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Take That, Quantum Revisionism!! The Original STAR TREK Time Line Has Been Preserved (On Blu-Ray)!!
Merrick here...
With Abrams' STAR TREK reboot setting the universe ablaze, 'twas only natural Geeks like me (and many others, from my understanding) become ensnared in the recently issued STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 on Blu-Ray (available HERE
). It was the talk of a party I attended this weekend, was scuttlebutt at the IMAX screening of TREK I attended today, and it...is...simply...cool.
In short: you have NEVER seen the original STAR TREK series look as good as it looks on this Blu-Ray set, and you're not likely to see it looking any better for a rather long time. Having previously sifted through the HD-DVD iteration of Season 1 (I know, I know), the overall picture quality/presentation on this Blu-Ray set is far superior (although I seem to recall some nifty menu animations/designs on the HD-DVD that aren't here...if I'm remembering correctly).
Merrick's Woman - traditionally oblivious to the grandness of HD - walked into the room while I was watching the recently issued STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 on Blu-Ray and said, "Good God! That's beautiful! I can see the difference!" And then, uncharacteristically, she actually watched an episode with me. This was rather unnerving because...usually...I watch STAR TREK alone, and was unaccustomed to female incursion into my decidedly isolationist man world of starships, galactic barriers, photon torpedoes, and Orion Slave Girls.
This set contains the episodes in their original iterations as well as their recently remastered versions (which includes updated special effects, color fixes, etc.) You can toggle between the two versions easily and quickly via "seamless branching" - allowing you to view the show's original effects in contrast to their reworked appearance.
Also, all of the episodes in this set are presented in their original length. TOS episodes have, for years, been abridged for syndication by 8-10 minutes. You'll see material on the Blu-Ray (including effects work in both the original and remastered versions) that you may never have seen before if you've only viewed the show during its syndicated airings. For clarity, and to the best of by knowledge, other DVD releases of TOS present eps in their full running time as well.
2) If you caught the "Remastered" episodes as they were broadcast, you may've sometimes felt the new/enhanced effects didn't blend with the universe around them as smoothly as they should have. They often appeared overamped, or "too CGI".
This phenomenon is diminished considerably when remastered episodes are viewed in 1080p. The textural differences between the new effects and the footage surrounding them is far less dramatic. I don't pretend to understand the ins and outs of such technical matters, but, if I had to guess, I'd assume this is attributable to the fact that the new effects are now being seen in their native resolution, and we're seeing the episode wrapped around them ratcheted up to 1080p as well...creating a smoother marriage?
I could be totally full of shit with my guess work here...so don't take my explanation to the bank. Just know that, without a doubt, the new effects look much more organic on these Blu-Ray than they did when the show was broadcast.
Episodes included on this set:
"The Man Trap" (McCoy's ex-girlfriend is a salt monster - whose isn't?)
"Charlie X" (brash teen visits Enterprise, lashes out with psy powers, turns a chick into a lizard and slaps Kirk's wench on her butt).
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (see below)
"The Corbomite Maneuver" (Clint Howard looked weird even as a kid; takes his gigantic glowing Death Star against Kirk's Enterprise).
"This Side of Paradise" (cooler-than-Shyamalan plants make Enterprise's crew carefree as Spock gets it on with Charles Bronson's wife).
"A Taste of Armageddon" (Enterprise is declared a causality in a virtually waged war).
"The Naked Time" (space virus unleashes inner-most emotions of Enterprise crew - dude locks himself in engineering to sing as Enterprise is about to crash into a planet. Spock cries, and George Takei runs around swinging his rapier).
"The Enemy Within" (transporter accident splits The Shat into halves - one nice, one dicky. Confusion abounds.)
"Mudd's Women" (space grifter Harcourt Fenton Mudd & three deceptively beautiful babes upset life on Enterprise).
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (Kirk & Co. -vs- a scientist with a spinny machine that can duplicate people).
"Miri" (Kirk and the girl from TRUE GRIT on a plague world ruled by kids).
"Dagger of the Mind" (see below)
"The Menagerie Parts 1 and 2" (court martial necessitates flashbacks to TREK's original pilot ("The Cage"), which featured the same Captain Bruce Greenwood plays in the new movie doing things Greenwood will probably never get to do because of all that time funk).
"The Conscience of the King" (head of a traveling acting troop may be a very, very bad man).
"Balance of Terror" (Kirk -vs- Romulan war ship in WRATH OF KHAN-like game of cosmic cat & mouse. Depending on who you talk to, the character of "Styles" in this may or may not be the same "Styles" who captained Excelsior in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK).
"Shore Leave" (crew takes a break on a pleasure planet that gives you what you're thinking about, which isn't always good).
"The Galileo Seven" (see below)
"The Squire of Gothos" (Enterprise gang -vs- petulant God-like dude who was a helluva lot like "Q").
"Arena" (Enterprise has trouble with the Gorn - a race of stiffly walking lizard men who wanna take 'em out. In the remastered version, the Gorn blinks).
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (see below)
"Court Martial" (see below)
"The Return of the Archons" (serene planet descends into debauchery and chaos every once in a while. Why?)
"Space Seed" (Khan)
"The Devil in the Dark" (Enterprise tries to help a mining operation that's being bothered by a cute...surprisingly self-aware...and not entirely convincing lava rock creature).
"Errand of Mercy" (see below)
"The Alternative Factor" (Enterprise grapples with matter/anti-matter versions of the same man).
"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Edith Keeler must die).
"Operation: Annihilate" (flying poached eggs make people crazy; efforts to find a cure turn Spock blind).
A majority of features/extras from the HD-DVD set are present here, with a few missing or swapped out for different material. Among (but not all) the features you'll find on the Blu-Ray edition?
- Trailers for all episodes
- Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories recounting the experiences of actor Billy Blackburn on set - he played several roles on the show - supported with rare home movies of SHatner, Nimoy, etc. in action. Awesome stuff).
- Interactive inspection of Enterprise (select portion of thisp to explore from menu, you're "flown" to that section & narration tells you what that part of the ship does, etc.
- "Starfleet Access" for selected episodes (pop-up windows display data/commentaires/etc. for select episodes).
- Details on the resoratio process
- Docs detailing particular details of TREK lore ("Romance in the 23rd Century, for example).
And much, much, more.
HERE is an image-filled write up featuring some interesting before/after
shots of characters & effects - the character frames in particular give you a fine sense of the dramatic improvements to overall picture quality brought about by the remastering.
AICN reported on many of the remastered episodes as they first went into rotation. BELOW: an adjusted sampling of coverage from first season episodes, which'll give you a fuller sense of what you can find in this new set.
NOTE: Honestly, this article should've been posted a few weeks back, but...I've had a helluva time locating the material below on our servers & felt I really wanted to include it in my write-up. Our search engine...is better than it used to be, but is still aggravatingly non-specific. As such, I suspect there may still be a few episodes missing from this round up (the absence of "Balance of Terror" and "Space Seed" - two signature first season episodes - is highly suspicious).
In no particular order:
THE MAN TRAP
This is the very first STAR TREK episode ever broadcast, although it isn't the first in overall series continuity.
In "The Man Trap", the Enterprise gang discovers that the lady who used to be the love of Dr. McCoy's life is, in actuality, a hideous, man-crushing creature disguised as a human. Many men have been down this road; the episode title alone speaks volumes.
