'Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log'
(William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, et al / 5-Disc DVD / NR / 2007 / Paramount Home Entertainment)
Overview: The fans and captains have spoken! Not only have Star Trek fans voted online for their all-time favorite captain episodes from all five Star Trek series, but each show’s legendary leader Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula has carefully chosen their favorite episode, which resulted in 'Star Trek: Fan Collective Captain’s Log.'
DVD Verdict: OK, all you Trekkers who have been resisting the Star Trek: Fan Collective series on principle because it's an inexpensive repackaging of the episodes you already have on DVD. Captain's Log, the fifth in the series, raises the bar, not just by including a fifth disc, but by providing a host of brand-new content. As usual, fans selected the initial 10 episodes - two per series - but each "captain" - William Shatner, James T. Kirk of the Original Series; Patrick Stewart, Jean-Luc Picard of The Next Generation; Avery Brooks, Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine; Kate Mulgrew, Kathryn Janeway of Voyager; and Scott Bakula, Jeffery Archer of Enterprise - picked a third episode as a personal favorite.
Each captain then introduces the selected episode in about a one-minute segment (the exception is Shatner, who dishes for 12 minutes about "The City on the Edge of Forever," joined partway through by co-star Joan Collins), and in most cases, introduces the fan-selected ones as well. Finally, each captain is interviewed in a series of featurettes (some with common themes, such as "The Importance of the Captain's Log," "What Makes a Good Captain," or the character's legacy or future) lasting 8 to 12 minutes total.
So that's 15 episodes in the set ... a TV series sampler, if you will. The "Classic" disc has Shatner and co-star Joan Collins discussing his pick, "City on the Edge of Forever." Plus you get two of the series' better episodes, "Balance of Terror" (we're introduced to the Romulans and the Neutral Zone) and "The Enterprise Incident" (Spock keeps a female Romulan commander occupied while Kirk attempts to swipe their cloaking device). And so on ... plus there's lots of fun extras. This set is definitely worth exploring. This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Special Episode Introductions by All the Star Trek Captains
Introduction to the Captain's Log Fan Collective with William Shatner
The Importance of "The Captain's Log" with William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula
Captian Kirk's Legacy with William Shatner
Star Trek's Impact with Avery Brooks
Looking Back with Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula
Closing Statement with Scott Bakula
And Much More!
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