Star Trek Extra Features and Episode Listing

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Episode Listing

Season 1

Disc 1
1. The Man Trap
2. Charlie X
3. Where No Man Has Gone Before
4. The Naked Time

Disc 2
5. The Enemy Within
6. Mudd’s Women
7. What Are Little Girls Made Of?
8. Miri
9. Dagger of the Mind

Disc 3
10. The Corbomite Maneuver
11. The Menagerie: Part 1
12. The Menagerie: Part 2
13. The Conscience of the King

Disc 4
14. Balance of Terror
15. Shore Leave
16. The Galileo Seven
17. The Squire of Gothos

Disc 5
18. Arena
19. Tomorrow is Yesterday
20. Court Martial
21. The Return of the Archons

Disc 6
22. Space Seed
23. A Taste of Armageddon
24. This Side of Paradise
25. The Devil in the Dark

Disc 7
26. Errand of Mercy
27. The Alternative Factor
28. The City on the Edge of Forever
29. Operation – Annihilate!

Season 2

Disc 1
1. Amok Time
2. Who Mourns for Adonais?
3. The Changeling
4. Mirror, Mirror

Disc 2
5. The Apple
6. The Doomsday Weapon
7. Catspaw
8. I, Mudd
9. Metamorphosis

Disc 3
10. Journey to Babel
11. Friday’s Child
12. The Deadly Years
13. Obsession
14. Wolf in the Fold

Disc 4
15. The Trouble With Tribbles

Disc 5
16. The Gamesters of Triskelion
17. A Piece of the Action
18. The Immunity Syndrome
19. A Private Little War

Disc 6
20. Return to Tomorrow
21. Patterns of Force
22. By Any Other Name
23. The Omega Glory

Disc 7
24. The Ultimate Computer
25. Bread and Circuses
26. Assignment: Earth

Season 3

Disc 1
1. Spock’s Brain
2. The Enterprise Incident
3. The Paradise Syndrome
4. And the Children Shall Lead
5. Is There In Truth No Beauty?

Disc 2
6. The Spectre of the Gun
7. Day of the Dove
8. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
9. The Tholian Web
10. Plato’s Stepchildren

Disc 3
11. The Wink of an Eye
12. The Empath
13. Elaan of Troyius
14. Whom Gods Destroy
15. Let This Be Your Last Battlefield

Disc 4
16. The Mark of Gideon
17. That Which Survives
18. The Lights of Zetar
19. Requiem for Methuselah
20. The Way to Eden

Disc 5
21. The Cloud Minders
22. The Savage Curtain
23. All Our Yesterdays
24. Turnabout Intruder

Disc 6
25. The Cage
26. The Cage (Extended Version)

Extra Features

The US Complete Series Collection merely bundles the individual seasons together. So you get three Amaray style Blu-ray cases with o-ring card sleeves. Season 1 and 2 are fat bricks, with three central hinged panels holding two discs apiece either side, plus one disc at the back of the Amaray. Season 3 comes on six discs, and its case is thinner, with just two hinged panels. Each case has the episode listing and disc contents printed on the inner sleeve. The discs present their content with animated menus, and constant across all discs, you’ll find previews for each of the episodes presented in 480i, and typically running to a minute apiece. Annoyingly these are discs that don’t resume if you press stop during an episode, they’ll just boot up from the beginning again.

Also common in this collection are the Starfleet Access episodes, selected episodes which offer Bonusview content, secondary audio and a picture in picture track, as well as pop-up trivia, which offer insights into that particular episode, and interview snippets with cast members, crew, members of the restoration team, and fans. It’s a shame that it’s just selected episodes, as it really should have been done for the entire series.

Season 1

Disc 1

This autoplays with a trailer for the 2009 Star Trek feature film, and you can access it from the disc as well, with a choice of 6 languages.

Spacelift: Transporting Trek Into the 21st Century lasts 20:10, and is presented in 1080i. It looks at the restoration of the show for HD release, how they restored and repaired the original film elements, enhancing the colours in the process. It also looks at how the theme music was re-orchestrated for 7.1 surround, and of course probably the most contentious of aspects, the updating of special effects, with matte paintings enhanced, and CGI spaceships replacing the original models.

