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Star Trek: The Original Series - Origins  Review by Suzanne Lanoue 9/5/13

Most Star Trek fans would view this set and wonder why they would buy it when all of the episodes are already out on DVD? They might view it as yet another way for Paramount to bilk fans out of their hard-earned dollars. However, this set is clearly not for the average die-hard Star Trek fan. This set is for people who either have already seen the recent two movies (and not the old series), or people who may have seen the old series but have forgotten the episodes, but enjoyed the recent series.

You can tell by the outside of the box, as well as the name, "Origins", and it has photos of Kirk, Spock, Khan, a Klingon, and tribbles. The back of the box says: "Kirk, Spock, Pike, Khan, klingons, tribbles for the very first time!"  The set has the two pilots, Space Seed, Errand of Mercy, and Trouble with Tribbles.

I am a huge Star Trek but haven't watched the old episodes in a long time, so I enjoyed watching the set. It's fun to watch old shows and notice things you may not have noticed the first time around or have forgotten about. "The Cage", the first pilot, with Captain Pike, is fun to watch because you can remember how unusual it was for its time, even though now it seems very dated.  Their uniforms are very old looking. At the end of the episode, a Yeoman gives Pike a notepad of yellow paper! That had me laughing. By the time they did the second pilot, they had figured out that the starship Enterprise would be paperless! But you can tell that all of the money they spent for the pilot is on the screen. It definitely went into the costumes, the special effects, the makeup and the actors. It was low budget back then.  It's fun to watch Spock because he's not yet emotionless (and you can hear a trace of New York accent).

It's fun to watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before" because things were still not "set in stone".  Shatner is gorgeous and not a terrible actor yet. I love that episode, anyway, because Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman are so great.  Sulu is there but not on the bridge yet. There is no McCoy or Uhura in this pilot, either. It's just a great story, though, and it has a lot of action as well.

"Errand of Mercy" is a funny episode because you just wonder why the Organians keep their powers and true selves a secret, when Kirk is clearly so worried about their safety. Or at least, they could say, "Hey, don't worry, there's stuff going on with us that you don't know about" or SOMETHING.  Instead, Kirk keeps trying to convince them throughout the whole episode that the Klingons are awful, and then the Klingons come in and prove how awful they are. The whole thing is a little silly and contrived. However, other than that little flaw, it's a cool episode.

It's always fun to watch "Trouble with Tribbles", and parts of that one I have memorized, but other parts I barely remembered. It's such a fun episode.

The only one I really didn't like seeing again was "Space Seed", the one with Khan (I hear they made a movie about it - or two!).  What a horrible episode. Khan is supposed to be this barbaric man of the 90's. He sure is barbaric! I can't imagine that even a dictator, like he's supposed to be, would act so badly, especially towards women. Not unless it was some sex slave or something. Yet he treats a Starfleet officer badly, manhandles her, and clearly she likes it! And what's worse, Kirk and the others clearly admire him.  It's pretty horrible. I remembered it as being a much better episode than it was. I may have been thinking about the movie instead!

Anyway, you should check it out, no matter what kind of Star Trek fan you are because it's all worth watching.

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Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Page updated 9/21/13