DarenDoc’s Slightly Nifty Musings Inc.

I’m not gonna go into the long, drawn out story of my history with wanting to re-do the original series FX…  so I thought I’d just post these… from my Doomsday Machine episode.  Now in the easier to watch YouTube edition…  click on HQ for a better looking version.  Most of the episode is edited out here… it’s mostly just the new VFX… but you’ve already seen the original… right?

Part One…

Part Two…

Part Three…

Part Four…

Not so sure about the order of those faces on the discs...

I’ve always been a bit of a completist… that’s why I was glad that Paramount finally announced that they would release all of the TOS Films’ Theatrical versions as a box set.  I was also honored that they asked me to be a small part of it… they were looking to do a different take on commentaries for the films, using  some established “fans” to give a different perspective on the films.  I was happy to have been included to do the commentary on Trek I and V with Mike and Denise Okuda and Judi and Garfield Reeves-Stevens…  The Okudas’ contributions to trek are immense, and the Reeves-Stevens’ resume would be great even if it only had the amazing novel “Prime Directive”… so I was delighted to spend the 4 hours talking about Trek with them.  The other movies feature new commentaries by:

Manny Coto and Nicholas Meyer on Trek II (some interesting insights that didn’t come out on Meyer’s previous commentary)

Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor on Trek III (it’s nice to hear Ron Moore wax nostalgic on “Prime Trek”… you can really hear his fan roots)

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on Trek IV (It’s understandible that this movie is Orci and Kurtzman’s main reference when it comes to Trek)

The Okudas and Reeves-Stevens and myself again for Trek V (I’m glad we got to give a positive spin to this much maligned entry…)

Larry Nemecek and Ira Steven Behr on Trek VI (not my favorite of the films… but an interesting and entertaining commentary)

The films do look cleaner than they ever have before… (some a little too clean… but I think there is a backlash on normal film grain these days… which I’m sad to say)  One point on the commentary of TMP that I’d like to clarify… when we made the recording, we were watching the transfer of the film that Robert Wise supervised the color timing for… and you can hear me commenting on that, and the fact that the two shots in the v’ger interior where we corrected the deflector dish color were in the copy we were watching… are not in fact in the new HD transfer.  Overall, I’m sorry to see that the timing supervised by Mr. Wise and approved by cinematographer Richard Kline isn’t on this release… the new transfer seems shifted a bit too much toward the cyan in most scenes… but the contrast and black density seems proper now, now that NTSC vagueries aren’t a consideration.  The colors on Trek II seem very cold and blue too… much more than I remember them… so perhaps this shift in color temperature is related.

Also, on another note… I seem to remember that our commentary for TMP was mostly wall to wall talking… we all had a lot to say during the film, and I was surprised that there were several sections edited out… (you can hear large sections of commentary silence that weren’t originally intended that way…)  I can’t remember specifically what was discussed during these sections, but I guess there were reasons for editing… would just like to know what the concern was…

I think it’s a good thing that the studio has released these original theatrical versions to preserve what we saw (more or less) in their original run… I hope that these discs do well enough to convince the studio to continue the Hi Def goodness with the release of the Directors Editions…   but maybe I’m biased. lol  But it is nice to see that the image of the Enterprise on the packaging is, in fact, our CG model from the TMP:DE…

My first reaction to the then-named “New Voyages” was one of mild amusement.  I found it astounding that these guys had built their own sets and started making classic Star Trek episodes… I wondered why they didn’t take all that energy and resource and put it into something they owned…  

I put these reactions into a blog entry on my old “trek enhanced” site, and a few days later, I got an email from James Cawley, the die-hard fan behind the production.  He had seen some of my “Doomsday Machine” redux that I used to pitch the redone TOS episodes… he liked my take on the effects, and asked for my help.  He agreed with my concerns with the acting and writing… and really convinced me that his heart was in the right place…  so I agreed to consult with him and help out however I could.

I was able to create a new opening credits sequence for them based on my re-created TOS credits… and was able to provide my lighting rig and engine design tips to their fx guys.

A few months later, after the great response to “World Enough and Time”, their Sulu returning episode, James and his gang had the idea to revisit their earlier episode, the D.C.Fontana penned “To Serve All My Days”, featuring Walter Koenig reprising his Chekov role.  Now, though… they wanted to turn it into a real “4th Season” episode… as if it would have been seen back in 1969… I took this as a challenge to try and come up with some “retro” looking effects and see how it worked.  I had no idea how much work this was to be… it took several months of non stop rendering and animating after work, early in the morning, and on weekends, to get it done…   We had a great time premiering this “A night in 1969″ Edition of the episode at a screening in Beverly Hills… and I’m proud of this little foray into the world of “New Voyages”… (more about them and their new direction as “Star Trek: Phase II” can be found HERE.)

The full episode can be found at their site… but here is the FX ONLY reel for your amusement.  You will see several FX techniques that are meant to emulate the fx styles of the late sixties… and others that look that way, but are only due to my inability to do any better… It has no sound, up until the end credits.  Enjoy.

Let’s take a moment for all the readers in the USA to have a meaningful Memorial Day, and others around the world to take a moment and remember the brave who gave all.

Just thought this might be fun to see…  and give away as a desktop for those who like it…

Does this work now??