Volume 12: "A Taste of Armageddon" and "The Space Seed"
"A Taste of Armageddon" (broadcast 23rd)
Trek doesn't have a great record for predicting the future - as we'll
see in "Space Seed" - but "A Taste of Armageddon" (broadcast 23rd) - does
sort of foreshadow the invention of the neutron bomb.
A diplomatic mission sends the crew of the Enterprise to Eminiar VII, a
planet that's supposed to be "off limits"; Ambassador Fox (Gene Lyons)
insists that they ignore that status in an attempt to establish diplomatic
contact. Inevitably, it turns out there was a good reason this planet was
on the "stay away" list: they've been at war for 500 years with another
planet called Vendikar.
Also inevitably - since it's Trek - this is no ordinary war. Instead
of normal weapons attacks, this fight occurs through computers which
simulate effects and then report casualties. Anyone who would have been hit
in a real attack then has to report for "disintegration".
This reminded me an awful lot of the "clean wars" the neutron bomb was
supposed to allow; the participants in this conflagration stick with the
technique since it "only" kills people and allows the infrastructures of
society to continue. The warring factions don't suspect the price they have
to pay for such "progress", and it's up to our crew to teach them.
"ATOA" offers a fast-paced and dramatic episode of Trek. Of course
we know that our heroes will escape annihilation, but this show makes it
even more interesting than usual to watch how it occurs. I found the
program to provide unusually thought-provoking material as well, since it
concerns the nature of warfare itself and depicts the drawbacks to
apparently "civilized" forms of battle. "ATOA" kept me involved and
stimulated from beginning to end; it's a strong episode.
"Space Seed" (broadcast 22nd) has the biggest reputation of these four
episodes, and is one of the best known of all 79 Trek shows since it
connects to 1982's film STII. Overall, "SS" presents a good program
but I must admit I found it a little disappointing, probably because of the
high expectations its history engendered in me.
In "SS", the Enterprise encounters a derelict ship from the 20th century
with faint signs of life aboard. These turn out to be its crew, most
notably including their leader, Khan (Ricardo Montalban). McCoy revives
Khan (and eventually the other survivors) and we slowly see his story unfold
and learn of his quest for power.
"SS" works well overall, and proceeds at a nice clip. As with many
Trek episodes, much of it is predictable - let's see a show of hands
for anyone who thought Lt. McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) would last for more than
just this episode - but it's fun to see how the events unfold. As with
James Bond films, the most enjoyment from Trek revolves around how
our heroes will escape apparently impossible situations. "SS" is a minor
disappointment in that regard; I don't want to reveal the climax, but I
thought it lacked cleverness and ended the tale on a bland note.
The show's finale also revealed one of the worst stunt doubles I've yet
seen. Oh, he's a fine stunt man, but he looks little like William Shatner,
and the guy appears on screen in many shots that make it absurdly obvious we
aren't seeing Shatner; they did a terrible job of cutting around his
face and hiding his true identity.
Despite some flaws, I liked "Space Seed" and I'll probably think more highly
of it when I watch it again. I can't recall if I ever saw this episode
prior to the release of the DVD, but if I did, it happened so long ago that
it's irrelevant; for all intents and purposes, I viewed "SS" for the first
time tonight. It's a good episode, but the Khan connection demands that it
be great, and it doesn't quite reach that level.
(As for the event "SS" predicted that never happened? A world war in the
1990s. I guess you can't win them all!)
These Star Trek episodes appear in their original broadcast aspect
ratio of 1.33:1; because of those dimensions, they have not been enhanced
for 16X9 televisions.
In regard to picture quality, both volumes present images that pretty
closely match those seen on prior ST:TOS DVDs. That means while they
look much better than one might expect, their overall quality seems fairly
average when compared to other programs from the time period.
Sharpness usually looks pretty good, but quite a few scenes appear fairly
soft, especially during "SS". The show's directors loved to use soft-focus
on the lead actresses, and since Madlyn Rhue gets a lot more screentime than
typically afforded these one-show wonders, that means we see a lot of that
kind of image. Oddly, a fair amount of softness affects other scenes as
well in all the episodes; somewhat wide shots appear hazier than they
should. In general, focus is not an issue and most of the scenes look
pretty clear, but many don't seem as crisp as they should.
Moiré effects are mainly a concern during "A Taste of Armageddon"; the
interiors of Eminiar and the clothes of some of its inhabitants often
feature lots of thin horizontal lines, which can strobe slightly. To be
honest, however, this concern seemed less significant than it could have
been, and the shimmering appears fairly minimal. The other three episodes
have very brief instances of moiré effects, but not to noteworthy degrees.
Jagged edges pop up occasionally during moving images. Outer space shots of
the Enterprise in flight display the most problems in this regard; the edges
of the ship often present that "serrated" impression. Other than those
times, however, "jaggies" seem of little concern.
Print flaws appeared less apparent than on many of the prior Trek
DVDs. Frankly, the shows look surprisingly clean. Grain seemed most
problematic during "Tomorrow Is Yesterday". This occurred primarily because
of the extensive use of stock footage; we find those kinds of shots of
fighter planes and other military components and they appear in bad shape.
