Should There Be A Blu Ray Of The Animaited Series?

[22 Stars]

I think that reanimating TAS is the next fertile ground, following TOS-R for exploring the classic Trek universe. If I had all the time in the world, it is a project I would love to helm.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Nah. Why remake it? It is what it is. And there's no reason to believe it wouldn't look amazing in HD. The animation -- the movement of the characters, or lack thereof -- was certainly terrible. But the actual hand-drawn elements aren't bad.

If you can, check out Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" on blu-ray. The star of that show are the background elements. The detail in those backgrounds is astonishing. Even better is the sense of depth you get that you don't get in standard def. Whether you'd get a comprable sense of depth with TAS on blu-ray, I don't know. But I'd like to find out.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

check out Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" on blu-ray. The star of that show are the background elements. The detail in those backgrounds is astonishing. Even better is the sense of depth you get that you don't get in standard def. Whether you'd get a comprable sense of depth with TAS on blu-ray, I don't know. But I'd like to find out.

the backgrounds are detailed, textured, and colorful - and nearly leap off the screen at you like the best Blu-rays do. The multiplane backgrounds give a lovely 3D feel to the movie and textures such as on characters' clothing or that of even background objects is superb.

FROM THE review of the Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray

Sure you have a general background and then the actual cell animation of the characters but I do not believe the animation company for TAS Filmmation used Disney’s standard multiplane system.

the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds - the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. The multiplane effect is sometimes referred to as a parallax process.

Watch this 1 minute video for how the multiplane glass levels work:
http://disney.go.com/videos/classics/?content=10346#/videos/classics/&content=10346

Will Paramount/CBS home video put out TAS in Blu-ray? Quite possibly before 2012 as it would require minimal work to remaster from the 35mm cut negative. Why do I mention that date because once they put out 4 seasons of Enterprise on Blu-ray they will be out of Trek TV to release unless they delve into doing a fan collective of TNG episodes in HD to release on Blu-ray.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Sure you have a general background and then the actual cell animation of the characters but I do not believe the animation company for TAS Filmmation used Disney’s standard multiplane system.

Sure, nor are the backgrounds as busy and as ornate as Sleeping Beauty's. That's not really my point, though. Even in Sleeping Beauty shots where it's just a foreground and background, every detail of the background is so sharp it's like looking at an actual painting. It's a much different experience watching it on DVD. And as I said before, I'm talking about the detail of the images, not the quality of how they animated those images.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

And as I said before, I'm talking about the detail of the images, not the quality of how they animated those images.

Hober Mallow I understand your statement.
Last week I initially said this
September 23 2009

You would gain in the background painting image quality.
high definition has 10x the color information [and 6x the resolution]. All that extra color information make for more accurate colors and subtle gradations that NTSC/(SMPTE 170M) standard in standard definition cannot show.

Perhaps your mention of "depth" is what confused me. Disney used several layers of artwork moving at different speeds. Filmmation may have used only 2, foreground cell animations and a background.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Perhaps your mention of "depth" is what confused me. Disney used several layers of artwork moving at different speeds. Filmmation may have used only 2, foreground cell animations and a background.

For me, it's almost intangible, but watching films on blu-ray gives me an added sense of depth that I don't get from SD formats. I don't know if it's the added detail or what it is, but some films where this was especially noticeable to me are Casablanca and Patton.

 

[Kail]

I also hope that they FIX the screwed up with the color correction on "Time Trap" that was on the DVD release.

best wishes,
wws

Yeah, what was that about? Single worst part of the DVD release. Did no one realize the background of the ship graveyard was SUPPOSE to be red? When they blacked it out, we lost a lot of smaller ships in the background. Hell, ship in the foreground lost definition. Terrible restoration!!

 

[I am not Spock]

Speaking of TAS, have the regular DVDs sold out? I should have picked it up when it first came out. I can't find it anywhere now.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Speaking of TAS, have the regular DVDs sold out? I should have picked it up when it first came out. I can't find it anywhere now.

I just saw a set at Wall Mart like a week ago.

 

[bbailey861]

Speaking of TAS, have the regular DVDs sold out? I should have picked it up when it first came out. I can't find it anywhere now.

It is in stock at amazon.ca. Don't know if they will ship down under or if the region code will work for you or not but it is worth a shot.

As for redoing ST:TAS, or putting it on Blu-ray, no I don't think so. I like it just the way I remember it. I would like to see a whole new animated series done, though. Same quality as The Clone Wars.

Byron

 

[Captain Robert April]

I still see the sets on various store shelves, so worry not, true believer...

