I am – Hercules!!

The third, final and worst season of the original Kirk-Spock “Star Trek” TV series suffered from budget shortages and the installation of outsider Fred Freiberger (“Rawhide”) as the series’ showrunner. (Series creator Gene Roddenberry stepped away at the end of season two to explore showbiz opportunities he thought might have more of a future.) Freiberger was the guy who thought episodes like “The Trouble With Tribbles” and “I, Mudd” were too comical and aborted their planned third-season sequels.

Mind you, there are plenty of swell third-season installments making their debut on HD disc here, among them “The Paradise Syndrome,” “Wink Of An Eye,” “Day Of The Dove,” “Elaan of Troyius.” And boy do they look pretty now!


EPISODES:




* “Spock’s Brain.” Hot alien girls pull Spock’s brain out of his skull to run their planet. Gene L. Coon (“Bread and Circuses”) wrote four season-three episodes, including this one, and had his name taken off all four.




* “The Enterprise Incident.” Kirk puts on Spock ears and Spock seduces a Romulan commander to steal a cloaking device. Written by D.C. Fontana (“The Ultimate Computer”).

* “The Paradise Syndrome.” After an alien device saps Kirk’s memories, he becomes god to a tribe of doomed Space Indians. Written by Margaret Armen (“The Gamesters of Triskelion”).

* “And The Children Shall Lead.” The crew investigates a planet where all the adults have killed themselves. This was the episode guest starring attorney Melvin Belli, who found himself shortly thereafter lending advice to the Zodiac killer. Written by Marvin Chomsky (“The Wild Wild West”).

* “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” The Enterprise brings aboard Ambassador Kolos, an alien so ugly it drives anyone who looks at it insane. Written by somebody named Jean Lisette Aroeste.

* “Spectre of The Gun.” Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty and Chekov are punished for trespassing by having to fight on the losing side of the gunfight at the OK Corral. Written by Gene Coon (though the teleplay is credited to “Lee Cronin”).

* “Day of the Dove.” An alien that feeds on anger sticks a bunch of Klingons and archaic weapons on the Enterprise. Michael Ansara plays my favorite Klingon, Kang. Written by Jerome Bixby (“Mirror, Mirror”).



* “For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky.” The Enterprise comes across a race that didn’t get the memo that their planet is actually a Death Star-size spaceship. Written by Hendrik Vollaerts (“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”).








* “The Tholian Web.” After Kirk and The Defiant get sucked into another dimension (which turned out to be the Jonathan Archer-era Mirror Universe), hostile extraterrestrials slowly weave a space cage around the Enterprise. Written by Chet Richards and Judy Burns (“The FBI”).

* “Plato’s Stepchilden.” The crew meets a group of very old and powerful telekinetics determined to make Kirk snog a black girl. Written by Meyer Dolinsky (“The Invaders”).



* “Wink of an Eye.” A group of superspeedy extraterrestrials decide they need Kirk’s seed to continue their race. Written by Gene L. Coon (using the fake name Lee Cronin) & Arthur Heinemann (“The FBI”).

* “The Empath.” Talosian-like alien scientists experiment on Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a strange mute girl. Written by somebody named Joyce Muskat.

* “Elaan of Troyius.” An alien princess on her way to meet her future husband uses her tears to turn Kirk into her sex slave. The Dohlman of Elas was played by French-Vietnamese actress France Nuyen, who earlier bedded Marlon Brando, married Robert Culp and played a prostitute opposite William Shatner in a 1958 Broadway production of “The World of Suzie Wong.” (Shatner and Nuyen would reteam at least one more time in the third episode of the third season of “Kung Fu.”) The hulking Dick Durock, who played one of her guards, went on to become Swamp Thing. Written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas (“Patterns of Force”).

* “Whom Gods Destroy.” A nutcase shapeshifter takes over his asylum. Keye Luke, soon destined to play Master Po on “Kung Fu,” plays Dr. Donald Corey. Written by Lee Erwin (“The Big Valley”).

* “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” Powerful warring aliens cannot be convinced that skin color is unimportant. Written by Gene Coon (using the fake name Lee Cronin).

* “The Mark of Gideon.” Kirk finds himself on an empty Enterprise which turns out to actually be a fake Enterprise on the most crowded planet ever. Written by Stanley Adams (the writer-actor who played Tribble-monger Cyrano Jones in “The Trouble With Tribbles”) and George F. Slavin (“Mannix”).

* “That Which Survives.” Kirk, McCoy and Sulu find themselves stranded on a planet 1,000 light years from the Enterprise, where a beautiful woman tries to kill them with her deadly touch. Written by D.C. Fontana (using the fake name Michael Richards) and John Meredyth Lucas (“Elaan of Troyius”).




