Star Trek: The Original Series Season One (HD-DVD)
Studio: Paramount Home Video
Rated: Not Rated
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
HD Encoding: 1080p
HD Video Codec: MPEG4-AVC
Audio: HD-DVD side: English 5.1 TrueHD, English 2.0 Surround, Spanish Mono. SD-DVD side: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Spanish and French mono
Subtitles: HD-DVD side: English SDH+; Spanish. SD-DVD side: Spanish, French
Time: HD: 24hrs 35min; SD 24hrs 34min.
Disc Format: 10 double sided HD-DVD/ SD-DVD combo discs
Case Style: See body of review
Theatrical Release Date: 1966-1967
HD-DVD Release Date: November 20, 2007
A couple years ago, Paramount and CBS announced there had been a restoration effort conducted on the original Star Trek series which aired between 1966 and 1969. The restoration included adding in new, updated effects for many of the scenes with the ships and alien worlds. While these scenes were not changed, they were enhanced into digital effects from the original optical elements. Besides these refurbished elements, each episode was being remastered in HD and going through a restoration process to make the episodes look better than even when they aired. Examples of the enhancements included using new space images inspired by the Hubble space telescope and design differences of the Enterprise between some of the initial episodes to account for its size changes. The original theme was re-recorded with a live orchestra and soprano singer to take advantage of the current technology and quality. Paramount is now releasing these 29 remastered season one episodes on the HD-DVD/ DVD combo format.
The new set comes in packaging that is reminiscent of the original season releases. The set comes in a clear case that snaps open to access the glossy yellow holder and the 10-disc clear flipper case inside. The holder for the first disc had broken free in my first set and it scratched and scuffed Disc One making it unusable. I requested another set and I found another couple pieces of plastic were broken in the replacement flipper case but it did not affect playback of any of the discs. You may want to do a shake test of the set when you make your purchase to ensure none of the discs are loose.
The HD sides of the discs contain “Starfleet Access” which can be enabled in the menus. This feature will grant you, “…security clearance to explore Starfleet Command’s central computer network. As you are watching the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, various data icons will appear to indicate that there is additional information available. By using your remote, you can then select the icon of your choice and the computer will bring up the video file or data screen available. There are various categories to choose from including science, technology, personnel files as well as the Genesis category that provides further insight into the missions and adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew.” Michael and Denise Okuda, story editor and writer D.C. Fontana, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, David Gerrold, Have Bennett contribute information, as well as numerous producers, writers and actors. This is a great feature and I just wish it was on all of the episodes, especially City on the Edge of Forever, one of my personal favorites. If you access the option when it first pops up, it will subsequently come up as the option is available within that episode.
The “Starfleet Access” feature is available on the following episodes:
Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Menagerie, Part I and Part II, Balance of Terror, The Galileo Seven, Space Seed, Errand of Mercy.
I selected the “Starfleet Access” feature for Disc One in the menu, but when I accessed the icon during the episode, I found I could not hear the audio. I tried all combinations of audio set-ups in the menus with no luck. I was using my Toshiba XA2 for the review, and it has the latest firmware, 2.7, which adds a Direct Digital Audio Mode option for high bit rate audio. After trying all forms of audio settings and combinations with no success, I tried the disc in my Toshiba A1 and the audio on the “Starfleet Access” segments worked fine. The next day I went back to the XA2 and tried again, setting the new Direct Digital Audio Mode to “off” and it worked. This appears to be the only way to, and please forgive the out of place pun, “make it so” on the XA2 with the new firmware.
Some of the episodes allow you to press the “B” button on the remote control to bookmark your favorite scenes. The “Communications” option allows you to choose your audio and subtitle options. The HD-DVD’s automatically default to Dolby TrueHD, but I doubt you’d want to listen to the Dolby Digital 2.0 or Spanish mono track, the latter of which can be pretty funny if you jump over to it.
Since we are dealing with a ten disc set, I have decided to go through each disc one by one to describe the contents, including listing the episodes on each disc, the bonus features, and any anomalies in the audio or video presentation. If I don’t note any specific differences in a given episode, it should be taken as conforming to the presentation I describe in the audio and video sections of this review. The episodes are presented in airdate order, starting on 09/08/66 and continuing through 04/06/67. The menus on both sides of the disc denote actual production order of the episodes, and the “Mission Stardates” are listed as well. Each individual episode comes in at approximately 50 minutes. The set contains “five special collectible data cards” that detail the information on each disc.
