Product Details

• Actors: Star Trek Original Series
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: February 22, 2000
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630574484X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #136,690 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #72 in

  Movies & TV > Television > Classic TV > Star Trek: The Original Series

• This is item 7 in The Star Trek: The Original Series Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Volume 7 in this excellent DVD series of original Star Trek programs includes "The Galileo Seven," which teleplay writer Oliver Crawford says was inspired by his viewing of a 1939 film called Five Came Back. (A catty footnote: David Gerrold, scribe of the famous "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode, called "The Galileo Seven" a rip-off of the Jimmy Stewart film The Flight of the Phoenix. Meow.) Five Came Back concerned a plane crash in the Andes and the survivors who faced the constant threat of surrounding headhunters. Crawford toyed with the idea and came up with a story line in which Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and a couple of other crew members crash on the surface of a hostile planet during a shuttle mission. With communication between the small craft and the Enterprise disrupted by quasar activity, Spock and the others must defend themselves against a formidable threat with only primitive, handmade weapons. That's the scenario, but the real drama is in the rising conflict between the half-Vulcan Spock's coldly logical approach to survival and the passions of his human crew, who soon come to regard him as a hateful, unfeeling monster. This is an interesting episode, both as a taut action piece and, somewhat indirectly, as a portrait of intolerance (specifically, an intolerance of individual differences) developing under stress.

Also on this disc is "Court Martial," a courtroom drama in which Captain Kirk (William Shatner) stands trial for negligence in the death of an Enterprise crewman. As the proceedings rumble on, Spock investigates some hidden truths about the dead man and the apparent computer malfunction that led to the tragedy. While "Court Martial" is a lesser episode from the Star Trek canon (the action is a bit mired in trial proceedings), it's still a lot of fun and features a supporting role from veteran Hollywood character actor Elisha Cook Jr. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

"The Galileo Seven," Ep. 14 - Spock learns the trials of command when Kirk sends him, along with Scotty, McCoy and a shuttlecraft crew, to investigate a quasar-like phenomenon. "Court Martial," Ep. 15 - Kirk's reputation and career are at stake when he faces a court-martial for negligence that resulted in the death of a crew member.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A very disappointing transfer, July 20, 2000

By	"adman_" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

If you're like me, then you've caved to the very expensive but irresistable prospect of owning the entire series in this superior format. Chalk that up to the high price of posterity. Happily, it's pretty safe to say that the dvd format is here to stay and unless tremendous leaps are made in digital media, this will be the last time you need to invest in the set.

The overall picture and sound quality of the original Star Trek series on dvd is much, much better than the video versions previously released by Paramount and certainly better than anything you may have taped off of TV. The packaging isn't bad, but I wish more thought had gone into creating meaningful liner notes. Instead, we get some canned 'trivia' bits and seemingly endless promotions for other Paramount/Star Trek products.

This volume in particular has glaring flaws and represents the worst transfer in the collection (through volume 12). Most notably, there are white "lines" running vertically down the screen in several scenes from "Court Martial." I'm glad this has been noted by some other reviewers here, because I initially thought I'd received a defective copy. It's hard to believe that nothing could be done about this awful flaw with all the technology available to those granted the important task of "restoring" and "preserving" this series. Another big problem with this series is that Paramount has neglected to restore any of the trailers. They look like home movies from the '60s.

If I may, a pre-emptive gripe about Paramount's plans to release "The Next Generation" on dvd. Why not follow a new trend in TV to dvd and issue seven "complete season" sets of this series? Fox released the complete first season of The X-Files in one very handsome boxed set (7 dvds) that sells for well over $100. Fox plans to release the second complete season this fall and will presumably continue with the 3rd, 4th, etc. This is a much friendlier way to market old TV shows to collectors and it would encourage many more to buy and complete their collections.

Past evidence seems to point fairly clearly to Paramount's propensity for ripping off fans. The company moved from including 2 episodes on every VHS release to just one per cassette in the DS9 and Voyager series. Not only does this make completing a collection arduous (your local store may have 15 copies of v. 10 but no v. 11), but it adds considerably to expense and demands twice as much room in your home to store.

If TNG, DS9 and yes, even Voyager, were released in season-series sets, I'd buy the whole lot gladly.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Episodes, but Video "Artifacts" in the Transfer, March 30, 2000

By A Customer

These are two of my favorite ST:TOS episodes, but I'm afraid that the transfer of the film to DVD did not eliminate many of the video artifacts. In one scene of Court Martial, for example, there is a "line" running from top-to-bottom of the screen -- a leftover from a scratched film that was used in the transfer. A good digital scrubbing would have been in order.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Setting Precedents, October 10, 2001

By	Hank Drake (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Volume 7 of Paramount's reissue of Classic Trek contains two pivotal episodes from Season One.

The Galileo Seven (the "Seven" in the title refers to the number of crew on board the shuttle) was an important episode in Spock's character development. This limitations of logic in dealing with the unknown are pointed out in brutal fashion here. This episode also features the first use of the shuttlecraft, and the first of many Federation Bureaucrats, always a thorn in Kirk's side.

Court Martial seems not to have gotten the best reviews here, but I feel it's an important episode on several levels. This was the first of many stories to introduce an "old flame" from Kirk's past; the first to show the inner-workings of Starfleet beyond the Enterprise; the episode which launched Kirk's fascination with antique books. This installment also began Star Trek's tradition of placing minority actors in important roles, in this case Percy Rodriguez as Commodore Stone. As for the story itself, it is a well crafted courtroom drama worthy of the best television had to offer at the time, with a surprise ending. It also touches on the man vs. computer theme which would be used again.

There is a minor instance of film deterioration in Court Martial, with some visible scratching during a bridge scene. Despite that problem, the colors are vibrant and sharp, and the audio is much improved.