Star Trek - the original series - I am watching it again right now.

I have been watching the original Star Trek series again. This is the remastered version with the new special effects. To me, the shows look really good, and I had forgotten how much I liked some of the stories. Right now I am in the first season, and I just watched Court Martial. The story about the Galileo 7 where Spock takes command really benefits from the new effects, and the story about him taking command is well done. I am looking forward to viewing the rest of the series again.

 

Just doing the same with some I've been lent. If one is given to liking TOS at all, the new versions are something of a revelation, at least in terms of making the production design, color & sets etc, work for me. The color can be dazzling. The new effects I'm mixed on and the new sound mix gets carried away here and there, but the superior film transfer and video mastering makes a significant difference to me. Thank goodness they filmed it on 35mm and kept the elements.

So far, the one which saw the most benefit for me is Metamorphosis. Huge jump in atmosphere with the color and set designs better rendered. A couple others that stood out to me as gaining a lot from the superior resolution, color and contrast quality are Devil in the Dark and Conscience of the King, for similar reasons. The shows are more easily involving this way.

 

Some episodes benefit from the new effects while others don't and they are distracting. "Galleo 7", "The Doomsday Machine" (in particular) benefit from the new visual effects. The latter because the original effects work varied from good to poor. The scale has also been corrected for "The Doomsday Machine" where the sacale of the shuttle craft wasn't correct to the size of the weapon and to the Constellation (or Enterprise) when they are being sucked in.

 

I just watched Court Martial on DVD.

Darryl

 

I picked up season 1 on Blu-Ray a couple of years ago. I grew up with ST-TOS but haven't watched any episodes in a couple of decades. I forgot how psychedelically colored the Enterprise was. Engineering was lit up in purple light, other areas of the ship in different colored lights. I wish newer versions of ST would have done that.

Now don't get me started with the miniskirt uniforms....

 

One of my least favourite episodes. With the exception of Spock and Scotty, the whole damn lot of them would have been court-martialled. McCoy in particular was appalling in this episode.

And don't forget to look for Uhura pointing and laughing at the funny alien with the pointy ears as the end credits begin to roll.

 

Sisko: In the old days, operations officers wore red, command officers wore gold...
Jadzia Dax: And women wore LESS.

 

I have the three Blu-ray sets and have watched every episode, many of which I had never seen before (I was in Africa when this was broadcast originally, and I didn't see them all in reruns).

I confess, I've never been a big fan of the series. Watching these sets I liked them a bit more, but still thought it was a series that doesn't match up to all the hype around it.

 

While I tolerate the updated special effects, I still prefer the originals. The show is a time capsule of the way things were in the '60s, so having modern CGI to me, stands out like a sore thumb. I prefer the way it was.

Harry

 

I love the old cheezy effects. Still amazing to see what creative people can do when they have no budget. The updated episodes look good, but they kinda miss the point. It's not about the special effects it's about the story.

 

I am working my way through it again also. I finished Arena last night. I usually watch all three seasons a couple of times a year.

 

Darryl

 

I actually believe that the new special affects enhance the story.

 

I actually prefer the enhanced effects and audio also. It isn't like a stupid CGI song and dance number was added in the middle of Amok Time.

 

Amen to that. I have no nostalgia for the newly-added VFX, but I do remember how bad the stuff looked in the 1960s. And actually for that era -- remember, this was pre-2001 for the most part -- the effects were spectacular for 1960s TV. Nobody had seen work this good back then. Nowadays, everybody is accustomed to pretty much flawless work, so it's hard to remember how things were 40-45 years ago.

 

Actually the show was a pretty expensive one for network TV at the time.

The good news is that with the Blu-ray you can watch it with either the original or new visual effects. There are some that benefit from the new visual effects, some less so.

I do think that those who did the new CGI effects did a tasteful job. The old visuals were effective at times and sometimes less so.

Depends on the episode. Some needed them and some it didn't really matter.

 

I've also been watching the new TOS via Netflix. I think the episodes look incredible. I like the new effects. I started viewing them via Netflix Blu-Rays, but am now satisfied to stream them. One cool feature of the Blu-Ray, though, is switching between the old and new effects with the remote's angle button.

 

Like you, Chris, I find the higher resolution of blu-rays for Star Trek and almost everything else more involving emotionally and dramatically.

I know we've done this before, but can anyone list their 3 favorite episodes from each season, starting with season 1? Here's a list....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_episodes

 

3? How about double, so covering the majority of my favs...

Season 1

1. City on the Edge of Forever
2. Devil in the Dark
3. A Taste of Armageddon
4. Dagger of the Mind
5. The Man Trap
6. Balance of Terror

Season 2

1. Mirror, Mirror
2. The Trouble With Tribbles
3. Amok Time
4. The Doomsday Machine
5. Journey to Babel
6. Metamorphosis

Season 3

1. The Enterprise Incident
2. Wink of an Eye
3. The Cloud Minders
4. The Tholian Web
5. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
6. The Mark of Gideon

 

I always like how attractive some of the one off female characters were, some of them were gorgeous.

 

While my old-fashioned, stick-to-the-originals philosophy above still holds, nevertheless, I was just coerced to pull the trigger on the complete set of STAR TREK TOS on Blu-Ray. Amazon seems to have a pretty good deal for the entire series at $129.99, a Cyber-Monday thing?

Amazon link: ST:TOS, today only?

Harry

 

Why the reservations? From what I gather, the Blu-Ray does contain the option to watch them in their original forms.

 

True. And I was (pleasantly) surprised with the portrayal of the one-off female character in Dagger of the Mind.

 

I know. That's why I decided to act. The fact that both are represented is a good thing for me. Until now, I was happy with the original season DVD sets. They've served well.

But knowing that they could look better on Blu got me to act, especially at a price of around a buck-and-a-half per episode. I was really happy with THE PRISONER on Blu-ray; hopefully the STAR TREK's will be as good.

Harry

 

I think you'll be blown away by the image on the Blu-ray set.

I watched a few episodes with new effects and really wasn't impressed. I prefer to watch the original effects, but the new ones are there. Could have left then off and made all the extra stuff ("Next week") etc. that were not hi-def hi-def.