I’ve been a big Star Trek fan ever since I watched the Original Series re-runs as a kid. There is something to be said about great stories: they don’t need to wrapped in a lot of hi-tech special effects in order for them to work well.
The original series has been released on DVD before, but a new, remastered version was released a couple of years ago. The remastered edition took its time getting to Netflix, but it’s available now on the rental service. I received the first two discs of the first season a few days ago.
I had mixed feelings about the remaster project when I first heard about it. That was mostly because I was under the impression that Paramount was going to keep the footage otherwise the same, except add some redone special effects sequences. My concern was that those new sequences would look completely out of place next to the grainy old footage.
Luckily, they didn’t stop there. In addition to the new CGI clips, the original footage has been cleaned up and enhanced. The details on the actors’ faces look much more high-definition now, and in general the scenes look more detailed and, well, better.
The only gripe I have is that actors who were not originally in the episodes have reportedly been added to the backgrounds of some scenes. That’s likely getting some Star Trek purists pretty ticked off.
Nevertheless, having watched several remastered episodes, I can at the very least be thrilled about the fact that the best component of the show – the writing – has remained just as heart-warming and exciting.
Mika Salakka is a Finn living in the United States. He is a nursing assistant, a creative writer, a devoted husband, and an observer of the human condition. His interests range from music and literature to psychology, sociology, medicine, technology, and spirituality.
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I hadn’t heard the part about extras being added into scenes. It is interesting to see the Enterprise exteriors and other things from space redone by CGI, and you’re right that overall, the footage looks much better.
Part of me, though, stubbornly enjoys the rough keys of the special effects shots as they looked in 1967 and being able to occasionally see mattes and other artifacts that the viewer was never supposed to be able to see.
I don’t hate the redone version by any means, but the original definitely has its charms.
I like the old effects. There was much ingenuity behind those special effects, and I think they ought to be viewed as they were. I do think it’s nice that they improved the image quality in general though. I wish they had done just that, but left the effects alone.