By GustavoLeao / 12:50, 5 November 2008 / General Star Trek

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FINAL SEASON OF ORIGINAL "STAR TREK" RETURNS TO DVD IN REMASTERED FORMAT

Reviewed for TrekWeb.com by Bill Williams

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON THREE REMASTERED

7 discs, MSRP $99.99

Date of release: November 18, 2008

And now we come to the end of what a number of people have termed "the great experiment": bringing back the original STAR TREK series and giving it a fresh approach by redoing the visual effects for the series. The mindset of giving each of the 1960's episodes a CGI makeover was definitely a good concept to consider. We have to remember that during the 1960's, the budgeting for visual effects for STAR TREK, let alone any series of the time, would have been extremely costly and forced the budget to exceed its limits.

Let us remember the heyday of 1968 for a few moments. Forty years ago TREK came extremely close to cancellation due to low Nielsen ratings, had it not been for a growing fan base that flooded NBC with thousands of letters protesting the series' imminent cancellation. With an unusual on-air announcement, NBC let its viewers and fans know that STAR TREK would indeed be returning for a third season - but nobody at the time knew what was transpiring behind the scenes. Moving the series to a late Friday night time slot would ensure cancellation by the network. Multiply that with a reduced budget, the replacement of Gene Roddenberry with Fred Freiberger as senior producer, Roddenberry's stepping down into an executive producer capacity, a lobotomy in the series' episodes, and more obvious emphases on the social issues of the era (ranging from space hippies to racism to sexism), and you've got a surefire recipe for disaster leading to the series' eventual end with a whimper in June 1969. I won't rehash all of my detailed thoughts from my previous 2004 review, so click here to read my original article.

Now we come to the remastered 2008 edition of STAR TREK's third season, newly issued on DVD. All 24 episodes of the third season are presented in this new seven-disc set from CBS/Paramount Home Video. Before I go into analyzing the quality of each remastered episode and its new visual effects, let me just say that it is a pleasure regaining these episodes once again into my collection! (Only 650+ more to go...)

Spread out across the first six discs, the third season of STAR TREK took Roddenberry's original themes of exploring humanity and de-evolved them into tales of nearly mindless science fiction action-adventure, though some moments of greatness emerged at times. "The Enterprise Incident", involving the crew's encounter with a group of Romulans, the theft of its cloaking device, and the first appearance of the Klingon battle cruiser, is one of the season's standout segments. In addition, the visually exciting "The Tholian Web" (which would be revisited in the two-part ENTERPRISE tale "In a Mirror, Darkly"), and the spooky nature of "Spectre of the Gun", make for above-average segments that could have pushed the series into a fourth season. If only that had been the case...

But sadly, we got a bunch of insane clunkers that obviously came from the bottom of the barrel - among them the infamous "Spock's Brain" ("Brain and brain! What is brain?"), the trippy "Way to Eden" (complete with Spock's jam session with the space hippies, that no amount of CGI can correct those whacked-out ear lobes on Dr. Sevrin!), the free love of the Indian-themed "Paradise Syndrome", and many others that contributed to STAR TREK's premature downfall. Unfortunately, no amount of modern-day CGI can ever fix a poorly written story.

Also included in this set are two versions of the original pilot "The Cage", presented on Disc 7. The first version, labeled Episode #1, is the remastered version of the full-color pilot previously issued on DVD, now complete with new visual effects. I must admit that the new effects blend seamlessly with the original footage and really enhance the overall presentation of the original pilot, giving it a feel that could only be imagined back in 1964-65 for this, the earliest of all TREK adventures. Many of these effects are subtly enhanced, while others, among them newly inserted and replaced exterior shots of the Enterprise in space, are obvious changes and upgrades to the original. If there was one episode that I believe benefits most from the CGI enhancements, "The Cage" is that episode. This is one enhanced version that can really grow on you. The other version, labeled Episode #99, is the original 1986 hybrid version of "The Cage", complete with the original visual effects, the combination of color footage used in "The Menagerie" and black-and-white elements taken from the surviving work print, and bridging segments hosted by Gene Roddenberry on the engineering and transporter sets from the first three movies. (Fans should take note that this 1986 hybrid version was originally issued as Episode #1, while the first full-color version seen on TV in 1988 and issued on video in 1989 was issued as Episode #99 - this 1988-89 version remains unseen on DVD to date.)

