How long until TNG: Remastered?

[CaptainDonovin]

I'd love to see it but not sure it will happen unless the money is there from Paramount and/or the desire from us the fans to have it is there.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think the prospect of showing TNG in high definition will be tantalizing enough to get the show remastered. Ditto for DS9 and Voyager.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

You know, the problem here is that in order to re-do TOS they simply make new versions of certain shots, of exactly the same length as the originals, and insert them into digital video of an episode that's been through the whole post-production process.

That is, all the footage and sound effects and elements were completely assembled into an episode decades ago.

TNG's raw film footage was transferred to video before postproduction. It was assembled into episodes on video.

Basically, to recreate a TNG episode means to do all the post-shooting work again. To use the original soundtrack means to match every shot precisely from the original version to the new version.

Even if all the raw film footage exists, it's probably only doable at all if every bit of editing was documented and all that documentation exists in useable form. It would be a daunting and expensive task to do one or two episodes, much less 178.

[Falcor5]

Starship Polaris said:
Even if all the raw film footage exists, it's probably only doable at all if every bit of editing was documented and all that documentation exists in useable form. It would be a daunting and expensive task to do one or two episodes, much less 178.

Ya good point. I could see them maybe doing it to a couple of two parter episodes and selling them as standalone movies (like maybe BOBW and All Good Things etc...) and maybe a top 10 "Fan Collective" set or something that the fans get to vote on but I think the cost would be just to great to do all the episodes.

[CaptainStoner]

Falcor5 said:

Ya good point. I could see them maybe doing it to a couple of two parter episodes and selling them as standalone movies (like maybe BOBW and All Good Things etc...) and maybe a top 10 "Fan Collective" set or something that the fans get to vote on but I think the cost would be just to great to do all the episodes.

"Best of TNG in HD", I can see that.

[Salinga]

I guess with more and more HD channels popping up it is only a matter of time until many old series are converted to HD. I bet it is cheaper than shooting completly new stuff in HD to fill the time on the channel.

[dustoffxl]

I know this is an old thread, but I want to put in my opinion. They are making a mistake, remastering in 4:3 aspect ratio.

If they are going to remaster TNG, then they need to do it right. This means, keeping the original 35mm aspect ratio, and NOT do 4:3 aspect. They messed up, remastering the TOS series in 4:3, when they should have shown the full 35mm frame.

The original 35mm film before special effects, probably exists in storage. This original film is NOT in 4:3. Yes, it may have props, lighting, or other stuff in the frame on the sides. But this kind of stuff can be erased and fixed with VFX software.

Just give us the full 35mm frame. NOT 4:3.

[bryce]

I would like to see them fix the scale mistakes...when they showed a TOS movie ship (like the Oberth class) next to the 1701-D, and the ships were very close in size, where in reality, the 1701-D should DWARF TOS movie ships. Same for the Klingon BOP's.

To me, my mind just compensated and just perceived the 1701-D as smaller than it was supposed to be. (It did the same with those much bigger windows...my mind saw them a TOS-sized, and made the ship look smaller than it was to me.) I never go a real sense of the Galaxy class' scale. That ship is HUGE, and I never really got that sense. I got a better sense of BIG scale seeing the TMP ships on the big screen, because we got some stately, magestic close-ups.

Generations got the scale more correct (although, now that Oberth looks maybe slightly too small...?):



Of course, all those re-used Space stations and Spacedocks from the TOS movies didn't help either. I never liked how we were supposed to buy that Starfleet (and the Klingons) just built scaled up monster versions of exactly the same ships and stations. BS. Maybe some of those could be replaced with new designs - and maybe the reused maybe the Spacedock doors could be made bigger, or we could see a different. Bigger, mushroom dock, or just see the 1701-D dock on the outside as they were originally gonna do...

[Son_of_Soong]

I dont expect TNG to have any of its visual effects redone for quite some time yet. Their not exactly new but they're not as old as the TOS visual effects were.

I do expect them to be out on Blu-Ray or HD sometime in the next few years tho :-)

[AviTrek]

Dude, you don't get it. All the TNG fx shots were done on video tape at 640x480 resolution. All the compositing done combing fx and film shots were done on video tape also. TNG can't be released in HD without redoing all those shots.

[Son_of_Soong]

Recreate it all then. Time concuming, expensive... but not impossible. *refuses to give up hope*

[DumbDumb2007]

enterprise is already in Hig hdef ? i have season 1

[Tomalak]

DizzyMan said:

As well as new special effects, and the film remastered to high def, I would also love (and I'm dreaming, now) if they scrapped the synthesised music from seasons 1 and 2, and just replaced it with selected orchestral music from the latter seasons. I think it would make the episodes seem so much better.

I was with you until that bit. Don't change the music - it's part of the atmosphere of the episodes as much as Edward Brown's lighting. I much prefer some of those Ron Jones scores to the later bland Chattaway durges.

dustoffxl said:
The original 35mm film before special effects, probably exists in storage. This original film is NOT in 4:3. Yes, it may have props, lighting, or other stuff in the frame on the sides. But this kind of stuff can be erased and fixed with VFX software.

The trouble is, that's just making more work for yourself, most of which wouldn't be seen due to overscan.

[FalTorPan]

Starship Polaris said:
You know, the problem here is that in order to re-do TOS they simply make new versions of certain shots, of exactly the same length as the originals, and insert them into digital video of an episode that's been through the whole post-production process.

That is, all the footage and sound effects and elements were completely assembled into an episode decades ago.

TNG's raw film footage was transferred to video before postproduction. It was assembled into episodes on video.

Basically, to recreate a TNG episode means to do all the post-shooting work again. To use the original soundtrack means to match every shot precisely from the original version to the new version.

Even if all the raw film footage exists, it's probably only doable at all if every bit of editing was documented and all that documentation exists in useable form. It would be a daunting and expensive task to do one or two episodes, much less 178.

The folks at World Events Productions had this done for the DVD releases of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, so it might be economically viable for ST:TNG. Only the bean counters know for certain.

[Tomalak]

The thing is, if they are going to go back to original negs, they might as well do a complete Lucas-style revamp - including new effects, restoring scenes cut for time, etc. That way there wouldn't be the same pressing need to match every scene frame-for-frame.

I'm sure most of you are incandescent with rage at such a prospect, but it's a serious consideration.