HD Retcons

[Tim Thomason]

KIRK: "I've known you for fifteen years, Gary."
MITCHELL: "That's right. I was a precocious eight-year-old boy when we met."

 

[Tim Thomason]

What state is "Newst..."?

According to Who's Who in Star Trek #1 (from DC Comics in 1987), a comic encyclopedia of Star Trek characters, Elizabeth Dehner was from Delman, Newstate. Newstate is probably the laziest fictional U.S. state name I've ever seen.

Oddly, Gary Mitchell is stated in Who's Who in Star Trek #2 to be from Van Nuys, California. Eldman isn't mentioned at all in his entry.

 

[Elder Knight]

A lot of things could and should be changed, but at the end of the day, you're tampering with something that shouldn't be tampered with.

Whether it makes perfect sense or absolutely none, keep it in there. Don't go digitally altering stuff for the sake of it, that's revisionism, not restoration which was the goal of the remastering project. Changing small things like that is opening a can of worms which should be kept shut.

I'm inclined to agree. It's been suggested that had Arthur Conan Doyle used more proofreading and editing, then "Dr. Watson" would not have given us those inconsistencies, and the Sherlock Holmes scholarship might never have taken off.

It's due to the Trek oddities that we're all here.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I wonder why they faded the blue out of the screens in the HD master. I liked the blue better, and I think it was a deliberate thing in the original episode.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Those are obviously typed paper documents, so they could be years old, not reflecting the characters' ages at the time of the episode.

 

[J.T.B.]

I don't know if it was actors' preference or what, but shows back then could be goofy about ages. In the pilot of Emergency they talk about Dixie McCall having served in the Korean war, then later she gets hurt and the paramedics give her age as 30. So she would have been a pre-teen Army nurse.

 

[The Old Mixer]

And the actress was about 20 years older than that, so the Korean War reference was more accurate.

 

[scotpens]

If they're going to do that, they should also replace the listed heights of the characters with the known heights of the actors. Sally Kellerman is quite a bit taller than 5'2".

Maybe Elizabeth Dehner had a delayed adolescent growth spurt and suddenly got 8 inches taller.

 

[F. King Daniel]

A lieutenant commander at 23, that makes Kirk seem like a piker!

Fair point.

KIRK: "I've known you for fifteen years, Gary."
MITCHELL: "That's right. I was a precocious eight-year-old boy when we met."

A precocious eight-year old Starfleet Ensign

 

[drt]

Surely they were 21 and 23 when those medical reports were made?

Those are obviously typed paper documents, so they could be years old, not reflecting the characters' ages at the time of the episode.

Then Mitchell has been stuck at Lt.Comdr rank for years and Dehner must have been a prodigy to already have her PhD.

I wonder if whoever typed that up meant 31 and 33, but just had a brain hiccup or was in a rush or something and screwed it up?

 

[Kronos]

I've always assumed that the ages are for when they entered Star Fleet.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Then Mitchell has been stuck at Lt.Comdr rank for years and Dehner must have been a prodigy to already have her PhD.

I wonder if whoever typed that up meant 31 and 33, but just had a brain hiccup or was in a rush or something and screwed it up?

Ah...well that's just screwy, then.

 

[Pauln6]

Having just watched Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump in a dance off before their debate I really want somebody to retcon Grace Lee Whitney's head onto some of the random season 2 and 3 background blonde yeomen! We have the technology! ;-P

 

[Shalashaska]

And yet changing things simply for the sake of change is exactly what they did.

Remastering is supposed to be simply cleaning things up that are already there. Revisionism was done aplenty as things were changed that never would have been done originally.

Like what? If you're talking about the special effects, all of the original effects are available as well as the original mono sound mix for each episode. What else did they change?

 

[RAMA]

Oh they should have done a lot more with TOS-R but time was a major factor why they didn't. We have to be satisfied with what was changed since it was such an improvement.

RAMA

 

[charliefox]

Then Mitchell has been stuck at Lt.Comdr rank for years and Dehner must have been a prodigy to already have her PhD.

I wonder if whoever typed that up meant 31 and 33, but just had a brain hiccup or was in a rush or something and screwed it up?

Ironically, they didn't anticipate that people would be one day able to read each picture in detail. I said "ironically" because this was supposed to be a show about the future. So the idea is that the average viewer would catch nary a glimpse of the whole thing and they didn't care what it said as long as it contained a few key words like ESP for example.

 

[RAMA]

One thing that makes me laugh is the use of video screens in even the most expensive scifi productions of the 80s and 90s, post-Star Wars. They all have these tiny, grainy horrible looking monitor screens. They thought using such screen was realism. NO ONE anticipated HD signals at all, much less 4k or 8k with the possible exception of ST. STNG used "holographic" 2D images that were bluescreened in and the imagery looks clear like an advanced form of HD.

 

[charliefox]

One thing that makes me laugh is the use of video screens in even the most expensive scifi productions of the 80s and 90s, post-Star Wars. They all have these tiny, grainy horrible looking monitor screens. They thought using such screen was realism. NO ONE anticipated HD signals at all, much less 4k or 8k with the possible exception of ST. STNG used "holographic" 2D images that were bluescreened in and the imagery looks clear like an advanced form of HD.

Yes, Back To The Future saw us technologically better than we actually are and TOS much worse.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Like what? If you're talking about the special effects, all of the original effects are available as well as the original mono sound mix for each episode. What else did they change?

Non-VFX shot that was changed. There is now a handy red light to alert users to all those instances where time is running backwards, which turns green when time returns to normal.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Like what? If you're talking about the special effects, all of the original effects are available as well as the original mono sound mix for each episode. What else did they change?

Nope, for the most part, the original mono mix is not included. Some of the first season episodes, and Amok Time, do have them, but the majority of the Blu-Ray episodes have a different mix. Any second or third season episode with an exterior engine rumble is inaccurate. Episodes in the first season, like The Naked Time, Dagger of the Mind and Miri have added sounds, particularly and most obviously an obnoxiously loud exterior engine rumble that drowns out the Captain's Long entries. Not to mention the incorrect versions of the opening and closing themes in the first batch of episodes (either the first 5, 7 or 9 - can't 100% confirm how long the electric violin theme was used). Only Where No Man Has Gone Before has the e.v. theme in both the opening and closing credits. Yet, the moment when Kirk calls for his final beam up, what used to be a dissolve to the orbit shot is now an hold on Kirk and a hard cut. The music is even extended to cover it.

The Cage has never been released with the right sound mix throughout. Ever.

Nope, Star Trek has never been released accurately on home video. The 50th Anniversary set was a perfect opportunity to give the series the Twilight Zone or I Love Lucy treatment. Sadly, CBS Home Entertainment simply slapped on the same old 2006 release.