Star Trek TOS Season 2 Blu Ray official (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

Yes, I thought the HD designation for the DS9 episode would raise all sorts of questions. We'll have to wait another month and a half to find out how it was done. I very much doubt, however, that the effects have been redone in HD.

 

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by SilverWook

If they ever do remaster TNG and DS9, would they rebuild the FX shots from the film elements or just go all CGI with them?

I would expect that (given the higher number of FX shots compared to TOS) they'd just rebuild them. Though given the overuse of stock footage from "Encounter at Farpoint" in the first two seasons, CGIing would be nice.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

The Digital Bits with an update on the DS9 episode;

[Editor's Note: Sadly, our industry sources are telling is that this is merely a 1080p upconvert from the original 480 digital master - not a full HD rebuild, a la TOS Remastered.]

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Zack. It will still be interesting to see what the DS9 episode looks like. Especially when you compare the true HD version of Tribbles and the DS9 episode.

 

[Nick Martin]

I'm very curious to see what a professional upconvert of this would look like, as seasons 4 through 7 look very good upconverted at home.

 

[Kevin EK]

I'm stunned that it appears that the only new extras here are upconverts of Tribble-themed material and only two "Starfleet Access" commentaries over all the episodes. And one of those is for "Tribbles", which is already getting its own disc. The first half of the 2nd season is noteworthy for a solid group of classic episodes that are apparently not getting that kind of attention: "The Doomsday Machine", "Mirror, Mirror", "Journey to Babel", "Friday's Child", etc. The opportunity lost here is staggering.

 

[Nelson Au]

I'm not really surprised that the Second Season set's Starfleet Access content only contains two segments, Amok Time and Tribbles.

I recall at the time, when this was to be released on HD-DVD, they had started working on the HD-DVD extra content, but then it was announced that Toshiba was going to halt further development of the format. It was my understanding that Toshiba was funding the Star Trek sets as being one of their killer apps for the format. So when the format was killed, they stopped work on the S2 set.

So my guess is that now CBS is picking up the pieces and they are funding this effort. Perhaps the new management for the project had little incentive to do more and are simply porting over what was begun for the HD-DVD as they did for the Season One set. Probably had no budget to produce more Starfleet Access features. Journey to Babel was a key episode to cover. The Doomsday Machine is a fan favorite as is my favorite too, but is it as worthy? It was great action adventure and they could include discussion from Daren Dochterman who produced his own CGI version.

Just think how minimal the Season Three set will be! I'd like to see a Starfleet Access piece on The Enterprise Incident with DC Fontana's involvement. Maybe The Way to Eden or Spock's Brain would have been fun ones for them to discuss. The Tholian Web is kind of noteworthy for the Spock/McCoy relationship. There are several others that I really enjoy from the Third Season, but not everyone likes the same ones! So I would guess it be hard to pick 3 shows to focus on.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

All that was ever credibly reported was that Toshiba were responsible for the encodes of the episodes, doing so to promote the use of their encoding software. I guess once that got out-- during the height of the format war-- the gossip just spiralled out of controle. It got so bad that some places actually claimed Toshiba was responsible for the entire Trek-Remastered effort.

 

[Nelson Au]

That's a good point Zack. I think you're right in that Toshiba was funding the encoding to use their encode software.

Here's a quote from TVShowsonDVD who quoted the story from the website, Format War Central dated February 18th, 2008:

An inside source at Technicolor has informed us that a few weeks ago Toshiba cancelled the work they were doing on Star Trek Season 2. Toshiba had been the one paying for the re-mastering/encoding of Star Trek: TOS, which was part of their exclusive deal with Paramount. Also part of the exclusive deal is that Paramount must use AVC in the encoding of the Star Trek Series, more specifically they must use Toshiba’s AVC encoder......Toshiba has had a hard time getting studios to purchase their AVC encoder, since VC-1 is so popular with studios on both sides of the format war. A good example of this is Warner, who mandates VC-1 on all it’s discs.

And my sense was that Toshiba did not pay for the actual remastering of the film elements to digital. I always thought that was Paramount or CBS's effort as part of the 40th Anniversary and to preserve the series. And then they must have struck a deal with Toshiba after all the fan reaction to want to own the HiDef version. I admit that it's possible they planned this all along and worked together.

The way I understood it, the remastered episodes were only meant for broadcast and CBS claimed at the time that they had no plans to release it on HD or BD. So when they did release it on HD-DVD, I assumed that CBS and Toshiba produced the content, Starfleet Access and the interview stuff. Whoever paid for it, I don't really know.

