"Remastered"
- Thread starter dmcco01
- Start date
The always looked terrible.
I think you meant ten years.
Always with the hating! Why not focus on the positives? I swear, sometimes all Trek fans seem to do is be negative about the thing they supposedly love. Personally, I think all of the new or expanded matte/establishing shots in TOS-R were superb. I'm a big fan of the original, practical effects work, but the new effects present the opportunity to rewatch the series with new eyes.
I wouldn't say that they are all superb, but some of them were, yes. It's the space shots that were largely the problem for me.
Seeing the remastered footage, though, was a real treat to be sure. For someone who grew up watching TOS on UHF, it's a staggering transition. So much so, that it's a safe bet that the show wasn't really designed to be viewed as an end product in HD. I mean, that wasn't even on the radar for what they were producing. Not that it's a bad thing at all to be able to see flaws in the sets, props, costumes, make-up etc. more easily, but it's just something to take into account when watching it in HD.
I'd buy a set in HD with actual remastered VFX, though I'd prefer the original soundtrack or a remastered version of that. The re-recorded theme song is something that I find very grating.
For a group of fans that embrace things from the future, we seem to hate changes and new things don't we? I agree though, M. I like the new effects (in TNG as well). I rewatched Man Trap for the 50th anniversary the other night and the scale of planet M-113 looked so less like the studio set it originally was.
I love the new effects. I greatly prefer them to the originals.
I do wonder why the new FX were rendered in widescreen, though, since it's obvious we'd never get to SEE them that way.
I do wonder why the new FX were rendered in widescreen, though, since it's obvious we'd never get to SEE them that way.
No, that's not it at all. It's a fallacy to suppose that new means better, and it's just plain wrong (not to mention, a cheap shot) to attribute the dislike that some of us have for the new VFX as simply because they're new or different. There's a whole slew of problems with the space shots that have been identified and discussed in depth on the board going back years. For some people, they aren't a big problem or any at all, and that's fine. Life is no doubt simpler when one isn't bothered by so many things.
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Obligatory correction: The new FX shots were not "remastered." Remastering means going back to the original negative and creating the cleanest, best possible copy from it. The "Remastered" in TOS-R refers to the live-action footage, which was digitally remastered for maximum quality and clarity, as is usually done with new releases of old material. They couldn't remaster the FX shots for HD, because they didn't have access to the original film elements, so they had to recreate them instead. So the parts that everyone calls "remastered" are actually the only parts that aren't remastered.
No. Not really. Sorry to disappoint. I've watched TOS on B&W TVs in the early 70s, through various "improvements" in colour TVs (didn't really get even decent until the late 80s/early 90s)--the updated versions are the best, overall, the series has ever looked. Are there things that could be better in the updated effects? Sure. But (and this is especially true when screens get over 60"), the original effects in HD simply don't hold up compared to the restored/remastered film footage. So while I occasionally watch the original effects on the SD TVs still in the house, with my HD projector, I always choose the new effects. The same applies to TNG, though there are no "old versions" to see on my Blu-ray set (unless I'm much mistaken), nor would I want to see them.
The new effects are about 70-hit/30-miss with me. Yeah, sometimes they got a little slap-happy going too "fancy" with the replacement footage, and I don't agree with every decision. The Enterprise does look a little cartoonish at times. But even as a hard-core, old-skool Trekker who discovered the show on UHF reruns in the early '70s, I still prefer to watch the episodes with the new effects, because the old ones look so bad in high definition. People say the new effects "take them out" of the show -- well, the horrible chunky black matte lines, the heavy grain, and the endlessly repeated shots take ME out of the show. Imperfect as the revamp is, I can never watch "The Doomsday Machine" with its ATM model kit ever again. Would I love to see these new effects re-done, perhaps using a scan of the original 11' model as a basis? Sure, but CBS is never going to spend that money again. So yeah, they're not perfect -- but I still like 'em. Quite a bit.
I watched the episodes with the new effects, when I was purchasing the sets as the came out. No great desire to watch them again. When I pull out the discs, I chose the original effects.
But, my preference doesn't make the new effects terrible, just not for me.
But, my preference doesn't make the new effects terrible, just not for me.
This topic again?
Saw The Man Trap in the IMAX theatre on the National Mall in Washington DC the other night to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its initial airing. Was really something to see it that way. Perhaps it goes without saying, they showed the CGI effects. I heard no complaints, and this was the same crowd (including me) who couldn't take their eyes off the newly restored 11 foot filming model.
BTW, one thing I did notice on the huge screen like never before was how crude the early phaser pistols looked.
Saw The Man Trap in the IMAX theatre on the National Mall in Washington DC the other night to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its initial airing. Was really something to see it that way. Perhaps it goes without saying, they showed the CGI effects. I heard no complaints, and this was the same crowd (including me) who couldn't take their eyes off the newly restored 11 foot filming model.
BTW, one thing I did notice on the huge screen like never before was how crude the early phaser pistols looked.
I agree. While I enjoy the versions with the new effects as a curiosity, When I do a re-watch, I usually prefer the original versions.
I enjoy and prefer the new effects myself honestly and they consistency is spot on. The inconsistency of the original effects always bugged me. One scene would be the current Enterprise, the next it would have The Cage Nacelles. I can understand why it happened though, but those little inconsistencies take me out of it. Both are great in their own ways but I saw the Remastered versions of TOS first and that's what I prefer.
Fire, meet gasoline.
I like some of the new f/x. I also like the original f/x with our beloved 11' Enterprise model. It really doesn't matter, I can watch either version, and it is done now anyway and can't be undone.
I like some of the new f/x. I also like the original f/x with our beloved 11' Enterprise model. It really doesn't matter, I can watch either version, and it is done now anyway and can't be undone.
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That's where I land as well: the new fx are great about 70 percent of the time. And that's good, because my DVD set is the TOS-R version. The quality of the Enterprise varies a lot, because CBS switched to a better CGI model of the ship after the first few episodes they worked. That's why some shots in "Balance of Terror," an early effort, are not sufficiently photo-real:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x14hd/balanceofterrorhd349.jpg
Some things, like Stratos in "The Cloud Minders," are a giant leap beyond what we had before. Some are almost as good as the original, like the space-going amoeba in "The Immunity Syndrome." And some are an unfortunate step down, like the Hangar Deck or the Klingon battle cruiser. But on balance, I enjoy the new fx.
I also like the original fx, often for their unmatched beauty and realism...
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x18hd/theimmunitysyndromehd0001.jpg
and sometimes more for their nostalgia value and geek historicity...
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x00hd/thecagehd0029.jpg
Never liked them to begin with. I forget who it was, but there was a fan artist who did closer-to-the-original remastered versions of some shots that I thought were far better. The new effects just neither looked real nor in keeping with stylization of the original series.
I thought it would be amazing to see the ship in higher def be all the different colors it appeared in the series.
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