UK TV - CBS Action to show ST: TOS

[gastrof]

You people are seeing it in a very different way than we did in the States. It was farmed out to local TV stations all over the country, each running it whenever they wanted.

One of our locals ran it occasionally at 7 on Saturday nights, but usually it ran at like 2AM on Saturday or Sunday morning.

We got it in 4x3, tho', so no chopping off the top and bottom of the picture where original footage was concerned, but then we didn't get the full widescreen picture of recreated space scenes. Those were all in 4x3 as well, with the sides of the widescreen video chopped off.

To be honest, I'd prefer our version. I'd heard they were considering doing a chop job to create a 16x9 version, and using some screen captures, I could see how ugly the results would be in many scenes.

Glad you're getting them, tho'. Enjoy. You're about three years behind us. It's about time someone got them to you.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Honestly I don't think the trade off is worth it. Just for audiences that can't cope with the fact old TV shows were filmed to suit an almost square frame. If you can't adjust to some degree of side pillarbox from time to time, or find the panoramic button on the remote and live with a distorted image, there's no hope for you...

The framing in widescreen was okay, but probably done randomly with absolutely no thought put in. Case in point, a scene about half way through The Man Trap last night... where several times during the search, long shots of Professor and Nancy Crater left their heads were off the top of the screen.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The thread should say TOS Remastered in the UK!

Personally, I prefer the original 60’s FX – the CGI version of the old Enterprise just looks wrong to me somehow. I think it’s the colour (too dull grey!), the lighting (too dark!), that stars move past the ship at sublight (shoot the guy responsible for that – it utterly ruins it. Simulate motion with a moving ship on a static starfield!), that space is still treated as 2D (STXI thankfully fixed that at long last) and that it’s too slavish to the original. Where are the details? The phaser banks? Torpedo launchers? Thrusters? Blemishes? Hull plating? I’m not saying turn it into the STXI Enterprise, but some USS Kelvin-style detail wouldn’t have hurt. Dare to rock the boat, CG people!

The planets are nice, and I like it when they expand the shot and stick the crew in front of a gigantic CG landscape – but it’s not a patch on the “we beamed down in front of a giant painting!” originals.

 

[Lonemagpie]

What's also interesting is that they seem to be putting the ad breaks in the original 60s places, so there's one more break than usual for UK, but there are fewer ads in each break.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Personally, I prefer the original 60’s FX – the CGI version of the old Enterprise just looks wrong to me somehow

I'm sitting on the fence

I like the old effects, cleaned up and looking period is just fine with me. But the new CGI work is fun and it's nice the way it's blended in with the old film.

As ever, as long as it doesn't keep me from the old material, I'm not complaining.

 

[Captain Robert April]

There are some old effects shots I prefer, but it has more to do with the setup of the shot (like the Enterprise entering the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy; the original version just struck me as a lot spookier, especially following Kelso's line, "Whatever it is, contact in twelve seconds.").

 

[ChristopherPike]

What's also interesting is that they seem to be putting the ad breaks in the original 60s places, so there's one more break than usual for UK, but there are fewer ads in each break.

A good move which is allowing them to show episodes uncut. Or at least I haven't noticed anything in the two episodes I watched so far... having caught one of my all-time favourites, "Where No Man..." last night.

 

[Captain Robert April]

What's also interesting is that they seem to be putting the ad breaks in the original 60s places, so there's one more break than usual for UK, but there are fewer ads in each break.

I've been calling for this for years.

 

[WillsBabe]

I haven't seen any remastered Star Trek until this weekend when I watched Charlie X, Where No Man and Naked Time. Where No Man is an all time favourite of mine, but I particularly enjoyed Naked Time. Some really great stuff in there. I liked the new shot of the station, too.