One of the most dramatic adjustments made to the episode is this establishing shot of planet M-113. This is the archaeological site where McCoy's Ex hangs out. The original sequence was realized on a sound stage using limited angles. The remastering offers a broader scope - but is rendered to keep the flavor of the environment's original "sound stage" appearance (this was required for visual continuity; many sequences happen in and around this setting).
Original
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
DAGGER OF THE MIND
Here's a shot from the remastered "Dagger of the Mind". This is the one in which Kirk & the gang chance across evil Dr. Tristan Addams, who...on the Tantalus Penal Colony... is using his newfangled Neural Neutralizer to "rehabilitate" (read: melt the brains of) inmates under his dominion.
Marianna Hill is one of the guest stars in this week's episode. She plays Dr. Helen Noel, the Enterprise shrink previously banged by Jim Kirk after a Christmas party (HERE's a picture of her). If indications are correct, Hill is the cousin of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf (remember him?).
I've always had a huge crush on Hill/Dr. Helen Noel...she entrances me in a "Please teacher, punish me!" sort of way.
Ahhhh.
Onto the episode...
One of the big revisions made to this particular remastering is the presentation of the Tantalus colony itself. Originally, stock material was used from a previous episode called WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE, which featured a sprawling refinery center (Lithium Cracking Station). Here's the image originally used:
Original
Doesn't make a lot of sense for a penal colony. So, the remastering team went to work creating this alternative - which adds a planetary ring evocative of Chesley Bonestell.
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
THE GALILEO SEVEN
This is the episode in which Spock faces Command challenges when his shuttle craft & cranky crew crash on a planet populated by gigantic cavemen who want to wipe 'em out.
There've been some changes regarding where/when you can watch the next wave of remasters...you can find a link below that'll take you to updated details (stations, airtimes, and whatnot).
First up: a reworked shot of shuttle craft Galileo heading out of the Enterprise to go explore Murasaki 312, a quasar(ish) thingie.
Original
Remastered
Here's an exterior angle of the shuttle's departure, augmented dramatically from the original sequence (The Original Series never featured an angle remotely similar to this for such sequences).
Original
Remastered
Next: a rejiggered shot of Galileo in low-orbit of a planet. NOTE the driver...seen through the shuttle's front window. Nice detail.
Original
Remastered
Here's a lovely shot of the shuttle approaching the Murasaki 312 quasar. I really like the detail in the whirlpool around the sun (sorry I don't know the scientific term for it). There is no counterpart for this shot in the episode's original version.
Remastered
I could find no "Original" shots that I felt matched either of the Remastered FX shots below.
The first image is of Enterprise heading towards quasar Murasaki 312. The original episode never showed the ship on-screen with the quasar - we only saw the phenomenon through the main viewer on the ships bridge.
The second shot is the shuttle over the planet. This is the first episode to actually feature a shuttle craft...transporters had been used to this point in the show.
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
ERRAND OF MERCY
In short, this is the episode in which the Federation and Klingons get into a standoff that is ultimately broken by a deceptively simple race called the Organians. This paves the way for the tiresome overuse of Klingons as allies in subsequent TREK series.
This is an interesting episode to post about because, unlike a majority of the other remastered FX shots we’ve covered so far, there actually aren’t “original” shots that equate to two of the images seen below. Klingon “ships” were not yet available to the production when this episode was rolled out, so they were kept off screen & edited around in the original version. The remastering will now drop in quick intercuts of Klingon ships in Enterprise’s space to broaden the story’s scope a bit, and actually illustrate what characters talk about in the show…butwas previously kept off screen.
Unless I’m mistaken, in STAR TREK’s Remastered universe (certain designs and continuities are being adjusted and conformed throughout the series), these new scenes with Klingon ships will now serve as the introduction of the classic Klingon designs.
BELOW:
A Klingon ship, Remastered style.
Enterprise –vs- a Klingon fleet (am I seeing glowing torpedo tubes on the front of those ships, evoking the Klingon vessels in the movies?)
And, the Organian (energy form) as they originally appeared…and Remastered.
Remastered
Remastered
Original
Remastered
WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
In this installment, Kirk's buddy (played by the astronaut who isn't David Bowman in 2001) gets psy powers, goes nutso, and takes the original 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan as his woman. Kirk's gotta clean up (beat down) the mess.
The first image shows a slightly retouched Delta Vega ore processing station. The effect uses the original matte work, incorporating a few adjustments to lighting and structures.
The next image shows the Galactic Barrier seen in the episode, reworked via fluid dynamic simulations. The Barrier will look more-or-less the same from a distance, but big changes will be seen as Enterprise closes in. CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO MAKE IT LARGER!
Love 'em both. The top matter painting is one of my favorite from the original series; it's nice to see The Powers That Be keeping revision to a minimum on that one.
COURT MARTIAL
This is the one in which Kirk, through a variety of machinations, is put on trial for jettisoning an Ion Pod from the ship...Lt. Commander Ben Finney (Richard Webb) still in it. 'Cept...if Finney's dead...
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the Enterprise shots in the original iteration of this episode...pretty much standard angles of the ship orbiting a planet the Starbase is on.
The Remastered team added an angle in which, if one looks very carefully, you can see space suited technicians replacing the Ion Pod previously jettisoned by Kirk. They also added a Starfleet shuttlecraft (I guess that's a Starbase Registry number on its side?)
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY
This episode finds the 23rd Century Enterprise thrown back in time to the 1960s, where it unwittingly takes on a passenger whose presence threatens to change the course of human history. The problem is: it may be dangerous to send him back now that he’s seen the future…
First up, here’s a comparison shot from the episodes’ opening moments, which find a freshly displaced Enterprise within the Earth’s atmosphere…hanging as a “UFO” over Nebraska.
To represent the Nebraska landscape for the Remastering, CBS Digital used photographs of the state taken from the (real life) International Space Station.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
NEXT: Enterprise eventually climbs to proper orbit, rendered in the Remaster via photos of Earth nabbed by a Space Shuttle Crew.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
Finally, Enterprise attempts a “sling shot” around our sun in an effort to pick up enough speed to do its time warp thingie. This conceit was later used by Kirk & Co. to return to the 1980s in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (and The Original Series episode/backdoor spinoff pilot “Assignment: Earth” if I recall correctly).
In The Original Series, we never actually saw effects representing the Sun – basic (and sparse) “flyby” effects (like the “Original” image below) were intercut amongst the gawking reactions of Enterprise’s bridge crew. The Remastered episode fleshes out the narrative a bit by incorporating shots of the ship approaching our sun, etc.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
All "Original" images from TrekCore
All in all, this new set is a tremendous accomplishment that can't be recommended highly enough if you've any interest in TREK whatsoever. At $64.99 (current Amazon price HERE], it's a sight to behold and a tough price to complain about.
If you're horny to revisit the original show now that you've seen what J.J. had in store for us, or if you're approaching the series for the very first time, this is the way to do it.
"Charlie X" (brash teen visits Enterprise, lashes out with psy powers, turns a chick into a lizard and slaps Kirk's wench on her butt).
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (see below)
"The Corbomite Maneuver" (Clint Howard looked weird even as a kid; takes his gigantic glowing Death Star against Kirk's Enterprise).
"This Side of Paradise" (cooler-than-Shyamalan plants make Enterprise's crew carefree as Spock gets it on with Charles Bronson's wife).
"A Taste of Armageddon" (Enterprise is declared a causality in a virtually waged war).
