Help me decide- Original or Remastered DVDs?

I lost all my Trek recordings (tapes, home-made DVDs, storebought DVDs, everything) in a household disaster.

I originally had TOS from the old VHS release, and TOS-R from the aired versions, recorded off TV onto DVDs.

I can only justify buying one replacement set of TOS DVDs, and the price I can buy them for is pretty close for both versions. (Tho, oddly, TOS-R is actually the cheaper set.)

What do I do?

Give me your arguments for one or the other. (I was going to say "Don't ANYONE make different recomendations for BOTH", but maybe that'd be okay too.)

 

The Blu Rays have both versions, so I would grab a cheap Blu Ray player and enjoy TOS with the amazing new cleaned up pictures that reveal loads of new things hidden away for the past forty years, even if it takes you a while to save up, it is well worth it.

I was a Blu Ray skeptic, but the picture and sound quality leave DVD for dead.

Sorry to hear about your disaster

 

If you can afford the Blu-Rays, they're easily the superior choice. If you can't, I'd go with whatever versions cheaper -- both have limitations in their visual effects.

 

Blu ray is the definitive choice if possible. A player can be had for well under $100 nowadays and is well worth the investment.

As for TOS vs TOS-R. I am one who was not entirely satisfied by the TOS-R FX. You've had the opportunity to view both. I'm happy to have the choice on blu ray, but as time goes on and my curiosity for the new FX has been satisfied, I find myself returning to the tried and true originals more and more. Nostalgia for a known quantity? Perhaps. But the FX truly blend with the style of the show, perfectly support the stories, and can be appreciated on a technical level for what they were able to achieve.

Once you see ST on blu ray, however, you won't want to settle for any 'lesser' (resolution) format.

 

I'm going to go ahead and split hairs because... well, because that's what I do. The blu-rays contain only remastered episodes. The distinction is between remastered episodes with the original FX and remastered episodes with newly-added FX. "Remastered" refers to the new HD master, not the new FX. And "pedantic" refers to me, but I'm not going to apologize for it.

 

While I wish they'd gone George Lucas Batshit Insane with the TOS-R CGI (an Enterprise with USS Kelvin-like hull detail, Mr Arex in the background, redone battles, new editing etc etc), or exactly recreated the original space shots in CG, what we got wasn't all bad. Some was good ("The Cage" fly-in, the CG cityscape in "A Taste of Armageddon") Some was weak (all of "Balance of Terror", the copy and paste Klingon fleet barely glimpsed in "Errand of Mercy", the battle in "The Ultimate Computer")

 

That is a really sad story. Sorry, man.

 

Ok, fair enough. I do know what 'remastered' technically means. I also know how the term 'remastered' is used by most people discussing this.

So, I must ask, do you have anything to contribute to the OP's question, other than vocabulary clarification?

How about breaking down the actual purchasing options? Was there even a DVD release of the remastered episodes with the original VFX? I ask only because this is the distinction most tend to pay attention to. I would wholeheartedly recommend the remastered version of all the live-action footage, etc, but on DVD, that seems to be available only with the newly created CGI VFX. So my recommendation stands as: TOS Remastered, with the option provided only on blu ray to view with the original VFX (and the original mono sound track if desired)

 

This. Never good when these unexpected "complications" show up in life.

 

I see three options:

TOS DVD: non-remastered, uncut episodes with original VFX intact.

TOS-R DVD: remastered picture and sound, minor editing to accommodate new CGI VFX

TOS-R Blu Ray: remastered picture and sound, both versions of VFX and option of new sound mix or original mono.

My preferences:

Choice 1: Blu Ray -- Incredible picture and sound quality. Light years ahead of either DVD. Also provides option of which version of VFX to watch, and some intriguing extras (if that factors into your decision)

Choice 2: TOS-R DVD -- If you like, or don't mind the new VFX, then go for this for the overall remastered picture and sound. Also, there will have been scenes cut for syndication that you probably won't have seen since your TOS-R version was recorded off air (not to mention looking even better than what was broadcast, most likely)

Choice 3: TOS DVD -- Some purists may point out something to do with the sound mix here, but I consider any such differences so minor and trivial compared to the other improvements offered by the remastering that I find nothing compelling about this set to recommend it (unless you wish the original VFX but cannot afford the blu ray)

If only there was a convenient way to switch between production order vs. aired release order

Whatever choice you make, It'll be great to have TOS available again. Don't know if you're a TNG fan as well, but I must say that, at least for me, TNG on blu ray (plus the 11 films) has now become my required viewing format (compared to the original DVDs) so that may be another factor in upgrading to blu ray for you.

 

Major sympathies for this, of course. I don't want to imagine what else was lost

 

If you have seen both, I think you should know which effects you prefer. For me, personally, it was nice to see a few episodes in original effects, but being born in the 80s and used to modern effects, it's much more convenient to sit and look at something that actually looks like a planet - as opposed to amorphous green blob. No offense for the non-remastered edition fans, the "retro" graphics in TV are just not to my liking.

 

Since you've seen both and have seemingly eliminated Blu-ray from the equation, the question is this: which effects package did you enjoy more? I think your DVD purchase should be based on this alone.

If you don't HAVE to buy them today, I'd save up for the Blu-ray editions. The sets really aren't much more expensive and players can be had for under a 'benjamin'.

They really are stunning. As is The Next Level TNG Blu-ray release.

 

I own the series on the remastered DVDs and I have to say they look spectacular. Everything about them is clean and crisp and I really enjoy the new CGI effects. They weren't over the top and they helped bring the show to life. That being said I now wish that that would've bought the Blu-rays instead. Not because of the original footage but because of the superior quality of HD discs and the fact that I have the original movies all on Blu-ray, so I lose some uniformity in my collection but the remastered DVDs are good enough that I wouldn't bother switching to Blu-ray at this point.

I could never, however, go back to the original DVDs. No way.

 

What was her name?

 

Totally agree. I think once you see the blu-rays, you just can't go back to DVD. Seeing Trek in HD is like experiencing for the first time all over again. I watched through the entire series once with the new FX, but now I watch with original FX.

 

I really like what they did on the remasters, but for owning I would personally go with the originals between the two. I would also highly recommend getting the blu-rays if you can.

 

Thanks for everyone's expressions.

As for what else was lost, let's just say it happened LAST SUMMER, and I'm only now starting to think about replacing my Trek stuff.

I'll leave to your imagination what else has been replaced over the months since then.

For the suggestion that I just consider which version is more to my liking, since I've seen both, that's the point. I have seen them, and love them both, so I wanted others to poke me a bit so's to see which way I slide.

For example (TOS-R):
Loved the blinking Gorn, hated the insertion of Shatner's voice-over on WNMHGB's themesong.

Auuuugggghhhh!!!!

 

The Blurays really do look amazing.