6:53 pm
  2. [...] who have been sold on Blu-ray by experiencing CBS/Paramount’s dazzling transfers of the old Star Trek series or MGM’s incredible Dr. No disc. More evidence comes in the new restoration of Wizard of Oz [...]

    Posted by Blu-Con 2.0 - Blu-ray Conference News Round-up | The Blu-Ray Blog | November 5, 2009, 12:08 pm

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