Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 Blu-ray: Review By Brian Gallagher

Space: The Final Frontier... it was over 40 years ago that those words were first uttered on television, and pop culture has never been the same since. In those 42 years since Star Trek: The Original Series first aired, the show has been able to tap into our culture in ways that few shows have over the years, with numerous spin-off series, films and, of course, those conventions. The series is still relevant even to this day with the brand new theatrical remake (that was amazing) and, finally, this original series is getting the high-def treatment with Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 in Blu-ray, and this seven-disc set is nothing short of incredible.

This set features all 29 of the first-season episodes of this original series, and they took a very smart route when bringing this set to BD. Of course, you would expect the picture and sound to be remastered, especially for BD, but they still even cater to the purists of the show, by offering BOTH the remastered picture and sound, and the original picture and sound as well. You can even switch back and forth between these formats while you watch an episode! Oh, technology!

This first season is such a joy to watch and includes such classic episodes as the two-parter The Menagerie, Balance of Terror, where we first see the Enterprise crew battle the Romulans, and The City on the Edge of Forever, the season finale which features a guest-starring turn from Joan Collins. It's quite amazing how incredibly ahead of its time this series was. It's hard enough for a TV show these days to get past a first or second season, and for a show to live on with such a passionate fan base, more than 40 years later, is something truly remarkable.

Of course, the series made stars out of its entire cast, which featured William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, and it's truly a joy to watch this cast work together as such a well-oiled machine. Their performances as this USS Enterprise Crew are collectively brilliant and individually wonderful as well. I couldn't find a weak performance in the entire season, to be quite honest.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 takes us back 43 years to see how this mega-franchise got its start, and in the best possible format to watch it in as well. This is simply a must-own for any Trekkie, but also for any younger ones out there who are curious to know where this whole thing started.

With this being a seven-disc Blu-ray set - and knowing the immense storage capacity of BD - you know they certainly didn't skimp on the special features here. On each disc there are Preview Trailers for each episode and each disc has its own blend of special features as well. The first disc gives you the featurettes Spacelift: Transporting Trek into the 21st Century, which talks about converting the series to high-definition and, on the Where No Man Has Gone Before episode, you get the first look at the Starfleet Access feature, which is available on select episodes. This interactive feature will access a special pop-up trivia track throughout these episodes and will also feature video commentaries with cast and crew members throughout the episode as well. This is a fantastic feature and, especially for myself, who absolutely despises audio commentary on DVD's. These special video pop-up commentaries are really the way to go, because they don't overpower the audio of the actual program like most commentaries do.

While there are no extras on the second disc, the third disc offers a Reflections on Spock featurette and another look at Starfleet Access on the two-part episode, The Menagerie. Disc four gives us Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner, which gives us an in-depth look at how the series shaped the career of the show's Captain Kirk and more Starfleet Access with the Balance of Terror episode. The fifth disc gives us To Boldly Go... Season One and The Birth of a Timeless Legacy featurettes and disc six gives us Interactive Enterprise Inspection, which gives us a wonderful tour of this legendary spacecraft, a Sci-Fi Visionaries featurette and more Starfleet Access on the Space Speed episode. The seventh and final disc gives us the last Starfleet Access with the Errand of Mercy episode and an intriguing look on the set of the show with Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories and a final featurette, Kiss 'N' Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century.

This seven-disc set offers an amazing wealth of information and entertainment on the special features that no Trekkie can afford to miss.

While the episodes are presented in their original fullscreen format, in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, these episodes have been enhanced with brand new special effects. The viewer can also choose between the original or enhanced effects, so you can see it in the original version you remember, or the new pimped out version as well, and you can actually toggle back and forth between these versions while the episode is playing.

The viewer also gets a choice of sound presentation as well on this new BD set. You can either choose the newly-remastered 7.1 DTS-HD audio format or the original Mono soundtrack that was used in the original episodes, and you can toggle back and forth between these features as well.

This seven-disc set is housed in some rather simple yet elegant packaging. The front cover just has a title card and a nice image of the Starfleet emblem, with a synopsis, special feature listings and other goodies on the back.

Star Trek: The Original Series has never looked better in this astonishing Blu-ray set that will bring out the inner Trekkie in us all.