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Remastered Star Trek films anytime soon? (2 Viewers)

Nelson Au

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I have been watching a lot of new remastered DVD's recently, including the new Bond UE's and just saw the first 3 Star Trek films. Since I got a new HD display last year, I can really appreciate how the transfers look.

It was a surprise to me to see how Star Trek The Motion Picture looked. I thought it looked a bit washed out. I was surprised as I thought it was a very fine transfer from November 6, 2001. Then I saw Star Trek II- The Wrath of Khan and was hugely surprised to see a difference. TWOK had a solid picture, good color and contrast and sharpness. The Wrath of Khan was released as a Directors Edition 9 months after The Motion Picture Directors Edition. I had thought there might have been enough of a gap that transfer processes had improved to make a difference.

I know that there will be an eventual high definition version out, but I was wondering if there might be one more re-issue of the films on SD DVD, ala the Bond UE. Of course the cynical here will say of course, the studio will do what it can to milk the fans. I don't necessarily feel they want to milk us, but each has their opinion. The release of Star Trek 11 could influence a new DVD release too.

Below are captures to illustrate what I mean. The top image is from Star Trek-The Motion Picture DE and the one below is from The Wrath of Khan DE. Since the Wrath of Khan took the same footage as a production cost saver, it was a convenient shot to use so you see the same image.



Star Trek 3 SE looked pretty good too. I have to see the other 3 films and see how they look. I'm sure particualrly Star Trek 6 SE will be quite good as it's a more recent film transfer.
 

Qui-Gon John

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After the re-releases, SCE * Director's Editions, all anamorphic, I doubt we'll see anything like this soon.
 

Dave Mack

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This IS Paramount (who loves to milk TREK to death) we are talking about so eventually there will be another release I would imagine.
Interestingly when ST:TMP goes to HD there will have to be some FX tweaking. I seem to recall that all of the newer FX that was made to look kinda 1979 style, (new VGER stuff etc,...) was only done in 480P I believe.
 

Craig Beam

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New editions, maybe... but new transfers? I'd be surprised. The season sets of the original Trek series featured the same transfers as the (much) earlier single-volume DVDs, as I recall... I have all ten of the CE Trek films, and I can honestly say I wouldn't buy them again.
 

LCD22

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If Paramount re-releases "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", I'd buy it. It's one of my favorite "Star Trek" films, but I still don't own it on DVD because of what Nicholas Meyer unnecessarily added to the SE. If Paramount wants to milk me one more time I wouldn't mind also the original theatrical cut of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (I have nothing against the current Director's Edition, I just haven't gotten around to getting it). One of these days I'll see the Director's Edition of "Star Trek II".
 

Vincent-P

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The theatrical cut of Star Trek II is already available as a single disc with an anamorphic transfer. The theatrical cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture has never been available, I would like to see that released. Star Trek VI has not had either of the two previous versions of the film available in an anamorphic transfer either.
 

Travis Brashear

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For being a completely new edition of TMP, with all new effects, I was stunned at how dirty the print is. All-new edition or not, it desperately needs a remastering.
 

Joel Fontenot

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That's not true for the CE of Star Trek VI - it is an anamorphic transfer. Nicholas Meyer did however maintain the near 2:1 ratio from the original widescreen transfer (for laserdisc, later used for the first DVD release) of the Super35 elements for the new version instead of giving us the original theatrical ratio of 2.4:1.

It is true that the original theatrical cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture is not (and never was) available on DVD - but it was previously available as a widescreen laserdisc and VHS release. I too would love the original cut to come to DVD some day. While I don't mind the Director's Cut effort overall, there are some things that still bother me about it.
 

ArthurTHX

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Star Trek IV looks good-- haven't seen the first two or anything after IV-- but III has excessive grain throughout. To the point of being intrusive. Particularly noticeable during the opening credits. Were any of these remastered for the DE/SCE releases?

