Star Trek season 1 on blu-ray: April 28

[Iano]

Sound level seemed fine to me.

I definitely like the packaging. It's the first Trek DVD set (not counting movies) where I've ever kept the original packaging. The others I all threw away and put in those sleeves you get. I bloody well hate it when DVDs come in such elaborate packaging that you have to take out a box, remove a sleeve, take out another stupid box, etc. etc.

Yeah I was pretty happy with the packaging as well. I don't mind some of the more elaborate box sets, what I do hate however are poorly designed sets where the disks come loose during shipping and get all scratched up. This design seemed very solid. Granted blu-ray is far more resistant to scratching in the first place.

 

[Brikar99]

Sound level seemed fine to me.

I definitely like the packaging. It's the first Trek DVD set (not counting movies) where I've ever kept the original packaging. The others I all threw away and put in those sleeves you get. I bloody well hate it when DVDs come in such elaborate packaging that you have to take out a box, remove a sleeve, take out another stupid box, etc. etc.

Hm. Weird on the sound.

But I agree with you on the packaging. Though, I didn't think the DS9 packages were so bad. Or the Voyager ones - they were essentially plastic books inside slipcases. The Enterprise boxes were the same once you ditched the ridiculous plastic clamshell on the outside.

But the TNG sets, my, were those annoying.

This set is easy, compact, and quite attractive. I really dig the art.

 

[mswood]

Can't wait mine should be in tomorrow.

Lets see how much this is running me.

Colombia House VHS release (TOS & TNG)
Paramount Release VHS (all series that were released on VHS, minus about 8 episodes of VOY when I released just to wait its coming on DVD now).

*I seem to remember two TOS sets (not counting colombia house, am I on crack?).

Laser Disc of TOS

Box set DVD's of all series. (the one thing I didn't skip on was the two episode a disc release that hit TOS. I know a boxed set would come out so I did wait.

I also skipped the HD DVD version because I really felt Blu Ray was going to be the winner out of those two formats (and still remember getting burnt on betamax).

So I can't, can't wait to see the difference in these.

 

[Iano]

I think there were 3 TOS DVD releases. The original single-DVD volumes, the box set (I think these came out in 04/05?), and then the remastered box set.

 

[davejames]

Picked up one of these yesterday, and wow. I've heard good things about the picture quality on these sets before, but I didn't really expect it to be THIS good!

I watched WNMHGB last night, and I gotta say it was almost surreal watching an episode from a 1960s TV show that looked this sharp and detailed. If it wasn't for the 60s haircuts I'd swear I was watching it live!

Of course the lights seemed to be turned up a bit brighter than usual in this episode, so that might have been part of the reason...

 

[Ronald Held]

Waiting for mine to arrive.....

 

[Noname Given]

Picked a copy up from Best Buy yesterday ($71.00 including tax); and I have yet to start watching; but I love the packaging on this one. I do wish they had listed the episode contents of each disc ON the disc itself instead of the front and back liners; but I like the fact it's a nice simple rectangular box that fits easily in my Blu-Ray DVD shelf; and holds the discs well, yet they're still easy to pop in and out - a DEFINITE improvement over the standard DVD original series box sets.

And now I can finally see the remastered versions uncut; abnd can now delete a few TOSR episodes I have on my DVR (and when the Season Two set comes out, I can delete more ).

 

[NCC74894A]

I also picked up the set at Best Buy yesterday. (BTW I've already got the complete original 40-disc standard DVD collection, so I never bothered with the standard DVD season boxed sets which came a few years later.) The first ep I watched was "A Taste Of Armageddon" which is still one of my top three TOS episodes. It looks absolutely fantastic.

I also like the packaging and package art - simple and understated, yet immediately recognizable as Trek. I am a bit puzzled by the tagline on the back though. I know, "The Best Of Both Worlds" refers to having both the original and enhanced versions of each episode, and of course it's a cute in-joke for TNG fans. But why would Paramount need to pander to TNG fans in marketing a TOS boxed set? Besides, the "Best Of Both Worlds" slogan has long since been co-opted by a certain 'tween idol. I can just see legions of newly minted teen and twentysomething Star Trek fans coming out of the movie and going to Best Buy, seeing the Season 1 Blu-Ray set on the shelves, taking one look at the tagline and, not knowing any better, thinking "Whoa, wait a minute... How could Miley Cyrus have been in TOS?"

