Source: TV Guide
To mark the 40th anniversary of Star Trek’s TV debut, John Nogawski, President of CBS Paramount Domestic Television, and visual-effects producers Dave Rossi and Michael Okuda held a Wednesday conference call with reporters. The hot topic, of course, was the digital remastering of, and CGI enhancements being made to, the original series.
The highlights, in brief:
• CGI tweaks are being made to both the full- and syndicated-length versions of all 79 episodes, and in both standard and 16:9 formats.
• Ranging in number from 15 to 70 per episode, the CGI enhancements at most amount to “maybe a minute and a half” in screen time.
• There will be no plot modifications made along the way, akin to E.T. replacing rifles with walkie-talkies.
• The original original series will continue airing on G4 and TV Land for “a year or two,” until remastering/CGI work is completed on all 79 episodes. The enhanced episodes start airing Sept. 16 on over-the-air syndication; check TVGuide.com listings or StarTrek.com for channels/times as that date nears.
• Though the changes are being made with an eye to HDTV broadcasts, many of the 200-plus syndicating stations are simply not equipped to air the “new” Trek in that format. Still, the 4:3 standard version is promised to be “unbelievably gorgeous.”
• J.J. Abrams’ big-screen revisiting of Star Trek played no role in the decision to update the series. (And to the best of Nogawski’s knowledge, a completed Trek film script does not yet exist.)
• As best as I could surmise, Raven Snook, there are no plans to do any such things as giving tribbles eyes and teeth.
Well that sounds like a large relief. Somewhere in the back of my head I was thinking “Great, Lucas does Star Trek, the Special Edition” or somesuch. I’m still a little weary of the CGI enhancements to the fight sequences . . . there’s a certain hokey charm about the old stuff . . . but this helps set aside some of my fears.
Crud, it’s going to be on the G4 network. 🙁
no, check your listings. Here in seattle it’s on the UPN, CW, WB…whatever the hell it is.
I got it on my ABC affiliate.
I was pleased to see that the enhancements were subtle. I could see some differences, such as the planet in the opening, but I noticed little difference in the Enterprise.
I got little chills when I heard the opening bars of the theme.