Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season | William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy | The show picks up speed and humor in its second year

DVDs:

Star Trek The Orig...

	Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy CBS Paramount International Television, 2004 average customer review:based on 69 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Star Trek the Original Series Season Two

I waited for a long time for Paramount to release Star Trek The Original Series in one-volume single season sets. This seven disc Season Two set contains every episode from the second season plus some bonus features. The production quality is outstanding on these disks and they are well worth the price if you are an avid Star Trek fan.

The second season probably is Star Trek's best season and contains some of the best writing and episodes of the three year run. Some of my personal favorites include:

Mirror, Mirror where Kirk, Scotty, Uhura, and Dr. McCoy are sent to a parallel universe during a transporter malfunction and end up in an Enterprise where the crew is the opposite - war like, violent, and promotion is made through assassination.

I, Mudd, where we meet Harry Mudd, the nefarious space merchant.

Probably the most popular and beloved Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles, where a space station and the Enterprise is overwhelmed with the soft, fuzzy, creatures called Tribbles.

And my other favorite is The Ultimate Computer where the writers have told a cautionary tale about replacing humans with computers.

All the episodes for Season Two are in this set, so you're personal favorites from that season will be there too!

The special features are really not that good. Most of them I found a little boring. The best special features in this set are a montage about Nichelle Nichols who plays Uhura and an interview with D.C. Fontana, who wrote or co-wrote many of the scripts, and edited many others.

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The show picks up speed and humor in its second year

After an absolutely brilliant, groundbreaking first season, Star Trek returned for its second year with a bit more self-confidence and a willingness to expand its universe. The resulting year ranks almost equally well with the first, featuring some of the series' best ever episodes and finest character moments, although three or four unfortunate clunkers harm its reputation and show that the series was already beginning to succumb to formula cliche, which would become a much worse problem when season three rolled around.

Whereas season one had been moody, super-serious and pensive in tone, with only scattered moments of humor here and there, season two managed to lighten the atmosphere while not sacrificing any of the drama. The resultant mix of high-spirited action, drama and comedy made for outstanding episodes like "Amok Time", "Friday's Child", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Doomsday Machine" and the almost unbelievably good "Journey To Babel" (with Mark Lenard in regal form as Sarek). A new crewmember, Chekov was introduced and the machinations of Starfleet were more fully explored, while the show took three direct forays into flat-out humor on "I, Mudd", "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "A Piece Of The Action" (the latter two becoming particularly popular with fans). The Kirk-Spock-McCoy relationship was in high gear by this point, with choice moments between the three occuring in nearly every episode, and usually making even the worst moments bearable. Those clunkers, which begin the "Kirk romancing the priestess of the alien computer world" formula included "The Apple", "The Gamesters Of Triskelion", "The Immunity Syndrome" and "The Omega Glory", although that was about it and the vast majority of scripts are superb. Episodes which remain underrated or overlooked among fans to this day include "Metamorphosis" (my favorite of the entire series), "Return To Tomorrow" and "Patterns Of Force". "Assignment Earth" could have been developed into a great series had it been picked up by Paramount.

This box set is about the same quality as the first, and has the same strengths and weaknesses; the most obvious weakness is the ridiculous price tag, which is nearly twice what it should be selling for. Otherwise, the sound and picture quality are fine (I really see no reason for complaint in these masters, they're as good as they're bound to get) and the bonus features are mostly great, especially the sections focusing on DC Fontana and Matt Jeffries' recollections on working for the show and the pressures they had to undergo. Matt Jeffries' boundless creativity--especially given the nonexistent budget he had to work with--was truly flabbergasting. The segment on Uhura was nice although most fans will know this information already. The "Life Beyond Trek" segment with Nimoy was more interesting than Shatner's, but still among the weakest of the features. What still puzzles me is that more could have been included, such as additional text or audio commentaries on the episodes; given that this is supposed to be the definitive version of the legendary show now available, as much effort should have been put into this as possible. Overall, however, the set is a must-purchase if you're a TOS fan and probably a good bet for any fan of good TV--just make sure you get it at a discount.

