Plot: What’s it about?
Episode #19-“Arena”>>>Airdate 1/19/67
The Enterprise finds itself in an uncharted area of space (but seeing as how they had never been there before, I guss it makes sense) and runs across an alien ship. Little known to them, the ship has just destroyed a Starfleet base at Cetrus III. Now both of the ships (The Enterprise and the unknown alien ship) come across another ship that belongs to an advanced group known as the Metrons.
It seems that these “Metrons” aren’t really that nice. They want Kirk and the gang to fight it out with the other ship. So Kirk and some lizard-like creature are beamed to a planet below and are to fight it out to the death. The winner will, of course, be set free while the loser will have their ship destroyed. Sounds fair?!? Well, as always Kirk will not fight or kill and the Metrons must come to a decision as to what to do. Gee, I wonder…Still, it’s fun and was istantly one of my favorites.
Episode #20-“The Alternative Factor”>>>Airdate 3/30/67
In space, there are knowns and unknowns. The Enterprise is finding out what some of the unknowns are as they experience a moment of what can be described as “non-existence”. Starfleet orders Kirk to get to the bottom of it and beams him down. Once on the planet, Kirk meets a man known as Lazerus. Lazerus explains that the effect was caused by an enemy of his that he has been chasing across space. Only trouble is that he needs some more fuel (diluthium crystals) and asks the Captain for some of theirs. Of course Kirk refuses.
For some reason, Kirk beams up the stranger to the Enterprise only to find that he’s very, very diffrent. He has a head wound that appears and disappears and is the opposite of what he was from one moment to the next (this is all done is cheesy Star Trek fashion of course, but that’s the fun). Lazerus manages to steal the diluthium crystals and it’s up to Kirk to deal with him or else both universes that house the being as Lazerus will be destroyed. I draw a comparison to Superman and the “Bizzaro” world, where everything is opposite. What ever will they do?
Video: How does it look?
Star Trek has never looked better, being that these episodes are more than 30 years old, they look great. Shown in their original full screen ratio, the colors are bright and vivid. The very colorful uniforms of the crew really stand out and all those blinking lights and buttons make it like you’re watching it for the first time (and for me, it was). While lacking in comparison to some of the full frame transfers, it’s understandable. If you’re a die hard Trekkie, this is the only way to go.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. It’s basically a mono soundtrack, but has some directional effects that I didn’t expect. The “zapping” of the phasers and especially the beaming up and down sounds are neat and have a high pitched effect. Still, for a TV show that’s 30 years old, the sound isn’t that bad.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are trailers for each of the episodes.
