Better Living Through CGI

[ZapBrannigan]

I think we'd all agree that CBS didn't allocate enough time and money for the CGI fx they added to each episode. But I think some episodes really did come out better, along with some that got worse.

Better:
- "All Our Yesterdays."
I really like the new nova (that sounds redundant but it isn't).

- "Tomorrow is Yesterday."
Although I always loved the shot in the original, in Act I, when Captain Christopher sees the Enterprise from below, the remaster is good there, and in Act IV the new effects fill in the whole visual narrative of sling-shotting around the sun that was missing from the original.

Worse:
- "Elaan of Troyius."
The original Klingon ship was more convincing. Also, I don't think the new Klingon ship scenes were composed very artfully, especially considering how much freedom of movement they had compared to the 1960s fx house.

- "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
The original big green force field hand in space looked more like the real thing.

 

[HIjol]

There is a "look" and " feel" of shows and scenes shot "back then" and before CG effects that, if seen in the original, can sometimes lose their élan and appeal when GGI is applied, IMHO. Sometimes it is hard to explain or quantify, but when you see it, you know it.

 

[Richard Baker]

Doug Drexler took an interesting approach to the CGI he created for Star Trek Continues. He scaled the CGI model to the original filming model's 11 feet and duplicated the optics of the camera/lens used back then also. When you see those sequences they seem very close to the look and feel of the TOS SFX.

CGI is just like any tool- i tall depends on how you use it. Personally I prefer the remastered shows with the additional CGI but I agree they have a different sort of appeal. Some of the improvements I really like are subtle- the interior of the android's stomach hatch in 'I Mudd' for example.

 

[HIjol]

Nice Post, Richard, and thanks for teaching me something I did not know! One of the reasons I love it here!

 

[Mark 2000]

Better:
- "All Our Yesterdays."
I really like the new nova (that sounds redundant but it isn't).

- "Tomorrow is Yesterday."
Although I always loved the shot in the original, in Act I, when Captain Christopher sees the Enterprise from below, the remaster is good there, and in Act IV the new effects fill in the whole visual narrative of sling-shotting around the sun that was missing from the original.

Funny, because I really dislike both of these shots in TOS-R. Mostly because the artists were unwilling to "blow out the film". Here you've got two powerful stars and they aren't particularly bright. The nova, especially, was bright white in the original and is this muddled lavender in the remastered. Plus, in both they're using really low resolution textures that look like an N64 render. Generally the CG worked well on the ground - like the augmentation of sets - but never in space.

 

[PCz911]

Doug Drexler took an interesting approach to the CGI he created for Star Trek Continues. He scaled the CGI model to the original filming model's 11 feet and duplicated the optics of the camera/lens used back then also. When you see those sequences they seem very close to the look and feel of the TOS SFX..

Now that's ingenious !

 

[johnnybear]

The only improvements in the CGI versions I would say are the earth type planets now look like the earth rather than green oceaned globes. Apart from that I prefer the original effects all the way! Oh and the Constellation flying into the Planet killer's maw at the end is better too!
JB

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Generally the CG worked well on the ground - like the augmentation of sets - but never in space.

I agree, there are some really good non-space scenes:

"Wink of an Eye" - The new Scalos city backdrop is gorgeous.

"The Menagerie Part I" - The view out of Pike's hospital window is now a cool 3D shot as the camera moves around, and it correctly matches the daylight from when Kirk and the others first beam down. The original box diorama was a night scene, apparently because it would have been too hard to make it convincing in the light.

"The Cloud Minders" - Stratos is vastly improved. The original miniature was meant for low-res, small screen viewing.

 

[Maurice]

"The Menagerie Part I" - The view out of Pike's hospital window is now a cool 3D shot as the camera moves around, and it correctly matches the daylight from when Kirk and the others first beam down. The original box diorama was a night scene, apparently because it would have been too hard to make it convincing in the light.

