Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season

The most famous episode in franchise history, "The Trouble with Tribbles," is one of the highlights of the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series. A deserved classic, the humorous story centers on an ever-expanding mass of furry creatures that memorably rain themselves down on top of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and into the middle of a Federation-Klingon showdown. It inspired one of the most memorable episodes in the spin-off series Deep Space Nine, "Trial and Tribble-ations." Also in the second season, the Vulcan culture of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is fleshed out in "Amok Time" (in which Spock is faced with the possibility of killing his captain and friend) and "Journey to Babel" (introducing Spock's father, played by Mark Sarek, in what would turn out to be a long-recurring role). A new character, navigator Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), was introduced; his Monkees haircut was intended to appeal to the younger audience, but he was also a Russian, which at the height of the cold war reflected Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of a more enlightened future. Other social-commentary opportunities presented themselves in "The Omega Glory," "The Doomsday Machine," and "Assignment: Earth," the last also one of those periodic opportunities to scrimp on the budget by time-traveling to an earlier version of Earth. Another example was "A Piece of the Action," a comic episode set in the Roaring Twenties and memorable for, among other things, Kirk's teaching a made-up card game called Fizzbin. In other significant episodes, "I, Mudd" saw the return of the bounder from season 1, "The Changeling" was the original inspiration for the first Trek feature film a decade later, "Wolf in the Fold" (penned by the author of Psycho) provides an example of the series' great writing, and "Mirror, Mirror" introduced the concept of the parallel universe inhabited by vicious, amoral counterparts of the regular crew, another theme later borrowed (more than once, and to good emotional effect) by DS9.

Special features are a bit lighter than on the season 1 set, but they do feature such contributors as Shatner, Nimoy, George Takei (Sulu), Koenig, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and editor-writer D.C. Fontana. Of chief interest are "To Boldly Go," a 20-minute season recap; " Kirk, Spock & Bones: The Great Trio," discussing the interplay among Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley); "Star Trek's Divine Diva," shining the spotlight on the development of Nichols's character (she was originally considered to play Spock); and "Writer's Notebook: D.C. Fontana," discussing her various roles in the series (she used her initials to avoid the anti-female bias in science fiction at the time). --David Horiuchi

STAR TREK: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON features many exciting adventures with the Enterprise crew, including Spock experiencing the Vulcan mating drive, the crew being captured by a powerful alien once worshipped on Earth as the Greek god Apollo, the return of an ancient space probe launched centuries ago, aging at an incredible rate after exposure to an unknown form of radiation, and other episodes.

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Third Season

Saved from the brink of cancellation by its loyal fanbase, Star Trek's third and final season rewarded them with a number of memorable episodes. Tight budgets and slipping creative control, however, made it the series' most uneven season, though it did have some of the coolest episode titles ("For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky," "Is There in Truth No Beauty," "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). Some of the best moments involved a gunfight at the OK Corral ("Spectre of the Gun"), a knock-down drag-out sword battle with the Klingons aboard the Enterprise ("Day of the Dove"), the ship getting caught in an ever-tightening spacial net ("The Tholian Web"), TV's first interracial kiss ("Plato's Stepchildren," and it should be easy to guess who participated), Sulu taking command ("The Savage Curtain"), and Kirk's switching bodies with an ex-love interest ("Turnabout Intruder").

Also appearing in the set as a coda are two versions of the series pilot, "The Cage," a restored color version and the original, never-aired version that alternates between color and black and white. Starring Jeffery Hunter as Captain Pike, Leonard Nimoy as a relatively emotional Spock, and Majel Barrett (the future Nurse Chapel and Mrs. Gene Roddenberry) as a frosty Number One, this pilot was rejected, but a second was commissioned, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," now considered the "official" beginning of the series. But "The Cage" is very recognizably Star Trek with its far-out concepts (telepathic aliens collecting species samples), sexy humanoid women, character development, and of course cheesy costumes and special effects. Footage was later reused in the season 1 two-parter, "The Menagerie."