Where No Man Has Gone Before is the episode that gets the Starfleet Access treatment on this disc.

Disc 2

No extras here, but seek, and ye shall find a 3:42 SD show reel Easter Egg of the updated effects shots, complete with inappropriate music.

Disc 3

Reflections on Spock lasts 12:02 and is presented in SD. It’s a 2003 interview with Leonard Nimoy, who looks back at the character of Spock, how he was created and how he evolved over the years.

The episodes, Menagerie Parts 1 and 2 get the Starfleet Access picture in picture commentary and trivia pop-ups.

Disc 4

Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner lasts 10:18, and is presented in SD. It’s another interview taken from the 2004 DVD sets, and this looks ats William Shatner and his love for horses.

Balance of Terror is afflicted with the Starfleet Access feature on this disc.

Disc 5

Another inappropriate Easter Egg here, one of those cheesy, disparaging trailers that cable channels run for Star Trek, treating the whole thing like a joke. This, is in HD.

As for actual featurettes, there are two here, taken from that 2004 release, with To Boldly Go... Season 1, lasting 18:52 SD, and having the cast and some of the crew looking at notable episodes from the first year.

There’s also The Birth of a Timeless Legacy, 24:07 SD, which looks at how the show came into being, the two pilots, and the first few episodes.

Disc 6

Here you’ll find the Sci-fi Visionaries featurette, 16:30 SD, which takes a look at some of the illustrious writers involved with Star Trek, and the way that some of the season 1 stories came about.

Interactive Enterprise Inspection is presented in HD, and is a guide to a CGI model of the ship, complete with explanations from voiceover-man.

Space Seed gets the Starfleet Access treatment on this disc.

Disc 7

New for this collection is Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories, which lasts 13:23 and is presented in 1080i. Billy Blackburn appeared on the show as navigator Hadley, was DeForrest Kelley’s stand-in, and played various other minor roles, including a certain White Rabbit. He relates some of his memories of working on the show, and he also shot some home movies behind the scenes of the show which you can see here.

Kiss ‘n’ Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century lasts 8:24 in SD, and again is taken from the 2004 DVD release, with the cast and writers interviewed about the romantic aspects of the show, i.e. Kirk’s green women.

There’s a credit reel for those that worked on the updated effects sequences, some BD live content to access, and the Starfleet Access is applied to the Errand of Mercy episode.

Season 2

Owners of Panasonic machines may be faced with an annoying bug, a Network Connection Failed message on insertion of a season 2 disc, even when you are connected. It quickly goes away by itself though. You do get BD Live and Mobile Blu content on all discs if you are connected.

Disc 1

This autoplays with a general trailer for Star Trek content on Blu-ray, which at the time of this release comprised the first two seasons of TOS, plus the ten movies.

Disc 1 has an Easter Egg that has some talking heads advocating the Mirror Mirror episode. This lasts 1:10.

You get part 2 of the Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories which lasts 12:07, and given that Chekov has arrived in Season 2 to take Hadley’s place at navigation, we get to see more of the actor in his myriad roles as extras and aliens.

The Starfleet Access episode on this disc is Amok Time.

Disc 2

This has two Easter Eggs on it, one lasting 2:14 offers a little writer’s anecdote on The Doomsday Machine, while the other 0:44 is a little more facetious commentary on Star Trek’s redshirt body count.

Disc 3

Two more Easter Eggs here, with D.C. Fontana commenting on the Sarek Spock dynamic in a 1:22 piece, while the other one lasts 1:32 and takes a look at the alien diversity in the Journey to Babel episode.

Disc 4

While there is only the one Original Series episode on this disc, it is for a change replete with extra features. The Trouble With Tribbles also gets the Starfleet Access with the picture-in-picture treatment.

If you don’t want to be fiddling around with your Blu-ray player settings, this is the one Original Series episode that gets a straight up audio commentary, with episode writer David Gerrold doing the honours about his first, and probably most famous television script.