 

[I am not Spock]

Speaking of TAS, have the regular DVDs sold out? I should have picked it up when it first came out. I can't find it anywhere now.

It is in stock at amazon.ca. Don't know if they will ship down under or if the region code will work for you or not but it is worth a shot.

As for redoing ST:TAS, or putting it on Blu-ray, no I don't think so. I like it just the way I remember it. I would like to see a whole new animated series done, though. Same quality as The Clone Wars.

Byron

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I haven't actually seen all of TAS before. It's the only Trek I haven't seen all of. Is it worth seeking out?

 

[Clancy_s]

Not unless the masters are good enough to give an improvement in quality on DVD, which I doubt.

 

[EnsignRicky]

For as much as I watch them, I'm happy with the DVDs. However a bluray version could certainly be a worthwhile release, for those who care. As subjective as the animation may be, with some TLC and a little cleaning, the finished result should look as though you were standing over the animators shoulder; The insanely fast animator's shoulder.

 

[bbailey861]

Speaking of TAS, have the regular DVDs sold out? I should have picked it up when it first came out. I can't find it anywhere now.

It is in stock at amazon.ca. Don't know if they will ship down under or if the region code will work for you or not but it is worth a shot.

As for redoing ST:TAS, or putting it on Blu-ray, no I don't think so. I like it just the way I remember it. I would like to see a whole new animated series done, though. Same quality as The Clone Wars.

Byron

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I haven't actually seen all of TAS before. It's the only Trek I haven't seen all of. Is it worth seeking out?

I certainly think so. The stories done are quite good and in a few of the cases very good. It was (and still is) especially rewarding to hear those voices again. Despite the lack of movement of the characters, something inherent to Filmation productions, it is a fair representation of the animation done during that period. I have watched them more than once and tend now to visualize the episodes on my own. The extras are a good bonus as well. The only thing I am disappointed about is that it didn't manage to last another season or two. As I mentioned above, with the resurgence of animation, it may be a great time to rethink and redo another animated Star Trek series. Possibly with one of the newer series as opposed to an entirely new one since the actors are still around and kicking. They may command too much for their services, though.

Byron

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I have watched them more than once and tend now to visualize the episodes on my own.

And this is the reason I recently picked up the comic book collection on DVD-ROM of 500 Trek comic books including many from the TOS series characters on the various Enterprises.

and also picked up a miniseries comic from one of the original writers on TOS, D.C. Fontana:
Star Trek Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment

While I've actually been busy to sit down to read them since getting them I have skimmed through them...
I can visualize them myself from the drawings. Maybe put on some Trek movie soundtrack to get in the mood...

 

[Noname Given]

I thought I put this here as it has TOS crew. Do you think they should release a blu ray collection of The Animaited Series just like they did with the 3 seasons of TOS? I think they should cause after all, it still is the same crew from TOS. They released blu ray collections of TOS and all 10 Star Trek movies and soon to be Star Trek XI. So I think they should release a blu ray collection of The Animaied Series. So what do you think?

Considering the way it was done (the simple level of animation and use of color); the image quality wouldn't improved over that of upscaling the regular DVD on a Blu-Ray player (I have the TAS DVD set and an HDTV w/Blu-Ray); so IMO it would be a waste of time and money for both the stuio and the consumer. (imo)

 

[Sycho Nosk]

You wouldn't gain anything in image quality. Shitty animation is shitty animation, no matter what the image resolution, so enjoy the regular DVD release for what it is.

Now, if they were to go back and redo the animation and recut the dialogue (a typical TAS script was around 40-odd pages, which by current standards is an hour long show, so just change the pacing, draw out some of the effects sequences...) then we might have a reason to do an HD version, but as it is now, nah...

thats so true, and it would be sick... PSYCHO SICK!

 

[jefferiestubes8]

TAS script length

if they were to go back and redo the animation and recut the dialogue (a typical TAS script was around 40-odd pages, which by current standards is an hour long show, so just change the pacing, draw out some of the effects sequences...)

40 pages really? Are any TAS scripts freely available on the net (not for $20. each on Roddenberry.com site) ? Are they "shooting scripts"? Was there loads of stuff in some of the TAS scripts that didn't make it in the episodes? Major plot and character stuff? Can you give any examples of episodes and what was left of the floor of the writing room out of the finished episodes? Did the actors record the all the scripted dialogue for that stuff in the 40-odd pages scripts? Would it have survived...the original unedited studio sound recordings of the dialogue?

 

[NiteTrek]

Do you think they should release a blu ray collection of The Animaited Series just like they did with the 3 seasons of TOS?

You're really smart.