The best of the 63 minutes of bonus material focuses on three of the actors: Walter Koenig, George Takei, and James Doohan. Koenig discusses how he was cast and shows off his various collections, one consisting of Chekov figurines. Takei speaks movingly about the Japanese American internment and, in what is probably his last Star Trek appearance, Doohan, slowed by Alzheimer's but still with a twinkle in his eye, recalls his voiceover roles and his favorite episodes. The Easter eggs are amusingly called "Red Shirt Files" in tribute to those poor saps who everyone knew were only in the landing party so they could die. --David Horiuchi

STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON features the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Capt. James Kirk (Shatner) and his first officer, Lt. Cmdr Spock (Nimoy) during the 23rd century. They are on a mission in outer space to explore new worlds, where the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen.

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season

Finally and for the first time ever the complete landmark epic sci-fi television series Star Trek is available in a complete set on DVD. In these definitive collector's boxed sets with completely remastered sound fans of the landmark series can finally own and enjoy the entire first season featuring hours of new and never-before-seen bonus features.Season One is an 8-disc set that includes all 28 first run episodes and exclusive retrospective featurettes that are out of this world!Special Features: Full Screen Format Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround English Dolby Surround Text Commentary by Michael Okuda & Denise Okuda The Birth Of A Timeless Legacy Life After Trek: William Shatner To Boldly Go (Season One) Reflections on Spock Red Shirt Logs SCI-FI Visionaries Original Promotional Trailers Photo GalleryFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360509243 Manufacturer No: 050924

In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. Here at last is the first season of the original series all in one box, 29 episodes in their original broadcast order. That means starting with "The Man Trap," and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The many highlight episodes include "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing, respectively, the Romulans and the Klingons), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," which featured Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise and is not included in this set), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best-ever episode of the series).

The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest (24 minutes) featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Slightly shorter are "To Boldly Go... Season One," which highlights key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," which discusses the series' great science fiction writers (most famously in "The City of the Edge of Forever"). Shatner shows off his love of horses in "Life Beyond Trek," and, more interestingly, Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock." As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic case is an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the set is a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]

From Paramount Home Video! The complete first season of Star Trek: The Original Series is now available in HD-DVD/DVD Hybrid disks! This set contains all 29 episodes - in airdate order - from Season One of the original Star Trek series along with newly produced bonus features exclusive to this DVD release. System Requirements:Run Time: 1460 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 097361311944

In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. Here at last is the first season of the original series all in one box, 29 episodes in their original broadcast order. That means starting with "The Man Trap," and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The many highlight episodes include "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing, respectively, the Romulans and the Klingons), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," which featured Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise and is not included in this set), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best-ever episode of the series).

The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest (24 minutes) featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Slightly shorter are "To Boldly Go... Season One," which highlights key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," which discusses the series' great science fiction writers (most famously in "The City of the Edge of Forever"). Shatner shows off his love of horses in "Life Beyond Trek," and, more interestingly, Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock." As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic case is an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the set is a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Seasons 1-3

Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The First Officer is Mr. Spock from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew the Enterprise encounters Klingons Romulans time paradoxes tribbles and genetic supermen lead by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds to seek new life and new civilizations to boldly go where no man has gone before.System Requirements: Running Time 4117 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: G UPC: 097360553871 Manufacturer No: 055387

The facts have become legend. Star Trek, the NBC series that premiered on September 8, 1966, has become a touchstone of international popular culture. It struggled through three seasons that included cancellation and last-minute revival, and turned its creator, Gene Roddenberry, into the progenitor of an intergalactic phenomenon. Eventually expanding to encompass five separate TV series, an ongoing slate of feature films, and a fan base larger than the population of many third-world countries, the Star Trek universe began not with a Big Bang but with a cautious experiment in network TV programming. Even before its premiere episode ("The Man Trap") was aired, Star Trek had struggled to attain warp-drive velocity, barely making it into the fall '66 NBC lineup.

The series' original pilot, "The Cage," featured Jeffrey Hunter as U.S.S. Enterprise captain Christopher Pike--a variation of the role that would eventually catapult William Shatner to TV stardom. Filmed in 1964, the pilot was rejected by NBC the following year, but the network made a rare decision to order a second pilot. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was filmed in 1965, and only one character from the previous pilot remained--a pointy-eared alien named Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy), whom Roddenberry had retained despite network disapproval. The second pilot was accepted, and production on Star Trek began in earnest with the filming of its first regular episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver."