Technobabble of a Different Kind:

The third season of STAR TREK is presented on seven discs in its original full-frame format as first seen in 1968-69 and during its recent telecasts in remastered format. Each episode is presented in your choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, Spanish and French mono sound, and optional English, Spanish, and French subtitles. The first six discs contain the remastered episodes and their original broadcast trailers, with Disc 7 reserved for "The Cage" and the bonus features included in the set. All of the set's contents are delineated on four collectible cards, allowing the viewer easy access to his or her favorite episode.

Either my mind is playing tricks on me, because it's been so long since I'd watched the Original Series on TV or DVD, or for some reason the visual quality is better than I remember seeing! All of the episodes have a brilliant color to them, like sprucing up a car with a fresh paint job. The sound quality of the 5.1 mix is just really great - I mean, why would you want to watch or listen to these episodes in anything other than 5.1?

On each disc, the menu animation begins in the transporter room and presents characters from each disc's respective episodes, followed by a close-up of the transporter console which presents the disc's episode listing. Choosing the Communications section will take you to the center of the transporter console, which will allow you to select the sound and subtitle options. Disc 7 presents the bonus features via an Additional Data section on the console, which will take you to the opposite side of the transporter console to choose among the various bonus features.

The Extras:

The majority of extras included on this remastered third season of STAR TREK - "To Boldly Go: Season 3" (which highlighted key moments during the season), "Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig" (profiling Koenig's pre- and post-TREK acting work, comic book writing, and collecting), "Memoir from Mr. Sulu" (profiling George Takei's political work in California), "Chief Engineer's Log" (featuring the final recorded interview with James Doohan filmed a year before his untimely passing in 2005), "STAR TREK's Impact" (featuring Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry discussing how the series had an impact on his life), and "A STAR TREK Collector's Dream Come True" (looking at one fan's collection including some valuable on-set props) - have all been ported from the previous third season release. In addition, each episode's original preview trailer from 1968-69 is included with its respective episodes across the first six discs. There is no need to rehash my thoughts on each of these features, except to say that it's extremely poignant revisiting "Chief Engineer's Log", knowing that another key member of the STAR TREK family is sadly no longer with us.

New to this set is the third and final segment of "Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories", running just over ten minutes in length. In this final installment, Blackburn (who was used as a background extra in many of the series' episodes) shares more of his memories of working on the series, including some interesting production tidbits. Blackburn presents more vintage eight-millimeter clips filmed on location at different sets with the main cast and production crew, along with additional vintage clips of makeup tests used for various episodes. In bringing these outtakes and home movies to DVD for the first time, Billy Blackburn should be commended for allowing his footage to be archived for fans to enjoy!

Also newly added to the third season set is "Collectible TREK", which was previously released as a bonus feature disc at Best Buy. This 14-minute feature profiles different STAR TREK fans and their collections, ranging from the licensed toy products from Mego and Playmates to the licensed prop replicas and model kits. Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry is also interviewed in this segment, discussing his involvement in releasing high-quality replicas through his company Roddenberry.com and keeping the licensing rights alive.