"The Naked Time" (space virus unleashes inner-most emotions of Enterprise crew - dude locks himself in engineering to sing as Enterprise is about to crash into a planet. Spock cries, and George Takei runs around swinging his rapier).
"The Enemy Within" (transporter accident splits The Shat into halves - one nice, one dicky. Confusion abounds.)
"Mudd's Women" (space grifter Harcourt Fenton Mudd & three deceptively beautiful babes upset life on Enterprise).
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (Kirk & Co. -vs- a scientist with a spinny machine that can duplicate people).
"Miri" (Kirk and the girl from TRUE GRIT on a plague world ruled by kids).
"Dagger of the Mind" (see below)
"The Menagerie Parts 1 and 2" (court martial necessitates flashbacks to TREK's original pilot ("The Cage"), which featured the same Captain Bruce Greenwood plays in the new movie doing things Greenwood will probably never get to do because of all that time funk).
"The Conscience of the King" (head of a traveling acting troop may be a very, very bad man).
"Balance of Terror" (Kirk -vs- Romulan war ship in WRATH OF KHAN-like game of cosmic cat & mouse. Depending on who you talk to, the character of "Styles" in this may or may not be the same "Styles" who captained Excelsior in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK).
"Shore Leave" (crew takes a break on a pleasure planet that gives you what you're thinking about, which isn't always good).
"The Galileo Seven" (see below)
"The Squire of Gothos" (Enterprise gang -vs- petulant God-like dude who was a helluva lot like "Q").
"Arena" (Enterprise has trouble with the Gorn - a race of stiffly walking lizard men who wanna take 'em out. In the remastered version, the Gorn blinks).
"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (see below)
"Court Martial" (see below)
"The Return of the Archons" (serene planet descends into debauchery and chaos every once in a while. Why?)
"Space Seed" (Khan)
"The Devil in the Dark" (Enterprise tries to help a mining operation that's being bothered by a cute...surprisingly self-aware...and not entirely convincing lava rock creature).
"Errand of Mercy" (see below)
"The Alternative Factor" (Enterprise grapples with matter/anti-matter versions of the same man).
"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Edith Keeler must die).
"Operation: Annihilate" (flying poached eggs make people crazy; efforts to find a cure turn Spock blind).
This is the very first STAR TREK episode ever broadcast, although it isn't the first in overall series continuity.
In "The Man Trap", the Enterprise gang discovers that the lady who used to be the love of Dr. McCoy's life is, in actuality, a hideous, man-crushing creature disguised as a human. Many men have been down this road; the episode title alone speaks volumes.
One of the most dramatic adjustments made to the episode is this establishing shot of planet M-113. This is the archaeological site where McCoy's Ex hangs out. The original sequence was realized on a sound stage using limited angles. The remastering offers a broader scope - but is rendered to keep the flavor of the environment's original "sound stage" appearance (this was required for visual continuity; many sequences happen in and around this setting).
Original
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
DAGGER OF THE MIND
Here's a shot from the remastered "Dagger of the Mind". This is the one in which Kirk & the gang chance across evil Dr. Tristan Addams, who...on the Tantalus Penal Colony... is using his newfangled Neural Neutralizer to "rehabilitate" (read: melt the brains of) inmates under his dominion.
Marianna Hill is one of the guest stars in this week's episode. She plays Dr. Helen Noel, the Enterprise shrink previously banged by Jim Kirk after a Christmas party (HERE's a picture of her). If indications are correct, Hill is the cousin of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf (remember him?).
I've always had a huge crush on Hill/Dr. Helen Noel...she entrances me in a "Please teacher, punish me!" sort of way.
Ahhhh.
Onto the episode...
One of the big revisions made to this particular remastering is the presentation of the Tantalus colony itself. Originally, stock material was used from a previous episode called WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE, which featured a sprawling refinery center (Lithium Cracking Station). Here's the image originally used:
Original
Doesn't make a lot of sense for a penal colony. So, the remastering team went to work creating this alternative - which adds a planetary ring evocative of Chesley Bonestell.
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
THE GALILEO SEVEN
This is the episode in which Spock faces Command challenges when his shuttle craft & cranky crew crash on a planet populated by gigantic cavemen who want to wipe 'em out.
There've been some changes regarding where/when you can watch the next wave of remasters...you can find a link below that'll take you to updated details (stations, airtimes, and whatnot).
First up: a reworked shot of shuttle craft Galileo heading out of the Enterprise to go explore Murasaki 312, a quasar(ish) thingie.
Original
Remastered
Here's an exterior angle of the shuttle's departure, augmented dramatically from the original sequence (The Original Series never featured an angle remotely similar to this for such sequences).
Original
Remastered
Next: a rejiggered shot of Galileo in low-orbit of a planet. NOTE the driver...seen through the shuttle's front window. Nice detail.
Original
Remastered
Here's a lovely shot of the shuttle approaching the Murasaki 312 quasar. I really like the detail in the whirlpool around the sun (sorry I don't know the scientific term for it). There is no counterpart for this shot in the episode's original version.
Remastered
I could find no "Original" shots that I felt matched either of the Remastered FX shots below.
The first image is of Enterprise heading towards quasar Murasaki 312. The original episode never showed the ship on-screen with the quasar - we only saw the phenomenon through the main viewer on the ships bridge.
The second shot is the shuttle over the planet. This is the first episode to actually feature a shuttle craft...transporters had been used to this point in the show.
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
ERRAND OF MERCY
In short, this is the episode in which the Federation and Klingons get into a standoff that is ultimately broken by a deceptively simple race called the Organians. This paves the way for the tiresome overuse of Klingons as allies in subsequent TREK series.
This is an interesting episode to post about because, unlike a majority of the other remastered FX shots we’ve covered so far, there actually aren’t “original” shots that equate to two of the images seen below. Klingon “ships” were not yet available to the production when this episode was rolled out, so they were kept off screen & edited around in the original version. The remastering will now drop in quick intercuts of Klingon ships in Enterprise’s space to broaden the story’s scope a bit, and actually illustrate what characters talk about in the show…butwas previously kept off screen.
Unless I’m mistaken, in STAR TREK’s Remastered universe (certain designs and continuities are being adjusted and conformed throughout the series), these new scenes with Klingon ships will now serve as the introduction of the classic Klingon designs.
BELOW:
A Klingon ship, Remastered style.
Enterprise –vs- a Klingon fleet (am I seeing glowing torpedo tubes on the front of those ships, evoking the Klingon vessels in the movies?)
And, the Organian (energy form) as they originally appeared…and Remastered.
Remastered
Remastered
Original
Remastered
WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
In this installment, Kirk's buddy (played by the astronaut who isn't David Bowman in 2001) gets psy powers, goes nutso, and takes the original 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan as his woman. Kirk's gotta clean up (beat down) the mess.
The first image shows a slightly retouched Delta Vega ore processing station. The effect uses the original matte work, incorporating a few adjustments to lighting and structures.
The next image shows the Galactic Barrier seen in the episode, reworked via fluid dynamic simulations. The Barrier will look more-or-less the same from a distance, but big changes will be seen as Enterprise closes in. CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO MAKE IT LARGER!
Love 'em both. The top matter painting is one of my favorite from the original series; it's nice to see The Powers That Be keeping revision to a minimum on that one.
COURT MARTIAL
This is the one in which Kirk, through a variety of machinations, is put on trial for jettisoning an Ion Pod from the ship...Lt. Commander Ben Finney (Richard Webb) still in it. 'Cept...if Finney's dead...
