Space. The Final
Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to
explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain
James T. Kirk (William Shatner). The First Officer is Mr. Spock
(Leonard Nimoy), from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer
is Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelly). With a determined crew, the
Enterprise's mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new
life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone
before.
CRITIQUE
The move into the
third season for Star Trek: The
Original Series, the series' last, begins a noticeable decline
in the quality of stories. A lot of episodes are simply not that
good, but some stand out, as was common in the previous two
seasons; several stories were worth telling and the execution of
the episodes was very good, but more than a handful of weak
episodes turned up as well, including the lackluster season opener
Spock's Brain. The third season is probably the show's
weakest, but some highlight episodes exist, such as The
Paradise Syndrome, Spectre of the Gun, Wink of An
Eye, and The Savage Curtain. This DVD set also features
two versions of The Cage, which is a sweet deal.
The season's twenty-four
episodes break down like this:
Disc 1:
Spock's Brain, The
Enterprise Incident, The Paradise Syndrome, And the Children Shall
Lead
Disc 2:
Is There In Truth No
Beauty?, Spectre of the Gun, Day of the Dove, For the World Is
Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Disc 3:
The Tholian Web,
Plato's Stepchildren, Wink of an Eye, The Empath
Disc 4:
Elaan of Troyius,
Whom Gods Destroy, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, The Mark of
Gideon
Disc 5:
That Which Survives,
The Lights of Zetar, Requiem for Methuselah, The Way to Eden
Disc 6:
The Cloud Minders,
The Savage Curtain, All Our Yesterdays, Turnabout Intruder
Disc 7:
The Cage, Special Features
THE VIDEO
Paramount presents Star
Trek in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The show is certainly very
old, but this presentation makes it look very nice. Grain and
specks persist, but overall the image is cleaned up well enough.
THE AUDIO
Paramount presents Star
Trek English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. This is a pretty
decent presentation considering the standards of today. Dialogue
is clear and easy to understand, and the sound effects are
presented with enough clarity, although sometimes there's noise
in the presentation. The front speakers get nearly all of the
workout, the rear speakers hardly come alive that much. Overall,
though, nicely done.
THE EXTRAS
Contrary to the
episodes, the quality of the extras, located on the seventh disc,
is pretty good.
First there's
text commentary on The Savage Curtain and Turnabout
Intruder by Michael and Denise Okuda. Also, the two
versions of The Cage are featured here.
To Boldly Go...
Season 3 (22 minutes) looks at the season and discusses topics
such as the show's cancellation. There's plenty of interviews to
find here, as are show clips.
Life Beyond Trek:
Walter Koenig (11 minutes) is a good interview with the actor
who discusses his career with Trek and later work, as well hobbies
and things he likes to do now.
Chief Engineer's
Log (6 minutes) features an interview with James Doohan who
lets up some trivia and reflects on the show, among other things.
Memoir from Mr.
Sulu (7 minutes) features an interview with George Takei who
offers his thoughts on Trek and other things.
Star Trek's
Impact: Eugene Roddenberry's Memories (7 minutes) is a piece
about the creator narrated by his son
A Star Trek
Collector's Dream Come True (7 minutes) looks at various props
used in the show introduced by a prop designer John Long who is
interviewed for this piece.
Rounding out the
extras is a photo gallery and a booklet that sits inside the packaging. Those who
like to hunt for Easter eggs can find six of them hidden
on the special features menu screens.
SUMMARY
Even though it's the
weakest season of the three, Star Trek: The
Original Series - Season 3 is recommended (strictly) to fans of
the show. The good thing is the special features make up for the lack
of quality in the episodes.
