Much like my review of the first season of the remastered “Star Trek” my second season review is late, but not for the same reasons. HD DVD compatibility issues plagued my review of the first season until finally things were sorted out. However, that isn’t a problem with the second season as this is a DVD only release with the expectation of all three seasons being released in a remastered Blu-ray format some time down the line is all but a guarantee. For now, we are stuck with DVD only and it appears based on the lack of any kind of disc art these are the same discs that would have been used for the HD DVD/DVD combo had the HD DVD format in fact won out or was still in existence. Instead we get eight virtually indistinguishable discs with all 26 remastered and restored episodes of the original “Star Trek” series in one collection.
Continuing where the first season left off, the remastered elements of this series are hard to complain about. Impressive almost seems like too light a word as the folks at Paramount have taken the idea of recreating the effects of the classic 1960s television show and approached it with a fans eye in mind. They aren’t setting out to make it bigger in any way as much as they are simply trying to present the exact same ideas using today’s technology. The effects artists working on each episode could have very easily beefed each action sequence up with impressive maneuvers and even more impressive camera effects, but instead they set out to maintain the integrity of the original vision, which helps in not taking the viewer out of the moment much like how you watch the Star Wars special editions and feel like you are watching a completely different movie when new scenes are added. New material is kept to a minimum here and it is very much appreciated.
The scene you see above is from “Amok Time” and panels 1 and 4 are taken from the original Season 2 DVD release while panels 2 and 3 come from the remastered release. The scene still exists the way it did in the original episode except rather than a quick left turn we get the establishing shot as Kirk, McCoy and Spock walk across the bridge to their final destination. It is a small addition, but it is a cool one that actually pays homage to Star Trek III.
The majority of the time, however, the changes are simply improving the original visuals. The establishing Enterprise shots are now rendered in CG with different planets in the background and space battles have improved effects as well. The one episode that probably saw the most changes was “The Doomsday Machine”; I have included six panels below showing the differences between the original 1967 release and the remastered version. As you will notice it isn’t as if they went ahead and changed things all that much as much as they just improved the visuals.
The final comparison I wanted to show you was a scene from “Cat’s Paw” in which a new matte painting was used. The picture below is probably the best example of keeping with the feeling of the original episode that I have seen yet. I was actually second guessing whether this was an actual change at first or I was just looking for changes. It really is impressive.
In terms of special features outside of the new visuals there isn’t all that much that is now when compared to the original DVD set released a few years back. There is a new part 2 version of “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest” and the fifth disc is 100% dedicated to the “Trouble with Tribbles” episode and includes the “Trials and Tribble-ations” episode from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and the “More Tribbles, More Troubles” episode from “Star Trek: The Animated Series”, a series I have thought about buying for some time now, but am happy I didn’t. It is pretty archaic.
Personally I think this is worth the upgrade, but there is one thing to consider. Will you buy the Blu-ray version when it is released? If you are reading this review now I am going to assume the majority of you already own the original second season DVD set, which means buying this set will qualify as a double-dip, buying a Blu-ray set would be a triple-dip and will have quite an effect on your wallet. If you have the money to spare then I say go for it, however, if you are thinking you will go HD once the inevitable Blu-ray version is released you may want to hold off.
