LIEUTENANT, THE + BONUS (NBC 1963-64) EXCELLENT QUALITY!!! Gary Lockwood, Robert Vaughn, Richard Anderson

The Lieutenant is an American television series, the first show created by Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry. It aired on NBC during the 1963–1964 television season.

A U.S. Marine Corps drama set at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California, The Lieutenant focused on the men of the Corps in peacetime with a Cold War backdrop and the proving ground for who pride themselves on being United States Marines. From the lowliest recruit to the highest-ranking General, the men of Pendleton symbolized the utmost in rigorous training and military perfection.

The title character is Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice (Gary Lockwood), a recent graduate of Annapolis and now a rifle platoon leader and training instructor at Camp Pendleton.

Robert Vaughn played Captain Raymond Rambridge, Rice's company commander, an up-from-the-ranks officer. Richard Anderson, best remembered for playing Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, had a recurring role as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland, and Linda Evans, later known for her roles on The Big Valley and as Krystle Carrington in Dynasty, appeared in several early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter Nan, who flirted with Rice.

Filmed at MGM studios in association with NBC, the drama took viewers along for the ride as young Lt. Rice acquired the knack of handling men older and more experienced than himself, as well as the younger men who looked up to him as “The Old Man”.

This short-lived series was written by Gene Roddenberry, and featured an amazing cast of future stars including Bill Bixby, Rip Torn, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert, Patricia Crowley, Dennis Hopper and future Star Trek cast Leonard Nimoy, Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig and Ricardo Montalbán.

One episode produced never aired. "To Set It Right" was written by Lee Erwin and depicted racial prejudice. It featured Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura from Star Trek) as the fiancée of a black Marine, portrayed by Don Marshall, with Dennis Hopper as the antagonist to that Marine. The subject of race was considered taboo in entertainment television in 1964, and because the network refused to broadcast "To Set It Right" or even pay for it, MGM had to shoulder the entire cost of production.

This 8-DVD set contains the entire series, including the unaired episode, plus the bonus feature film version of the episode "To Kill a Man" that was released to international markets.

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Number of DVDs: 8

Number of Episodes: 29

Quality: 9.5/10 - excellent picture and sound quality

Running Time: 26 hours (approx)

Aspect Ratio: Full Screen

NOTES: This is a fan-made DVD set. Not    a studio release.