Rating: 
Summary: Ambassador Sarek and his wife Amanda ARE Spock's parents
Review: There really is not an obvious connection between the two second season episodes of Star Trek included on Volume 22 of this DVD series, but the cover photograph of Mark Lenard as Sarek tells you why you want this one in your collection. Following the wreckage of the SS Beagle, the Enterprise comes upon another one of those planets that is essentially Earth with a twist (remember Hodgkins' Law of Parallel Planet Development for future reference). In "Bread and Circuses" the twist is that the Roman Empire has never fallen. The Enterprise discovers some of the Beagle crew are still alive because they are being used as gladiators in the Roman's televised Circus. But the worst news is that Merrick, the Beagle's captain, has been helping Proconsul Cladius Marcus in violation of the Prime Directive. When the away team is captured, Marcus tries to get Kirk to help by making Spock and McCoy fight in the arena. But as Merrick tries to explain to Marcus, Kirk is a starship captain who will not give in to coercion. "Bread and Circuses" is an average Star Trek episode, although there is a nice scene between Spock and McCoy as they sit in their cell worrying about Kirk and Uhura's explanation of planet's religion of "sun" worshippers is a surprising twist for network television in the Sixties. Certainly "Journey to Babel" has the best teaser in Star Trek history. The Enterprise crew is decked out in their formal dress to welcome the Vulcan Ambassador Sarek aboard. Kirk and McCoy are surprised when Sarek snubs Spock and go into complete shock when Spock tells that Ambassador Sarek and his wife are his parents. Sarek is one of several delegates bound for a conference that will debate the admission of Coridan to the Federation (the planet is rich with dilithium). When one of the delegates shows up dead, Sarek is a prime suspect until it is revealed he has a heart condition. McCoy is all ready to perform surgery with Spock serving as a blood donor when Kirk is also attacked by the assassin. With the captain incapacitated, Spock cannot relinquish command, even if it costs his father his life. Mark Lenard as Sarek is absolutely the ultimate Vulcan and even Leonard Nimoy seems to be acting more Vulcan-like in this episode. Jane Wyatt as Amanda is clearly too emotional for a woman who has been living with Vulcans most of her life, but she looks great when she smiles and casting Mrs. Anderson from "Father Knows Best" is just a tad short of being as great as that of casting Lenard. "Journey to Babel" is just a wonderful episode with every scene involving Spock and his parents a treat, especially when father and son comment on Amanda's emotional outburst on the subject of logic. It is just so clear these two love her so much. Simply a wonderful, wonderful episode that deserves to be on everyone's list of Top 10 Star Trek episodes.
Rating: 
Summary: Some "Bread" for your "Journey..."
Review: Volume 22 of Paramount's complete Star Trek collection contains one outstanding and one fair episode. "Bread and Circuses" is another yet episode featuring a "parallel world" mirroring Earth's history in some way (interesting that they never show parallel worlds which mirror Vulcan or other planets). This time, the crew encounters a 20th Century Roman Empire, complete with ratings driven television, gladiator fights, and even persecuted Christians. Although this story sucseeds in some areas (especially the scathing satire of television executives) the episode as a whole does not rise above standard action oriented fare. "Journey to Babel" is another story indeed. This is one of the very few episodes of Classic Trek which allows the viewer to see the plethora of races in the Federation (even if the makeup for the pig-faced Tellarites is not very convincing). The list of guest stars is very impressive here. Mark Lenard, who played the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror" appears as Spock's father, Sarek; Jane Wyatt plays Spock's mother, Amanda; and veteran character actor Reggie Nalder, who played the Assassin in Hitchcock's 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much, appears as Andorian Ambasador Shras. Striking as these aspects are, however, the heart of the story is Spock's relationship with his parents, the conflicts of which are brought to the forefront when Sarek suffers a heart attack. Leonard Nimoy and Jane Wyatt shine during a heartbreaking scene set in Spock's quarters, where Amanda implores Spock to come to his father's aid. Paramount has done a fine job restoring the picture and sound. Colors are deep and clear, and there is remarkably little grain on the film (except for stock shots of the Enterprise).
Rating:
Summary: Some "Bread" for your "Journey..."
Review: Volume 22 of Paramount's complete Star Trek collection contains one outstanding and one fair episode. "Bread and Circuses" is another yet episode featuring a "parallel world" mirroring Earth's history in some way (interesting that they never show parallel worlds which mirror Vulcan or other planets). This time, the crew encounters a 20th Century Roman Empire, complete with ratings driven television, gladiator fights, and even persecuted Christians. Although this story sucseeds in some areas (especially the scathing satire of television executives) the episode as a whole does not rise above standard action oriented fare. "Journey to Babel" is another story indeed. This is one of the very few episodes of Classic Trek which allows the viewer to see the plethora of races in the Federation (even if the makeup for the pig-faced Tellarites is not very convincing). The list of guest stars is very impressive here. Mark Lenard, who played the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror" appears as Spock's father, Sarek; Jane Wyatt plays Spock's mother, Amanda; and veteran character actor Reggie Nalder, who played the Assassin in Hitchcock's 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much, appears as Andorian Ambasador Shras. Striking as these aspects are, however, the heart of the story is Spock's relationship with his parents, the conflicts of which are brought to the forefront when Sarek suffers a heart attack. Leonard Nimoy and Jane Wyatt shine during a heartbreaking scene set in Spock's quarters, where Amanda implores Spock to come to his father's aid. Paramount has done a fine job restoring the picture and sound. Colors are deep and clear, and there is remarkably little grain on the film (except for stock shots of the Enterprise).
