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Star Trek The Original Series Season 2

Star Trek The Original Series Season 2 Review by Gareth Von Kallenbach

The set continues the now legendary exploits of the Star Ship Enterprise under the command of Capt. James T. Kirk, (William Shatner), as the ship travels to strange and exotic new worlds on a mission of peace and exploration. The second in command, the half human half Vulcan Spock (Leonard Nimoy), provides a solid contrast to the human crew as his race has shunned emotion and his cold and calculating manner makes him ideal in pressure situations but tends to irritate the ships doctor Leonard Mc Coy (Deforest Kelly), whose abrupt emotions belies his gracious Southern charm and brilliant skills.

The writing of the show is often heralded as some of the best ever for science fiction as the shows blended action, romance, comedy, with stories that tackled some of the larger issues of the day. The show was able to get by censors due to its science fiction nature and readily explored topics that were not allowed in the era such as racial relations, spirituality, and strength via diversity.

Not only does the season two set include some of the shows best episodes such "The Trouble with Tribbles", and "Mirror, "Mirror", and "Amock Time" but features the return of the classic Rogue Harry Mudd from the first seasons Mudds' Women. The set also includes a very impressive menu system and some of the episodes contain an option to see pop up text which is filled with fascinating information regarding the creation of the show and episodes.

Bonus Features Include . Full Screen Format . Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Surround . Text Commentary on 2 episodes by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda - co-authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia. . Life After Trek: Leonard Nimoy . To Boldly Go (Season Two) . 23rd Century Romance . Guest Star Role Call

Episodes 1. Amok Time: Spock must return to Vulcan to complete a mating ceremony.

2. Who Mourns for Adonis?: The God Apollo invites the crew to his planet. One female crew member falls in love with him.

3. The Changeling: A probe has changed from its original purpose to seek out life to a new purpose of destroying all imperfect life forms.

4. Mirror, Mirror: A transporter malfunction send Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and Uhura into an alternate universe where the Galactic Empire is based on terror, treachery, and force.

5. The Apple: A planet is beautiful but the plants shoot deadly needles and rocks explode. The peaceful inhabitants feed a computer that oppresses the culture of the planet.

6. The Doomsday Machine: When the Enterprise responds to the distress call of the U.S.S. Constellation, a Doomsday machine that has already destroyed several planets targets the Enterprise.

7. Catspaw: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy visit a Halloweenish planet with witches, black cats, fog and dungeons. An alien uses magic to persuade Kirk to leave without Scott and Sulu.

8. I, Mudd: Harry Mudd has declared himself the king of a planet populated with androids. The androids won't let him leave, so he wants someone to take his place.

9. Metamorphosis: A man thought long dead has been kept alive by an entity called "the companion". The Enterprise is brought to the planet by the entity to keep the man company.

10. Journey to Babel: The Enterprise transports a group of ambassadors that include Spock's parents. Spock's father, Sarek, is accused of the murder of another ambassador.

11. Friday's Child: The Enterprise completes with the Klingons for a mining treaty with the tribes of Capella. The tribal leader is killed and the new leader favors the Klingons.

12. The Deadly Years: After delivering supplies to a colony, the crew begins to rapidly age.

13. Obsession: Two crew members die from what Kirk believes is the same cloud-like creature that killed half of the crew of the U.S.S. Farragut.

14. Wolf in The Fold: Scott has a head injury and Kirk and McCoy take him to a planet for recovery. Three people are killed, and Scott is the only suspect.

15. The Trouble With Tribbles: The small purring balls of fur are irresistible pets but a few on board the Enterprise turn into a horde. Worse yet, they invade a shipment of grain.

16. The Gamesters of Triskelion: A civilization known as "The Providers" enslave the crew of the Enterprise with pain-inflicting collars to be gladiators.

17. A Piece of the Action: The inhabitants of a planet have been contaminated with items from Earth and the Enterprise is sent to investigate. They discover a culture similar to 20th Century USA, complete with mobsters.

18. The Immunity Syndrome: The Enterprise investigates the loss of contact with the solar system 7A. They find the solar system gone and then are trapped themselves.

19. A Private Little War: Kirk is unhappy to find that the previously peaceful natives of a planet that he had visited several years ago are now at war. One side has flintlock firearms and the witch doctor asks the Enterprise crew for phasers.

20. Return to Tomorrow: On a long dead planet, three have survived inside "globes". They ask for help to build androids, but then decide that they would rather use human bodies.

21. Patterns of Force: The Enterprise checks on a historian on a planet, and find a society similar to Nazi Germany.

22. By Any Other Name: The Enterprise responds to a faked distress call and are overtaken by the Kelvans, whose goal is to conquer other galaxies. They are forced to take human form.

23. The Omega Glory: The Enterprise discovers that the crew of a missing starship have been killed by a virus. They find the captain alive and violating the Prime Directive. The captain believes that the villagers are immortal.

24. The Ultimate Computer: The Enterprise has been assigned to test a new generation of computers. After the computer destroys a freighter, it refuses to relinquish control of the ship.

25. Bread and Circuses: The Enterprise has found the debris of the missing S.S. Beagle near a distant planet. The culture on the planet is similar to ancient Rome. They find that the captain beamed the crew to the planet. Those that couldn't survive died in the arena games.

26. Assignment: Earth: The Enterprise is sent back in time to the year 1968 to the planet Earth to find out how the arms race was survived. The ship intercepts a transporter beam with a space traveler headed for Earth.

Easily the best Trek set yet, I know I say it often, but Paramount not only keeps getting it right, they are getting better with each set.

5 stars out of 5

gareth@nwlink.com