Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelly
• Format: Box set, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 8
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• DVD Release Date: August 31, 2004
• Run Time: 1461 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (391 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002I831S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,380 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. Here at last is the first season of the original series all in one box, 29 episodes in their original broadcast order. That means starting with "The Man Trap," and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. The many highlight episodes include "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing, respectively, the Romulans and the Klingons), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," which featured Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise and is not included in this set), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best-ever episode of the series).

The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, other cast members, and producers, and some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest (24 minutes) featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Slightly shorter are "To Boldly Go... Season One," which highlights key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," which discusses the series' great science fiction writers (most famously in "The City of the Edge of Forever"). Shatner shows off his love of horses in "Life Beyond Trek," and, more interestingly, Nimoy debunks various rumors in "Reflections of Spock." As they've done for many of the feature-film special editions, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda provide a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes filled with history, trivia, and dry wit. It's the first commentary of any kind for a Star Trek TV show, but an audio commentary is still overdue. The technical specs are mostly the same as other Trek TV series--Dolby 5.1, English subtitles--but with the welcome addition of the episode trailers. The plastic case is an attempt to replicate some of the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, but it's a bit clunky, and the paper sleeve around the disc case seems awkward and crude. Still, the set is a vast improvement both in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs. --David Horiuchi

Product Description

Star Trek: The Complete First Season features the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Capt. James Kirk (Shatner) and his first officer, Lt. Cmdr Spock (Nimoy) during the 23rd century. They are on a mission in outer space to explore new worlds, where the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen. All 29 first-run episodes on eight discs: The Man Trap, Charlie X, Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Naked Time, The Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, What Are Little Girls Made Of? Miri, Dagger of the Mind, The Corbomite Maneuver, The Menagerie Part I, The Menagerie Part II, The Conscience of the King, Balance of Terror, Shore Leave, The Galileo Seven, The Squire of Gothos, Arena, Tomorrow is Yesterday, Court Martial, The Return of the Archons, Space Seed, A Taste of Armageddon, This Side of Paradise, The Devil in the Dark, Errand of Mercy, The Alternative Factor, The City on the Edge of Forever, Operation: Annihilate!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

232 of 248 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Film is naturally HD, September 12, 2007

By 

Michael Dempsey "demzer" (Youngstown, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One (Remastered Edition) (DVD)

To rebut another review, anything professionally shot on 35 mm film, whether from the 1960s or 2007, is natively high-definition--that is, the amount of information that has been recorded on the MASTER is equal to or greater than HD standards. It's only the duplications that, until HD mastering, were of lesser definition. That's the reason studios at first were so hesitant to adopt HD DVDs--it diminished the value of their master if everyone had a copy as good. So when a film is remastered in HD from an original film master in good condition, it's true HD and not "extra pixels filling in empty space." Remastering, of course, can be done well or poorly, accounting for differing quality in the final product. Anyone who's seen these remastered episodes knows how fantastic they are--both for how great they look and, yes, how they show up the wooden sets and cheap costumes, etc. from the period. But that's part of the fun! What's astonishing is how well this show holds up in HD, and how much the new effects extend its original vision. Kudos to the remastering creative team and crew for a Star Trek experience that's reverent to the original yet new again!

257 of 280 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, A Season Set Of The ORIGINAL Series!, June 29, 2004

By 

Servo (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season (DVD)

With practically all of the Star Trek spinoffs now available as season sets, Paramount Home Entertainment FINALLY delivers the highly anticipated Star Trek - The Complete First Season on DVD this August 31, in an 8-disc collectible box set. The box will contain all 29 episodes - in airdate order - from Season One of the original Star Trek series, along with newly produced bonus features exclusive to this DVD release. The contents of the DVDs are as follows:
Disc 1: The Man Trap, Charlie X, Where No Man Has Gone Before**, The Naked Time
Disc 2: The Enemy Within, Mudd's Women, What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Miri
Disc 3: Dagger of the Mind, The Corbomite Maneuver, The Menagerie Part I**, The Menagerie Part II**
Disc 4: The Conscience of the King**, Balance of Terror, Shore Leave, The Galileo Seven
Disc 5: The Squire of Gothos, Arena, Tomorrow is Yesterday, Court Martial
Disc 6: The Return of the Archons, Space Seed, A Taste of Armageddon, This Side of Paradise
Disc 7: The Devil in the Dark, Errand of Mercy, The Alternative Factor, The City on the Edge of Forever
Disc 8: Operation: Annihilation
** These four episodes have text commentary by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda.
Disc 8 of the DVD also includes the following special features:
*"The Birth of a Timeless Legacy" - The definitive telling of how it all began: from the first pilot, "The Cage," (which will be included on the Season 3 set, and will be the same two versions released before) to reshooting the pilot with William Shatner, to the many challenges leading up to its premiere on NBC in 1966. Included are interviews with cast and network executives and producers. Also featured are new interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Robert Justman.
*"Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner" - Featured on each volume, this featurette follows one principal cast member around on their most current film and TV projects, charity events, conventions, trips, or hobbies. In Season One, William Shatner gives viewers an exclusive invitation to his ranch to discuss his love of horses.
*"To Boldly Go" - Includes discussion of "The Naked Time," "The City on the Edge of Forever," "The Devil in the Dark" and "The Squire of Gothos" by cast and production crew members.
*"Reflections on Spock" - Leonard Nimoy discusses his character in depth, and explains why he chose to write two different books on the subject: "I Am Not Spock" and "I Am Spock."
*"Sci-Fi Visionaries" - A look at Star Trek's famous writers, featuring interviews with Gene Coon, Harlan Ellison, George Clayton Thomas, Richard Matheson, D.C. Fontana, Gene Roddenberry, Bob Justman and John D.F. Black.
*Original Preview Trailers
*Photo Log