Finally, we are treated to a third new feature on Disc 7 entitled "Captain's Log: Bob Justman", which is a ten-minute tribute to one of the most recognizable producers of the original series and THE NEXT GENERATION. In his final recorded interview, filmed prior to his untimely passing earlier this year, Justman fondly recalls his days of working with Gene Roddenberry during the series' production, and though his appearance on camera is sadly gaunt due to age, his memory of the series is as sharp as a tack, particularly how he could define an episode's budget simply by glancing at production sketches and designs. In equally moving tributes, also newly recorded for this feature, Leonard Nimoy, Mike and Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler offer their memories of working with and knowing Justman as a trustworthy and reliable producer who eschewed the traditional standoffish persona that most TV producers of the day embodied, presenting him as a producer whose door was always open for actors and production crew to discuss concerns with him. The most moving tributes come from the Okudas, who visited Bob Justman and his wife only three weeks before his passing, noting how a planned dinner outing became for everyone involved a special time to reflect with love in just knowing him. Kudos to everyone for coming together in presenting yet another wonderful tribute to one of the series' most beloved creators.

Caveats and Concerns:

Missing in action from this set are the collection of production sketches from Walter M. Jefferies, the text commentaries from Mike and Denise Okuda, and the collection of hidden "Red Shirt Logs", which were not ported from the previous DVD set for this new release. Still missing in action and unreleased on DVD are the made-for-video documentaries "Inside STAR TREK: The Real Story" and "William Shatner's STAR TREK Memories", the 1988 video release of "The Cage" (it would have been nice to have all three commercially released versions available on DVD for comparison, a la the "Blade Runner" DVD set), the infamous and highly popular blooper reels, several vintage TV spots promoting the series' run on NBC, production outtakes from "The Cage" featuring Jeffrey Hunter, and deleted scenes (along with its scripted and photographic documentation) from the third season episodes, all of which we know are out there in various forms. And of course, most importantly, the original versions of the episodes from 1968-1969 are missing from this new DVD set - the only exception being the original 1986 hybrid version of "The Cage" accompanying the remastered full-color version on Disc 7 - which means if you want to view the original broadcast versions of the third season episodes, you will need to hold onto the previous DVD release.

Even more confusing is the dating, labeling and identification given to "The Cage" for this latest DVD release/reissue. For example, the full-color version of "The Cage" is dated back to 1988, which was first seen with bridging segments in "The STAR TREK Saga: From One Generation to the Next", as early as October 4, 1988 in numerous markets, though a broadcast date of October 15, 1988 is listed. For that matter, when the full-color version was released to home video in 1989, it was labeled as Episode #99, though it has never been issued to DVD. The Episode #99 label would later be attached to the original 1986 video version of "The Cage", while the Episode #1 label would be attached to the full-color restoration effort presented in 2001. Are you confused? You definitely need a scorecard to keep up with your "Cages". (Perhaps I will do a spinoff article comparing the various versions of "The Cage" down the road.)

Finally, while the tribute to Robert Justman is a wonderful addition to this set, I would have also enjoyed seeing a newly prepared tribute to composer Alexander Courage, whom we also lost earlier this year after a lengthy downhill battle with dementia. Courage's contributions in composing the series' classic title theme and many of its episodic themes cannot go unheralded, so a video tribute on this DVD set would have also made a nice touch.

Concluding Thoughts:

Revising the third season of a classic series like STAR TREK is like pulling out a vintage wine that's been packaged with a new label. The flavor of the original is still there, even though it has new visual effects to them. While the new effects sometimes enhance the quality of the episodes, giving them the budgetary look that was not available to them in the 1960's, there are some people who will prefer the original visual effects (a la the original "Star Wars" trilogy) over the new effects. Can the new effects ever replace the originals for history's sake? The answer is no. Do the new effects work? At times, of course. Which version do you prefer? Your mileage is going to vary.

Overall, given the set's better arrangement of episodes and bonus features, the balanced presentation of the extra features' quality, and the set's 5.1 sound mix and episode duplication, this would be an easy set to give a high rating, right? But the lack of inclusion of the original cuts of the episodes, the loss of bonus features from the previous third season set, the missing content that is still out there, and the $100 MSRP price tag, it's difficult to give this set an above average rating. This one's strictly for the completists.

Rating: 3/5 stars