Star Trekkin' - Page 3

Well, for the record, I wouldn't have sex with a dude just because he got implants to enlarge his manboobs.

Nice. Have some tranya.

I actually read the book where Q gives Mitchell his powers -- for some reason, which I think had to do with having a fight with the Trelayne character from "Squire of Gothos" (and who's also a Q, by the way), Q spends some time as a dissipated cloud of energy, and that's what the Enterprise passes through. About as nutty as the machine in "The Doomsday Machine" being revealed as having been built as a Borg killer.

I'd never paid attention to the tombstone before, but him being James R. Kirk makes Nomad mistaking him for Jackson Roykirk make a little more sense.

Love the Balok Scale.

Thanks for reminding me why I stopped reading Star Trek books early on. It sounds like they didn't get any better.

Well done.

I'm really going to enjoy reading this. Lots of interesting nuggets and very funny observations.

You didn't mention the homoeroticism when Mitchell is torturing Kirk though... The way he makes him kneel and put his hands together... and the overwrought way in which Shatner "suffers" in that scene.

Keep it up Devin. This was awesome.

Good start. Looking forward to it continuing.

The remastered episodes for season one are up on Netflix instant (and not disc, oddly...only instant, and only season one) for anyone who wants to follow along. I'm watching Where No Man Has Gone Before now. The new shots of the Enterprise flying through the energy barrier are pretty stunning. So is the sexism. Mitchell calling the psychiatrist a walking freezer unit because she doesn't immediately succumb to his greasy charms? Nice.

And actually, nobody seems to be wearing any red shirts yet.

Sally Kellerman is one tall glass of gorgeous, by the way. I like that they didn't put her male costars on stilts or make her stand in holes or anything.

Actually, I was listening for that, and the final stardate for the episode is given as 1313, which would make Kirk 36. As far as I've always heard, that's right on.

Okay, I didn't know you were cross-referencing across episodes. But wouldn't that make Kirk 427? Which is even better, really.

In my teens, I remember reading an interview with Roddenberry where he mentioned a fan-provided explanation for muddled stardates that had to do with warp and time dilation and whatnot. Apparently, though, they just didn't pay attention to the stardates. At least he admitted it. That was back in the day when TV producers didn't know that fans would want the world real enough for them to live in.

Yeah, great read. Damn, you are really making me want to see the episodes. Might have to get the seasons.

Another great thing about old TV shows, incidentally: these episodes are fifty minutes long. Imagine, an hour of television with only ten minutes of commercials.

I like this episode, I actually believed Kirk and Mitchell were friends. I totally gorged on Star Trek (all 3 seasons and the first 6 movies) a few summers ago and it was mostly good fun. The third season is surprisingly melancholy in a weird way, as well as being noticeably cheaper.
There used to be a bar in Las Vegas (at the hotel with the Star Trek attraction) that was decked out in future-style and served "Tranya". I got extremely drunk on it, I wish I could remember what was in it.

Great job Devin, you've got your work cut out for you.

Good start. Catching the possible Carol Marcus reference - neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerd!

Lists are fun, but there's nothing on CHUD that can beat an enthusiastic Devin.

Oh, this series is going to be excellent. My nerdtenna are twitching. In a weird way, I want to skip to the end because I'm dying to read Devin's write-up on "Turnabout Intruder."

Really looking forward to this, especially the "Nerd Facts" and references.

Here's one: Mitchelll returns in the Star Trek/X-Men crossover! He teams up with Dark Phoenix and together they get into hijinks!

I don't think the goal was to get people to watch TOS for the first time. If you want to be uncynical, it was more about, as some have said, bringing the filmed elements "up to code" for HD remastering; if you want to be cynical, it was probably a more Lucas-ian plot to (to steal Devin's phrase) "awaken our inner Trekkie" and get us spending money on the show again.

The new effects got me to DVR the show again, "for the first time!" It's a start, I guess.

It's a personal, longstanding bugaboo of mine, to be sure. I locked horns with people when the STAR WARS SEs came out, and again in the mammoth STAR WARS DVDs thread a few years back.

