Paul Wesley's incarnation of James T. Kirk

[Christmas Canon Spock]

Every deep fake I look at is unsettling and takes me out. I'm analyzing the tech and not enjoying the performance. It's story in service to technology which is not my preference.

Sorry, but people say "you'll get used to it" remind me of people insisting to me I should prefer HD; neither works for me.

 

[Pauln6]

That makes no sense since it is even more deep deep deep fake than the very close similarity.

Also you would get used to the uncanny valley thing just like you get used to getting watching monochrome blue films.

It just takes time.

Not at all. I have done some Deepfake as part of my own Star Trek TMP fan edit and it is really labour intensive for vaguely unsatisfactory results. It's fine for small cameos but not an entire series (can see the Rand edits below each one taking many hours of computing for just a few seconds). Animated shows are cheaper and can be hugely entertaining using modern storytelling.

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[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Deepfaking dead actors is something I find quite offputting. I'm not wild about the new Kirk choice, but I'd pick it over them doing the Young Luke Skywalker with CG face and AI generated voice from Boba Fett any day.

I also prefer recasting than a deep fake.

 

[VKORECTU]

Not at all. I have done some Deepfake as part of my own Star Trek TMP fan edit and it is really labour intensive for vaguely unsatisfactory results. It's fine for small cameos but not an entire series (can see the Rand edits below each one taking many hours of computing for just a few seconds). Animated shows are cheaper and can be hugely entertaining using modern storytelling.

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Labour intensive? Animation is very labour intensive

24 different frames for every second?

No issue about uncanny valley even if it's just cartoons.
The computing can be solved using GPU like they do for Bitcoin mining and the first quantum computers will become available in the next 2 years ...

 

[Christmas Canon Spock]

Still looks fake.

 

[Pauln6]

Labour intensive? Animation is very labour intensive

24 different frames for every second?

No issue about uncanny valley even if it's just cartoons.
The computing can be solved using GPU like they do for Bitcoin mining and the first quantum computers will become available in the next 2 years ...

For Deepfake though you have to have actors who look like the original actors and sets and special effects PLUS soundalikes PLUS pay for the rights to use the images of the original actors PLUS the cost of the Deepfake itself. If it was easy, they would be doing it in Star Wars already. Well, even more. :-p

 

[Santa Kang]

That makes no sense since it is even more deep deep deep fake than the very close similarity.

Also you would get used to the uncanny valley thing just like you get used to getting watching monochrome blue films.

It just takes time.

You buy stock or something?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I also prefer recasting than a deep fake.

Worked well enough for Governor Tarkin in Rogue One, but mainly because Tarkin always looked kind of weird anyway.

(actually I would have never even guessed it was deepfake if I didn't already know)

Leia, on the other hand... They should never have even shown her face. Just the iconic hairstyle. That (and the one word of dialogue) is all you need for Leia.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

That makes no sense since it is even more deep deep deep fake than the very close similarity.

Also you would get used to the uncanny valley thing just like you get used to getting watching monochrome blue films.

It just takes time.

It's time I'm not willing to give. The Skywalker thing creeped me out. There's something icky about it. And in some cases, embarrassing to watch. For me anyway.

 

[Mudd]

Worked well enough for Governor Tarkin in Rogue One, but mainly because Tarkin always looked kind of weird anyway.

(actually I would have never even guessed it was deepfake if I didn't already know)

Leia, on the other hand... They should never have even shown her face. Just the iconic hairstyle. That (and the one word of dialogue) is all you need for Leia.

Neither of those examples were deepfakes, sorry. They were CG animations.

 

[SantaEddie74]

And frankly since Leia had a lot less to do in that film she isn't as noticeable as Tarkin. For the record I found both more than adequate given they were made in 2016.

 

[Mudd]

I thought both were kind of hideous when I saw them.

 

[Pauln6]

Neither of those examples were deepfakes, sorry. They were CG animations.

The CG animations do look better with a layer of Deepfake on top. I admired their efforts with Tarkin but I would probably have preferred them to be less ambitious and feature him largely on a viewscreen.

 

[SantaEddie74]

Tarkin looked best during his reveal and in a few profile and shadowy shots with mood lighting. But even those weren't top notch.

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[Crisp Conditions]

That makes no sense

It makes perfect sense. I concur with @Pauln6 on this point.

I'd rather have an animated series than a Deepfake one!

Star Trek already has animated episodes that are better than some live action episodes. Arguably, there are a few live action episodes that are so bad that they're worse than every animated episode in the franchise.

Being live action or resembling live action by some measure of fidelity (whatever technique was used) does not automatically make something more entertaining than an animated version of it that was not rendered with the objective of being photo-realistic.

I also prefer recasting than a deep fake.

Same. I'd rather see a new actor tackle a role than have it Deepfaked.

I thought both were kind of hideous when I saw them.

Same. I found Tarkin and Leia right smack in the middle of the uncanny valley.

 

[SantaEddie74]

Gareth Edwards made a good choice in lighting for the Tarkin scenes in Rogue One. ANH levels of Death Star lighting would have made Tarkin far more painfully obvious.

 

[Mogh]

For cameos like Luke it's ok. But deepfaking for several episodes would not work. It would be expensive and I'm not sure Shatner would go for it..

I'm sure Paul Wesley will sort things out by his next appearance....

I admire your optimism! I suspect we're going to see more of the same, alas.

Ooof. Not a fan of this Kirk. Zero charisma, zero swagger, no charm. He looks like Jim Carey doing a Shatner impression in the 90's.

I actually feel bad writing this in case Paul Wesley sees it. I adore Ethan Peck's Spock and the whole SNW cast but this misses with the force of that Romulan weapon hitting Outpost 4.

100% this. Complete swing and a miss, and a bad miscasting of a very well-known character.

Others have done this far, far better (Karl Urban slammed it out of the park). I admire anybody willing to take on that mantle, but it just don't fit.

 

[Rahul]

I think Wesley is absolutely miscast and I don't give a damn about this charm-less small-guy Kirk.

I think this is a good thing for the series as a whole.

Had Wesley's Kirk been a success (or even only mediocre acceptable) I'm sure this show would have thrown all it's original characters & premise overboard (as the other modern Trek series) to go all-in on nostalgia-bait with the iconic duo.

With this Kirk being the dud he is (and fans mourning Hemmer - the most original character of this show - as much as they do) I at least HOPE this show goes back to it's original premise & characters, and stops chasing in-name-only legacy character clout.

 

[Mudd]

I'm sure Wesley will do just fine. And the SNW people don't need to change a thing about what they're doing. The show is great.

 

[Christmas Canon Spock]

I at least HOPE this show goes back to it's original premise & characters, and stops chasing in-name-only legacy character clout.

They will not. The success is in the subscriptions and the overall positive response to the show.