HTF REVIEW: Star Trek - The Complete First Season (1 Viewer)

[Eric F]

Damn you for adding text and ruining my joke!:p)

 

[Doug Otte]

I had the same problem. Sent an e-mail to Amazon. They responded in less than a day saying they would credit the discount.

Amazon's customer service has always been superb.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Tony Whalen]

Pretty cool Randy! Can you provide us a link to the article when it is published?

What was Bruce like?

 

[Bill Hunt]

Okay... here's what I've learned from Paramount regarding the errors on the previous TOS DVDs that have been addressed in the new releases (based on the list compiled by Daron):


1. In The Doomsday Machine, there's a missing music cue right after Kirk says, "I'm gonna ram her right down that thing's throat".

------The studio says this has been fixed-------


2. In The Menagerie, Part I, the background sound is supposed to stop when Spock touches the singing flowers. It doesn't (however this same scene is CORRECT in The Cage).

------The studio says this has been fixed-------


3. In The Tholian Web, right after McCoy tells Uhura that Captain Kirk really is alive, he takes the restraints off of her, then gets a page. In the DVD, right after McCoy gets the page, it cuts to Scotty talking to Spock. Well, on the VHS version, the scene shows McCoy getting paged, then answering it and being told that the antidote has been found. The cut on the DVD is pretty abrupt, and distractingly obvious.

------The studio says this has been fixed-------


4. In Patterns of Force, the sound effect when Kirk slaps Gil, and when the guards are pounding on the door is also missing.

------Still waiting for an answer from the studio on this one-------


5. For episodes 3-13, different opening theme music was used. I believe they used the music from Where No Man Has Gone Before, with Shatner's narration added, for these episodes... but fans posting on the internet complained on the HTF, so Paramount went back to using the original music from episodes 14 on.

------The studio says these are the same as was on the original DVDs because the music was correctly used.--------


6. On The Menagerie (both parts I believe) the DVD producers used different music in some scenes... music that actually came from a 1980's rerecording of the music sold in record stores. I believe it came from Varese Sarabande records... a recording of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Fred Steiner himself. I believe one of the tracks used during the Menagerie, Part II title and Enterprise flyby is clearly from The Doomsday Machine.

------The studio says these are the same as was on the original DVDs--------


7. On The Naked Time, as Spock approaches Kirk in his chair on the bridge, they look at the viewscreen of Psi 2000. The image on the viewscreen flashes to black a few times.

------The studio says these are the same as was on the original DVDs-------

Hope that helps reassure some of you. When I get the answer to that last question, I'll let you all know.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the efforts Bill!

Here's a minor glitch I should have mentioned earlier on the last DVD release. It's the only one I remember that stands out in my mind aside from the others listed. In the episode, Journey to Babel, the Enterprise attacks the alien raider ship during the end. The phaser beam fired from the Enterprise is purple if I recall correctly. I compared it to the laserdisc version and that LD has the color of the beam as blue, or whatever if was. Minor, but would be curious if it is fixed.

Nelson

 

[Daron]

Thank you very much, Bill, for your hard work chasing down the answers to these questions. Here's an update on issue 7 regarding "The Naked Time"... the flashing to black on the bridge viewscreen has not been corrected on the new season set. It's possible the original masters included this issue, but I know my VHS copy from the mid-80's did not include the flashing to black. If the problem was in the original master, I have no problem with it being on the DVD set at all!

At any rate, I picked up my set yesterday and am very pleased with the audio and video quality. Despite my questions about the mastering, Paramount made me happy with these sets! I agree with Bill: I was able to see a slight improvement in picture quality over the first DVDs. I haven't watched all of the extras yet, but I agree it would have nice to have seen some rarities, or behind-the-scenes film on the making of the series and special effects. We still have two more seasons to go, so maybe Paramount has something along those lines waiting for us in a few months.

One more thing... here's a warning to those who have or will buy the set with the bonus disk from Best Buy or other merchants: I had to exchange mine today because the bonus disk was missing! In previous Trek releases, it was easy to see and feel if the disk was included because it was inserted outside the case, inside the shrink wrap. This time, the bonus disk is packaged inside the set itself, so it's impossible to know if its included without opening the set! Be aware of this if you are buying these sets as birthday or Christmas gifts. Best Buy was happy to make the exchange for me.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Thank you so much for that info Bill!

