The One Thing You Could Change, TOS Edition...

[Commishsleer]

The special effects on Blakes 7 were never anything to write home about sadly but the stories of an oppressive Terran regime taking over planets and enslaving the populations of said planets is always interesting especially with the black suited, nifty helmeted storm troopers helping the transition of power and eliminating the rebels!
JB

The vampire pilots, ORAC...
Blakes 7 is just great. Just overlook the special effects and shaking sets.

In regards to quality I bought Season1 and 2 on DVD and the quality of the print is just terrible.It has scratches and actually fades out in some episodes. Perhaps someone could crowd found a restoration like they did in TOS but better. I'd volunteer to help.

 

[Henoch]

And yes the bracelets made the transport more sensible and dramatic and if they lost the bracelets then they were really stuck.

For TOS, I thought the communicators were hardware that identified the crewman so the transporter could lock onto and beam up said person. How many times did we hear something like, "Lock onto my signal and beam me up."

 

[Pauln6]

The special effects on Blakes 7 were never anything to write home about sadly but the stories of an oppressive Terran regime taking over planets and enslaving the populations of said planets is always interesting especially with the black suited, nifty helmeted storm troopers helping the transition of power and eliminating the rebels!
JB

I re-watched some a few years back and it was pretty good. Someone just needs to go back and upgrade the special effects!

 

[Maurice]

For TOS, I thought the communicators were hardware that identified the crewman so the transporter could lock onto and beam up said person. How many times did we hear something like, "Lock onto my signal and beam me up."

Yes, but the transporter could grab people not holding a communicator, a la "The Enterprise Incident". Such a thing was not possible with the Blake's 7 teleport, IIRC.

 

[johnnybear]

The vampire pilots, ORAC...
Blakes 7 is just great. Just overlook the special effects and shaking sets.

In regards to quality I bought Season1 and 2 on DVD and the quality of the print is just terrible.It has scratches and actually fades out in some episodes. Perhaps someone could crowd found a restoration like they did in TOS but better. I'd volunteer to help.

I have the four BBC sets which are not brilliant picture wise but not terrible either! The show has always had that fizzy look and unlike doctor Who never really received the restoration process! I have heard about a Dutch set which is miles better in quality but I've no actual proof of it!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Yes, but the transporter could grab people not holding a communicator, a la "The Enterprise Incident". Such a thing was not possible with the Blake's 7 teleport, IIRC.

No, the transporter in Blake's 7 was not able to bring you back up to the ship if you'd lost your bracelet! I'm not even sure if they could beam you away either without one but I think there was an episode where they sent a baddie into the vacuum of space without one and he simply exploded into fiery little pieces!
JB

 

[Maurice]

No, the transporter in Blake's 7 was not able to bring you back up to the ship if you'd lost your bracelet! I'm not even sure if they could beam you away either without one but I think there was an episode where they sent a baddie into the vacuum of space without one and he simply exploded into fiery little pieces!
JB

You refer to when they teleported BRIAN BLESSED!!! into space in "Cygnus Alpha". But he was wearing a teleport bracelet, as can be seen at 48 minutes into it here LINK.

 

[johnnybear]

No, I'm sure there was another character who got beamed out but not Moloch in Hostage either!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

Not even a vacuum could stop Brian Blessed.

 

[Maurice]

No, I'm sure there was another character who got beamed out but not Moloch in Hostage either!
JB

Not sure what other episode you mean. Those are the two teleport-BOOM! moments I recall.

As to Molok (Moloch was a different character is series C), who bites it 48 minutes into "Hostage" (link), he's wearing a bracelet, but note he forces Cally to don a bracelet before teleporting down, which suggests you can can be teleported OUT without one.

 

[cooleddie74]

Not even a vacuum could stop Brian Blessed.

Nor the Droid Army of the Trade Federation.

 

[Commishsleer]

Nor the Droid Army of the Trade Federation.

Or Ming the Merciless...

Not sure what other episode you mean. Those are the two teleport-BOOM! moments I recall.

As to Molok (Moloch was a different character is series C), who bites it 48 minutes into "Hostage" (link), he's wearing a bracelet, but note he forces Cally to don a bracelet before teleporting down, which suggests you can can be teleported OUT without one.

I get the impression that Jenna was always intending to send that guy into outer space but he thought he was onto them and made Cally put the bracelet on so she would go with him wherever Jenna sent them. He didn't account for Callys cool martial art moves.
I'm trying to think of where in TOS thy beamed them up without a communicator. Was it only "The Enterprise Incident"? Perhaps we could think of that as an exception then?

 

[Maurice]

Or Ming the Merciless...


