Re-opening this thread to bring up some new news from the Trekmovie site. The remastered team were answering questions at a convention this past weekend:
According to Mike, it is still the plan to have the 1st season of Star Trek Remastered available on HD-DVD by the end of the year. Regarding Blu-ray they he said that they expect it to eventually show up,but that those decisions were made ‘way above their heads.’ He also confirmed that the HD release will be cropped to a 4:3 aspect ratio. Regarding the look of the show in HD, Okuda stated:
As cool as they look in standard def, they are absolutely stunning in HD. The original series was shot in fine grain 35mm color film and there is a lot more information there than you have seen…it’s beautiful.
I was pretty skeptical about the new effects and such, but for the most part they've looked pretty good (I've faithfully caught every episode so far). I've never bought TOS on DVD, so I'm kinda torn...
What Mike Okuda meant is that the new CGI effects are rendered in HD and at 16x9 aspect ratio. The effects will be cropped to fit the 4x3 aspect ratio of the filmed live action. It's good to know that they appear to have settled on releasing the HD version of Star Trek Remastered in OAR.
Interesting. you can still download (off xbox live) the 720P remastered eps. where the new CGI is 16x9, (seems like the aspect ratio jumping back and forth would be jarring to me but some love seeing the new FX that way) and the live action 4x3 for now. I wonder if those will go away when these get released?
Oh, and I am pro-OAR btw. No need for anyone to get their knickers in a twist.
I won't be buying these, then. Not that I have an HD or BluRay player anyway, but, if I did, I would wait for the newly framed 1.77:1 versions to be released. I've been curious to see the new effects shots in their full 1.77:1 glory, and I'll be interested to see what tricks they may be employing -- besides simple cropping -- to turn the 4:3 live action footage into 1.77:1. For me this new version of the show is all about the revisualizations, and to me that includes the new widescreen framing. I want to see that.
I don't get it. Where, may I ask, has this idea that the original filmed elements had enough material to pull out a wider picture? Please refer to this post and see what happen when an original film frame is cropped. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...&postcount=657
Let's hope they don't crop it. I saw on Amazon that Roots is going to be in widescreen (and clips on the imdb.com also show this.) Treading in bad waters there.
Count me as one who hopes it stays in 4:3. To this day I'm miffed with WB for cropping B5 to 16:9 -- regardless of JMS's claims that it was shot "16:9 protected" it's pretty obvious it wasn't, at least for S1, and the cropped version is a real mess in certain spots.
and I am POed that WB cropped the two V mini-series to widescreen. Yeah, Ken Johnson claims he filmed the original with a foreign theatrical release in mind, but surely, that would have had to have been a secondary consideration, since a theatrical wasn't guaranteed (and, indeed, didn't happen) and therefore, framing for TV was of first importance.
And even if you buy Johnson's justification (I don't), that doesn't explain WB's release of a cropped The Final Battle, which Johnson did not direct and which was not planned for a foreign theatrical.
MAR equals no sale to me. I'd sooner stick with my VHSes of the V minis, or anything else that comes out MAR that was previously released in the proper ratio, DVD or not.
Of course, I won't be buying the new Trek discs anyway. For one, I'm still waiting out the format war. Also, Paramount would have to fix all the problems with the old releases (most especially, using the cut-n-paste soundtrack and image on the Cage, rather than the proper soundtrack, etc.) and would have to either include remastered versions with the original FX left in, or release those separately, before I'd even consider purchasing the show in HD (I haven't even bought it in SD).
Huge news reported on Trekmovie.com. 8mm behind the scenes footage that was shot by extra William Blackburn, who played Lt. Hadley and never uttered a line of dialogue during his 61 appearances on TOS, will be an extra on the upcoming TOS Remastered HD-DVD.
This footage can be seen on a British TV show called After They Were Famous that featured Star Trek TOS. It's cool to see Shatner mug, or Kelley or Nimoy make faces and see the sets beyond the edges.
(I know, I know, I won't buy this set because: too expensive or I don't like the CGI or only if they include the original unaltered episodes in HD or I won't double or triple dip, etc. )