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Star Trek: The Original Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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he third season of Star Trek brings numerous changes, the most significant of which is the series' tenuous hold on longevity. Scheduled for cancellation after season two, a massive campaign mounted by Trek fans resulted in more than 100,000 letters in less than a two-week span, and the suits at NBC famously announced on-air that the show is to be revived for another year of voyages. That said, however, show creator Roddenberry took a back seat to a new cache of producers and creative types, and the final 24 episodes suffered as a result.
Several new developments emerged stillborn at the beginning of season three, beginning with the promise of Chekov's increased participation in the show. Moving to a new timeslot, on Fridays at 10 p.m., his main viewing constituency was either out partying or already in bed, and he soon returned to less substantial supporting turns. In the meantime, Kirk, Spock and McCoy all engaged new life and new civilizations that stretched the Star Trek universe nearly to breaking.
In addition to memorable episodes like "Spock's Brain," in which the Vulcan's gray matter is kidnapped, and "The Tholian Web," where Spock and McCoy bicker about the best way to save Kirk, the seven-disc collection includes two versions of the original pilot, "The Cage," in both its original and restored versions.
The original final frontier
By season three, Trek had both become a parody and the fulfillment of its original mission. Thanks to game performances by Nimoy, Kelley and especially William Shatner, the show developed past its science-fiction origins into a full-fledged space opera, as Roddenberry initially intended. Unfortunately, inconsistent writing kept the show from further evolving into a truly great program, and reflecting upon many of the episodes, it's immediately clear why the series didn't live on after that third season. That said, however, the extras on the season-three DVD collection are particularly impressive; in addition to a retrospective that recounts the final days of the original series, multiple featurettes and documentaries close the gaps left from previous DVD sets and provide a comprehensive look at the series' impact, not only upon its participants but on science-fiction and mainstream culture.
As always, the pop-up commentaries are a welcome addition to frequently languorously paced episodes (at least compared to nowadays), but appear in too short supply: Only two episodes, "The Savage Curtain" and "Turnabout Intruder," feature them. Still, the information they offer is well worth your attention, from their regard of the effects teams' continuing ingenuity compared to their mounting budgetary limitations (the show drained money from NBC investors) to the informed speculation regarding Roddenberry's cool futuristic but unspecific employment of "stardates" to create an ambiguous time frame for each show.
The anecdotes on disc seven's featurettes ring bittersweet, even as they look forward to the feature films that followed; Koenig's dismay after losing screentime to an unfavorable timeslot dovetails directly into George Takei's bemused recollections that it took him until the sixth feature to earn a captain's post, despite being the best and brightest of Starfleet's students. The best story, however, comes from Nichelle Nichols, who recalls in vivid detail the process by which Shatner thumbed his nose (or, more precisely, crossed his eyes) at Southern censors who objected to the possibility of an interracial kiss; as she remembers it, he stonewalled the director until time ran out, and then ruined the conservative take. All of which is further evidence why in its genre, in its medium or in its culture, Star Trek continued—and, to this day, continues—to go where no one has gone before.
The inclusion of "The Cage" is the highlight of the season-three DVDs, but it makes me wonder why they didn't include it on the season-one collection; perhaps they knew series fans wouldn't pick up the last collection if it didn't have a treasure trove of bonus materials to compensate for the lackluster quality of the shows themselves. However, this is as good a way for the original series to end its DVD run as is likely possible, and it generates interest in watching the subsequent movies as well—at least through episode six, anyway. —Todd
Also in this issue: The Jacket and The Greatest American Hero Season-One DVD
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