Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: zahc on September 02, 2011, 10:40:34 PM
-
I'm watching TOS on netflix for the first time. It's in HD and the model shots are seriously impressive. Like, I'm serious here...did they fix up star trek with modern CG like they did the old star war's movies? Because the space scenes are really amazing. I have no idea how they did that in 1966.
-
CBS Paramount went through TOS some years back, remastering them and replacing many of the original effects with some decent CGI. That was around 2006 or so.
-
yeah, they Lucased the planet killing funnel of paper into a cgi textured "improvement"
-
Mainly though it was shot on film so they still had more dpi than 1080p is capable of to work with.
-
It's available on DVD for the serious Trekkers ---- like me. [tinfoil]
They also, in some cases, added some colorful cut in shots that added on to the episode, if only very briefly. In "Amok Time," as Kirk & co. approach the ritual area there is a wider, sweeping panoramic shot of the place with a background of Vulcan, giving one a better appreciation of where they were.
These episodes were syndicated for awhile as well.
Technically a vast improvement over the original, where occasionally the U.S.S. Enterprise had a transparent hull due to reflections of blue screen.
-
yeah, they Lucased the planet killing funnel of paper into a cgi textured "improvement"
I need to watch that episode again. I remember watching it the first time, even as a little kid, that the planet killer stood out as one of the (if not the) weakest special effects in TOS.
-
Star Trek model shots
So, where are the models? ??? :police:
-
:facepalm: SPACE SHIP models!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
:facepalm: SPACE SHIP models!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fail.
-
Fail at WHAT? Did Scotty steal my dilithium crystals again??? [popcorn] [tinfoil]
-
i like this one...
"http://www.youtube.com/v/gWNc0yjC3T4&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3">
-
So...this annoys me. I wanted to watch TOS, not some a lucas'd not-actually TOS reissue.
-
Really, it's not THAT different. The special effects are greatly improved but the story remains the same. It's not like they replaced Spock with a CGI creation.
-
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkgeek.com%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Fadditional%2Fcarousel%2Fdea2_enterprise_pizza_cutter_box.jpg&hash=a88164910b3bbd95abe94878c73835da3a53598b)
I got this for my brother for his birthday. He loved it.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkgeek.com%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Fadditional%2Fcarousel%2Fdea2_enterprise_pizza_cutter_inuse.jpg&hash=a616a0be74f434d137ebb271e25af2e76f18177d)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/startrek/dea2/
-
So...this annoys me. I wanted to watch TOS, not some a lucas'd not-actually TOS reissue.
They just replaced the special effects with CGI; nothing much else was done. Orbiting planets, phaser fire, other ships in space, stuff like that. The quality is decent, and actually adds to the show, IMO.
-
^^^ I suppose. But I have the TOS on DVD before the special effects were updated, and I must say I prefer it in the original. It takes me back to actually watching Star Trek in real time in the mid-60's when it was originally aired; among my earliest memories.
-
I just watched Star Trek (2009) on Netflix. It was kinda weird seeing Sylar pretending to be Spock. I was waiting for him to do that telekinesis thing and he never did.
-
Protip:
There's some new Star Trek series in the works.
The good:
It wont continue off from that "weird" alternate timeline that the newest movie established, but instead takes place a short while after Voyager got home.
The bad:
Sounds like it could be 90210 in space.
-
They just replaced the special effects with CGI; nothing much else was done.
You say it like it's no big deal. The vintage special effects are an integral part of the show, IMO. Maybe it's different for those who have seen the show before, but I can't even watch it now without wondering "what it actually looked like" all the time. I have no idea what the meddlers meddled with and what they didn't. It's censorship--well-intentioned but I hate it for the same reason.
-
Censorship? How does updating the effects amount to censorship? Where in the heck did you get that notion? That word does not mean what you think it means.
Kind of odd considering what you said about it in the OP.
-
It's basically the same thing. It's "I'm going to tamper with this work because I think that I can improve it and I think that everyone will agree with me that my new version is better".
-
Protip:
There's some new Star Trek series in the works.
The good:
It wont continue off from that "weird" alternate timeline that the newest movie established, but instead takes place a short while after Voyager got home.
Now, I never did watch much Voyager. But, wasn't it going to take 75 years to get back? Or did they find the Deus-ex-machina magic wormhole?
-
It's basically the same thing. It's "I'm going to tamper with this work because I think that I can improve it and I think that everyone will agree with me that my new version is better".
Not even close. There was no meaningful change to the program content. Nothing was hidden for the sake of changing or obfuscating program's message.
Besides, the original works are still in circulation.
-
You say it like it's no big deal. The vintage special effects are an integral part of the show, IMO. Maybe it's different for those who have seen the show before, but I can't even watch it now without wondering "what it actually looked like" all the time. I have no idea what the meddlers meddled with and what they didn't. It's censorship--well-intentioned but I hate it for the same reason.
The "vintage" special effects were, to put it kindly, done on a "shoestring and a prayer." By that I mean CHEAP.