I just refuse to buy into the rational that something that has entertained successfully for decades, as both TOS and STAR WARS obviously have, suddenly have something intrinsically wrong with them that needs to be fixed. Shit will be shit no matter how much or often you tart it up, but classic films and television can continue to entertain IN SPITE of perceived production value or technological limitations. People have made the case that STAR WARS is Lucas' to fuck with, and though it makes me sad I guess it's true. But without Rodenberry around, who makes that call on STAR TREK- Paramount; and that opens a big, ugly freaking door to me that sees studios tinkering with their catalogues in horrible, horrible ways...

Anywho, 'nuf said on this issue...

A great read Devin. I'd be very interested to know the story on how the writer of this episode gets story credit on ST2.

Lucas' special editions are (in retrospect if not immediately obvious) inorganic tinkering, the goal being to test out the technology, as opposed to fixing flaws or shortcomings (the "flaw" in TOS' case is the stated resolution problems introduced by the concept of presenting the show in High-Def).

Those two motivations are kind of perceptible in the two properties, but also in things like Payback "Straight Up". Instead of just fixing the ending, Helgeland then rethought not only the score (a major plus in the original cut), but had grown bored with the film's bleach by-pass look and TOOK IT OUT. This to me was a sin on the level of colorizing Night of the Living Dead.

I want a film (or a tv show) to feel "of its time". For some reason, these rematered Trek episodes ride that line for me without crossing it. They do a good job of matching the look of the series. I think their hearts are in the right place.

Just to be clear, there wouldn't be a "resolution" issue with TOS effects. Show masters certainly exist on film, so the elements aren't going to be plagued with the issues that face TNG, DS9, or VOYAGER. But since they were able to go back to camera negative to remaster the live action portions of the show, there's no doubt there would have been a large drop in image quality whenever you cut to an FX shot; which like all optical effects, would have more grain, higher contrast, focus issues, etc.. The resolution is there, but not the image quality.

There is a certain irony that shows from the 50's and 60's can see successful transfer to new, high definition formats, while shows made only 10-15 years ago will likely be forever stuck at SD. Videotaped sitcoms from the 80's and 90's will be especially screwed.

In the end, though, it doesn't matter whether the issue was resolution or image quality. The bottom line was that the effects looked like crap in HD. And I agree with Phil in that it seems like these people showed great restraint and respect in being true to the feel of the original series in their effects. Although you can easily tell that these are new effects, and they do have some "wow" moments, they don't feel incredibly out of place. And they actually make something that I've seen more times than I want to admit seem exciting again.

I remember reading in the build-up to the release of these that they made a rule to stick to the time limits set down by the original sound mix. No effect is allowed to last longer than the original by virtue of that. I like that kind of philosophy.

interesting read. glad that you are fully embracing your star trek nerdiness Devin.

I wish you luck, but I can't imagine you will be able to keep up with your pre-determined pace.

I hope he does.

Getting the last "You got it all wrong" might be good though. You got to 24 out of 25, it was close.

From the remastered eps I've seen, it doesn't look like they went to original negative (if indeed such material survives), but cleaned up final prints instead. There are still old-school artifacts during conventional edits and transitions.

There is, however, an issue of resolution after all: TOS was art-directed for the lower-quality TV signal of its day, and as noted earlier a lot of the on-stage effects don't stand up to the scrutiny of a HD master. I suspect in five more years we'll get an edition with smoothed-out Spock ears and the like.

Nice to see the return of the Retarded Jason ranking system!

Oh, wait.

I was wondering about this. HD versions of Land of the Lost and Doctor Who, of I, Claudius and Dark Shadows, all remastered to the point of looking like RealDoll puppet shows.

All my examples were. That's what I meant - if they try to clean up old shit to the point of "up-res"-ing videotaped masters, it's going to look plastic-y and weird. But I wouldn't put it past studios to attempt it. They can squeeze one more format sale out of first-gen Dr. Who fans...

I really wasn't crazy about "Where No Man Has Gone Before"...I felt it was draggy and predictable. It mostly seemed to be about god-dude standing around, making gestures, and then a cheesy fight. I prefer the episodes where they at least keep the plot cooking and keep throwing new elements at you--I can live with bad effects, just keep the plot moving.

Maybe I should hold off on this until we get to an episode that's more emblematic of this, but Devin does sort of touch on it here, so what the hell: the show's single most annoying feature is the inconsistancy of Spock's "logic". It's frequently defined as "whatever lets them make Spock look like a smug dickhead, or lets the humans chortle condescendingly at him." I felt like that happened a LOT early in the first season. If Spock's so fucking logical, he should be able to remember that humans will "emotionally" react a certain way and not act so stunned every goddamn time.

