Your Favorite Remastering Job?

[Captain Pike]

Fair enough. I should have paid more attention to the dialogue.

As to the original topic - I've only seen a few of the remasters from season 1 (the first 10 or so, going in production order) and so far my favs would have to be Where No Man Has Gone Before, The Corbomite Maneuver and The Naked Time.

 

[Noname Given]

I guess we could say "Balance of Terror" was the only episode for which this was used. I definitely like the blue phasers better than the orange they used for the spinoffs.

Actually no, the 'Pulse Phaser' SFX were used again, in the remastered version of Errand of Mercy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They should also have changed the Constellation's registry number in "The Doomsday Machine". NCC-1017 is too low for a ship of that class.

(Although even in the original version, where a model kit was used, they still wimped out. They couldn't have used NCC-1710? )

You obviously never saw Star Trek on a B&W or even Color TV set of the era (1966-1970) using 'rabbit ears' as an antenna. If you had youu'd realize that they didn't do '1710' because with the standard picture on that setup; a viewer might actually confuse it for '1701' and the producers wanted to make it clear to the audience that it was indeed another Starship, and not the Enterprise.

That seriously is why they went with 1017 in 1967.

Hmm.

Then the original episode should have done some rough-and-tumble kitbashing, to make the Constellation a different class. It may not have looked particularly good, but they have a built-in excuse, in that the ship was supposed to be heavily damaged anyway.

And the remastering could still have corrected the registry problem. They could then invent any NCC number they wanted.

 

[OneBuckFilms]

They should also have changed the Constellation's registry number in "The Doomsday Machine". NCC-1017 is too low for a ship of that class.

(Although even in the original version, where a model kit was used, they still wimped out. They couldn't have used NCC-1710? )

You obviously never saw Star Trek on a B&W or even Color TV set of the era (1966-1970) using 'rabbit ears' as an antenna. If you had youu'd realize that they didn't do '1710' because with the standard picture on that setup; a viewer might actually confuse it for '1701' and the producers wanted to make it clear to the audience that it was indeed another Starship, and not the Enterprise.

That seriously is why they went with 1017 in 1967.

Hmm.

Then the original episode should have done some rough-and-tumble kitbashing, to make the Constellation a different class. It may not have looked particularly good, but they have a built-in excuse, in that the ship was supposed to be heavily damaged anyway.

And the remastering could still have corrected the registry problem. They could then invent any NCC number they wanted.

One thing that is being overlooked, I think, is that the goal was to not change the story.

If the registry was changed, it would have given rise to far too much controversy for changing history.

The registry was established in on-screen Canon, just like the R in James R Kirk (Gary Mitchell might have had a very human quirk in always thinking it war R rather than T).

 

[Daowulf]

The blinking Gorn in Arena was the single best remastered effect. It has a one-of-a-kind look that is very much in step with the way the effects were done on the original show.

 

[Gepard]

One thing that is being overlooked, I think, is that the goal was to not change the story.

If the registry was changed, it would have given rise to far too much controversy for changing history.

The registry was established in on-screen Canon, just like the R in James R Kirk (Gary Mitchell might have had a very human quirk in always thinking it war R rather than T).

While I understand that viewpoint, that argument went completely out the window once CBS-D started redesigning/replacing spacecraft. Was the Enterprise surrounded by three repurposed Klingon ships or two repurposed Klingon ships and one Romulan Bird-of-Prey in "The Enterprise Incident?" Was the Eymorg ship in "Spock's Brain" shaped like a rocket of a sphere? Etc, etc. Not that I'm against these sorts of changes--I'm not, I love them--but if they're going that far, they've already strayed well beyond the realm of trying to avoid controversy. Why not change the Constellation's registry, then?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Then the original episode should have done some rough-and-tumble kitbashing, to make the Constellation a different class. It may not have looked particularly good, but they have a built-in excuse, in that the ship was supposed to be heavily damaged anyway.

And the remastering could still have corrected the registry problem. They could then invent any NCC number they wanted.

One thing that is being overlooked, I think, is that the goal was to not change the story.

And this would not have changed the story.

Besides, you didn't answer my other question: Even though the original episode used a model kit to depict the Constellation, they could have done some instant kitbashing on it. (Again: I'm not talking about the remastering. I mean the ORIGINAL EPISODE.) Just because they used the parts from a model kit doesn't mean they had to make it look exactly like the Enterprise.

If the registry was changed, it would have given rise to far too much controversy for changing history.

No, it wouldn't.

The registry was established in on-screen Canon

I see. Perhaps you could quote for me, exactly which character actually spoke "NCC-1017" onscreen, and when they did it?

just like the R in James R Kirk

Which has already been made apocryphal. James Kirk's middle initial *isn't* R, everybody knows that now.

 

[RAMA]

Court Martial was insanely good, with its close up of the pod area.

Galileo 7-Beautiful space scenery and atmospheric FX. Finally the motion makes sense. It greatly enhanced the episode.

