questions about TOS DVD sets

[Extrocomp]

I don't own any of the TOS full season DVD sets released in 2004 but I've seen many photos of the on Amazon and eBay. In some of the images, the sets are shown as plain colored boxes with the words 'Star Trek The Original Series' on the front and a number in the bottom right corner. Other images show the sets sitting in some kind of cardboard holder that says 'The Complete First/Second/Third Season'. Is this holder an official part of the product? If so, why do most images exclude it? Is it something that can't be reattached to the box after the box has been opened? The Star Trek The Animated Series DVD set has a similar holder.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/im...e_0?ie=UTF8&n=130&s=dvd&qid=1222129650&sr=8-1

In the above image do the words on the side say "Season One", "Season Two" and "Season Three"? They're hard to make out.

Does anyone have any idea why Paramount chose to release TOS in such unusual box sets? They're not rectangular, they have no pictures on the cover and they open in the middle.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Yes, the cardboard holder will come with the productm and you can easily keep your set inside it once you unwrap everything. I've replaced my first two sets with the recent remastered sets, but for now my third season 2004 release is proudly on my shelf, cardboard sleeve still attached.

Yep, they say what season it is on the side.

As for why the packageing is so weird, I have no idea. I assume it's for visual appeal. To be honest though, the 2004 sets are loads better than the shoddy and downright unprotective packaging of the new releases.
My personal opinion was that they should've stuck with the TNG style packaging, those were effective and well made.

 

[ChristopherPike]

I have a question, which is slightly related to this. On these sets, there are Easter Eggs known as "Red Shirt Logs". Only a minute or two in length, random short info on specific subjects... hidden away on the menu for fans to find.

Now most of the original boxset extras made the transfer to the Remastered Sets. Has anyone found these anywhere on Season 1 HD/DVD or on Season Two DVD? Not devastating if not, but there was a really touching last interview with James Doohan I'm hoping doesn't get left off.

 

[Kirkman1987]

The red shirt logs are not on the new releases.

Not a big deal, and we did get the featurettes from the best buy bonus discs that I didn't have.

I miss the Story from season 1 about Shatner mulling over whether the show would be a success or not.

I'm more upset about all the great stuff that isn't on these sets. for example, why have the blooper reels never been offically released? or those great trek related interviews from the 60's by Shatner and Nimoy.....there's a treasure trove out there that isn't being mined.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Certain cast members were never particularly happy about the blooper reels being seen by anyone not actually a part of the production, i.e., they're considered sort of private home movies, and were only meant for the season wrap parties. Plus, as professional actors, they're not real big on displaying their screwups to the general public.

Besides, the quality of even the best print is pretty horrid.

 

[Kirkman1987]

well, I can understand that I guess, even though I find it an odd viewpoint. They've been viewed at conventions for decades. It's also been 40 some odd years since the show, what harm could possibly be done to anyone involved?

Saying that though, I respect thier privacy if that's what they want

 

[c5maier]

Besides, the quality of even the best print is pretty horrid.

That is something I don't understand (but hope someone on this board can clear-up for me): Why are they so bad?

I can understand that they were probably copied from 35 to 16 mm at an early stage to ease the screening effort. I also understand that the film stock may not have been stored under perfect condition and the colours have thus been degraded.

But what we get to see is actually so bad it seems to be a tenth or whatever generation of poor homevideo copying. Are we really to believe that there is no copy of the blooper reels left with roughly the same quality as the Blackburn films? How could that be?

 

[Therin of Andor]

That is something I don't understand (but hope someone on this board can clear-up for me): Why are they so bad?

Gene Roddenberry used to take the only copy of the Season One and Season Two ST blooper reels to big conventions all over USA in the 70s. At one of the early conventions, the canister was supposedly locked away by convention staff for the evening and someone secretly had them copied overnight, probably so they could play them at conventions even if GR wasn't attending.

All other bootleg video versions are copies of copies of copies of copies.

I have seen bootleg 16 mm versions that were quite good quality.

There is also a third set of bloopers in public distribution, usually attached to the other reels; it was made by fans from assorted footage of the previous two reels, plus a few random new bits found elsewhere.

There is also a seldom-seen Season Three reel, which includes the oft-reported Bele and Lokai "Keystone Kops" chase through the Enterprise corridors, but that reel didn't get out into the public domain because GR never took it to conventions.

Are we really to believe that there is no copy of the blooper reels left with roughly the same quality as the Blackburn films? How could that be?

Well, segments of a few ST bloopers have featured on Dick Clark's "TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes", so presumably someone out there does still have a television-quality version on file. The actors would have been monetarily compensated for the brief clips used on that show.

But because the bloopers have been in the public domain for so long, its impossible to compensate all the actors for their work on such an item. A red tape nightmare to get all the regular actors, guest actors and the estates of all the dead actors and guest stars to agree on a price!

The cast of TNG was very angry when the Season One TNG bloopers escaped into the public domain so quickly, and that action tightened many loopholes regarding bloopers. The reason we've seen ENT bloopers on the ENT DVD sets is because the actors' contracts would have contained a paragraph about the use of such extraneous footage in formats both current and not-yet-invented.

 

[Captain Robert April]

There is also a seldom-seen Season Three reel, which includes the oft-reported Bele and Lokai "Keystone Kops" chase through the Enterprise corridors, but that reel didn't get out into the public domain because GR never took it to conventions.

That explains why a) the only time I've seen it was at one of Roddenberry's lectures in the mid 70's, and b) I've been unable to track it down again.

 

[c5maier]

Thank you, Therin, for that quite exhaustive answer.
Anyhow, somewhat sad that we will probably never see them all in good quality, though they seem to be still around.

I am always amazed about the depth and scope of your knowledge concerning these items, especially considering that you are, just like me, located almost halfway around the globe from LA. I have found that this fact has always limited the information flow significantly, at least before the widespread use of the internet.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I am always amazed about the depth and scope of your knowledge concerning these items, especially considering that you are, just like me, located almost halfway around the globe from LA. I have found that this fact has always limited the information flow significantly, at least before the widespread use of the internet.

Thanks. Pre-Internet, there were still many sources. I was a member of an active ST group in Sydney, which had strategic connections all over the world, including direct communications with Gene & Majel, Susan Sackett, Bjo Trimble, Richard Arnold, etc, plus there were lots of anecdotes in things like "The Making of the Trek Conventions", "Letters to Star Trek", "Star Trek Lives!", "On the Good Ship Enterprise", Lincoln Enterprises' ST Fan Club newsletters, plus the more obvious "The Making of ST", "World of Star Trek", "The Trouble With Tribbles: The Making of an Episode", monthly Starlog magazines, and "The Making of ST:TMP". The club also regular swapped newsletters with all the major actors' fan clubs.

Then came Usenet, GEnie, etc.

I tend to remember anecdotes, but not always exactly which resource I read about it in, or which convention I heard about it at, which can be frustrating trying to quote something in Wikipedia, etc.

 

[Kryton]

ABC had their own "Blooper"-type show in the late '80s called "Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders" hosted by Don Rickles and Steve Lawrence.

Somewhere on VHS I have an episode Shatner guested on in which they ran a lot of the TOS bloopers while Bill joked around with the two hosts.