US $84.95
To Boldly Go...And Remaster Star Trek
At a time when Star Trek had been rerun so many times that images were dull, scratched and hazy, Paramount/CBS figured it was time to remaster the original series (TOS) by cleaning up the original master prints, increasing the picture quality and re-recording the background music. Then they made the decision to go one better and replace the aging special effects shots with digital CGI animations.
This venture was driven by the appearance of High Definition DVDs in the consumer marketplace. Only a year ago (late 2007), there was an arms escalation between the two competing High-Def formats: HDDVD and Blu-Ray. Neither showed signs of being a clear winner. All that changed early this year 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 investing heavily in HDDVD, invested a sizeable amount of money into the remastering 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. More recent series of Star Trek such as Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Next Generation were all shot on video, an inherently low-to-medium definition, low contrast medium. In addition, Star Trek: The Next Generation especially, was shot using low-contrast lighting that was in vogue at the time. What this means is that it's [very that any of these series will ever appear in high definition on Blu-Ray. It wouldn't surprise me if TOS 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 definition. The original 4:3 aspect ratio has been retained and the images are exceptionally crisp and clean. Contrast has been boosted somewhat so images have more punch. The only downside I can see 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 was what's called a Combo - 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 ago, series one of the Remastered Star Trek was made available 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. If you already have a copy of the previously released version of the series on DVD (without remastered special effects and music), is there any reason to buy yet another edition of Star Trek?
For me, having grown up watching the series, I just had to get the HDDVD version. I was more interested in image quality and the show looking as clean and pristine as it did straight out of the camera in the 1960s. I was a little dubious about the new effects 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 drawing you further into each episode.
All the FX were created inhouse by CBS (who now own the TV rights). While, for the most part, they've done an outstanding job, a few ship effects look more like cheaply rendered CGI rather than like a real ship. The company that did the effects for Enterprise~I believe the company that created the effects for Enterprise were originally slated to create the Star Trek Remastered FX but they turned out to be too expensive and so CBS did the effects inhouse instead.
The thing that makes the remastered series so great 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 background music has been re-recorded completely, but apart from it now being crystal clear (and in 5.1 Dolby Digital) you'd never know it. Effects 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 the Enterprise as it orbited a planet? They're gone. And Fuzzy images? They're a thing of the past. The colors are brighter, the shadows are deeper and Star Trek has never looked so beautiful.
As I mentioned 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. All the work has been carried out by people who love the series; and it shows. 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 it's hard to find a 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.
Star Trek Communicator Cellphone - Rare Prototype
