Star Trek The Original Series 60th: Collector's 2K Box Set Review

On September 8, 1966, the USS Enterprise entered American homes for the first time with the episode The Man Trap. Sixty years later, Gene Roddenberry's vision retains its power: to imagine a future where differences are no longer a pretext for conflict, but an opportunity to rethink humanity itself.

Born in an America grappling with civil rights tensions and the Cold War, Star Trek entrusted science fiction with a narrative freedom rare for television of the era. Unknown planets and alien civilizations became a mirror of a society unable to free itself from prejudice and discrimination. The future of the Federation was not a paradise already conquered, but an ideal to be continuously tested.

At the heart of this vision moves the triangle formed by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, one of the series' most successful intuitions. Kirk decides and takes risks, Spock subjects every choice to the scrutiny of cold logic, McCoy defends the unpredictability of feelings and the value of individual life. Their skirmishes are not mere ironic asides: they bring out moral fractures that no formula can resolve. It is in this unstable equilibrium that The Original Series transcends the boundaries of television adventure, because it does not promise a perfect humanity: it imagines a civilization capable of recognizing its limits without ceasing to overcome them.

Star Trek 60th First Season: The Courage to Explore

The debut season defines the series' language through independent adventures, capable of tackling very different situations. The Corbomite Maneuver puts Kirk in front of an apparently insurmountable threat, resolved without relying on the power of weapons. Space Seed introduces Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), destined to become one of the saga's most famous adversaries, the core of the second film in the saga, Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan.

The narrative peak arrives with The City on the Edge of Forever. Kirk and Spock reach Depression-era America after an incident that alters the timeline. Here the captain meets Edith Keeler, a woman whose destiny is linked to the future of humanity. The story transforms time travel into a drama about the consequences of personal choices, revealing a particularly mature side of television writing of the era.

Star Trek 60th Second Season: A Bigger Universe

With the arrival of Pavel Chekov (played by Walter Koenig, who recently passed away), the crew takes on a new physiognomy. The series also delves into Vulcan culture with Amok Time, a fundamental episode for understanding Spock's nature. Mirror, Mirror, on the other hand, introduces a parallel reality in which the Federation is replaced by a military empire. The idea would have a long-lasting success in subsequent productions.

Journey to Babel brings Sarek, Spock's father, aboard the Enterprise, transforming a diplomatic mission into an investigation that directly involves the Vulcan's family. With The Trouble with Tribbles, the series finally demonstrates its ability to lighten the tone without losing personality: the tiny creatures protagonist of the episode become an irresistible presence and one of the most recognizable symbols of the franchise.

Star Trek 60th Last Season: Legacy Stronger Than Limits

The final cycle presents discontinuous quality. Spock's Brain is one of the least convincing episodes of the entire production, while other stories retain considerable interest. The Enterprise Incident introduces a secret mission in Romulan territory, while Day of the Dove reflects on the ease with which hatred can fuel an endless conflict.

In Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, the conflict between two almost identical-looking individuals becomes an explicit denunciation of racism. The simplicity of the concept makes the absurdity of a rivalry based on physical differences even more evident. It is one of the clearest examples of how Star Trek uses imaginary worlds to talk about the problems of its own era.

The edition also includes The Cage, the first pilot rejected by the NBC television network. Jeffrey Hunter plays Captain Christopher Pike in a version of the Enterprise still far from what the public would come to know. The recovery of the episode allows us to observe the origins of the project and its gradual evolution.

Sixty years after its debut, the classic series inevitably shows the signs of its time. Some episodes suffer from the production limitations and narrative choices of the 1960s, but several adventures have not lost their ability to engage. Their strength does not depend on special effects, but on the questions posed by often sharp and insightful screenplays.

The most important legacy of Star Trek is the belief in the possibility of change. The conquest of space represents only the beginning: true progress consists in overcoming the prejudices that prevent human beings from understanding each other. This is the idea that has allowed the series to survive six decades of television and cultural transformations, maintaining the meaning of the Enterprise's journey intact.

Star Trek 60th - Video and Audio Quality

This new release includes Blu-rays with the same video and audio presentations: 2K images (1920 x 1080/23.97p) with original aspect ratio 1.33:1, VC-1 encoding on BD-50 discs. The film grain remains visible, sometimes more pronounced in sequences rich in effects, but the cleanliness of the material is generally good. What stands out most are the color rendition of the Starfleet uniforms and the definition of details: from the textures of the costumes to the instruments on the Enterprise bridge.

High definition inevitably highlights the scenic limitations of the production, including the approximate finishes of the sets and the artificial elements used to recreate the planets. These are vintage characteristics linked to the series' era and certainly not defects of the transfer. The third season maintains the same standards, with a few more impurities in sequences with special effects; The Cage shows differences between the black and white material, which is more marked by wear, and the color sequences, which are cleaner. It is advisable to choose the viewing with enhanced video effects.

On the audio front, all three seasons are listenable in Italian in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps) for a decent listening experience of recordings approximately 60 years old, starting with the dialogue. The original DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (24 bit) track fares better. Of course, the result does not transform the series into a spectacular demonstration of past recreation, but it enhances Alexander Courage's soundtrack while keeping dialogues consistently clear.

The electronic effects, alarms, and equipment noises thus gain greater prominence, while the rear channels contribute to expanding the soundscape. The second season shows a particularly noticeable improvement in the remastered versions, with fuller effects and greater depth; The Doomsday Machine offers some of the most effective passages. The third season also ensures balanced reproduction, with good effect separation and present, but not intrusive, bass.

Overall, this 2K Blu-ray box set continues to best enhance the original material, respecting its historical aspect and offering an audiovisual experience significantly superior to that of old television broadcasts.

Star Trek 60th - The Extras

This 60th-anniversary edition focuses primarily on collectible value, without introducing changes from previous Blu-ray box sets. The most evident differences concern the graphic design and the material included in the package, while fans can rediscover some in-depth features that are worth revisiting.

As in the past, the most interesting content for returning to the origins of the saga is "Starfleet," a picture-in-picture mode available for selected episodes. A secondary window shows contributions from producers, screenwriters, historians, and scholars of the series who comment on the genesis of the scripts, characterization, props, and music. The information can be accompanied by textual curiosities that appear during viewing.

Among the documentaries, Spacelift: Transporting 'Trek' Into the 21st Century stands out, dedicated to the work required to bring the series into the high-definition era. The film illustrates the recovery of original images, the new recording of the soundtrack, and the creation of "enhanced" visual effects. It is particularly useful content for understanding the work behind a remastering that sought to preserve the identity of the original production while adapting its technical rendition.

The second season reserves a special place for the Tribbles, the famous furry creatures introduced in the episode The Trouble with Tribbles. The disc also includes More Tribbles, More Troubles, from the animated series, and Trials and Tribble-ations, an episode of Deep Space Nine that celebrates one of the most beloved moments of the classic production. An opportunity to observe how a single narrative intuition has spanned different generations of Star Trek.

The third season, on the other hand, includes the alternative version of the second pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before, along with behind-the-scenes footage and testimonials dedicated to fundamental figures of the production. The interactive Enterprise tour and several documentaries on the history of the series, its performers, and Gene Roddenberry's cultural legacy complete the picture.

Finally, the box set stands out for its collectible items: 9 large-format laminated postcards, 8 dedicated to the cast and 1 to the spaceship, which, when turned over, form the "Star Trek 60" graphic. No less impressive is the small vinyl record (33 rpm) with variations of the theme music and some sound effects. The box adopts a different graphic design from the past, with a brighter and no less solid aesthetic.