Paramount Studios presents

Star Trek: The Original Series—Volume #33 (1968)

"Transfer out, freak!"- Scott (James Doohan)

Stars: DeForest Kelley, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Kate Woodville, Michael Ansara, Susan Howard
Other Stars: James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols
Director: Tony Leader, Marvin Chomsky

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 01h:41m:00s
Release Date: 2001-09-18
Genre: television

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B	B	B+	B	C

 

DVD Review

"Captain's Log Stardate 5476.3. I have just had the sad duty of informing Starfleet about Dr. McCoy's condition and have requested an immediate replacement." - Kirk (William Shatner)

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Stardate: 5476.3
Original Airdate: November 8, 1968
Directed by: Tony Leader

Despite many episodes where Dr. McCoy plays a pivotal role, rarely is he the lead character of the main story. Here, in a routine physical examination of the entire crew, he finds that he, himself, has an incurable disease and has only a year to live. Meanwhile, the ship is surprisingly attacked by missiles from what appears to be an uninhabited ship disguised as an asteroid and McCoy joins Kirk and Spock in beaming over to investigate. Projecting the path of the planetoid space ship, they have realized that it is headed straight for a collision with a Federation planet and they must figure out how to stop it.

Upon arrival they are captured by the people who live underground in the false planetoid. The landing party realizes that these people believe they live on a world called Yonada, unaware that they are travelling on a space ship. Interestingly, the high priestess of the Yonada religion, Natira (Kate Woodville) is instantly attracted to McCoy and ultimately proposes the idea of his staying with them on Yonada and living out his life.

Kate Woodville had an extensive television resume during the 1960s and '70s, including appearances on Mission Impossible, Harry O, Danger Man, Wonder Woman and many others. As Natira, she creates a beautiful, intelligent and powerful woman who is the moral and political leader of her people. It is amusing to note the reactions of Kirk and Spock to her love-at-first-sight relationship with McCoy.

Some points of the story, such as the actual nature of the oracle who serves as the god of the Yonadan religion, are representative of many of the later episodes of the original series where the shows are remakes of other premises with a different time, place or gimmick. This one is very similar in many ways to The Return of the Archons. However, the unique qualities of the tale outweigh the rehashing that takes place.

Putting McCoy up front in a story with an interesting premise, this episode rates three Enterprises.





"I don't propose to spend the rest of my life on this ball of dust, arguing your fantasies. The Enterprise is mine." - Kang (Michael Ansara)

Day of the Dove
Stardate: Unknown
Original Air Date: November 1, 1968
Directed by: Marvin Chomsky

The Klingons have endured as the arch-foe of the Federation throughout the Star Trek series, excepting those times in which they have been allies against the nefarious Romulans. Here we have quite a unique conception that explores aspects of violence, war, racism and hate in a compelling story that explores the depths of the characters in a unique and terrifying situation.

The writer of Day of the Dove was Jerome Bixby, who was responsible for some of the most potent episodes in the entire series. Besides the Hugo Award nominee for best Science Fiction drama, Mirror, Mirror, which featured the evil parallel universe Enterprise crew, Bixby also penned By Any Other Name where the Enterprise crew battled powerful aliens from another galaxy and Requiem For Methuselah in which Kirk, Spock and McCoy encounter Flint, a near-immortal, who had lived the lives of Brahms and Da Vinci, among others.

The guest star of this episode is the inimitable Michael Ansara, veteran of countless television and movie appearances. Ansara is a potent actor and dominates the tone of Day of the Dove as few guest actors ever did on Star Trek. His portrayal of Kang laid the foundation of much of what we now know of the character of Klingons. Kang made a couple of guest appearances on the later Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series, with other Klingons from the original series, that were great stories as well.

The Enterprise and a Klingon ship are both lured to a planet by false distress calls. When the Enterprise landing party investigates, they encounter the Klingons, who claim the right to take the Federation ship over because of the seeming sneak attack that destroyed their ship. Kirk tricks them by beaming up to the ship and leaving the Klingons in the stasis of transfer. Suddenly, events get out of his control as the Klingons are able to take over sections of the ship and a large part of the Enterprise crew are trapped in the lower decks. An evenly matched group of combatants fight to take over the ship, using swords instead of phasers. The ship, meanwhile, seems to come under the control of an outside force that has set it on a high speed course out of the galaxy, apparently leaving the humans and Klingons destined to fight forever.

Strong story and excellent acting by all gives this episode a solid four Enterprises.



Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: B

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The image transfers continue the high standards of the collection. Both are crisp and gentle on the eyes. The colorful world of Yonada comes off very well in the first episode with finely detailed costuming and makeup. The Day of the Dove episode takes place almost totally aboard the Enterprise and the ship looks great.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: We are provided with another nice job on the 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. Very subtle expansion of the sound across the stereo spectrum provides depth without the artificial quality that over-processed sound can have.

Audio Transfer Grade: B 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 13 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
2 TV Spots/Teasers
Packaging: Amaray
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Information Booklet

Extras Review: Each episode comes with the standard subtitles and original television teaser. The informational booklet provides the usual amount of trivia and info about the episodes (not much.)

Extras Grade: C
 

Final Comments

A must-have for fans of Dr. McCoy, as he has his first love affair when the Enterprise encounters the remnants of an entire culture speeding through space on a ship disguised as an asteroid. The second episode contains a fascinating allegorical battle between humans and Klingons, stage-directed by an alien, who feeds off the violent emotions of conflict. These are The Original Series at its most intriguing in characterization and action.

Jesse Shanks 2001-10-04