 

[Kevin EK]

I hear you Nelson.

I just wish if they're going to do full season Blu ray releases of the seasons 2 and 3, that they'd take some time to really put some effort in, like they did with Season 1.

And I agree - if they're going this light with Season 3, then all you'll see as an extra will be a 1080p version of Billy's home movies.

It's just unfortunate - even in Season 3, there are a few eps that are worth taking some time to cover. And it really isn't that hard to get some people in for interviews. But we'll see when that one comes out next year...

 

[Nelson Au]

Kevin-

After seeing your post, and thinking about this release and re-reading the release notes and content. With the exclusion of Journey to Babel, which is a very important episode that introduces more back story on Spock that reverberates through out the rest of the franchise, there isn't much else they could have done with Season 2. I know The Doomsday Machine is a huge favorite. All I can see them adding is whether or not Decker's son is in Star Trek The Motion Picture or not. And then focus on the extraordinary effort to develop the new CGI effects that much more clearly aligns with the action and dialogue.

Perhaps Mirror, Mirror is the other one they could have focused on, that one definitely had an impact and we see that Universe again in later series and the new Star Trek film may or may not owe some thanks to that.

I was looking back and thinking, Star Trek Season 1 was really groundbreaking in many ways, so it made sense that that box set had so much content and more Starfleet Access.

The other item in that S2 content list is the BD Live and Mobile Blu. It says that additional content will be available there. I don't like the idea of having to access additional data that way as I would prefer it to be available at my finger tips on a disc or my hard drive. But they might have more stuff there. I can't believe it was due to disc space limitations, could it? Though it's probably stuff that has not been produced yet, or that gives them time to add newer stuff as new stuff happens, like the new Star Trek sequel film. And this seems to be the way of the future, extra content located at a central source for all to access?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, The biggest episode that will appear in the Season Three box set will be The Cage! That has got to have Starfleet Access. The new CGI will be great to see on that one. Maybe they already covered all they needed to say in The Menagerie P1 and P2 Starfleet Access in the first box set. I admit I have not seen all the Starfleet Access materials on that episode. Hard to keep my attention away from the great new transfer!

 

[Kevin EK]

I went through all the Starfleet Access stuff for S1 back when it was on HD-DVD, so I also saw the materials for Galileo Seven.

I did have an issue with that one and Balance of Terror, in that they spent their time talking about the new CGI and not so much about the episode itself. And I admit I'm greedy in this respect. I would have liked to see more commentaries and discussions. As I see it, if they can do PIP commentaries for pretty much every episode of HEROES and at least voiceover commentaries for many episodes of WEEDS and PSYCH as I have seen before, how hard is it to get a couple of people together to talk about a few classic episodes of a classic TV series?

I would have loved to have heard a voiceover commentary on Season 1 for City on the Edge of Forever from, say, Harlan Ellison and DC Fontana. You'd hear some great fireworks at different points there. I would have loved to hear commentary for Corbomite Manuever since it was the first regular episode. And for The Naked Time since there's some really interesting character material there, particularly the scene that Nimoy himself co-wrote and directed. And I woud have preferred for the Balance of Terror PIP to have focused more on the episode itself - on Mark Lenard and the other guest stars, rather than just on this being the first of the remastered episodes.

For Season 2, I could see a full PIP commentary for Doomsday Machine, both about the new CGI and about the actual making of the episode. (It was actually a very short schedule, since it was all set on the ship sets and more money was going into the effects. It was supposed to have Robert Ryan, and apparently Norman Spinrad had a lot of interesting reactions to the episode when it premiered.) I could also see one for Journey to Babel and Mirror, Mirror, like we talked about, as each of those episodes have some really important moments to them. But there are other key episodes along the way, including Friday's Child, which has a really unusual DC Fontana script on it that takes more chances than you might think. Catspaw is interesting because it was the first one filmed for the 2nd season, the first one with Walter Koenig (albeit in an awful wig), and the first of three important new episode scores by Gerald Fried. They could even have done something to note the changeover from Gene Coon to John Meredyth Lucas in mid-season, and something for the attempted spinoff pilot Assignment Earth. (That last one got Roddenberry back in full-time for the first time in a while, since they thought it could lead to a Gary Seven series.)