* “The Lights of Zetar.” Murderous cloud aliens take over the body of Scotty’s girlfriend without permission. Written by Lambchop’s mommy Shari Lewis (!) and husband Jeremy Tarcher (brother of Judith Krantz). (Lewis wanted to play Scotty’s girlfriend. Didn’t happen.)



* “Requiem for Methuselah.” Kirk and Spock run into a 4,000-year-old Leonardo DaVinci and his hot robot girlfriend. Written by Jerome Bixby (“Day of the Dove”).



* “The Way to Eden.” The Enterprise picks up a bunch of Manson-y hitchhiking space hippies who have quit their straight jobs to seek Space Paradise. “Spock’s Brain” takes a lot of guff, but this episode is much harder to watch. Written by Arthur Heinemann (“Wink Of An Eye”) & D.C. Fontana (using the fake name Michael Richards).



* “The Cloud Minders.” Kirk tries to resolve a labor dispute between cloud-dwelling managers and planet-bound Troglyte miners. It’s still pretty annoying that they stuck “Minders” in the title of an episode about miners. Written by David Gerrold (“The Trouble With Tribbles”), Margaret Armen (“The Paradise Syndrome”) & Oliver Crawford (“Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”).

* “The Savage Curtain.” An exceeding goofy antepenultimate episode, it proved hugely seminal with its introduction of three iconic fake-historical characters: Surak, who 300 years after the birth of Christ turned the spacefaring, nuke-weilding Vulcans onto the path of logic and reason; ancient Klingon leader Kahless The Unforgettable (who had no skull ridges, could impersonate Surak and Abraham Lincoln effortlessly and enjoyed dressing as a 23rd century Klingon) who united the Klingon Empire around the time of King Arthur; and Col. Phillip Green, who 150 years from now (during the time of Jonathan Archer) will precipitate a horrible genocide. Less important so far to Star Trek mythology is the character of Zora, “who conducted brutal experiments on the primitive tribes of Tiburon.” The episode is about a lava-dwelling telepath who pits Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Surak against Green, Kahless, Zora and Genghis Kahn. How Hitler got left out of that mix is anybody’s guess. Written by Gene Roddenberry & Arthur Heinemann (“The Way To Eden”).



* “All Our Yesterdays.” A confused caretaker named Atoz (A-to-Z! Get it?) uses a time portal to ship Spock and McCoy back to Earth’s Ice Age, where Spock reverts to savage Vulcantry and falls for fabulous ice-girl Mariette Hartley. Written by Jean Lisette Aroeste (“Is There In Truth No Beauty?”).

* “Turnabout Intruder.” One of Kirk’s ex-flames switches bodies with him so she can be the first female captain in Starfleet history, sort of. Written by Arthur H. Singer (“Then Came Bronson”) & Gene Roddenberry.


EXTRAS RETURNING FROM THE 2004 SEASON SET:

* “To Boldly Go: Season Three” (22:36) Learn that the third season ran in NBC’s death slot: Fridays at 10 p.m. Learn that that cast realized it was NBC’s death slot. Learn that Nimoy and new showrunner Freiberger did not agree on the show’s direction.

* “Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig” (10:58) Learn that Koenig learned he earned the role of Chekhov from a costume designer. Learn that Koenig collects Chekhov dolls, pinback buttons and Joe Palooka comics, and dislikes periods when he’s not working.

* “Chief Engineer’s Log” (6:11) Learn that James Doohan was shot eight times on D-Day. Learn that Doohan liked “Wolf in the Fold,” “The Doomsday Machine” and “The Trouble With Tribbles.”

* “Memoir From Mr. Sulu” (8:42) Learn that George Takei thinks Sulu would have wound up the oldest captain in Starfleet, and that he still wants to star in a TV series about the Excelsior. Learn that Takei has generally fond memories of his boyhood in an Arkansas internment camp.

* “Star Trek’s Impact” (9:04) Learn that Gene Roddenberry’s son Eugene says he regards Edith Keeler’s death as “Star Trek’s” finest moment. Learn that the animal-loving Roddenberry fils was relieved that Scotty did not beam the tribbles into space.

* “Collectible Trek” (14:35) Learn that an original Klingon ship model sold for a million bucks. Learn that Leonard Nimoy never refuses autograph requests because he couldn’t as a boy get the autograph of Danny Kaye.


EXTRAS RETURNING FROM THE 2008 REMASTERED DVD SEASON SET:

* Two versions of series pilot “The Cage,”: a 63:28 full-color version with those newly added 21st century special effects; and a 70:55 “extended edition” featuring a 1986 videotaped introduction with Roddenberry and lots of non-enhanced grainy black and white footage from before the pilot’s color footage was rediscovered.

* “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest Part 3” (10:52) Regular extra/stand-in Blackburn tells more stories and dusts off more old home movies. See Blackburn star in “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” makeup tests.

