BLU-RAY MOVIE REVIEWS

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/TOS1.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT> Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scotty (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Sulu (George Takei) are on a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations&#151;to boldly go where no man has gone before.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/TOS2.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and crew are back for the second season of <i>Star Trek</i>, and unlike season one, this is the first we've seen these episodes in glorious 1080p. Season two has several strong episodes that tackle heavy social issues and offer up planet-eating monsters, a murder mystery, and those wonderful tribbles.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/trek6.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Since <i>Star Trek</i>'s debut on NBC in 1966, it has become one of the most indelible franchises in entertainment history. Although the original series only lasted three years on network TV, Roddenberry's universe spawned five more TV shows&#151;<i>The Animated Series</i>, <i>The Next Generation</i>, <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, <i>Voyager</i>, and <i>Enterprise</i>&#151;and 11 feature films, the most recent being the wildly successful reboot by J.J. Abrams.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/tngmovies.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT> With178 TV episodes under its belt, the cast of <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> made its feature-film debut in 1994's <i>Star Trek: Generations</i>, which passed the baton from Kirk and company to Picard's crew. The film opens with a retired James T. Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B as it makes its maiden voyage, but when a distress call comes from a nearby ship, Kirk apparently pays the ultimate price helping the new captain save his ship from a mysterious energy ribbon. Seventy-eight years later, the Enterprise-D encounters an enigmatic humanoid named Soran, who's devious plan will cost millions of lives, and only Picard and Kirk&#151;who's been living in limbo all this time&#151;can stop him.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/starwarsclonewars.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Anakin Skywalker (voiced by Matt Lanter) and his Padawan apprentice, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), find themselves on a mission that bring them face to face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson). Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and his sinister agents will stop at nothing to ensure that they fail in their quest. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) and Master Yoda (Tom Kane) lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side.

My family fell in love with the series after watching season one on Blu-ray and we watched all of season two on Cartoon Network. As much as we enjoyed the episodes, the experience on cable pales in comparison to the Blu-ray. The video quality is vastly improved with no compression issues and I prefer the look of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio to the 1.78:1 HD cable feed. I'm disappointed the audio is a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track versus Dolby TrueHD, but it's certainly an improvement over the stereo feed through cable.

LEGO and Lucasfilm have collaborated on multiple projects including other mini-films, over 200 LEGO models, 275 minifigures, and Saga-inspired video games (which are extremely well done). Featuring situations, characters, and locations from throughout the entire Star Wars Saga, writer Michael Price captures the spirit of the franchise with a story is filled humor, adventure, and a surprise guest or two.