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Boldly goin' where Star Trek DVDs have gone before...

Ya know, I'm kinda depressed over this re-release of the classic Trek show on DVD. I'd already spent a big load o' bucks on the two-episode platters, now Paramount has thrown 'em on the shelves again, only in far-more-compact and more bonus-material-laden full season box sets. Well, actually I'm not TOO depressed, seein' as how I'd sold my entire collection of 2-eppie platters through Amazon Marketplace (the fools!), and racked up enough dough to buy all three sets with a few shekels to spare for the upcoming cartoon series set and director's-edition double-disc movies! Ya gotta love bein' money ahead when you're trading up...

Speakin' of the two-eppie discs: you'll wanna check out my write-ups of volumes sixteen to thirty or so if ya wanna know my thoughts on the episodes themselves. For this review I'll be covering the technical and physical attributes of this set, as well as its bonus features.

And away we go...

I can hardly believe how ridiculous-looking and inconvenient the packaging is. The hard plastic cover shell resembles a giant blueberry-flavored Chiclet, and opens in a rather unusual fashion. Inside this shell is a sleeved flip-book holder case containing all seven discs that make up the show's second year of shows, as well as several retrospective featurettes. As you can imagine, it's a bit of a chore to unbox this veritable DVD nesting doll just so's you can watch yer fave second-season eppies. Personally, I think they shoulda' gone with the same design here that they used with the DS9 season sets: a semi-rigid plastic slipcase and a magazine centerfold-style fold-out disc holder. It would have made the set look a lot cooler, and much more convenient to get around. And don't get me started on the shell case's raised "Star Trek: The Original Series" lettering and Starfleet logo, both of which possess a chromed finish that will gradually wear off with each slide into and out of your video cabinet...

An interesting twist they added to each episode is the inclusion of both a new 2-channel sound mix and a 5.1-channel mix. While I did hear a noticeable diff between the old and new versions-- more noticeable background sounds, slightly more comprehensible dialogue and such-- neither of the new soundtracks didn't sound that different from each other to me. The new audio mixes also seem to suffer from the same problem I've encountered with other pre-digital-video-era TV shows that have had their sound "upped" from mono or 2-channel stereo to 5.1 for release on DVD: when the background music swells to a crescendo, it tends to overpower the dialogue. Fortunately, the picture clarity is a bit crisper and lighter than what I saw on the old DVDs. Also, the English subtitles are a bit larger, makin' it easier for Trekkies of the geezin' persuasion to read.

Also included with "Bread and Circuses" and "assignment: Earth" on the set's last platter are six retrospective featurettes that included many of the series' surviving main cast & crew's memories of conceptualizing, writing, producing, and acting in the series, as well as their fave moments from the second season's batch of shows. Well, actually they focus primarily on "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Amok Time", with a little of "Journey to Babel" thrown in fer good measure.

Also thrown in is a "Life After Trek" look at Leonard Nimoy's new avocation: fine-art photography with "passage-of-time"-related themes. While I didn't find his glorified hobby terribly interesting, I've a feeling he prefers it over those endless `Trek-con lectures where he's forced to answer the same freakin' questions from hopelessly clueless Trekkies for the umpteenth time...

Also included is a look at and analysis of the chemistry and camaraderie between the show's three principal characters: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, which ain't half bad. After that are the memories of set designer "Matt" Jeffries and his crack crew of craftsmen as they put together set pieces out of whatever they could scrounge, thanks to the almost nonexistent budget they had to go on. And in case yer wonderin': yes, the "Jeffries tubes" that run through the remote parts of the Enterprise and all StarFleet vessels are indeed named in honor of Mr. Jeffries. `Course, if you were a REAL Trekkie, you'd already know that, right? Ya freakin' poser...

