DrCrowTStarwars said:

...They only went the CGI route because the original negatives for the special effects shots were lost so those could not be restored and broadcast in HD like the rest of the content...

Explain the original shots being used in the blu-ray's then...

SilverWook said:

You can pick the the early two episode DVD releases pretty cheap on Ebay these days. Was watching a couple the other night, and they still look good, especially compared to what I saw on tv as a kid. :)

That's fine if you like old transfers. If you want a pre-cgi transfer that looks decent, look up either the japanese star trek laserdisc sets (Log 1, Log 2 and Log 3 for each season) or the 2007 european "Star Trek: The Original Series - The Collector's Edition" dvd set. Both use the same transfer, and before the post 2007 cgi releases were considered the best looking sources. Note that these transfers may or may not be more consistant than the blu-rays with "original shots" mode on. I heard that the ladder was done in a way similar to our communitys despecialized, mixing the post 2007 cgi transfer (used for most footage) with a new transfer of the original footage that may or may not be either HD or restored in any way (used only for the shots that had changes in the post 2007 cgi transfer). Can anybody correct me on that last point, if possible?