Star Trek TNG Remastered?

[Jiraiya]

While the FX technology was lightyears ahead of the shoestring-budget FX seen in the original TOS 2 decades before, the FX technology seen in the first few seasons of TNG were kind of klunky when compared to even the remastered TOS FX.

Has anyone heard of a possible remastered edition of TNG?

J

 

[Albertese]

Nope. Why would this ever happen? You're right about the level of TNG effects, at least for the first season or two, (and of course, the constant orbiting of Planet Bitmap throughout the show) but overall it holds up reasonably well today. I don't think this will ever happen. Sorry.

--Alex

 

[Hober Mallow]

While the FX technology was lightyears ahead of the shoestring-budget FX seen in the original TOS 2 decades before, the FX technology seen in the first few seasons of TNG were kind of klunky when compared to even the remastered TOS FX.

Has anyone heard of a possible remastered edition of TNG?

J

Yes, there have been a few threads about this, and there's one huge hurdle which makes a remastered TNG extremely difficult. Unlike TOS, TNG was filmed and then edited on videotape. All the FX work was done on videotape, and the only completed, edited episodes are on videotape. There's no way to take that and do a high definition transfer.

Presumeably, the original film still exists, but there is no completed episode on film. Giving TNG the TOS-R treatment would be almost like taking the series back into production and re-editing every scene of episode with new special FX. This could be extremely expensive and impractical.

The producers basically f***ed themselves by trying to save money and edit the episodes on videotape.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Nope. Why would this ever happen? You're right about the level of TNG effects, at least for the first season or two, (and of course, the constant orbiting of Planet Bitmap throughout the show) but overall it holds up reasonably well today. I don't think this will ever happen. Sorry.

--Alex

Are you kidding? TNG looks positively gawdawful next to TOS's new high definition transfer. Soon everything is going to be in high-definition, and TNG is going to go off into oblivion unless Paramount can figire out how to upgrade the picture resolution.

 

[Jiraiya]

You never know.

If this new movie does as well as it looks like it is going to, there could be renewed interest in all things Trek, and it could happen.

I don't remember any fan effort to get TOS remastered, so maybe the same group will go ahead and do TNG, too.

J

 

[Hober Mallow]

You never know.

If this new movie does as well as it looks like it is going to, there could be renewed interest in all things Trek, and it could happen.

I don't remember any fan effort to get TOS remastered, so maybe the same group will go ahead and do TNG, too.

J

A lot of work went into TOS-R, but it was nothing compared to what TNG would entail. With TOS, they had completed, edited episodes on film they could tranfer from. With TNG, they would have to recreate every episode all over again using old film they'd have to sort through. What may happen is you have a bunch of film from a particular episode, much of which wasn't used, some of which was used, a some of which may be missing or damaged. It's unlikely the finished episodes would completely match the originals.

That said -- I didn't answer your original question -- there was talk about Paramount doing some sort of test, perhaps to see if they could enhance the resolution of the original episodes somehow. I'm sure there's interest in doing a TNG-R, it just may be a huge costly long-term nightmare to get it done. I'm sure something will happen eventually, but Paramount may decide it's going to have to wait a few years. They're going to have to figure out how to make it cost effective. Like I said, a TNG-R would be a far far bigger challenge than TOS-R was.

 

[trevanian]

expensive and impractical.

The producers basically f***ed themselves by trying to save money and edit the episodes on videotape.

Well, if you read Cinefex and other sources, it seems clear that they did not have the money to do it any other way ... as in, there wouldn't have been a series. They even though there would be no way to release it internationally, since other markets had higher rez TV than we did, but I guess they circumvented that.

Remember, TNG only spent 5-10 percent of its budget on vfx, as opposed to the huge percentage eaten up on TOS and original GALACTICA.

Also, look at how the show was having to go into reruns every 7 or 8 weeks, because they were so far behind. That is with not having the TOS optical backload situation, so the show could have easily been in an ever-increasing hole (like taking 2 years to get 25 episodes out) if they had been doing it all in a traditional finish process.

The thing is, they will have to redo some of the vfx anyway, apart from accessing and recutting the original elements. On shows like LOUD AS A WHISPER, they actually didn't even shoot film elements for the phaser body zaps, they shot the skeleton body on video direct, which is roughly like intercutting camcorder home movies with 35mm vistavision (both in terms of quality AND stupidity), presumably because of other time crunches.

 

[Falcor5]

Soon everything is going to be in high-definition, and TNG is going to go off into oblivion unless Paramount can figire out how to upgrade the picture resolution.

Not just TNG but DS9 and Voyager too as those were both filmed the same way as TNG. Its sad that all three 24th century shows may never get the HD treatment.

 

[Hober Mallow]

expensive and impractical.

The producers basically f***ed themselves by trying to save money and edit the episodes on videotape.

