Star Trek Remastered - Season 1

With the release of J.J. Abrams new Star Trek Movie, I might as well take a look at the Remastered DVD release of the Original First Season of the TV Series created by Gene Roddenberry.

THE PACKAGING

The packaging is something interesting. Having seen the original releases on DVD of the Original series to Enterprise, the packaging with this has improved greatly. Intead of a cardboard covering that is prone to falling apart and a plastic shell that is also badly put together, You get a metal tin that covers the large case that holds the 8 DVDs.

The Original DVD Packaging

THE EPISODES

The Episodes are the first sign of improvement. The Original footage shot in the 1960's is clear and crisp, compared to the slightly fuzzy-round the edges that were making the rounds before the episodes were remastered.

The improvements of the remastering effort now reveals that Spock has slightly green skin, something I couldn't even see before.

THE REPLACEMENT EFFECTS

The New shots of the U.S.S. Enterprise shooting through space are definatly an improvement upon the original. There are times where the effect shot does not look as if it belongs in the episode. It stands out too much when most of the other replacements still sit within the episode.

For example, the episode, Tomorrow is Yesterday, where the Enterprise is shot back to 1969, the shots of the Enterprise in the skies of Earth look brilliant, while in a later scene where they have to slingshot around the sun, the wall of light doesn't look as if it belongs, the textures on the sun stand out. While I can't currently think of a way to improve upon what they have done. To me it just stands out rather badly. It is still an improvment upon the original.

SPECIAL FEATURES

As with the HD-DVD release of the remastered episodes, it contains similar special features with the newer features included on the Blu-Ray release. I haven't had the chance to watch them all but I will say they are an improvement upon the original DVD release.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

While this Remastered set is overall an improvement on the Original DVD release. It would do better to have both the Original episodes remastered to the quality of these. I haven't seen the Blu-Ray release and I do not know if the original episodes get the same treatment as the Doctor Who releases where they do their best to keep the episode in the best quality possible.

I give this DVD release a 8 out of 10. A good set but not quite there.

DVD Case image provided from TV Shows on DVD.com
Episode Images from Trek Movie.com
Star Trek belongs to CBS and Paramount Pictures

(This post will be edited later with more images)