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the Enterprise shots in the original iteration of this episode...pretty much standard angles of the ship orbiting a planet the Starbase is on.
The Remastered team added an angle in which, if one looks very carefully, you can see space suited technicians replacing the Ion Pod previously jettisoned by Kirk. They also added a Starfleet shuttlecraft (I guess that's a Starbase Registry number on its side?)
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY
This episode finds the 23rd Century Enterprise thrown back in time to the 1960s, where it unwittingly takes on a passenger whose presence threatens to change the course of human history. The problem is: it may be dangerous to send him back now that he’s seen the future…
First up, here’s a comparison shot from the episodes’ opening moments, which find a freshly displaced Enterprise within the Earth’s atmosphere…hanging as a “UFO” over Nebraska.
To represent the Nebraska landscape for the Remastering, CBS Digital used photographs of the state taken from the (real life) International Space Station.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
NEXT: Enterprise eventually climbs to proper orbit, rendered in the Remaster via photos of Earth nabbed by a Space Shuttle Crew.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
Finally, Enterprise attempts a “sling shot” around our sun in an effort to pick up enough speed to do its time warp thingie. This conceit was later used by Kirk & Co. to return to the 1980s in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (and The Original Series episode/backdoor spinoff pilot “Assignment: Earth” if I recall correctly).
In The Original Series, we never actually saw effects representing the Sun – basic (and sparse) “flyby” effects (like the “Original” image below) were intercut amongst the gawking reactions of Enterprise’s bridge crew. The Remastered episode fleshes out the narrative a bit by incorporating shots of the ship approaching our sun, etc.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
All "Original" images from TrekCore
All in all, this new set is a tremendous accomplishment that can't be recommended highly enough if you've any interest in TREK whatsoever. At $64.99 (current Amazon price HERE], it's a sight to behold and a tough price to complain about.
If you're horny to revisit the original show now that you've seen what J.J. had in store for us, or if you're approaching the series for the very first time, this is the way to do it.
Original
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
Here's a shot from the remastered "Dagger of the Mind". This is the one in which Kirk & the gang chance across evil Dr. Tristan Addams, who...on the Tantalus Penal Colony... is using his newfangled Neural Neutralizer to "rehabilitate" (read: melt the brains of) inmates under his dominion.
Marianna Hill is one of the guest stars in this week's episode. She plays Dr. Helen Noel, the Enterprise shrink previously banged by Jim Kirk after a Christmas party (HERE's a picture of her). If indications are correct, Hill is the cousin of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf (remember him?).
I've always had a huge crush on Hill/Dr. Helen Noel...she entrances me in a "Please teacher, punish me!" sort of way.
Ahhhh.
Onto the episode...
One of the big revisions made to this particular remastering is the presentation of the Tantalus colony itself. Originally, stock material was used from a previous episode called WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE, which featured a sprawling refinery center (Lithium Cracking Station). Here's the image originally used:
Original
Doesn't make a lot of sense for a penal colony. So, the remastering team went to work creating this alternative - which adds a planetary ring evocative of Chesley Bonestell.
Remastered - CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
This is the episode in which Spock faces Command challenges when his shuttle craft & cranky crew crash on a planet populated by gigantic cavemen who want to wipe 'em out.
There've been some changes regarding where/when you can watch the next wave of remasters...you can find a link below that'll take you to updated details (stations, airtimes, and whatnot).
First up: a reworked shot of shuttle craft Galileo heading out of the Enterprise to go explore Murasaki 312, a quasar(ish) thingie.
Original
Remastered
Here's an exterior angle of the shuttle's departure, augmented dramatically from the original sequence (The Original Series never featured an angle remotely similar to this for such sequences).
Original
Remastered
Next: a rejiggered shot of Galileo in low-orbit of a planet. NOTE the driver...seen through the shuttle's front window. Nice detail.
Original
Remastered
Here's a lovely shot of the shuttle approaching the Murasaki 312 quasar. I really like the detail in the whirlpool around the sun (sorry I don't know the scientific term for it). There is no counterpart for this shot in the episode's original version.
Remastered
I could find no "Original" shots that I felt matched either of the Remastered FX shots below.
The first image is of Enterprise heading towards quasar Murasaki 312. The original episode never showed the ship on-screen with the quasar - we only saw the phenomenon through the main viewer on the ships bridge.
The second shot is the shuttle over the planet. This is the first episode to actually feature a shuttle craft...transporters had been used to this point in the show.
In short, this is the episode in which the Federation and Klingons get into a standoff that is ultimately broken by a deceptively simple race called the Organians. This paves the way for the tiresome overuse of Klingons as allies in subsequent TREK series.
This is an interesting episode to post about because, unlike a majority of the other remastered FX shots we’ve covered so far, there actually aren’t “original” shots that equate to two of the images seen below. Klingon “ships” were not yet available to the production when this episode was rolled out, so they were kept off screen & edited around in the original version. The remastering will now drop in quick intercuts of Klingon ships in Enterprise’s space to broaden the story’s scope a bit, and actually illustrate what characters talk about in the show…butwas previously kept off screen.
Unless I’m mistaken, in STAR TREK’s Remastered universe (certain designs and continuities are being adjusted and conformed throughout the series), these new scenes with Klingon ships will now serve as the introduction of the classic Klingon designs.
BELOW:
A Klingon ship, Remastered style.
Enterprise –vs- a Klingon fleet (am I seeing glowing torpedo tubes on the front of those ships, evoking the Klingon vessels in the movies?)
And, the Organian (energy form) as they originally appeared…and Remastered.
Remastered
Remastered
Original
Remastered
In this installment, Kirk's buddy (played by the astronaut who isn't David Bowman in 2001) gets psy powers, goes nutso, and takes the original 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan as his woman. Kirk's gotta clean up (beat down) the mess.
The first image shows a slightly retouched Delta Vega ore processing station. The effect uses the original matte work, incorporating a few adjustments to lighting and structures.
The next image shows the Galactic Barrier seen in the episode, reworked via fluid dynamic simulations. The Barrier will look more-or-less the same from a distance, but big changes will be seen as Enterprise closes in. CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO MAKE IT LARGER!
Love 'em both. The top matter painting is one of my favorite from the original series; it's nice to see The Powers That Be keeping revision to a minimum on that one.
This is the one in which Kirk, through a variety of machinations, is put on trial for jettisoning an Ion Pod from the ship...Lt. Commander Ben Finney (Richard Webb) still in it. 'Cept...if Finney's dead...
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the Enterprise shots in the original iteration of this episode...pretty much standard angles of the ship orbiting a planet the Starbase is on.
The Remastered team added an angle in which, if one looks very carefully, you can see space suited technicians replacing the Ion Pod previously jettisoned by Kirk. They also added a Starfleet shuttlecraft (I guess that's a Starbase Registry number on its side?)
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY
This episode finds the 23rd Century Enterprise thrown back in time to the 1960s, where it unwittingly takes on a passenger whose presence threatens to change the course of human history. The problem is: it may be dangerous to send him back now that he’s seen the future…
First up, here’s a comparison shot from the episodes’ opening moments, which find a freshly displaced Enterprise within the Earth’s atmosphere…hanging as a “UFO” over Nebraska.
