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(More customer reviews)Ever since I watched the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" back in 1996 and saw the classic Enterprise displayed with modern effects, I dreamed about one day seeing the entire Orignal Series retouched in such a magnificent way. 10 years later, that dream came true. Granted, the series does still retain that 60's feel (especially with the bombastic style of the music, and of course the "military uniform" mini-skirts), there was so much of it that made for great television even for today. The effects being updated really gives the series credibility and believability for viewers and allows the original series to fit in properly with all the incarnations that came afterward. Bringing it to High-Definition was truly a great idea, and the live-action image quality is drastically improved, so much so that at times it gives the series an entirely new feel!
Agreed by both casual viewers as well as die-hard fans, the second season of "Star Trek" provides us with a multitude of favorite episodes. Two episodes in particular that are given excellent treatment and incredible updating are "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Immunity Syndrome". "The Doomsday Machine", next to "The City on the Edge of Forever" is considered one of the best from the Original Series, even in its unrefined form. The updating on this episode put it into near movie-quality, far surpassing many Star Trek episodes, includng many from other spin-off series, and even perhaps a couple of the motion pictures. An interesting effect, to me, was how the remastering of "The Immunity Syndrome" made a not-so-great episode into a spectacular episode! The 1966 effects were good at the time, but the remastering gives it a whole new sense of realism and scope. Other classic episodes like "Amok Time", "The Trouble With Tribbles", and "Mirror, Mirror" are given good treatments, also.
As of August 6th, I've purchased this set and have been thoroughly enjoying it as much as I knew I would. One of the most common complaints of one-star reviewers is that this season, unlike the previous season's release, is ONLY on DVD, not on Blu-ray or even HD-DVD. Don't let that discourage you. Even in this standard DVD version, Star Trek is given new life unlike ever before. This DVD's visual quality is far better than any previous releases, especially since that this is a down-conversion of the cleaned-up High-Definition source. On a regular 480i/p CRT TV, it looks superb. On an HDTV, a good 1080p DVD up-converter will give you an excellent picture from the DVD; granted of course, it will not be the same as an HD release (no up-converter can do that, but they can get close). The truth of it is that this DVD will be better than what you can see on broadcast TV. I've even noticed that the standard DVD quality is better than the "HD" TV broadcasts.
There have also been those who have wondered what Gene Roddenberry would have thought of this rebuffing of the series. To answer that, here is a segment from an interview with the executive producers of the remastered project on that very question:
"What do you think Gene Roddenberry would think of the remastered effects?
Dave Rossi: When Gene passed away and his estate requested that all memos and paperwork from the Original Series through TNG be turned over, I was the person whose job it was to wade through 27 years of material. One theme that popped up with some regularity in Gene's memos was "What can we do to improve the visual effects?" While that alone isn't an answer, the support the Roddenberry family and people like Bob Justman have shown during this project really reinforces the notion that Gene was always striving to improve the effects to help bring the world of Star Trek alive. We're honored to help fulfill that wish.
Mike Okuda: We had a number of long talks with Matt Jefferies before he died. For understandable reasons, Matt was one of our heroes. He was inwardly very proud of his work on Star Trek, but he was always very apologetic for the limitations of 1960s production techniques. He kept saying how he wished he had the technology that was developed after the show ended. We always responded by reminding him that his designs were a major reason why the show remains successful and watchable to this day. At the same time, it convinced us that he would have been the first to stand in line to update his own work, if he had been able."
Bottom Line -- If you are willing to wait for the Blu-ray versions, that's fine. I'm not. As a lover of the Original Series, it's just too good to pass up. My hat's off to to all those who participated in this extraordinary remastering effort and for turning a dream of mine into reality.
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STAR TREK:ORIGINAL SERIES SEASON 2 RM - DVD Movie
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