I have chosen to leave out the descriptions of the individual episodes, but this information, and much more, can be found on the official Star Trek site. All SD-DVD episodes contain a preview trailer of the given episode and they do not appear to have gone through any type of re-mastering. Most of the bonus features that were on the previous Season One box set have been carried over to this set, with many of the interviews dated from 2003 on this set. The only exceptions I noted were the text commentaries by the Okuda’s (but replaced by the “Starfleet Access” feature) and an Easter Egg of a one minute behind the scenes on The Corbomite Maneuver.
Let’s see what’s out there!
Disc One: Both sides contain the following episodes: Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Man Trap and Charlie X.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for Where No Man Has Gone Before.
SD-DVD side: Spacelift: Transporting Trek into the 21st Century (20:05): CBS and Paramount executives and technicians talk about the re-mastering process providing some split screen comparisons to see just how much of an improvement these new episodes are. There is also a discussion of the audio re-mastering and the new computer effects.
Disc Two: Both sides contain the following episodes:The Naked Time, The Enemy Within, and Mudd’s Women.
SD-DVD side: The Birth of A Timeless Legacy (24:00): 2003 interviews of William Shatner kicks off his reminisce of the show, followed by Leonard Nimoy, a 1988 interview with Gene Rodenberry, producer Robert Justman and others. These contributors discuss the challenges of putting a sci-fi show on in the 1960’s as well as making it believable. We learn about the origins of the characters and how they migrated from the original 1964 pilot to the later one. There are discussions about character motivations, influences, Spock’s look, and more, including interviews with the rest of the cast.
Disc Three: Both sides contain the following episodes: What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Miri, and Dagger of the Mind.
SD-DVD side: Reflections on Spock (12:05): Nimoy discusses the character and then he goes into a lengthy discussion about his book, I Am Not Spock and how that title affected him for many years to come.
Disc Four: Both sides contain the following episodes: The Corbomite Maneuver, The Menagerie, Part I and Part II.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for The Menagerie, Part I and Part II.
SD-DVD side: Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner (10:27) “There have been times where I become one with a horse while on its back.” Shatner reeeeaaallllyyy likes horses and riding them, and he tells us all about it here. He also talks about how much he loves his wife and they’re shared love of horses. I’m not sure which he loves more.
Disc Five: Both sides contain the following episodes: The Conscience of the King, Balance of Terror, and Shore Leave.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for Balance of Terror.
SD-DVD side: To Boldly Go…Season One (18:58): this segment is pretty much a continuation of the doc on disc one, with most of the same participants. Also interviewed are Ricardo Montalban and other actors.
Disc Six: Both sides contain the following episodes: The Galileo Seven, The Squire of Gothos, and Arena.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for The Galileo Seven.
SD-DVD side: Sci-fi Visionaries (16:37): the previous noted writers, Rodenberry and others discuss the sci-fi aspects of the shows and stories and the challenge to adapt it to TV. This is mainly a discussion how the sci-fi writers of the time were brought on board allowing Star Trek to gain credibility within the sci-fi community.
Disc Seven: Both sides contain the following episodes: Tomorrow is Yesterday, Court-Martial, and The Return of Archons.
SD-DVD side: Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories (13:21): Billy Blackburn, a frequent extra on the show, talks about his memories of the show and presents some of home movies.
Disc Eight: Both sides contain the following episodes: Space Seed, A Taste of Armageddon and This Side of Paradise.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for Space Seed.
SD-DVD side:
Kiss’n’Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century (8:33): Shatner discusses his aversion to the beauties in the show (with tongue planted in cheek), and the writers discuss romance in the show. Other actors and writers also contribute and there’s links about how these romances came to fruition in the movies (such as Sulu’s daughter and the relationship between Scotty and Uhura).
Trekker Connections (3:56): this is basically the Star Trek version of the Kevin Bacon game where you try to figure out the relationships between the secondary characters and actors with some of the primaries.
