Has anyone been watching the remastered original series Star Trek? What do you think? If you don't like to hear me nit-pick, just move along....
I have mixed feelings after watching a few of the episodes. The first thing I don't like is the updated opening theme music. They added a female voice to it. That is not what I don't like, it actually sounds pretty good. The original music changed from season to season, so just by listening to the music, I could identify in which season that episode was made. Sure, I know which episode belongs to which season by title (or even within the first 30 seconds of watching a specific episode).
They're also using CGI to replace the planets and the Enterprise when viewed from space, as well as some details within the ship. The planets look beautiful. In the episode I, Mudd, the android Norman opens a panel on his stomach to show Kirk that his is an android. This was CGI'ed in the remaster. Sure, it looks good and the effect is smoothly inlaid. However, the "roughness" of late '60's TV production and special effects technology are two of the things that gave the series character. (Remember when The Twilight Zone recorded a few episodes using tape rather than film?) The new effects just look too "new" to me to blend in seamlessly.
And scenes are landing on the cutting room floor. I don't know if this is something that the local TV station or the production company is doing. For example, in The City on the Edge of Forever, in the scene where the guy takes McCoy's phaser when McCoy passes out in the alley, the part where he overloads the phaser and is obliterated was cut. Not a big scene in the episode, but it makes on wonder how much more is being removed.
Ok, I'll take my Spock ears off now...
4 comments:
Hi Sheen,
Wow, you're a Trek fan too?! We have a lot in common. To address some of your Trek concerns, I thought that the female voice was only added to episodes where there was already a voice. I did notice it wasn't there when watching recently, might have been Miri. I'm not a big enough fan to know which episodes had it and which didn't, so when I didn't hear a voice, I was confused. I looked online and someone mentioned that it was only supposed to be on episodes where there was already a voice.
I agree that the effects look almost too good, but I do enjoy looking for them and I have all my original DVDs if I really feel the need to watch them unaltered. To me the updates have renewed my interest in the show. I can see how they could have gone much further, which some think they should have, but I think they are doing a pretty good job of balancing the effects so as not be more jarring.
Lastly, I'm not 100 percent on this, but I'm pretty sure that the deleted parts of the show are due to the general lengthening of commercial time to every hour of TV. These updated episodes will make it to DVD eventually and when they do, I'm sure they will be in full length.
startrek remixed, whatever next, maybe they'll reshoot it with Brad Pitt as James T. Kirk!
Anyways, just noted a link to my blog, so cheers for that, and ive enjoyed looking round your other links.
Nice 1.
Is there any "Deleted Scenes" from the original series? I have always wanted to see those and bloopers.I have mixed feelings about tampering with the old shows but i also like the idea of them being reinvented. I hope the new movies creates a deire to bring back the old characters and perhaps finsh that "5 year Mission"
hubby, I don't know of any blooper reels that are available commercially. I went to a con about 10 years ago and they played some bloopers from the original series.
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