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HTF HD-DVD Review: Star Trek: The Original Series Season One (1 Viewer)

Nelson Au

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This is certainly the Kobayashi Maru of Star Trek DVDs. It's a No-Win scenario on many levels!

Can't win on the SD-HD combos and can't win if they tried to update the effects!:) Of course there is no one right answer.

I think the coolest aspect of this experiment is that Paramount has embraced the original Star Trek, knowing it's place in entertainment history and pop culture and made an effort to restore it for posterity on it's 40th Anniversary last year. And of course, the demand told them to release the HD version on HDM since they made it for broadcast.
 

John H Ross

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That's just the thing though. By updating them they've taken the show's place in entertainment history and thrown it out the door. Is it now a product of 1966 or of 2007?

The special edition Star Wars movies have 1997 dates at the end of the credits. The soundtracks are credited as being on Sony Classical. There are Dolby Digital and DTS logos at the end, and a THX phone number to call if you experienced any problems with the presentation. If somebody assesses those films now as part of entertainment history, what would they make of them?

I realise classic Star Trek still exists, as does classic Star Wars. But what of the future? Will those original versions eventually be lost in the mists of time? Do we have the right to deprive future generations of the stuff we all grew up on, warts and all just because (as I suggested before) Paramount wants to milk a bit more money?

I can only hope that, as somebody above pointed out, this probably isn't the last release of classic Trek that we'll see. Here's hoping both original and upgraded versions are one day made available in HD. And if the effects look a bit fuzzy, so what?

I'm hearing strong rumours that a HD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture will include all three cuts - the original theatrical version the TV edit and the director's cut (there is certainly at least one extremely influencial person out there who wants that to be the case) so there is a least SOME hope for us purists! :)
 

Jason Seaver

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I haven't seen any indication that Paramount is planning to discontinue the original DVD sets, and I believe it's still airing on G4 or one of the other cable stations. Maybe they will in the future, but even if they do, there will undoubtedly be enough interest to bring them out again at a later date.

I'm also not sure that these things being evolving works is necessarily a bad thing, even if it might not be my preferred outcome. For most of human history, stories were passed down and embellished by storytellers. In some ways, this is a new version of that, and future generations will probably find this sort of revision fascinating to study, especially since they won't have the same emotional attachment to the works being just like they were when they were young and the stories were new.
 

Douglas Monce

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Okay this isn't the Magna carta or the Constitution, its just an old TV show.

And they didn't change the original film elements. They still exist. The new versions only exist as ones and zeros.

Doug
 

Duncan Harvey

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Mar 27, 2000
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Do all the episodes still have dirt and frame damage like The Menagerie? or did they just forget to use Scratchbox on those episodes.

Whilst the new effects and genera quality is great, its a shame bread and butter restoration isnt better.

Check out the Pike fight on Rigel - ugh!
 

Nelson Au

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Back to the HD-DVD's. I just watched Mudd's Women. Not my fav, but a nice story about steroid use and believing in yourself.

This Remastered version has not aired yet, so it was a pleasure to see it. I think this was a fun one, they did a cool series of shots of Mudd's cargo ship evading and eventually being hit by the asteroids. The new Rigel 12 planet and new surface matte painting worked out really well, again adding scope to the mining structures and the planet.

The coloring and Finnerman's lighting again at work here for all the live action shots.

And for some reason, something almost magical happened at the end. During one of the last shots, after Kirk and Mudd beam back to the Enterprise and we see it in orbit, there was a very cool intersection of the music score for this episode and the new CGI shot of the Enterprise in orbit. It just gelled for me on this one shot. (edit: the shot was slightly compromised by the cross fade again. So the original fade out comical shot of Mudd shielding his face exiting the Childress's quarters is gone)

There was one short shot where the downside of the remastering showed itself. Where Spock tells Ferrel he has the course for Rigel 12 and it was originally a cross fade from Ferrell to the Enterprise veering off. The new fade happens earlier to fit in the new CGI. Not a great loss, but there.
 

Paul_Scott

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My set came in from Deep Discount today.
Since it went out last Wednesday, and Thrusday was a holiday, this may be the fastest yet I've ever recieved anything from them.
Even more startling , the set came in two layers of bubble wrap, and secured in the box with even more packing paper. Never had anything wrapped with this much care from them, ever. I wonder if they knew how many returns for damage other retailers are getting on these? I haven't taken off the shrinkwrap yet, but looking thru the windows, the set appears to be in mint condition. Better than the ones I saw on the shelf in BB, were small chips and cracks to the trays were visible.
I'm especially suprised after the Close Enounters set last week came thrown in nothing but a bubble wrap envelope.

Huge :emoji_thumbsup: to DD!
Hopefully everyone else's will come thru ok too.
 

ReggieW

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I ordered my set last Wednesday from DD and have received no shipping notice. I am hoping it ships soon. I stopped by Fry's today, and the DVD/HD stocker told me that they received 24 copies in on Friday. There's one left now. I guess that isn't bad for a set that was selling for $149.95 through them - some $30 less than Best Buy.
 

Jari K

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I can´t agree with this at all. If this type of attitude would be THE way to approach remastering (different TV-series or movies), companies would be adding CGI to almost every old/vintage series/films. Do we really want that? I understand that this ST-set looks good and CGI probably works, but really: Do we really want new CGI effect over the original ones? This is the fundamental question of remastering, IMO.

I personally *don´t have any real objections* of remastering old stuff like "Star Trek" HD-set here (and I really looking forward to see this one), since the *original series is available* etc, but give me the original first in any day vs. new CGI effects. That´s the way I am, can´t speak for the others of course.

