HTF HD-DVD Review: Star Trek: The Original Series Season One (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Same here, Conscience of the King played fine, no synch issues.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

What about Operation Annihilate!? My memory of the episode is weak but the activating satellites seems to be made up out of whole cloth as I don't remember them showing anything previously. Did they just cut out a section of live action to fit it in or was there something in the unedited versions to redo?

 

[Douglas Monce]

They never showed the satellites, however they are referred too. I believe the shot they replaced was a fairly long shot of the Enterprise orbiting the planet with no hint of satellites being placed in orbit.

Doug

 

[Jim_K]

Well when I went to try this again and powered up my XA2 it froze up, so I had to do another hard reset.

After which Conscience of the King played fine, no lip sync issues. Weird. Also got through Balance of Terror with no problems.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Great to hear Jim. Hopefully this is the last problem you have with the set. COTK is a compelling episode from a character standpoint but the mystery aspect is pretty feeble. Funny how everyone knows its Kodos except for Kirk. And that paper voiceprint analysis - hoo boy.

I also forget how much in Season One that Nimoy was still trying to find the Spock character. He has a lot of scenes of gesturing and posturing ie hands on hips before he found the Spock character and became the more reserved, controlled character that he is remembered for.

 

[ReggieW]

You guys are killing me!?

I'm still waiting on my set to arrive from Deep Discount.

 

[Jim_K]

Yeah the mystery is weak as is the romance with Kirk and Lenore. It's an okay episode overall. Last night I watched Shore Leave, ugh that was a chore to get through and The Galileo Seven which was always one of my favorite episodes. I really enjoyed what they did with the effects on TGS.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Interesting. I've always rather disliked The Galileo Seven (the plot was just too obvious), and Shore Leave is one of my favorite episodes of all 5 Star Trek shows.

I never really liked Conscience of the King when I was a kid, but as I've gotten older it's become one of my favorite episodes. It's not about the mystery, its a variation on Hamlet, of course, who's mystery plot is also not important and everyone knows who did it.

Doug

 

[Nelson Au]

Galileo Seven, Shore Leave and Conscience of the King are all favorites of mine! Everyone has an opinion!

I think Conscience of the King also has one of the best musical scores. Not the jazzy music being played at Layton's party, but the entire score cut for this episode.

I just saw Shore Leave too and I wondered what it would have been like had they not fired Grace Lee Whitney and she had gone on Shore Leave too. Would Rand still be with McCoy at the end given she was supposed to be like Kitty to Kirk's Marshal Dillon?

 

[Douglas Monce]

I wish they had kept the actress who played Barrows in Shore Leave. She was MUCH better than Whitney.

Doug

 

[Nelson Au]

Yes, Emily Banks wasn't bad. The Yeoman function was dropped soon after this episode.

Another aspect of Galileo Seven I forgot to mention was the Spock character was given some definition and used to highlight the better aspects of humanity verses logic to save their skins.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Yes it is an important episode in that it helps define Spocks character, however I thought that particular episode was not particularly well written and fairly ham handed in its execution.

Doug

 

[Jim_K]

Galileo Seven and Arena were the first Trek episodes I remember ever watching back in the early 70's at the tender age of 5 or 6 on a 13" B&W set. So they hold a large bit of nostalgia for me.

I can't quite put my finger on just one thing that doesn't appeal to me with Shore Leave. Probably a combo of the guy in the bunny suit (not a good start), the annoying character of Finnegan, why people in the 21st century would start thinking about stock footage of WWII fighter planes (other than it's an effect they can do on the cheap), why was Sulu thinking of a Samurai?, a tiger?, a Knight? really? they brought McCoy back from the dead pretty easily (why not shoot back to the planet every time someone dies for a resurrection?) and just the whole episode with Kirk and Co running around what's so obviously a southern California park which I had a hard time suspending my disbelief (I really do prefer the cheesy otherworld sets made of painted cardboard and styrofoam rocks). Every time I watch this I seriously anticipate an ending ala Monty Python and the Holy Grail with police and paddy wagons surrounding and hauling off Kirk, Spock and company.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Just in case I was misunderstood I quite enjoy COTK, G7, and SL. With Shore Leave I love the whole concept of an advanced race building an amusement planet. It seems so... human.

On a side note I was watching Arena with my son and when he first say the Gorn he laughed and said Captain Kirk was fighting a doll! However once he heard the Gorn speak and hiss his amusement quickly changed and was really pulled into the action.