To represent the Nebraska landscape for the Remastering, CBS Digital used photographs of the state taken from the (real life) International Space Station.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
NEXT: Enterprise eventually climbs to proper orbit, rendered in the Remaster via photos of Earth nabbed by a Space Shuttle Crew.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
Finally, Enterprise attempts a “sling shot” around our sun in an effort to pick up enough speed to do its time warp thingie. This conceit was later used by Kirk & Co. to return to the 1980s in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (and The Original Series episode/backdoor spinoff pilot “Assignment: Earth” if I recall correctly).
In The Original Series, we never actually saw effects representing the Sun – basic (and sparse) “flyby” effects (like the “Original” image below) were intercut amongst the gawking reactions of Enterprise’s bridge crew. The Remastered episode fleshes out the narrative a bit by incorporating shots of the ship approaching our sun, etc.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
All "Original" images from TrekCore
All in all, this new set is a tremendous accomplishment that can't be recommended highly enough if you've any interest in TREK whatsoever. At $64.99 (current Amazon price HERE], it's a sight to behold and a tough price to complain about.
If you're horny to revisit the original show now that you've seen what J.J. had in store for us, or if you're approaching the series for the very first time, this is the way to do it.
This episode finds the 23rd Century Enterprise thrown back in time to the 1960s, where it unwittingly takes on a passenger whose presence threatens to change the course of human history. The problem is: it may be dangerous to send him back now that he’s seen the future…
First up, here’s a comparison shot from the episodes’ opening moments, which find a freshly displaced Enterprise within the Earth’s atmosphere…hanging as a “UFO” over Nebraska.
To represent the Nebraska landscape for the Remastering, CBS Digital used photographs of the state taken from the (real life) International Space Station.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
NEXT: Enterprise eventually climbs to proper orbit, rendered in the Remaster via photos of Earth nabbed by a Space Shuttle Crew.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
Finally, Enterprise attempts a “sling shot” around our sun in an effort to pick up enough speed to do its time warp thingie. This conceit was later used by Kirk & Co. to return to the 1980s in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (and The Original Series episode/backdoor spinoff pilot “Assignment: Earth” if I recall correctly).
In The Original Series, we never actually saw effects representing the Sun – basic (and sparse) “flyby” effects (like the “Original” image below) were intercut amongst the gawking reactions of Enterprise’s bridge crew. The Remastered episode fleshes out the narrative a bit by incorporating shots of the ship approaching our sun, etc.
Original
Remastered [CLICK TO EMBIGGEN IMAGE]
All in all, this new set is a tremendous accomplishment that can't be recommended highly enough if you've any interest in TREK whatsoever. At $64.99 (current Amazon price HERE]
, it's a sight to behold and a tough price to complain about. If you're horny to revisit the original show now that you've seen what J.J. had in store for us, or if you're approaching the series for the very first time, this is the way to do it.
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the way to watch it...
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Dang I read it first.
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Just kidding. This is the Real Trek!
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Warp Speed to Wal-Mart.
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Sad. Just plain sad and fucking pathetic.
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That sounds vaguely familiar... sounds like something Harry would like. I don't know why...
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Why don't you take your lightsaber and stick it where the sun don't shine? Classic Trek is the definition of GEEK COOLNESS.
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May 19, 2009 10:03:06 PM CDT
No, seriously. A front page article for a Blu-Ray release?
by starwarsredux
Plenty of other alleged definitions of "GEEK COOLNESS" have already been released on Blu-Ray, and plenty more will come, but how many of them have or will recieve this kind of focus? Not many. Most, if not all, will simply be announced in the usual weekly DVD & Blu-Ray announcements, only to be brought up again for TV show releases and online price-reductions.
This site really is indulging in a wholesale Trekkie bias lately. Hopefully it's just a passing fad... -
May 19, 2009 10:11:03 PM CDT
The CGI are perfect examples of what's wrong with movies now
by professor_monster
If you look at the originals, they only showed what needed to be shown for the story - the CGI versions embellish on unimportant detail and frankly has nothing to do with the story at hand. They take you out of what's going on - even if only for a moment, then set you back where you were before you were interrupted. Like telling someone a story and they have to answer the phone in the middle, then they turn back to you and say "Okay, what now?"
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Judging by these articles.
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I admit I thought the same thing. My thought was... didn't this come out already? Shouldn't this be a side bar item? Slow news day.
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Buy star trek on our tv articles!!! watch the movie!! we loved the movie!! not because of the movie but because of all the free shit we got!! look at it now, before and after..before and after..oh god we love you thpock!! We love you Thulu!!...Oh and Merrick..Getting kicked out of the top box office spot by a shitty Tom Hanks movie and making (4 Million) less than Wolverine did in it's first week isn't exactly "setting the universe ablaze"
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Xavier?
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Trek made MORE than Wolverine in each of their respective first weeks. Take your hate, and your lack of interest in truth elsewhere.
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I don't like Lucas-style tinkering with the classic look.
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Television is a time-capsule... and updating the 1960s SFX to contemporary standards not only takes me out of the "illusion" of the show as a cohesive whole, but ruins the joy of watching Star Trek as a part of sci-fi history.But perhaps cheating in this way is only appropriate for the adventures of James T. Kirk. Still, like the original Star Wars, with its visible frames around the Tie Fighters, I prefer the O.G. Trek, flaws and all. Leave well enough alone.
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Dumbass. Trek is the new cool. Star Wars is now and forever will be the realm of geeks (thanks to those shiteous prequels).
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That the only sereis which is still 'canon' in this new timeline is fucking ENTERPRISE? I mean, strictly speaking.
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I disagree. Primitive special effects distract me a lot more than hyper-realistic CGI. Modern special effects do a lot to immerse the audience in the experience of the film. However, if CGI is overused, then their ubiquity, not their quality, is what is distracting you.
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I prefer the original shots to the remastered ones. The remastered CG shots look like a student project for a high-school multimedia class.
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And I fucking hate it! The colors look fucked up! Compare the DVD if you don't believe me.
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when these episodes were aired on cable at 2 am
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It's all still canon, since O.G. Spock still exists and now resides in the new Trek Universe. The guy's a living, breathing encyclopedia of all of the Federation's friends, enemies and possible encounters yet to come!
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at least the old shots had that old school cheesy charm. the new stuff just looks swiped from a bland Trek video game. I'm not a CGI hater but if they are just gonna half ass it, dont bother.
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whats the point, really?
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May 19, 2009 11:09:15 PM CDT
I agree...the old stuff is campy/retro cool looking....
by dannyglovers_dickblood
....new shit looks like sci-fi CG from 1994. Fucking lame.
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between the new effects and classic effects. Very well done all the way around.
That's what she said. -
Getting sick and tired of these shitty new formats that don't work unless you have the player AND a compatible TV AND all the right cables AND etc, all sold separately. Oh, and there's bound to be a monthly fee for some fucking thing in there somewhere.
Fuck you guys up the ass with a big recessionary dick, hopefully attached to a Scandinavian "Pirate Bay" addict. -
It's another rip off format just to get you to buy another DVD with even more shitty extras that were shot with video.
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I wish they'd put these on the discs in their original production order. It's very obviously out of order in the first season. "Where no Man..." needs to be shown first.
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The season one (remastered) is available for HD streaming on Netflix.
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...please stop redoing the work of others, long past, just to justify their own existences. my god. what's done is done for christsakes. lets be original and apply our talents to something NEW!!!! what an idea?!!! I challenge anyone that agrees with me to write the heads of the movie studios with that plea.
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That salt-sucking woman almost killed the fucking show. They should have these set in episodic order, not the order some dumbshit executive's kid picked out in the 60s.
