Via E! Online: Extreme Makeover: “Star Trek” Edition
CBS Paramount gave Trekkers reason to throw their pointy ears in the air Thursday with the announcement that all 79 episodes of the original Star Trek are getting digitally remastered and will be heading into syndication next month for the first time in 16 years in honor of the sci-fi classic’s 40th anniversary.Manyof the series’ beloved yet decidedly dated visual staples, from the galaxy glimpsed in the opening title sequence to the myriad otherworldly landscapes seen from the bridge of the starship Enterprise, will receive a CGI makeover to appeal to the sons and daughters of 1960s-era Star Trek fans who actually found someone to mate with.
[…]
“We’re taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original,” Michael Okuda, a scenic-art supervisor on the Star Trek films and spinoffs for the last 18 years, told TVGuide.com. “Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would [creator Gene] Roddenberry have done with today’s technology?”
Battle sequences, ship exteriors, galaxy shots and landscapes (which previously came courtesy of matte paintings) will be given more shading, depth and computer-generated believability. The original Alexander Courage-composed score has been rerecorded in stereo and, perhaps best of all,William Shatner’s opening monologue has been remastered, so that “Space, the final frontier” will sound better than ever.
[…]
Star Trek: The Original Series goes all 21st century on us Sept. 16, beginning with the first-season episode “Balance of Terror,” in which the Enterprise crew matches wits with the Romulans.
Intriguing. I had read some stuff in the last week or so about a CGI upgrade for the series for HD, but had gotten the impression that this was for an HD-DVD release, not for broadcast, and certainly not starting this month. It is encouraging that the Okudas are involved, as they should know what they are doing.
Of course, spiffy new exteriors and fx may cause a sort of mental whiplash when some of the old sets come on screen.
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I’m not sure how I feel about the “updating” with the remastering. I’ll have to give it a look-see and decide then I guess. I definitely agree that mental whiplash could occur.
Comment by Jan — Friday, September 1, 2024 @ 8:16 am
If they can do half as good a job as they did in Trials and Tribbleations (the DS9/TOS crossover), it’ll be some pretty impressive work.
Now if they can just shoot the person at G4 who thought up their hokey “Star Trek 2.0″ broadcasts I’ll be happy.
Comment by Chris Lawrence (guestblogger) — Friday, September 1, 2024 @ 4:49 pm
I found another article about it here that says they are also correcting some “goofs” in the CGI updated version.
Comment by Jan — Friday, September 1, 2024 @ 6:56 pm
This is like coloring “Casablanca”. Why?
Comment by Mark L — Friday, September 1, 2024 @ 9:35 pm