Ways that SNW actually improved TOS

Yeah....no.

 

Honestly, if anything this series makes TOS look like a child's make-believe version of Pike's world.

That would really explain a lot - starting with the TOS dress-up "Starfleet" pajamas. Everything looks like the toy version of things.

 

So unfair to compare 1960's versus 2020 production values.
In 2080, SNW will look bad and maybe unwatchable?

 

not necessarily. things do improve and it's not really wrong to look back and say "that looks worse than it does now"

 

I think TOS still likes fine and perfectly watchable.

 

"Fair and unfair" do not enter into it.

 

Probably.

Look at the demand for 4k on so many different properties and the HD push because things are "unwatchable" at SD.

 

People really are spoiled these days.

 

The times we have seen TOS in modern times (DS-9, ENT) I think the ship and tech looked pretty good still. No big floaty air monitor holograms and let's put a light strip on everything sets, but I like the cleaner, less distracting look to things...

 

In TNG: "Relics" and DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations," they rebuilt the sets accurately because they had to match the TOS stock footage they were using. ("Relics" only had the budget to build the turbolift alcove and one station and rent a fan replica of the stuff in the middle, so they had to use a stock shot from "Tomorrow is Yesterday" for the wide shot of the bridge.) For "In a Mirror, Darkly," they expanded the recreated set pieces they'd already used in the earlier episodes (and IIRC the art department had been adding to those sets on their own time as a recreational project). So in all cases, they were constrained by logistical needs to be faithful to the original sets. The new shows are starting from scratch, so it makes sense they'd take the opportunity to update the design. The TNG/DS9 art staff might've done the same if they'd been free to do so, just as actors taking over an existing character create their own interpretation rather than just copying the original actor. It doesn't mean the original version wasn't good enough, it just means that individual performers or creators have their own individual approaches.

 

It looked awesome in ENT.

There is absolutely a way to take the TOS aesthetic and update it, while keeping the core spirit of it. You can keep all the same shapes and all that an add more detail into it. I think there is a certain logic to the minimalist look, basically that Starfleet of the time wanted to hide all the greeblies and what not. So rather than an overly busy wall of pipes, holograms and all manner of crap, it's just... a wall. The other things are all behind it.

 

SNW hasn't had those either.

Or at least I can't remember any.

 

Yes it did.

What do we do now?

 

Extremely. It's kind of sad and amazing all at once.

 

I remember reading a retcon reasoning behind the TOS minimalist controls with no labeling. It started off as a security measure as a fully trained officer would know how to work the panels but if the ship was boarded or an unauthorized person got access they would not be able to do much.

 

That would work if everyone and their uncle hadn't hijacked the ship and flown it with ease.

 

But they never touched the controls, they mostly used hand waves and sparkles to hijack the ship.

Correction- we do see the Kelvins from Andromeda at the control stations. Imagine what their 'normal' bridges looked like, with each alien having a hundred tentacles with a mind capable of each of them doing a different task..

 

Touch screens are crap control systems. Give me colorful buttons, shiny twist dials, and pert toggle switches any day.

And sliders!

TOS might not be so obsolete after all.

 

analog volume knobs are all the rage on custom keyboards these days.

 

The SNW enterprise does have jelly buttons, donated by the Ticonderoga TOS Set Tour.

And they've used TOS inspired data cards a couple times, in both SNW and DSC.