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Because in the original they don't ever swear and that just doesn't cut it for todays audience, I decided to edit in a few f-bombs.
I guess the idea that people should let a piece of art stand on its own is no longer fashionable. -
The new colorization? I think so.
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I don't see how fans of Jar Jar Dicknose's Star Drek would be able to pay attention long enough to sit through 5 mins of the TOS.What no prequel comic or audio commentary with Roberta and Klutzman?
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cultural boundaries, but I guess its only an American thing you know like Paul Blart or Adam Sandler. Kind of funny seeing that Star Trek is all about crossing cultural boundaries.
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Seems like everything coming out (save for Disney shit) was already on HD?
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It's very respectful to Roddenberry's vision. They just tried to recreate what Roddenberry hoped he could do at the time. Also they preserve the original specials effects. If you still wanna see it like. So there's no harm done.
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CGI when used is ALWAYS overused. A medium shot turns into a wide angle sweeping pan of buildings and commotion - what they did to Trek with the new shots is the same they did to Star Wars:Special Editions. The story stumbles over the gaps needed for the new panoramic Tatooine shots or Space Battles.
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Can't fucking wait.
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Old school low budget effects are sometimes very cool, always agreeably quaint. Distracting in a good way ; Contemporary low budget effects are sometimes passable, always disappointing. Distracting in a bad way. I'm willing to bet some of the work on the Next Generation looked more natural than this untextured shiny glop.
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in fact....it looks like shit.
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dont do a shitty job of it. Like DGDB said, it looks like CG from 94. some of the old shots look better than the new. what is that one with the shuttle coming out of the Enterprise? god that's awful. anyone with a basic knowledge of 3d art programs can tell that's some seriously amateur shit.
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It supposed to look like special effects from the late 60's. It's not supposed to look realistic. It's trying to live up to the look and feel of the series.
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Wow what a bad part for a mistype. At my main point.
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May 20, 2009 12:44:16 AM CDT
Oh wait I didn't mess up haha...cocain is a helluva a drug.
by orionsangels
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look at Children of Men and Batman Begins and Dark Knight where they use CGI to extend things and do impossible things. Ie erase cameras for a single take shot so they can go in deeper then cut to another shot where originally the camera filming that deep camera shot can be erased.
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it looks like cheap bullshit from Lawnmower Man. it fails miserably. Why would they change the fx just to make it look the same anyway? its just bad FX without the retro charm.
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May 20, 2009 12:57:47 AM CDT
there are plenty of great CG shots in movies, you just dont noti
by bmacsmith
the best ones are the ones you never notice. kinda sad. its like being an offensive lineman in football, you only get noticed when you do something wrong.
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Australian release date = 2017
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May 20, 2009 1:07:33 AM CDT
Once again, the joyless, heartless mod of AICN votes "we hate it
by poddie
First of all, the new set offers BOTH versions of the effects. So why the fuck is everyone so pissed that they don't like the new effects? So what! Watch the originals if they float your boat! Just be prepared for incredible amounts of grain and poorly composited opticals.
Second, the examples shown here are actually some of the poorest of the new effects. I get the impression that these were pulled when the first set of remastered eps came out. Rest assured, the CGI improved greatly as they went, and they did NOT complete the remasterings in order.
Complaints that they have only added unneeded info are so far off that the complainers clearly haven't seen the episodes. Many of the replaced shots were incredibly unclear in their original form due to reuse of shots that don't quite work or budget limitations. Look at nearly any scene of a ship docking, shuttles landing, ships in battle, or two ships interacting. Most of the time you can't even tell WTF is happening in the old shot.
So, once again, all you loser haters can please go on pissing and moaning and missing out on cool stuff because it's not "cool" to actually like anything. Elitest fucking snobs. -
It should look kinda cheesy, or else the transitions to the old Desilu plywood sets would be too jarring.
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I've already spent $400+ on TOS DVDs, wayyyy too much for 3 seasons of 40 year old (albeit excellent) television programs. No mas, ya vultures.
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who were the marketing geniuses responsible for this? Producer: Hey guys, we need you to update the FX, but they need to be shitty like the old series. Just whip up some shitty untextured models and throw some procedurals in the background, cuz nothing says 60s Trek like low budget 90s CG!! Don't worry, these dumbshits will buy anything if we slap something new on it. and Poddie, i know it has both versions, and i dont really care anyway. Its just fucking retarded to throw bad CG FX in place of bad film ones. I'm not upset if people think this is a great idea. Im asking anyone to answer, "what is the point?" i get that its just another excuse to suck money out of some Trekkie's wallet, so i cant blame them for doing it. Its immoral to let a fool keep his money, after all.
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THIS IS HOW REVISED FX SHOULD BE DONE. The original FX, particularly in space, were always distractingly vague. This was not an artistic choice; this was a budgetary choice. The new FX are PERFECT. They give a greater sense of the action, a better sense of awe, without being SO good as to distract from the 60s sets and colors. (Those of you who complain about how "mid-90s" they look are missing the point - if they looked any better, they'd clash with the rest of the action.) Besides, the original FX are preserved here for historical interest. So why the hell is anyone pissing and moaning? It's not like Jar Jar is dancing around the bridge, or giant space lizards are floating over the action during space battles.
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I think they actually did retcon him into being a young Q in the books.
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Share in the white goodness.
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Maybe the original Star Trek series FX were imperfect and not what they creators had wanted, but it is what they worked with and because of that it influenced a lot of their creative choices. The direction was based on what they could accomplish back then; so was the editing, cinematography, and dozens of other things. They might have made a cut from a medium shot to a close BECAUSE they didn't have a good wide shot or were limited by set designs – but now that you decided to throw in a wide panorama you now throw off the pacing and entire reasons why the director chose to shoot these angles and put them in this order. When you are tinkering with these things now you are not improving the original version, you are undermining the rationals and reasons why they choice to shoot them the way they did.
Plus this is a slippery slope – first we improve the special effects of older movies to meet modern standards, will we then change them to fit modern moral standards. Maybe change the title cards in Birth of a Nation so it isn’t so racist, or how about editing out the grapefruit scene in Public Enemy or the scene from Philadelphia Story were Cary Grant pushes Katherine Hepburn down.
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then there is nothing more i can do to help you.
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I mean who wants CGI that's seamlessly integrated into the existing footage when we can have CGI from the same Amiga 2000 that rendered Lawnmower Man. Are you people nuts? This is like fixing a rip in your shirt with duct tape.
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I totally didn't read this talkback before making my Lawnmower Man comment. Nice work thinking of it first.
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They've made 16:9 versions of the original 4:3 frame. Which means they've cropped the original image for the benefit of widescreen tv's. What's the fucking point of that?
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maybe we can change the guns in ET to walkie talkies...
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That's a bit shit, if true.
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Whats the point? Nice to see some posters above agree with me.
