Merrick here...

The TREK world is abuzz over indications that The Powers That Be are considering revamping the original STAR TREK series (herein TOS) with reworked visual effects.

This potentiality was reported the other day by The Digital Bits, specifically in this article.

Here’s the thrust of the information…

In doing some digging with our industry sources over the last few days... I've found out something that's going to come as a major surprise to a lot of you. It might be one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood in recent years. Never mind The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager: It turns out that CBS Video, as part of their high-definition remastering of The Original Series, IS giving a lot of the special effects shots a new CG face-lift! Specifically, they're re-doing all of the spaceship shots. This to me is a very exciting idea... in principle. As anyone who saw the Mirror Universe episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise will tell you, the old TOS ships look awfully damn good in new CG. The replicated TOS sets, the original ship designs... rather than looking dated, they actually hold up VERY well by today's standards. Re-doing the effects will give new life to The Original Series and could help it appeal to a new, younger generation of fans. Unlike, say... the Star Wars films... the original versions of these episodes will always be preserved in GREAT remastered quality on DVD. And it would be extremely cool if CBS would release BOTH versions of the episodes on HD-DVD/Blu-ray, such that you can choose which version you wish to watch... the original or the new enhanced version.

Here's my concern about this... I've learned that, rather than going with a proven effects house, CBS has chosen to do the new CG work in-house. One hopes that they've got someone with REAL Trek effects experience and knowledge involved in the effort... and they they're taking care to preserve the look and feel of the original shots. There's also the concern over whether CBS will re-frame the 1.33:1 aspect ratio series in 1.78:1 for HD presentation. I tried contacting CBS and their DVD distributor, Paramount, on this subject last week, but there was basically no comment. I suppose we'll find out soon enough, but cross your fingers in the meantime. Any way you slice it, however, this is a very interesting development…

As far as being “the best kept secret in Hollywood”, this is only partially correct.

Rumors of TREK “Special Editions” have persisted for ages; one was reported here on AICN (I can’t find a link via our ornery damn search engine) years and years ago. However, The Bits article is correct in that this is the first substantive indication that such an undertaking is moving forward.

In fact, HERE IS A LINK to a website about the Special Editionalizing we specifically discussed back in the day. There’s footage here…check it out. This was a proposal worked up by Daren Dochterman – the piece was submitted for Paramount’s consideration. It didn’t "go". And…when all is said and done…we may wish it had.

While Dochterman’s DOOMSDAY MACHINE was a dry run and likely did not reflect the full potential of episodic retooling, it should be pointed out that Dochterman also worked on the STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE restoration…a prime example of how to do something like this right. Film grain was sampled from the original film stock, then laid over the newer material to make its integration more organic and seamless. New FX were rendered while factoring in the restraints & limitations present when the film was initially produced (i.e. no wild camera movements were incorporated that felt out of place with the original dynamic of the material). Unused storyboards were perused to gauge the intent of FX artists who didn’t have the time or resources to complete what they set out to do. Smart and noble. I’m pointing all of this out as examples of the care that is required to make something like this work…the same care that may not be afforded to the TREK TOS Special Editions.

Herc and I spent the last few days dispatching a fury of e-mails in an effort to confirm this story. We HAVE now confirmed the overall accuracy of The Digital Bit’s report.

The TREK TOS will be put through a makeover. New FX for all of the space material. A new title sequence. The effects will be brought to us by the same team who handled CATEGORY 7: THE END OF THE WORLD – an in-house FX group at CBS. One source characterized the overall nature of this undertaking as “incredibly cheap”.

Elements of The Original Series’ score will be reworked or replaced as well. For my money, the original TREK score was among the finest TV scores of all time – sweeping and propulsive. A bit repetitive perhaps, due to a process called “tracking” in which the same cues could be reused time and time again (i.e. generic “action” music, generic “romance” music, etc.) This practice was ultimately banished.

All of this would be a little more digestible if the original directors, photographers, and FX technicians were involved – if these reworked episodes were being handled in a manner that reflected the intent…or addressed the frustrations…of the people who originally made the shows to begin with. This isn’t likely, given the passage of so much time. Hopefully, a press release on the matter…rumored to arrive as early as tomorrow…may shed more light on how all of this will shake out.

Which begs the question: why is this being done? To make more money? Because Paramount feels strongly that such an undertaking will help make TREK more marketable to a new generation of fans? Because “we” know better than they did back then? A genuine effort to reinvigorate a franchise that was roundly beaten down by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga? Or, mere hubris?

Ultimately, the end result here will only be as good as the talent involved, and the technology they have at their disposal. Personally, I’m thinking there’s a high possibility this could be a gargantuan train wreck if The Powers That Be decide to take the easy path, instead of attacking their mission with the love, respect, and…above all…finances required to make something like this work.

The STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE Special Edition was an excellent example of how to pull off such revisitation. DEEP SPACE NINE’s “Trials and Tribbleations” was another fine endeavor. But they were time consuming, enormously costly undertakings. Seems unlikely that Paramount will shell out the expenses to do this right. This being said, I'd love to be wrong.

At the end of the day, as long as Paramount continues to make the original iteration TOS available in both standard and HD formats, this could, at he very least, be an interesting novelty piece. And, while the notion of tainting TREK: TOS may chafe some die hards, at least we have it better than STAR WARS fans -- who spent years screaming and shouting to convince George Lucas that “the original versions” of the first trilogy actually existed...and mattered.

If anyone out there has more details about this, E-MAIL ME!!!. Or, E-MAIL HERC!!!. We’d love to hear from you!

On a personal note, I'd like to thank Herc for letting me play in his sandbox & share in this particular adventure. TREK is very important to me & I love reporting on it. He's been most gracious, and extremely supportive.

More as more comes in...

UPDATE 5:45 p.m. PST USA 08/29/06!! Herc here with a small update for those concerned that the new shots of the Enterprise might feature Millennium Falcon-style loop-the-loops or snazzy new nacelles. A source who has been investigating the TOS SFX upgrade relates: