A Fan’s Perspective on the Remastered Star Trek
At a time when Star Trek had been aired so many times that prints were dull, scratched and hazy, Paramount/CBS came to the conclusion that it was time to remaster the original series (TOS) by restoring the original master negatives, boosting the picture quality and re-recording the background music. Then they decided to take a step futher and replace the old FX shots with digital CGI effects.
This venture was spurred on by the appearance of High Definition DVDs in the consumer marketplace. A year ago (late 2007), there was all-out war between the two competing High-Def formats: HDDVD and Blu-Ray. Neither side seemed to appeal more than the other to the consumer. All that changed in February 2008 when Warner Bros. finally decided to exclusively support the Blu-ray format.
The weapon that HDDVD had up its sleeve, though, was the release of the remastered series one of TOS. Toshiba, who were backing HDDVD, put a lot of money into the Star Trek project and the release of the remastered TOS series was heavily advertised.
TOS was all shot on film which is inherently a high-definition, high-contrast medium. Lighting techiniques like those used in movies at the time were also used. Later series of Star Trek such as Deep Space Nine, Next Generation and Voyager were all recorded on video, an inherently low-to-medium definition, non-high-contrast medium. In addition, Next Generation in particular, was filmed using a flat lighting that was in vogue at the time. The upshot is that it’s not very likely that any of these series will ever be released in high definition on Blu-Ray. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Original Series does make an appearance on Blu-Ray at some point in the future.
Impressions of Star Trek Remastered
Well, first off, it looks stunning in High Def. The 4:3 aspect ratio has been retained and the images are exceedingly clean and crisp. Images have more punch due to the somewhat boosted contrast. If there is a downside, it is the common criticism levelled at high-def: too much detail is apparent! For instance on the HDDVD you can see the zippers on the cast’s shirts.
The HDDVD release featured a High-Definition version on one side and standard definition on the other side (so it plays in a normal DVD player). Both sides have a good set of extras with little material being repeated.
Now the rest of this review will look at the standard definition DVD releases of the remastered series.
A few months back, series one of the Remastered Star Trek was released in a standard DVD edition. in the meantime, the second series has been released and the third series of TOS will be available in November. For those who already own the previously released version of the series on DVD (without remastered special effects and music), is there a reason to acquire yet another edition of Trek?
Since i grew up watching the series, getting the HDDVD version was a must. I was more interested in image quality and the show looking as pristine as it did straight out of the camera in the 1960s. I have to admit to being a little dubious about the new CGI replacing old ship and other FX shots and how intrusive they would be. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The effects do make the show even better, giving it a more immersive quality and lending a more realistic feel to the alien landscapes.
All the effects shots were done inhouse by CBS (who now own the rights to the TV series). While, for the most part, they’ve done an outstanding job, some ship effects look more like cheaply rendered CGI rather than like a real ship. The company that did the effects for Enterprise were originally considered to create the Star Trek Remastered FX but they turned out to be too expensive and so CBS did the FX inhouse instead.
The thing that makes the remastered series so enjoyable is that they aren’t trying to alter or re-imagine the episodes (for better or worse). There’s no “look at what we can do” attitude here. Instead what they’ve done is clean the show up and presented it exactly as it was originally meant to be, musical note for note, shot for shot. The musical score has been completely re-recorded, but aside from the fact that it’s now crystal clear (and in 5.1 Dolby Digital) you’d never know it. FX shots of the ship have been redone with CGI, but it’s hard to tell any difference (except on rare occassions), and it now looks brilliant instead of worn out, washed out and incredibly grainy. The new FX fit seamlessly amongst the original live-action footage. Remember those black matte lines, especially around ships orbiting planets? They’re gone. And Fuzzy prints? They are also a thing of the past. The colors are brighter, the shadows are deeper and Star Trek has never looked as stunning.
Like I said earlier, I was dubious about a version of Star Trek that replaced spacecraft models with computer generated images or tampered with the originally recorded musical compositions. But what they’ve done here is so faithful, that there’s nothing that you can do but applaud their efforts. It’s obvious that the work has been carried out by people who love the series. It’s just a pity it’s not being put to better use. Paramount has declined to broadcast this new version in high-def, even though they now have the capability to do it. Combine that with how difficult they’re making it to see it on cable and satellite, and I just don’t see any reason for bothering with it on television.
Better to beam this pristine version of one of TV’s most loved and classic shows onto DVD at warp speed. And if you bought into HDDVD and don’t have the Remastered HDDVD, pick that one up instead. You won’t be disappointed.