Press Release Mill Creek Press Release: The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (DVD) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

There’s an entire episode dedicated to the animated series!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Episode 1 is about the founding of Desilu and how Lucy’s life experience put her in the perfect position to be Star Trek’s champion, and how those efforts ultimately led to her having to sell the studio.

Episode 2 is about the animated series.

Episode 3 is about the failure to bring Star Trek back to TV with the aborted Phase II project and how The Motion Picture grew out of that.

That’s all I’ve had a chance to screen so far.

 

[Blimpoy06]

This series reminds me of a story I read about some of the markings on the pipes along the Enterprise corridors during TOS. "GNDN" - Goes Nowhere Does Nothing. That's what this documentary does, nothing. Eleven episodes with no direction or goal. Just soundbite after soundbite of interviews with lame reaction shots of Spock raising an eyebrow or Kirk pounding something.

Whoever wrote this must have believed every convention story Roddenberry told over the years. No opposing viewpoints at all. There aren't any out right lies, but there are several omissions and the timeline is all wrong at several points. The first episode would have you believe that Gene Coon joined the show after the pilots and was responsible for the character development in "The Man Trap". Coon arrived 11 episodes or so in. And there is no mention of John D.F. Black and Steven Carrabatos who were story editors before D.C Fontanna. Poor Robert Justman doesn't get mentioned at all that I recall. Just reading the Making Of Star Trek book from 1968 would provide ten times more information than this rambling mess.

Another error that caught my attention was when they presented it as if Laugh In took away Star Trek's time slot before Season Two of TOS. Laugh In was a Mid Season replacement show that replaced The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that season.

 

[bmasters9]

And believe it or not, there's no image of Kate Mulgrew on there, who was Janeway in Voyager.

 

[ScottRE]

You wanna learn about Star Trek?

General 1 — FACT TREK

www.facttrek.com

Star Trek Fact Check

A blog dedicated to untangling 50 years of fact and legend about the making of the original Star Trek (NBC, 1966-69) using primary sources.

startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com

Stay away from the Marc Cushman books.

 

[BobO'Link]

And believe it or not, there's no image of Kate Mulgrew on there, who was Janeway in Voyager.

On where? The cover? If so, there are *lots* of images "missing" from all the series, many of which are the primary cast. None of the captains are pictured.

I more question the inclusion of Kirsty Alley being prominent on the cover. And *all* of those photos are "street clothes" current making some of the cast mostly unrecognized for casual viewers. That said, it appears to focus on those who were the more heavily used in the commentaries or the production.

It's not a very good cover.

 

[bmasters9]

On where? The cover? If so, there are *lots* of images "missing" from all the series, many of which are the primary cast. None of the captains are pictured.

Indeed-- if there weren't captains, there wouldn't be a Star Trek.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’ll be curious to see Josh’s review of this release. It’s beginning to sound like it’s not worth adding to the library, but at $20, it’s not that much of an investment.

The release being on DVD only seems like a red flag!

 

[BobO'Link]

It's down to $14.59 at Amazon.

And I'm still trying to decide if I really want a physical copy...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m putting the finishing touches on the HTF review for this title and it should be up tonight or tomorrow, so hopefully that will aid in your decision-making process.

 

[Jay*W]

$11.99 at Best Buy. And the uncut interviews in the bonus are truly uncut. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

$11.99 at Best Buy. And the uncut interviews in the bonus are truly uncut. Pretty cool stuff.

Agreed - I don’t want to keep anyone in suspense, the disc will be getting a very favorable review from me, I’m happy with both the content and the presentation quality.

 

[Nelson Au]

Looking forward to the review Josh.

I was leaning on skipping this disc, but now your post has me leaning towards a buy decision. I also saw an article on Trekmovie that says there is a book just out that is accompanying the documentary. The headline says it fills in gaps not in the documentary. I did not read the article yet since the disc wasn’t getting any favorable vibes here until today.

By the way Josh, did I miss your review of Star Trek Strange New Worlds blu ray? Or has it not been posted?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Not yet posted. Almost done with that one too. Hoping to have that by this time next week if not sooner. I’m doing the BD and Neil is reviewing the UHD separately.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Josh! So the UHD is available for review too? That’s interesting. Looking forward to reading both reviews.

 

[DaveF]

Glad to learn this is on Amazon Prime. I’m intrigued, but not buying a DVD in 2023. Especially when the promo is obviously HD telling me there was a better quality original out there. Maybe I’ll download to watch on my upcoming vacation travel.

 

[Sam Favate]

Just started this tonight. I was skeptical about DVD (vs Blu-ray) but the image is really sharp. The writing could be better though. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the first installment.

 

[BobO'Link]

$11.99 at Best Buy. And the uncut interviews in the bonus are truly uncut. Pretty cool stuff.

That's a good enough price for me to watch the uncut interviews so I ordered a copy. Amazon *briefly* PMed that price after I'd ordered from BB. My copy should arrive Monday.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Agreed - I don’t want to keep anyone in suspense, the disc will be getting a very favorable review from me, I’m happy with both the content and the presentation quality.

I apologize for the delay, work-life-family issues have slowed me down but my goal is by end of the weekend. The audio/video quality is better than any standard definition DVD has any right to be, and the uncut interviews on the bonus disc with Nimoy, Nichols and Alley are treasures. If there’s a good price available and you’re interested in this title, I think it’s worth getting.

 

[Nelson Au]

Just ordered the disc. I had not realized there is an additional disc with uncut interviews, plus I didn’t look at the specs. I didn’t realize the documentary is spread across 3 discs.