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Couple of points to those sad folk on here who seem to thrive on needlessly bitching about anything and everything...
a) Your grainy stock footage, wobbly models, poor optical fx, matte backgrounds are still there for you to drool over if you dont like the new stuff. So relax!
b) Having bought this set myself i can tell you that the 'style' of CGI used here is DELIBERATELY old skool and retro looking, and most importantly, it blends in almost seamlessly - which was the whole point dumbasses! I mean jesus christ, if you think this cgi looks 'out of place' or 'wrong', how do you think modern 'whizz-bang, lense-flare overkill, jerky cam' CGI would look spliced inbetween Kirk and co. walking around horrendously fake-looking polystyrene sets?? Seriously, wake up people!
c) Those people comparing this to the Star Wars Special Editions can literally go fuck themselves, go on... stop reading this and go fuck yourselves right now! It's NOTHING like those abominations! If Luca$ had applied the same logic to his special editions that Paramount and co. did here, they wouldve been jaw-dropping! As it is, they're not, they're shit! And any true Star Wars fan knows this, just as any true Star Trek fan knows that this set is brililant!
d) A final word to all the BluRay/HD-haters... HAHAHA!!! You idiots! When will you accept the blatant fact that if youre a lover of films(and tv-shows for that matter), and dream of seeing your beloved films/shows in their best possible incarnation, then Bluray is currently the BEST format available - end of story! I've never once, not for a second, regretted making the plunge. It's glorious! Only a narrow-minded FOOL would think otherwise.
/rant over! -
Why did you have to remind me of that? It's like seeing Solo fire first instead of Greedo. WTF?
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...51.98 USD.
Yay, Canada!
MT -
While the shots shown by Merrick are 16:9 the actual discs are all 4:3.
Oh, and if CGI has your knickers in a twist you can always watch the original effects that are included on the discs. Hell, you can toggle between the two on the fly if you want.
Interesting to see such detail in the shots. Lots of, what I would call, EXTREME CLOSEUPS!©" of the actors faces...this WAS TV in the 60's after all.
And if you're all upset about the CGI or the Bluray...nobody cares. Remember that. Nobody cares about your opinion. Now go find a life. And I mean that with all the love in my heart.
MT out. -
Sorry about that. Only the first sentence was directed at you. The rest was for the whiners and complainers.
sincerely,
MT -
some of the new stuff looks awful. in TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY the shot of the ship was shown that way because it was the pilots pov as he approached it. pretty cool to see the enterprise as seen from the ground. not any more.
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Because I remember when everybody hated that.
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one of the bigest complaints over the star wars special editions was the fact we werent given a choice. now here they DO give you a choice, you never ever have to watch the new effects if you dont want, the old show in its original state is on there too.....and they still complain. heelarius.
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then I'm cool with it. This may be the box-set I actually shell out money for.
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...moderately entertaining despite massive plot holes and the worst script ever written since Plan 9 From Outer Space. Seriously, those drooling morons who wrote it, and Transformers should, in an ideal world, never work again. Also annoying was the 1950's DC Comics version of "science". However the cast was great and actually managed to pull the whole thing out of "trancendent fail" territory. I'll happily catch it again on Netflicks when it comes out on Blu-Ray.
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... proving once again that all sentient females in the universe are, at the end of the day, life-sucking parasites. Better stop, I'm sounding too Dave Sim here.
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...in which all the eps have added lens flares, shaky-cam and plot holes galore!
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But I don't have a Blu-Ray player. So fuck it.
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and frankly the few cranks whining about this set getting some special attention in the context of this movie season are more than a bit silly. As for people carping about HD and BluRay you simply have not seen the difference. If you are a film lover there has never been a better way to see films at home. The years of substandard broadcast quality and degraded home video options have literally conditioned you in ways you can scarcely perceive. A lot of effects work in older films that people would consider "dated" actually is pretty incredible and much more seamless when the movie is in HD. Something about the degradation of resolution has the effect of really making discrete optical elements stand out from each other. Take that away and you can see what fantastic work those craftsman were able to achieve years ago. If price is the issue I can hear the complaints but that doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile format. Hopefully it will become more accessible because there has never been a better way for movie fans to experience stuff at home. I also don't get the complaints about the new effects for these episodes since you can toggle back and forth to the original version if you want. Do you just like to hear yourself complaining?
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...as Arteska said, if you're a movie fan you should be jumping at the opportunity to watch movies, TV shows (especially Trek) in the HD format. The Trek Season 1 Bluray is impressive. The quality looks great and if you don't like the updated effects you can watch the originals in their 1960's glory. It's win/win for everyone.
As for Bluray costs. Decent quality players are likely going to be below $150 USD (and hopefully CDN) by this Christmas, and if you shop around Bluray discs deals are easily found at Amazon, Walmart, Futureshop/Bestbuy, Blockbuster (used NOT new - their new prices are ridiculous) and elsewhere.
This truly is a great time to be a movie lover.
Now I just have to convince my wife that the purchase of a 1080p Front Projector - for that true "Big Screen Experience©" is a necessity. Wish me luck. heh.
MT -
Oddly enough this is what Star Wars should have done.
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... that gives you psychic powers STILL not as dumb as "red matter" and "a supernova that threatened to destroy the galaxy". Just sayin'...
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They're improvements without being intrusive.
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can't wait to see it in blueray quality. the original versions of course, the remasters look like shit. it really shows that they didn't spend enough money - the enterprise especially just looks cheaply computer generated. too little detail.
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looking any better for a rather long time.
Not that long, at least not until quad hi-def comes out in 2015. Look it up if you don't believe me. -
... instead of an endless parade about that fake ass Star Trek forgery bullshit that Jay Jay Abrams made.
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May 20, 2009 1:05:03 PM CDT
Did anyone else notice? Merrick agrees with Harry about T4!
by jasonpratt
Or maybe that's been noted already. I've been out a few days...
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I'm yet to understand what's the use of Merrick in this site. He is the biggest non-personality here.
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go masterbate to your William Shatner dolls and shut the fuck up already. we get it. youre a hater. the vast majority of critics and regular moviegoers disagree. deal with it. get therapy if you must, but please, get a life.
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Ha. Star Trek is cool and Star Wars is for losers. Who'd have thought?
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Everyone complaining about this being a top-shelf item... it's not supposed to be. The "official" AICN gang knows it. Even Harry, of all people, sighs when Merrick sticks this shit in the middle of the page.
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it's okay to replace the hard model built work for some shitty CG? Lame.
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BMacSmith, the only one who is retarded here is you. If you read my original post, you might have picked up on the fact that I (and many others) like the new effects. DO YOU THINK THAT MIGHT BE THE FUCKING POINT OF DOING THEM??? Or do you need someone else to take a crack at explaining that basic point of logic to you?
Just because YOU don't like the new effects and are blind as a bat and can't see the obvious visual improvements in the HD Blu-rays (which AGAIN, INCLUDE the original effects if you so desire), doesn't mean that everyone else that does appreciate them is a fool and that "it's an excuse to suck money out of Trekkie's wallets". This is a common internet trap... "anyone who disagrees with my opinion is a fool and there can be no possible reason to disagree with me". I have no problem with you having your opinion, and no problem with you not buying them, but when you call everyone who disagrees a fool you are clearly an intolerant jackass loser.
Fortunesfool: Way to live up to your name... if you had bothered to WATCH the Blu-rays or broadcasts (or even just look up the specs or read a review) you would know they did NOT crop them. They are both presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The new shots were rendered at 16:9 to afford them the flexibility to present them that way later if they desire. I actually like the Xbox Marketplace releases where the original material is 1.33:1 and the new effects are shown at 16:9... I don't think it's distracting at all.
Now I'd like to pass down one more tip for all the people who feel the need to bitch endlessly about EVRYTHING. NOTHING is perfect, because there is no universal definition of perfect. If they did everything exactly as you would like it, you would likely be the ONLY one who is 100% satisfied. Because there's something called taste and it's OK for it to vary.
