I just got myself a big new TV and Blu-Ray player so thought I'd treat myself to the Season 1 Blu-Ray set. TOS hasn't been transmitted in HD in the UK for some reason so I've been waiting to watch these for 2 or 3 years now.
I haven't really watched much TOS for a few years bar the odd episode on TV. Partly this was because my new wife doesn't see the need for me to watch something I have seen a zillion times before but the new box-set have allowed me to by-pass that argument :-)
I've watched everything up to the end of Menagarie Part 2 and I'm really astounded at how good it all is. Not the quality of episodes as I still have everything memorised line-by-line but the work that has been put on the new releases.
The picture improvement is monumental even over DVD and doesn't compare in any way to the old TV and VHS era. Having said that I haven't noticed a single new thing in any episode :-( maybe thats just because I watched them too much or because standard UK TV is clearer than in the USA or because of the lack of cuts but that telegraph pole in Shore Leave was there when I watched it as 10 year old in the early 80's.
The new clear picture is actually the biggest difference that I've found in this release. The revamped special fx are also very good and transform the show from what I knew into something verging on contemporary. It doesn't detract from the live action at all and bizarrely by the end of the first episode I barely noticed the improvements. Having said that I always look forward to the mods in each episode. It's nice having new TOS, even if just a few seconds per episode.
The sound output is also first class.
The only downers for me is IMO the lack of extras. I'm sure I've had DVD and even VHS editions with more and sometimes better extras than what is on Blu-Ray.
It's great that they have the old optical effects and I'm sure one or two of them I will miss (the opening title over the USS Exter comes to mind) but so far I haven't gone back to see any of them. To paraphrase Bones "We know what a 1966 special effect looks like".
I'm watching just 1 episode a day in the hope that season 2 will be out by the time I finish.
Well done to all involved though.
I haven't really watched much TOS for a few years bar the odd episode on TV. Partly this was because my new wife doesn't see the need for me to watch something I have seen a zillion times before but the new box-set have allowed me to by-pass that argument :-)
I've watched everything up to the end of Menagarie Part 2 and I'm really astounded at how good it all is. Not the quality of episodes as I still have everything memorised line-by-line but the work that has been put on the new releases.
The picture improvement is monumental even over DVD and doesn't compare in any way to the old TV and VHS era. Having said that I haven't noticed a single new thing in any episode :-( maybe thats just because I watched them too much or because standard UK TV is clearer than in the USA or because of the lack of cuts but that telegraph pole in Shore Leave was there when I watched it as 10 year old in the early 80's.
The new clear picture is actually the biggest difference that I've found in this release. The revamped special fx are also very good and transform the show from what I knew into something verging on contemporary. It doesn't detract from the live action at all and bizarrely by the end of the first episode I barely noticed the improvements. Having said that I always look forward to the mods in each episode. It's nice having new TOS, even if just a few seconds per episode.
The sound output is also first class.
The only downers for me is IMO the lack of extras. I'm sure I've had DVD and even VHS editions with more and sometimes better extras than what is on Blu-Ray.
It's great that they have the old optical effects and I'm sure one or two of them I will miss (the opening title over the USS Exter comes to mind) but so far I haven't gone back to see any of them. To paraphrase Bones "We know what a 1966 special effect looks like".
I'm watching just 1 episode a day in the hope that season 2 will be out by the time I finish.
Well done to all involved though.