Never a ratings success despite a growing population of devoted fans, Star Trek was canceled after its second season, prompting a letter-writing campaign that resulted in the series' third-season renewal. It was a mixed blessing, since Roddenberry had departed as producer to protest the network's neglect, and Star Trek's third season contained most of the series' weakest episodes. And yet, the show continued to "to explore strange new worlds…to seek out new life and new civilizations…to boldly go where no man [a phrase later amended to "no one"] has gone before."

There were milestones along the way. The first interracial kiss on network primetime TV (between Shatner and series co-star Nichelle Nichols) furthered a richly positive and expansive view of a better, nobler future for humankind. The series offered a timelessly appealing balance of humor, imagination, and character depth. And at least one episode (Harlan Ellison's "The City on the Edge of Forever") ranks among the finest science fiction stories in any popular medium. Beloved by long-time fans in spite of its cheesy sets and costumes, and the now-dated trappings of late-1960s American culture, "classic Trek" has aged remarkably well, and its sense of adventure and idealism continues to live long and prosper. --Jeff Shannon

The three 2004 DVD sets collect all 79 episodes of the show, including "The Cage" in both a restored color version and the original, never-aired version that alternates between color and black and white. Each set is supplemented by over an hour of featurettes incorporating new and old interviews with Shatner, Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and there's also some vintage footage of Gene Roddenberry. Accompanying the 20-minute seasonal recaps ("To Boldly Go...") are a number of interesting featurettes: "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy" examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew; "Sci-Fi Visionaries" discusses the series' great science fiction writers; Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock"; "Kirk, Spock & Bones: The Great Trio" focuses on the interplay among Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley); and, in what is probably his last Star Trek appearance, James Doohan (Scotty), slowed by Alzheimer's but still with a twinkle in his eye, recalls his voiceover roles and his favorite episodes. As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic cases are an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the sets are a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi

Star Trek Fan Collective - Time Travel

Boldly go where no "Star Trek" collection has gone before with this four-disc boxed set including 10 of the most popular time-travel episodes from the original "Trek" series "Star Trek The Next Generation" "Star Trek Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek Voyager" as decided by die-hard Trekkers.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 097360375244 Manufacturer No: 037524

If you want just one Star Trek DVD set in your collection, Star Trek Fan Collective: Time Travel may be it. Of the 15 time-bending episodes on the affordably priced four-disc set, two are perhaps the most acclaimed in franchise history: the Original Series' "The City on the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison) and Deep Space Nine' s "Trials and Tribble-ations" (in which the DS9 crew is cleverly edited into the original crew's "The Troubles with Tribbles" episode). The other selections are the Original Series' "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"; The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise," "Cause and Effect," the two-part "Time's Arrow," and the series finale "All Good Things..."; DS9's "Little Green Men"; and Voyager's two-part "Year of Hell" and series finale "Endgame."

One could quibble with the episode selection. Because the Fan Collectives were compiled by vote from fans, Voyager's series finale "Endgame" was included even though it was also on Fan Collective: Borg. It would have been nice to remove that duplicate and substitute the acclaimed DS9 two-parter "Past Tense," which would have been a better representation of that series than "Little Green Men" (in which the Ferengi travel to Roswell) and "Tribble-ations," both of which are deserving selections but considerably lighter in tone than the series as a whole. Also, Enterprise isn't represented at all. The only bonus features are new text commentaries on three episodes by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda. --David Horiuchi

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 21, Episodes 41 & 42: I, Mudd/ The Trouble With Tribbles

"I, Mudd"
Lovable scoundrel Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) returns following his debut appearance in the first-season episode "Mudd's Women," this time as the leader of a race of helpful (and leggy) androids. Mudd tries to take control of the Enterprise, but soon finds that the androids have plans of their own. This is one of Trek's few purely comic episodes, and it hits a nice level of whimsy as Kirk and the crew fight android efficiency with good old human illogic. "I, Mudd" also sets a benchmark achievement for the Star Trek design crew: It called not just for beautiful women in revealing costumes, but for beautiful twins in revealing costumes. Truly a tough one to top, cheesily foreshadowing the "Fembots" of Austin Powers infamy. --Ali Davis

