'Captain's Log' Offers Glimpse At Actors In Command

The latest Star Trek DVD collection from Paramount and CBS, Fan Collective - Captain’s Log, arrives this month, featuring episodes from all five of the live action television series. In this instance the set focuses on the five captains and includes commentary and features by and about the actors who played them (story). Reviews were mixed, depending largely on a reviewer's perception of the value of the extras.

• The Washington Post's Curt Fields was particularly taken by the features with the five actors who played Star Trek captains. "The interviews, while brief, are interesting. (One drawback, no 'play all' option, which would have been nice considering the brevity of the segments)," he wrote. "All the actors offer thoughtful takes on various aspects of their roles while discussing such topics as 'The Importance of 'The Captain's Log'' and 'What Makes a Good Captain?'" Fields believes this set may win new fans to the franchise or deepen the enjoyment of casual viewers.

• Dave Anderson at DVD Corner gave the content and technical specs an average grade of A- but was less impressed with the extras, which earned only a C. "As long as there are Trekkies with cash, the powers that be will never run out of ways to repackage 'Star Trek' on DVD," he noted. "Some episodes have popped up more than once in these collections... Disc 1 once again features 'The City on the Edge of Forever' ([William Shatner]'s choice, and previously included in the 'Time Travel' set)." He thought that Voyager was well-represented but was sorry about the lack of text commentary and found the extras, even interviews with the actors, sparse enough not to make this set worth owning for anyone who already has Star Trek on DVD.

• DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson was pleased by the collection, which includes 17 episodes that earned B grades from him for their picture and audio quality. "Since these episodes spanned five series, they offered distinctly varying visuals," he wrote. "Without question, Enterprise’s programs were the most attractive." He was less impressed with the episode stories, however, though he felt that Scott Bakula (Archer) acquitted himself discussing his series nearly as well as Patrick Stewart (Picard) and Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) did with theirs.

  "Frankly, since Star Trek has always been captain-centric, I don’t see the point of releasing a tribute to the captains. However, I’m sure that die-hards would beg to differ from me," wrote Yunda Eddie Feng for DVD Beaver. However, he added, "This set is a much better deal than the other Fan Collectives because it contains new materials - new extras - not found anywhere else." He was surprised to see the unpopular "These Are the Voyages..." included as an Enterprise selection and called the Voyager disc disappointing because he found the episode selection "subpar." As for the actors' contributions, "These are not particularly enlightening since some of the actors chose episodes that they directed as their favorites," though he enjoyed listening to Shatner and Joan Collins discuss The City on the Edge of Forever while flirting with one another.

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