Television’s Final Frontier Remains Essential

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TV SERIES REVIEWS
Star Trek: The Complete Original Series (60th Anniversary)
TV-PG –

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama
Year Released: 1966–1969, 2026 60th Anniversary Blu-ray
Runtime: 3 seasons, 79 episodes, approximately 50m each
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett
Where to Watch: available September 8, 2026, pre-order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES premiered on September 8, 1966, and 60 years later all 79 episodes return together on Blu-ray in commemorative packaging celebrating the series that started everything. Six decades of STAR TREK TV, movies, characters, conventions, collectibles, and generations of fans can all be traced back to these three seasons. Watching them now, it’s remarkable not only how influential the series became but how entertaining so much of it remains.

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, DeForest Kelley and the rest deserve an enormous amount of the credit. The friendships among the crew become the heart of the Enterprise, and the actors understand exactly what each character contributes. Kirk sits between Spock’s devotion to logic and McCoy’s emotional instincts, occasionally agreeing with one, occasionally with the other, and frequently needing both. That gives STAR TREK a personality that survives even when an episode’s planet, monster, or scientific explanation isn’t among its strongest.

Shatner’s performance is considerably better than decades of exaggerated impressions would suggest. Captain Kirk can be theatrical, particularly when circumstances allow Shatner to really lean into it, but he’s also a thoughtful commander carrying responsibility for hundreds of people. Some of his best moments are the decisions where Kirk knows there isn’t a perfect option available. Nimoy accomplishes something even harder with Spock. The character’s insistence on logic could have become repetitive almost immediately, yet Nimoy constantly lets small traces of curiosity, affection, irritation, and insecurity slip through beneath that Vulcan control.

Kelley completes the trio beautifully. McCoy gets to be funny, angry, compassionate, and occasionally unreasonable, which makes him one of the most recognizably human people aboard the ship. His arguments with Spock become one of the series’ most reliable delights, particularly because the irritation never completely hides their affection for each other.

The Enterprise wouldn’t be the Enterprise without everyone else around them. James Doohan’s Scotty can make an engineering crisis entertaining through sheer confidence. Takei gives Sulu a likability unlike any other; Walter Koenig brings contagious energy as Chekov after joining in the second season; and Majel Barrett makes Nurse Chapel memorable despite having considerably less to work with than the leads. Nichols’ presence as Uhura remains especially significant, even if the series should have given her far more opportunities to take the spotlight.

Those characters create a future that still feels hopeful in a way science fiction sometimes forgets how to be. STAR TREK doesn’t imagine humanity becoming perfect, but it does imagine humanity becoming better. Earth survived its mistakes. Nations found ways to work together. Exploration replaced conquest as an ideal. The Enterprise travels through space not only to look for resources or enemies, but because there are things nobody has seen yet.

That optimism doesn’t prevent the show from asking uncomfortable questions. Gene Roddenberry and the series’ writers repeatedly use alien worlds to examine prejudice, authoritarianism, war, intolerance, artificial intelligence, and the ease with which societies justify cruelty. Some metaphors are more graceful than others, and the social attitudes surrounding women can quickly remind viewers that this was still 1960s network television. Even so, there are episodes whose basic ideas remain surprisingly relevant.

“Balance of Terror” is a terrific example. The Enterprise’s encounter with a Romulan vessel is a tense battle of strategy, but beneath it lies a story about enemies discovering how similar they actually are. “The Devil in the Dark” begins like a monster story before asking whether the supposed monster is simply something nobody bothered trying to understand. “A Taste of Armageddon” turns warfare into something frighteningly bureaucratic, while “Space Seed” introduces Khan Noonien Singh long before STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN made him an inseparable icon from the franchise.

STAR TREK could also loosen up in the best ways. “The Trouble with Tribbles” remains so funny because it never seems embarrassed about being silly, and “Shore Leave” embraces the strange possibilities of visiting worlds where almost anything can happen. “Mirror, Mirror” allows the actors to play against their established personalities while introducing an alternate universe that STAR TREK would continue to explore for decades.

