Blu-Ray Review: See ‘Star Trek’ in a New Way With HD Season Two

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CHICAGO – While you count the days until the beloved reboot of “Star Trek” hits Blu-Ray and DVD on November 17th, new and old fans should check back in with the original crew of the Enterprise in Paramount’s excellent 7-disc HD set, bursting with not only dozens of special features but enhanced visual effects and audio. This season of “Star Trek” has never looked like this.

And I’m not sure it ever should have. Before getting into the meat of this excellent set, the main issue surrounding these remastered classic episodes of television is that the effects have been dragged kicking and screaming into the new millenium. Even the opening credits have been enhanced, as the cheap model of the Enterprise has been replaced by, well, kind of cheap CGI of the Enterprise.

Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 2 was released on Blu-Ray on September 22nd, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount Home Video

I know it’s mostly a personal thing but I don’t believe in messing with already-filmed (and, especially, already-beloved) film or television. Greedo doesn’t shoot first. No film should ever be colorized. Pan-and-scan is the tool of the devil. It’s just the way I see film and TV - don’t mess with the original.

So, naturally, I’m very happy that Paramount has chosen to include both the original and enhanced visual effects for the second season of “Star Trek” on one disc. Viewers even have the ability to alternate just by hitting the “Angle” button and not bouncing back to a menu screen. You choose your favorite. I’m sticking with the old-fashioned way.

However, old-fashioned effects shouldn’t rule out enjoying gorgeously remastered video and audio and “Star Trek” looks stunning in HD. I grew up watching the show on a little black-and-white television and it may be an overused cliche, but I really had never seen the show like this before. I bet a lot of fans haven’t either.

Just as the second film, “The Wrath of Khan,” is the best original series movie, the second season of “Star Trek: The Original Series” is my favorite single season of any incarnation of the show. Most of what people know and love about this short-lived series is right here in season two. Most of the top-voted, beloved episodes are from this season including the great “Mirror, Mirror,” “The Trouble With Tribbles,” “Journey to Babel,” “The Doomsday Machine,” and “Amok Time”.

“Tribbles” is such a part of TV and Trek history that it gets its own disc, complete with other variations on the legend, including when they appeared on “Star Trek: The Animated Series” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. Tribble-centric special features are also included.

Other special features include preview trailers for every episode, a few featurettes, and the beloved “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest,” rare home movies shot behind the scenes of the show.

The biggest drawback of the second season of “Star Trek: The Original Series” on Blu-Ray is simple - most real fans already own these episodes and special features, first released on HD-DVD and then a standard DVD set in August of last year. Luckily for Paramount, “Star Trek” fans are more likely than the average buyer to pick up the same thing twice. If you’re replacing a standard or HD version or never owned this important chapter in television history in the first place, “Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 2” is definitely a worthwhile pick-up on Blu-Ray.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com