Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Star Trek remastered

by Rob - October 1st, 2006.
Filed under: Uncategorized.

Well, I got to see one of the sexed-up Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, with new CGI effects. It was “The Naked Time,” certainly one of the best episodes. There were a number of nice touches — Scotty’s phaser cutting through the engineering bulkhead now has a visible beam; the PSI 2000 research station is now visible in the establishing shot of the snow-clad surface of the planet, the chronometer running backward on the bridge is now a nifty digital display instead of mechanical spinning numbers.

But I’m not sure what I thought of the CGI spaceship shots. They actually looked like CGI to me (as opposed to the CGI shots added to the Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which still looked like filmed miniatures); there was something flat, and too vivid, about the look (at least on my 50-inch monitor).

Overall, though, I’m certainly intrigued enough to want to watch another one of the updated episodes.

One depressing thing was the advertisements that ran with this episode of STAR TREK, on WNLO in Buffalo, New York: bogus herbal supplements for penile enhancement and weight loss, dubious debt-consolidation services, and so on; it looks like advertisers think the demographic for the enhanced ST:TOS consists of suckers …

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