Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen displays?

[Navaros]

I tried watching a Remastered episode and I noticed that it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

Ie: Tons of screens of flashing red/green/yellow rectangles with no descriptors on any of them. The swirly black-and-white circle thing etc. etc.

Additionally, why didn't they Remaster the 'tapes' (both visually, and audio-ly [you know what I mean, LOL]), and the ludicrously bulky buttons everywhere that jut out to the roof?

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot? Why didn't they?

 

[number6]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

I tried watching a Remastered episode and I noticed that it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

Ie: Tons of screens of flashing red/green/yellow rectangles with no descriptors on any of them. The swirly black-and-white circle thing etc. etc.

Additionally, why didn't they Remaster the 'tapes' (both visually, and audio-ly [you know what I mean, LOL]), and the ludicrously bulky buttons everywhere that jut out to the roof?

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot? Why didn't they?

Time and money.

 

[Navaros]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

Considering that they sell these things on BluRay & DVD at premium prices, I don't see why time and money is a problem?

If time and money caused them to not do a whole heck of a lot, then shouldn't the BluRay & DVD prices for TOS-R be cheaper?

 

[Michael]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

If time and money caused them to not do a whole heck of a lot, then shouldn't the BluRay & DVD prices for TOS-R be cheaper?

If sales strategies had anything to do with fairness then maybe yes.

 

[JoeD80]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

I tried watching a Remastered episode and I noticed that it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

Ie: Tons of screens of flashing red/green/yellow rectangles with no descriptors on any of them. The swirly black-and-white circle thing etc. etc.

Because those aren't separate visual effects. They're physically on the original negative (on-set physical stuff). You can't just tear apart single frames of film and glue new scenes on top of those particular displays or something. I suppose there are some good computer animation programs that could let you track it correctly and edit over particular spots in each frame, but it probably wasn't worth the time or expense.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

If time and money caused them to not do a whole heck of a lot, then shouldn't the BluRay & DVD prices for TOS-R be cheaper?

Since when has CBS been a charitable institution?

They gave a CGI SPFX team a budget and a set of deadlines, and the team did what they could - and they got better at it as they went. Sure, CBS could have doubled the budget and aired an episode every fortnight instead of every week. And the sets would probably be double the cost they are now, but the shareholders would have been twice as nervous.

The rules of supply and demand are at work here. CBS, like all DVD producers, do market research to determine what fans and the general public are willing to pay, and price their products accordingly.

My first VHS of ST:TMP was $79 in 1981. Bought when my pay packet was miniscule compared to today. $79 was almost half my weekly wages, IIRC! The new DVD version I bought last week, with a commentary track and several bonus segments, was just $15, and it's a more stable copy than 28 year old videotape. The profit margins on both items are probably very, very similar.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

They managed to replace the old manual chronometers with digital displays, but I suppose that was a lot easier since it was only one or two shots.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Why didn't the Remastered fix...

it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

This thread links to the dozen reviews that detail what VISUAL EFFECTS were created. The TOS Remastering was not to Lucas-ize Star Trek TOS but to remaster it. Wire removal and other things were not going to be fixed. The Borg & NX-01 paintings were not going to be added in the background.

why didn't they Remaster the 'tapes' (both visually, and audio-ly [you know what I mean

this post, this post, and this post contains your answer about the sound.

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot?

stop complaining. It is a 43-year old television show.
I don't take a review like this lightly:

Without a doubt, this Blu-ray release is the de facto standard for bringing "old" television back to life. If you think something from decades ago cannot look good on Blu, then you need to see this.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/sttos1bluray.php

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot? Why didn't they?

None of what you mentioned is actually remastering at all. Remastering refers to enhancing the sound/picture quality - or at least trying to. Adding new effects and altering the elements of the program are not remastering.

 

[Hambone]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

I tried watching a Remastered episode and I noticed that it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

The overhead bridge displays, "the "TV screens", when not in use, showed "static" images. Similar to the screen saver or desktop background on our home computers.

What's on your screen saver? I'll bet it's silly and meaningless.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

off topic - screen saver

What's on your screen saver? I'll bet it's silly and meaningless.

off topic but my screen saver is turned off. The idea of it was to save the CRT from ion burn which is no longer a problem with LCD screen monitors.

 

[Navaros]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix...

it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

This thread links to the dozen reviews that detail what VISUAL EFFECTS were created.

Thanks for the link, but why aren't all the effects listed in one place? Having to click on dozens of reviews to try to piece together what was done is not very useful.

why didn't they Remaster the 'tapes' (both visually, and audio-ly [you know what I mean

this post, this post, and this post contains your answer about the sound.

I clicked on all those links, however after giving them a cursory glance they did not seem to answer why they did nothing to fix the 'tapes' fubars of the show. What is the answer put in simple terms in a sentence or two?

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot?

stop complaining. It is a 43-year old television show.

I wouldn't be complaining so much if not for the erroneous feedback I've ingested about the Remastered version that leaves the impression it makes TOS look on par with the modern Trek shows. I was shocked at all the things they didn't do anything with, and therefore which make the show in many, many ways, remain looking as dated as ever. I don't get why more people are not forthcoming about these shortcomings of the Remastered version? If I hadn't ingested a false impression about it due what I perceive to be non-forthcomingness about the flaws I've pointed out, I probably wouldn't be so disappointed to experience them myself after having viewed some Remastered episodes.

