TOS-Remastered: a waste of time

[Voyagerian]

I have been around long enough to have over the years, as has been shown on local tv stations here and there, TOS as originally aired, and it's been beloved to me as any TOS fan. But I have zero problem with the 'upgrade' or whatever you care to call it. Let's face it, no fx were as gopd then as what can be done today. Do we as said need to go back and redo all those classic films?No. Need we have done so to TOS to make it more palatable-certainly not to us 'old-timers'!LOL.But c'mon...as best as it could have been done then-it had its flaws, so, tweaking kills nothing, and,to me, they look great, and don't clash or contradict anything. And the added scenes/ships are further enjoyment. You needn't to have been born twenty years ago to like this alteration, far as I am concerned. I would think that Gene would have loved to have had this level of technical sophistication when his team was churning out his series....

 

[Chrisisall]

Well, I enjoy the Remastered series a lot. Sure, I still get a kick out of the original episodes, but that doesn't mean I don't have a good time with the new stuff.

Yeah, the remastered FX are mostly cool. Doomsday Machine, for example, is in a whole new ballpark now, thanks not so much to great new FX, but for LACK of crappy, distracting OLD ones!

 

[seigezunt]

at some point, the new effects will become dated as well.

Which is what makes all this revising of old movies so ridiculous. We really think we've reached the point now where cgi is so realistic that you can't tell it apart from something filmed in live action. That's it, we've reached the pinnacle of what we can do, it can get no better. I think that's how George Lucas feels. To hear him talk, Jar Jar Binks looked like a living, breathing creature that was filmed alongside the cast. And that "Han Shoots first" scene was just terrible. It looks like an effect from "Tim and Eric's Awesome Show." But George Lucas thinks it really looked like Harrison Ford moved his head to the side to dodge that blaster bolt.
I've got news for him. CGI is still in its infancy. 30 years from now, people will look back on the movies of today and laugh. You'll probably be able to scan your image and insert yourself as a character in movies and games.
Which is why I maintain that it's pointless to go back and "perfect" old movies, because you just can't do it. Something more realistic is always around the corner. Remember all the hoopla over the T-1000 in T2? That's positively amateurish compared even to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park a couple years later. But it works, and it pushes the story forward, which is what effects are for. People have gotten to where the movies are all about FX now. They don't want intriguing plots, they want to be dazzled by cg eye candy. Let movies and shows remain a product of the times they were created in, damn it!

That said, some of those in-space shots of the Enterprise were a little dodgy, and I don't mind the cleanup. But I can do without the rehauls such as the suspended bridge in Amok Time.

 

[Captain Robert April]

^ The advantage of that rock bridge shot was the ability to include the city of Shi-Kahr in the distance (one more poke in the eye of the "TAS isn't canon" crowd).

 

[seigezunt]

^ The advantage of that rock bridge shot was the ability to include the city of Shi-Kahr in the distance (one more poke in the eye of the "TAS isn't canon" crowd).

oh, hadn't noticed. Will have to take another look now that I have the 47".

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

To be honest, I think debating about whether the remastered eps are a waste of time is a waste of time. Those of us who are interested will go buy the set anyway and those who aren't won't. Still, I guess it fills the time until the next movie....

 

[Prologic9]

^ The advantage of that rock bridge shot was the ability to include the city of Shi-Kahr in the distance (one more poke in the eye of the "TAS isn't canon" crowd).

Well... the remastered shots aren't Canon either, so...

 

[Chrisisall]

[Well... the remastered shots aren't Canon either, so...

FIRE the cannon then!

 

[KirkSpockTOSFan]

I dont' have the remasterd on dvd but I do have the blu ray. I now have all of the seasons of TOS on blu ray, just bought season 3 yesterday. On the blu ray you can choose between the orginal or the remasterd. I always watch it on the remasterd because it looks great! I got the blu ray's because I wanted them, plus I love the show. So what if it looks great or not, I just like the show.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

I dont' have the remasterd on dvd but I do have the blu ray. I now have all of the seasons of TOS on blu ray, just bought season 3 yesterday. On the blu ray you can choose between the orginal or the remasterd. I always watch it on the remasterd because it looks great! I got the blu ray's because I wanted them, plus I love the show. So what if it looks great or not, I just like the show.

You'll get no argument from me.

 

[bbailey861]

^^Me too.

 

[RandyS]

It's a good reason to use only connies though.

The writers probably had a fleet of Starfleet's best in mind, like the E was.
Just like the destruction of the Yamato on TNG or the Odyssey on DS9 wouldn't have had as much shock factor if it had been some random Excelsiors. Did they comment on which ship was supposed to be the Miranda?

I'm pretty sure a Miranda have looked gorgeous though

I think so too, and would have liked to see that. One of my most favorite changes was in one of my least favorite episodes, "Charlie X". I liked how they showed a "live action" version of the ship seen in the TAS episode where Spock was dying. I'm not sure, but I think it was "The Pirates of Orion".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

One of the new ships for ST XI was a TOS-ified Miranda. The 'new' Defiant has the same number as the TOS version - NCC-1764 - but is now a Miranda. Linky

 

[The Castellan]

One of the new ships for ST XI was a TOS-ified Miranda. The 'new' Defiant has the same number as the TOS version - NCC-1764 - but is now a Miranda. Linky

Wonder how much the size got bloated to from TOS, now.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's a good reason to use only connies though.

The writers probably had a fleet of Starfleet's best in mind, like the E was.
Just like the destruction of the Yamato on TNG or the Odyssey on DS9 wouldn't have had as much shock factor if it had been some random Excelsiors. Did they comment on which ship was supposed to be the Miranda?

I'm pretty sure a Miranda have looked gorgeous though

I think so too, and would have liked to see that. One of my most favorite changes was in one of my least favorite episodes, "Charlie X". I liked how they showed a "live action" version of the ship seen in the TAS episode where Spock was dying. I'm not sure, but I think it was "The Pirates of Orion".

Nah, it was "More Tribbles, More Troubles". The ship from "Pirates of Orion" was the SS Huron, a different design. Both ship types are also in the ("un-canon!") Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.

A TOS Miranda is in the (unfortunately utterly terrible) fan film "Blood and Fire". The story and acting are, sadly, horrific but the CG is great:

(pic borrowed from Trekmovie.com)

 

[Captain Robert April]

Okay, who wants to be the first to defend "Blood and Fire"?

 

[ST-One]

Haven't seen part II yet - but I'll do it.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Okay, who wants to be the first to defend "Blood and Fire"?

Not me -- I thought it was about twice as long as it needed to be to effectively tell its story.

I'm not saying I could do better -- far from it! But I wish it had been more tightly edited.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Okay, who wants to be the first to defend "Blood and Fire"?

Not first, but I really enjoyed it, which I do with all the Phase II "independent productions."

 

[Anji]

This is gonna sound weird but I don't really see the difference between the two. I mean, maybe because I've been watching these things for almost 40 years now, but my mind always substitutes the reimaged stuff for the old stuff.