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Remastered TOS: This really bugs me!

I personally think that we could get better results if they paid people in this forum to do the Remastering. The Ship looks more fake now than it did before...Thats a joke...
No way. They'd spend most of their time arguing about nacelle caps and orientation of the Bridge. Nothing would get done.
 
Quality varies wildly. Some of the new shots have impressed, some have made me roll my eyes. I watched Elaan of Troius the other day. The Klingon battle cruiser looked horrible, and the shot where it buzzed the Enterprise and pulled up suddenly looked like something from the Animated Series.
That Klingon ship is one of the worst things in the new effects. You can actually make out the edges of the polygons on parts of it, and it's animated terribly.
 
. . . The new effects were done in widescreen, but we will never get to see them that way (AFAIK, TOS-R was only broadcast in widescreen in Japan). And before anyone jumps down my throat for daring to suggest that the live action footage be cropped to match - AFAIK, it wouldn't have to be cropped, as such, since most filmed material from that era was, and possibly still is, shot with more filmed area than even the 4:3 ratio shows.
AFAIK, programs filmed for television from the 1950s through the ’70s were composed for the full frame, to match the 4:3 aspect ratio of the old TV screens. Some allowance was made for the slight cropping of the image in transmission (the “TV safe” area).
Or, hell, why not just make the external space shots widescreen and leave the live action footage alone? It's not as if viewers will particularly care, anyway. Anyone who's seen, say, Galaxy Quest will know that multiple aspect ratios can be mixed within the same program.
The theatrical presentation of Galaxy Quest uses three aspect ratios in sequence. It begins with the “TV episode” in 1.33:1. Then the frame opens up to 1.85:1 for the convention and alien introduction scenes. When Tim Allen's character gets shot up into space, the frame expands further to 2.35:1 for the remainder of the movie.

For Trek TOS-R, mixing widescreen FX shots with the original 1.33:1 footage would mean constant switching back and forth between different aspect ratios. The effect would be distracting, to say the least.
 
Remastered Trek is broadcast in widescreen here in Britain. The FX has slightly more at the sides, but the live action is cropped. Additionally the text is redone for title sequences and end credit cards, so the lettering is recentred within the 16:9 frame.

Opening2.jpg

OpeningWide2.jpg


Opening1.jpg

OpeningWide1.jpg


ManTrap.jpg

ManTrapwide.jpg
 
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I've watched it on CBS as well about the cropping. I have to say I prefer watching the DVD's no ads to interfer with my veiwing. I prefer the new remastered, okay it's not perfect but it's far better than when first televised nearly half a century ago.
 
I hope that cropping isn't actually what they did, because it's hideous. Not only are the top and bottom cropped, but the sides are pulled in, losing more of the picture.
 
I don't understand why some of the audio flubs weren't fixed, especially they're so much easier to fix. The biggie on my list is in "The Corbomite Maneuver": When Sulu announces "one minute", Balok was also supposed to bellow, "ONE MINUTE!", thus prompting Sulu's response of, "I knew he would." Since Balok's "ONE MINUTE!" is in the "Next Week" promo, it'd be a cinch to just slip it right in, and suddenly Sulu's line makes sense. Other stuff, like the wrong sound effect used (or even easier, when no sound effect was used and there should've been), would be comparative pieces of cake.

It's not hard at all, I've done it. I made DVD-R copies of the Laserdiscs and put the "one minute" where it belongs. I also put the original orchestration of the main titles in the appropriate episodes, added a boatswain's whistle prompt Commodore Mendez to say "Mendez here, what is it?" and a communicator beep at the end of "A Private Little War."

And in the first part of "The Menagerie", just to see if I could do it, I blew up the shot on Spock's monitor in his cabin, when he watched Kirk in the transporter room and the camera pans out to show Mendez. I blew it up enough to get rid of the monitor and have it make more sense. Funny thing is, the background sound effect of the transporter room is louder in that shot, so it fits. Turned out pretty good, actually.

I rather like the new effects for the most part. Some are better than others, to be sure, but 85% of them are unobjectionable. However, there are many times when I want to see the originals, so I'm glad they gave us the choice.
 
The only time the new effects bother me is when they don't really support the dialog or the performances. For example, some shots in The Doomsday Machine, while beautifully done, don't jive with the dialog and actions shown. It only happens a couple of times, and there are always people to say "oh well this and that to explain it," but that doesn't hold much water when it was never an issue before the new FX were done.

Otherwise, it's all a matter of taste. I thought the opening combat in Errand of Mercy was disappointing, but the work in Tomorrow is Yesterday was showstopping.
 
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