 

[Brikar99]

I also picked up the set at Best Buy yesterday. (BTW I've already got the complete original 40-disc standard DVD collection, so I never bothered with the standard DVD season boxed sets which came a few years later.) The first ep I watched was "A Taste Of Armageddon" which is still one of my top three TOS episodes. It looks absolutely fantastic.

I also like the packaging and package art - simple and understated, yet immediately recognizable as Trek. I am a bit puzzled by the tagline on the back though. I know, "The Best Of Both Worlds" refers to having both the original and enhanced versions of each episode, and of course it's a cute in-joke for TNG fans. But why would Paramount need to pander to TNG fans in marketing a TOS boxed set? Besides, the "Best Of Both Worlds" slogan has long since been co-opted by a certain 'tween idol. I can just see legions of newly minted teen and twentysomething Star Trek fans coming out of the movie and going to Best Buy, seeing the Season 1 Blu-Ray set on the shelves, taking one look at the tagline and, not knowing any better, thinking "Whoa, wait a minute... How could Miley Cyrus have been in TOS?"

it was a common enough phrase before the TNG episode came along and used it as a title. there's no jokery or tween pandering here.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

DVD Movie guide review of TOS S1 Blu-ray

DVD Movie guide has a review of this Blu-ray season set.

[FONT=arial,sans-serif](April 27, 2009)

[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,sans-serif]it's great to finally hear the shows back in their original mono. Even when I like a remix, I always think the original audio should appear as well. [/FONT]

 

[T-ravis]

Well, this set is officially the cats ass.

the remastered effects look much better in HD. I love love love the landscape shot of the ruins at the beggining of "the Man Trap". The Enterprise docking with the supply ship at the start of "Charlie X" made me go all Weeeeeee!

I am taking the rest of the week off to watch these.

 

[Ssosmcin]

This is an AMAZING set! The mono soundtrack totally corrects all of the music flaws in The Menagerie which were on every other DVD release. AND you can apply that mono track to the Enhanced versions if you so desired. It's really an interesting comparison to see just how much has been changed. It's actually cool to watch the enhanced episodes with the original opening theme music over the new graphics.

I can't say enough good things, this set is totally worth the quadruple dip. Out-effing-standing!

 

[USS Mariner]

This is an AMAZING set! The mono soundtrack totally corrects all of the music flaws in The Menagerie which were on every other DVD release.

I can't say enough good things, this set is totally worth the quadruple dip. Out-effing-standing!

Does the original mono tracks restore Malachi Throne as the Keeper's voice, or were those lost forever?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

more reviews

http://www.dvdfuture.com/review.php?id=1352

http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/blu-ray-star-trek-the-original-series-the-complete-1st-season/6924


http://www.monstersandcritics.com/d...e_Original_Series_-_Season_1_-_Blu-ray_Review


http://www.dvdreview.com/reviews/pages/2989.shtml

http://bluray.ign.com/articles/976/976616p1.html
part 2
http://bluray.ign.com/articles/976/976616p2.html

 

[Ssosmcin]

Does the original mono tracks restore Malachi Throne as the Keeper's voice, or were those lost forever?

The mono tracks are the broadcast audio tracks from the original airings. Throne's voice was never for the Keeper in the aired episode, so they wouldn't have put it in.

When the third season set and The Cage come out, that would be the place to put it.

 

[davejames]

Well, this set is officially the cats ass.

the remastered effects look much better in HD. I love love love the landscape shot of the ruins at the beggining of "the Man Trap". The Enterprise docking with the supply ship at the start of "Charlie X" made me go all Weeeeeee!

I am taking the rest of the week off to watch these.

Yeah I agree. I didn't buy the set for the new effects, but after watching a couple episodes with them turned on, I think I'll probably view them all that way now.

It's not like I haven't seen the original versions thousands of times already, after all.

 

[USS Mariner]

Does the original mono tracks restore Malachi Throne as the Keeper's voice, or were those lost forever?

The mono tracks are the broadcast audio tracks from the original airings. Throne's voice was never for the Keeper in the aired episode, so they wouldn't have put it in.

When the third season set and The Cage come out, that would be the place to put it.

My bad. I forgot that they hadn't done "Cage" yet, only "Menagerie".

 

[Brikar99]

Well, this set is officially the cats ass.

the remastered effects look much better in HD. I love love love the landscape shot of the ruins at the beggining of "the Man Trap". The Enterprise docking with the supply ship at the start of "Charlie X" made me go all Weeeeeee!

I am taking the rest of the week off to watch these.