Then there’s “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Even among a franchise filled with celebrated episodes, it remains special. Kirk and Spock's journey into Earth’s past eventually becomes a painful story about history, responsibility, and the impossibility of saving everyone. Joan Collins gives Edith Keeler enough warmth that the episode’s final choice actually matters, and Shatner handles Kirk’s emotional devastation beautifully. Sixty years haven’t taken away in the slightest.

That doesn’t mean all 79 episodes are operating anywhere near that level. STAR TREK could be brilliant one week and downright bizarre the next. “Spock’s Brain” has earned its reputation, and the third season is noticeably less consistent as budgets tightened and scripts became increasingly uneven. There are dated attitudes, questionable costumes, creatures that reveal every limitation of 1960s television effects, and plots where scientific terminology does some very heavy lifting. However, I wouldn’t want this collection without those episodes.

Part of the joy of owning an entire television series is being able to experience the whole thing rather than treating it like a greatest-hits album. STAR TREK was allowed to experiment. One episode might be a political allegory, the next a comedy, the next a horror story, and the next an adventure involving an alien that looks suspiciously like something put together five minutes before filming. Even the misfires contribute to the series' personality.

The Blu-ray presentation remains a great home for that. Because STAR TREK was shot on film, the high-definition image can reveal an impressive amount of texture and detail. The colorful uniforms, glowing control panels, and wonderfully distinctive Enterprise interiors look terrific. Seeing that familiar bridge in HD also makes it easier to appreciate how effectively the production team used lighting and color to make limited television sets feel considerably larger than they were.

Would I love to eventually see Paramount take the next step and give THE ORIGINAL SERIES a full 4K presentation? Absolutely. Sixty years of STAR TREK certainly make the idea tempting, particularly given how beautifully vintage 35mm photography translates to the format. That’s something to hope for down the road rather than a reason to diminish what’s here. The Blu-rays already provide a strong presentation of the complete series, and this anniversary edition gives viewers a particularly appealing way to add them to a collection.

The new commemorative packaging is really what distinguishes the 2026 edition. Rather than another ordinary box set, Paramount designed the release specifically around the 60th anniversary, giving the collection the sense of occasion the milestone deserves. For someone buying THE ORIGINAL SERIES for the first time, this is an easy version to recommend.

The Amazon-exclusive gift set takes that celebration further. Along with all three seasons, the deluxe package includes a curated collection of limited-edition lobby cards featuring memorable moments and behind-the-scenes material, a collectible 60th-anniversary logo, and an exclusive four-inch Tiny Vinyl featuring themes and classic sounds from THE ORIGINAL SERIES. None of those extras are necessary to enjoy STAR TREK, but collector editions aren’t supposed to be about necessity. They’re about making something fans already love feel special on the shelf.

That seems particularly appropriate for this anniversary because STAR TREK has always had an unusually strong relationship with its fans. The original network run ended in 1969 after only three seasons. Instead of being the end of it all, syndication kept the series alive; audiences continued to discover it; conventions grew; and, eventually, Kirk and the crew reached theaters. From there came THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER, ENTERPRISE and generations of additional movies and television series. None of that was guaranteed when “The Man Trap” aired in 1966.

That makes sitting down with these 79 episodes feel different at 60 than it might have at 40 or 50. The cultural footprint is now enormous, but the original series itself remains surprisingly intimate. Most episodes are ultimately about a captain, his friends, and a crew trying to understand something they’ve never encountered before. The technology changed. Television changed. STAR TREK changed. That simple curiosity never really did.

Paramount’s 60th Anniversary Complete Series understands that the occasion itself is worth celebrating. It gathers three seasons of landmark television into an attractive new edition, gives collectors some fun additions, and provides newcomers with an excellent opportunity to start at the beginning.

Sixty years later, there are plenty of reasons to admire STAR TREK for what it changed. There are just as many reasons to put on another episode. And, ironically, we have (in part) the legendary Lucille Ball to thank for all this!

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