"The Naked Time"

[darkshadow0001]

I just watched this episode on SBC2 and was wondering... is the room where Scotty and Kirk standing discussing anti-matter the engine room? I thought it might be, if it is it was a pretty cool looking engine room! This episode was pretty good for the most part. I enjoyed it, but I'm assuming they are showing the re-mastered versions. Because I noticed when they were watching the ship in orbit around the planet, the screen showed the ship moving at fast speed. It almost looked like a re-mastered edition of the episode, but then again, I could be wrong.

 

[WRStone]

They didn't remaster the Engine Room.

Yes, that's the first season Engine Room set you're looking at, in all its glory. I actually preferred what they did to it later, adding a second level and a ladder up to it on the port side. They also added a do-hickey in the middle. Lost the big pods to the starboard, for the most part. They were cool, but hard to shoot around. They were on wheels so they could be moved for shooting ... most of the time they were moved totally out of the way,

 

[darkshadow0001]

For the remastering I meant the planet they were watching on the viewscreen, was it there in the original version?

Yes, that original engine room was amazing. I'd have to watch the later episodes to find out what they changed, I don't remember too much. It is nice TOS is showing regularly here. TOS in the evening, and TNG late at night every day. Sweet.

 

[WRStone]

For the remastering I meant the planet they were watching on the viewscreen, was it there in the original version?

The planet is shown spinning in both versions, but it's considerably more detailed in the Remastered edition. Don't know which one you saw, obviously. If you were really struck by the realism on an HD screen, it was probably remastered.

The original effects were great for their time and for many years afterward (until Space: 1999. But in HD they definitely betray their low-def broadcast origins.

However, most of the Remastered series only touches visual effects, and in most instances, even those are sparing. They took a few liberties that are hotly-debated, but for the most part it was a very loving attempt to keep the original look of the effects, just add more detail and realism.

It doesn't touch the sets at all. All they did for the Remastered version was go back to the original masters of the episodes and gave them the full HD restoration treatment. It's both good and bad, because the HD prints are fantastic -- Star Trek literally never looked this clear and pristine before, not even when it was broadcast. However, it's also clear from time to time when stunt doubles were used or where the edges of set walls meet the floor.

They're awesome clarity, but it's true that the sets were never built with HD in mind. They were built with NTSC broadcast television, pre-cable-tv in mind.

The Engine Room and Bridge sets, however, were both built with detail in mind. They still hold up extremely well.

Yes, that original engine room was amazing. I'd have to watch the later episodes to find out what they changed, I don't remember too much. It is nice TOS is showing regularly here. TOS in the evening, and TNG late at night every day. Sweet.

Ah, I recall the days when I'd come home from school and wait for Star Trek. Pissed me off no end, though, because my local station had a bad print of "Metamorphosis": Acts II and Acts III were always aired in reverse order, screwing up any semblance of a story. No matter how many times I wrote, they never fixed it. It took a whole new set of episode prints, years later ...

Dakota Smith

 

[MikeS]

However, it's also clear from time to time when stunt doubles were used or where the edges of set walls meet the floor.

That was always clear to me, even before they were remastered.

 

[WRStone]

That was always clear to me, even before they were remastered.

I have no good perspective about it. I was only a year old when the series premiered. I have a very early memory of Star Trek that I can date as having occurred late one Friday night during the show's third season, but I mostly watched it in the 1970s.

It's a bit of a mindset thing, I think. Star Trek's studio shoots were no worse than anybody else's, for example: you can tell when they're on the soundstage in Bonaza just as easily. Same thing with stunt doubles.

But there was a hell of a lot less video resolution back then, and all of it was broadcast. Every time your mom plugged in the vacuum cleaner or other major appliance, the picture went to hell. Even when it was good, it required fine-tuning and even that was nothing compared to plain old analog cable TV.

So they just didn't worry so much in those days: they kept the shots with stunt doubles wider and generally they kept their backs to the camera. It was what everybody did back then.

So I really can't tell how it might have looked as originally aired. I suspect about the way it looked in 1974, which was good enough for broadcast TV at the time.

Dakota Smith

 

[MikeS]

I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were saying that it was the HD remastered versions that picked up on those things.

I am also too young to remember the original broadcasts (and am also from the other side of the Atlantic so wouldn't have got to see them until the mid seventies).

What I meant was, when I first saw these on television in the early nineties (before HD, but probably broadcast a little clearer than they were originally aired), I could distinguish between the stunt doubles and real actors.

So it wasn't the HD remastering that caused these things to become noticable.

Cheers!

 

[WRStone]

Ah, I see what you're saying.

Yes, think the use of stunt doubles became more apparent in the 1990s. By then, video resolution had improved to where even standard prints adequate for broadcast were also adequate to see details on NTSC video.

Like I say, I've no perspective. To me, I always kind of knew they were stunt doubles in the back of my mind, and occasionally you might be able to see it. But you were entirely used to suspending your disbelief far enough to forget about it.

It was just a convention: you know Hoss couldn't possibly have just gotten beat up by the bad guy, and in fact if you really thought about it, you might be able to see that it was his stunt double. But it was no more or less noticable than anybody else's stunt doubles, so you never thought about it. It was just how they did stunts on TV and that was that.

Dakota Smith