Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (2 Viewers)

[Nelson Au]

I have no regrets.

The Motion Picture has always been at a disadvantage. First no wide screen longer version, then the Directors Edition was not budgeted for masters in high definition for theatrical presentation, so only a SD DVD. Hopefully these shortcomings will be addressed shortly and The Motion Picture will shine again in its triumph as DE and Longer and theatrical versions In 4K.

 

[Osato]

Sam, For sure, we need to see the TOS cast films remastered and released in 4K. Especially The Motion Picture with the Theatrical and Directors Edition too.

hopefully we find out more details on the new Dolby atmos audio mixing for motion picture. Perhaps something may still be released in December or next year.
I think Paramount will do 4k transfers in classic trek films soon. We have khan on digital 4k.

hope we hear more soon.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, I wanted to say a few more things about my DS9 viewing so far. The first season, like with TNG, wasn’t a season I watched much other then on first run. I did watch these episodes at least twice or three times. But it’s been so long many of these episodes are new to me. I did remember Q-less and I liked it, it was a fun one. Though like Q, I kept wondering why someone didn’t make a connection with the events on the runabout and the same things going on at the station.

Tonight I did see Move Along Home. I totally didn’t remember this episode, except a few visuals of the Aliens and the kid doing the hop scotch game. And that Quark was a real gamer. In concept, I really liked this story. I could see it would have been served better had it had more budget for the game sets.

 

[KPmusmag]

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Oh my gosh, that Tower Records price tag brings back memories! I called all over L.A. until I found a Tower that had it in stock, it was over an hour away, but they held it for me behind the register. I was so happy to get that!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Kevin! Those were the days, weren’t they?

That Tower Records find of Star Trek The Motion Picture was at a time when there wasn’t too many ways to know about these releases ahead of time. So I had to make frequent visits to see what they had. I was so lucky that a mom and pop laser disc shop opened near by so I could go and see titles and call and make special orders.

 

[Nelson Au]

I completed viewing the first season of DS9 a few days ago. There’s a lot of episodes I remember seeing on first run, but the first season is not one I’ve revisited often. I remember when I first saw the episode where Kai Opaka is killed. So it was good to re-see it to remind me what happened as I totally forgot that she was reanimated.

Duet has been mentioned many times as a highlight so it was good to re-see it. When I first saw these episodes, I wasn’t getting into them as I was still in that mindset of Star Trek TNG and this was so different. But I can appreciate these kind of stories now. Duet sort of felt like a stage play too. I really liked the story and how it plays out for Kira. Yannis Harris is very good in it. And In the Hands of the Prophets was really good. It was good to see the origins of Kai Winn who I know better from the later seasons. I many remembered the school being blown-up, but forgot the reasoning. So the whole bit with O’Brien’s assistant was so surprising. I did figure it out it had to be her.

I’ve also watched the first two episodes of the second season, Homecoming and The Circle. Both really cracking good episodes! I look forward to the third episode of the storyline. Winn is a real piece of work!

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Lucy & Star Trek — FACT TREK

Did Desilu president and TV legend Lucille Ball go to bat to save Star Trek from NBC, the Desilu Board of Directors, or both? Did she tap her personal fortune to make the show happen? That’s what the memes and many self-appointed experts say, but, as we like to ask, “Where’s the truth?” Read on to

www.facttrek.com

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Neil. i have a sneaking suspicion you are involved with that project in some form, particularly the original Fact Check.

I’d read the Solow Justman book. So that’s the main source of information I had regarding Lucy. I then read Cushman’s books too. I’d always taken these stories with some grain because memories fade and or change over time. I never thought that she had that much input and felt Solow and Justman were there. So I felt their stories are closer to reality. Though I found the story that Lucy helped to sweep the studio floor during the making of The Cage hard to believe.

I do remember the story that Lucy thought Star Trek was about a USO show. Stars would Trek to combat zones to entertain the troops. And that was her only understanding of what Star Trek was.

i didn’t know one of the Fact Checkers is at Shout! Factory. Great he has the passion to see shows released at Shout.

 

[ScottRE]

There's just so much BS floating around out there as fans and such try to elevate the series more than it needs to. Sadly, a lot of folks just swallow this stuff without question. Cushman's claims get accepted by a lot of people wholeheartedly and he's wrong about a ton of stuff.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

There's just so much BS floating around out there as fans and such try to elevate the series more than it needs to. Sadly, a lot of folks just swallow this stuff without question. Cushman's claims get accepted by a lot of people wholeheartedly and he's wrong about a ton of stuff.

It's also very popular in this day and age to elevate Lucy much more they need to.

Lucy did successfully run Desilu through the 60s, which gave us some innovative, popular, and long lasting franchises, and she knew well enough to sell to Paramount while the selling was good. But it's become popular to act like Lucy was the totality of Desilu and forget or ignore where the other half of that name came from.

Without Desi, there wouldn't have been a Desilu of that magnitude to hand over to Lucy in the 60s.

So, history is not only written by the winners, but the popular agendas of the day.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Thanks Neil. i have a sneaking suspicion you are involved with that project in some form, particularly the original Fact Check.

I know both of them, but I have nothing to do with their work.

 

[ScottRE]

It's also very popular in this day and age to elevate Lucy much more they need to.

Lucy did successfully run Desilu through the 60s, which gave us some innovative, popular, and long lasting franchises, and she knew well enough to sell to Paramount while the selling was good.

