Star Trek To Get Special Editions's Treatment

[HighWiredSith]

Okay, so far no talk of content changes, no new alien musical numbers or redone scenes with the Romulan's shooting first or anything like that, so yeah, this sounds kind of cool in a way, although I am a confessed golden age SciFi junky, the more primitive the effects the better imho. When a writer and director had to use plot, story, dialogue, and characters to take the focus off the special effect in order to make them more believable you ended up with something far more signficant and entertaining than your average CGI film.

Here's some news off SciFi today:

Original Trek Gets CG Makeover? Posted: Wednesday August 30th 2006 1:21am Source: Trek Movie Author: Garth Franklin One of the more interesting wild rumours of late has emerged over at TrekMovie. Over a month ago it was announced that CBS was selling a new broadcast TV syndication package for the original series - rather strange for a 40 year old show.

Now it seems they are actually offering an HDTV enhanced version of the original series with new state-of-the art CGI visual effects. The bulk of shows will "be as originally shot, with the new effects limited to the space sequences and the opening credits. In addition, some of the music is being redone".

Hmmm, sounds like wishful thinking. Then again it would be a good new selling point for a franchise that's pretty much dead in the water right now until the next movie. Paramount re-released the first Trek film with newly enhanced visual effects a few years back to great success.

If this is true and works, one wonders what other shows might get the snazzy new treatment and how people will react to that.

[HighWiredSith]

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/EKoch/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]
First Glimpse of New and Improved Trek

Nifty, eh?
According to DARK HORIZONS, upgrades include:
Space ship exteriors - The Enterprise, as well as other starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Show opening - The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.
Galaxy shots - All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the viewscreen on the Enterprise’s bridge, will be redone.
Exteriors - The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.
Background scenes - Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.
The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage, has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner’s classic original recording of the 38-word “Space, the final frontier…” monologue continues to open each episode.

[toomuchcoffee]

Man, that is AWESOME. I am so glad that I didn't buy the other two seasons. It might be kind of cool to own the original graphics as well, but only when I have money to burn. But, man, am I looking forward to that updated graphics/music version coming out. I wish they would set a date.

[Nexus]

I don't know, I really like the old effects...

[toomuchcoffee]

That's why I thought it'd be cool to have the old one's as well, but I honestly suspect that I'd enjoy watching the series with some of the old effects replaced. It's not like ALL of it is being replaced. Unless it looks too cosmetic or something, it sounds pretty cool to me. Then again, I might get a guilty conscience for betraying the purists, and that might make me enjoy them less, but still the notion is kind of cool . . .

[HighWiredSith]

More on the Special Edition Treks:

More On "Star Trek" Facelift Posted: Thursday September 7th 2006 12:56am Source: Star Trek.com Author: Garth Franklin The remastering of the original "Star Trek" series, ever since it was announced last week, has drawn a lot of speculation and opinion among fans and online circles. Concerns over messing with the originals have gotten people worried - will it be a respectful update like the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Director's Cut DVD, or something more crass and stupid like the "Star Wars" Special Editions.

To answer the most common questions, the official site has compiled a list and presented them to the people actually overseeing the all-new and improved digital effects. The group confirmed they're working on the full length episodes (which will be cut for syndication purposes), though any DVDs with these episodes will be full-length.

All episodes are being remastered in high definition and all 79 episodes will have visual effects work done. The extent of that work will vary though between 15-70 shots per episode, which will mean ultimately a change of up to 90 seconds per episode at most.

Whilst space ship and landscape effects will be done, aliens and sets will have little to no retouching. Where it doesn't affect storytelling, they will be generating new model ships for episodes which reused old props.

Most telling are two points though - firstly the episodes are not being edited from their original full & syndicated cuts. This means there'll be no new FX shots randomly thrown in - each of the updated FX shots can only be as long as the original effects shot they're replacing.

Secondly they're very deliberately trying to fit the mold of the original series so the new effects won't leap out at you. Talking with IESB, the designers say "Right down to the placement of stars is being re-simulated to exactly what was there in the first place" and "The approach is that Star Trek is a period piece...so all the decisions are being made to honor the production styles and style of cinematography and style of editing. And that as our guidance, using the original decisions made by the directors and the editors".

[HighWiredSith]

More on the Trek makeover:

Trek Opening Will Be Fixed

Producers of the upcoming remastered editions of the original Star Trek series told SCI FI Wire that an upgraded and enhanced opening montage will correct problems in the original version, which was limited by the technology of the 1960s. "We didn't change anything, although we did update everything," David Rossi, a visual-effects producer, said in a conference call on Sept. 6. "All the star patterns that were in the original opening are exactly duplicated in the new opening. We smoothed out the motion of the Enterprise. It flies more dynamically now. It occupies real space. It doesn't look like a model anymore. So that's kind of the angle we took on it."

The fixes are being accomplished by rendering the opening sequence, which was originally shot on film using matte paintings and miniature models, completely with digital effects. "The process that Dave just described is one particular shot where the Enterprise's flight path takes a couple of strange bumps to the left and to the right," added longtime Trek crew member Michael Okuda, who is also a visual-effects producer of the remastered episodes. "And there were artifacts of the visual-effects processes back then. And now CBS Digital is able to go in and essentially have an infinitely long track, so the perspective of the ship now is proper. It, as Dave says, occupies real space. It's a subtle change, but it just gives the ship more presence as it flies by you."

Okuda added: "Back in '64, when they shot the original opening elements, [or] '66, there was a physical limit to how far ... back you can get the camera [from the model]. So the perspective changes were limited by the physical length of the dolly track in the studio. What CBS Digital can do is, ... with the digital rendering, you can have your virtual camera infinitely far away and have the ship travel to inches from your nose. And by doing that, the perspective is ... proper. It's just as if the ship is really flying by you." CBS Paramount Domestic Television will release the digitally remastered episodes of Star Trek for air in syndication on more than 200 broadcast stations, starting Sept. 16

[HighWiredSith]

Check out the trailer for the enhanced versions - very cool: http://www.scifiheaven.net/

So here you have a collective group of artists and producers who totally respect not only the original concept but respect the fans who made it part of our popular culture. Respect for the fans that in turn creates respect for the original material - a novel concept! Do you think they've learned a thing or two from George Lucas's failures?

[Nexus]

I kept expecting someone to mention George Lucas throughout the whole thing, like, "We're not going to do what Lucas did with Star Wars". But I guess they'll get in trouble for that.

[HighWiredSith]

Originally Posted by Nexus

I kept expecting someone to mention George Lucas throughout the whole thing, like, "We're not going to do what Lucas did with Star Wars". But I guess they'll get in trouble for that.

Did you notice the little snip-it in the trailer when they said the newly updated Enterprise "Won't have fins, won't be doing barrell rolls..." I felt like this was a pretty direct bash at Lucas's changes in the special editions, specifically the new stuff in the Battle of Yavin.

[Optimus Prime]

So what channels will it be playing on?

[Nexus]

This is fun

[Darth Bob]

some fans are just way too obbsessive over minor details, personally I have no problems with graphical updates, it's when they start tweaking the story, thats the problem, but they said there not going to be doing that, so all's well.