Though the rest of the episode looks much cleaner, I still thought it seemed
grainier than most other Treks. The other three display intermittent
grain - still most prominent during effects shots - and some light speckling
at times but largely were clean.
Colors reflect the high-intensity hues seen on the other DVDs; Trek
played up the fact it was a "full color" show and many of the tones go for
bright and bold colors. While these sometimes seem quite brilliant, they
come across as blotchy and vague much of the time; the intensity appears too
much for the film to handle and the result looks decent but uncertain.
Black levels appeared unusually good during these DVDs, as I witnessed some
deep and dark tones, mainly exhibited through the clothing of characters.
Trek generally stays too brightly-lit for shadow detail to be much of
an issue, but when those situations occur, the images seem appropriately
heavy but not overly opaque.
Despite these criticisms, I remain happy with the picture quality of the
DVDs. I'd guess they received some rough treatment over the years - it
clearly took a lot of time before Paramount realized how valuable a
franchise it was - so it's remarkable they've held up so well. Objectively,
they present a lot of problems, but subjectively, they seem very good.
My praise for the newly-mixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks of all these
episodes is much less equivocal. Put simply, they sound absolutely great.
For material the age of Trek, these mixes really do sound good.
This audio comes from original monaural tracks. The soundfield remains
pretty heavily oriented toward the center, but it has been opened up quite a
bit. Many sounds come from the front right and left channels, and we also
hear occasional activity from the rears. The surrounds often give off some
good ambient information - like the hum of the Enterprise - and split
surround usage occurs on occasion, such as when the ship flies by or when a
phaser blast heads to one side. No one will mistake these tracks for recent
efforts, but the effect works quite well.
Even more pleasantly surprising is the good quality of the sound. Dialogue
appears very clear and reasonably warm and natural, with absolutely no
intelligibility problems. Music seems a bit flat but generally nice, and
effects come across quite well for the most part. Although some distortion
can interfere with effects, they're usually very clean and they even boast
some good bass at times. Whoever remixed these suckers deserves a serious
pat on the back; the results are fantastic.
The audio on Volumes 11 and 12 seems less involving than what I heard on
some of the prior efforts but it remains terrific for the material. None of
the four episodes offer any standout sound, although "TIY" comes close; some
of the fighter jets fly past realistically and largely lack distortion. The
other three shows seem good but not especially encompassing. Of course, I
shouldn't ignore the "spoiling" factor; I've come to expect strong audio
from these DVDs, so I get harder to please. When I try to examine them
objectively, I award the soundtracks of these DVDs solid "B" ratings.
The only genuinely unsatisfying part of these DVDs stems from their lack of
supplements. Each disc offers four "original broadcast preview trailers."
These are one-minute ads that offered viewers a glimpse at what would happen
on next week's show.
On each DVD, two of these trailers are readily found; when you highlight a
particular episode from the main menu, the preview appears as an option on
the next screen. However, in addition to ads for the two shows found on
that DVD, trailers for the episodes on the next disc also appear. To
see those, highlight and click on the Starfleet insignia at the top of the
main menu. When you do that, you will gain access to all four trailers.
Other than these trailers, the DVDs are virtually devoid of extras. Each
disc's booklet contains a few pictures, some trivia and production credits
in addition to a DVD checklist; that beats a kick in the head but doesn't
offer much extra value. The continuing nature of the series makes it harder
to add in supplements - there'll be forty DVDs in all, and that would
require a lot of content. Still, I can't help but feel something could have
been added, whether interviews or publicity stills or even just talent files
for guest stars; the world of Trek seems to wide to include so few
extras.
Some of my past recommendations have been tepid because of a weak episode
here or there, or due to a single DVD that includes two fair but
unspectacular shows. This time my job appears easier. Volume 12 gets a
strong recommendation, as both episodes included are very good and hold up
well; it's a "must buy" for any Trek fan.
As for Volume 11, it still merits a look because of the excellent "Tomorrow
Is Yesterday" but loses points for "The Return of the Archons", or at least
for that show's last third; the first parts of that episode are pretty good,
but it fades badly at the end. Nonetheless, I think Volume 11 also would
find a happy home in your collection.
Related Sites
Current as of 6/5/2000
DVD MovieGuide: Star Trek - The Original Series--Visit our special coverage of the series on DVD. The section includes full sypnosis of each episode, reviews, recommendation to the best sites, and more.
Amazon.com--Purchase the Vol. 11 and Vol. 12 DVD at special discount.
Reel.com--Purchase the Vol. 11 and Vol. 12 at special discount.
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"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (broadcast 19th) presents what I believe was the
first-ever time travel episode of Trek. In this one, the Enterprise
is sucked into a "black star" and gets zipped back to the late 1960s.
They're spotted by military planes and ultimately need to transport an Air
Force captain (Roger Perry) aboard the ship. The dilemma becomes one of
deciding what to do with him, since it seems problematic to send him back to
Earth when he knows so much about the future.