Sadly, that decision didn't necessarily do Star Trek much good at the time.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture named a space shuttle, created a custom font pack, and relaunched the swashbuckling futurism of the greatest of all space franchises: Star Trek.

typesetinthefuture.com

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Neil. That is an interesting article on the fonts used throughout Star Trek as well as the discussion on the Vulcan and Klingon languages, iconography, blaster beam, ships called the Enterprise and the Voyager space craft. I may just pick up the book.

I'm not a graphic designer, but I am a designer so I’ve used quite a bit of the letraset rubdown letters in my early career! So that was an interesting discussion.

The author has quite an extensive and in depth knowledge of fonts and Star Trek and Star Trek The Motion Picture so I enjoyed that!

 

[Museum Pieces]

This is an interesting discussion. I enjoy watching Star Trek very much but haven't read that much about the making of the show or the movies. But I sure do enjoy watching them.

 

[Nelson Au]

Welcome aboard Skylar!

 

[Museum Pieces]

Thank you. I do not remember where I was reading comments about the remastered sets versus the DVDs but here's what I do. When I want to watch Star Trek with the original effects, I nearly always watch the DVDs from the single disc releases. The effects look better when I can't see how denigrated they have become from all the effects passes. HD tends to do that, The only episodes I watch from the season releases are The Doomsday Machine and The Menagerie because they are more complete. When it comes to wanting to watch episodes with the "new" effects, I watch the Blu-rays but the stuttering from seamless branching takes me out of them, as does the early and late dissolves, so to be honest, while I appreciate the Blu-rays, really, I watch the single disc releases. They just look like the Star Trek I grew up with. Now, I have ripped all my Star Trek discs to a hard drive and watch from that, but unless I am watching The Doomsday Machine or The Ultimate Computer or an effects heavy episode, I'll watch the DVDs.

 

[ScottRE]

Thank you. I do not remember where I was reading comments about the remastered sets versus the DVDs but here's what I do. When I want to watch Star Trek with the original effects, I nearly always watch the DVDs from the single disc releases. The effects look better when I can't see how denigrated they have become from all the effects passes. HD tends to do that, The only episodes I watch from the season releases are The Doomsday Machine and The Menagerie because they are more complete. When it comes to wanting to watch episodes with the "new" effects, I watch the Blu-rays but the stuttering from seamless branching takes me out of them, as does the early and late dissolves, so to be honest, while I appreciate the Blu-rays, really, I watch the single disc releases. They just look like the Star Trek I grew up with. Now, I have ripped all my Star Trek discs to a hard drive and watch from that, but unless I am watching The Doomsday Machine or The Ultimate Computer or an effects heavy episode, I'll watch the DVDs.

Unless I'm going for the old laserdisc copies, I always watch The Menagerie on Blu because the music on the DVDs in part two is wrong a few times. They used music from The Doomsday Machine and the old Varese Sarabande rerecordings for a couple of act break intros. The Doomsday Machine has some different music takes as well on the DVDs. Trek is a mess, honestly.

 

[Museum Pieces]

Sometimes I wish I still had my old TV set and my old VHS tapes.

 

[Nelson Au]

I had converted the entire Star Trek The Original series Blu Rays as MKV files but I only converted with original effects. As I’ve said before on these threads, at first I really enjoyed the remastered effects and it was exciting at the time as it re-invigorated watching the series again. But after about a decade of it, i was really happy to watch with original effects. And I discovered that the original effects actually looks really good from the remastered film elements, scanned and cleaned up. It’s true in the early first season episodes, the Enterprise effects were not up to the standard they should have been. But later you really see some great detail on the studio filming model. The second half of the first season and the rest of the series, the effects are pretty good! When the Smithsonian released high resolution photos of the model that a fan photographed in 1973 when the model was still intact and had the original paint job, I studied those photos as well as the high resolution Images of the model after it was restored and I could start to see all the details in the remastered film of the original effects. I may later this summer re-rip the series blu ray as MKV files and include the remastered effects version so I have the option to watch either version.

As Skylar mentioned, one draw back of the remastered effects is that some of the Fade out transitions to effects shots required fading out of live action earlier to incorporate the new effects. This cut short some great fade outs and was unfortunate. One example is in Errand of Mercy when Kor says, “It would have been glorious“. So for me now, I prefer to watch TOS from the high definition remaster with original effects so it is all intact and as was originally broadcast.

i know of the reports of errors with some sound effects or music or the original Shatner monologue missing from the early episodes on the various DVD and blu ray releases, it surprises me that I wasn’t as aware of those. And I watched TOS everyday as a kid in syndication. You’d think I knew the series. But I guess over years of various home video releases, I started to forget those changes or errors. And I’m surprised I’m not more upset over them. I’ve come to feel that we as Star Trek fans are super lucky. I’ve always felt that getting TV shows and movies in high quality home video editions has been a privilege. Like driving, it’s not a right. These early TV shows were never meant for home viewing consumption In this manner.

I’m of the school of enjoying the series in its highest quality and seeing all the warts doesn’t bother me. I can understand why Josh and others sought out the video tapes editions so he could view the series in lower resolution and original effects so it felt more like watching it in its original broadcast kind of experience. I guess I already did that and been there. ( Which made me wonder, I had those. VHS tapes and I should them in the early 90’s to fund the laserdiscs. I wonder who has them now! ) I hope you get to find the tapes Skylar!

OK, I felt the need to rant a little.