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Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 1, Episodes 2 & 3: Where No Man Has Gone Before/ The Corbomite Maneuver

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 1, Episodes 2 & 3: Where No Man Has Gone Before/ The Corbomite Maneuver

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Remastering under par.
Review: Comparing this new remastering against the same episode on VHS is a real disappointment. The colors aren't represented correctly (skin tones and shirt colors change from one sceen to the next), all shadows are just solid black, and I find that the edges on everything too sharp! Marks and scratches on the file haven't been digitally cleaned at all! Compare this remastering to the brilliant remastering of Avengers '67, and you'll see what I mean. The new disk menus are grainy at best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellant !
Review: Star Trek has finally been given the format it deserves. Now I no longer have to wonder how long my tapes will last or if my VCR will decide to have them for lunch! Yes there could be more on the discs but if you are really a fan of Star Trek you should be more than happy with the fact that the episodes made it to DVD at all. As for the interviews that could be a problem between the Sci-Fi channel and Paramount I'm sure the Sci-Fi channel holds the rights to the interviews and perhaps they will come out on a special interview DVD that would contain the complete interview at once instead of snippets here and there. Overall I think it is great to have the series in this format and 2 episodes per disc keeps the price per disc very reasonable I'm sure not everyone will collect the whole series and 4 or 6 episodes per disc would probably be giving a lot of people episodes that they didn't want but had to pay for anyway. "Live Long And Prosper"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Only Two Episodes Per DVD?
Review: The quality of the episodes is great. I've wanted to see the first and best Star Trek series in this format for a while. It is a joy to watch! The audio is better than before and about as good as a 60's series can get. But why couldn't Paramount put more episodes on a disk? It would have been better for storage and much nicer to have many episodes on disk, rather than just one. And they should have included extras, like interviews, etc. Just a lot of wasted space! Even though I recommend the series and the remastered version, I won't be buying again unless more is included in later releases. I think I'll auction mine off....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The cleanest publication of the episodes ever seen.
Review: I've never seen the episodes presented in such a wonderful fashion. This DVD contains two episodes complete with teaser trailors of the two episodes it contains and the two episodes of the next volume. Each episode is divided into seven chapters. Typically the chapters begin where a commercial would have left off. If you're interested in collecting the series, this is the ultimate way to do it. The price per episode along with quality (video and audio) are superb. I've waited a long time to find the series reproduced on such a fantastic media (excellent quality with durability plus more than one episode per purchase in a compact form). If you're a new classic Trek fan or you're an old one who wants to recapture the best Trek series ever, hang on to your boot straps for the best publication of the episodes ever seen.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: TWO EPISODES PER DISK IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
Review: I sent the following to Paramount at webmaster@pde.paramount.com:

I recently purchased the DVD Star Trek: The Original Series, Vol. 1. The "digitally enhanced and remastered" episodes 2 & 3 looked great. This is the best that the original series has ever looked. It didn't look this good when originally broadcast. I remember.

As much as I like the high quality of the video and sound provided by the DVD, there are a few things about it I don't like. The main problem is that the DVD contains only two episodes. Two episodes per video tape made sense because that was the most that could be recorded and still provide the best picture of which tape is capable. That is not the case with the DVD format. A DVD could store six episodes without loss of quality. I don't expect that though, since I understand Paramount wants to maximize its profits from Star Trek. However, four episodes could be included on each DVD and if the price were increased to maintain the cost per episode of two per DVD, the total price for a four episode DVD would be within the range of DVD movies and so be practical to market. Why is it important to me to have more episodes per DVD, enough so that I am willing to pay more for that DVD? Partly it is that I hate to see the waste involved in using only a fraction of the storage space on each disk. That waste directly effects me by taking up more shelf space to store the DVDs. Merely doubling the number of episodes per DVD would halve the storage space required for the entire collection. Right now, I doubt I will buy the entire series because of the problem of storing them (I never purchased the video tapes for the same reason). Instead, I will probably buy just the DVDs that contain my favorite episodes. Understand that I am a serious collector of DVDs. I have over 50 movies on DVD already, and expect to continue to buy more (speaking of which, when are the Indiana Jones movies going to be released on DVD?). But the size of my DVD collection already means that storage space is at a premium. Also, the ineffieciency of using only a fraction of the DVDs capability offends my conservative nature. It's bad ecology as well.

To sum up, I love the quality of Star Trek on DVD but I hate the packaging (or is it marketing?).

