Why did TOS:R recreate crappy effects?

[Mudd]

BTW, hyper- jumps weren't invented in the 70s, they were just visualized in film for probably the first time in Star Wars. Trek used enough stuff from old pulps that they could have used something like that if they'd considered it practical. They chose not to.

TOS-R chose to be faithful to TOS and I'm glad of it. I wish they'd stayed closer.

 

[johnnybear]

In Star Wars though I assumed it was only the Millenium Falcon that had hyper jump technology? In the new films I think everyone has it! In the new BSG that hyper jumping was one of the things that really annoyed me about the show compared to the long journey across the stars as shown in the original series!
JB

 

[The Old Mixer]

In Star Wars though I assumed it was only the Millenium Falcon that had hyper jump technology? In the new films I think everyone has it!

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[Tosk]

In Star Wars though I assumed it was only the Millenium Falcon that had hyper jump technology?

What the heck made you think that? Ships big (Star Destroyers) and small (X-Wings) alike have hyperspace capability. ...Heck, we see the entire Rebel fleet go to hyperspace in ROTJ.

 

[Mudd]

The pilot film for Trek, "The Cage," featured a low-budget hyper-space effect - the superimposition of the actors on set over a moving starfield - to suggest that the characters experienced some kind of transition between normal space travel and FTL. Trek abandoned that notion with the second pilot, and from then until ST:TMP the conceit was that the difference between space normal and FTL from the POV of the characters was the noise made by the engines and how quickly they passed through the starfield.

ST:TMP added a silly exterior multicolored star-streak effect while continuing to have the characters experience normal time and sensations during their passage through "subspace" or whatever the fuck it was."

It wouldn't do them any harm to abandon that nonsense, though I suppose it does no harm for them to spend the money on it either.

 

[Tallguy]

It's what they do.

"They"? And why soon?

 

[Mudd]

"They"? And why soon?

The producers.

"Soon" just means they haven't gotten around to it yet - they're still too busy patting one another on the backs publicly for the shitty fanwank writing on the show's first year. Give 'em time.

 

[johnnybear]

What the heck made you think that? Ships big (Star Destroyers) and small (X-Wings) alike have hyperspace capability. ...Heck, we see the entire Rebel fleet go to hyperspace in ROTJ.

Mainly because when the Millenium Falcon went to light speed it left it's pursuers behind eating dust!
JB

 

[Harvey]

I read someplace a long time ago when they did the transfers to DVD that some of the original film had deterioration issues and were damaged and 16mm prints were used as a replacement. Seeing some of the episodes on Blu-Ray it certainly appears that some of the grain is reminiscent of what you would expect to see with 16mm verses 35mm.

There’s definitely more grain whenever they go to a shot with an optical in it - not just effects like phasers, mind you, but also shots that have dissolves in them, or have been blown up, or have been flopped for the sake of visual continuity - but are there really many shots other than those that don’t look great?

Am I just asking this question as an excuse to watch the show again? ...Maybe.

 

[feek61]

Not the entire episodes were from 16mm prints; just the damage sections of film. If I am remembering correctly I think parts of the beginning of "The Deadly Years" are from a 16mm print. I think there were about a half a dozen or so instances but I can't remember off the top of my head exactly which ones.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

Does anyone have a link to a video showing the original FX of Doomsday Machine? No matter how much I try, I can't find any. All videos I've found show the remaster. The best I found was a few small screenshots.

 

[uniderth]

This remaster job shouldn't have been hard. Just recreate a dozen or so stock shots of the ship and reuse them. Just like what was done originally.

 

[omnirad]

My partner, who is not a Trekkie, says that the old effects take him out of the episode, and the new effects match the crisp HD quality of the live action scenes. YMMV

 

[Maurice]

But which did your partner see first?

I ask because it still puzzles me that people focus on the VFX given the dated nature of everything about the show, from the acting style and the music to the cinematography.

 

[Tallguy]

This remaster job shouldn't have been hard. Just recreate a dozen or so stock shots of the ship and reuse them. Just like what was done originally.

Dozen?

http://www.trekplace.com/tosfxcatalog.html

 

[Gul Sengosts]

My partner, who is not a Trekkie, says that the old effects take him out of the episode, and the new effects match the crisp HD quality of the live action scenes. YMMV

Yes, I ask because I generally dislike the remastered FX but this is an episode where many say it's a huge improvement because the old effects were too broken. So I'd really love to compare them. But I haven't found any way so far to see the old ones in motion.

 

[Tosk]

Available on both DVD and Blu-ray.

 

[Maurice]

Dozen?

http://www.trekplace.com/tosfxcatalog.html

Love that page!

One boo boo on it, though. Under Constellation Discover it reads "This shot would appear as the nearly destroyed Lexington in “The Ultimate Computer”. Should be the Excalibur.

 

[omnirad]

I ask because it still puzzles me that people focus on the VFX given the dated nature of everything about the show, from the acting style and the music to the cinematography.

My partner is a big fan of movies from the 30's and 40's, so TOS's production values from the 60's look 'modern' to him. On the remastered blu-rays the live action scenes look fantastic, but the original VFX are a step or two down in clarity. Not knowing what video game graphics from the 90's look like, the new effects blend right in with the rest for him.

I can appreciate both choices, having seen every episode countless times over four decades. It's nice to have something new in an episode, even if some of the long shots of the Enterprise look 'cartoony'.

Overall I give the remastered VFX a 7.5/10.

 

[Tallguy]

Love that page!

One boo boo on it, though. Under Constellation Discover it reads "This shot would appear as the nearly destroyed Lexington in “The Ultimate Computer”. Should be the Excalibur.

Excellent. You have passed my little TEST. (mutter mutter mutter)

I made that catalog because I went back and forth between "Wow there is a lot of re-used footage" and "Wow there's a lot more to this than I expected!" It still amazes me that they made it through all of season three without any new shots of the Enterprise. (Well, they pulled one new shot out of the box that they had never used.)

So, pretty much exactly to refute "Hey, there's only a dozen shots."