Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 [DVD]

This is one of several episodes of the original Star Trek series that I never got to see and I think one of the best. Last year I bought the DVD of Star Trek Discovery Series 1 which I am currently re-watching on Channel 4. I am enjoying and understanding it better this time, knowing that the strange and disturbing Captain Lorca is from the Mirror Universe and that several key episodes will take place there. But I also wanted to better understand the whole concept of the Mirror Universe with its cruel and ruthless doppelgangers of the earthly characters. I am sure that electing to watch this old episode will be very helpful during the remaining weeks of the series now being televised.

I had seasons 1 and 3 already. Love watching them in this edition, because of the multiple language options, both audio and even more in subtitles.Loading these options (maybe due to the multiple layers) is slow and a bit cumbersome, but I don't mind because it helps me practicing languages on this old favourite I love since childhood. I am again and again amazed what a prophetic force the scripts have in terms of gadgets and technology.

And so on we go to the year 2267. The central trio of Kirk, Spock and Bones have become as assured and happy in their interplay as a classical music chamber group; and adding to the merriment are a busier Montgomery Scott, memorably drinking an unfriendly alien under the table, not to mention the Russian Monkee of Pavel Andreievich Chekov. And thankfully, our scriptwriters bring us some of our very favourite episodes. Spock introduces us to his Mum, his Dad and his formidable fiancée; we discover that there are exoplanets ruled by Romans, Nazis and Capone-era Chicago gangsters; and we meet the god Apollo, the great Zefram Cochrane, Teri Garr, Diana Muldaur and a pregnant Julie Newmar. Oh, and our heroes also have to cope with premature senility, a second dose of Harry Mudd and an awful lot of tribbles.The technical quality of these blu-rays is as astounding as Season One's. There are perhaps two or three minutes in the entire set where the sharpness is below par, but in the main, the purity and detail of the images on your screen are little short of miraculous. And the remastered multi-channel audio is no less delectable. As before, we have the welcome option of CGI visual effects instead of model starships dangling from strings, and as before, these are achieved with a discretion and gorgeousness that should kindle joy in every Trekkie heart.A slew of extras include an interview with writer Dorothy Fontana, Nichelle Nichols's droll account of her singing career and Leonard Nimoy showing us a little of how he goes about his fine art photography. And our dear old tribbles get an entire disc of their very own. As well as a behind the scenes featurette and the tribble episode of Star Trek: the Animated Series, we're given a chance to see the entire, sublime Trials and Tribble-ations episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. If I could only ever watch one Star Trek series again, I suspect that DS9 would be the one, so it has been an enormous pleasure getting a preview of Benjamin, Odo, Julian and Jadzia on BD.For a vintage TV collection, this set is very, very expensive: but when you remember how much work has gone into it and what a box of delights it truly is, you could say that it's something of a bargain.

I got the remastered Season 1 Blu-ray when it came out and also recently got hold of Season 2. Season 2's episodes remain strong, although with many of the same themes as episodes in Season 1 (and in fact a lot of common themes to the whole Star Trek universe, really, but that's no bad thing). The remaster again is visually very impressive. Not all scenes are as sharp and colourful as each other though. As with Season 1 there are a few soft and/or desaturated scenes that slightly mar an otherwise colourful and pleasing experience. There is a lot of detail and expression in facial close-ups, which I really appreciated. The sound, like Season 1, is a HD Master Audio 7-channel remaster. It's very impressive, although the dialogue is mixed rather low. It's great quality, just lower than the music. You may find yourself turning the episodes down form time to time during action scenes. Compared to Season 1, perhaps subjectively as I haven't had the chance to do a proper check, Season 2 seems a bit rougher visually and Kirk's voiceover on the opening music seems quieter. No real problems here, just odd, and perhaps related to the source material. It's also worth noting there are lots of little extras (including BD-Live ones) like there were with the Season 1 set. It's particularly nice to see a host of extras accompanying the 'trouble with tribbles' classic episode, on a disc of its own - a cartoon and a Deep Space Nine episode (upscaled with some heavy digital noise reduction if my eyes don't deceive me). One point of caution, again like Season 2, the last disc in the (UK) pack doesn't stay in its place very easily. It seems to pop out a lot. I store the boxes horizontally because of this, to avoid scratches. Overall then, not perfect, but a very impressive remaster of some classic sci-fi material than I'm fully happy with, in spite of a few minor niggles. Very highly recommended.

Space.....The Final Frontier.These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.Do I need to remind anyone of the relevance of that statement? And if you dont know what it is, google is your friend.I dont go to comic con, I dont dress up in costumes, I dont have posters of shatner or nimoy, but I love this series. It feels wrong calling it a series actually. Its more than that, its what gave a lot of us the chance to escape and live a make believe life that thought us values and morals which we have applied to our real lives.I am overwhelmed at the quality of the picture and sound of the BluRay version, and I am thrilled to have the privilege have seen this in my lifetime. Go out and get yours straight away. Oh, and its worth every penny by the way.