Customer Reviews

Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was eagerly looking forward to this collection for months! The episodes chosen are all excellent episodes and, for the most part, exemplify the Captain in question (though Patrick Stewart admits on his introduction that he chose "In Theory", a Data episode, because it was his directorial debut).
With Deep Space Nine being my personal favorite of the series, which has often been only minimally-represented by previous Fan Collectives, it was gratifying to see three of my favorite episodes from this excellent series chosen, including the 2-for-1 series finale.
My only complaint, as with the previous four Fan Collectives, was the limited number of episodes. Granted the Q set was as complete as it could be (save for the vague possible connection with "The Squire of Gothos") and there were only a few later Voyager Borg-episodes that might have fit with the Borg set. Still, the Klingon and Time Travel sets could easily have been twice as large (and I would have been willing to pay twice as much if they were) and so could the Captain's Log set.
Still, this set not only features great episodes but finally has some featurettes in addition to them, though I did miss the witty and enjoyable text commentaries of the prior sets.
If you're a Star Trek fan strapped for cash, or a newcomer looking for a relatively inexpensive way to get to know these fine series, I would highly recommend the Star Trek Fan Collective: Captain's Log.
If any higher-ups in charge of such things somehow wanders here, by all means keep these sets coming! We still need Volumes 2 of the Klingon and Time Travel sets, the Vulcan set, the Romulan set, the Ferengi set, the Prime Directive set, the Mirror Universe set...

This set would have received 5 Stars hands down if it wasn't for Enterprise's "These Are The Voyages..." being included, which even as an Enterprise fan I consider the worst Star Trek episode of all time. I find it hard to believe that any sane Enterprise fan would vote for that, so it was either voted by fans who hate Enterprise out of spite, or TNG fans who like the Riker and Troi connection. I am pleased to see "Flashback" in here, as I'm a big Sulu fan and am still waiting for "Star Trek: Excelsior" to at least have a TV mini-series.

Great set overall...highly recommended! Now, where is the Mirror Universe collection?

If you are a Star Trek fan - or interested in becoming one or just want to learn what the hype is about regarding the new Star Trek movie coming soon (Star Trek 11 - Due May 8th 2009) - then this is your definative collection to watch and learn from.

It contains some of the best episodes from all FIVE series regarding the captains and te stories that revolve around what it means to be a Starship Capatain.

The details, commentary and text commentary included as bonuses is extremely interesting and quite educational. Production, sets, inside jokes and fine details are revealed. The special features that each disc also contain interviews with all the actors who played all the legendary captains and is charming, funny and completely intriguing into what made these episode special for them! William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Backula and all down-to-earth and very sharp.

A must for all Star Trek fans and for those who want a real taste of what the last 46 years STAR TREK has had to offer television and film...get this collection! Watch it with the family and I guarentee you'll be discussing the stories and characters long after the shows are over!
3-26-09

This is a nice collection of Star Trek episodes. Each of the five actors who portrayed a Star Trek captain picked their favorite episode and several additional epsiodes, chosen by fans, were added to round out the package. In addition, interviews of each actor are also included.

The actors' choices are hard to dispute as each actor has a different perspective of why they liked the episode. Their reasons are discussed in an introduction preceeding each epsiode. William Shatner even has Joan Collins appear in his introduction It is also interesting to note that two actors (Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks) chose epsiodes that they directed.

The fan-picked episodes are more difficult to accept. The TOS segment has Balance of Terror and The Enterprise Incident. These are hard to dispute, but Journey to Babel would have been a better choice than Balance of Terror ... and it still has Mark Leonard in it!

The TNG segment features the two-part Chain of Command and Darmok. Certainly The Inner Light, Starship Mine and Lessons would have been better Picard episodes.

DS9 also has the two-part What You Leave Behind, and In The Pale Moonlight. There is no argument that In The Pale Moonlight is one of the best Trek episodes, but Explorers and The Jem'Hadar show off Avery Brooks' acting talents better than What You Leave Behind.

Voyager's fan picks are The Omega Directive and Flashback. 11:59 is a better Kate Mulgrew epsiode than the dreary Omega Directivre. It is too bad there was no room for the Bride of Choatica episode. While not a Mulgrew-strong epsiode, her appearance as Queen Arachnia is a hoot.