Well, if you read Cinefex and other sources, it seems clear that they did not have the money to do it any other way ... as in, there wouldn't have been a series.

I don't fault them for it. They did what they had to do to get the show on the air and on budget. They still f***ed themselves in the end.

On shows like LOUD AS A WHISPER, they actually didn't even shoot film elements for the phaser body zaps, they shot the skeleton body on video direct, which is roughly like intercutting camcorder home movies with 35mm vistavision (both in terms of quality AND stupidity), presumably because of other time crunches.

Little wonder it looks so odd.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Jiraiya I would suggest reading this thread starting at post #18

STNG continues on in Bluray..with great packaging!
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=83092


Best-of 12-15 episode fan collective sets of TNG episodes remastered in HD are more of a possibility than entire seasons of TNG.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Put another way, the post-production of the series took seven years the first time. They'd have to do that all over again for a series no longer in production.

 

[SharkD]

Giving TNG the TOS-R treatment would be almost like taking the series back into production and re-editing every scene of episode with new special FX. This could be extremely expensive and impractical.

Not necessarily a bad thing (for us if they ever do it). A second editing could feasibly improve the episodes.

They'll do it eventually if (when) Star Trek takes off again. There's no real rush, IMO.

 

[J Archer]

For the love of god, NO!

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I just don't see the need for it. I think most of it holds up quite well.

 

[MikeS]

If they ever do it, I hope they replace the god-awful synthesiser score from the first couple of seasons with a full orchestra. That's about the only thing I really cringe at when I watch these now, everything else holds up pretty well. But I understand that replacing the score alone would not encourage people to part with their cash for yet another re-release.

 

[Praetorian]

Hum...the early score was mostly orchestral with some synthesizer for flavor...And it was hardly awful, the early years *had* the best scores. Dennis McCarthy and Ron Jones in full strenght before they were neutered and eventually fired in the case of Jones...
There are *some* scores were Jones used more synthesizer than usual (specially in late Season 1 and early Season 3), but we are talking about the man which delivered masterpiece after masterpiece...
You didn't like stuff like the "Borg Voice Chorus" in Best of Both Worlds?
McCarthy rarely used synthesizer, the only cues I remember are from Encounter at Farpoint...
Jay Chattaway would also use synthesizer during all the years of his work so it wasn't a "early TNG thing" only...
Dennis Bell too I think.

And of course the master of them all, Jerry Goldsmith was quite fond of using synthesizer and if there's a man that defined Star Trek music it was him...

By the way, the only season of Star Trek that really used synthesizer scores, i.e. full blown synthesizer scores, was Enterprise's Fourth due to budgetary cuts. And it wasn't that bad...

I admit I tend to prefer fully orchestral scores, and some of those Jones' scores were borderline but I thought it was good nonetheless.

Just curious, which season of TNG (and/or Modern Trek) you consider had the best scores?

 

[Anwar]

Eh, if they did remaster it the only changes I'd go for would be changing some of the external shots of the Ent-D with another Fed ship so that the other vessel was different each time and not always the same Excelsior model. And maybe changed a few of the planets.

 

[Meteo]

Pretty good, like the Cheyenne, and the Bradbury...

 

[Captain Euphoria]

How about just leave it alone as is? TNG was presented in standard definition video. That's how it's SUPPOSED to look. That's how it DOES look. Why not just release full seasons on single Blu-Ray discs and let the Blu-Ray players do the upconverting? I know it's not the same as full HD (believe me, I'm a stickler for this) but that's how the show looks. That's how I remember it looking. Why re-do it? Would you want to re-do the special effects for 2001 simply because you can? What about the old Muppet Show? That was recorded and edited on video tape and it looks exactly like it should -- like it was MADE. Why spend the money?

 

[Falcor5]

Over on Trekweb there was a recent chat with the Okudas with a few questions about TNG on bluray. One good thing they said in the interview is that they recently asked paramount if the negatives are still in storage and they said they are still safe. Here is the quote:

Bill Justin also asks: "Do the 35mm film negatives from Star Trek: The Next Generation still exist (from both principle photography and visual effects) and if so what is the likelihood that CBS would greenlight a remastering project for that show -- provided that the new film is a huge success for Paramount and your Star Trek: Remastered Blu-rays also sell well? (P.S. I am a proud owner of Season One on Blu-ray!)" That was also expressed a few years back from Bill Hunt on The Digital Bits who believes the effects from TNG are in need of an upgrade.

mikeanddeniseokuda As far as we know, virtually all of the original camera negative from ST:TNG is still in storage. (We asked, several years ago.) Remastering TNG would be a much bigger project than it was for the original series, but then again, there are a LOT of people who really love the adventures of Captain Picard and company. Star Trek: The Next Generation holds a special place in our hearts, and we'd love to see it in glorious HD.

Check out the chat transcript here: http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/05/11/TrekWeb-Chat-Transcript-Michael-and-Denise-Okuda.shtml