• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Cage Remastered...screencaps?

There's no reason to pay more than $50/season for ANY TV series...DVD revenue is pure gravy after the miniscule cost of transfer (and the new filmless cameras eliminate even THAT).

I agree that some of the Star Trek DVDs have been too expensive, but scanning costs aren't likely to be "miniscule," and that doesn't count the costs of restoration (color correction, scratch removal), nor the expenses of creating commentaries, documentaries, and other bonus features. Even after those expenses are repaid, the revenue probably isn't entirely "gravy." If any actors, directors, writers, or producers are profit participants, they would need to be paid.
 
I really wish Paramount/CBS would get off their collective rear and release a Blu-Ray version of the remastered episode sets already. I guess they're waiting for some sort of tie-in to the new film or something; but I think thhe sets would sell as well as anything else that's put out for Blu-Ray.

Am I the only one DREADING the inevitable swictch over to Blu Ray ONLY production?

You can't dread something that doesn't exist. ;)

I HATE Blu Ray...it's 1/3 more expensive than even HD dvds...

Most of the Blu-Rays I've seen have only been a couple of dollars more than their standard def counterparts.
 
I paid no more than $50.00 for each season of TOS/R..on the first day of release, each has been mis-marked in price at my local Best Buy..and I clean up on the mistake...
 
Am I the only one DREADING the inevitable swictch over to Blu Ray ONLY production?

I HATE Blu Ray...it's 1/3 more expensive than even HD dvds...

Awww a bitter Toshiba HD-DVD fanboy.

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray were almost equal in price with Blu-Ray actually being a tad bit cheaper in regards to physical media.

HD-DVD had the advantage in player price if you wanted a crappy bug ridden 1080i only player. The actual equal players to Blu-Ray were the same exact price. Nothing could match the PS3 though in features.
 
Did they also update the viewing screen shots in the briefing room? The ones of the hand drawn Talosion and the planet and its surface?
 
Did they also update the viewing screen shots in the briefing room? The ones of the hand drawn Talosion and the planet and its surface?

I hope so. My admiration for the original "Cage" knows no bounds...but that pencil/ink-drawn stuff was just lousy.
 
Did they also update the viewing screen shots in the briefing room? The ones of the hand drawn Talosion and the planet and its surface?

I hope so. My admiration for the original "Cage" knows no bounds...but that pencil/ink-drawn stuff was just lousy.
But it makes perfect sense...if you came back from a mission and wanted to show your superiors what you saw, you'd make a quick sketch and put it in your report.
 
As far as remastering goes... I seriously wish they stopped cutting out the live action sequences in order to make more room for pointless crap, like some encyclopedia images or SFX shots.

Other than that, the sequence looks nice, I like the reordering, though there's way too much Apollo (and space program in general) in my opinion. Also, what's with the political map? Well I suppose it was a historic political map... :)
 
I'd have tossed in a shot of Cochrane's Phoenix or the Friendship One probe. But meh. Like someone said much earlier, Okuda and the remastering team wanted to avoid too many catcalls of cross-series pollution and tried to keep the original feel of the library computer displays as intact as possible.
 
I haven't seen the full episode yet, but the best thing I've seen in the remastered The Cage is the opening bridge zoom-in. It is, as mentioned, almost seamless, and if I wasn't such a special effects nut, I'd be able to switch off my analyzing brain and see it only as a very neat scene-setter; but there is something about it that makes me want to dissect it, and I haven't seen revealed the closely-kept secrets of how this particular shot was done.
Check it out (1 minute in):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmEuXsa4z_Q

And the original (skip to the end):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwNQ6agp6Ig

