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For a new experience, try listening to TOS only

Count me is as someone who used audio tapes to record episodes before I had a vcr in the early 80s...my how far we've come.

RAMA
 
A couple decades before VHS, I didn't record Star Trek, but I had a vast open-reel collection of soundtracks to my favorite horror films, as well as some musicals and Shakespeare movies.

In those days, the TV stations signed off at 1 a.m., and I could listen to these movies well into the night.

I found that it was about 90% as good as seeing the films. I learned many screenplays that way.
 
I'm afraid this isn't particularly new. What do you think we used to do before VCRs? Hang a cassette recorder's microphone over the TV speaker and make audio recordings.

I ultimately ended up commiting every episode to memory doing this -- well before 1980.

The fun part was doing it with movies. I still have my audio of the premiere of STTMP.

Hmm ... I should probably make those into MP3s.

Dakota Smith
 
I've made mp3's of the audio for Doomaday Machine, Wolf in the Fold, and Menagerie.
I've been thinking about doing this for all 80 TOS episodes - creating archive quality MP3's. I have the appropriate software for extracting the soundtracks from my Blu-ray discs - it's just a case of "being arsed to do it".
 
I'm afraid this isn't particularly new. What do you think we used to do before VCRs? Hang a cassette recorder's microphone over the TV speaker and make audio recordings.

I ultimately ended up commiting every episode to memory doing this -- well before 1980.

The fun part was doing it with movies. I still have my audio of the premiere of STTMP.

Hmm ... I should probably make those into MP3s.

Dakota Smith

I didn't say 'never been done before'. The idea was for those who had not done it.
 
And how many of us tape recorded our own new adventures? When I got my first tape recorder, I would doing the voices, hum background music and made the sounds for doors, phasers and transporters. All by mouth because it was the 70's and I was like 9 years old. For my own refernec,e during the recording, I'd involve my Mego action figures and Enterprise playset to keep it as authentic as possible.
 
There actually might be a market for such recordings, even today. Doctor Who is missing the video for about 100 episodes that were wiped and lost from the 1960s, but fan-made audio recordings of the exact type being described here exist for all episodes, and BBC Audio has released the audio soundtracks for the missing episodes over the years. But they've also released audios for stories that do exist. I always thought that was a bit useless, but I guess they do sell and there is fan interest. I bet if they released some soundtracks to a few of the well-known episodes, with linking narration by Shatner, Nimoy, Takei, etc (or to be wild, one of the new cast) they might sell a few copies.

It would certainly be one way to get around all the whining about the remastering! ;)

In a similar vein, BBC Audio (aka AudioGO) is finding quite a bit of success with issuing audio book readings of the many Doctor Who novelisations. I'm surprised no one's done a release for the Blish or Foster books. I think they'd be fascinating to hear read by Nimoy or Shatner. Unabridged of course as that's the style now (and if 88-year-old William Russell can read the complete text for Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction (among others) I'm sure the Shat could read us Star Trek 11 or Star Trek Log 3!
Alex
 
And how many of us tape recorded our own new adventures? When I got my first tape recorder, I would doing the voices, hum background music and made the sounds for doors, phasers and transporters. All by mouth because it was the 70's and I was like 9 years old. For my own refernec,e during the recording, I'd involve my Mego action figures and Enterprise playset to keep it as authentic as possible.

Ah, memories. We tried to do our own sci-fi audio production once, but were goofing off so much doing it that we ended up switching gears and doing a parody show. It was basically a ripoff of SCTV: tv, movie, and commercial parodies at a fictional broadcast station. I haven't listen to those in 20 years, but they were fun to do at the time.

I never recorded Trek, but I did record episodes of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers on cassette. They certainly helped pass the time while doing yard work.
 
We've had several people say in our forums that they use our audio episodes to pass the time on long trips and doing yard work and such. Check 'em out at www.starship.excelsior. Ok, enough with the shameless plugs...
 
I, too, am one of those who audio taped each and every episode in the very early '70s - and there I thought I was the only one doing it. I listened to them over and over again. I have also downloaded ST audio stories (The Continuing Mission / Excelsior to name but a couple) to listen to in the Jeep and on my iPod.
 
The most somnolence inducing episode would be The Alternative Factor IMO.


Apparently you don't remember the musice during the fights. VERY irritating..

I'm hearing wailing, out of tune French horns in a very dry room, in my mind's ear trying to recollect it. And seeing the spinning stars that remind me of a headline coming at you in a 30's movie.
 
We've had several people say in our forums that they use our audio episodes to pass the time on long trips and doing yard work and such. Check 'em out at www.starship.excelsior. Ok, enough with the shameless plugs...

Link not working. BUT audio fan eps! Genius. Are there more out there? Of course it's not usually the visuals of fan productions that are stumbling blocks for me. Anyway - neat idea.
 
I am not the only geek to have audio tape recorded and listened to Trek recordings in the 1970s ! I am not alone. Yeah !

Then I bought it on VHS...Then single DVD....Then DVD sets, then remastered...Soon blue ray.... after that enhanced transmorphic bubble thought imaging....

I still have fond memories of audio cassette Trek
 
I am totally dissatisfied with the audio mixes of the DVDs and Blu-Rays. Except for the first season BD mono mix, none of the other releases provides the original audio, no matter what the box tells ya.
The mono track for Miri on the Blu-ray release is a downgraded version of 7.1 mix. You can tell, because it has the rerecorded version of the theme. If the price is right, someday I will try to get the entire series on Laserdisc, as a perfect representation of how I first saw the show.
 
...after that enhanced transmorphic bubble thought imaging....
LOL, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Will it never end? I started with VHS recordings, then the official tapes, then LaserDisc, then the two ep DVD's, then the DVD box sets, then remastered HD DVD (first season only, completed on DVD) - and finally, Blu-ray. Damn, I really wouldn't want to calculate the cummulative damage Star Trek has wrought on my bank account! :eek:
 
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We've had several people say in our forums that they use our audio episodes to pass the time on long trips and doing yard work and such.

Link not working. BUT audio fan eps! Genius. Are there more out there? Of course it's not usually the visuals of fan productions that are stumbling blocks for me. Anyway - neat idea.

My apogies for the busted link. Try http://starshipexcelsior.com/ Yes there are a number of audio productions out there. Star Trek Outtpost and Darker Projects are two of the most prominent. Check out the fan productions forum: there is a sticky with a fairly comprehensive list of video and audio productions.
 
I have spent way too much money on this. Now I want the BluRay. I'm not sure I can justify the expense any more. My wife might divorce me if I buy the series again.....................but I probably will. I feel like a sucker.
 
I was also using cassettes to tape Star Trek. I did it a lot during the mid 80s when I 1st got into the show. I wish I still had them, not just for the episodes but to hear some of those old commercials again.

I was just a kid then and had no access to a VCR, so taping when was the next best thing and gave me a feeling of owning them...kinda anyway.
 
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