I must balance all this goodness with just a small wet blanket (at least for some of you). These episodes are remastered and in the vernacular of the day, they are "enhanced". At first glance, these are the best looking Star Trek: TOS episodes I have ever seen. Even in their first runs through syndication, I remember grainy prints with scratches. These feature crisp colors and contrast.

I'm not sure that the other changes stay within the style of the original series. The Enterprise effect shots have been redone along with all space SPFX shots. Planets now look more realistic and phasers have a more powerful looking blast. In "Tomorrow's Yesterday", the slingshot around the Sun is so well done that it looks like an effect from a current film and seems out of place with the acting and scenery in the rest of the show. As does the rerecording of the theme. The other musical cues sound great, but the recreation of the opening theme with a crisp track of Shatner's narration seems awkward at best and doesn't bring me back to those days of staying up to watch it in syndication on Sunday nights.

If the HD-DVD format is around to stay, then this will be a benchmark for everyone's HD-DVD collection. If there's another format after Blu-Ray (still awaiting a Star Trek release) and HD-DVD, you can be sure that Star Trek will be exploring those strange new worlds. I enjoyed revisiting Star Trek's past as much as I know I'll enjoy the next movie. If you haven't had time to enjoy this series lately, you'll find a lot to like about Season One. Brilliant pieces like "Space Seed" and the best episode of the series, "The City On The Edge Of Forever" make this a worthy addition to the Star Trek franchise.