The first season of Star Trek "the original series" has just been released on Blu-Ray, in a swanky edition that includes both the original episode and the new, remaster/updated version with new FX. This is now the third time I've bought Trek DVDs, but the Blu-Ray high-def transfer is pretty amazing. (I picked up the one season of HD DVDs released in 2007, but never had a chance to see those transfers.) When you can see every hair on Spock's arm and the pits in Sulu's cheeks (under the make-up), you're getting into some SERIOUS high definition.
I don't have time to go through all the episodes, but I did check out one of my favorites, "The Corbomite Maneuver." Aside from interesting direction by Joseph Sargent and excellent remastered special FX (though the original work was excellent), this one always caught my attention because the crew of the Enterprise gets so darn pissy. When you think of Trek, you usually remember the (mostly) good-natured bickering between the characters, but in Corbomite they're on each other big time.
The conflict begins when Kirk's getting a shirtless check-up in sickbay and McCoy doesn't bother telling him there's a red alert (!). Frankly, I would have been irritated too, but this is TV, aren't they supposed to be nice to each other? But no, Kirk angrily barks at McCoy and storms off to attend to business. (Though on his way to the bridge he decides he has time to change his clothes before dealing with the intergalactic menace.) That more or less sets the tone for the crankiness to come...
This episode also features a quirky performance by Anthony D. Call as "Bishop", a clearly over-his-head navigator who prompts a lot of the emotional angst. Dr. McCoy believes Kirk has promoted this kid too quickly, and when Bishop freaks out on Spock over his emotionless reaction to the death threat issued from a gigantic alien spacecraft, you start thinking McCoy's right. But Bones isn't great at picking his moments. With the clock ticking down to total destruction (the aliens gave the Enterprise crew ten Earth minutes to "pray to their Deity" before blowing them to smithereens) and Captain Kirk trying to sweat out a defense, the Doctor picks THAT instant to give Kirk crap about pushing Bishop too hard (!). Kirk yells at Bones, he yells at Spock, and when Yeoman Rand enters in the midst of all this with a carafe of coffee (!) interrupting yet another moment of decision, you're thinking, wow, even Obama would be tempted to pop off at these guys.
It all works out in the end, of course, and I think audiences excuse the petulance because Corbomite also has one of the great Kirk saves, as in "not Chess, Spock -- poker!" But the oddness is probably why it sticks in my mind...