Doomsday Machine-Non-stop perfection

 

[cooleddie74]

"The Ultimate Computer" is easily one of THE biggest letdowns of the entire 2006-08 Remastering process. So much potential fizzled by not showing more close ups and combat between the wargame ships.

 

[Noname Given]

"The Ultimate Computer" is easily one of THE biggest letdowns of the entire 2006-08 Remastering process. So much potential fizzled by not showing more close ups and combat between the wargame ships.

QFT - That was one I was really looking forward to, after I saw what they did for The Doomsday Machine. It was a real wasted opportunity (imo).

 

[cooleddie74]

"The Ultimate Computer" is easily one of THE biggest letdowns of the entire 2006-08 Remastering process. So much potential fizzled by not showing more close ups and combat between the wargame ships.

QFT - That was one I was really looking forward to, after I saw what they did for The Doomsday Machine. It was a real wasted opportunity (imo).

I understand they couldn't do much if anything to stretch the amount of time the ships battled one another. But they should have taken advantage of those few moments in each shot and given us better and more fluid close-ups of the wargame starships being hit by phaser fire and their damage. The Excalibur is supposed to have the crap beaten out of her by the Enterprise and M-5 in this episode, yet all we get are a couple of remote, distant viewscreen shots of the ship drifting powerless in space with no visible damage or warp plasma exhaust venting into space.

 

[Vonstadt]

The Blinking Gorn of Arena (soooo much better than the Gorn in ENT's Mirror Darkly Episode!) and the battle in the Doomsday Machine.

I was also dissapointed in "The Ultimate Computer" I was really looking forward to a glimpse of Wrath of Khan kinda ship to ship action. The Excalibur should've had a work over done to it as well ala the Constellation in The Doomsday Machine

Just my two cents!

Vons

 

[Ssosmcin]

Just a clarification again. Remastering is not the creation of new special effects. To remaster is to create a new master print. I could take a crummy 16mm print and transfer it over to a DVD and use that as my main srouce and it's been remastered. More accurately, the new prints have been restored (cleaned up and color corrected) and enhanced (with new CGI effects). I know you guys don't care, but there ya go anyway.

I know the very idea is sacreligious to some, but my main beef with Balance of Terror is that they didn't correct the original mistake - that throughout the episode when Kirk orders phasers to be fired we are shown a SFX shot of the Enterprise firing photon torpedoes, complete with the torpedo sound effect.

To be fair, the torpedo sound effect was only added when they released the DVDs. Previously, Balance of Terror had the exterior shots fired without sound effects, just music.

Annnnnyway, my favorite episode with CGI enhancement is "Tomorrow is Yesterday." The "Enterprise in the atmosphere" and "fighter jet" shots were amazing. And they finally were able to make the breakaway sequence make sense. Before, all they could manage were some new shots of the big model being buffeted about, mixed with stock footage. No shots of the sun or any of the other planets in our system. The new sequence is brilliant and the scenes of the Enterprise ripping out of the sun's orbit are really exciting. It's a great sequence and one that really justifies the project for me.

I also like The Doomsday Machine a lot, and the strafing Enterprise is more exciting visually than the side shot and cartoon phasers (which looked terrible even back then). I do have some minor issues with the decisions on what they showed us. The Constellation, going by the dialog, probably wouldn't have still been in tow after the commercial. Nothing concrete, mind you, but I think Kirk and the landing party would have known they were being dragged around while the Enterprise took evasive action. Spock's line of "we're more maneuverable, but it is gaining on us" indicates they are trying to evade the thing. I always assumed they left the Constellation behind and tried to lead it away. This would also explain why when the Enterprise is hit and the tractor beam is cut off, nobody on the Constellation reacts physically and it should be spinning out of control until Scotty gets the engines going later on. I know, all for a two second bit, but it bugged me when I saw it.

Also, the activation of the Constellation viewscreen takes too long. Kirk says "what the devil's going on?" and when we go back to the screen, it's just then starting to tune in. Previously, it was full on, so Kirk's statement made sense. Not anymore.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'd say the Remastered "The Menagerie."

 

[cooleddie74]

For an episode with so few visual effects to speak of, the brand new CGI panorama shot of the M-113 ruins and the Craters' residence in "The Man Trap" was extremely good and well-done.

 

[Marty McFly]

Mine would be 'The Galileo Seven'. Great planet effects/Murasaki effect. And the ignited 'fuel' at the end of the episode (Spock's 'flare') looks great for the episode.

 

[22 Stars]

I agree, and forgot to give cudos for The Galileo Seven. I would say it's near perfection, why the ignited fuel had to be greenish blue like the quasar is my biggest question, if that had been done with a flame red/orange tint I think it would have REALLY popped, now when I see it I just wonder 'why'. Otherwise it was a brilliant effort!

 

[Nardpuncher]

Are there any good links to some of these effects shots? Keep in mind I will go to youtube in 10 seconds and look!

 

[Outpost4]

Yes, they are out there, on YouTube or trekmovie.com. The quality sucks but you can see them

 

[Nardpuncher]

OK, I found them on youtube....but I couldn't find the one for The Cloudminders. i really wanted to see the new cloud city.