Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 40, Episodes 79, 99 & 1: Turnabout Intruder/ The Cage (B&W/Color Version) / The Cage (Full Color Version) [DVD]

And so we come full circle with this the final volume of Classic Trek. This volume is clearly the best one not only of Season 3 but also stands among the best ever among all 3 seasons. Hence, if you are picking which volumes to keep, this one comes under the "must have at all costs" category.In the first episode, "The Turnabout Intruder", we get a Gene Roddenberry credited story about women's lib and the injustice of gender discrimination which leads to desperation among women as they struggle for what's right. This story is important as it comes at a time when women's lib was a far cry from what it is today showing Gene as a prophet of sorts in championing its cause way back when. I thought the acting was very good and even William Shatner's impression of a slightly effeminate Kirk attempting to suppress his feminine tendencies so as not to arouse suspicion among the crew as worthy of mention. While it may not be among the very best of all TOS episodes, it certainly ranks among the top of a very poor 3rd season though.And now for the creme de la creme of the volume, "The Cage" in two versions no less with Gene Roddenberry himself giving the introduction and the final thoughts on the first version while I thought the second version was restored very, very well both in picture and sound quality too. I have no doubt that had Jeffrey Hunter stayed on and not died an untimely death in real life, he would have been the best Captain the Enterprise ever had; he is by far the best actor of the lot and I include Patrick Stewart as well. Overall, the acting of all the cast including guest star Susan Oliver, John Hoyt, Peter Duryea and the rest is exceptional. Even the aliens sent shivers up my spine from their eerie looks to their malevalent stares unlike any of the other aliens from future episodes. I personally think that this is ironically the best ever Star Trek TOS episode even if Spock is the only character that remains in future episodes.As Gene Roddenberry has long gone to the next life, this volume is even more a collector's item as it has his thoughts on the episode and on the impact TOS has had overall up to the mid-80s when this was shot. Overall, this is a must have volume for all Trek fans and indeed all fans of sci-fi television everywhere.Very highly recommended.Updated on July 14, 2012:Amazon won't let me review the blu-ray releases separately and so I have to append it here; the difference is like night and day! This long-time trekker is mostly satisfied as we get both the original and the "souped-up" versions here and for me the new versions are very, very good indeed. Both the picture and sound qualities have improved immensely and here in season 3 we have TOS as best as it can be; finally, definitive versions of my favourite ever tv series! Even the packaging is satisfying as it doesn't take up nearly as much shelf space as any of the other previous releases; it the size of the usual one disc blu ray we get the entire third season in 6 discs. Sure this is not the best of the 3 seasons with the infamous "Spock's Brain" among the episodes here but many of my favourite TOS episodes are here like: "The Enterprise Incident", "The Paradise Syndrome", "Spectre of the Gun", "For the World ... the Sky", "Plato's Stepchildren" and "The Empath". Overall, there is little for Star Trek fans to complain about in this blu-ray release of season 3.Very highly recommended!

With the release of Volume 40, the complete series of Star Trek: the Classic series is now on DVD. The editorial above is in error however. The copy of "The Cage" referred to as Episode 1 is the half and half copy which when released on tape originally was introduced by Gene Roddenberry. The one called episode 99 is the completely coolorized copy which was first shown to tv audiences (the first ever tv showing may I add) in the middle of a Star Trek documentary that aired in between the first 2 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (which will probably start coming out on DVD next month). It continues to be the only copy of "The Cage" aired in syndication nowadays. It was also released on videotape after the whole series was released on tape henceforth the number "99" (there were only 79 episodes counting "The Menagerie" as 2 but since Paramount counts it as 1, there are 79 with "The Cage"). With all of Classic Trek on DVD now after slowly coming out for 3 years, and all 9 movies available on DVD (as of November) again after slowly coming out for 3 years, we can look forward to the 10th movie on the big screen soon, and it's DVD months later as well as DVD releases of the sequel series (plural) Star Treks: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Of course if Paramount releases them as slowly as they did the above mentioned 49 discs and the 3 box sets of the movies, it is safe to say it will be at least 10 years for all of them to come out being their are at least 150 episodes of each of the above series, each having aired 7 seasons. By then the new prequel series Enterprise will be only a memory and who knows if they will have been out on tape by then. Hopefully also by then DVDs will be a lot less expensive as a collective (pardon the pun). In the meanwhile, congratulations to Paramount on finally releasing the entire Classic series and all the movies to date on DVD.

This DVD is a must for the collector. It contains a lot of Star Trek history.A) First the original pilot - complete and in full color. The full color print was found in the vaults of Paramount. (Apparently found in the 90's)B) The original piot TV Special airing "The Cage" - the original pilot when they only had the orignal black and white prints and used material from another two-part episode - "The Menagerie". This is because the original full color print was thought to be lost in the Paramount Vaults. (Apparently found int he 80's)C)The very last episode to air. "Turnabout Intruder". (William Shatner gets to play a woman!)Basically you are getting three epsiode. See Spock before he was the Spock we knew. The Doctor before McCoy and a female in the "second in command" position. (The wife of Gene Roddenberry, the Creator, himself - Majel Barret who later is Nurse Christine Chapel.)The costumes were espcially influced by the 60's. And the props, well, you just have to see them.So in essenace you get to tsee the first and the last of the original Star Trek. A must DVD for every Star Trek fan!Live Long & Prosper!