Rating:
Summary: Some "Bread" for your "Journey..."
Review: Volume 22 of Paramount's complete Star Trek collection contains one outstanding and one fair episode. "Bread and Circuses" is another yet episode featuring a "parallel world" mirroring Earth's history in some way (interesting that they never show parallel worlds which mirror Vulcan or other planets). This time, the crew encounters a 20th Century Roman Empire, complete with ratings driven television, gladiator fights, and even persecuted Christians. Although this story sucseeds in some areas (especially the scathing satire of television executives) the episode as a whole does not rise above standard action oriented fare. "Journey to Babel" is another story indeed. This is one of the very few episodes of Classic Trek which allows the viewer to see the plethora of races in the Federation (even if the makeup for the pig-faced Tellarites is not very convincing). The list of guest stars is very impressive here. Mark Lenard, who played the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror" appears as Spock's father, Sarek; Jane Wyatt plays Spock's mother, Amanda; and veteran character actor Reggie Nalder, who played the Assassin in Hitchcock's 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much, appears as Andorian Ambasador Shras. Striking as these aspects are, however, the heart of the story is Spock's relationship with his parents, the conflicts of which are brought to the forefront when Sarek suffers a heart attack. Leonard Nimoy and Jane Wyatt shine during a heartbreaking scene set in Spock's quarters, where Amanda implores Spock to come to his father's aid. Paramount has done a fine job restoring the picture and sound. Colors are deep and clear, and there is remarkably little grain on the film (except for stock shots of the Enterprise).
Rating:
Summary: SEASON TWO'S HIGH POINT!!!
Review: Volume 22 of the Star Trek DVD collection contains two episodes from season two's high point. By high point I mean that half way through the second season a sudden burst of classic excellent episodes were being produced including the likes of TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES, A PIECE OF THE ACTION and JOURNEY TO BABEL etc; The beginning of the second season was good but just didn't seem to compare to the first until half way through when these episodes were made. The first episode here is BREAD AND CIRCUSES. The Enterprise crew finds the wreckage of a fellow starship the U.S.S. Beagle and decide to investigate the planet below it. When they arrive on the planet they meet up with a band of sun worshippers and later are captured and taken to a city that looks like Earth's ancient Rome. It turns out that The Roman Empire rules the planet into somewhat modern times where Gladiator games are brodcasted on tv like WWF wrestling. Kirk finds out that Capt. Merik (who was the Beagle's Capt) betrayed his crew and became first citizen of the Empire and is now a close friend to Proconsul Cladius Marcus (played by Logan Ramsey). Marcus demands Kirk to beam down his crew to fight in the arena but Kirk refuses and tries to convince Merik that fighting is wrong in the arena. When Spock and McCoy are forced to fight all hell breaks loose and in the end Merik sees the error of his ways and allows Kirk to escape but unfortunetly Merik is killed by Marcus. This is a very well written episode but the end is somewhat weak. Kirk, Spock and McCoy merely escape. They do not really seem to save all the planet's innocent slaves or anything even Cladius Marcus gets away with all his evil deeds. It's a good episode but has an uneven ending. The other episode here is the real winner JOURNEY TO BABEL. The episode that features the debut of Spock's father (played by Mark Lenard who also played the Romulan commander in BALANCE OF TERROR). The episode is somewhat of a murder mystery when the Ambassador Gav is killed on the way to the planet Babel. All fingers point to Spock's father until it is revealed of his heart condition. An operation is needed in order to save his life but Spock feels he must Captin the ship after Kirk was almost murdered by a "Andorian" who actually murdered Gav. This episode is another great classic from the second season and should be a favourite among many. Mark Lenard is great as Sarek. He should have appeared on the show far more often. Overall I highly recommend this DVD because of JOURNEY TO BABEL but BREAD AND CIRCUSES is worth a look too. But Sarek sells this one as he should. After all he is on the DVD cover. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A Defining Disc
Review: With the introduction of this volume of Star Trek we can really see the show is flying high. This second season set shows the cast have shaken off the shackles of the first season stiffness yet revel in a second season budget, which is much higher and produced higher quality shows than season three. Bread and Circuses: 4 stars: I rarely hear much about this show in regards to the all time greats though it has remained one of mine for a few reasons. Firstly, the scene with McCoy and Spock in the cell really helps to illustrate their friendship. Also, it helps to explain Starfleet protocal and also helps to show beliefs of God that could stretch throughout the galaxy. The dvd transfer does however show a scene or two that seem to be grainy and unedited, but as always the sound is done perfectly. Again, no extras to speak of. Journey to Babel: 5 stars: A gem. This one show really nails Star Trek. It highlights A. Kirks command, B. Spocks "history", C. McCoys prowess as a doctor. I cannot think of one single episode that packs a bigger dose of Trek. A notable scene is the exchange between Spock and his mother Amanda. The role of Lady Amanda could not have been more perfectly cast as is the role of Sarek. I have seen this one episode many times and it is still convincing. A fine transfer over to dvd, vivid colors, though almost unfortunately each time they remaster Star Trek to a better format "Gav" looks worse and worse! If you are looking for a must have disc, this is it.
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