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Updated Trek Will Honor Past
Producers of the upcoming remastered version of the original Star Trek television series told SCI FI Wire that the intention is not to change the series, but merely to enhance its look for a new generation of viewers. "I can tell you that the purpose of this is to completely not change the story and not change the plot, because we are all so passionate about the way it exists," David Rossi, a visual-effects producer, said in a conference call on Sept. 6. "What we're really trying to do here is just enhance the experience of watching Star Trek that people can have."
Longtime Trek crew member Michael Okuda, who is also a visual-effects producer of the remastered episodes, added: "Basically, the approach is that Star Trek is a period piece, albeit a period in the far future. So all the decisions are being made to honor the production style, the style of cinematography, the style of editing. And with that as our guidance, using the original decisions made by the directors and the editors, it follows very logically trying to recreate the look and feel of the original series."
CBS Paramount Domestic Television will release the digitally remastered episodes for air on more than 200 broadcast stations, starting Sept. 16. The first episodes to be remastered include "Balance of Terror," "Journey to Babel," "Mirror Mirror" and the two-part episode "The Menagerie," said John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic TV. All told, about half of the original series' 80 remastered episodes will be released this year and half next year.
Eventually, Nogawski said, all of the episodes will be remastered in both their original versions and the abbreviated versions made available for syndication and in both full-screen and high-definition widescreen versions.
As for the extent to which the episodes' visual effects will be upgraded using state-of-the-art technology, the producers said they would include the show's opening, ship exteriors, space battles and other elements—but not live action, interiors, costumes or aliens, except in very specific instances. "There are certain occasions, while that's not really in the scope of work that we're doing, ... where we are going to do things," Rossi said. "For instance, in an episode called 'The Naked Time,' Scotty is trying to cut through a bulkhead outside engineering with a phaser. ... And while there are sparks on the wall, there's no phaser beam. So in a case like that, we're going to go in and add a phaser beam. But as far just replacing the effects that are currently there just for the sake of replacing them, no, we're not going to do that."
Why the update? Nogawski admitted it was to reach younger viewers. "As we move into eventually a much better television set than there was in the '60s, moving into more lines of resolution all the way up to HD, this show would have not held up to that viewer," Nogawski said. "And that viewer ... is who you're addressing, ... the younger viewer who was not alive when the show was originally produced and may never have watched it up to this date."
