Blu-ray Review: Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete Second Season

Well, until the next generation of home video comes about, one should be able to stand firm at the belief that this is finally the ultimate release of Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete Second Season. Having gone through one or two VHS releases and several DVD versions, its nice to see the series hit Blu-ray carrying both the original television versions as well as the remastered versions that hit airwaves a few years back.

For me, Season Two has always been the best of The Original Series. Sure, Season One introduced us all to Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his gallant crew (Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, and George Takei). It also contained that classic “Arena” episode (not to mention “The City On The Edge Of Forever”), but Season Two is definitely where it’s at. Why? Well, first there’s the debut of Walter Koenig as Ensign Chekov.

And then, we have a shitload of fantastic episodes — including the epic “Mirror, Mirror” (wherein several key members of the Enterprise crew find themselves paying an unwanted visit to an alternate universe where everyone is evil), the comical “The Trouble With Tribbles” (introducing us to the sci-fi universe’s only loveable furry critters — you hear me, George Lucas?), “Amok Time” (in which we find out Spock not only has a wife, but that he sorta has to kill Captain Kirk, too), “The Gamesters Of Triskelion,” “A Piece Of The Action,” “The Deadly Years,” and still more.

Many of these Season Two episodes would later serve as stepping stones when writers would develop other Trek movies and series. For instance, Spock’s parents are both introduced in “Journey To Babel” — these two characters would return once in The Animated Series and in several of the feature films (they would also have important roles in J.J. Abram’s reboot). Another familiar name, Zefram Cochrane, first appears in “Metamorphosis” — his character is credited as creating the warp drive in the Trek Universe, and the franchise would revisit his character three more times in the future (or is it “in the past?” Damn these time-travel stories!).

Article Author: Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the disgruntled alter-ego of Adam Becvar, a thirtysomething lad from Northern California who has watched so many weird movies since the tender age of 3 that a conventional life is out of the question. …

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