Opinions on the remastered versions

[MTA-P]

This feel like this would be a very controversial topic around here, but alas, I'm not around much.

I do not love the remastered version uncritically, there are a lot of baffling decisions, but imo, it had to be done. The funny thing about sci-fi special effects is that, while they don't have to be perfect, if they're below a certain standard, it pulls you out of the narrative. I remember watching the unremastered version as a kid in the 90s and finding it hard to follow...

But still, sometimes it's a little distracting. Ideally (again, imo) they'd have used CG conservatively, creating effects that resembled what was achievable with models in the 60s.

(after all, we all know the budget was low. It seems to be as if the tech wasn't the problem, resources were.)

And in some places, they've done just that, but in other places it's obvious CG. In some places, they've retained the colourful colour pallette of the original, in other places it's all gunmetal grey and neo-futurist. Going from the sharp grey CG exteriors to the funky colourful interiors is a bit jarring.

I can make a million little arguments about how this or that should've been done differently. But ultimately, I do think it's an improvement. I feel like going back to the original would be like when the BFI found an original Star Wars workprint without all George Lucas' modifications, and the consensus was that it wasn't nostalgic, just not very impressive.

Speaking of Star Wars, maybe there's something to be said for continuously updating the effects. Maybe that's treating it like a living, dynamic, unfinished thing, not meddling with perfection.

 

[publiusr]

Each advance in filmmaking introduces its own look.

I could see Earthforce ships in Babylon 5 given a new super detailed look—but only to make it rusty.

Minbari ships look best with early, slick CGI.
X-wings? Not so much.

“The Brutalist” is a recent motion picture that uses different video formats to help tell a story.

I think a Covid documentary should use film formats the first part…70 mm… then 35…then 16. A daguerreotype to show New York’s empty streets. VHS for bags with human remains.

Post-Covid New York is all digital in my mind—motion smoothed and surreal works here.

 

[F. King Daniel]

We really need a pinned Eternal Remastered Debate thread.

I wished they'd recreated the original effects exactly as were, like Star Trek Continues. The new shots do not fit the tone of TOS. And the Klingon ship in particular looks like it escaped from a PS2 game.

 

[MTA-P]

I could see Earthforce ships in Babylon 5 given a new super detailed look—but only to make it rusty.

Minbari ships look best with early, slick CGI.
X-wings? Not so much.

I think I know what you mean. A clean mechanical spaceship in the vacuum of space would be the easiest thing to render with 90s CG tech. The limitation would've been on less clean, more lived-in vessels with rust and wear and tear. So when we're talking about spaceships, that's what separates early CG from more modern CG.

But the reason it's so simple to render a spaceship with primitive CG is the same reason model effects still look good; clean lines and mechanical objects on a black background are just easy to do. And that's why it's frustrating to me that they overshot, went with cutting edge CG, when simpler CG would've retained the old look.

 

[MTA-P]

We really need a pinned Eternal Remastered Debate thread.

I shoulda known. You don't change beloved old media without people talking about it forever.

What about the view that it had do be done; we might wish it had been done differently, or better, bur it's a good thing it was done?

 

[NCC-73515]

Didn't they include the original effects and you can choose?

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Didn't they include the original effects and you can choose?

I hate that the audio track on the Blu-rays matches the remastered version, meaning there are moments where the audio and visuals become disjointed if you're watching the originals.

 

[korblborp]

We really need a pinned Eternal Remastered Debate thread.

I wished they'd recreated the original effects exactly as were, like Star Trek Continues. The new shots do not fit the tone of TOS. And the Klingon ship in particular looks like it escaped from a PS2 game.

thought we had a long-running "unneccesary reboot/remake/remaster of the week" thread

i didn't like tos-r because a lot of the shots they recreated (or occassionally made themselves) weren't done in a way that fits the shooting style of the show and era. or however you want to put it.