It's always refreshing when the writers let Spock kick a little ass, intellectually, because the rest of the time the deck is stacked against him. Like the bit where all the other crew members are talking admiringly about Khan's accomplishments and Spock is horrified, which is a nice reversal from what you'd expect.

Yes, sometimes Spock is played as the curious robot or Pinocchio or some shit, but Spock the canonical character is still almost larval in this episode. He smiles in his introductory scene (during that, "ah yes, one of your earth emotions" line). He's all over the place here because he's not yet defined as much.

Edit: I typed too long.

Perfect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL8nnMpV2Eo

This will forever be the Star Trek moment that gets me HYPED for Star Trek. And I'm the guy who only sees the odd episode out of context.

Sorry. I was a kid when I saw this. It sticks with you in a way and appeals in a way that TOS can't now.

I was a kid when TNG was on too, but I still hated it and knew it couldn't hold a candle in any way to the original series.




Nice first installment, Devin.
Might be more enjoyable if it was slightly shorter though.
I haven't got all day.

You knew it couldn't hold a handle to TOS?

Lets break into the big question, then. Why? As a kid, why would TOS be more appealing than TNG?

Because the original series is about excitement, adventure, and action. It's the old west, and high seas explorers. it's bigger than life. The Next Generation traded all that in for politics, hamhanded social commentary, and technological gobbledygook. It's boring and obtuse.

And as for that opening, it's hobbled by the crummy music that series insisted on employing. It's all whiny synthesizers and droning, tuneless, ambient, new-agey noise. Bleah. Give me the original's orchestral score any day of the week. Listen to Saul Kaplan's excellent "Kirk Does it Again" from The Doomsday Machine, and find anything in the Next Gen canon that even comes close.

Here's the thing. You linked that YouTube clip and I think I can see where you're coming from. It's a little like the Bond Connery Vs. Moore argument. It kind of boils down to what you grew up with I guess. For me, it will always be TOS because that was my first introduction into that world. I watched Star Trek IV when it came out with my dad. And I loved it and began devouring all things Star Trek... I was excited when I heard about TNG. But turned off immediately when I first watched it. Part of it was that intro... It sounded like my Science teacher re-enacting the narration for a radio play. The delivery was just off. (I remember liking that Wil Wheaton was in it because I was a big fan of Stand By Me. But that was about it. The pilot left me cold.)

In time, I have come to appreciate Patrick Stewart as an actor and I have found things to enjoy about TNG. But they never captured that sense of fun and whimsy that TOS had. Not to mention the Kirk-Spock-McCoy dynamic that was so essential. They tried to recreate it and Brent Spiner gave it his all... Right down to ripping off Wrath of Khan for Nemesis. But it just doesn't compare.

Maybe if TNG had been my introduction into the Star Trek world I would feel differently.

The one good move was using Jerry Goldsmith's score from TMP as the main theme. That was a rousing bit of music, I'll give you that.

So I'm basically that kid who grew up loving The Phantom Menace, and is being told for the first time it sucked?

What a weird feeling...

Like I said, I'm not a big fan. I only have snips and segments of story and episodes, Borg, stuff like that. I always enjoyed Sean Luc. As for the original series, I've seen portions of episodes all my life. The only episode I've ever really sat through from credits to credits was Trouble With Tribbles, and that's only because we were forced to in a Junior High School english class. Even then though I was enjoying it alot, I kind of had to subvert that in my mind, cause... Well you know. There was girls in that class I wanted to fuck.

As a young guy my Mom was a stay at home mom, and she loved to watch her stories in the afternoon, and somehow TNG theme sunk into my mind in a positive way, so that anytime I hear it I'm excited for something I don't even really know. When I heard the theme in the classroom, I was expecting that excellent TNG theme, only simpler, and I didn't like what I heard. Like I said, this isn't the point of view of someone who has nostalgia for TOS, so much as contempt. Star Trek in my short lifetime has been associated with Trekkie docs, and nerds sitting in their basements. If Devin wants to say "Ugh" to the ignorant way I've seen Star Trek, that's fair. Just know Devin I see you the exact same way.

I'm planning to follow Devin on this whole episode guide journey and watch TOS, and maybe the movies, and hopefully gain some sort of appreciation.