My Lincoln Enterprises STAR TREK slides have faded

[HGN2001]

Back in the early '70s, one of the few ways to "stay close" to STAR TREK, other than watching the reruns on TV, was to buy memorabilia from the show. Gene and Majel started up Lincoln Enterprises for this purpose, selling whatever they could.

One of the things I latched onto were the pieces of 35mm film with original frames from the actual cutting room floor. They would sell them in bunches as I recall, with no specifics on which frames you might get.

I must have bought hundreds of them, mounting them into slide holders and then projecting them onto a home movie screen. I managed to get slides from virtually every episode, some better represented than others.

The remarkable thing about these were their clarity and stunning color - far better than what was being broadcast locally in reruns.

Just today, as I was going through some old slides of mine, I ran across the old STAR TREK slides, stuck away in plastic pages for posterity.

The sad thing though was to see that all of them had lost their blues and greens, leaving a sepia-looking image. It makes me realize just how fragile the medium of film is (was).

Harry

 

[alchemist]

Back in the early '70s, one of the few ways to "stay close" to STAR TREK, other than watching the reruns on TV, was to buy memorabilia from the show. Gene and Majel started up Lincoln Enterprises for this purpose, selling whatever they could.

One of the things I latched onto were the pieces of 35mm film with original frames from the actual cutting room floor. They would sell them in bunches as I recall, with no specifics on which frames you might get.

I must have bought hundreds of them, mounting them into slide holders and then projecting them onto a home movie screen. I managed to get slides from virtually every episode, some better represented than others.

The remarkable thing about these were their clarity and stunning color - far better than what was being broadcast locally in reruns.

Just today, as I was going through some old slides of mine, I ran across the old STAR TREK slides, stuck away in plastic pages for posterity.

The sad thing though was to see that all of them had lost their blues and greens, leaving a sepia-looking image. It makes me realize just how fragile the medium of film is (was).

Harry

Harry,

You're absolutely right, those film clips have faded. Although most media deteriorate over time, film from that era was particularly unstable and has now faded to magenta (their green/cyan layers were unstable). Unfortunately, there is no known chemical process for restoring them. But don't despair, the images in your frames can be digitally corrected and restored to their original vibrancy! This can be accomplished by digitally scanning them using a film or transparency scanner, and then separately adjusting the various red, green, and blue color channels using software such as Photoshop. It's a bit tricky, but can be done easily once you get the hang of it. For example, if you go to this link and look at the pictures, you can see the results of digital restoration (all of these were once faded to pink but I digitally restored them): http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/who_mourns_for_adonais.htm

If you want more details or assistance in restoring them, PM me.

Alternately, you can go to this site: http://www.startrekhistory.com/restoration/index.html

and contact the site administrator, Curt. He's a good guy and might be willing to help you. Tell him Dave sent you.

Best,

Alchemist (aka Dave)

PS. The "swept off the cutting room floor" story is just a myth.

 

[HGN2001]

Cool, Dave. Thanks for the links and the heads up. As it turns out, I DID just get a film/slide scanner and am just beginning to understand its capabilities. Perhaps I'll play with restoration on some of these.

I can certainly understand why Curt is interested in only behind the scenes shots. With the series on DVD and already restored, it's the rare pictures that seem worth the time to manipulate.

I actually do have a number of slated shots and other non-used scenes with people laughing and such.

Harry

 

[Captain Robert April]

Would that avatar of yours be an example of those slides?

 

[HGN2001]

Would that avatar of yours be an example of those slides?

No. That avatar comes from a tape of an NBC-TV special that happened to air in the STAR TREK time slot. It's the on-air slide that NBC used to announce that "STAR TREK will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you the following special program."

Though I wanted the TV special for my video collection, I thought the STAR TREK slide was kind of neat - and sized down to avatar size, it looks better than on the crappy VHS tape from which it comes!

