It is no mystery that I am a HUGE Star Trek fan. I grew up on Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu and Scotty. My favorite series is Voyager, hence my username here on the site and my gamertag: Species8472 (Species8472 XgN on XBL). Species8472 is the first species to 100% resist the Borg (that is another story). With the release of the Video Marketplace, Microsoft and CBS have released the 1st season of Star Trek: The Original Series for “purchase to own”. All 28 of the episodes are available in SD 480p and 7 of the episodes are available in High Definition 720p format (and the list is growing daily). As of the time of writing this review the 7 episodes are:

The Naked Time
Miri
Balance of Terror
Arena
Space Seed
The Devil in the Dark
The City on the Edge of Forever

Today I will review, “The Naked Time”. The Naked Time was the 4th Star Trek episode to be released back in 1966. The episode is a favorite of mine due to the comedy. In this episode Spock and a crewman head to the surface of a planet that has been overcome by freezing temperatures killing all of its inhabitants. The crewman (who name does not matter as he dies – of course) becomes infected with a virus that in some sense intoxicates the crew (spread through perspiration). After the crewman dies others were infected through contact with him and then each other resulting in everyone losing their ability to control their inhibitions. Sulu thinks and acts like a fencing swordsman challenging everyone he comes across to a duel (I love it when he calls two crewman “cowards” for running). Spock loses the ability to control his emotions (so scary, poor Spock) and crewman Riley suddenly believes he is an Irishman named “O’ Riley”. Riley then tricks Scotty and company into leaving engineering and takes control of Enterprise. Riley cuts the engines while the Enterprise is continually keeping close contact to the frozen planet that is suddenly shrinking in size. The loss of engines sends the Enterprise towards the atmosphere of the planet, threatening to kill everyone onboard. The only way to save the crew and the ship is to risk a quick start via “implosion” (mixing matter and anti-matter cold – which if fails will kill them all) as the engines need 30 minutes to warm up and they have less than 18 minutes left. Spock is the only one that can provide the necessary equations needed to successfully perform the implosion but he has loss control as of his emotions and is a total “mess”. Of course, all is well in the end.

The visual side of things is very good. I did not expect the episodes to look “so” good in 720p via remaster. The colors in this episode like those in the Richard Donner cut of Superman II are fabulous. Everything with color has color. The red throughout the bridge is very very vivid along with the red and yellow of the uniforms worn by the crew. The enhancements even bring out some facial features such as pores in the skin and potholes. Even hair looks better than I expected as you can make out individual strands of hair on the crews hairline and heads. Sweat on the brow of McKoy and the sweat on Sulu’s chest when he is running around like a madman appears fresh and moist. You can see the individual drops of sweat making it feel a little gross in close up scenes. The contrast in the episode has been improved greatly which helps the improvements in the colors and overall feel and presentation of the episode. Like V for Vendetta, there is a slight purplish hue on some objects and crew throughout the episode. As with V for Vendetta, this is very minor but worth mentioning. There is also some residual background noise and some artifacts throughout the episode. You can classify the noise as slight graininess but considering the age of these episodes, this is VERY MINOR in comparison to ALL of the improvements.




Audio has been remixed in 5.1 (WOOHOO). The rear speakers are NOT as busy (weak to be truthful) as I would like them to be but something is better than nothing at all. The center channel and front speaker sounds are sharp and crisp. Dialog via the center channel is clear and full of volume. Bass levels could use some improvement but again, this is minor (considering the age of the source material).

Overall, this remaster of a classic Star Trek episode is excellent viewing for any FAN or non-fan alike. If you have never watched any of the original episodes, watching the remastered versions is a good way to jump into the Trek Phenomenon. Species8472 out!

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"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472