# Star Trek, TOS remastered. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333 "2010-09-28T08:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/21 "2010-10-01T10:46:06Z")
> [@stan shmenge](#): > > … Anyone know what software was used for the trek updates? ms-dos? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/22 "2010-10-01T12:26:36Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Well, I watched “Arena” and the Enterprise flyby shots had atrocious texturing and poor to medium modeling. Looked very fake. As a CGI artist, I could easily do better, and have. Yes, but most people AREN’T CGI artists and are far less likely to notice such things. It’s not like the original 1960’s effects look that wonderful these days, either. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/23 "2010-10-01T19:41:49Z")
I thought some of the effects looked pretty good, especially the planets they show the Enterprise orbiting in establishing shots. Better than how planets looked in any past Trek, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/24 "2010-10-02T04:49:19Z")
They now release the original Doctor Who series with updated effects. As long as the option is there to see the original shots, I have no problem with the concept. Some of the shots are rather well done, and remain in keeping with the vibe of the original show. I thought the same of the TOS effects shots I saw. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/25 "2010-10-02T18:43:00Z")
Now they just need to clean up ST:TNG. I’ve been revisiting the series one disc at a time via Netflix, and even basic things like chroma-keying “outside” visuals into the ship’s windows are chunky-monkey when seen on a large TV. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/26 "2010-10-02T19:25:15Z")
Phase II looks to be about five years behind Babylon 5’s first season. Fun stuff, but it certainly does not look better than the remastered original series. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/27 "2010-10-02T20:22:56Z")
FYI, you can watch the Remastered versions of ST:TOS: Season One (as well as the original version of all three seasons) free on [CBS.com](http://CBS.com). You have to navigate to “Video” and then “TV classics” and then select Star Trek and choose to list “Full Episodes”. The remastered versions are several pages back. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/28 "2010-10-03T19:42:21Z")
I’m a big fan of the remastered episodes - especially since they took such care to make them mostly shot-for-shot identical to the original so the storyline wasn’t modified. No CGI walkie-talkies replacing phasers… It’s true that the CGi isn’t perfect. But you have to remember the constraints the team was operating under here - They had to supply CGI material for 72 hours of programming, in a short period of time and I’m guessing that they had a budget lower than the CGI budget for most 2-hour movies today. I think they did a great job of refreshing the show and making it more accessible to a new audience without changing anything that made the original great. As a bonus, for someone like me who has watched Star Trek since the original series was on the air in its original run and who has seen every episode a dozen times, it’s nice to see something new. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/29 "2010-10-03T21:26:38Z")
So long as they don’t make Greedo shoot at Kirk, it’s okay with me. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/30 "2010-10-03T21:31:41Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Now they just need to clean up ST:TNG. I’ve been revisiting the series one disc at a time via Netflix, and even basic things like chroma-keying “outside” visuals into the ship’s windows are chunky-monkey when seen on a large TV. I rented a few eps on DVD, and my biggest complaint was that on my surround-sound system I could hear the plywood set floors creaking as the actors walked. I don’t think duranium is supposed to make sounds like that. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/31 "2010-10-03T23:20:47Z")
There are rumors of TNG getting the treatment soon. The problem is that even though it was recorded on 35mm film, the special effects were mastered on low-res tape. All special effects would have to be redone. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/32 "2010-10-04T20:59:59Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > There are rumors of TNG getting the treatment soon. The problem is that even though it was recorded on 35mm film, the special effects were mastered on low-res tape. All special effects would have to be redone. Redoing the special effects was the whole point, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/33 "2010-10-05T10:31:55Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > There are rumors of TNG getting the treatment soon. The problem is that even though it was recorded on 35mm film, the special effects were mastered on low-res tape. All special effects would have to be redone. Could they replace Wesley? ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/34 "2010-10-05T13:11:22Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > > [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > > > There are rumors of TNG getting the treatment soon. The problem is that even though it was recorded on 35mm film, the special effects were mastered on low-res tape. All special effects would have to be redone. > > Redoing the special effects was the whole point, I thought. I’m thinking everything was edited on tape too. They have it all on film, but it’s all out of order. For the TOS episdoes, it sounds like they took finished episodes and covered over the old the effects. For TNG, they have to find all of the film, put it in order, then completely redo the special effects for all seven seasons. They’ve done it before though, Generations used a scene from the series and Enterprise used HD footage from a TNG episode. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/35 "2010-10-05T14:01:47Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > > [@TBG](#): > > > > Redoing the special effects was the whole point, I thought. > > I’m thinking everything was edited on tape too. They have it all on film, but it’s all out of order. For the TOS episdoes, it sounds like they took finished episodes and covered over the old the effects. For TNG, they have to find all of the film, put it in order, then completely redo the special effects for all seven seasons. They’ve done it before though, Generations used a scene from the series and Enterprise used HD footage from a TNG episode. That’s correct. TOS was shot and edited on film old-skool style, but TNG was all edited on video. They’d have to reassemble every episode from the original 35mm film shoots, _then_ redo all the effects, most of which were created on video (so there’s no film to start with on the effects shots.) A Herculean effort, but it would be totally, totally rad. Especially if they did DS9 as well. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/36 "2010-10-05T15:04:12Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > > [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > > > There are rumors of TNG getting the treatment soon. The problem is that even though it was recorded on 35mm film, the special effects were mastered on low-res tape. All special effects would have to be redone. > > Could they replace Wesley? Yes, but they’ll be replacing him with Jar Jar Binks. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/37 "2010-10-05T15:32:42Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > > [@BMalion](#): > > > > Could they replace Wesley? > > Yes, but they’ll be replacing him with Jar Jar Binks. Sounds like a Poll question. 🙂 “Is Jar-Jar Binks an improvement over Wesley Crusher?” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/38 "2010-10-05T18:20:08Z")
My fanboy head just asploded. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/39 "2010-10-05T21:10:24Z")
I remember a Season 1 episode where Wesley “grew up” or something. The actor playing adult Wesley should be erased from the film and a modern Wil Wheaton should be edited in. There’s only about 5 episodes from S1 that I care to ever see again though… ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333/40 "2010-10-05T21:25:17Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I remember a Season 1 episode where Wesley “grew up” or something. The actor playing adult Wesley should be erased from the film and a modern Wil Wheaton should be edited in. There’s only about 5 episodes from S1 that I care to ever see again though… You should email that idea to him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-remastered/555333.md?page=3)