 

[Nelson Au]

There seems to appear to be very little to no reports of glitches with this set! That's great so far.

I did experience one minor glitch. At the 30 minute mark of The Squire of Gothos, at the commerical break, when the next act resumes, the picture froze on my A35, no sound. But I could see the counter moving on the display. After a few seconds, I hit the back button and the chapter resumed play for the rest of the episode.

One last comment, now that I can watch these at my leisure, I am noticing more and more the tiny little sacrefices they had to make to the live action in order to fit the new CGI. Whenever there is a cross dissolve, or fade to CGI from live action, the live action always gets cut off shorter then before. We knew that had to happen and has been discussed. But I am noticing it more and it only takes a minor bit away from the pleasure of viewing, only because I know the series so well. I miss the fade, sometimes an actor will do something and I miss the timing!

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Did you own ST on SD? I never did so my memory is not as fresh but so far nothing has pricked my memory. In fact I am seeing more - ie Kirk getting a back massage from the Yeoman at the beginning of Shore Leave.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lou, I sure do own it on SD, double dipped and got it on LD too!

I am not referring to any big cuts, I am referring to very imperceptable cuts. For example, at the end of Mudd's Women, Mudd is trying to get Kirk to leave Mudd on the planet, and Kirk kids he could be the character witness at his trial and Mudd says, they'll throw away the key. That scene ends when Kirk pulls the door open to leave the shelter and the wind blows in, you can see Harry Mudd shield his face as the scene fades. That is slightly cut off sooner so they can dissolve the shot into the shot of the Enterprise in orbit. Since the original optical shot is dissolved in, they had to dissolve the new CGI in sooner to cover up the old optical shot.

The only times it really messes things up is that it throws off the music a bit as a new scene dissolves in or out. Another example is at the end of Errand of Mercy when Kor says, "It would have been glorious!" He's cut off a tad sooner.

 

[Paul_Scott]

well I'm not someone who knows the episodes back and forth, a lot of the ones on this set I have no memory of even seeing once before, and the abruptness of the fade to cgi and end credits has been noticeable to me on several eps. A minor thing- but it is noticeable (to me).

Hate to say it, but the more I consume of the set, the more I'm disappointed in the actual content. I always had the impression that the show was so much more than a just a visual effects showcase- that the chemistry and conflict between characters as well as the imagination of the stories were the real substance- but it seems like half of what I have seen so far are full of logic holes, contrived conflict, simplistic resolutions, etc etc.
Even 'City On The Edge Of Forever' probably the most lauded ep I've seen talked about over the years, suffered from the ultimate infalibility of the heroes guess-timations, their superhuman resourcefulness, and the inevitablity of the maintenence of the status quo by the end of the ep.
I realize some of this, especially the last point, is just part and parcel of episodic TV prior to the rise of more seriel-centric fare in the 90s- but even so...

 

[Dave Scarpa]

The Show has to be judged within the Context of Time. It has to be put within the 60's and judged against what was on at the time. For it's time it was a show that at least tried to deal with what was happening in the 60's, it had to hide these theme's in not so subtle subtext, remember the audience was used to watching Western's and Comedies, alot of the western's also dealt with Moral theme's. For it's time I commend Star Trek. In Fact it's a testement to it's story telling that it still can be revelent today with or Without CGI Effects. Now go try to watch some episodes of the Mod Squad, FBI, Room 222 and tell me the same thing.

 

[Nelson Au]

I have another observation I thought I'd pass on regarding Arena which I just saw.

Early on in the remastering program, as many here know, the CGI Enterprise was looking pretty flat. It had no life, the material used on the hull was not reflecting any light or I should say, it had no shine. The model was very complex and had a lot of detail you wouldn't see, so it took them longer to render it and thus had less time to get the lighting right.

But in HD, the last few shows I've seen, particularly Arena, that early Enterprise model actually is showing a lot of surface detail. There are plates on the surface of the secondary hull, and on the tear drop dome below the bridge. The light from the engine naccelles glows onto the sauser section. It looks like they almost had it licked. And in HD, it looks pretty good. Though not as good as it does later with the simpler Enterprise model.

And as for the live action, Arena (and Shore Leave) look really spectacular. Vasquez Rocks looks great! The added colors of the minerals they dressed the area with is quite vivid, though the last SD box set looked quite good too.