On DVD: Blast off on latest Trek

Zachary Quinto is Spock; Chris Pine is Kirk in the latest 'Star Trek' adventure.

Before J.J. Abrams was hired to try his hand with Star Trek, the general feeling inside and outside Hollywood was that it was an aging, feeble franchise with no appeal for the contemporary audience raised on video games and CGI technology.

Even the last couple of Star Wars features hadn't done as well as anticipated, and many felt that space-centered Sci-Fi had been supplanted by comic-book creations and gamer spin-offs.

But what Abrams did with Star Trek was simply rewrite the rulebook, creating a prequel to a legendary series that also played fast and loose with the canon and backstory, thus effectively allowing generations who weren't familiar with the Star Trek vernacular or universe to be drawn in while simultaneously retaining just enough of the familiar touches to hold onto the Trekkies of old. The results were a blockbuster reboot, with Star Trek proving both a commercial success and a viable presentation containing enough of the old series' values to be credible.

Tuesday Star Trek (Paramount) will be released on DVD in multiple formats. The deluxe three-disc + digital copy edition (Blu-ray) boasts not only a full disc complete with extra features (interviews galore, storyboard, featurettes, special effects glossary, etc) but also with a digital copy that can be uploaded onto a computer or mobile device.

There's also a two-disc version with a digital copy, and just a basic single-disc edition for those who just want the film.

Perhaps the greatest joy for those who've loved Star Trek since the early 1960s TV show was the way Abrams and company made intelligent casting decisions and the ability of the writers to update and tweak familiar figures without ruining or distorting them beyond memory.

For example, Karl Urban's portrait of Dr. Leonard McCoy kept his mannerisms and Southern accent, while Zachary Quinto's Spock was just as introspective and logic-based as his predecessor.

While the skirt-chasing aspects of James T. Kirk were toned down, Chris Pine did accent the willingness to tackle the impossible and the natural courage and resourcefulness that were the signature of William Shatner's character. Pine also is a bit more restrained than Shatner, though that may change in future films.

Other than introducing a degree of attraction between Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock and expanding the character of Chekov (Anton Yeltin), Abrams' Star Trek accomplished the difficult double of expanding its appeal without losing its historic elements. Even if you saw it in theaters, the 21st century Star Trek belongs in a home collection, while those who missed it should definitely make up for that omission.

TV on DVD

The show Andy Barker, P.I. was a clever mix of satire and mystery, a show that tried to spoof both classic black and white detective sagas and standard family comedies.

A single-camera production done without a laugh track, it featured former Late Night Wth Conan O'Brien (and now current Tonight Show) sidekick Andy Richter as Andy Barker, a Certified Public
Accountant who becomes a private investigator by default after being mistaken by a Russian woman for a real detective (the actual investigator was the guy who formerly worked in the building purchased by Barker for his firm).

But it turned out Barker had a flair for the work, despite not being able to hit a target with a gun or being very good with his fists. Eventually, he formed an alliance with Lew Staziak (Harve Presnell), the actual P.I., and the two divided their time between solving cases and dealing with Staziak's problems that included frequent memory lapses and the rare disease known as alektorophobia (a fear of chickens).

Andy Barker, P.I. ultimately proved a bit too witty, clever and unorthodox for network TV. While a critical sensation, it only lasted four episodes (out of six produced) before it was cancelled. This week the two-disc Andy Barker, P.I. (Shout! Factory) debuts on DVD. Besides all six shows, there are cast and crew commentaries and features, including one that looks back on the casting and production, and another that spotlights the writing, one of the things that elevated it above many sitcoms past.