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Dvd and Blu-ray release comparison

I'm afraid that I've loved most of the shows from the sixties and seventies to be honest! But if I had to pick five or six you can bet that TOS would be in there!
JB
 
I think that the blu-ray is definitely the way to go, considering that you can toggle between enhanced and original effects. I feel like the freedom to watch both is really a nice touch for watching the Original Series. The only thing that I don’t really like about the Blu-ray edition of the show is the great big cases that they come in. Doesn’t really fit nicely into my collection.
 
Yeah, I have his books and I remember his list of "unsyndicated" episodes. I also had every episode taped off WPIX and airings from the PBS station WVIA Channel 44. Not a single one of them was longer than 45 minutes. So, I don't understand how he had a batch of uncut episodes off the air.

I remember looking at that list and being puzzled as well. Maybe he was saying that no one ran those eps in syndication? IIRC there were maybe a dozen tops and mostly from S3.
 
I remember looking at that list and being puzzled as well. Maybe he was saying that no one ran those eps in syndication? IIRC there were maybe a dozen tops and mostly from S3.

This is some weirdness I never heard of, because I never had that guy's books. But I know that all 79 episodes were run in syndication throughout the 1970s, skipping only "The Cage," and they were all about the same length.
 
There are (at least) two different blu-ray releases, the 2009 season sets and the current box blu-ray set with the ship swooping by with what looks like a rainbow behind it in colors of the uniform.

I saw that one episode of the blu-rays (which one?) had the bee effects at the opening titles no matter whether you selected original or new. Was this corrected for subsequent releases ad the subsequent dvd releases fix a few omissions?

If I go to purchase the original 2009 season sets from a popular online market store, it says “multi-format.” Is that multi-format really just the blu-ray release?
Many thanks. LL&P
 
I saw that one episode of the blu-rays (which one?) had the bee effects at the opening titles no matter whether you selected original or new. Was this corrected for subsequent releases ad the subsequent dvd releases fix a few omissions?

I have the 2009 releases, bought them as they came out. Never seen or heard of this issue before.
 
I’ve never heard of the “bee” episode.

And I’ve got all 40 discs in the 40 volume set, the 2004 clamshell releases, the 2008 HD-DVD/DVD releases of the Remastered episodes and the 2009 Blu-Rays. The 40 volume set and 2004 set use the 80’s transfers, just with some digital touch ups to try to clean-up and enhance the image. The 40 volume set features a 5.1 mix only that sounds even better than the 5.1 or 7.1 mix for “Star Trek Enterprise”. The 2004 DVD’s carry over the 5.1 mix, and add a new Dolby Surrond 2.0 mix. The 2008 HD-DVD/DVD’s contain the 2006 Remasters with new 5.1 mixes that add in sound effects for the new CGI elements (listen to the opening of “Court Martial”, as the episode is fading in on the teaser, a shuttle swoops in front of the Enterprise and a sound effect for the shuttle has been added, whereas if you listen to the original TV mono track on the Blu-ray, that swoop is not there, as the original opening had only the Enterprise, plus in the Remaster there are other ships in orbit, so there are additional sound effects for the other ships). The 2008 HD-DVD’s and 2009 Blurays do feature trims to some footage in the Remaster cuts, but this is because there were dissolves going into and out of effects shots, so for the remasters they just dissolved earlier or later so that they had enough stable image to do a correct dissolve.
 
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You can see the comparison between the original analog transfers and the “digitally enchanted” versions in this video. Now I get why the remastered versions were more vibrant.

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Happy to report I picked up seasons 1 and 2 on blu-ray. I’m impressed by the first bit I’ve watched. I will part with my season dvd sets soon and pick up season 3 on blu-ray.
 
There was never a 100% accurate release of the original series on home video. There was always some form of editing. Just a short list:

VHS: the first season opening theme was standardized so the electric violin theme was only heard in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Gene Roddenberry's up front "created by" credit for The Man Trap and Charlie X were moved to the end of the episodes (these may have been “first rerun” prints). The sound mix was fiddled with here and there but for the most part, it was pretty faithfully reproduced to my knowledge (City on the Edge of Forever had very objectionable music replacement when they couldn't secure the home video rights to "Good Night Sweetheart"). The Paramount Logo at the end of the 1968 episodes of the second season was replaced by the third season logo (exception being The Omega Glory, which retained it on the Columbia House VHS print only). Depending on whether you got the Colombia House releases of the Paramount HV single episode tapes, some scenes were missing in a small # of episodes.

DVD: the sound mix was brutalized, adding the exterior engine rumble (which was phased out midway through the first season) to the entire series. The Menagerie part 2 had some music cues replaced for whatever reason by rerecordings and cues from The Doomsday Machine (you can still hear this on the stereo track on the blu-rays). Balance of Terror now has a photon torpedo sound effect over the shots of the "proximity blast" phasers, where they were originally silent. The electric violin theme was restored to the opening credits of the first season, but on far too many episodes (including Balance of Terror and The Corbomite Maneuver which always had the cello theme). The end credits of the electric violin themed episodes still retain the cello version from their 80's revisions.

BD: the sound mix was screwed with again. The "original broadcast mono track" still is wrong, with the engine rumble prevalent and sometimes VERY LOUD in a few first season episodes, drowning out the captains log entries. The only accurate post first season episode appears to be Amok Time. New sound effects overlay some scenes (Errand of Percy and The Paradise Syndrome). The new CGI opening theme is seen in one episode of the first season no matter which version you choose.

So anyway, my hope - as always - is to see the series treated as well on home video as The Twilight Zone, with the sound mix restored, and the episodes brought back to something cloes to original night of broad cast, with the option to include network bumpers and the previews in the right place (and also restored to their original "Next Week" cards for the first two seasons). I shant hold my breath, however,

My dad had all of TOS on LaserDisc. I wonder how close it was to original broadcast, in the sound mix, etc.

Did anybody else notice that this review, under "VERY IMPORTANT," claims that TOS-R episodes on disc are full of "cuts and edits" that eliminate whole scenes and thus the mangle narrative? Baloney!

I'm pretty sure he's assuming that the show as syndicated on commercial TV is what you'll get in the box set. The 2006 syndication run was missing about 8 minutes per episode to sell more energy drinks. But this stupid reviewer is hurting DVD and Bluray sales because he's reviewing a product he never saw. :brickwall:
That's assuming that people actually pay attention to these ignorant reviews and use them as a basis for purchase decisions.

Kor
 
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