Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Well... I mean... wtf???

They go to the trouble of HD transfers and then Lucas it all up? Does no one understand the appeal of camp and nostalgia?

So does this mean that everything from the Enterprise to Klingon birds of prey to that big floating hollow Doomsday log... will be computer generated?

I can only hope they do such a horribly cheesy job that it becomes unintentionally funny. You know, crappy CGI on par with a really overwrought Kirk soliloquy.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Now this makes sense.
- Of course I mean purely from a sales and marketing perspective. And, I''ll be extremely surprised if the original versions are included on the new HD disks (see Q #3 below)

Why did this happen?? Let's speculate.....

Q #1:
How do you get fans to re-buy a show on HD-DVD that they already own when it's known to be so "cheesy" that most won't care about improved resolution? Especially when that improved resolution would only reveal more flaws (bad makeup, bad effects, bad lighting)?

A:
LUCAS IT UP!

Q #2:
How do release a feature film directed by J J Abrams that is set during a 60's TV show and make it tie in visually to the original series? How do you get fans of Abrams' movie to buy the original series?

A:
LUCAS IT UP!

Q #3:
How do you get those same fans to buy the same series yet again in say, 2010?

A:
Finally put the original versions back on the HD-disks, side-by-side with the "LUCAS IT UP!" versions that you originally released in 2007. Only this time you improve the CG on the "LUCAS IT UP!" versions, too (since you had the intelligence to make the effects sup-par in 2007).
..
..
..

Paramount Exec; "Then what?"

Paramount employee; "How about we do the same with Next Gen?"

Paramount Exec; "Brilliant!! You deserve a promotion!"

Paramount employee; ("What an idiot. It's not like we have a choice. The Next Gen effects were shot on video, so we have to re-do them to sell it in HD.") "Thanks, boss. I guess I just had an epiphany!"
_____
(So now it's up to you to make "LUCAS IT UP!" the new catchphrase! Come on it's what all the cool kids are saying!)

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Totally concur, it's a cash-grab by Paramount to milk every single dollar it can from the Star Trek fanbase.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I am looking forward to the new versions. I always hated the cheesyness of TOS and never watch it now. This update gives me a reason to actually watch them again.

Even Next Gen is cheesy to me. (especially the first few seasons)

They should CGI a better outfit on the first season Counselor Troy.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

How?

When they sell the HD-DVDs. (Probably twice-see my first post)

When people who watched these on TV actually consider seeing the new Abrams movie.

When those same people buy the Abrams movie on HD-DVD; and then consider buying the original series HD-DVDs because they liked this movie.
_

See, it's a wonderful circle of cash! Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just up to all of us to decide what to spend our money on.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I'm curious how updated episodes such as "The Doomsday Machine" and "Balance of Terror" will look...

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I think this is a fabulous idea. I grew up during NextGen's first run, so my first exposure to the original crew was The Voyage Home. I've always felt like TOS was too cheesy to watch, but I've forced myself to watch some of the great episodes like "Journey to Babel" and "City on the Edge of Forever".

My only complaint is that Paramount doesn't have a website set up for the syndication, so there's no way to know in advance where the show will be airing or on what channel. Nice move, Paramount!

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

See, that's one of the reasons I kind of like the idea. If "camp and nostalgia" are the lynchpins for something's appeal, that doesn't say much about it. If these shows can still be entertaining once those factors are reduced, I think that speaks highly of it.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I think the idea is silly. If they're going to CGI everything, why don't they actually make everything more realistic? Obviously starships in the 23rd century won't look like we thought they would in 1966.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Sorry, but that's an absurd idea. Who cares what space ships will actually look like? The Enterprise is an ungainly mess with a saucer section and two warp nacelles that would fall off if it bumped into anything - but that's our beloved ship!

"Real" space ships won't even have have warp drive because FTL is impossible. If the ships were "real" you wouldn't even have a Federation or a TV show for that matter.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Replacing the crappy FX would be like replacing Shatner's bad acting, or Uhuru's 3-inch miniskirts, or Bones' ridiculous country doctor affectations.