Without a doubt, this Blu-ray release is the de facto standard for bringing "old" television back to life. If you think something from decades ago cannot look good on Blu, then you need to see this.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/sttos1bluray.php

"Looking good" is a vague phrase. What do they mean by that, specifically? All the visual flaws I've listed in this thread, which the Remastered version didn't fix, do not look good; although I didn't watch it in BluRay. But I don't see how they'd look good in BluRay either considering they wouldn't be fixed there, either.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix...

Thanks for the link, but why aren't all the effects listed in one place? Having to click on dozens of reviews to try to piece together what was done is not very useful.

Your welcome. Since I'm the one who spent the time to gather all of the links to the reviews and put them on one thread for TrekBBS members it's as useful as it gets here.

The sound was remixed from the dialogue, music, effects stems. It was done for the HD-DVD in 5.1 and remixed again for 7.1 adding more ambience and done with a lot more data bandwidth with a lot less data compression.

All the visual flaws I've listed in this thread, which the Remastered version didn't fix, do not look good

Well that is you opinion. Again this is a remaster not a Lucas-ized version of TOS fixing all the flaws.

You cannot please everyone...

 

[Navaros]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

True, you cannot please everyone.

But I don't see why professional reviews, like the ones you've linked to, cannot be honest about the ridiculously-dated looking things that received no improvement and therefore unquestionably make TOS remain looking far below par when compared to modern Trek shows.

 

[number6]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

It would have been a monumental task to do all the rotoscoping that would have been required to make all those displays meet your expectations. The remastering crew were working against a time frame for syndicated release. How much DVD's cost to the consumer have very little to do with the process involved in remastering the series for syndication. The creative people working on the remastering have nothing to do with that.

 

[Michael]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

But I don't see why professional reviews, like the ones you've linked to, cannot be honest about the ridiculously-dated looking things that received no improvement and therefore unquestionably make TOS remain looking far below par when compared to modern Trek shows.

Have you seen any The Next Generation episode lately? The Original Series is far from the only Trek show that looks like the time it was made in (which, as far as I'm concerned, never was a problem in the first place).

 

[SchwEnt]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

I tried watching a Remastered episode and I noticed that it appears the Remastering people did nothing to fix the many silly, meaningless screen displays all over the bridge.

Ie: Tons of screens of flashing red/green/yellow rectangles with no descriptors on any of them. The swirly black-and-white circle thing etc. etc.

Additionally, why didn't they Remaster the 'tapes' (both visually, and audio-ly [you know what I mean, LOL]), and the ludicrously bulky buttons everywhere that jut out to the roof?

It seems to me like the Remastering people didn't remaster a whole heck of a lot? Why didn't they?

"silly, meaningless screen displays"
"red/green/yellow rectangles with no descriptors on any of them"

Really??
Okay, so maybe they weren't dazzling to look at.

They weren't supposed to be fancy screensavers but scientific and information displays. And if you look at stellar spectroscopy images, that's what they look like (back in the 60s and even today).

Yeah, they actually used real astronomy and scientific images,
not just tossing up something "silly and meaningless".

If it's not sufficiently fancy enough, so be it.
I appreciate the effort used to make the bridge overhead displays real
and accurate. That's how I want my Star Trek.
Not just glossing it up for better eye-candy (lens flare).

Maybe they could have changed it to updated, similar images for the new eps. But it certainly doesn't rank as all that important to me.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

But I don't see why professional reviews, like the ones you've linked to, cannot be honest about the ridiculously-dated looking things that received no improvement and therefore unquestionably make TOS remain looking far below par when compared to modern Trek shows.

What, the professional reviewers should have just warned you that you'll hate the episodes so don't watch them? Should they have also altered the hairstyles and the female glamour makeups?

I love the CGI changes, but this is a TV series from the 1960s, one that I made a point of following through the early 80s because I'd managed to watch the wrong channels in the 60s. If being from the 60s equates to "below par" for you, then you've already warned yourself: Stay away from TOS! Leave it to us.

 

[Navaros]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

I don't hate all the episodes.

However, I resent being sold a bill of goods so to speak by professional reviews, and often times viewers themselves, making the TOS-R seem much to be drastically more of an improvement than it actually is, and never pointing out anything like the complaints I've made in this thread.

What the professional reviewers should have warned me about is that the CGI improves only very small portions of the show, and the vast majority of it is left looking as antiquated as ever.

Since making this thread I have also watched "Where No Man Has Gone Before"...they didn't even fix James R. Kirk (ridiculous!), nor the uber fake-looking rocks, nor the extremely babyish & silly-looking phaser rifle Kirk has at the end.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why didn't the Remastered fix the silly meaningless screen display

Since making this thread I have also watched "Where No Man Has Gone Before"...they didn't even fix James R. Kirk (ridiculous!), nor the uber fake-looking rocks, nor the extremely babyish & silly-looking phaser rifle Kirk has at the end.

Well, I'm warning you now, since the professional reviewers obviously were so unprofessional. Stop watching. TOS CGI was not made for you. Sell your boxed set on eBay.

Actually, I always took the "R" on the tombstone as a sign that Gary's godhood was not perfect. And the novel trilogy, "My Brother's Keeper" by Michael Jan Friedman, turns the "R" into a running gag.