Star Trek TNG Remastered?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hober Mallow wrote:

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The best the series could ever look is "Trials and Tribble-ations" from the TOS blu-ray

It's a shame they couldn't actually do a HD version of that one episode.

[Hober Mallow]

YARN wrote:

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If they were to do it right, I'd say they'd need to start the archival and transfer process of the original film footage ASAP.
It would take a while to simply assemble the footage, organize it, and index it. The next step of reproducing the TV edits from all the film would take a ton of time by itself.

I don't think that would be practical. Why transfer the tons of film that wasn't used to get the, presumably, much fewer shots that actually were used in the episodes? I would think they'd want to find the right shots first, then transfer them, then edit them.

[Hober Mallow]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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It's a shame they couldn't actually do a HD version of that one episode.

THey did the next best thing -- lied on the package and said it was in HD.

[SoM]

Hober Mallow wrote:

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Except then you're missing the whole point of the project, which is to create HD versions of TNG. The new FX are, unfortunately, necessary to accomplish that goal, but the new FX themselves aren't the purpose of the project.

Depends on how you define "new FX" - transporter/replicator effects, phaser shots and the like would need to be redone from scratch, true; but all the model shots were done on 35mm, and could be recomposited/reedited with the rest of the footage if the will existed* - they'll need to recomposite every viewscreen & monitor shot anyway.

[*The new CGI ship shots for TOS were required because they used the film episode masters, with umpteen layers/generations of compositing artefacts visible. Since equivalent masters don't exist for TNG, using the original model shots is peversely more achievable despite the extra work.]

[RAMA]

Look...the CBS guy says it WILL happen...its a question of overcoming a few problems. I can see WHY it will happen...STNG is its most popular ST "product"...they want to release it on HD as much as they did TOS, if not more so...they are going to make it happen. This is not Space 1999 or The Invaders...it was a BIG show with high ratings. They have the crew that worked on it more or less intact to supervise if necessary. HD formats, primarily Blue-ray are obviously the future and they will want to continue the ongoing popularity and moneymaking of ST. Also, the FX will probably be "state-of-art", and will be great quality, as opposed to the holding back on TOS-R to make it appear to date from the 60s. I think they'll be looking to exercise some of the top capabilities of CBS Digital.

RAMA

[RAMA]

Isn't it funny how the Dr Who restoration team tries to reverse this look, so film looks like video? I wonder how much new software and techniques could actually make this process for STNG remastered easier in the coming years...if "shortcuts" could be used in the process to shorten the time it takes restore the images to film and then new FX inserted for HD.

Under "VidFire" link:

http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/vidfire.htm

[SoM]

RAMA wrote:

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STNG is its most popular ST "product"...they want to release it on HD as much as they did TOS, if not more so...they are going to make it happen. This is not Space 1999 or The Invaders...it was a BIG show with high ratings.

Funny example, since Space 1999 was scanned in HD years ago... (not sure if it was released on disc, but it's certainly been on HD telly).

[CorporalClegg]

RAMA wrote:

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Look...the CBS guy says it WILL happen...its a question of overcoming a few problems. I can see WHY it will happen...STNG is its most popular ST "product"...they want to release it on HD as much as they did TOS, if not more so...they are going to make it happen.
RAMA

Hopefully, if true, they can use it as a proving ground to perfect the technology to make it cheap and efficient. That way they may eventually be persuaded to do DS9 and VOY--I would assume transferring ENT to BR wouldn't be too difficult.

[swaaye]

Hopefully they have it ready for the next level of "TrueHD". Surely a resolution jump will happen again sometime down the road.

Keep that 3D crap out of it though.

[RAMA]

SoM wrote:

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Funny example, since Space 1999 was scanned in HD years ago... (not sure if it was released on disc, but it's certainly been on HD telly).

Interesting, I'm sure its not on Blu-ray...but it must look absolutely awful on HDTV, even if scanned from film..that's the main reason for TOS-R. Someone didn't really care too much about the end product..

RAMA

[RAMA]

RAMA wrote:

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Isn't it funny how the Dr Who restoration team tries to reverse this look, so film looks like video? I wonder how much new software and techniques could actually make this process for STNG remastered easier in the coming years...if "shortcuts" could be used in the process to shorten the time it takes restore the images to film and then new FX inserted for HD.

Under "VidFire" link:

http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/vidfire.htm

Ah I can answer my own question...I guess the earliest story included an "up-resing idea". What process/tools did they use for this I wonder.

http://trekmovie.com/2007/07/27/cbs-...mastering-tng/

RAMA

[SoM]

RAMA wrote:

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Interesting, I'm sure its not on Blu-ray...but it must look absolutely awful on HDTV, even if scanned from film..that's the main reason for TOS-R. Someone didn't really care too much about the end product..

Well, someone who's worked with the DWRT (mentioned above) supervised rhe rescanning & clean-up:
http://www.bbcstudiosandpostproducti...pace_1999.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/m...de/upimhd.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/m...mvdvduk2a.html

Oh, and apparently it will be released on Bluray this year: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4910

[RAMA]

SoM wrote:

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Well, someone who's worked with the DWRT (mentioned above) supervised rhe rescanning & clean-up:
http://www.bbcstudiosandpostproducti...pace_1999.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/m...de/upimhd.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/m...mvdvduk2a.html

Oh, and apparently it will be released on Bluray this year: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4910

Neat, but again, as with Dr Who they are going for a "video" look even though its available in 35mm film!!! They do seem to be putting a lot of care into the project, and it just goes to show what you can do when the right "raw" material is available in the proper format. I still think the FX portions will look awful if they haven't been re-made...even for a show almost 10 yrs TOS's junior.

EDIT: You know it occurs to me,they prob didn't do a lot of compositing on that show...it might be almost exclusively models with a background...in that case the FX would be fine on that point, but the nature of the models might also be more apparent.

RAMA

[darkwing_duck1]

In the case of Space:1999, wouldn't the fx shots be easier to remaster at high quality due to the fact they did most if not all their FX compositing "in camera"?

[jefferiestubes8]

this month there is talk at Star Trek con
August 9, 2010

In a response to a question about TNG on Blu-ray, CBS Consumer Products VP John Van Citters told the crowd in Las Vegas...

...Van Citters expressed optimism noting "It is being worked on and I expect it will happen, it is just a technical challenge."

http://trekmovie.com/2010/08/09/vega...r-shaker-more/


I just noticed RAMA beat me to it.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?...&postcount=600