Disc Nine: Both sides contain the following episodes: The Devil in the Dark, Errand of Mercy and The Alternative Factory.
HD-DVD side: Starfleet Access for Errand of Mercy.
Disc Ten: Both sides contain the following episodes: The City on the Edge of Forever and Operation: Annihilate! .
HD-DVD side: The HD counterparts to docs on other discs: Spacelift: Transporting Trek into the 21st Century and Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories.
New to the HD-DVD side of Disc 10 is:
- Star Trek Online Game Preview (3:27): coming soon preview piece.
- Interactive Enterprise Inspection: played with or without a data track. The piece starts out giving us a history of the Enterprise and its mission, then it allows you to use the remote to explore the ship in better detail. There are about a dozen different locations you can explore and once you choose, the image goes to the location and tells you about it. In the phaser bank/ photon torpedo part, you can shoot photon torpedoes. Good times! The time between keying the remote to execution of the audio or move is slow, so be warned.
- Credits to the set.
SD-DVD side:
- Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier (90:00): This is a History Channel documentary from 2006 done in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek. Cast and crew from all of the various iterations contribute.
- Star Trek Online Game Preview
Video:
Note: I am watching this title using a Marantz VP 11-S1 DLP projector, which has a native resolution of 1080p. I am using a Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD player while a Denon 3808CI does the switching and pass through of the 1080p/24 video signal. I am utilizing the HDMI capabilities of each piece of equipment.
Each of the episodes is presented in their native 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The HD-DVD versions are encoded in the MPEG4-AVC codec at 1080p. I have noticed a few early reviews of this set have caused some controversy in regards to the graininess of the original masters. Some are noting video noise in addition to the grain, but in my inspection of the episodes, I find there to be more grain than video noise or artifacts. That is not to say there is not some video noise noticed (see below). This grain is also very inconsistent from episode to episode and scene to scene sometimes. It can be very heavy at times, but then much lighter; it never completely goes away, but it lessens. At a proper viewing distance of 1.3 screen lengths away, much of this graininess, again, lessens and it does not detract from the viewing experience. The new effects shots do show a minor amount of video noise which I believe is also contributing to the graininess of the overall picture. In some of the “Starfleet Access” segments there is a comparison of the original effects shot to the new digital shots and it is obvious the new shots are clearer. The new digital opening credits show a minor amount of noise and this may also be on purpose to maintain consistency with the rest of the image.
When I watched some of these episodes broadcast over my local TV affiliate, I was only able to see them over standard definition channel so I didn’t get to appreciate how good these new masters now look. Paramount has done an excellent job in restoring the episodes by going back to the original negatives. I have watched this show in re-runs for many years and I don’t ever remember them looking so bright, clear and colorful. Colors are lush and bold showing excellent variations in the costumes and sets. I noticed the green tinge to Spock’s makeup and the inconsistencies to it that seemed to be an error of the make-up of the time. Black levels are also excellent maintaining good shadow delineation and detail. Detail and sharpness fluctuates but it is overall good. I also noticed some good dimensionality to the new effects images, making the Enterprise seem to hang among the stars.
The standard definition versions on the DVD side of the discs maintain similar color fidelity and black levels, but they lack the sharpness and detail of the HD versions. The grain issues are still present as well.
Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack was attained by the HDMI connection of the Toshiba XA2 to the Denon 3808CI.
The Dolby TrueHD track for the HD-DVD’s provides a crisp and bold sound while also presenting a good soundstage. While the audio is not on par with more current releases, what is available from the original recordings has never sounded better. The musical cues, which come off as flat and blaring on the SD Dolby Digital track, sound more musical and natural here. The surround provide a good soundstage that allows the music and environmental effects to place you in the center. LFE’s are minimal but present.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks on the SD-DVD sides are well done, but are quite as present or spacious and their TrueHD counterparts.
Conclusions:
Paramount has put a great deal of effort into re-mastering this series and they have done the show and the new work proud by showcasing it on these ten HD-DVD’s. I wish they would have also been able to put this kind of effort into another TV show from a popular franchise (cough-Young Indy-cough). The transfers are excellent, graininess aside, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen and heard them presented so well. The new extras to this set are very enjoyable and I hope Paramount adds more of these in the future.
You better drop some hints to the wife!