In this case, they should´ve added the HD/CGI-version on HD DVD-side and the original one on SD DVD side. I see no point that both versions (HD DVD and SD) include the same damn thing..
 

RickER

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I always thought the model of the Enterprise was beautiful. I like 95% of the original effects. Yes i ALWAYS notice when they use effects from the pilots, before the E got a makeover when the show went to series. But still, for a TV show in the 60s, the effects hold up really well. I cannot say the same for Irwin Allen shows, where every ship disappears in a puff of smoke. How many times did the Seaview go past the same rock, in a single episode? Shoot, i even like Irwin Allen shows, but its just about the only other 60s stuff that had effects too!
 

Mike_G

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Well, apparently quite a few people are enjoying the set. Myself included. Does EVERY TV/Movie have to be remastered? No. Look at Space:1999. Although you can see the strings and such, the fact is that they went through the trouble of not using stock footage of Eagles so much. They took the time to shoot unique effects shots. I wouldn't ever call for a CGI 1999 (although I could live with removing the strings). The same with Forbidden Planet. It doesn't NEED to be fixed. IMO, Star Trek needed a serious overhaul. People today are more sophisticated and expect more than a green blob for a planet.

The approach I have to accepting a remastering is: do the effects distract from the story in some way? If it does, I can accept a remaster. If they're doing it just to do it, then I don't agree with it.
 

Dave Scarpa

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I recieved My set Last night, they look fantastic, especially since I took delivery of a Sony 46W3000 and this was the first thing I viewed on the set. I will say however that the transitions between the old footage and the new effects are a bit more jarring on the Hi def versions than they were on the SD Upconverts I saw a few of this year. It does tend to make some of the effect look like Video Game CGI , although some are better than others. It might also be that I've seen these shows so many times with the old effects that they stand out more.

Now onto the flippers. I still don't like them in fact the 1st disk I tried to rip the SD side so I could encode the shows for my Ipod and low and behold the Drive came up with read errors. I took it over to my Mac Mini and it's superdrive had no problems. So it seems these hybrids will have issues on certain drives, at least on certain Computer DVD writers.

Speaking of the SD Side it looks better than the original DVD's but it lacks the fine Details of the HD-DVD's
 

Jari K

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..with opinions like that. If that "green blob" was originally used, then so be it. It´s just fine with me. Call me "un-sophisticated" then..

Look, like I said, this set probably looks good and CGI blends in just nicely. That´s not my point (nor my fear). My point is the old "George-Lucas-Star-Wars"-thingy. Is there any *real* need to fix something that has loved and treasured for years already - without any added CGI?

Star Trek CGI remaster looks good, I believe you guys. I´ll enjoy it, I´m sure. But I don´t believe that the original should be forgotten now. And in some twisted, "old school way" I kinda believe that the old one still looks better.. Call me old-school, I don´t mind! ;)
 

John H Ross

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Indeed. And Battlestar Galactica. There's a shot of a viper swooping down, blasting a Cylon raider to dust and then flying out of the explosion that was used more times in a single episode than some of the effects in Star Trek were used in a whole season.

Take a look at more recent shows like DS9. There's a shot of the runabout coming out of the wormhole that's used as standard whenever such a shot is required. That's not being lazy, it's being efficient with the budget that you have.

Let's consider the music. As with many, many other shows of the time, there were a LOT of music cues used repeatedly throughout Trek's original series. There were only something like 35 episodes (of the 79) that had original scores. The remaining scores were pieced together with music from earlier shows. Should these now be rescored because there were limitations in 1966-69 that don't exist now?
 

GregK

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Nov 22, 2000
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The high def digest just finished up their review-
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/600/startrektos_s1.html

Of interest is they noted some minor artifacts, .. but these same artifacts were also noted in the exact same place on the SD-side, which indicates this is not a HD-DVD encoding issue. So much for the reduced bitrate theory that "someone" had floated out to the public previously.... :D
 

Danny_N

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2001
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Danny
I got the set last week and I think I'm hooked. The last time I saw something of the original series must have been in the early seventies when I was young so I only have vague memories of it. I love this HD-DVD set. The picture quality is amazing imo. The last few days I've found myself watching two or three episodes every night and I find it hard to stop and not press play and watch another episode.
 

ReggieW

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Mar 6, 2001
Messages
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Well, that's why the SD-DVD sets from 2004 will continue to be available.

Since you have such an objection to what's been done with this TOS set, I guess you'll probably just continue to enjoy those sets - no harm in that. For me, I enjoy seeing this series without the same recycled matte shots & recycled planetary flybys. I am glad they ditched the pre-Nasa imagery and attempted to make astronomical anomalies look a lot more realistic. These changes have not affected my enjoyment of this series I've grown up on for nearly 30 years. I won't miss the poorly shimmering Enterprise which is supposed to sling shot around the MIA sun in "Tomorrow is Yesterday", or the MIA Antares which Kirk clearly mentions they were coming alongside in "Charlie X." Ep's like "Doomsday Machine" are so much better from a visual & continuity standpoint it's not funny. I feel a greater sense of urgency and danger as the Enterprise and a much improved wrecked Constellation battle the planet killer. I really don't think Okuda and company went overboard when they easily could've. Despite the modern day changes, I still feel that I'm watching TOS and not a newer show like Enterprise or BSG. This was the goal of CBS Digital, and I think they've definitely succeeded for the most part.
 

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