Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]

The U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, embarks on a five-year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise's First Officer is Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan, and the Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters various challenges, including Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles, and genetic supermen led by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, seek new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no man has gone before.

In 1966, Star Trek set out to boldly go where no series had gone before, beginning a three-year mission that led to a franchise that would last decades. The first-season DVD set of the original series includes 29 episodes in their original broadcast order, starting with "The Man Trap" and soon followed by "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot filmed and the first one starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk.

The DVD set features several highlight episodes, such as "Balance of Terror" and "Errand of Mercy" (introducing the Romulans and the Klingons, respectively), the two-part "The Menagerie" (which recycled footage from the original pilot, "The Cage," featuring Christopher Pike as the captain of the Enterprise), "Space Seed" (introducing Ricardo Montalban's Khan character), and "The City of the Edge of Forever" (written by sci-fi giant Harlan Ellison and considered by many the best episode of the series).

The first-season DVD set is supplemented by 80 minutes of featurettes incorporating 2003-04 interviews with the cast and producers, as well as some 1988 footage of Gene Roddenberry. The longest featurette, "The Birth of a Timeless Legacy," examines the two pilot episodes and the development of the crew. Other featurettes include "To Boldly Go... Season One," highlighting key episodes, and "Sci-Fi Visionaries," discussing the series' great science fiction writers.

The DVD set also includes a pop-up text commentary on four of the episodes, providing history, trivia, and dry wit. While an audio commentary is still overdue, the technical specs include Dolby 5.1 and English subtitles, as well as the addition of the episode trailers.

The plastic case of the DVD set is an attempt to replicate the fun packaging of the series' European DVD releases, though it may seem a bit clunky. The paper sleeve around the disc case also appears awkward and crude. Nevertheless, the set is a vast improvement in terms of shelf space and bonus features compared to the old two-episode discs, which were released before full-season boxed sets became the model for television DVDs.

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