* “Captain’s Log: Bob Justman” (9:34) A look at the role co-producer Justman, who passed away May 28, played in supervising the budget on the original series. Learn that Elaan’s bodyguards wore plastic placemats. Learn that “The Paradise Syndrome” exteriors were shot near Mulholland Drive.

EXTRAS NEW TO THIS FIRST, 2009 BLU-RAY EDITION:

* The much-discussed unaired, alternate version of “Star Trek’s” second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (52:22). It’s not significantly different from the final version; I assume it was a rough cut prepared for NBC execs. The text at the start of each act might make you think you’re watching a Quinn Martin Production.

* “The Anthropology of Star Trek” (4:14) Excerpts from a 2009 Comic Con panel hosted by Daryl G. Frazetti, professor of anthropology at Lake Tahoe Community College. Learn a Sacramento man drives every year to Burning Man in a Starfleet shuttlecraft mounted on a van.

* “The World of Rod Roddenberry” (7:14) Gene Roddenberry’s son talks to those gathered at Comic Con 2009 about a funnybook called “Days Missing” and to Gerrold about his love of diving.

* “2009 Convention Coverage” (19:25) “The Trouble With Tribbles” writer David Gerrold hangs out with the Klingons and Starfleet personnel in San Diego, Las Vegas and Germany. He interviews costumed fans (including a five-year-old Vulcan) and:

> Celeste Yarnall, who played Ensign Martha Landon in the first episode Gerrold ever saw filmed, “The Apple.”

> Now-blonde Chase Masterson, who played Leeta on “Deep Space Nine” and was hawking a CD called “Songs From The Holosuite.”

> Evan English, who played Ensign Tanner on “Enterprise,” who is now playing a captain in the fan-made production “Star Trek: The Continuing Mission.”

> “Great Escape” actor Lawrence Montaigne, who played Spock’s Vulcan rival Stonn in “Amok Time” and the Roumulan Decius in “Balance of Terror” and keeps a live parrot on his shoulder. The five-times married actor hawks his autobiography, “A Vulcan Odyssey.”

> Robert Picardo, who played The Doctor on “Voyager” and expresses fondness for German cuisine.

> Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura on the original series, and seems plenty excited about living long enough to see a black U.S. president.

> Nana Visitor, who played Kira Nerys on “Deep Space Nine” and says “Star Trek” is now entwined in every aspect of her life.

> Girls in red shirts hawking Red Shirt cologne (its logo is a bullet-ridden Starfleet badge. Other scents include Tiberius, Pon Farr and Khaaaan!

I watched every episode over Thanksgiving weekend. The second season of “The Paper Chase” hit Showtime almost four years after the first season ended on CBS, but the second season is set only a few months later. Hart, Ford and Bell are now all now second-year law (or 2L) students, and all three are chasing after spunky female 1Ls. And because the show was cablecast on a pay channel, we started seeing single law students in bed together, and everybody was suddenly starting to say “shit” and taking the Lord’s name in vain.

The series boasts many virtues, chief among them the fact that it’s not like a lot of TV. How do you make an ongoing drama out of a bunch of kids with their noses buried in books, constantly fretting about their (admittedly daunting) workloads?

A 27-year-old Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is a regular in the first handful of episodes, playing Hart’s first steady law-school girlfriend. Kaczmarek is soon replaced by a couple of new regulars, including Penny Johnson (“The Larry Sanders Show”) playing a sweet, soft-spoken law student who could scarcely be less like Sherry Palmer on “24.” Though the credit does not appear on her IMDb page, Janine Turner (“Northern Exposure”) turns up (unrecognizably) with long blonde hair, playing a horny drunk future lawyer hot for Ford’s pants. “Paper Chase” isn’t on David Caruso’s IMDb page either, but he plays a angry young screw-up a full decade before “NYPD Blue” made him a star. Jon Lovitz, two years before “Saturday Night Live” and Tommy Flanagan turned him into a household name, has a recurring role late in the season as a nerd law student named Levitz. I love that.

All hail Shout Factory for putting these out. Seriously.



Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry

“Venture Bros.” season sets, $26.49 last week, are for the moment $13.99 each!!

“Saturday Night Live” season sets, $42.49 two weeks ago, are for the moment $25.99 each!!

“Battlestar Galactica” sets, $42.99 two weeks ago, are for the moment $28.99 or less!!

All five bonus-jammed “definitive edition” seasons of the original “Twilight Zone” are for the moment $29.99 or less per season!!

All five bonus-jammed “definitive edition” seasons of the original “Twilight Zone” are $136.99 at the moment. That works out to less than $27.40 per season!! They were more than $100/season not long ago!!

“Fawlty Towers,” funniest British sitcom in history, has its new remastered complete collection at an all-time low of $24.49!!