The sequel to the story, the animated series episode More Tribbles, More Troubles is also on this disc, lasting some 25 minutes, presented in 1080p HD with DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio, a preview for the then forthcoming Animated Series Blu-ray set (it never came). It looks pretty sharp, for a 1973 Filmation production which is less animation as it is slideshow. This episode also gets a commentary from its writer David Gerrold.

The Star Trek 30th Anniversary Deep Space Nine episode is also here, Trials and Tribble-ations, which saw the Deep Space Nine cast Forrest Gump-ed into the original series episode. It’s presented in 1080i, but don’t get excited, it’s still only an upscale of the original NTSC source. The DTS-HD MA audio is pretty neat though. This lasts 45:30.

Trials and Tribble-ations: Uniting Two Legends lasts 16:53 SD, and is taken from the Season 5 Deep Space Nine DVD release, and it takes us behind the scenes of the episode with interviews with the cast and crew.

Trials and Tribble-ations: An Historic Endeavour lasts 16:32 SD, also from that DS9 set and this time takes a look at the production of the episode, the technical challenges and the special effects.

Star Trek: TOS on Blu-ray is a promotional piece for the collection, with the re-mastered series production team talking about the quality of the HD presentation. It becomes a little more appropriate for this disc when David Gerrold joins them briefly with a few tribbles. This lasts 10:04 and is in HD.

Disc 5

It’s back to normal service with this disc, and all you’ll find aside from the previews is a To Boldly Go... Season Two featurette lasting 19:32 SD, again taken from the ten year old DVD release. The cast and crew reflect on some of the season two developments and notable episodes.

Actually there are a couple of Easter Eggs here as well, a 1:19 anecdote about a director, and a 0:44 affirmation of Star Trek’s positivity.

Disc 6

The main featurette is the Designing the Final Frontier piece which lasts 22:19. In it, production designer for the series Matt Jefferies and others are interviewed about the look of the show, and designing for it on a weekly basis. Again this is taken from that DVD release.

There are two Easter Eggs on this disc, one has David Gerrold speaking for 1:25 about the fan experience, and one has a comment or two on the alienness of Mr Spock, lasting 0:45.

Disc 7

There are a fair few extras here on disc 7 of Season 2, beginning with two Easter Eggs. One lasting 1:13 looks at social integration on the Trek set, while the 0:39 Egg is a quick comment on Star Trek’s sci-fi chops and legacy.

Star Trek’s Favourite Moments lasts 17:10, and has cast and crew from Star Trek TNG onward and fans relating memories of the original series, and picking out favourite episodes.

Writer’s Notebook: D.C. Fontana lasts 7:35 and she speaks of her role on the show, as writer and script editor.

Life Beyond Trek: Leonard Nimoy lasts 12:02 and the actor talks of his passion for photography.

Kirk, Spock & Bones: Star Trek’s Great Trio lasts 7:10 and is a look at the chemistry the three characters had on the show, with input from Shatner and Nimoy among others.

Star Trek’s Divine Diva: Nichelle Nichols lasts 13:04, and the actress is interviewed about her career, and about how the character of Uhura came about.

All of these last video extras are again taken from the 2004 DVD re-release of Star Trek and are presented in SD.

Season 3

You do still get the BD-Live and Mobile-Blu content in this collection, but the discs don’t throw up an error message on my Panasonic player.

Disc 1

Here you will find an Easter Egg lasting 2:03 which re-introduces some of the faces behind the TOS re-mastering, and offers a comment on The Enterprise Incident episode.

Disc 2

This has a 1:31 Easter Egg looking at the bottle show phenomenon, with the Tholian Web as an example.

Disc 3

Another Easter Egg, this time taking another look at the shuttledeck for 1:31.

Disc 4

This offers the last Easter Egg (that I know of) of the set, and it’s a 1:32 conversation about the re-mastered version of Flint’s Castle in Requiem for Methuselah.

Disc 5

There are some more interviews here, with Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig lasting 10:49, seeing the actor interviewed about his career and his hobbies.