Here are the official release dates of the original Star Trek season sets:
- Season 1 on 8/31
- Season 2 on 11/2
- Season 3 on 12/14
- The Complete Series on 12/14

218 of 246 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for the series terrific first season, 2 stars flimsy packaging & for the price (with amazon discount)., September 1, 2007

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One (Remastered Edition) (DVD)

Advantages:

1) HD-DVD/DVD dual format so fans that don't have HD-DVD can watch and enjoy the show.
2) New visual effects.
3) Beautifully restored high definition transfers
4) Nice packaging (at least for the shell itself)
5) The new visual effects are often stunning(the second season episodes "Amok Time" and "The Doomsday Machine" were the most impressive--not included here but "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and other first season episodes look terrific as well. It should be noted, however, that some fans have had issues with the new visual effects being inaccurate but these are mostly nitpicking).
6) If you decide to get an HD-DVD player you'll be set to roll with this DVD.
7) Newly recorded score, new prints struck from the original elements,some new extras including home movies shot by extra Billy Blackburn, the ability to navigate outside the ship, look at the development of the new visual efects and a couple of new featurettes highlight this set.


Disadvantages:

1)In a format that hasn't proven its staying power yet and you're paying for it.
2)Way too expensive
3)Sort of a double dip
4)Some have complained that the digital visual effects don't have the surface detail of a model or even of the original Enterprise visual effects.
5)Not available in Blu-Ray for those that don't have HD-DVD players.
6)The packaging could become easily damaged in shipping.
7) Dual sided discs which tend to be more easily damaged than single sided discs.
8)HD-DVD only Special Features that will play only on HD-DVD players (not on DVD machines).

Previewed at Comic Con, the new set will please those fans that have HD-DVD although the price for this set won't. Those that enjoyed the recent syndicated run of the series with its new visuals will also enjoy this set.

Conclusion: This is a terrific series and the first season had some of the best episodes however this is way too expensive even considering that it is in a HD-DVD/DVD dual format. Why? Because some fans may not want to commit to the new HD-DVD format since we don't know which format is going to win the high definition format war. The bottom line is that Paramount/CBS has miscalculated pricing this at an insane price. Sure many fans will buy it but I doubt that it will sell in the droves that Paramount/CBS wants it to.

Final Words:As always the series itself is terrific and this, along with the bulk of the second season, was the original series highmark. The new visual effects when they are effective only enhance the original film. Also, it hasn't been reformatted for widescreen so it keeps the original aspect ratio (black bars appear on the sides of the screen).

Ultimately your decision about whether you want to get this depends on how badly you want it given the price. Priced at nearly TWICE the original DVD box sets, my advice is to wait until Paramount lowers the average retail price or grab it at a deep discount while you can.

More info on the set (added): The content has all the first season episodes. I suspect that "The Cage" will probably be held over (as with the original box sets) for the third season as an enticement for fans since that is the worst selling of the three seasons. There are a number of featurettes including "Starfleet Academy" special features are tied into the HD side ONLY as is the tour of the ship. We do get Billy Blackburn's "Treasure Chest" a series of home movies shot behind-the-scenes in Super 8 with comments from Billy who was an extra on the series.

DVD Featurettes:
Birth of a Timeless Legacy
Billy Blackburn's Home Movies
Life After Trek: William Shatner
Reflections on Spock
Sci-Fi Visionaries
Kiss and Tell
To Boldly Go
Trekker Connections
Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier
Preview of online game

Many of these featurettes were available in one form or another on the previous release.

The HD side has seven episodes highlighted; "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Menagerie, Parts I & II", "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Space Seed", and "Errand of Mercy". Because "Trek" is presented in its original 4x3 transfer so there are black bars on the side of the screen where you can select more information. YOu can watch a split screen with comments on the episodes mentioned.

There's also the HD tour of the "Enterprise".

Episodes:

The Man Trap
Charlie X
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Corbomite Maneuver
This Side of Paradise
A Taste of Armageddon.
The Naked Time
The Enemy Within
Mudd's Women
What Are Little Girls Made of?
Miri
Dagger of the Mind
The Menagerie Parts 1 and 2
The Conscience of the King
Balance of Terror
Shore Leave
The Galileo Seven
The Squire of Gothos
Arena
Tomorrow Is Yesterday
Court Martial
The Return of the Archons
Space Seed
The Devil in the Dark
Errand of Mercy
The Alternative Factor
The City on the Edge of Forever
Operation: Annihilate