I grew up in the '60s and have fond memories of watching the show on its original broadcast on NBC with my friends. I have a LOT of love for the show. I still think the original series had the best ray guns in SF fandom. Some great characters and interplay. I didn't mind the paper maché rocks on the sets, the plain colored backgrounds that were supposedly the planet's atmosphere, and all the rest of the stuff.
The new CGI stuff is cool. The scratched up SFX shots of the Enterprise veering off are gone, the translucent starship is history, the new stuff is great.
-
I grew up in the '60s and have fond memories of watching the show on its original broadcast on NBC with my friends.
I never saw the original show. I never got to see the effects which you tell me are bad but which I have never seen because it was decided that I will like the new ones better. I would rather see the show as it was originally, untampered with. There can be no excuse for this kind of "improving" a show. There is no justification. If you want better effects, watch modern scifi. That's just the way I see it.
-
I never saw the original show. I never got to see the effects which you tell me are bad but which I have never seen because it was decided that I will like the new ones better. I would rather see the show as it was originally, untampered with. There can be no excuse for this kind of "improving" a show. There is no justification. If you want better effects, watch modern scifi. That's just the way I see it.
IMO, the "improving" of Star Trek's TOS is different than what Lucas did with the original Star Wars Special Edition re-releases.
What I think people aren't explaining very well here is that the TOS's SFX were crap, even for 1966 TV. Keep in mind (yes, a feature film, radically different budget) but 2001: A Space Odessey came out just two years later while the show was still in it's third and final season.
The poor SFX and budget TOS suffered under was a sign of how the premise of the show wasn't "believed in" by the people with the purse-strings. That's different than Lucas re-working his films which frankly still stand up very well in their original form, just because of his ego.
So in a way, the re-working of the TOS with modern CGI SFX was kind of like "righting a wrong" more than it's a matter of going overboard with ego. I agree that such re-workings are still sort of questionable, but I think the intent behind this case is more pure, and forgivable than what Lucas did to Star Wars.
-
I never saw the original show. I never got to see the effects which you tell me are bad but which I have never seen because it was decided that I will like the new ones better. I would rather see the show as it was originally, untampered with. There can be no excuse for this kind of "improving" a show. There is no justification. If you want better effects, watch modern scifi. That's just the way I see it.
You can get the DVDs of the show as it originally ran.
IMO, the "improving" of Star Trek's TOS is different than what Lucas did with the original Star Wars Special Edition re-releases.
What I think people aren't explaining very well here is that the TOS's SFX were crap, even for 1966 TV. Keep in mind (yes, a feature film, radically different budget) but 2001: A Space Odessey came out just two years later while the show was still in it's third and final season.
The poor SFX and budget TOS suffered under was a sign of how the premise of the show wasn't "believed in" by the people with the purse-strings. That's different than Lucas re-working his films which frankly still stand up very well in their original form, just because of his ego.
So in a way, the re-working of the TOS with modern CGI SFX was kind of like "righting a wrong" more than it's a matter of going overboard with ego. I agree that such re-workings are still sort of questionable, but I think the intent behind this case is more pure, and forgivable than what Lucas did to Star Wars.
^^^^^^^^
That. What he said. Keep in mind a lot of people accepted it because what they were used to was finned cigar shaped space ships with sparks shooting out the butt end -- Buck Rogers stuff.
But as AJ Dual said Star Trek was made on the cheapo. Well, I said it too.
Some pretty good SFX were available even back then but Trek just didn't have the $$$$$$$.
-
The budget for the average TOS episode in the second season was around $185,000. That included everything, sets, props, costumes, production team, actor and crew salaries, writers fees, music, guild fees, and the El Cheapo Deluxe FX.
-
TOS SFX was at best, standard for a sci-fi TV series. Go watch "Lost in Space" or "Buck Rogers", "Superman" or even "Batman". You can't compare a TV series SFX to a feature Movie's SFX. Apples and Oranges. The remix and CGI they put in the TOS DVD's fleshes out some of the missing elements that should have been in TOS. It enhances the visuals without ruining or overpowering the story or storylines.
Unlike George Lucas upgefucking Star Wars after each movie. Notice that each one is worse than the one before, except for the first two? That's because people who were better/smarter/controlled the money were able to tell him "No" at first, but couldn't later. So the more control George had the worse things got in the movies.
-
Now, I never did watch much Voyager. But, wasn't it going to take 75 years to get back? Or did they find the Deus-ex-machina magic wormhole?
A celebration was held in 2378 when Voyager made a triumphant return to the Alpha Quadrant by utilizing and then destroying a Borg transwarp hub to hurl them back to Earth. ("Endgame")
-
So in a way, the re-working of the TOS with modern CGI SFX was kind of like "righting a wrong" more than it's a matter of going overboard with ego. I agree that such re-workings are still sort of questionable, but I think the intent behind this case is more pure, and forgivable than what Lucas did to Star Wars.
I agree....the new SFX on TOS is like lipstick on a pretty woman...it just enhances the goodness that's already there...
So, where are the models? ??? :police:
Here's my favorite ST model as of recent....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryo-GtOgi7s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryo-GtOgi7s)
....assimilation might not be such a bad thing.... ;)