TOS:R DVD's

[Ssosmcin]

No you needed them because TOS looks like horseshit, eaten by a horse then vomited back up and mixed with horse diarrhea in a Kitchen Aid blender then eaten by my cat, and then coughed up with his furballs... on a Kaiser roll.

Hahahahaha! No....

They should have done more than they did like putting actual graphics on the screens on the bridge to replace the paper ones

That actually would have been pretty good in those episodes where the paper is obvious.

and they should have digitally filled in the backgrounds on the "planets" they landed on so that it actually looked like a planet and not a soundstage.

I never understood how people let stuff like that bug them. They created some bad sets, but also made some damned good ones. Money was tight, it worked out since there were no alien planets to go to for location shots.

I love TOS but it looks awful and I knew this when I was 5 (in 1980).

Yes, 5 year olds are notorious for hating fake soundstage sets. Go sit with a few 5 year olds and watch some PBS shows. Let me know if they pick on the background sets.

Not to indulge in one-upmanship, but I've loved Trek since I was 4 (1971) and it never looked awful. The effects became dated but not anywhere within 80 gazillion light years near what you so colorfully described.

Then again, even though we both grew up with TOS, I grew up with it when those effects were the norm and that (until Star Wars / BSG) TV special effects actually got a lot WORSE in the 70's. To this day, while I realize TOS' effects are primitive and flawed, it never bothers me. Ever.

I've gone of on this tangent a few times, but its all in the context. If you watch the show like you watch any modern program, you'll never like the visuals. If you watch it in the mental context of the late 60's, you'll find yourself appreciating the craftsmanship a lot more. Instead of seeing bleeding matte lines and translucent superimposed images, you'll think "wow, that was an ambitious shot for 1966."

Not everyone can do that though.

I agree that some episodes really benefit from the new visuals: Tomorrow is Yesterday is the best example of how these changes actually improve the episode. The Doomsday Machine also had some great and exciting sequences (and a couple of screw ups that would have been avoided if they paid more attention). However, for my money, many of the original model shots had more energy than the new CGI shots. I would rather see an energetic, undercranked model shot of the Enterprise zooming out of the energy barrier than a perfectly rendered CGI shot of the Enterprise slowly turning toward the screen. Sometimes the implication works better than the proficiency.