Yeah I agree. I didn't buy the set for the new effects, but after watching a couple episodes with them turned on, I think I'll probably view them all that way now.

It's not like I haven't seen the original versions thousands of times already, after all.

I agree. It is totally worth having both versions, though. I like being able to switch back and forth for comparison.

 

[Sparky]

Am i the only one who is not impressed by this set? Maybe it was the Reviews and comments made by others but i was expecting much better picture quality. In the extras they boast about all the scratch and speck removal yet i notice specks and flaws everywhere. Even worse is the picture itself, it varies with each episode and I don't know if its because of the codec or the amount of compression or maybe a filter used in the mastering but it looks like ass. Looking closer at the picture it looks like a noise reduction filter that has destroyed fine details. Sharp edges are shimmery, subtle shadows on faces and uniforms are turned into blobs, and the film grain has been compressed into a hellish soup that permeates the picture and seems to follow a uniform pattern that is very distracting because the "random" film grain moves in unison. Yes it looks better than previous releases and the extras are decent but the picture quality sucks. Maybe i'm expecting too much from a 40 year old TV show but it looks to be more an issue of compression and filters used in the mastering than anything else.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I don't know if its because of the codec or the amount of compression or maybe a filter used in the mastering but it looks like ass.

Looking closer at the picture it looks like a noise reduction filter that has destroyed fine details.

The quality is outstanding. Colors are incredibly vibrant as you'd expect, and contrast is superb. What's truly impressive is the detail. ...the added bandwidth of BD and extra disc space (which allows for less compression to be used) makes a clear difference. Take a look at the clouds on the shots of the Enterprise arriving in a planet's orbit at the start of 'The Man Trap' - the HD-DVD clouds exhibit noticeable artifacting that's barely visible on Blu-ray (if at all)
...there were select home theatre enthusiasts who swore up and down that HD-DVD was THE superior way to view these remastered episodes in high-definition - that 'Star Trek' just could never get better on Blu-ray. This set is ABSOLUTE PROOF that they were wrong. This is just a superior TV on BD release and it's a must-have for every Trek fan.

-Bill Hunt, Editor of The Digital Bits review. posted above.

Am i the only one who is not impressed by this set?
Maybe i'm expecting too much from a 40 year old TV show but it looks to be more an issue of compression and filters used in the mastering than anything else.

Your level of expectation from a medium that gives you just about the same resolution as the cinema (2K digital projection) in your home on an HDTV screen comes from you becoming so familiar with the technology and movie releases in the last 9 years since "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" had a digital intermediate. ST:TOS was made 40 years before CBS started restoration on TOS-R in HD in 2006. It was shot on 35mm for 486 visible raster lines height (525 scanlines) television resolution. The TOS producers and crew knew they could hide errors in wardrobe, camera, sets, and props in the lower resolution back then.
Now transferred from the original film elements you see flaws as the film is 40 years old. Look at other full frame (4:3) television shows from that period on DVD such as season 1 of "Mission: Impossible" which also came out in 1966 to compare quality of the film transfer (they are in standard definition though). Since HD has 6 times the resolution and 10times the color information you have to compare another HD TV series. 'Hogan's Heroes' on HDNET would be a decent comparison.

Want something to compare?

Every episode has an standard definition preview trailer - the same original broadcast trailers that appeared on the very first 2-episodes-per-disc DVD release of the series way back in 1998.

Compare those trailers with the episodes. The 1998 transfers are described here:

Fully digital, high-definition transfers were done of all the episodes in the series, using the original film interpositives from the studio's vaults. Then, the D1 master tapes were "cleaned" using special digital filters to reduce the amount of dust and dirt visible. The result, on virtually every episode, is a crisp and vibrant picture, with terrific contrast and lush, accurate colors. The video isn't exactly reference quality. There's a lot of grain that shows on the print, which results in some artifacting and blotchiness after MPEG-2 compression. You'll also still see occasional dust and scratches on the film. And there's been some kind of digital edge enhancement applied to the video, because some of the edges seem unnaturally sharp.

The other reviews I listed above assure you this is the definitive release of TOS. It is not going to get any better.
The only reason older movies look better ('Wizard of Oz', Disney's 'Pinnochio' & 'Snow White') is because they did CMY separate black and white negatives to preserve the image and color. TV shows have NEVER done that.

The only television shows that I know that have even gone back to the camera negative to retransfer to HD are:
TOS, I Love Lucy, ER, The Twilight Zone