Remastered "Miri"!

[acappellasaurus]

I have seen a lot of discussion regarding "Balance of Terror", but nothing about the remastered "Miri". Here in Anchorage, BOT aired yesterday afternoon (Saturday), but Miri aired today (Sunday) and it was most definately the remasted version, not the original. Guaranteed. Were we expecting 2 remastered eps this weekend? I just have not seen too many people talking about "Miri".

 

[RAMA]

It is not scheduled to air here as far as I can tell. Some people didn't see it at all.

RAMA

 

[acappellasaurus]

Interesting - I definately saw both episodes, and there was no doubt they were the new versions.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

What did you like about the new Miri version?

 

[Trekker4747]

"Miri" was a bonus given to the syndicates this week to promote the new TOS versions. But isn't part of the "regular" cycle of the episodes. Infact, Miri isn't "officaly" supposed to air for quite sometime.

Depending on your local station's scheduling they may have simply opted to not air Miri this weekend (since this is BoT's week to be aired.)

You know, given that the airing of these episodes is being so strictly controled, only one episode/week on the weekends, it's pretty much like airing the episodes all over again (although it'll run through the summer.)

Which means any potential "new viewers" are going to see the episodes all out of wack. Not that there's a whole lot of contnuity in TOS, but airing the episodes in production order certainly would've been more benifical to new viewers.

 

[acappellasaurus]

Well, the exterior space shots look like more of the same - nice, but nothing overtly different or exciting. The planet shot in this one was very updated, making the CGI Enterprise appear to be orbiting a real earth...very nice. When the planet shot is so real looking though, the old school starfield is a bit jarring - it might have been worthwhile to update that as well. Most of this episode is planet based, so there are not a lot of effects shots to work with, but in my opinion, the clarity of the live action scenes is a huge step up from the original transfers. I liked those, and even the non-Trek fans watching with me oohed and ahhed a bit when they saw it, so it is noticable to the layperson's eye as well.

 

[acappellasaurus]

Trekker4747 - just to be clear, both Balance Of Terror AND Miri aired this weekend here, both remastered. I saw one yesterday and one today. It just seemed odd that no one was talking about Miri and everyone was talking about BOT.

 

[Trekker4747]

acappellasaurus said:
Trekker4747 - just to be clear, both Balance Of Terror AND Miri aired this weekend here, both remastered. I saw one yesterday and one today. It just seemed odd that no one was talking about Miri and everyone was talking about BOT.

It airs here tonight.

Though, like I said, I believe it's just a "bonus" this week, the first week only. Further weeks only have one episode for them, if your local affiliate has two time-slots dedicated to TOS:Refit then you'll likely either get two airings of the same episode that week or (depending on how the deal is worked out) a repeat of a previous episode.

The episodes are being aired one week at a time, this week we're just given the "bonus" of "Miri."

Though, I use the term "bonus" pretty loosely.

 

[Shatmandu]

Did they update just the ship shots, or did they fiddle with McCoy's space-herpes fade-away?

Joe, bonk-bonk

 

[acappellasaurus]

I don't actually know if they messed with the fading of the disease or not - it was a very clear shot and did not look jerky or out of place at all. So it is possible the scene has changed - it was a very fluid transition from disease-face to normal-face. All ship shots are updated and all planet shots too. The transporter effect upon beam down appeared to be the original one.

 

[Matt]

We saw it in Phoenix as well.

The ship shots of course were all replaced. I missed the intro!! Argh!!!! I couldn't believe it. The closing credits were the same and you could see the difference (lots of film grain, dust, scratches, hair, etc.)

Even on my standard TV (SDTV) it looked QUITE sharper, even better than a DVD. I could see characters in the background that before weren't as sharp. Several times when McCoy was in the background working on the cure I could see clear details in his face that I know I've never seen before.

There is one scene where Spock is the entire shot and it's so unbelievably sharp. You can see EVERY hair, his eyes were so sharp.

As far as I could tell they didn't redo the phaser effect. I can't remember how many phaser shots are in the episode as I joined in a little late, but the one where Kirk shoots the diseased 'only' it looks (and sounds) like the old phaser.

I wouldn't have a problem with them totally redoing the exterior Enterprise shots and angles, as long as they don't go crazy with like "MATRIX" style shots. Staying true is cool and all, but I think some updated angles would look better.

 

[Trekfan21]

Agreed on the improved picture quality...I am reminded of watching the shows when they were first remastered for sci-fi...its like that experience all over again...even on standard def, just b/c the source material is better.

 

[Cyrus]

acappellasaurus said:
Were we expecting 2 remastered eps this weekend?

There is a 2 week air window for each episode, so some stations take advantage of that and show 2 different episodes each weekend. To accomodate those stations CBS Paramount offered "Miri" as an extra episode the first weekend. The following weekends there is no need for extra episodes since that 2 week window takes care of that.

 

[Magic_Al]

acappellasaurus said:
When the planet shot is so real looking though, the old school starfield is a bit jarring - it might have been worthwhile to update that as well.

I'd rather the stars keep the style of the rest of the show. If they were going for realism the stars would be washed out by the glare anytime you could see a daylit planet.

 

[Magic_Al]

Matt said:
... as long as they don't go crazy with like "MATRIX" style shots.

Can you imagine? Bullet-time shot when Kirk drop-kicks someone.

 

[Christopher]

Matt said:
I wouldn't have a problem with them totally redoing the exterior Enterprise shots and angles, as long as they don't go crazy with like "MATRIX" style shots. Staying true is cool and all, but I think some updated angles would look better.

There will be some. For the most part, their objective is to replicate the originals, not to replace them. However, in instances where the same stock shot is used multiple times in an episode, they will add something from a different angle to vary it up. For instance, in "Balance of Terror," the last shot of the E firing phasers was from a considerably closer vantage point (letting us see the phaser emitter nub at the front of the dome edge), although otherwise with the same composition. And a repeat shot looking up at the Romulan ship flying by over the camera was replaced with a shot looking down on the Romulan ship flying by below, providing a never-before-seen angle on the top of the ship.

 

[Avilos]

acappellasaurus said:
I don't actually know if they messed with the fading of the disease or not - it was a very clear shot and did not look jerky or out of place at all. So it is possible the scene has changed - it was a very fluid transition from disease-face to normal-face. All ship shots are updated and all planet shots too. The transporter effect upon beam down appeared to be the original one.

It had to have been changed. It is not just because sections of the sores disapear but the sores slowly fade away back to skin tone. Which would have not been possible back then.

Through my cable I get to different channel's from different parts of Wisconsin that both are airing these episodes. One showed "Miri" and the other "Balance of Terror" at the same time last night. So I recorded them on 2 different VCRs.

 

[paustin]

Although I havent had a chance to pull up the DVD, I was positive they redid McCoy's virus dissappearing...it looked great

 

[Avilos]

paustin said:
Although I havent had a chance to pull up the DVD, I was positive they redid McCoy's virus dissappearing...it looked great

I thought so too! Even though it was not a flashy effect it was the most impressive of the 2 episodes aired so far. I look forward to these little touches in the rest of the episodes.

 

[Ihlecreations]

Ok I am glad I am not the only one who thought they retouched the transition fx on McCoy. It was very smooth.