Harry

 

[paustin]

yes definately contact Curt for preservation before they get any worse...his site the best out there for this stuff

 

[Forbin]

Mine are all faded to magenta too. I've had offers to buy them from a couple of bboards (this included), but I guess the folks have changed thier minds after seeing an example:

 

[Christopher]

^^Actually I think it looks nice that way. Magenta pretty...

 

[alchemist]

Forbin, I sent you a PM.

Like Christopher, I do like the magenta tones of some of the faded clips; kind of like the old sepia-toned photographs. But they restore pretty well, too. Here's a quick and dirty:

FYI, the results aren't quite as good with moderately compressed images such as this one.​

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think another bit in Curt's favor in matters like these is that he'll return your clips to you. He's more interested in the historical nature of it all.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Would that avatar of yours be an example of those slides?

No. That avatar comes from a tape of an NBC-TV special that happened to air in the STAR TREK time slot. It's the on-air slide that NBC used to announce that "STAR TREK will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you the following special program."

Though I wanted the TV special for my video collection, I thought the STAR TREK slide was kind of neat - and sized down to avatar size, it looks better than on the crappy VHS tape from which it comes!

Harry

How 'bout around 800x600?

BTW, what was the special they pre-empted Star Trek for? Another Bob Hope thingie?

 

[HGN2001]

Would that avatar of yours be an example of those slides?

No. That avatar comes from a tape of an NBC-TV special that happened to air in the STAR TREK time slot. It's the on-air slide that NBC used to announce that "STAR TREK will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you the following special program."

Though I wanted the TV special for my video collection, I thought the STAR TREK slide was kind of neat - and sized down to avatar size, it looks better than on the crappy VHS tape from which it comes!

Harry

BTW, what was the special they pre-empted Star Trek for? Another Bob Hope thingie?

It was a repeat broadcast in the late fall of 1968 of THE BEAT OF THE BRASS with Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. The special had aired earlier that year on CBS and launched Herb's big vocal hit of "This Guy's In Love With You".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF1qFXGWejE

Show opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV5h6h83Yf4

Harry

 

[Christopher]

Like Christopher, I do like the magenta tones of some of the faded clips; kind of like the old sepia-toned photographs. But they restore pretty well, too. Here's a quick and dirty:

FYI, the results aren't quite as good with moderately compressed images such as this one.​

Still, I'm impressed you were able to get so much color information out of what looks like a monochromatic original. Assuming that you merely adjusted what was already there rather than "colorizing" it based on other clips of that scene.

 

[alchemist]

Thanks, Christopher! And nope, no colorizing. There's actually a reasonable amount of color information in the image, it's just that the predominant color is now red (speaking in terms of additive color) which completely masks the faded green and blue. Of course, you always have to make a few assumptions when you do the correction (e.g., what was originally "black" and "gray" in the image), but if you're careful, you can get pretty close to what the original, non-faded image looked like.

Best,

Dave

 

[Christopher]

^^Cool.

 

[T'Bonz]

I remember how great it was when I was 13 to get those film clips. Mine are also fading. I don't really have any spectacular (or behind-the-scenes) ones, but I liked them nonetheless. I think I have some from STVI too.

 

[Forbin]

Forbin, I sent you a PM.

Like Christopher, I do like the magenta tones of some of the faded clips; kind of like the old sepia-toned photographs. But they restore pretty well, too. Here's a quick and dirty:

FYI, the results aren't quite as good with moderately compressed images such as this one.​

You chose your user-name well! That's amazing!

 

[Elder Knight]

As a kid, I had some 8mm horror films, which I found decades later. The few titles that I had in color had turned to red, much as in the example above.

I believe that the same thing happened to many Hollywood prints in Eastmancolor or non-Technicolor processes.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

I believe that the same thing happened to many Hollywood prints in Eastmancolor or non-Technicolor processes.

It made the news a little while ago, black and white film seems to retain it's clarity a lot better over time.

 

[Tan Ru]

Mine are all faded to magenta too. I've had offers to buy them from a couple of bboards (this included), but I guess the folks have changed thier minds after seeing an example:

That's just the rich and lovely color of a Talosian sunset. Everybody knows that...