"The Trouble with Tribbles"
It's time to face one of the great questions of the television age: Is "The Trouble with Tribbles" really as good as everyone thinks it is? You bet. While the story might be a little slower than many of us remember, the episode is deservedly beloved for writer David Gerrold's witty, mildly acerbic script, and the way the cast took to heightened comic possibilities against network resistance. (Heavens! Comedy on a science fiction show?) Stanley Adams is delightful as the huckster Cyrano Jones, who gives a trilling furball called a tribble to Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), who brings it aboard the Enterprise and watches it reproduce... and reproduce... and reproduce. Soon, hundreds of tribbles are in every part of the ship, making Captain Kirk (William Shatner), already grouchy about guarding a mere grain shipment from Klingons, even grouchier. There's no question that Gerrold made a major contribution to Trek culture with this show, setting a tone that Star Trek has visited again and again, including the feature film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and sundry episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. --Tom Keogh

"I, Mudd," Ep. 41 - That intergalactic rogue, Harry Mudd, is back to his old tricks as one of his schemes backfires, leaving Kirk, the Enterprise crew and himself held captive by a race of androids. "The Trouble with Tribbles," Ep. 42 - There are headaches for Kirk when Tribbles (furry creatures which eat incessantly) and Klingons invade a space station storing a valuable grain shipment.

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 12, Episodes 23 & 24: A Taste of Armageddon/ Space Seed

Volume 12 in the classic Star Trek series on DVD begins with "Space Seed," which introduced Khan Noonien Singh (a viperlike Ricardo Montalban) to Trek lore. The trouble begins when Kirk & crew discovers a derelict ship and its crew of 70 supermen aboard, all in suspended animation. Led by Khan, these strange people turn out to be the product of genetic experimentation in the 1990s and instigators of a so-called Eugenics War, i.e., the Third World War on Earth often mentioned on various Trek programs. Though displaced from his more violent time and place, Khan quickly overcomes his disorientation and shifts into conqueror mode, quickly overtaking the Enterprise with the aid of a comely Federation historian who is swooning at his feet. As any Trek fan knows, "Space Seed" inspired Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, regarded by many as the best of the Trek feature films.

"A Taste of Armageddon" is one of classic Trek's occasional, obvious metaphors for the absurdity of the then-cold war between East and West. Gene Lyons stars as a Federation ambassador named Fox, who boards the Enterprise to reach the planet Eminiar VII, where he hopes to negotiate a peace treaty with the inhabitants. Instead the crew of the Enterprise gets caught in the middle of an interplanetary war between Eminiar and neighboring planet Vendikar. The twist is that the war is being fought on computers, and compliant residents of those "destroyed" areas obediently report to disintegration chambers, where their "virtual" death is made literal. When the Enterprise is "hit" in one of these simulations, both the warlords of Eminiar VII and Ambassador Fox fully expect Capt. Kirk & crew to report to the disintegration center. The feisty Kirk has other plans, of course. And while the madness of this controlled armageddon makes a suitably surreal satire of the arms race in the 1960s, the story also evoked the endless, daily reports of body counts during the Vietnam war, with no resolution in sight. Aside from its parable aspect, however, the episode gave Kirk one of his earliest and most compelling scenes of Kirkian preachiness in a bold monologue about peace, reportedly written and rewritten numerous times by series producer and indispensable creative hand, Gene L. Coon. --Tom Keogh

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 40, Episodes 79, 99 & 1: Turnabout Intruder/ The Cage (B&W/Color Version) / The Cage (Full Color Version)

"Turnabout," Ep.79 - A female scientist, jealous of Kirk's career, uses an ancient alien device to trade places with him and take command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series' final episode! "The Cage," Ep.99 (B&W and color) - The two versions of Star Trek's rarely seen pilot star Jeffrey Hunter as captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. On an earlier voyage of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, Kirk's predecessor Captain Christopher Pike tries to rescue an Earth crew that disappeared eighteen years earlier. But it's a trap! Pike is imprisoned in a zoo-like cage and studied by a mysterious higher life-form. "The Cage" Ep.99 was reconstructed with black-and-white footage from Gene Roddenberry's work print and color footage from "The Menagerie" Ep.16. "The Cage" Ep.1 (Color) - This episode includes the long-lost color footage (believed to have been destroyed) from Gene Roddenberry's pilot episode. 185 minutes.