It wouldn't have been an actual a box diorama, more likely either a scenic painting or cutout silhouettes of the buildings backlit so the windows (probably just diffiusion) would glow, and colored light on a blank backdrop for the sky.

I dunno that they couldn't have made it work as a day shot. Painting scenic backgrounds is a standard task at a studio. Looking at the final draft script, it doesn't specify day or night for any of the planet scenes, so it's possible that there was a miscommunication about the backdrops for outside Pike's and Mendez's windows and the matte shot or setup for same, or they simply decided "this is afternoon when they beam down" and "this is evening when they meet Mendez".

 

[CrazyMatt]

I agree that a lot of the planet and planet scenes do look better, such as Vulcan in "Amok Time,' Stratos in "The Cloud Minders" and Scalos in "Wink Of An Eye."

What doesn't look good are the ships. I apologize to the Okuda's (again!) for saying this, but the "ships in space scenes" too often look, well, 'cartooney' to me, regardless if they are viewed in standard or high definition.

The worst remastering of all? "The Doomsday Machine," with the grossly over-damaged Constellation and the very disappointing planet killer.

 

[USS Triumphant]

There are nitpicks with the CGI here and there, but my biggest issue both with TOS-R and with George Lucas's special editions of the OT is that I don't feel like they went far enough with interior stuff. Make the TOS bridge stations look alive, rather than like backlit still frames. Give us targeting systems for the X-Wings and Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon that don't look like someone is beta testing an Atari cartridge. Adjust Vulcan skin tones - make them look like they would if they had green blood. And so on. If you're going to piss off the purists by making ANY changes, anyway, go for the gold!

 

[Tracy Trek]

Tomorrow is Yesterday really looks better. When I watched it years ago in re-runs, when the ship was supposed to doing the sling shot maneuver, it just looked to me like it was sort of wobbling in space. At least that's how I remember it.

 

[LeadHead]

The instances of the CGI that I like the best are where they fill in the material that couldn't or weren't done in the original effects.

Examples:
The slingshot maneuver in Tomorrow is Yesterday
The Enterprise surrounded by Romulans in The Deadly Years
The Enterprise in the debris field in The Doomsday Machine
The Orion Ship being much better defined while still being done to be faithful to the original effect in Journey to Babel

 

[Maurice]

There are nitpicks with the CGI here and there, but my biggest issue both with TOS-R and with George Lucas's special editions of the OT is that I don't feel like they went far enough with interior stuff. Make the TOS bridge stations look alive, rather than like backlit still frames. Give us targeting systems for the X-Wings and Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon that don't look like someone is beta testing an Atari cartridge. Adjust Vulcan skin tones - make them look like they would if they had green blood. And so on. If you're going to piss off the purists by making ANY changes, anyway, go for the gold!

Fuck no.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Give us targeting systems for the X-Wings and Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon that don't look like someone is beta testing an Atari cartridge.

Interesting thing about that...

Spoiler: The Force Awakens (very minor, but you can't be too careful)

...J. J. kept the Falcon's targeting display as it was in ANH, though he had every opportunity and excuse to change it.

 

[Maurice]

Besides, an Atari VCS (which came out months after the movie) couldn't draw any of the Star Wars targeting displays no matter how many TIA antics the programmer pulled off. Trust me on this.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Besides, an Atari VCS (which came out months after the movie) couldn't draw any of the Star Wars targeting displays no matter how many TIA antics the programmer pulled off. Trust me on this.

It was a metaphor, Maurice. :P

 

[TheSeeker]

Interesting thing about that...

Spoiler: The Force Awakens (very minor, but you can't be too careful)

...J. J. kept the Falcon's targeting display as it was in ANH, though he had every opportunity and excuse to change it.

And I totally loved that!

 

[Maurice]

It was a metaphor, Maurice. :P

I was kidding. The poor Atari VCS gets no love...

 

[USS Triumphant]

I assume you mean aside from the one hooked to my TV right now...