Was 'Arena' remastered?

[Procutus]

Looking over the broadcast list for the remastered eps, I can't find the first season episode Arena. Was this ep overlooked or was there a specific reason that it didn't get the remastering treatment? I was hoping that we would've finally got to see the Gorn ship as the Enterprise pursued it.

 

[Outpost4]

It was definitely remastered and shown near the beginning of the run. Cestus 3 now has sky and mountains behind the fort. There is a Gorn ship, too small to see but there. Mostly, the Gorn now blinks.

 

[Procutus]

Thanks, I appreciate it. Hopefully, they'll rerun it at some point.

 

[Trekwatcher]

IMHO, the Gorn blinking was one of the stupidest things they have done with TOS-R. It was pointless and gratuitous.

 

[Outpost4]

I sort of liked it myself, just because it was pointless and gratuitous. It also was an attempt, as in vain as it might be, to make a guy in a rubber suit real.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

I sort of liked it myself, just because it was pointless and gratuitous. It also was an attempt, as in vain as it might be, to make a guy in a rubber suit real.

We should just thank our lucky stars that they didn't go with their first concept for an "all CGI Gorn":

 

[cooleddie74]

Yes, "Arena" was an early episode and was shown towards the end of 2006. Around Thanksgiving if I'm not mistaken. One of the first ten to be Remastered and air I believe.

 

[windwood]

I'm one of those people who thinks Lucas should digitally make the Ewoks blink. The Ewoks looked so phoney with those glued-on doll's eyes and fake fur costumes. The Gorn blinking added to the realism, although I don't recall seeing him blink very often.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm one of those people who thinks Lucas should digitally make the Ewoks blink. The Ewoks looked so phoney with those glued-on doll's eyes and fake fur costumes.

110% AGREED.

You'd think with all the 1997 theatrical and 2004 DVD remastering and changes Lucas could have made those retarded Teddy Ruxpin ripoffs blink a few times. Their lack of eye articulation is one reason they're even more annoying in my eyes than Jar Jar and the Gungans.

 

[Procutus]

I'm one of those people who thinks Lucas should digitally make the Ewoks blink. The Ewoks looked so phoney with those glued-on doll's eyes and fake fur costumes.

110% AGREED.

You'd think with all the 1997 theatrical and 2004 DVD remastering and changes Lucas could have made those retarded Teddy Ruxpin ripoffs blink a few times.

 

[Gorn66]

The funny thing is articulated Ewok masks were clearly seen in one of the behind the scenes documentaries. They had moveable jaws and a "blink" built-in. Why they were never used in close-ups is a mystery.

And for the record, it's ripoffs of H. Beam Piper's "Fuzzies". Teddy Ruxpin didn't come along until 1985.

 

[cooleddie74]

Considering JEDI is pretty much the worst of the Original Trilogy in almost all respects(except for the Emperor and final victory scenes)its no shock they dropped the ball on the Ewok costumes.

 

[windwood]

Well, Lucas is allegedly working on "digitally contemporizing" the films, especially the original trilogy. That could mean the Ewoks will finally get to blink after decades of dilated pupils. Maybe he'll update the original trilogy sets too (like replacing square CRT screens with round ones), give Boba Fett a better choreographed death scene and recut ALL the films in the new trilogy (I've heard there are a few fan-reededited and re-sequenced Revenge of the Siths on the net). ST Remastered doesn't tamper with the stories, but Star Wars may be as fluid as the Force.

 

[RAMA]

IMHO, the Gorn blinking was one of the stupidest things they have done with TOS-R. It was pointless and gratuitous.

Wrong! It would have been too expensive and time consuming to insert a totally new CGI character, a blinking Gorn was about the best thing they could do in making the rubber suit look more alive. It was awesome!

The low res Gorn ship. Only seen as a dot in the episode:

RAMA

 

[cooleddie74]

Well, Lucas is allegedly working on "digitally contemporizing" the films, especially the original trilogy. That could mean the Ewoks will finally get to blink after decades of dilated pupils. Maybe he'll update the original trilogy sets too (like replacing square CRT screens with round ones), give Boba Fett a better choreographed death scene and recut ALL the films in the new trilogy (I've heard there are a few fan-reededited and re-sequenced Revenge of the Siths on the net). ST Remastered doesn't tamper with the stories, but Star Wars may be as fluid as the Force.

I've been hearing for a long time now that the next DVD edition of Episode I(PHANTOM)will have an all-digital Yoda to stylistically match how he looks in the other two prequels. Not that he does much of anything in Episode I to begin with aside from sit on the Jedi High Council, expound and ponder and then show up at the very end of the movie to promote Obi-Wan to full knighthood and attend the Naboo victory parade, but I guess Lucas wants his new prequel trilogy to conform as much as possible.

 

[TIN_MAN]

I always thought that the 'compound eyes' of the Gorn, being like those of an insect, made the Gorn more 'alien' and as such it would/should not have eyelids? Anyway, the ships cool, too bad it's not 'finished', it would make a great art contest to see who can come up with the best 'final' design IMHO.

 

[windwood]

I always thought that the 'compound eyes' of the Gorn, being like those of an insect, made the Gorn more 'alien' and as such it would/should not have eyelids?

That's an intriguing idea, so I looked it up. Insects don't have eyelids b/c their lenses are made of transparent cuticle that doesn't need to stay moist. They do have to clean them though by brushing them with their hairy legs. With all that dust flying from the battle with Kirk, the Gorn could have used to hands to wipe his eyeballs. That would have been hilarious.

Snakes don't have eyelids either. They have black eyes covered with a transparent scale, which is replaced everytime they molt. In between molting though, the eye scales could get dirty and their vision would remain blurry until the next skin shed. My view is that an advanced race like the Gorn would want clear vision all the time.

 

[KirkPicard]

What miffed me the most was the inconsistent portrayal of the Gorn eyes "In a Mirror, Darkly" The original eyes of the Gorn were much more visually alien. I was pleased that the crystalline eyes were preserved and the added blink was a bonus in the remastered version.

Perhaps this is simply a different variety of Gorn?

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/4...rnsmalljf3.jpg

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

That's the fakest thing I've ever seen...of course I'm referring to Bakula's acting.

 

[Phaserman]

Watch for the blink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXgJRBig08Y&feature=related