 

[R. Kay]

Bill Hunt:

Impressive detective work ...

Extremely geeky, but impressive.

 

[Britton]

This is some great information Bill! I look forward to getting the sets for the other two seasons. These sets are the first time I've watched the show in their original air date order, so it's interesting seeing Trek unfold as it was shown the first time. I wonder if people were confused when "Where No Man Has Gone Before" aired. The sets, costumes, and actors were all different!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Great job, Bill. Thanks for taking the time
to do all this.

 

[BernieV]

I was 15 when the series first aired, so perhaps I am one of the few here who recall the introduction. I remember watching the promotional ads for Star Trek on NBC and thinking, "Oh, here we go with another Lost in Space." I think it was at my sister's urging that we actually tuned into the premier. By the end of the teaser and opening credits, I was hooked. I don't think I missed a broadcast for the entire run. I do remember wondering about the uniform change in WNMHGB, but was glad to see them return to the "old style" the next week. I, for one, am looking forward to watching episodes in the broadcast order to help with the remembrance of evenings long past...

 

[Sam Favate]

Many thanks for all that research and info, Bill! Those of us anxiously awaiting the arrival of our season 1 set (tap tap tap tap tap tap) appreciate the info!

 

[Jay Pennington]

Thanks, Bill!

 

[Eric Paddon]

I'm glad to hear the "Doomsday Machine" glitch was fixed. Even though the missing music cue in question was an old library cue from Season 1 and not part of the original Kaplan score for the episode, it's absence made the scene less effective, especially regarding Spock's obvious concern.

 

[JoSAN]

.

 

[Ric Easton]

Randy, looks like you travel in interesting circles. Did Bruce enjoy seeing his younger self bigger than life?

Ric

 

[Randy A Salas]

Bill, incredible detective work. Thanks for pursuing these issues. I just wish it had been earlier so I could have referred readers here or to the Digital Bits for more info.



He did, although he said he has never cared for his performances then. He also said, "Those costumes were ill-fitting. They still look that way."

He has seen The Naked Time more than he'd like to admit, because it's such a fan favorite. But he hadn't seen The Conscience of the King in years, so he enjoyed watching it again. That's the only episode we watched. We had the trivia track on, so he could see what the Okudas said about him, and he really got a kick out of that. He found it funny how the text would often juxtapose wildly with what was happening on-screen, such as when Kirk and Lenore are passionately kissing on the shuttle bay observation deck while the text is clinically describing the evolution of that set on the series.

Hyde, who is 62, admitted that he's not much of a DVD techie. But he was ecstatic to receive a complimentary copy of the first-season set, which Paramount gladly provided when they found out I was having him over for the article. He has no contact whatsoever from Paramount, so he was not approached about contributing to the supplements on the DVD and only found about the new DVD by reading about it in my column last week.

Funny aside: My 8-year-old daughter was thrilled to have a "real actor" over to the house. She asked if she could watch the episode, which she had never seen, with us, and Bruce had no problem with that. After it was over, she said good night and went upstairs. Later, she admitted that she had no idea which one was Bruce in the episode.

 

[TonyTone]

Since I didn't see this question answered in this thread, I'll answer it--at least based on the first episode I viewed, it is the one (can't remember if it was red) with the 1978 Paramount copyright plastered at the bottom of the screen. Speaking of which, wouldn't that 1978 copyright label be technically out of place with the Desilu logo?

 

[Scott Kimball]

You seem to be in the extreme minority, here... since I have not heard a single review as negative as your impression seems to be.

Certainly, you're entitled to an opinion, and you're entitled to be disappointed - but I think perhaps your expectations were maybe too high? I think this looks absolutely spectacular, overall, for a TV series nearly 40 years old. Whenever I write a review, the quality assessment always factors in the age of the prints and the quality of the best existing elements (if that info is available).

As for the comparisons to VHS... certainly the show enjoys the higher resolution of DVD, no? To my eyes, these episodes are sharper than TNG or DS9 on DVD.

And reduced S/N ratio of DVD?

And the digital audio?

I just find that an odd comparison.

-Scott

 

[Doug Otte]

That's funny...I seem to remember those black spots as always being there. I assumed it was sloppy production work trying to get the episode ready in time for airdate. I've watched that episode many times over the past 30 years, but maybe my memory was retroactively changed after I saw the 1st DVD release? I never had the official VHS release; I watched a copy that I taped myself.

Doug