Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season (Remastered)

Like many, I grew up watching Star Trek reruns on TV, but I was too young to watch the series when it originally aired in the mid-1960's. So, I've seen all the episodes many times, but never uncut and complete. (And unlike many, I never went out of my way to collect TOS on DVD).

However, when I saw the new "remastered" Doomsday Machine episode on TV, I was thrilled by the prospect of not only seeing this series uncut, but with many of the effects scened redone using modern CGI.

And yes, they're cool to watch! I'm sure this remastering process will bring an entirely new generation to watch this series who might not otherwise.

The problem I have is with the kooky weird packaging. All I want to do with DVDs is: 1) quickly find the episode I want, 2) get it out of the packaging without causing damage to the DVD, 3) play it, and 4) return it to the package without damaging the DVD.

Instead of using some mundane packaging approach, like individual slim cases in a cardboard box, we have a transparent case that you have to open a certain way, and then slippery cards that you have paw through to find the episode you want, and then leaf through each of the eight disks in what seems an all-to-easy-to-break eight-way jewel case, each with one side exposed, until you find the disk you want. Better keep them in order, or you'll be reading the little tiny fine print on every single disk just to find the one you want. The nature of the packaging makes finger and thumbprints all over the "non-media" sides of the disks inevitable. I imagine I payed extra for this "special" packaging too.

So, love the new series, hate the packaging. There are some areas where "boldly going where none have gone before" isn't necessary.

Well, technically I never stopped loving the original Trek, but this remastering has made it so enjoyable to watch. I don't have the first season but will get it soon. Bear in mind I'm watching this on a standard def TV. One thing about 60s TV is how colorful it is, and the remastering makes those colors look amazing. The show could have been shot yesterday. In terms of effects, the most obvious improvement is the Enterprise itself. She looks amazing, very similar to the filming model they used for DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations. It's wonderful to hear the Captain order a "hard about" or "full speed ahead" and actually see the ship perform the maneuvers, not to mention seeing other angles of her, since in the original the ship always went left to right on the screen (the filming models cables and controls were on the port (left) side, that's why it was never shown). Also I enjoy seeing the ship orbit different planets, I especially enjoyed seeing her orbiting Earth with the moon behind her in Assignment:Earth. Beautiful shot!
The lion's share of the producer's budget must have gone into "The doomsday machine" which was not a particular favorite of mine, but is now a delight to watch. In the damaged Constellation, you can see the decks exposed to space, the doomsday machine itself gets redone, and you see the Enterprise doing all sorts of maneuvers, firing her phasers, the shuttlecraft lifting off and leaving the hangar deck. The producers achieved their purpose brilliantly here: the entire episode looks like it would have looked back in the 60s if Gene Roddenberry and co. had had a limitless sfx budget. I think he would have been pleased.
I also enjoyed the little details: in "I,Mudd" when the android Norman lifts his shirt to show Kirk and Spock the circuitry on his belly, I was surprised to find they had replaced the original with a more modern look.
The only reason I don't give 5 stars is the packaging. I don't like the brittle plastic. The DVDs are hard to remove without making the plastic crack. Beautiful design, poorly executed. Also, some effects pretty much look the same, especially the hand phaser shots. Still, this is a great set, and I intend to buy Season One, and Three when available.

Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season (Remastered)

The shows are great, but don't expect a collector-quality product in the mail. Amazon fails to pack it properly and the plastic case is easily shattered where the two halves come together. That's not a big deal if you're just looking for the DVDs to watch, but if you wanted a collector's item that could increase in value over the years, this is not the way to go.

the disks were in great shape and there was no problems encountered. They were also delivered in a quick and orderly fashion

The fabulous remastered Second Season is here! Much of the special effects--not all--have been mastered to what they should be. Some notable examples include:

--Amok Time: the combat arena is now on top of a CGI butte, overlooking a Vulcan city in the distance.
--Who Mourns for Adonais?: when Adonais grows two stories high, there is no thick black line around him, like the 1960's effect shows.
--The Changling: an explosion of "Nomad" resembles a space nuke explosion, back before the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
--The Doomsday Machine: THE BEST REMASTERED EPISODE! Terrific shots of the Enterprise are shown dodging asteroids, with some exploding around a thrashed Constellation. Best of all, the Doomsday Machine no longer looks like elementary school, crepe-paper art.
--Catspaw: haunted castle is CGI, and the two aliens at the end no longer have black strings holding them up.
--Metamorphosis: better shuttle effects, but the image of the "Companion" STILL looks like COLORED PLASTIC WRAP.
--Journey to Babel: Great shot of the shuttle entering the Enterprise's hanger, with planet Vulcan in the background. The Orion spaceship is CGI, but they should have put CGI eyeballs in the Telerite's hollow mask!
--Friday's Child: the Klingon ship is no longer a flourescent green smudge
--The Ultimate Computer: Great starship dogfights!
--The Deadly Years: TEN Romulan warbirds surround the Enterprise and take shots at it. WOW! A nice ending to a slower episode.
--The Trouble with Tribbles: a pre-Season 3 Klingon ship. This one is orbiting spacestation K-7, but the latter still looks like a model.
--Gamesters of Triskelion: the Enterprise orbits a Saturn-like planet.
--The Immunity Episode: The galactic amoeba is STUNNING! The Enterprise actually accelerates backwards through protoplasm, with some of the goo splattering on the ship's swan-neck.

Of course, let us honor the memories of the thin red line of extra crewmen, by recalling how they heroically died in the line of Federation duty:

--The Changling: 4 Red Shirts incinerated by half-breed probe "Nomad," and possibly two engineering crewmembers.
--The Apple: 1 Red Shirt dead after a planet's poisonous flowers shoot darts into his chest. 1 Red Shirt incinerated by bolt of lightening. 1 Red Shirt blown up by land-mine rock. 1 Red Shirt clubbed to death by a Child of Vahl.
--Catspaw: 1 crewman dead (as dead as Chekov's girl whig) after beaming back from a haunted planet.
--Friday's Child: 1 Red Shirt stabbed in chest by a Capellan's boomerang.
--The Deadly Years: 1 science lieutenant chick dies from accelerated old age.
--Obsession: 5 Red Shirts dead after getting their red corpuscles sucked out by a honey-smelling smog
--Wolf in the Food: 1 crew woman stabbed to death by Jack the Ripper via Scotty.
--By Any Other Name: 1 Red Shirt chick turned into one of Gene Roddenberry's Tijuana octogon souvineers...then crushed.
--The Omega Glory: 1 Red Shirt killed by the captain of the Exeter, who turns traitor in a commie village (Mao would be proud).
--The Ultimate Computer: 1 Red Shirt gets desintigrated by the M5
--Mirror Mirror: 5 Red Shirts are killed in the "mirror universe" as part of the evil crew. Should we honor them, too? Probably not. I'll just let the evil 'Chuck Ruck' in his mirror universe do it.

May these TWENTY extra crewmen IN OUR UNIVERSE rest in peace!