Eleven months ago a season of “Seinfeld” sold for $38.99. Last month it sold for $27.99. Perhaps to commemorate the reunion on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” all seasons of “Seinfeld” are momentarily $14.99 each!!

Last month the first season of “The Larry Sanders Show,” one of the two funniest live-action sitcoms ever forged, was $25.49. It’s momentarily at its lowest price ever: $16.99!!

Season sets grow super-cheap as Chrismukkah looms:

$8.99 Tim and Eric
$9.49 Harvey Birdman
$9.49 Head Case
$9.99 The Dead Zone
$9.99 John From Cincinnati
$9.99 K Street
$9.99 Mr. Show
$9.99 Saved By The Bell
$9.99 Sealab 2021
$9.99 Wildfire

$10.99 Boomtown
$10.99 Dresden Files
$10.99 Everwood
$10.99 Without A Trace
$11.99 The Comeback
$11.99 The Corner
$11.99 Hearts Afire
$11.99 Lucky Louie
$11.99 Unscripted
$12.99 Old Christine
$13.99 Tell Me You Love Me
$14.49 Friday Night Lights
$14.49 The King of Queens
$14.99 Boston Legal
$14.99 The Closer
$14.99 CSI
$14.99 Curb Your Enthusiasm
$14.99 How I Met Your Mother
$14.99 Masters of Science Fiction
$14.99 Stargate SG-1
$14.99 That ‘70s Show

$15.49 Friends
$16.99 The Tudors
$17.99 Gilmore Girls
$17.99 Supernatural
$17.99 Two and a Half Men
$18.99 Dexter
$18.99 24
$19.49 30 Rock
$19.99 Bones
$19.99 Burn Notice
$19.99 Gossip Girl
$19.99 Heroes
$19.99 It’s Always Sunny
$19.99 Married With The Children
$19.99 Prison Break
$19.99 The Shield
$19.99 Smallville
$19.99 Studio 60

$20.49 The West Wing
$20.99 House
$20.99 Rescue Me
$21.99 Reaper
$21.99 The Unit
$21.99 The X-Files
$23.49 The Office

TV-on-Disc Calendar




Last Week
Dhani Tackles the Globe 1.x
Doug 3.x
Friday: The Complete Animated Series
The Fugitive 3.x Vol. 2
Get Smart 5.x
The Jerry Lewis Show Collection
The Judy Garland Show Collection
Lost 5.x
Lost 5.x (Blu-ray)
Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiation Kit
Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiation Kit (Blu-ray)
Lost 1.x-5.x
Lost 1.x-5.x (Blu-ray)
McLeod's Daughters: The Pilot
Perry Mason 4.x Vol. 2
Perry Mason: Four Season Pack
Rescue Me 5.x Vol. 2
SpongeBob SquarePants 6.x Vol. 1



This Week

Cake Boss

Criss Angel Mindfreak: The Complete Series

The Head: The Complete Series

Ice Road Truckers 3.x

The Maxx: The Complete Series

The Paper Chase 2.x

Robot Chicken 4.x

The Sherlock Holmes Collection

The Sherlock Holmes Collection

Star Trek 3.x (Blu-ray)

Star Trek: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

The Tudors 3.x

Wagon Train 1.x



Next Week
Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Darkside
Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Darkside (Blu-ray)
Family Guy Star Wars Parody Two-Pack
Kyle XY 3.x
The Secret Life of An American Teenage 3.x
Taxi 5.x

Taxi: The Complete Series



December 29
Glee Vol. 1
Time Warp 2.x
United States of Tara 1.x
Whale Wars 2.x



January 5

Battlestar Galactica 1.x (Blu-ray)
Big Love 3.x
Brava Italia
Burn Notice 1.x/2.x
Chuck 2.x
Chuck 2.x (Blu-ray)
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
Doctor Who: Twin Dilemma
Iron Man: Armored Adventures Vol. 2
Kendra 1.x
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures - The Complete Series
The Philanthropist: The Complete Series
Super Friends 1.x Vol. 1



January 12
House of Payne Vol. 5
Becker 3.x
Becker: 3-Season Pack
Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers
Detonators
ER 12.x
Fame 2.x
Jon & Kate Plus Eight 5.x
Make It Or Break It: Vol. 1
The New Adventures of Black Beauty 1.x
Robin Hood 3.x
Route 66 3.x

The Simpsons 20.x

The Simpsons 20.x (Blu-ray)
6Teen: Stupid over Cupid
10 Things I Hate About You Vol. 1
Top Gear 11.x
Top Gear 12.x
Transformers 2.x Vol. 2
The Whitest Kids You Know 2.x



January 19
Dallas 12.x

Damages 2.x
Defying Gravity: The Complete Series

Durham County 1.x <--- NEW!!
Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series
The Game 2.x