For Season 3, I agree that there will likely be something for The Cage, but I wouldn't expect it to be anything other than an edited version of what we already saw for The Menagerie. There are a few eps that are worthy of attention. I agree with you that Enterprise Incident would be an interesting discussion. To be honest, I'd love to hear David Gerrold's commentary for The Cloud Minders, although we can already predict that this would really just be series of comments about how Fred Frieberger messed up his script. I think The Tholian Web is ripe for a commentary, given the extensive effects and the above-par script for Season 3. Beyond that, things get a bit less interesting, although they could do something for Turnabout Intruder, since it was the last one to film.

Part of the problem, I realize, is that so many of the key people involved in this series have passed away. When they did the HD-DVD Season 1 set, Bob Justman was still alive and participating. At this point, he's passed on, as have all the other producers, including Roddenberry, Coon, Lucas and Frieberger. Most of the guest cast members have passed on, and some of the series regulars are gone as well. So there's a lot fewer voices to be heard. But we still have Fontana and Gerrold, although Gerrold wasn't involved that much at the time, aside from the writing of a few episodes. (He wasn't on staff, although his book about the series is clearly the basis of much of Star Trek TNG)

Like I said, I'm greedy. I've read the books, the best of which is still Justman and Solow's "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story", but I've always been surprised by how much additional information has come out of the commentaries and featurettes over time.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Kevin, I hear you!

All those episodes you described for content with a PIP commentary would certainly be welcome.

It is interesting that for other TV shows, this level of added material is included. The Heroes DVD's have commentary on nearly every episode, if I recall correctly. It's certainly very casual.

The materials for the PIP and Starfleet Access we've seen so far for Trek has been very professionally done and not as loosey goosey. The only reason I can imagine for the lack of more similar materials on Star Trek is budgetary. The Okuda's are around, Harlan Ellison and DC Fontana are around. The Blacks, John DF and his wife did some interviews on the last SD-DVD set. And Herbert Solow is still around as well. So I imagine they could contribute too.

The surviving cast I would guess may not be as enthusiastic, having talked about this so many times. I would imagine they'd like to be paid for their involvement. It is a shame.

Oh yeah, regarding Galileo Seven, I am glad I kept the HD-DVD set and a player to have access to the Starfleet Access there!

 

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au

It is interesting that for other TV shows, this level of added material is included. The Heroes DVD's have commentary on nearly every episode, if I recall correctly. It's certainly very casual.

I've found that you're more likely to get complete commentaries on new shows like Stargate or Heroes than on older ones; about the only non-current shows with complete commentaries that I can think of are The Simpsons and Futurama.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au

Kevin-

After seeing your post, and thinking about this release and re-reading the release notes and content. With the exclusion of Journey to Babel, which is a very important episode that introduces more back story on Spock that reverberates through out the rest of the franchise, there isn't much else they could have done with Season 2. I know The Doomsday Machine is a huge favorite. All I can see them adding is whether or not Decker's son is in Star Trek The Motion Picture or not. And then focus on the extraordinary effort to develop the new CGI effects that much more clearly aligns with the action and dialogue.

Perhaps Mirror, Mirror is the other one they could have focused on, that one definitely had an impact and we see that Universe again in later series and the new Star Trek film may or may not owe some thanks to that.

I would think that Amok Time, being the first time that Vulcan is shown, and delving more in to the nature of Vulcans would be an episode that would warrant some extra attention also. It is at least as important an episode as Journey to Babel.

Doug

 

[Nelson Au]

[SIZE= 12px]Hey Douglas- Nice to see your thoughts here. The new BD set does include an Amok Time Starfleet Access feature. Yes, it would have been inexcusable if they didn't do that for this episode! Nelson[/SIZE]

 

[Douglas Monce]

Oh sorry I missed the Starfleet Access feature for Amok Time. I would like to have seen a bit more on that particular episode. A Nimoy commentary would be very cool.

Doug

 

[Nelson Au]

"This is it Radar, we're approaching Nirvana..." a little quote from M*A*S*H.

Next week is the release of Star Trek TOS S2 on Blu Ray. Can't wait!

I have not seen any advanced reviews or reports on the new set. (Haven't had time to look) As we discussed earlier, this is a first time release for S2 on high definition. Should be great to see.

 

[PatWahlquist]

My review is going up now. Almost as good as the first set. This one doesn't have the same amount of extras.

 

[Doug Otte]

Nelson, in addition to Pat's fine review (just read it - thanks, Pat), see also reviews on blu-ray.com and DVDbeaver.com.

Doug