Digitally Enhanced TOS causing outrage...

toomevara

Where do you stand on the new tweaked TOS? Alot of very unhappy people out there..as for me, I say leave well enough alone, i still can't bear watching the 'enhanced' Star Wars flicks...Is nothing sacred?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2351954,00.html

Johnny Storm

IMHO it's a bit hard to have an opinion on something that no one has seen yet?

On the face of it, it seems like a good idea to me. I'm looking forward to seeing for myself.

mcgarnicle

I think it's great news. I've always wanted to get into TOS as I'm a huge fan of all the other series but I was always put off by the horrible effects that made it impossible to get into the show. Hopefully these changes will make it easier to suspend my disbelief.

bizmark

If it turns out well im happy its quite hard to get into tos due to the frankly laughable effects

User45701

TOS is great and i was actually thinking of watching ballence of terror today but i decided to wait for the remasterd version cant wait it shall be kool Ballence of Terror was ne of the best episodes of trek

Slice

For fans anything that resuscitates interest in the franchise is a good thing, some fans are just too thick to appreciate this to put it bluntly. It's not like they're contradicting anything that has gone before.

Praetorian

It's causing outrage with some very silly people. If you don't approve of the enhancments, then for gods sake don't watch the episodes.

The enhancments will be appreciated by a lot of star trek fans. The integrity of the show will be intact, and the enhancments will open TOS to a new audience who wouldn't have sat through the 40 year old special effects

Johnny Storm

The ship hits the fans

Looks OK so far!

Johnny Storm

I am so very disappointed in my "American cousins". I hope they don't think they'll be getting a Christmas card from me this year!

robnubis

Well in the end, this doesnt affect the original series in anyway, there will always be the un-touched crappy special effects version of TOS.

The thing with star wars was, that Lucas denied access to the ORIGINAL non 1997/2004 versions of Star Wars until the last few months, which was the problem.

But with this, its only being done as something to attract interest to a new generation, the old generation can still watch the episodes the way they were 40 years ago, they arent being subjected to flashy newer special editions like Star Wars fans were.

bizmark

Iv seen a few screen captures of in a mirror darkly and i have to say im not overjoyed the enterprise doesn’t look even half as nice as the defiant from star trek enterprise it far to cartoony.So now when i look at those screenshots i just think "crap cgi" where as when i looked at the old tos i just thought to myself that they did well with the budget and technology of the time.

A wasted opportunity imho.

BlitzKrieg

is it just enhancing visuals, or is it going the lucas route and *enchancing* the plot as well?

bizmark

BlitzKrieg wrote:

is it just enhancing visuals, or is it going the lucas route and *enchancing* the plot as well?

Just the visuals and even then they arent really being changed just updated no effect shot has been altered in plot from what they where in the non updated tos......if you know what i mean ;/

BlitzKrieg

as long as the dvds of them have an option to watch either the enhanced version or the original version (the flaw in the star wars release) then i have no problem with this.

Johnny Storm

BlitzKrieg wrote:

is it just enhancing visuals, or is it going the lucas route and *enchancing* the plot as well?

Most of the criticism I have seen from people who have actually seen it is that the enhancements dont go far enough and are actually too reverential of the original. Can win 'em all I suppose.

Johnny Storm

Our "American cousins" have finally redeemed themselves. Oh yeah!

J.R.HARTLEY

mcgarnicle wrote:

I think it's great news. I've always wanted to get into TOS as I'm a huge fan of all the other series but I was always put off by the horrible effects that made it impossible to get into the show. Hopefully these changes will make it easier to suspend my disbelief.

if the effects are all your interested in you won't get TOS anyway as it was never about effects. and with all shatners "acting" how could it be the effects that put you off

Johnny Storm

J.R.Hartley - personally and this is just my opinion, I think Shatners acting in the TV eps of TOS is generally quite good. IMHO its only in the later movies that he gets into unfortunate self-parody.

As regards the enhanced TOS Balance of Terror, I have seen it now and I have to say that IMHO it really is a bit of a wasted opportunity. The phasers and explosions look a bit better, the Bird of Prey looks quite good, but the motions of the Enterprise are exactly the same as the original.

Example: "Sarak" self-destructs the Romulan ship. This results in him throwing himself around his bridge while the lights get real bright. Surely it would have been really easy to add in an external shot of the Warbird exploding? This would have added to the moment and looked really spectacular while in no way being unfaithful to the original. But no, they stick 100% rigidly to what was in the original.
Another example: the Enterprise shoots its phasers in a depth-charge style way at several times during the ep. In the original the same shot is used each time, presumably cos it was cheaper that way. They do the exact same thing in the enhanced version. Again IMHO it would have added something and been easy to have a slightly different shot for each time the "enhanced" phasers are fired and I imagine it wouldn't cost that much either. I mean using the same shot over and over looks really hokey, IMHO much worse than the original phaser effect looked.
So why bother?

Have to say that the music did sound noticeably better.

TVDX

I wouldn't worry too much about the new effects if you find them a problem.
We will still eventually get the remastered HD versions of TOS episodes with the original effects intact.
Maybe even two versions of an episode on the HD-DVD's of the series when they finally come out so you can choose to have the effects enhanced if you like.

Goodshape

I watched Balance of Terror there last week, watching Devil in the Dark just now.

Balance of Terror is an absolutely brilliant episode anyway, and I've found myself craving for any original Trek recently so these 'Enhanced Editions' couldn't have come at a better time for me.

Have to disagree with Johnny Storm though. I really appreciated the fact that they stayed so faithful to the original FX. They're not throwing Dewbacks and digital extras in where they aren't needed, or changing that line to conform with sensibilities that didn't exist when the show was made, instead what you see is almost just like it was 40 years ago.. just cleaner, sharper and [arguably] better.

There's nothing wrong with the original (ie. unenhanced) trek, but I'm willing to bet the dust, scratches and 'strings' (wobble etc.) of the ship would have been all too apparent in a HD version. Cleaning all that up is the most important thing they've done here.

(and nothing at all wrong with Shatners acting in TOS. In fact, most of the acting in the show is spot-on, imo)

mcgarnicle

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

if the effects are all your interested in you won't get TOS anyway as it was never about effects. and with all shatners "acting" how could it be the effects that put you off

It may not be about the effects but I can't appreciate the rest of it when all I can think of is how **** it looks. As for acting, the quality of acting is something I've never been bothered by in anything.

Johnny Storm

Looks like the FX enhancing guys got a bit more adventurous with this one. Trailer