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

By brenden ⋅ January 12, 2010 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES SEASON THREE (1968, Blu-ray released December 15, 2009 - MSRP $129.99)

I wish I could tell you that the Star Trek: The Original Series Season Three Blu-ray disc set is as wonderful and virtually flawless as its two predecessors but I can’t. Relative to those first two outstanding efforts, this set falls short. On its own merits, however, it’s absolutely wonderful and a must own for any Star Trek collector!

Spock’s Brain…sigh… The first episode on disc one of this Third Season set. Spock’s Brain is not a very good episode. It’s pretty laughable, in fact. And it’s also, sadly endemic of the entire season. Don’t get me wrong, there’s great stuff here. There are some amazing episodes to be experienced in the set. And they’ve all been enhanced with new HD special effects shots and gorgeous, radiant new transfers. Everything looks and sounds fantastic here. It’s just that the quality of the shows themselves, the writing, directing, the general take on the franchise is left wanting through most of the season.

But this is common knowledge, when it comes to season three of the original Trek. The cast and crew acknowledge as much in the featurette, ‘To Boldly Go…Season Three‘. There were production problems, disagreements and network in-fighting. And creator Gene Rodenberry had stepped away amidst it all, to work on new projects and to escape an unhealthy, combative environment. All the while, the fans on the outside were writing letters and doing their best to keep the Enterprise in orbit. To keep the show on the air. But it wasn’t to be. Season three features some incredible bright spots like The Enterprise Incident and Let That Be Your Last Battlefield but is otherwise a vestige of its former self. Spock’s Brain, where the Vulcan first officer has the contents of his skull stolen to be ‘The Controller’ at the center of a simplistic civilization, is evidence of this. Nevertheless, this season is the last of the original series and is therefore a necessary purchase for collectors and fans alike.

Like I said, the episodes look and sound as great as in previous seasons on Blu-ray. Wonderful! My greatest disappointment lies in the complete lack of Starfleet Access episodes - episodes with Picture-in-Picture commentary from creators and producers. This was my favourite feature of the previous two sets and I’m sorry to see that it wasn’t carried over to the final entry. There are, however, a ton of featurettes and documentaries to pick up the slack. More features are available over BD-Live and Mobile Blu.

The greatest part of the Star Trek: The Original Series Season Three Blu-ray disc set is the inclusion of the original pilots - both newly enhanced and extended versions of the first pilot, The Cage and the never-before-seen, unaired alternate cut of the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. This is the holy grail of unseen episodes for Trek nerds like me. It might not be as clean and gorgeous in presentation as the finished version found on the Season One set but it’s so incredible to be able to see it here, in any condition. Well done, Paramount/CBS-FOX video!

Tags: Box set, David Gerrold, Paramount, Star Trek, TV, TV Shows