Not sure how I feel about this
Aug. 31st, 2006 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Just saw this article on TVGuide online. Apparently they are digitally remastering Star Trek the original series.
Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic β60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.
"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.
The upgraded episodes β to be shown out of order and one per week β will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the βnew' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." (Click here for a larger version of the image at left.) Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at ourselves."
Trek's opening theme is also getting an overhaul: The music has been re-recorded in stereo with a bigger orchestra, and a new singer has been hired to wail those famous but wordless vocals. And goofs will be corrected: In "The Naked Time," there was no beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. Now there is.
I can't really see the point of doing this. I mean, half the fun is the cheesiness of the thing. They really did a good job considering the technology of the day and, frankly I think that, because they didn't have the special effects we have to day, they really had to focus on the story lines. It is the rich and complex (mostly) plots that kept Star Trek alive all these years, not the quality of the set or the special effects.
Coincidentally I just finished reading William Shatner's 1993 "Star Trek Memories", which was an interesting look at the show. They really had to struggle every step of the way just to do the show. NBC kept cutting the budget and was never fully behind the show. The third season the network was going to give Star Trek a really good timeslot and then switched it to Friday at 10, which was basically the kiss of death, ratings-wise, and Gene R. stepped down from producing because of it. Which explains "Spock's Brain".
I have fond memories of watching the show every night at midnight in a friend's dorm room my sophmore year in college. We would have such fun, laughing every time Bones said 'he's dead, Jim' and the like.
So what do you think? Good idea to redo the show or not?
Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic β60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.
"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.
The upgraded episodes β to be shown out of order and one per week β will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the βnew' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." (Click here for a larger version of the image at left.) Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at ourselves."
Trek's opening theme is also getting an overhaul: The music has been re-recorded in stereo with a bigger orchestra, and a new singer has been hired to wail those famous but wordless vocals. And goofs will be corrected: In "The Naked Time," there was no beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. Now there is.
I can't really see the point of doing this. I mean, half the fun is the cheesiness of the thing. They really did a good job considering the technology of the day and, frankly I think that, because they didn't have the special effects we have to day, they really had to focus on the story lines. It is the rich and complex (mostly) plots that kept Star Trek alive all these years, not the quality of the set or the special effects.
Coincidentally I just finished reading William Shatner's 1993 "Star Trek Memories", which was an interesting look at the show. They really had to struggle every step of the way just to do the show. NBC kept cutting the budget and was never fully behind the show. The third season the network was going to give Star Trek a really good timeslot and then switched it to Friday at 10, which was basically the kiss of death, ratings-wise, and Gene R. stepped down from producing because of it. Which explains "Spock's Brain".
I have fond memories of watching the show every night at midnight in a friend's dorm room my sophmore year in college. We would have such fun, laughing every time Bones said 'he's dead, Jim' and the like.
So what do you think? Good idea to redo the show or not?
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on 2006-08-31 01:17 pm (UTC)That said, they'd better not completely replace the originals. Those should always be available in some format or other.
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on 2006-08-31 02:01 pm (UTC)Everything doesn't have to be redone to pander to an audience's desire for glitz and glitter. LEAVE THE OLD STAR TREK ALONE.
That said, they'd better not completely replace the originals. Those should always be available in some format or other.
Damned straight.
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on 2006-08-31 02:18 pm (UTC)Yes, but who's doing it? Is it the people who used to watch it, or new viewers? Just because they're being rented doesn't mean they're reaching a new audience.
At http://trekenhanced.com/ a special effects guy posted his attempt to redo the SFX for one particular episode of Star Trek, "The Doomsday Machine." It's set up that you can watch a side-by-side comparison, and frankly, his version is an improvement over the original in many ways.
I don't think an attempt to enhance old SFX is a bad thing on its own. It can also generate new excitement about old episodes. But I do feel, as I said before, that the originals should always remain available.
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on 2006-08-31 03:16 pm (UTC)However, that got me thinking: Doctor Who has been revived by a fresh and new take on it being made right now. The Star Trek powers that be -- in my humble-but-bitter opinion ;) -- kind of ran the franchise into the ground in the past five years. And so my bitter, cynical side sees this as another attempt by TPTB to get more golden eggs from a dying goose without actually trying to be genuinely creative about it.
But that's only if I dredge up my usually dormant disillusioned-Trekkie mode. My initial reaction to this was pretty much to roll my eyes and say, "Meh. As long as it's only cosmetic changes and as long as the originals stay available, whatever."
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on 2006-08-31 02:36 pm (UTC)Also, WTF, "Spock's Brain"? I saw that episode again the other day and, in addition to the crazy plot-hole-o-rama, there's a lot of misogyny going on in that episode. And big hair. The sixties, you're fired.
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on 2006-08-31 03:20 pm (UTC)http://crossbow1.livejournal.com/533030.html
No!
on 2006-08-31 05:37 pm (UTC)I'm all for "cleaning up" the films, making it more crisp or sharper, but not to digitally alter it. It's not the same.
I never have seen Star Trek orginal series, but I've watch TNG, Voyager (my favorite), DS9.
This brings back the time they "digitally altered" Star Wars. ACK! I like how they made it brighter and stuff, but not added crap. The old stuff is what makes it CLASSIC!
I hate growing old. :-(
deep and abiding feeling of losing something each passing day
on 2006-08-31 06:39 pm (UTC)The spin offs Next Generation, Deep Space Nine (my personal favourite, as it has a nice story arc in the last 5 seasons, like babylon 5, which is my favourite sci-fi series of all) and Voyager are more interesting to me, even though I watched the Original series on its TV debut. Many of the episodes are so bad I don't think a bit of touching up is going to ruin them, honestly.
I didn't see Star Wars until it came out on DVD last year. I like the movies. I have a feeling all the squawking was just another manifestation of some people's deep and abiding fear of losing something with each passing day...
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on 2006-08-31 07:04 pm (UTC)Worst episode, imo? The Trouble with Tribbles.
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on 2006-09-01 12:48 am (UTC)Actually, I don't give all that much of a rat's ass; I'm just not that into original Trek - sad but true! And by "not that into it", I mean that I have only seen every single episode once or twice. But yeah, I don't like the idea of "glossing it up" - it should be appreciated (or, in the case of episodes like "Spock's Brain", cringed at) as a product of its era.