Remastered Original Star Trek episodes with new F/X

[aTOMiC]

www2.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Television&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270355&obj_id=52141

Okay. I know this sounds like George Lucas tinkering with his older Star Wars films....and if you belive that you'd be right.
BUT
I am looking forward to it. As a goober fan I've always wondered what those episodes would be like if they had modern special effects. The state of the original series just as it was in the good old days is intact. Everyone has it. Everyone sees it. But this ought to be worth a look in any case. IMHO.

[wayfriend]

Here's some links from AintItCool, who are of course all over this like tribbles on a federation vessel. Included are some screenshots and a lot of spy reports and research that they've collected.

link one

link two

[A Gunslinger]

whoop-de-do.

If this is all it is going to be then I officially poo-poo it.

If however, they do stuff like give us entirely NEW space battles ("Doomsday Machine") and such...then I revoke my poo-pooing.

[dlbpharmd]

I'll check this out, thanks Tom!

[DukkhaWaynhim]

If however, they do stuff like give us entirely NEW space battles ("Doomsday Machine") and such...then I revoke my poo-pooing.

You cannot un-poo-poo. Poo or poo not. There is no un-poo.

Does that mean they will be updating the bridge shots as well? Unless they recreate those scenes too, won't it be strange to watch a slick-looking Enterprise moving through space, and then look at it's old plastic UNIVAC innards?

DW

[A Gunslinger]

You cannot un-poo-poo. Poo or poo not. There is no un-poo.


DW

The shall I say that I will ...wipe? (apologies to those who expect more from A Gunslinger).

[wayfriend]

If they replaced William Shatner with a CGI Shatner, would anyone notice?

Would it be better?

[aTOMiC]

I had a look at the side-by-side comparison video of The Doomsday Machine. (One of my favorite episodes sans the crappy special effects) I loved what was done with the visuals. Instead of cringing when the scene shifts to the exterior shots I was thrilled. They did a very good job of maintaining continuity and feel with the original version. Very disappointing to discover that the F/X artist who made the test footage was not asked to work on the new enhanced version. I hope the improvements to the F/X are at least in the ball park. We'll find out September 16th.

[A Gunslinger]

The Doomsday Machine is in my top 3 episdoes as well! It's got it all, does it not?

[matrixman]

The Doomsday Machine is a big favorite of mine, too. I checked out Wayfriend's links but didn't watch any video. This whole enterprise (sorry, heh) sounds cool to me.

I wholeheartedly support this visual overhaul of TOS. And if this has the effect of making new fans of the show, then that's a nice bonus.

Minor rant: it's easy to vilify George Lucas for starting this trend of CGI tinkering...but as I said elsewhere, I believe Lucas is a visionary who is pulling and pushing film technology into the 21st century, sometimes with people kicking and screaming along the way. Lucas has helped to make movie images malleable things, and that excites me as a movie fan. The idea of a movie (or TV show) as a continually tweaked-and-improved entity is fascinating to me, not repulsive.

The ironic thing about this Trek remastering is that, around the same time the first shows air, Lucas will be releasing the original, un-retouched Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Yes, I'll be getting that, but they'll serve as a complement to the Special Editions, not supplant them. I'm sure that will also be the case for these newly minted Trek episodes. With the unretouched TOS already "safely" on DVD (in several different incarnations!), I think there is little reason for Trek fans to bitterly complain about this new project. We should be able to sit back, relax and enjoy what the new visuals have to offer.

[Avatar]

I'm with MM. I don't think it's such a bad idea. To be honest, I find the original ST episodes almost unwatchable now because of the effects. They really ruin it for me.

(TNG was far more part of my growing up than TOS was.)

Of course, I don't have a problem with the CGI tinkering in SW either. I think that it's an improvement on the whole.

--A

[dlbpharmd]

www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/06/star. ... index.html

[Buckarama]

the above link is really funny!

Yeah as long as they don't go overboard with the CGI remastering which I don't think they have from what I've read on the web, it should be fine. It would be cool to see some better space battles!

[Avatar]

Nice article. Good to see they've got a sense of humour about it.

--A

[A Gunslinger]

That was a good article. They appear to be at once greedy and self-effacing. Knid of a cross beween Bob Newhart and Dusffy Duck.

I hope the franchise can recover.

[Cail]

The Doomsday Machine is the only episode I ever bought on VHS. Damn near perfect.

[A Gunslinger]

It is also one of the most quoteable...gems such as "Vulcans never Bluff", "Don't you think I know that!? There was but not anymore..." "Gentlemen, I suggest you beam me aboard". All great stuff.

[aTOMiC]

The Doomsday Machine is the only episode I ever bought on VHS. Damn near perfect.

Yes. Damn near perfect. What has always bothered me about my favorite TOS episode was the F/X for the exteriors. I’ve heard that the model that was used for the Constellation was an off the shelf Enterprise model kit that was melted and trashed for this episode. It looks like that. As the Constellation is moving toward the Planet Killer the model actually wobbles from side to side on the makeshift track. It’s really very sad. The acting is pretty darn good. William Windom’s Commodore Decker was great. Great story. Great dialog. Great everything. I don’t know why but one of my favorite scenarios is the “revive a busted ship for use/combat” element. (Sam Neil’s situation in Dead Calm comes to mind.) All of these things equal a great episode. But I’ve never gotten over the crummy F/X. But now things are about to change and I’m excited about it. The side by side comparison of this particular episode really shows what the difference could be. (I’d love for the “monitors” above the work stations on the Enterprise bridge to be animated with appropriate data and graphics instead of the static pictures that remain the same unless Spock is showing something on his monitor. Well you can’t have everything. )

[matrixman]

Shatner and Nimoy are such a great duo. Sort of like aTOMiC and dANdeLION.

The article talks about the apathy over Star Trek nowadays. Gosh, really? I hadn't noticed...

I only watched TOS and TNG with any kind of regularity. Then Star Trek V left scars that I'm still recovering from (heh). Then later, I just didn't care for the paint-by-numbers, directed-by-committee Next Gen movies.

So while I pretty much don't give a hoot about "current" Trek, I still love the original series. That really hasn't changed. It's The Source from which everything else sprang. So it will be great to see the old become new again. It's just too bad I don't have a subscription to HDTV service. Oh the pain...

[wayfriend]

If you want to see a clip which highlights the effect of remastering (which I will say is worth a look): link (1 mb)