Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault

4 reviews for Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Talk Story Bookstore – Kauai – December 23, 2016

   We were really really really really looking forward to seeing the lost scenes, outtakes, trims, bloopers, gaffs, and any other bits of behind-the-scenes Star Trek.Unfortunately, what we got was a very long documentary about the making of the original series, with a small series of clips as a separate special feature.We love Star Trek documentaries, and this is an entertaining one. However, we agree with other reviewers that the concept they came up with of making most of these clips only able to be seen within the documentary itself is frustrating to say the least.Most anyone who is geek enough to want to see trims of film of a TV show really doesn’t need an explanation of how these all fit into Star Trek. We know these shows inside and out, so it was a hulk of unnecessity to present these clips the way they did. What was disappointing was that we are forced to watch these long-lost clips with some writer or producer yapping over them, making it both difficult to hear what they are saying and difficult to focus on the details of what we are watching.They really should have taken a lesson from how BBC & 2Entertain did the “Doctor Who: Lost in Time” DVD set (or any classic Doctor Who releases).With those, not only do you get the interesting documentary, you ALSO get the entire library of clips and trims, regardless of how dull some of it might be.They have been doing releases like this for over 10 years and very successfully.Why the producers thought they had to “do something new” to present old material like this is beyond us.Secondly, this cannot be ALL that was in the vault.There was no gag reel! We all know it exists because Gene would take it to conventions and show it! Yet it was missing from the vault?And where were the bloopers?There was too much missing from this set to justify the price (and including episodes which most would already have… why? For new commentaries? Really?)Lastly, the first half of the first part of the documentary was weird. It was this sales-pitch build-up of how AMAZING these clips would be to see and how it would change the life of Star Trek fans.Sadly, the entire experience was underwhelming, and too bad, too, since we are big Trek fans.The best part of the whole thing to us was the raw footage of the visual effects shots. To see the Enterprise in its original glory was beautiful. It is what saved this review from being two-star. We only wish that they had this footage when they were doing the remastering project of TOS.To experience the clips by themselves is great, because we get to study the moment at hand and are able to enjoy them as they are and make of them what we want.To have someone telling us what we should be appreciating about them (without giving us any other choice) is simply weird. It would be like watching a brand new movie, but you can only watch it with the commentary track. You would never be able to appreciate the movie on its own.It is worth the watch, and after viewing the cut scenes and clips, it really makes it quite evident how excellent and sharp the editing choices were for the original series when it aired.However, because the layout is poorly-conceived, it will likely bother other long-time fans as much as it did us.Maybe a revised release is in order? One with each episode’s clips individually able to be seen would be fantastic.Yet, sadly, we do not see this happening, and in the end, this set feels like a big let down.Darn…

2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Mark Abukoff – January 5, 2017

   This past year for me has been about reuniting the love affair with TOS. The depth and love and blood, sweat and tears that went into it not only makes me appreciate the series even more (as well as notice things that I never had before) but it’s also inspiring to me as a writer, because I’m creating my own sort of universe with lots of details and characters but overall a simple unifying theme. You can see that the series had that, but also the people who made it had a single unifying love for the concept. It’s like wherever you go, keep your eyes on the simple vision. Do that and you’ll always stay true to it. 🖖 I’ve finished watching the extra material in this and I can truly say that there is no better inside, intimate look at Star Trek TOS. The only way you could get a better look at it would be to use the lightspeed breakaway factor and go back there to the beginning. The Roddenberry Vault is the time capsule. The time machine. The best and most wonderfully researched and altogether look at what went into that revolutionary series. You’ll see better than ever how this simple, short-lived series laid the groundwork for fifty years of adventure and storytelling. And you’ll also see how it can live forever. Thanks again to Michael Okuda, Rod Roddenberry and everyone else who made this love letter to the series and its fans possible.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Troy J. Martin – July 8, 2017

   If you are expecting a raw dump of reels of outtake footage, this set is not for you. The documentaries are more than informative. They put in context the outtake footage shown. Important historical notes are included, some of which were only hearsay until this set came out, displaying the evidence for all to see. The interviews are fascinating, nostalgic and revelatory. Some of the outtakes are astonishing, including evidence that the infamous scripted coda for “Who Mourns For Adonais” was actually filmed.There are hints that there is yet more footage to be released, and therein lay my only want, that this set had contained more found footage. In this I will have to trust the editors/curators.The episodes chosen for this set are available with both original and remastered effects, but included are special features not seen on the Original Series’ Blu-Ray first release: audio commentaries on three episodes, as well as isolated music scores on ten of them. Those features make this set nearly worth the purchase without the Vault material.Are you an Original Series Star Trek fan, who loves to learn about what went on behind the scenes? Don’t hesitate. Get this set!

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   A. Cohen – October 26, 2022

   To anyone who found this set disappointing, I have to tell them that they have no idea what they are talking about. The documentaries on this are a fan-boy’s dream! I worked in Motion Pictures/DVD Special Features-Documentaries for almost 20 years and I can tell you that they threw as much as they could in these docs that had never been seen before. People complaining about not hearing the dialogue because of the talking heads, aren’t aware that there isn’t any dialogue to hear. The snippet you see in the doc may be short, but there’s nothing else to see because the rest of the footage was used in the show, or the the clip is over. These docs were made for the fans so that we could see every little nugget of unseen footage we could. When I worked on DVD special features, I always tried to do the same and I commend the filmmakers here for what they did. I can totally tell what they did and it’s amazing! I don’t care so much about the actual episodes presented, but this set is SO WORTH IT for the 3 30 minute documentaries and the extra 20 minutes of added deleted scenes that are one here. LOVE THIS!!!!!