Original Star Trek Getting CGI Makeover

Tony Pascale writes "Star Trek is the latest sci-fi classic to get the CGI 'special edition' treatment. According to rumors picked up by TrekMovie.com, CBS and Paramount have been secretly working on a new version of Star Trek: The Original Series for HDTV. The shows will feature the original episodes with brand new state-of-the-art CGI visual effects, including a a redone title sequence (with re-recorded music). The effects are likely to be limited to the space scenes and not effect the live action scenes, so Edith Keeler will not shoot first. The HDTV Star Trek series will begin broadcasting this fall just in time for the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek."

history repeating itself

[motorsabbath]

Morons. Guess they didn't learn from the Star Wars debacle. Never, ever, ever fool around with the originals.

interesting idea, my favorite ...

[boxlight]

This is an interesting idea. My favorite bits from the later Star Trek series were the times they showed the original enterprise in re-done FX -- the DS9 "tribbles" episode, the "mirror universe" episodes of ENTERPRISE.

I love the original series as is, but this would be a neat reason to re-watch them.

boxlight

Re:history repeating itself

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Morons. Guess they didn't learn from the Star Wars debacle.

I'm guessing they learned that fans will line up to be fleeced even while they complain about the originals being spoilt.

*sighs* if people put their money where their mouth was, we wouldn't have to put up with this shit.

Re:history repeating itself

[saboola]

George Lucas made a ton of cash from re-releasing the original trilogy in theatres. What exactly do they have to learn from "the Star Wars debacle"? Oh, thats right, there's a ton of money to be had in re-releasing old stuff with new graphics.

Re:history repeating itself

[supabeast!]

"Guess they didn't learn from the Star Wars debacle."

Do you mean the Star Wars debacle that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales and sold tens of millions of videocassettes and DVDs? If they're going to learn anything from that, it's that pissing off whiny SciFi geeks is an easy way to get free publicity.

Six Words Of Warning:

[Hellburner]

Do NOT fuck with the Gorn.

If I see anything other than that rubber suit with irridescent eyes that terrified me when I was eight, I swear I will burn my Starfleet Academy underpants.

I don't want to see any crap like that goofy thing wrestling with mirror-Archer.

And nobody crack wise about me burning the underpants with me in them.

"Can you fashion a rudimentary lathe?"

Re:history repeating itself

[Canthros]

Unless you are a king hell dork, I think the enhanced special effects mostly went over well. Speaking as a dork, anyway, the only complaints I had surrounded things that were changed in the plot of the films.

Leave. It. Alone.

[Penguinisto]

Cripes - half the fun of watching old sci-fi (hell, half the fun of reading it too) involves the whole attempt at special effects given for that period in time. It gives an intelligent viewer as much insight into things at that time which are incidental --but just as important-- as how they thought about the future. The visuals are a vital part of that. Sure, it's cardboard and glue (and small plastic models on fishing line), but that's just as important to the stories, written right at the same time, as the story itself.

Seriously - leave it alone so that anyone in the distant future who stumbles across it can actually learn about the ones who wrote it. While Trek isn't exactly a classic like, oh, something by H.G. Wells, it may someday become something akin to a classic, given its popularity. We can learn a lot about Wells' time and society from our century-plus future vantage point by reading the stories and seeing period sketches and prints illustrating it, if possible. Sure, it's not exactly eye candy, but it's worth it.

/P

Re:And in other news...

[GundamFan]

That's funny I was under the impression that all the blood and violence would be edited out and the shark would be replaced with a Radio taped to a flashlight.

This new 8 disk box set will include the new 20 minute feature and 5 days of Spielberg rabling about various topics.

Crushed childhoods not included for those under the age of 25.

Re:Obligatory

[BVis]

Because new things aren't guaranteed box office. Rehashing previously marketable ideas is far safer.

After all, it's about money, not entertainment.

But don't blame the Hollywood establishment, blame the viewing public for paying over and over to see the same hackneyed ideas and insultingly shallow plots.

Re:Remakes?

[Jerf]

Because the evidence suggests that they are incapable of a good new series.

Noooo!!... ohhh who the hell cares??

[Zerbey]

I mean, why not... let's be honest you WILL watch it just for curiousity even if you hate it. At least it's not Enterprise.

HDTV Star Trek sounds cool to me anyway.

Easily explained.

[porkchop_d_clown]

Picard was French and British. Kirk was American. What did you expect?

Re:And in other news...

[Frobisher]

Real sharks would be more scary than CGI ones. This scene from Attenborough's Planet Earth [youtube.com] proves that.

Not wholly true

[SuperKendall]

I have to say that while most special effects enhacements were good, the one thing I really didn't like was the ring explosions around both Death Stars. It was right around the time that particular effect was all the rage in games, and it leaked into my movies... it's a sphere, make it explode like a sphere. To me the original explosions seemed more real.

Not to mention the lens flare. Lot's 'o lens flare! Get some better coatings on those virtual lenses, boys.

Re:And in other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

I also eagerly await the repaired version of "It's a Wonderful Life" with flashback sequences by the CGI geniuses behind '13 Ghosts' and a Tim Burton soundtrack. It's a shame Capra had such poor tools to work his craft, but we brilliant moderns can fix it with technology. It should easily polish to the standard of 2000's 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.

Re:Obligatory

[BVis]

Maybe the current generation of TV viewers deserves something original rather than a rehash of a forty-year old series. Maybe fans of the original series don't like being told the series that they knew and loved is now considered broken because it's too old.
Maybe the cheesy effects were part of what made it great. (See old Dr. Who episodes for a better illustration.)

Next thing you know, they'll want to go back and "fix" The Wizard of Oz because the effects are too "primitive" and the studio "wants to update it to reflect the director's vision." (Nevermind that five directors worked on it at various times because the studio kept firing them for doing their jobs.)

Or they'll go back and "fix" 2001 because the Clarke/Kubrick book included Saturn and the end sequence was cheesy (no matter how ground-breaking.)

Come to think of it, they'll have an easier time with those because the directors are dead and can't object to their masterpieces being whored out to line the studios' pockets.

It's over, let it go

[Ardipithecus]

Wired -> Tired -> Expired (long ago)

Ferris Bueller: "It's over, go home"

Shatner: "Grow up"

Cheesy, the engines at the edge of exploding, the butt-in-everything Dr., Spock puzzled by human behavior, the pompous Kirk. Plzzzzzz. A /.er can generate scripts for this thing w a Palm Pilot.

My favorite repeating foolishness, is the highest ranking folks being the ones going first into any danger. Like in Iraq, where Rummy and Cheney heloed in with the Seals. And how often did Bush fistfight Saddam?

And the new crewman, that you know with bullseyes front and back.

The Nomad episode was the worst of all, "... the declarations of the moons of (Moronia?) ..." ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

To end w a quote from Mick Jagger: "I just can't seem to drink it, off my mind"

I'm really touched that they're fixing this, but..

[lordandrei]

Personally, I'm of the school that Science Fiction is a vehicle to tell the "Human Story." This is why shows like "Twilight Zone" were so powerful despite the lack of Effects. I will be far more rivitted by Billy Mumy putting bad people in the corn field than the kid in the "Twilight Zone Movie" playing cartoon games.

If you really want to make some good special editions that fix films that are lacking the oomph...

I'd start with fixing the story in Matrix 2&3 and rewriting Star Wars 1, 2, and 3.

Just my 0.016 Euro.

Re:Obligatory

[arth1]

One thing is whether the artist should have control over his works.
Another thing entirely is whether the marketing company should have these rights.

In some countries, certain rights of the artists are inalienable. I think this is a good thing.