Up next is Nichelle Nichols talking about the development of her character Uhura throughout the original show's run, and taking it way too seriously. `Course, seein' as how Uhura is pretty much all she has to show for her scary-talented efforts in Hollywood, I guess I can't blame her for puffin' things up a little. She also talks about her singing career and her one-woman show. I've had the misfortune of taking an ear to a sampling of her so-called "singing" (see my review of her "Out of This World" CD www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001OY5/qid=1106018239/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0488135-0118334?v=glance&s=music), which is barely a step above Yoko Ono's finer works.

Finally there's D.C. Fontana talking about her memories writing & editing scripts for the original show, as well as the difficulty she had selling action-oriented screenplays she'd written because of her gender (Fontana managed to get around this to a degree by going with her first two initials, rather than her full first name, on her scripts). She also discussed being the "keeper" of the show's official "bible", where she helped enforce the law of how the characters would act and behave, as well as the right kinds of situations they could get into. Personally, I think they half forgot about original `Trek's rules as the third season played out...

Before I wind things up, I might as well give ya all fair warning: the episodes in this set are arranged chronologically by the date they were originally broadcast, rather than by their stated stardates as they usually were in previous collector's edition video releases. So if yer one of those super-geekin' "in-stardate-order" purist Trekkies, you'll likely find this set's eppie arrangement tantamount to blasphemy...

'Late

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The Best and the Worst

Season two of Classic Trek epitomizes the best and worst of the 79 episodes. In classic favorites like "Amok Time" and "The Doomsday Machine" we find our bold trekkers in the top form; the writing is excellent, the acting and directing are superb. Yet, in classic groaners like "Patterns of Force," "Omega Glory," and "Gamesters of Triskelion" we find some of the worst television ever produced. "Bread and Circuses" remains one of my all-time favorite episodes for lampooning television while presenting the most credible interpretation of the "Prime Directive," which Kirk managed to break in most of the other 78 hours of the series. "Tribbles" also has one of the best choreographed fight scenes in television history.

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Series two

Oh, dear, it's all a bit dated, isn't it? I watched two episodes back to back with the same plot. "Oh, my God, the universe has disappeared! (again.)" I chose them because I like those space trumpets that sound up whenever the giant menace approacheth. I assume they're space trumpets, they sound like nothing on earth. In the former episode, it's a long blue turdy thing with a design flaw so obvious that you wounder why they even bothered building it. I think they call it planned obsolescence. Every doomsday weapon has one. The lads are also threatened by some over-acting from a commodor that has to be seen to be believed. The average commodor in Star Trek is always pompous and inept, so as to make Kirk look good. Anyway, Kirk and a couple of crewmen are stuck onboard the USS Intrepid, Valliant or Sooperdooper or whatever, when they get a call from the Enterprise that the transporter is now working again. "Right" says Kirk. "Beam back Scotty and I'll follow by the seat of my pants in the dying seconds before this starship blows up." Haven't you forgotten something, old chap? Like that other crewman whose name escapes me and you too, it appears. "Captain? Scotty? Where the **** is everyone? Oh my God, AAAAAAGH!"

In the latter episode the space boyos are menaced by a giant amee...omeab..(in space, nobody can see you spell.) Anyway, it's a giant blob that sucks the life out of you. Captain Kirk already looks the worse for wear in this second series. His hair is greyer, he's lathargic and looks pained. I guess that guy who used all those fancy filters on series one had left. Is he suffering from piles? The notorious lack of a toilet on the bridge can't help while you're being detained by yet another universe cruncher.

Is this the set that has Scotty getting plastered with an alien? Very funny scene that. Apart from that, it's hard to imagine who this box set is aimed at. Old people who remember it from childhood will find themselves too old for it and younger audiences will find it too cheesy. Don't get me wrong, it was good in it's day, but this is one to hopefully get in your Christmas sock, rather than open your wallet for.

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