From: Kyle Nin (SoSF Staff Reporter)
Word on the scifi street is Paramount may be getting ready to do a facelift on Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS), which stars the gang who started it all…Captain James Tiberius Kirk and crew. The rumor-mill is a-flutter over the idea that CBS Paramount has a secret plan to put it back on the small screen after it is given a big CGI makeover.
The Trek Movie Report is claiming that they have it, on the authority of a trusted insiders, that CBS Paramount will soon be offering up a HDTV enhanced version of the Original Series with new state-of-the art CGI visual effects.
At this time it is still rumor and the details are a little sketchy at best, but according to sources, the bulk of shows will be as originally shot, with the new effects limited to the space sequences and the opening credits. TrekMovie.com is also making the bold statement that some of the original musical score for the much-loved television show will be redone as well.
Of course, since this is still speculation there is no word yet on if or when the enhanced series will be available on DVD, BluRay, or HD-DVD, or when they will appear in broadcast syndication.
This interests me (for a couple of reasons). More than just the concept of updating the SFX of the original series, what I find most compelling is the thought that Paramount would be willing to go to these lengths for a 40-year old television show. Could this really be a prelude to prepare fans for the new movie? Previous “rumored reports” have stated that the new movie could be a reboot. If that were so, then why bother spending the time, talent, resources and money going back to “update” the original series if they were planing on ignoring it altogether with a reboot? If this CGI update of TOS turns out to be more than just internet hype, I’m seeing this as a possible indication that Star Trek: XI may not be a reboot and will fit into the overall established Trek storyline and canon afterall.
I think an HDTV edition could be a good thing. As long as they don’t pull a complete Lucas and have a Klingon throw the first punch instead of Scotty in “Trouble with Tribbles”.
I also agree that it’s either a reboot or it’s not. You can’t spend money on sprucing up the originals and then throw it all out with a “new” Star Trek universe.
Check out the Star Trek TOS “Doomsday Machine” CGI update on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HSYC6Wlbv8. It was done as a test in the early 1990s, so the CGI is not state of the art. Still, I think that it enhances the drama.
The idea of revising TOS in this way sets a terrible precedent. It is an alteration of the creator’s original vision simply to pander to the tastes of a modern audience. When Ted Turner tried to colorize all those old B&W movies in the 1980s it took a tearful statement from Orson Welles in defence of Citizen Kane to stop that awful trend in the bud (though it recently reared its ugly head again with some DVD releases of old TV shows).
As a novelty, OK fine I’ll go along with that. But the rumors are these “improved” TOS episodes will replace the originals in terms of syndication and eventual high-def format release. I don’t want that to happen and will not support it if it does. I am personally boycotting these altered films — much as I have boycotted the altered Star Wars original trilogy — and I urge people to do the same. Don’t let the “gee whiz that’s cool!” factor sway you — think about the big picture.
You have to understand though that Lucas refuses to clean up and release the original editions, and insists that the Special Editions are the only versions. Paramount has already cleaned up and released the original versions of the Original Series TWICE. Just before I told a friend about the updated Trek, he told me that he would watch TOS if the special effects weren’t so cheesy. If they’re trying to make Trek cool in preparation for XI, it seems to be working.
Relax
all the involved producers have said there will be NO CHANGES to the episode structures even leaving the obvious costume zippers showing in the HiDef versions as in the original. In fact CBS Paramount Domestic Television President John Nogawski made it very clear that they too ‘painstaking’ efforts to match the original show shot for shot, edit for edit, defeating a lot of buzz of upgrading the show.
There will be NO NEW space ship shots that were NOT in the original such as popularized from the widely popular Enhanced version of “Doomsday Machine” viewable at
wwww.trekenhanced.com
This is really ONLY a clean up for HiDef, NOT a change over.