There seems to be far too much new footage there. For starters, you can see more of the bridge for a longer period of time, but perhaps they simply had the uncropped original film reel to work from there, and then added a bit of CG to the surrounding areas. Secondly, the angle in which the camera approaches changes, from a higher view to a lower one, whereas in the original, it's simply straight-on. I can't work out how that was done, not without extensive rotoscoping and background replacement. One thing that is quite obvious is the slightly wonky-looking "CGI MAN" in the background. I think he's used as a diversion from the fact that no-one else on the bridge is moving, until the shot finishes. Interestingly, the original also has a man in the background, although he approaches from a different angle.

cagecomparisonet7.gif


Perhaps the entire bridge was made modeled in 3D, and they dropped the film-stock elements over the top, and then transitioned from one to the other. I think that's the most likely. It's the only way you could get that viewing angle from the original, but it's quite impressive given how accurate the CGI version is, given how smoothly it goes from one to the other, although you can see it if you're really looking for it. I love the little warp of the glass as the camera 'passes through it'. I bet this was lots of fun to do!
 
I haven't seen the full episode yet, but the best thing I've seen in the remastered The Cage is the opening bridge zoom-in. It is, as mentioned, almost seamless, and if I wasn't such a special effects nut, I'd be able to switch off my analyzing brain and see it only as a very neat scene-setter; but there is something about it that makes me want to dissect it, and I haven't seen revealed the closely-kept secrets of how this particular shot was done.
Check it out (1 minute in):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmEuXsa4z_Q

And the original (skip to the end):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwNQ6agp6Ig

There seems to be far too much new footage there. For starters, you can see more of the bridge for a longer period of time, but perhaps they simply had the uncropped original film reel to work from there, and then added a bit of CG to the surrounding areas. Secondly, the angle in which the camera approaches changes, from a higher view to a lower one, whereas in the original, it's simply straight-on. I can't work out how that was done, not without extensive rotoscoping and background replacement. One thing that is quite obvious is the slightly wonky-looking "CGI MAN" in the background. I think he's used as a diversion from the fact that no-one else on the bridge is moving, until the shot finishes. Interestingly, the original also has a man in the background, although he approaches from a different angle.

cagecomparisonet7.gif


Perhaps the entire bridge was made modeled in 3D, and they dropped the film-stock elements over the top, and then transitioned from one to the other. I think that's the most likely. It's the only way you could get that viewing angle from the original, but it's quite impressive given how accurate the CGI version is, given how smoothly it goes from one to the other, although you can see it if you're really looking for it. I love the little warp of the glass as the camera 'passes through it'. I bet this was lots of fun to do!

Is this the exact same "swooping-in" shot first created for the Remastered "Menagerie" in 2007? Or an all-new CGI alteration done especially for the pilot?
 
It looks the same (just smaller on their viewscreen, so I've not been able to study it properly until now). Presumably they redid The Cage first, then used those shots in The Menagerie.

Watching it some more, I'm certain the shot is almost entirely CGI, even Spock in the background, before he turns into the real version again. It's very clever. I notice they didn't try to match the turbolift up with the exterior shaft, though. Probably for the best. :p
 
Man, they really went to town on the space shots and the other stuff that wasn't in "The Menagerie." They even changed Majel Barrett's credit at the end, too.
 
As far as the library sequence goes, I wouldn't want anything from modern Trek in there, but a nod to Jeffries concept art would have been nice. Like maybe a shot of the daedalus or the ring ship Enterprise?
 
^
Or a DY-class sleeper ship between the space shuttle specs and the other probe schematics? The Eugenics Wars and Khan's ship are canon even if some people quibble over the dates.
 
Perhaps the entire bridge was made modeled in 3D, and they dropped the film-stock elements over the top, and then transitioned from one to the other. I think that's the most likely. It's the only way you could get that viewing angle from the original, but it's quite impressive given how accurate the CGI version is, given how smoothly it goes from one to the other, although you can see it if you're really looking for it. I love the little warp of the glass as the camera 'passes through it'. I bet this was lots of fun to do!

WE HAVE A WINNAH!! That's precisely how they did it.

Johnny, tell him what he's won!
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top