Thoughts on Trek Remastered

This past weekend, Fox showed "Balance of Terror" in the 6pm Saturday slot and "The Devil in the Dark" in the 1am Sunday night/Monday morning slot. I don't know if "Miri" was shown at all. Our local Fox station was behind one week, then, but now seems to have caught up -- unless the Saturday night showing is a re-run of the previous week.

If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend that you check it out.

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Fandom has a way of often jumping the gun on things, especially now in the age of instant Internet communication. There are plenty of reviews that went up right away after just the first episode. I agree somewhat that there are some missed opportunities, but I'll reserve final judgment until they get some more episodes in the can. From what I've read, the studio seems to be on a tight schedule cranking the Hi-def episodes out as fast as they can. I hope, with more practice, that they get better and better at it. Since I don't have a HDTV, the episodes look good but not astounding. I would guess on a better TV there would be more of a difference.

The point of contention with the reviewers is the updated FX. I agree that the CBS/Paramount seems to be "too respectful" to the original material. Many of the new visual effects are duplicates of the original shots, including camera angles and model movement that was a result of effects technology of the time. The new inserted effects could be so much more dynamic and interesting. There are hints, like the three-quarters view over the top of the Warbird in "Balance...", or the emergence of the Horta from the cave wall in "Devil...", that really show what the new CGI can do. The closing flyby of the Enterprise in "Devil.." is particularly nice. I think there will be more of this as time and the episodes go on.

In my opinion, the best thing about Trek Remastered is that it has people talking and excited about Trek again. Especially, for me, because the Original Series has always been my favorite.