One more thing. I'd like to see more bonus materials on the Star Trek DVDs. Its nice to have the preview trailers, but there is so much more that could be included. How about interviews with the cast, or commentaries such as those shown on the Sci-Fi Channel when it rebroadcast the original series? Anything about the special effects or design of the show would be great. I have been very impressed with the DVDs from New Line Cinema or Columbia Tristar and recommend them to my friends who are just entering the world of DVD. I'd like to be able to recommend Paramount also.

Will Paramount pay any attention to my letter? Probably not, if it's the only one they receive. If you feel that two episodes per DVD is a waste, why not let them know?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Star Trek episodes never looked this good before!
Review: Star Trek episodes on DVD! Yea! If you are an origional series Star Trek fan and you have made the jump to DVD you will be as thrilled as I am with this title. The pictures are so clear that, among other things, you can read the text of the ESP ratings reports that are flashed on screen by Spock in "Where no man has gone before". Star Trek episodes have never looked so good!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The REAL way to see TV!
Review: Ok, so there are only 2 episodes per disc. But hey, what about the quality? It is SUPERB. I love Star Trek, especially the newer series, but I had to check out the volumes of the original. The sound has been enchanced as has the music, and effects, and these are in surround. As the Enterprises flies past, the rumble begins behind you from the surround speakers, which is amazing for a series which was originally mono. The music score sounds incredibly pure. For all its rough edges as a series -- wobbly sets, etc -- I must admit the Kirk/Spock/McCoy banter and interplay still shines. Next Generation et al do not have characterization even close to this. But as I say, I love the new series .. Can't wait to see what Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager look and sound like on DVD!!! (But yeah, interviews would make 'em sell better!)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A gross waste of space
Review: I am a great Star Trek fan; I even love the first ST movie because it didn't try to be a "typical" Hollywood movie and maintained the integrity of the ST universe for the most part.

However, I would never buy more of these DVDs because most of the DVD is blank! With the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD, they could have easily put 6 or more episodes on each DVD. So why didn't they? So they could charge you more money! Haven't these vermin made enough money off of these 30+ year old TV shows yet??? The LEAST they could do at this point is provide a space-efficient version of these shows, and double the price of each DVD. Or go to the trouble to include interviews, commentary sound tracks, etc, etc. Simply pathetic, typical Hollywood nonsense.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Where are the extras?
Review: I give this dvd five stars for content and 1 star for presentation. I love Star Trek and I looked forward to seeing a crisp transfer on dvd. Paramount delivered on that score. However, a clean copy is all you will find here. I would have liked a picture gallery or information on the guest stars. Some interviews with the stars would have been nice. Imagine watching an episode while listening to commentary by the stars and production people! That would have been outstanding. Unlike New line and Universal who often load their dvd's with goodies, Paramount treats the dvd medium as if it were vhs. Just another way to make a quick buck off the fans. I also hate the cover graphics. They are really ugly and dorky. I would have loved some cool retro 60s graphics, but that's just me. That said, I must admit that it is fun to watch Star Trek on DVD. It is a real kick to read displays that were illegible on vhs. Also, I noticed for the first time that crewman who walk in the ships corridors are recycled so it appears that there are more people aboard ship. I must also give Paramount points for putting two episodes on one dvd. They could have taken the slimeball approach and only issued one episode per disk. When you think about it, one dvd is less expensive than buying the same thing on vhs. In closing, I must say that it is nice to have the original series in a form that will not degrade over time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Generous offerings for the price!
Review: This is probably the BEST DVD I have seen to date. The picture is crystal clear. I was awestruck when I watched. I couldn't believe such an old tv show could be so sharp, clear and in focus. They did a really good job of remastering this series, and the DVD really does it justice!

The sound quality is a little off par, but that is expected for a series this old (I don't know how hard it is to clarify audio in a remaster...I don't imagine it is easy though).

All in all, you get alot for what you pay for. The series sells right now on VHS at $14.00 per episode in stores (Suncoast), so at Amazon's generous $13.99 for TWO episodes, it is a bargain (if not a steal!!!).

The discs themselves are low on extras, but they do include the trailers of each show on the disk, plus the two episodes on the "next volume". Nice touch. I would have liked to have seen interviews much like what they had on the sci-fi channel, but the price point doesn't support that. I am most pleased with this issue!

*NOTE to the reviewer who posted that the interviews were freely available: While the material exists, it is proprietery property of another company, and in order for a publisher to use that material, they must pay for it in advance. I don't imagine Sci-Fi would be willing to let go of the interviews cheaply, and I really enjoy paying the price of one episode on VHS, to get two superior quality episodes on DVD. Take it as you will.


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