Star Trek TOS: Regular or Remastered

 you get both on the Blu-rays

You can probably find the originals used somewhere. Otherwise, you would probably have to go BR which includes both the original and remasters. They also allow you to easily switch back and forth to see how the FX compares between the two. Personal, I like the remasters and don't miss the original FX at all, and while I didn't see the original airing of the episodes I saw them plenty in syndication throughout the 70's and 80's to be a big fan.

In my personal view, the remastered effects were tastefully done and bring new life to the series. There inclusion is not shocking but blends in very well. Instead of the same old stock planet orbit footage and simplistic jerky movements in space being used over and over again, you have planets with different textures and various odd angle views of the starship as it goes smoothly by. While the Enterprise is now digitized they did not go overboard by adding new features like might be done today, but kept it true to its look from the past.

It could have easily been a failure but I think they took the right approach. The new effects don't try to take over. The charm that was there before is still there but with just a bit more up to date feel. Also, the prints were cleaned up again from scratch using later technology so they look even cleaner then the earlier prints.

While I typically lean to the side of being a puriest I also evaluate each situation based on there individual merits. As stated before, if you are going BR you might as well get those because you will have both. If not, before making a decision I would at least view the remastered versions first so you can base your purchase on your own view and not just based on a puriest mentality alone. You may be surprised. I believe the remastered versions are being aired on TV.

Agreed, Blu-ray is the way to go.  It is truly the ultimate Star Trek:TOS viewing experience, offering unparalleled quality in video, audio, extras, and of course both fx versions.  The sets are not priced all that much higher than the older DVD versions, and if you don't have a blu-ray player yet because they are expensive, wait a little longer as prices will be falling during the holidays, with some people saying that there will be a BD player going for around $100, with many name brands around $200 or less.  The software is slowly getting cheaper too.

Yes--TNG, DS9 and VOY were all edited on video and the fx were rendered in 480i resolution, if I recall, so it's highly unlikely CBS-P would issue the series on Blu-ray unless a) the fx were completely redone in 1080p HD, or b) they simply upconverted the episodes to 1080i, which would defeat the whole purpose, since a blu-ray player will upconvert standard DVDs anyway.

The upcoming Season 2 release of TOS on blu-ray will feature an episode of the animated series in HD, and an episode of DS9 upconverted to HD, which will give you a clear idea of what that show would look like in its current form as a blu-ray release.

For what it's worth, the bf and I started the series on BD a few weeks ago.  I gave him the choice of original effects or remastered.  He chose original.  This is his first time through the show.  He hasn't said a word about the ship shots...only how much he didn't like Charlie X. 

Wal-mart had the Star Trek animated boxsets going for $15.

^^^

Yes, and so did Sam's Club about a week ago.  I couldn't believe that price -- esp. when I recall what I spent for it when it was first released.

Under what circumstances are you getting "distortion" on 4x3 material?  4x3 should be no "wider" from one source than from another.

I can offer another full "thumbs up" for the remaster BR set.  The image quality is breathtaking, and I'm loving watching the remastered effects.

Greg,

That doesn't make much sense. The only way it isn't being manipulated or distorted is if you are actually seeing more content in the wider image then the other (not just bigger but more). Otherwise, something is going on. One guess is that you are actually doing a minor zoom with your TV. Such as one might do to remove the top and bottom bars of a 2.35 aspect ratio film. If this was happening it would stretch it a bit wider while truncating off a minor section of the top and bottom. Thus keeping everything in proportion.

If they are both showing the exact same content within the image and are both the same height but one is wider then the other then one has to be distorted to some degree from a mathematical perspective. It could just be that the amount of distortion is not noticeable enough for you. I assume they are each on their own TV inputs. Maybe there is a difference in the configuration or calibration between the two inputs. Otherwise, it would have to be some difference between the setup of your cable box and DVD player. The width of a 4:3 image on your screen should be the same.

I saw your recent edit. What is the native resolution of your TV and what do you have your cable box set to? Any time there is not a 1:1 mapping there has to be some scaling going on. Of course if it doesn't bother you then no worries.

Just curious, you mentioned your TV being a 30" widescreen CRT. What make and model is it?

From what I can see the native resolution of your TV is 1080i not 720p (720p gets upconverted to 1080i). Have you tried having your cable box set to output 1080i? If so, were the results any different?

I bought the set of the original series before they went out of print: I have no intention of buying a BluRay player and the only way you can get the series on standard now is with the added cartoon stuff. Which will date far faster than the original effects ever did, so in a few years from now we'll all be laughing at how crude it looks.

I wouldn;t have minded a standard def release of the fiddled about with edition, if they'd kept the original available as well but I guess they thought they'd made all the sales they were going to out of that, and thought the poor dumb consumer wouldn't be able to cope with having to choose which edition they wanted. I always want the original work to be available - which admittedly it is, on Blu - like with the Doctor Who stuff, where they always use branching and allow the user to select which edition they are seeing.

