If you, like me, can't resist watching the original Star Trek when it pops up on your television, then you are in luck. Startrek.com is reporting that the original series is being remastered in HD to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the series. Along with the shiny new digital transfer from the original film, the episodes will also be receiving new CGI effects to replace many of the original 60's tech shots. The sound of the series gets the digital upgrade as well, including Shatner's timeless opening monologue. No word on whether or not they are going to remove all of those pauses in his speech...The new episodes will start airing in syndication on September 16th. For the whole scoop on what's new and different, go check out the list.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-01-2006 @ 2:11PM
Scott H said...
I'm not sure if this is going to work, or be like George Lucas's "special editions". (Plus, if they're squeezing them into an hour-long slot, they're chopping away something like 7 minutes of show time from the uncut episodes.) But I am intrigued...
Anyone know where there's a list of which stations will be showing it? I know it's the weekly syndicated version, not the TV Land or G4 versions, but I don't know where to check if there's one in my area.
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9-01-2006 @ 2:32PM
Brett said...
Scott, startrek.com has a where to watch page that you can customize for your location that will tell you what stations are playing the syndicated episodes. It will require you to make an account on the site. You can find it at http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/watch/index.html
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9-01-2006 @ 4:06PM
Scott H said...
Thanks, Brett. I'm curious, but not curious enough to go through startrek.com's rather lengthy signup page, or to give my e-mail address to yet another site. I'll just wait a few days until the data gets sent to my TiVo, and look for it then.
For more on this subject, on his blog, Matt Zoller Seitz, a TV critic for the New Jersy paper The Star-Ledger, has a well-thought-out piece on why this digital updating is a really lousy idea. I tend to agree with him.
http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2006/09/amok-time-facelifting-star-trek.html
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9-01-2006 @ 4:08PM
Scott H said...
BTW, I do know how to spell "New Jersey" -- I was born there, and lived there for the first 16 years of my life. I just made a typo in my comment; I wish we had an editing feature here.
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9-02-2006 @ 1:58PM
Codex said...
Will the Tribbles shoot first this time?
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9-03-2006 @ 12:36AM
erroneous_nick said...
I bet Uhura is going to lose that funky earpiece in favor of some stylin' cell phone. Seriously, I'd be interested in seeing a few episodes as a curiousity, but I like the original as it is. I think, just like the Star Wars reworkings, it's more a matter of generating funds easily without all the trouble of having to be truly imaginative and create something new.
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9-05-2006 @ 9:49PM
Kevin said...
Personally I like this idea. I realize why some people don't. But despite all the good work the crew did in the sixties, they would have done things much differently if NBC had given them a better budget. But there's no reason to get upset over this, the old versions won't simply disappear, or get locked up for many years. These will simply allow a new generation spoiled by modern day effects to watch them.
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9-06-2006 @ 12:38PM
erroneous_nick said...
Good point, Kevin. It's easy to find younger Trek fans who say the original isn't very good, but that's probably because of the dated effects and props. I've even tried to convince some that if the original Trek was so bad, we wouldn't be here discussing all the subsequent iterations of the franchise. Hopefully these revised versions will bring some of them around, but I still like my old trek "old". Guess it comes with the wrinkles and greying hair!
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9-08-2006 @ 9:51AM
Bob said...
Per my local station which will be showing the remastered Star Trek TOS, it is NOT in HD.
The engineer at KWGN cut-and-pasted the following reply from CBS-Paramount:
"No, the information your engineer has is incorrect. Star Trek will not be delivered in HD. Some changes have been made to the series to improve the special affects and to clean it up."
I wish it was in HD, but it's not.
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9-06-2006 @ 8:42PM
Brett said...
The devil is in the details. The series has been remastered in HD, at least according to the official star trek site, as linked in the post. They say:
"The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD."
So it appears that stations aren't yet broadcasting the new episodes in HD, but they are HD ready. Either that, or two parts of the company have no idea what each other are doing.
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9-14-2006 @ 1:38PM
Derek said...
I just think it's a great Idea, I 've seen a few short clips and from what I can tell they paid lots of attention and respect to the origional cut... I'm looking forward to seeing it,, but I live in eastern Canada,,, I can't find it anywhere in the fall line up,, I been to Startrek.com and I've signed up and logged in.... they dont's show any TV listing for Eastern Canada.. if anyone knows where and when I can watch it.... Please let me know. Thanks, Derek in Newfoundland, Canada
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