Chief Engineer’s Log is a 6:02 interview with a very frail James Doohan.

Memoir From Mr Sulu, is a very impassioned interview with George Takei, touching on the Internment of Japanese Americans in WWII (he was a four year old boy at the time), as well as a cheeky plug for a Captain Sulu TV series.

These three interviews are in SD, and are once again taken from the 2004 DVD release.

New for this set is Captain’s Log: Bob Justman, which lasts 9:35 and is in HD, featuring the Trek producer’s last recorded interview, and with other Trek alumni paying tribute.

Disc 6

Here you’ll find a whole raft of extras that are contemporary with this release, not just recycled from previous DVDs, beginning with the Rare and Unaired Alternate Version of Where No Man Has Gone Before, Star Trek’s second pilot and the introduction of Captain Kirk. With a text intro putting it in context, it runs to 52:22, and is presented in 1080p and DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono audio. Note that there is no TOS-R version for this episode, it’s presented with the original effects, has only had a minor touch up in terms of colour timing, and otherwise has all the scratches and signs of age that you’d expect from a 50 year-old film. There’s not a lot different from the broadcast version, it is the same story, mostly the same scenes, but it lacks the familiar theme tune, has a spoken prologue setting the story by William Shatner, and is broken up into four acts, with title cards, as was often the practice for hour-long dramas back in the sixties.

David Gerrold Hosts “2009 Convention Coverage” lasts 19:25 HD, and takes us to a couple of conventions to grab a few interviews with the stars, the fans, and take a look at some Trek ‘stuff’.

The Anthropology of Star Trek Comic-con Panel 2009 is a 4:19 HD snippet of a lecture.

“The World of Rod Roddenberry” Comic-con 2009 lasts 7:14 and is a promo piece for Gene’s son and his company.

Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 3 concludes his contribution to the collection with a 10:53 1080i look behind the scenes of filming.

“To Boldly Go...” Season 3 lasts 22:28 SD, again taken from the 2004 release, and spends a little too much time on the now notorious cancellation and reprieve, and too little time on the notable episodes in this season.

Collectible Trek lasts 14:21, and looks at Trek merchandising and memorabilia over the years.

Star Trek’s Impact 8:54 SD has Rod Roddenberry offering his view on his father’s most famous creation.

Paramount have been notoriously stingy when it comes to extras for their best known sci-fi series, and that continues with the Blu-ray. Standards for the home collector medium are commentaries, deleted scenes, blooper reels, at least two of which do exist for Star Trek, but rarely make it to disc. They even give up two thirds of the way through with their Starfleet Access idea, the picture in picture feature only exists for rare episodes in the first two seasons. There are at least twenty episodes in this collection which are downright classic moments of television, and they all should have got the treatment that The Trouble With Tribbles got.

What we have here are just a couple of new features recorded for the Blu-ray, with most everything else recycled from the 2004 DVD re-release. And as I started watching the episodes on Season 3, I was struck by how it is truly too late for Star Trek to get that kind of contemporary treatment that it could have got 15 years ago at the start of the DVD era. With the passing of Leonard Nimoy, it becomes apparent that half of the recurring cast are now dead, most of the guest cast aren’t with us, and most of the creative talent, the producers and directors behind Star Trek have also passed on. You’re not going to get firsthand accounts of the making of Star Trek any more, not unless Paramount and CBS have been canny, and have been sitting on such material for the last few decades, hoping to monetize it gradually by drip-feeding gullible fans with constant re-releases.

But the thing is that with fifty years of the legacy of Star Trek behind us, there is also a whole lot of vintage material that’s out there that fans would love to supplement their collections. Last year, on one of my wanders through Youtube, I chanced on an interview with DeForrest Kelley, James Doohan, and Harlan Ellison (writer of The City on the Edge of Forever), from the seventies, although it rapidly became a debate on the merits of sci-fi as entertainment on television versus ‘hard’ sci-fi, and to coin a phrase, it was fascinating. This is the kind of material that fans would love to see. After fifty years, Trek needs critical analysis more than it needs the sycophantic sound-bites that amount to the featurettes in this collection.