USA Release information for Star Trek TOS Year I

[dcooper]

From the Digital Bits

(LATE UPDATE - 6/15/04 - 3:30 PM PDT)

Hey... more great Star Trek news today! Paramount has finally announced the DVD release of Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete First Season for 8/21. The 8-disc set (no SRP, but expect the price to be about $100) will include all 29 episodes of the show's first year in broadcast order (full frame video with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio). Extras on the first season will include the The Birth of a Timeless Legacy featurette (on how the show began), the Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner featurette (an interview with the actor who played Kirk on how the show has affected his life), the To Boldly Go... featurette (a discussion with cast and crew members on key episodes of the season), the Reflections on Spock featurette (a similar interview with actor Leonard Nimoy on how the role has influenced him), the Sci-Fi Visionaries featurette (on some of the famous Sci-Fi writers that have contributed to the series), original preview trailers for each episode and a photo 'log' (gallery). All these extras are contained on the 8th disc. In addition, the episodes Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Menagerie, Part I, The Menagerie, Part II and The Conscience of the King will all feature text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda.

And attached is the cover art. (The cover box looks pretty cheezy, unfortunately).

[Tony Caldwell]

Thanks for posting this. I was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to put out the complete seasons of the original series...

I can't wait!

Tony

[Michael]

Just so darn expensive...:rolleyes: We need more Green Acres style pricing!...$24.99 LIST for Season 1...32 EPISODES! Pretty neat packaging!

[Mark]

Man, oh, man will I ever be in line for this one!

[Ed Bishop]

Yes, the pricing of the ST and B5 series is ridiculous.....they'll probably use the oddball 5.1 mixes they came up with, too....the original mono would be better, but what can ya do....

:ed:

[-=Rudy=-]

Another series I'll wait for used copies of...

[JonUrban]

Costco, here I come! :D

[HGN2001]

http://home.earthlink.net/~hgn2001/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/trekdelta.jpg Count me in!

Though I bought a few of the two-to-a-disc standalones (always on sale, usually used at around $9), I'm eager to get this whole series on DVD.

I don't mind the 5.1 surround attempts - they don't interfere with the intent of the original mono. Still there are a few instances where sound effects got missed on the earlier DVDs. I hope they get fixed for this release.

[Dugan]

Paramount has finally announced the DVD release of Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete First Season for 8/21.

COOL. They remembered my birthday!!! A perfect gift..... guess I'll be Celebrating at CostCo too!!

:cool: :D

[Mark]

Man, oh, man will I ever be in line for this one!

Upon further reflection.....I see that the entire series is supposedly coming out in December. Does it make sense to wait for the whole shebang, or are there essential extras on this First Season due out 8/21?

[btomarra]

I wonder if they will fix the missing audio when they get to season 2 (Patterns of Force had the missing knock on the door). Why couldn't they have done this in the first place. I mean just two episodes per DVD....

Brian

[Larry Geller]

Assume that Best Buy will offer an extra bonus disc with each season (they did for all the other Trek boxes). They are very worth it!

[Beatlelennon65]

I will pick this up day of at BB. I hope the picture has been remastered again since the scifi channel did them a few years ago. I am looking forward to some cool extras, hopefully with some outtakes or cut scenes. This one should be cool.

[audiomixer]

Are the transfers any different from the stand-alone earlier versions?

[btomarra]

originally posted by Michael
Just so darn expensive... We need more Green Acres style pricing!...$24.99 LIST for Season 1...32 EPISODES! Pretty neat packaging!

Michael,

I can certainly see your point on that price comparison. True...there are a number of complete seasons of TV series that fetch well under $50. $100 on that basis does appear to be steep.

However,

The comparison is with 25 or 26 minutes per episode which Green Acres was, so 16 episodes were fit on each DVD for a total of 2 DVDs, some like M*A*S*H had three DVDs for the complete season. That was priced at around $30 to $40. With 51 minute episodes, which Star Trek TOS featured, you get 4 episodes per disc. Star Trek TOS Season One is being offered on 8 DVDs.

Do the math....2 DVDs for $24.99...$12.49 per DVD. 8 DVDs for $100...$12.50 per DVD! The same! M*A*S*H at around $30 for 3 DVDs $10.00 per DVD. Only $2.50 more per each DVD for Star Trek TOS.

Now take Star Trek TOS as it was original priced...2 episodes per DVD. You had to buy 40 DVDs to get the complete Star trek TOS. At $15 per DVD as Best Buy priced them (Amazon.com has them priced at $17 each) that set you back at $600. Now..if each season is priced at $100 it would cost only $300. That amounts to a $300 reduction in price from the original cost.

Of course we all bought them already!

I'll probably buy them again! Maybe ...and let's hope...they improved the menus. They were pretty static on the original DVDs.

Brian