I'm now going to try and resist reading this again because all the knuckle-dragging whiners really piss me off. -
fuck you. the remastered special effects look cheap and you know it. so what's the reason to do them? in 10 years time (hell, even today) the remastered effects look as stupidly cheap and dated (to be reasonable - even more so) than the original effects. not more exciting. not better. just a different kind of outdated. the originals because they're old, the remastered ones because they are cheap.
fuck star trek remastered!
long live star trek as it is and was! -
I've dissed New Trek a little since hearing spoilers and seeing it yesterday. But, I'm just a snarky MF'r and I diss everything. I enjoyed the flick, not immensely, but it was a welcome diversion. Of course the script was shit, the "science" ridiculous and it had enough plot holes to singlehandedly suck that (chortle) "galaxy-killing supernova" into a singularity all by itself, no (heh) "red matter" required. Still, the cast saved it and it was an enjoyable summer movie. So I'm not a "hater", better to describe me as a "liker" (didn't love it, wasn't awed by it... but I did like it). However, the real argument should be: Is Trek now nothing more than a mildly enjoyable diversion, or can it be something more? And will it, under the guidance of JJ Abrams?
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But then again so is a 1080p LCD 42’ (at least) and a Blu-Ray player / Playstation 3. Ah, the dreams of Avarice…
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Just as with Star Wars, they throw away significant work done on the old show just beacuse new FX are EZ but all the other old "cheeze" is still there ... thank the gods.
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why the fuck aren't you jumping up and down for joy ANYWAY? The Xbox live crap was only 720p, which is less than HALF the info of 1080p/full HD. The HD-DVD ONLY gave you the remastered stuff, with no choice.
Now you're getting the old stuff better than it's ever looked before (and you can just IGNORE the remastered fx). Way CHEAPER than ever before. No wonder you all live in the basement. That's where everybody wants you. Fucking whiny unprofessional pantywaists. -
I meant to ask whether there was nothing else to whine about today, 'cause that's the only reason I can think of. Amateurs. And yes I know I'm repeating earlier posts (hopefully concisely), but obviously it hasn't sunk in...
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you actually think that looks good? explain that to me. Only a fucking imbecile would look at that shit and be impressed. it is utter fail. it fails at being retro, it fails at improving the visuals. the only thing that fails harder is your pathetic excuse for trying to justify its total failure. I suppose if you somehow think Lawnmower Man is the epitome of great CG, then i could understand why you would like it. but in that case, youre a bigger idiot than i thought. btw, i wasnt talking about the fancy blu-ray bells and whistles, so dont bring that in to this.
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just because people point out how utterly fucking stupid and pointless the new "improved" FX look doesnt make them whiners. THe other shit is nice, but that doesnt change the fact some idiot wasted a lot of time and money. im not a hater. Im not a huge Trek fan, but I like new Trek, old Trek, next Gen Trek, and whatever else. Im sure this is great to uber fans. but the bad FX is still just plain dumb.
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when they don't realise the intent was to address the main shortfall of the original fx in failing to propel the narrative because of technical limitations, which is what the new stuff does in providing context (Enterprise in relation to shuttle, Enterprise in relation to sun, prison not looking like electrical power station, shining light organisms looking human scale instead of supered flashlights etc.) where previously there was none. While staying true to the general 60s aesthetic. If you disagree that they achieved this, fine. But your infantile splutterings of "just plain dumb", "utterly fucking stupid" and "pointless" don't say you appreciate what they were trying to do but believe they failed, they say you're a fucking whiner trying to be more indignant than everyone else (tall order in a trek tb) for a moment of internet infamy. They also say you probably haven't even watched them. You go girl.
I daresay if they used what you term "good" cg a million more whiners would emerge saying it doesn't fit the cigar-case, giveaway scale look of the original stuff. And your "good cg is invisible" is inane. So only digital set extensions count as good? Most cg or practical fx work will ALWAYS be obvious/visible by virtue of context, no matter how far into the future you go and how much fx improves. If there's an alien in the shot it's a fair guess that it's not a 'real' alien, whether rubber or pixels. And when an animal starts talking and exhibits human traits and body language/movement, our brain will ALWAYS tell us it's "wrong", no matter how well it's done. ALWAYS.
And you're quite the expert on Lawnmower Man. Dumbshit indeed. -
how else can i fucking explain it to you. it did not, in any way, stay true to the 60s aestetic. it stayed true to a previously nonexistent early 90s CG aesthetic. It also completely failed in its attempt to not be jarringly disconnected from the rest of the show. how could you not be distracted? It is "just plain dumb", "utterly fucking stupid" and "pointless" because it couldnt have achieved what they wanted, probably because they were too cheap. You have every right to like piss poor shit if you want, and i have every right to say if you are so easily amused you have no taste or standards. Fuck off. i didnt say CG you didnt notice was the only good CG, but a lot of it is. its not inane to say that.
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It's when groupies like you call haters to such people like me who weren«'t impressed with Jay Jay's bullshit that makes me never want to give up in trashing that stupid dumb retard piece of shit pseudo-Star Trek movie. and i'm not a trekkie, but i'm very much the movie geek and i don't take kindly to bullshit such as Jay Jay's Star Dreck. Deal with it.
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That's what struck me too--the new effects mostly just add extra visual "junk" which, no matter how nicely rendered it might be, doesn't add anything to the substance of the scene. It doesn't deepen, it distracts.
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Y'know, Ringo Starr was a fairly primitive drummer. The other guys were very accomplished, but his basic playing style is just out of synch with today's sensibilities. I mean, since Ringo we've had everyone from Neal Peart to Trent Reznor to Timbaland. The people of today need an updated sound in order to be engaged with this old music.Therefore, we will be assembling a crack team of studio drummers in high-quality digital studios to replace Ringo's parts with more modern, contemporary drumming that we expect will fit much better alongside all the other sounds on the albums which were recorded 40 years ago.And we're saying that with a straight face, putting it on TV and releasing it on DVD.Welcome to Bizarro World.
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and shut the hell up. Harry's balls you women never had a male authority figure in your lives to show you how to be a man did you? A goddam plastic spaceship is no more real than a wireframe one but if one is to you....you can select the one you prefer and never see the other one, except in your mind's eye, which you inexplicably need everyone else to see here in your rantings. Don't you have chores to do?
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The effects look like shit. Plain and simple. There are exactly two ways they could and should have gone. One: do the VFX as well as it is possible to do them today. Two: Do effects that look indistinguishable from what the art direction and production design people would have done at the time with a bigger budget. Instead, bizarrely, they decided to go with CG that looks like cut scenes from Starfox for Nintendo 64. This is a double anachronism. It doesn't look right today, and wouldn't look right in the 60s. It would be a nice treat for someone living in 1992, though. So if that's where all these defenders are living please tell Stanley Kubrick that he only has seven years to live and we need more than one more movie from him. Otherwise, please look deep within yourself, and admit that "bad CGI" is in no way better for verisimilitude than CGI that actually looks passable in our current decade. It's almost the next one, for crying out loud.
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that you can, for all intents and purposes, enjoy this set in a manner that makes these new effects not even exist. It's like there is some bizarre indignation that someone somewhere might actually see the version that you don't prefer, even if you can easily avoid ever seeing it yourself. That's some weird psychological territory isn't it? This is the part where parents step in and tell fighting kids to go outside and do something.
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Why isn't The Cage in this set? How am I expected to teach my previously non-Trek-aware wife all about it without The Cage?
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