Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The third and final season of Star Trek is very hit or miss in its entertainment value. The show was nearly canceled after the second season due to low ratings, but NBC begrudgingly brought it back and placed it in the worst possible timeslot—Friday night at 10pm. With the target demographic being young men, most had better things to do than to sit around the house and watch a science fiction show.

The final season isn't very good, especially the debut "Spock's Brain." Roddenberry made up for this stinker the next week with the best episode of the third season, "The Enterprise Incident." Other notables include "Specter of the Gun," recreating the gunfight at the OK corral and "Turnabout Intruder" that highlights Shatners acting—or some would say overacting—ability, but both are entertaining. Unfortunately, season three contains the worst Trek episode ever—"The Way to Eden," where a band of space-hippies try to overtake the Enterprise.

Like the previous two seasons, the CGI effects were redone for broadcast and they're just as impressive. The effects are faithful to the original elements and blend into the show. Pressing the "angle" button on the remote lets you switch back and forth between the original and new effects since they are encoded with seamless branching.

The VC1 encodes are impressive, although they don't look as polished as the first two seasons. This is mostly source related, but for the most part grain is well-preserved along with high-frequency detail. Color saturation is very good, although there are some minor differences from scene-to-scene. Black level and shadow detail are both first rate and this is by far the best these episodes have ever looked.

With its monophonic roots, the soundtrack isn't mind-blowing but is definitely serviceable. The DTS-HD 7.1 soundtrack is front-heavy and collapsed toward the center. As with the previous seasons, the volume level on the revamped title song is too loud, but the overall experience is quite good.

A wide assortment of supplements are spread through the six disc set and include all 24 episodes with the original or remastered effects and previous and trailers of each episode (480p). Disc six also includes the original pilot, "The Cage," which offers three different viewing experiences: an extended edition with new black and white footage spliced in with the original episode, the original episode with vintage special effects, or the original episode with newly created special effects.

Additional supplements include individual featurettes on Walter Koenig, James Doohan, George Takei, and producer Bob Justman, an alternate version of "Where No Man Has Gone Before," some coverage of a Star Trek convention, home movies from Billy Blackburn, a retrospective look at season three that includes interviews with the cast, and an interview with Rod Roddenberry about the impact the series has made on his life.

With 79 episodes the series found its way to syndication and huge popularity spawning multiple movies, four TV shows, and a permanent fixture in pop culture. While not as entertaining as the first two seasons, it still looks great in 1080p and every Trekker should add it to their collection. Recommended for fans.

Release Date: December 15, 2009
Studio: Paramount

Movie: 7/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics