Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (13 Viewers)

[Carabimero]

I was watching the BBC documentary on the life of Neil Armstrong and all the sudden there he is with Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan. Armstrong is talking about the burn engine on The Eagle, and Doohan is smiling.

 

[John*Wells]

In Assignment Earth, Am I correct that they are using Stock Footage from the John F. Kennedy Space Center Circa 1968? I Seem to see what looks to be the Vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral

 

[Nelson Au]

Alan- Thanks for the info on the Neil Armstrong documentary, I wasn't aware of it. I'll have to try to catch that.

John, some shots of the Kennedy Space Center look circa 1960's for sure. Some are composited of course. I've never researched those shots before.

 

[Carabimero]

Alan- Thanks for the info on the Neil Armstrong documentary, I wasn't aware of it. I'll have to try to catch that.

It is my pleasure to post the entire clip for you, Nelson. Enjoy. LLAP.

 

[John*Wells]

Got my TNG and Enterprise sets. Not a fan of the packaging. I think Paramount /cbs could do better

 

[ScottRE]

In Assignment Earth, Am I correct that they are using Stock Footage from the John F. Kennedy Space Center Circa 1968? I Seem to see what looks to be the Vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral

It's my understanding that the footage was provided by NASA for the episode and that Trek was the first series to use footage of the launch and rocket stage separation on TV. I've always been struck by the quality of the shots. It never felt like old stock, and since it was apparently new, it works seamlessly. The engineers at NASA were big fans of the series.

Contrary to Cushman's claims in his TOS season 2 book, the production never went to the launch site. It was all just very well done composites.

 

[Osato]

It's my understanding that the footage was provided by NASA for the episode and that Trek was the first series to use footage of the launch and rocket stage separation on TV. I've always been struck by the quality of the shots. It never felt like old stock, and since it was apparently new, it works seamlessly. The engineers at NASA were big fans of the series.

Contrary to Cushman's claims in his TOS season 2 book, the production never went to the launch site. It was all just very well done composites.

There is some info on the NASA footage in the Star Trek lost scenes book.

 

[John*Wells]

I like Blu Ray TNG already.. The Play all Feature works ..

There is some info on the NASA footage in the Star Trek lost scenes book.

I thought it was really cool. I have been to the Kennedy Space Center and Seen Cape Canaveral also. I recognized what appeared to be the launch Control room from the Apollo Era/ Gemini

 

[Nelson Au]

Alan, I was actually genuinely interested in the Armstrong documentary itself. I was actually at the convention in Los Angeles when Doohan made his last convention appearance. But I wasn’t at the evening event. So it’s also interesting to see the Nichols and Doohan stuff, so I’ll check out the clip above! Thanks!

 

[BobO'Link]

I just completed another watch through the entire TOS series, this time with the updated effects (still the much better 2.0/mono audio). I wanted to see if they're truly as unneeded as I originally felt. I'll leave it with "Somewhat, depending on the effect." But I didn't find them as objectionable as I did the first time I watched with that option.

While I didn't notice odd angles on the Enterprise fly by shots this time there were other things that annoyed me and are the main reason I'll likely stick with the original effects going forward. What bothered me more than just about anything else were the seemingly frequent times the shot wasn't just "updated with modern effects" but completely reworked. These often included new angles and added CGI scenes to "improve" on original medium type shots. Ships got redesigned for no reason, often with less creative designs. The things that worked best for me were phaser effects and the actual shots of planets from space. While I liked the updated Enterprise fly by scenes they're just too "clean" looking for the series and often look somewhat out of place. One thing in particular that annoyed me with the updated effects, and something I didn't notice the first time, is they didn't bother to use any of them in the closing credits. Often there are shots of ships, planets, the Enterprise, etc. in the closing credits that received updates but they're just not used. The last thing I found annoying was the updated visual open sequence doesn't quite match properly to the original audio. You hear the "whish" of the Enterprise *after* it's gone off screen, not *as* it's going off screen. A little thing but it stuck out like a sore thumb for me. Because of that I noticed, for the first time, that some S3 opens don't have the "swish" at all. I was quite surprised by that discovery!

I'm still of the opinion they did just a bit too much and should not have introduced new, additional, CGI shots/angles or redesigned ships. In spite of that I'd not object if someone wants to watch episodes with the updated effects. Overall, it's really not too bad but I've seen the series so many times over the years and am so familiar with the original effects that often they're somewhat jolting.

I think the next viewing will be with my updated effects DVD set with things adjusted to create fake WS. I watched the original BW/Color version of "The Cage" on the BR set and discovered that, unlike the other episodes, it's not set in a 4:3 area inside the 16:9 frame so can be easily adjusted for WS on my equipment. My current BR player does not have a "zoom" feature and the TV won't enlarge a 16:9 image but can do "wide fit" on a 4:3 - that zooms the image to fit the sides, cropping the top/bottom, and you can shift the image up/down to get headroom set properly if needed. I watched it that way to see how much cropping would be evident. Surprisingly, it looked quite good. That made me think of that unopened DVD set. I reasoned if I'm going to "bastardize" the series by watching the new visuals I might as well zoom it to WS. We'll see...

 

[Osato]

I constantly watch tos and I choose the remastered versions always.

Love em!

Listening to spectre of the gun soundtrack by la la land!!!

 

[BobO'Link]

"Strange Brew" from the 25th:

 

[ScottRE]

I constantly watch tos and I choose the remastered versions always.

Love em!!

For me it always depends on my mood or the episode in question. Some stories NEED the new effects (Tomorrow is Yesterday for example) while many others don't (Charlie X, Miri...)

 

[BobO'Link]

"Strange Brew" from the 25th:

Hmmm.... image didn't come in... Let's try again:

 

[John*Wells]

I just started watching the new Discovery episode. And noticed running time was approximately 54 minutes. The Prior episode was about 40 minutes. Why the difference?

 

[TravisR]

I just started watching the new Discovery episode. And noticed running time was approximately 54 minutes. The Prior episode was about 40 minutes. Why the difference?

Probably because just like pay cable TV shows, the episodes don't really have to fit into any standard time slot since it's on a streaming service.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, both last week's 40 minute episode and this week's 54 minute episode both felt (to me at least) that they ran for exactly as long as they needed to. They each told their stories well, and to their logical conclusions

 

[Carabimero]

Probably because just like pay cable TV shows, the episodes don't really have to fit into any standard time slot since it's on a streaming service.

And yet there are commercial breaks. Makes me think someday the show might air on CBS or some other commercial service.

 

[TJPC]

It certainly airs with commercials here in Canada, as do both “Walking Dead” franchises. Each often goes over their 60 minute time slots to 5 or 10 minutes and somehow is fitted into the schedules.

 

[Jason_V]

Yeah, both last week's 40 minute episode and this week's 54 minute episode both felt (to me at least) that they ran for exactly as long as they needed to. They each told their stories well, and to their logical conclusions

And it eliminates unnecessary B story padding which was so rampant for a lot of the non-streaming Trek run. Let the story go for as long as it needs it. If that's 72 minutes, I'm happy. If it's 40-something, great. Just don't give me a subplot with Tilly and Ash trying to make coffee or other silliness.