--THX
 

Vincent-P

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Joel, you misunderstood me. I said the previous two versions of Star Trek VI. The version on the SCE is neither the theatrical cut or the extended video version. Meyer rejiggered it some more for that release, adding in flashbacks during the mind-meld rape scene.
 

Kevin M

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I also remember that the newer FX for TMP were done at a lower resolution (thus eliminating the possibility of a theatrical release) so they will indeed need to rework the FX at a higher resolution for any future HD release......cleaning up the rather dirty (in spots) transfer would be nice as well I agree.
 

Frank@N

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I also got a large HDTV and am desperate to find time for the Trek movies.

My biggest fear (since I only watched the extras) is that First Contact and Insurrection may be botched on the SCE releases.

As I recall from screen shots, FC was badly cropped on the left side and soften from the previously very sharp barebones DVD release.

Don't recall if Insurrection was tinkered with too, but some of these new Bond reissues have created a sense that older is better (Witness SCE anyone?).
 

Joseph Bolus

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The First Contact CE is *very* nice from an A/V perspective. While the first release was anamorphic, many scenes seemed overly dark and soft. The overall contrast, detail, and balance on the CE places the First Contact transfer right up there with Nemesis as one of the best transfers to date of a Star Trek movie.

The Insurrection CE video transfer is disappointedly "soft" compared to the "bare bones" edition. However, EE is totally absent, and the audio portion of the presentation is much improved over the previous edition. I would still consider it an upgrade.
 

Frank@N

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Thanks for the info Joe. If I can, I'll watch all 10 movies in order on my new HDTV.

It is frustrating though that video quality varies so widely, without simply being a factor of age.

My recollection is that Khan looks consistently better than Generations and there's really no excuse for that.
 

JediFonger

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what? kahn is the most consistently WORST transfer EVER of all of the star treks. the only reason why Generations looked bad on the latest transfer is because of the over-zealous use of edge-enhancements.

paramount is TERRIBLE when it comes to treating visual qualities of its Trek franchise. i have not seen a transfer i really like in any of the series. FC, INS and Nem is the best transfer because they are the newest entries into the franchise, NOT because there was care in transferring them. ST1-6 looks like crap compared to a franchise like Star Wars or even the latest remastered Bond or even the number of classics released by Criterion from films in the 1930s!!! how can films made in the last 30 years look WORSE than films in 80+ years ago! that is stupid and ludicrous.

being a huge trekkie, i gobbled up the Star Trek DVD's when it was first released (non-anamorphic) even knowing the SE's were on their way down the pipeline. i just couldn't wait! when i bought the SE's to replace the entire collection (yes every trek movie) of NON-SE's, i expected leaps and bounds in audio and visual quality. i got neither. you call this SE? holy crap, anything could be better than this. to put it simply, these Trek transfers in SE are a travesty and a cluster-F. even schlock films gets better treatment than this.

if trek is such a beloved franchise in the studio's eyes, why not throw in a lowry digital transfer. trek deserves this MORE than franchises like Bond or even classics like Wizard of Oz, Gone w/Wind. this is one of the most sore points no1's really touted.

they should gives a REAL remaster both video AND audio and put them out on HD-DVD/BluRay. hopefully TrueHD or DTS-HD Master
 

John H Ross

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Am I the only one that hears severe distortion in the Insurrection SE's dialogue channel, certainly in the DTS mix? Listen to F. Murray Abraham's scream near the end when his plan fails. It's intolerably bad.

John
 

Nelson Au

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Quick update, I posted a question for the man himself who supervised the visual effects for Star Trek The Motion Picture, DE.

He very kindly answered. He's interested himself as to what Paramount will do for the HD transfer. For the Directors Edition, Paramount didn't budget the new CGI effects to be rendered at HD resolution. However, the materials do exist in HD resolution. So he says it's a matter of Paramount asking him and his associates who did the DE to come back and incorporate them into a new transfer.

I can't wait to see what comes of it!
 

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