HD-DVD Version of Star Trek: Better Looking, But Just as Corny

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Remember when George Lucas digitally remastered the original Star Wars trilogy? He said it was to “finish the film the way it was meant to be.” Most of the changes were cosmetic, enhancing the films with special effects that were not available when the films were first made. In a sense, we now have a similar version of Star Trek: The Original Series (ST: TOS).

ST: TOS is without a doubt the first — and definitely not the finest — member of the Trek franchise, but a collection isn’t complete without it. Tuesday a hybrid HD-DVD / DVD version of the first season was released. It has 10 discs, and it isn’t cheap: $195 retail. But the touches, relatively minor they may be, bring the series into the 21st century.

The episodes have been digitally remastered as well as having additional effects added. For example, in the episode Arena (loosely based on the far superior short story by Fredric Brown, BTW), the Gorn now blinks.

You can also see how they modified the phaser effects (above, click to enlarge). Left is old (obviously), right is new. Pretty nice, eh? If you watched the old series, you’ll recall on some episodes the phasers were red, and on others they were blue. In the episode Balance of Terror they were even more like bolts” than “rays.” In the new version they are standardized as blue.

We Say: Still, the basic elements of Star Trek remain. In other words, it’s just as corny. The storylines are just as silly, the music overly dramatic, and the acting, just as Shatner-ish. But isn’t that part of the charm of the old show? Come on, admit it.

Oh, and one more reason to get the set? Buy any Toshiba HD-DVD player and the set and get a Star Trek Phaser remote control by mail.