TOS original or Remastered, which is canon?
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I offered to loan them my old AMT Enterprise model so they could scan it for "The Doomsday Machine" but apparently the budget and the schedule wouldn't allow for it.
Mike did say they would've liked to have done the Constellation closer to the AMT model, but, as I said, time and money wouldn't allow for it, so they went with modifying the Enterprise model they had.
Then you don't remember anything about what I said initially. What's the point of new shots if you keep the inconsistencies? That would be as dumb as continuing to use shots of the pilot versions of the ship when you're supposed to be seeing the production version.
It's sort of ironic that the original VFX of "The Doomsday Machine" utilized an AMT model kit due to time and money constraints... and the remastered VFX did not recreate the model kit due to time and money constraints.
The damaged Constellation was an area in which we chose to vary significantly from the original effects design. I thought this was appropriate, given the limitations of the original AMT model kit shots, and I was delighted at the work of the artists at CBS Digital, who gave us a wonderfully mangled Constellation. On the other hand, we rejected several suggestions to make major changes on the design of the planet killer itself. We knew that the episode's writer, Norman Spinrad, had wanted something radically different, but we felt that a major change would be too jarring to those who had loved the original version for so many years.
In television and film, no one gets everything that they want. (Not even Steven Spielberg!) At some level, everything is ultimately a compromise. Even between Dave, Denise, and myself, we made frequent compromises with each other - and with the schedule and budget. For example, in "The Ultimate Computer," I felt strongly that all four guest ships should be Constitution-class starships, because the drama of the story required the Enterprise to be overwhelmingly outmatched by four of her equals. Dave Rossi felt equally strongly that this was a rare opportunity to show different Starfleet vessels, and he really wanted to do a TOS version of the Reliant. While I disagreed with him for this episode, he had a very good point that it would have been very, very cool to show different ship designs.
In the end, the determining factor was budget and schedule. We just didn't have enough of either for new ships at that point in the production schedule. At a different point in the episode lineup, we might have had the time to do those new ships, but even then we would likely have had to compromise by cutting something from another episode for budget reasons.
By the way, Niel Wray and our friends at CBS Digital did help us out on those four guest ships as much as their schedule allowed. Besides changing the ship names and registry numbers on the hulls, they also made subtle changes in the window patterns on the guest ships, as if their interiors were slightly different from the Enterprise (but I was careful to preserve the deck lines.) A very small change, but we appreciated the fact that they tried to accommodate us as much as possible.
-Mike
In television and film, no one gets everything that they want. (Not even Steven Spielberg!) At some level, everything is ultimately a compromise. Even between Dave, Denise, and myself, we made frequent compromises with each other - and with the schedule and budget. For example, in "The Ultimate Computer," I felt strongly that all four guest ships should be Constitution-class starships, because the drama of the story required the Enterprise to be overwhelmingly outmatched by four of her equals. Dave Rossi felt equally strongly that this was a rare opportunity to show different Starfleet vessels, and he really wanted to do a TOS version of the Reliant. While I disagreed with him for this episode, he had a very good point that it would have been very, very cool to show different ship designs.
In the end, the determining factor was budget and schedule. We just didn't have enough of either for new ships at that point in the production schedule. At a different point in the episode lineup, we might have had the time to do those new ships, but even then we would likely have had to compromise by cutting something from another episode for budget reasons.
By the way, Niel Wray and our friends at CBS Digital did help us out on those four guest ships as much as their schedule allowed. Besides changing the ship names and registry numbers on the hulls, they also made subtle changes in the window patterns on the guest ships, as if their interiors were slightly different from the Enterprise (but I was careful to preserve the deck lines.) A very small change, but we appreciated the fact that they tried to accommodate us as much as possible.
-Mike
^It would've been cool if there had been some way to work a shot of the Intrepid into TOS-R and reveal that it was a 23rd-century descendant of the ENT Vulcan ringships, rather than just another Connie.
Mike, if you would answer my question. Given more time and money, what would have the three of you(and CBS Digital) done differently?
I prefer TOS-WTFITBDOTNFX (TOS-WTF Is The Big Deal Over The New Effects?).
Nah, they all have waaaayyyy too many letters to remember. I'll stick with TOS-R.
FTW!!!
Thanks, Mike Okuda and team for the revamped special effects.
You've confused me. What is FTW?
Thinking back over the episode the only think I can think of is if there had been one shot on the bridge or in the briefing room where we could have seen a ship shown on a viewscreen. Either on the briefing room tabletop viewer or on one of the overhead screens over Spock's bridge station. But it would have to have been when the Intrepid was being mentioned.
It's not something that likely would have drawn a lot of attention--because you're only glimpsing it--but it would be yet another little something added into the background. One could make the same point of putting more story relevant images on the bridge overhead viewscreens throughout the episodes, but that would have taken more time and money. And yet it's something that also could have been done in the '60s given sufficient time and money which TOS didn't have.
It took me quite a long time to learn even the few abbreviations I have.I prefer TOS-WTFITBDOTNFX (TOS-WTF Is The Big Deal Over The New Effects?).
Nah, they all have waaaayyyy too many letters to remember. I'll stick with TOS-R.
FTW!!!
Thanks, Mike Okuda and team for the revamped special effects.
You've confused me. What is FTW?
F -For
T -The
W -Win
FTW = I agreed with what you said, even though I actually prefer TOS-R over the original effects.
Mike - Loved the work you and your team did with the revamped special effects. But I'll continue to curse your name until the end of time for adding a phaser beam to the scene in The Naked Time where Scotty is cutting thru the bulkhead.
The image of an invisible beam cutting through a wall was really cool to this five year old. It spoke to almost magical technology. I was really displeased this scene was messed with.
I have to agree strongly here. It was an unnecessary change. The other one that really bugged me was adding photon torpedo sound f/x to the silent phaser bursts in "Balance Of Terror." The dialogue clearly has Kirk ordering phaser fire, not photon torpedoes.
Did they really add a beam? Jesus, talk about missing the boat.
Did they add visible lines for tractor beams, too?
Yes, they really added a beam. And as for tractor beams I'm not sure having not seen all the episodes as TOS-R, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Which is ironic, because it was actually more realistic for the beam to be invisible, as a laser would be (although maybe the vapor from the disintegrated bulkhead metal would scatter enough light to make the beam somewhat visible).
As I recall, that change was made for a home video release in the '90s. Though it's odd that this new edition kept it.
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