The Enterprise fan picks, These are the Voyages and First Flight are suitable Archer sagas.

None-the-less, this collection is well put together and worth the price.

I like the episodes picked for the Originial Series, Enterprise, and Voyager. The Deep Space Nine and Next Generation episodes were not necessarily the best of those shows. As usual there was absolutely no commentary on the shows like there is on most other science fiction DVDs. The extras are very short, and there is not much to them. It seems like Star Trek DVDs always fall short of other DVDs such as Doctor Who, 24, and about any other type of DVDs out there.

If you've got the entire series collections, you've got all these episodes. The same can be said for all of the "Fan Collective" assemblies. If you DON'T have the entire series, this is a good way to capture favorites. I got to vote on some of these episodes, so it was cool to see how the voting turned out. Only three of the ones I picked made the cut - oh well. These are all good episodes. Some you will find on OTHER Fan Collective editions as well. The opening commentary by each Captain's actor is novel - as are the other comments they offer in each bonus feature section of each disk. I think you'll enjoy that each series Captain has a disk of thier own, with three episodes per disk (one chosen by the actor, the other two by the fans). You can easily sit down for an "evening" with each Captain and not get too much episode vertigo.

I'd love to have the complete Star Trek collections. Alas, the price of these worthy series (well, there is that series, Enterprise...) prohibits all but the most committed fan from owning them.

For the rest of us, there is the Star Trek Fan Collective series.

This one, Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log, consists of a fave pick from each captain (James T. Kirk of the Original Series, Jean-Luc Picard of The Next Generation, Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine, Kathryn Janeway of Voyager, and Jonathan Archer of Enterprise), plus two (sometimes part 1 and 2) of picks from "fans." Now, I'm not sure who the "fans" were... nobody asked me! I'm not complaining. I like the choices, and some of my other favorites show up in the other Star Trek Fan Collective series, especially the ones featuring the Klingons and the Borg.

I'm not a big fan of the "extras" that come with these sets, but they are there for those who do appreciate them.

How can one refuse this collection? Put it on your wish list.

It's easy to nitpick selections on a set like this where there isn't an obvious connecting thread like time travel or the Borg. Still, as someone who doesn't have the $ to buy a lot of the Star Trek season sets, I'm really happy with this one. Admittedly, I wasn't thrilled with the selections from TNG and Voyager, but I felt the selections from DS9 and especially the original series more than made up for that.

In particular, the finale of DS9 and the original series episode "Balance of Terror" alone nearly made this set worth the price. "Balance of Terror" is just about the most tension-filled episode of any Star Trek show, while DS9's finale makes you really appreciate how much depth its the producers were able to explore in the Star Trek universe.

Again, I'll be the first to argue that The Inner Light" would have been a better inclusion from TNG than anything on this set, and "These Are the Voyages" (like most of Enterprise) never thrilled me. Still, even with some of the weaker episodes factored in, this is an excellent sampler of the many incarnations of Star Trek. When you see the variety of stories that the show could tell, and tell well, it's no wonder that it's endured for four decades in one form or another.

I'm glad I bought this. I think the choices were good ones -- it's difficult. I would have liked one of the DS9 choices to have included an episode with Jadzia Dax. I had given up on Enterprise after the first season (I thought it was pretty awful)-- after seeing the episodes chosen, I'll go back and look at the ones I missed. For the most part, I liked the "extras" - one major exception: The interview with William Shatner and Joan Collins was embarrassingly bad. That knocked off a star for me.

I personally like this collection, although I couldn't bring myself to give it a 5 based on a questionable episode choice or two (considering the theme at least, not that they are bad episodes), the repeat of an episode from a previous "collective," and because of the fact it just simply isn't as good as some of the other collectives (specifically the borg collective, and arguably others as well).
But maybe I am just being picky, as I do not regret my purchase at all, and do enjoy the captain interviews as well as the episodes. If you are like me and love trek but can't bring yourself to purchase all the full seasons, these collectives are worth the money, and this one is no exception.