{"id":21975,"date":"2011-08-04T22:19:06","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T04:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=21975"},"modified":"2013-06-04T08:50:55","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T14:50:55","slug":"as-the-last-guy-to-show-up-at-the-new-improved-tos-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/04\/as-the-last-guy-to-show-up-at-the-new-improved-tos-party.html","title":{"rendered":"As the last guy to show up at the “New, Improved TOS” party …"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The only cheese cake I like. Wait ... let me rephrase ...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I’m a purist at heart. \u00a0I don’t order toffee raspberry fusion sorbet chip cheese cake. \u00a0I don’t even order cherries or strawberries drizzled on my cheesecake. \u00a0When I order cheesecake, I expect cheesecake, dammit!’<\/em><\/p>\n

I was aware, of course, that at some time in \u00a0the not-so-distant past, Paramount or CBS or whoever owns the IP rejiggered the Original Star Trek episodes to have New! Improved! Non-Embarassing! Special Effects!<\/p>\n

To which I said, “Feh!” \u00a0The grainy, repetitive, matte-composite miniature FX of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS to its friends) were part of the classic charm, as much as Shatner’s waistline battles and Kelley’s problems pronouncing alien names.<\/p>\n

Flash forward, and I’ve decided that Katherine, the Daughter of My Loins, needs must be initiated into The Order of the Trek. If only so that I can say, “He’s dead, Jim!” and not have her look at \u00a0me as blankly as Mr. Spock would.<\/p>\n

I picked up a Blu-Ray of Season 1.<\/p>\n

And we watched the first episode (which, annoyingly, is not “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” but the air broadcast first ep “The Man Trap<\/a>“).<\/p>\n

So, several years later, what do I think of the FX (which can now be toggled between Old and New with the Angle button on the Blu-Ray player, if only our remote had such a button)?<\/p>\n

Well …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Now that's what a planet looks like (more or less)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Okay, there’s no question that the Very Many Shots of the Enterprise orbiting M-113 are crisper and prettier and more geoplanetary and less repetitive than the original TOS. \u00a0Applause and huzzahs.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the ship simply doesn’t look like it’s in orbit. \u00a0It looks like it’s powering around the planet, and the angles (and engine sound) are off.<\/p>\n

There’s a single non-orbital rejiggered FX shot, panning across the ruins on the planet. \u00a0And, honestly, it looks like crap. \u00a0I have no idea (since I didn’t go back and check it out) what the TOS shot was, but even with it being clearly sound-stage, it would have looked better.<\/p>\n

And, yeah, I guess they had to replace the opening credits Enterprise<\/em>-swoosh with a CG version, but it just doesn’t feel right. Except they imitated the font, which rocks.<\/p>\n

Outside of the FX shots, the print (on the Blu-Ray rendition) is incredibly sharp. \u00a0That makes the scenes where Kirk’s close-ups are in a vaguely soft focus vs. McCoy’s every-wrinkle-and-blemish close-ups in sharp focus all the more obvious, but overall it’s a Good Thing. \u00a0The color saturation has also been punched up from the Saturday afternoon Channel 13 rerun quality. \u00a0So, overall, it looks pretty darned good, even if all the phaser optics and shape-shifting scenes clearly go to a freeze-frame.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As to the episode, it’s the (network-dictated) monster-of-the-week, rendered more poignant by the script making it clear that the Incredible Salt Vampire is the last of its kind, but the Enterprise <\/em>crew being willing to hunt it down and kill it.<\/p>\n

Katherine’s comment was that it was “too geeky.”<\/p>\n

Well, we’ll see what she thinks about “Charlie X” …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I’m a purist at heart. \u00a0I don’t order toffee raspberry fusion sorbet chip cheese cake. \u00a0I don’t even order cherries or strawberries drizzled on my cheesecake. \u00a0When I order cheesecake, I expect cheesecake, dammit!’ I was aware, of course, that at some time in \u00a0the not-so-distant past, Paramount or CBS or whoever owns the … Continue reading “As the last guy to show up at the “New, Improved TOS” party …”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[360,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-tv-star-trek","category-media-tv"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/cheesecake.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134773,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/19\/tos-crew-star-trek-discovery.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":0},"title":"The TOS crew and “Star Trek: Discovery”","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 19-Sep-17 6:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the intriguing (and dangerous) aspects of setting Star Trek: Discovery only ten years before The Original Series is that all of those TOS characters were actually alive then, and some of them were serving in Star Fleet. I find it highly unlikely that this will not mean we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Star-Trek-TOS-Cast.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51749,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/15\/more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-star-trek-switches-and-buttons.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":1},"title":"More than you ever wanted to know about "Star Trek" switches and buttons","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 15-Jul-15 7:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Original Series, of course. Accept no substitutes. The Buttons of Star Trek - A Comprehensive Look of the TOS Switches and Lights From the Series in TOSGRAPHICS Forum The Buttons of Star Trek - A Comprehensive Look of the TOS Switches and Lights From the Series View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49948,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/28\/is-a-new-star-trek-tv-series-in-the-offing-for-the-50th-anniversary.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":2},"title":"Is a new Star Trek TV series in the offing for the 50th (!) anniversary?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Mar-15 6:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I think the described \"Star Trek: Federation\" series sounds like a great idea. It's removed from the past TV series in much the way that TNG was from TOS, but it also resonates well with the current zeitgeist: the idea that the glory days might be behind us and we've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131466,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/08\/on-star-treks.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":3},"title":"On Star Treks","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Sep-16 11:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A 50th Anniversary Analysis:I deeply love, with a nostalgia of childhood and a ritualistic familiarity with every episode and massive chunks of dialog[1], Star Trek, the Original Series. Sure, it has its multitudinous flaws, many of them a result of the general state of late 1960s TV (and network shenanigans),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131264,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/13\/a-faboo-50th-anniversary-star-trek-tos-poster.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":4},"title":"A faboo 50th Anniversary "Star Trek" TOS poster","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 13-Aug-16 6:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am sorely tempted. This would look great in my office.[1] Especially since I recognize all of these folk. And they are all wonderful. And I can show off my geekiness to my colleagues.(Okay, I take it back -- I don't recognize the spacecraft right below the Romulan Bird of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/d274a292-08e7-419e-aa58-02531f279a81imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/d274a292-08e7-419e-aa58-02531f279a81imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/d274a292-08e7-419e-aa58-02531f279a81imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":790,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/11\/14\/as_long_as_shat.html","url_meta":{"origin":21975,"position":5},"title":"As long as Shatner doesn’t start to sing, we’re in fine shape","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Nov-01 4:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Katherine enjoys dancing to the Star Trek (TOS) theme music....","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37005,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21975\/revisions\/37005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}