I always watch the original effects and wonder at how they achieved so much, with so little.

Something inside me dies a little more every time I realise that modern audiences can't tolerate anything unless it's in colour, with fancy CGI effects and where you get people saying "so when's the next explosion?" if there hasn;t been one for at least 3 seconds.

Ever seen the Doctor Who story, City of Death? The Doctor takes Romana to see the Mona Lisa....and the first thing she says is:

"She hasn't got any eyebrows. At least the computers on Gallifrey can draw properly".

"I always watch the original effects and wonder at how they achieved so much, with so little."

Nebiroth,

This is for me especially true in the areas of make-up and special effects.

"Something inside me dies a little more every time I realise that modern audiences can't tolerate anything unless it's in colour, with fancy CGI effects and where you get people saying "so when's the next explosion?" if there hasn;t been one for at least 3 seconds."

Agreed.  Good story-writing is just that, and can for some be appreciated on so many levels without all of the bells and whistles.

BTW, by 'cartoon stuff,' do you mean TAS?  If you do, then I'll just chime in to say that I love TAS.  Some of the story-writing in that series is very, very good.

Nebiroth,

I agree with you that some movies of today attempt to make the CGI effects the star instead of the story line and actors. Which is a shame because once the effects are dated so will be the movies.

But I disagree about the additions made to the original Star Trek episodes. It's the stories and actors that make them great whether with currently dated effects, new effects, and it will be the same when the new effects are dated. While in some cases they add a bit of zing for the most part they seamless fill in what would have probably been done in the beginning, if possible. In other words, they do not attempt to take over the show, in my opinion.

I recall one addition that I did not even realize was an addition until I saw the extras discussing the enhancements. There is a scene where Scotty is trying to break into engineering with a type of laser torch. You see the effects on the wall panel but nothing coming from the device itself. All they did was add a beam going from the tool to the wall.

I can understand them not wanting to do two releases, one with additonal effects and one with out. But based on what they did with the BR disks they should have done branching within the latest DVD's to give everyone what they desire. Especially since they cleaned up the video some more.

No, I believe he is talking about the new CGI effects that were added to the original series.

Quote:
That is my understanding as well.

I was very vocal when they redid the effects.  I'm not terribly fond of them BUT the original versions are still being preserved in the same exact manner as the remastered shows.  CBS did the right thing by putting both editions on the BD set.  Now if only George Lucas would learn from this...

I am starting my way through the original series remastered with WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE. I haven't watched these in two or three years. The thing that really bothers me is how different the Enterprise looks. True, the original Enterprise model was, in fact, greyish green, but it never looked that way to me on the original series. The remastered look bugs me because I keep thinking it is the movie Enterprise and it takes me out of the TV episode. Below is a shot that illustrates my point: how the Enterprise appeared, almost white, with a little bluespill, in the original series. And the remastered grey look that throws me for a loop every time I see it.





I am trying to learn to love it and not having any luck.
Edited by Carabimero - 1/20/12 at 4:33am

Regardless of whether the Enterprise ever *looked* grey to you, it always was.  I was not a huge fan of the remaster but I appreciate what they did and how they did it.  This may be far more than you ever wanted to know about the color of  the Enterprise, but Doug Drexler lays it all out for you (and anybody else) here.  Light grey with a light tint of green.

 

In addition, going back to the very first shot of the Enterprise ever filmed (in-universe, chronologically speaking) from The Cage, I'm not sure how it could anything but grey.

 

I know it was always grey, it just never looked grey to me. And growing up the AMT model kit I had of the Enterprise was WHITE, which for me says all that needs saying about the impression of what color the Enterprise was, as SEEN in the original show, regardless of what color the studio model actually was. Sure, subsequent models changed, but the first licensed one I ever had growing up did nothing to correct my impression of the starship's color. So obviously I'm not the only one who thought it was more white than grey.

There are a lot of things I like about TOS-R. Just last night I watched MUDD'S WOMEN and that whole first sequence is more exciting because we can see Mudd's ship and the asteroid field. It is light years better. But that darn grey Enterprise...
Edited by Carabimero - 1/21/12 at 8:49pm

Wait till you watch the doomsday machine or enterprise incident or balance of terror, etc. The exterior shots are amazing! I have both the re-mastered and the original series. It is very hard to watch the original series without the re-mastering.

I applaud there efforts on re-mastering and wish more could have been done with other sci-fi shows, like kolchak or Space 1999 or the original battelstar gallactica, etc.

I was adamantly opposed to the new digital effects. I made sure my opposition was heard. Then I saw what they did, and understood why they did it. Digitization exposes the artifice of the original effects. Miniatures look like miniatures, rear screen looks like rear screen, and opticals look like opticals. They were so careful to do it right, and their effects give every advantage to the original episodes. It works for me. I accept it.

I always thought the ship was grey so that it would photograph as white. A grey won't bounce light back at the camera the way white does. Anyhow, there's a lot fo things the digital generation doesn't know, but grey Enterprise looks good enough for me.