On the other hand, the jarring juxtaposition of those newly-minted computer-generated space scenes set against the obviously cardboard interiors of the Starship Enterprise (made even more obvious in HD!) might usher in a whole new panoply of ridiculousness, a sorta Neo-Campism.

And while that might be nearly as funny as a hammy Shatner soliloquy, it's also would be much less endearing.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Alright, what about the idea that this is history? Or that this is art? Do we go around airburshing the Mona Lisa or CGI "Citizen Kane" or adding synthesizers to Frank Sinatra music? No. The same rule applies here. This is a disgrace and yet another slap in the face to the true Trek fans out there, the ones who watch for the story...the same people, mind you, that kept this franchise afloat during the 1970s in syndication. The same people who wrote all the letters to NBC for a third season.

Bad, bad, bad move.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I don't know what to make of this. And I've just read the thread in TV Shows/DVD as well.

Though the image of the Enterprise above Earth looks nice and I even understand the thinking behind this, um, enterprise, I will have to wait and see it.

Amazing, also (as mentioned in the other thread), that Paramount was able to keep such a project secret for so long.

Finally, why is CBS doing this (in syndication, no less)? Was Star Trek's original network, NBC, simply not interested?

Again, a little dumbfounded by all this.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I don't follow the CBS, yet syndicated bit. Which is it- network or syndication?

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

They re-recorded the theme music too. Wonder if there will be any other music replacements?

And Shatner did indeed overdo it occasionally but he also did some great stuff on the show. Interestingly in the first few epsiodes he is incredibly restrained. There are very few if none of the later "Shatner-isms..."
Watxh say "Balance of Terror" again and you will be surprised.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Great.

Two threads to bitch in.

This gives me a cheap excuse to actually watch this show, which I had no interest in at all, despite seeing the films and other series (not Enterprise though)

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

It will be syndicated. Paramount and CBS are owned by the same parent company, Viacom. Their TV product is branded as CBS Paramount.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

We should keep this thread about the broadcast airings and the other one about the potential HD or BD discs themselves...
So if this is local CBS it will have to be shown non prime time I assume. Either 1:30 am (after the late shows) or on a weekend?

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I hear ya. Me too.




uh oh, from Ain't it cool news...

"...The TREK TOS will be put through a makeover. New FX for all of the space material. A new title sequence. The effects will be brought to us by the same team who handled CATEGORY 7: THE END OF THE WORLD – an in-house FX group at CBS. One source characterized the overall nature of this undertaking as “incredibly cheap”...


Oy, I saw that show and the FX were hardly state of the CGI art......

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

I didn't mean they should come up with something drastically different, just something more in line with the other shows. Even the ship from Enterprise looks more advanced than the one from the original series.

And while I'm thinking of it, I have another idea for them -- they should get the surviving crew together and film new scenes for the episode "The Deadly Years" -- they've aged much differently than they were depicted in the show!

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Whoa, hold on brother. Star trek is not camp. William Shatner may be a ham, but the show was never camp. Lost in Space, yes, Batman 66, yes, but not Star Trek!

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

According to the article here it'll be on the weekends.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Well, I may be in the minority. But, I am looking forward to seeing the changes. It will be nice with some of the fixes. And they at least have made the originals available on dvd. S

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

They are not going to destroy the original when they do this. This isn't like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. It is like taking a digital picture of the Mona Lisa and painting a mustache on the copy. Doesn't change the original at all. The original is going to remain untouched.

So what if they make a different version of TOS? As long as the original art is left untouched, I say make all the different version/copies you want.

Nobody is being forced to watch or buy the new version.

I just don't get the fuss.

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

Once again, I think people will be upset if the only versions ever available in HD are the new ones. Which is possible...

Re: Star Trek TOS Special Edition Starts Sept 16th.

The HD versions are going to be Altered by the very act of making them. So the argument is moot. Are they complaining that the HD version will have to be altered to make it 16:9?

Also, They don't have the buy the HD version. The current DVD version is closer the original work than the HD version will be. This means they should not want it to be made into HD in the first place.