Star Trek: Everything Old is New Again (on DVD, that is)

With the success of the new “Star Trek” movie, we’re seeing all the vintage “Star Trek” shows in a new light. Or maybe an old light with a new lightbulb. Or something.

At any rate, I’m a “Star Trek” fan from way back, and it’s fun to see people take an interest in the TV shows. Personally, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is my favorite, although “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” is extremely underrated. Really, they’re all good in their own way.

Now we have two new sets out, released on DVD May 12, 2009:

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series (1 disc, 201 minutes, buy it on Amazon). While this set only offers four episodes of the original series, they’re four of the best:

1) “The Trouble With Tribbles” brings those cute Tribbles to the Enterprise, showing that you can indeed have too much of a cute thing. Elsewhere, a barroom brawl with Klingons takes center stage.

2) In “The City on the Edge of Forever”, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are sent back to the 1930s to try and save the future. In the process, Kirk falls in love with Joan Collins!

3) “Balance of Terror” gives a first look at the Romulans and their awesome cloaking device. But these new enemies are a lot like the Vulcans, and the Enterprise crew starts to mistrust Spock.

4) In “Amok Time,” the usually logical Mr. Spock loses all emotional control when he returns home to Vulcan to consummate his arranged marriage. Somehow, it all boils down to a fight-to-the-death between Spock and Kirk.

The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1 disc, 181 minutes, buy it on Amazon). Again, only four episodes here, which probably aren’t enough to satisfy diehard fans, but they’re a good introduction for Star Trek: TNG newbies:

1) “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1” gives us our first look at the Borg and their ominous Cube. In my view, the Borg were way worse than the Romulans. Ok, maybe not worse, just a different sort of collective evil.

2) In “Best of Both Worlds, Part 2,” Riker takes over as captain, since Picard is still “assimilated” into the Borg world. Still, he manages to offer a single clue to the Enterprise crew: “Sleep.”

3) “Yesterday’s Enterprise” finds the crew dealing with a severe space-time continuum that takes the ship 22 years into the future. It’s one of the two episodes that features two different versions of the Enterprise.

4) “The Measure of a Man” brings home the question of whether Data is a man or just a robot. Picard fights for the former, and calls a hearing to prove it.

Images: Amazon.com