I get the impression that Jenna was always intending to send that guy into outer space but he thought he was onto them and made Cally put the bracelet on so she would go with him wherever Jenna sent them. He didn't account for Callys cool martial art moves.
I'm trying to think of where in TOS thy beamed them up without a communicator. Was it only "The Enterprise Incident"? Perhaps we could think of that as an exception then?

In "The Cloud Minders"...

SCOTT: Transporter room to Mister Spock.
SPOCK: Spock here.
SCOTT: I've locked into the co-ordinates of the Cloud City Council Gallery. Ready to transport the High Advisor.
SPOCK: You'll have to delay.
SCOTT: What's wrong?
SPOCK: Picking up two life-forms in the gallery. They are inseparably close to one another. We cannot transport one without the other.​

So they're doing that all by sensors.

 

[Henoch]

Sensors can do a lot, but to beam one person out of the group, they either need a communicator to lock onto, or have a reference direction and distance from a communicator (as in A Piece Of The Action). In the same episode, Scotty was able to locate and beam up the person on the other end of a phone call, too. Wow, love those sensors.

 

[Pauln6]

Sensors can do a lot, but to beam one person out of the group, they either need a communicator to lock onto, or have a reference direction and distance from a communicator (as in A Piece Of The Action). In the same episode, Scotty was able to locate and beam up the person on the other end of a phone call, too. Wow, love those sensors.

Yes, what's ridiculous is that it opens up tactical options such as beaming Carrol off the bridge in Into Darkness. Why don't the Romulans stay cloaked and beam the crew of the ship into space?

 

[Farscape One]

Because I don't think Romulans can beam while cloaked. Otherwise, it would have been used in"Face Of The Enemy".

Plus, we see it as a point in DS9's "THE SEARCH, PART I" and "TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-ATIONS", and the Defiant used a Romulan cloaking device.

 

[Pauln6]

Because I don't think Romulans can beam while cloaked. Otherwise, it would have been used in"Face Of The Enemy".

Plus, we see it as a point in DS9's "THE SEARCH, PART I" and "TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-ATIONS", and the Defiant used a Romulan cloaking device.

Fair point. Also one thing that is often overlooked is that shields snap on automatically so as as soon as a Romulan vessel uncloaked transporting would be off the table.

That said, in Trek 09 the same technology (90 years advanced) should have prevented the transporter incursion. Although they tried to hide from the Narada's sensors, presumably the Enterprise has to scan the vessel before anyone can transport and that is something that can be detected. There is obviously the question about why the Narada, which was entering enemy territory with no way of knowing that 'GUEST' was still the password to Earth's defences, didn't have its shields up in any events.

 

[Qonundrum]

The vampire pilots, ORAC...
Blakes 7 is just great. Just overlook the special effects and shaking sets.

In regards to quality I bought Season1 and 2 on DVD and the quality of the print is just terrible.It has scratches and actually fades out in some episodes. Perhaps someone could crowd found a restoration like they did in TOS but better. I'd volunteer to help.

The other downer is that most episodes were shot on 625i video tape for interior work and for the location work, that was all done on 16mm film, but I doubt any of the film survives.

What was shot on VT was already given restoration treatment, "at great expense" I'd read somewherre. The UK DVD set was oversharpened and had muted color, so wheover did it didn't put much effort into it, which is sad as there were some nifty extras that clearly showed some effort was put into those, and three episodes per disc was a really nice bonus (less compression artifacting/noise). A Dutch re-release of all things fixed the saturation problem, but crammed more episodes per disc - rendering them uglier with more compression artifacting atop of already oversharpened images. I'd rather see the original tapes or the (D3 videotape archives made from the original 2" PAL tapes) copied and re-done to minimized haloing effects and getting the color saturation levels right. Ideally, modern processing methods could get B7's VT elements to look nearly as good as Doctor Who's from the same era. The filmed inserts would still be stuck in their existing reduced resolution, unfortunately, unless prints or negatives were found and were usable.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Or maybe stop treating the franchise like the holy gospels, a thesis project or a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces have to fit.

Now you're just being logical. Logic has no place on this board.

 

[Vger23]

I’m not sure I’d change anything about TOS...but if I ever “reimagined” it, I’d set it far further in the future, and have part of the premise be that 300-500 years prior to the Enterprise’s missions, Earth went through a heavy colonizing period, sending generation ships into deep space all over the galaxy to settle planets and create new societies. Many/most of these settlements were lost track of.

Now, part of the Enterprise’s mission is finding and re-connecting with these lost colonies. That way, you can do the “parallel Earth” stories without it being hokey or stretching credibility. It’s also a cool way to get away from “why so many human-like aliens who speak English” argument.