Rumors sped at light speed on the Internet Tuesday that Paramount is working on an enhanced version of the original 79 Star Trek episodes that it plans to sell as a syndication package to broadcast stations. According to the reports, state-of-the-art visual effects will replace those in the series, new music will be added, and the show will be offered in high definition. Presumably, the new series will also be packaged for sale on high-definition DVD after the syndication package airs. The website DigitalBits, however, observed 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."
Is this really neccessary? George Lucas did it because the special effects didn't match up to HIS original vision, so tinkering with it made it closer to the story that he always wanted to create. Gene Rodenberry has been dead for a long time.
First of all, who knew that Yeoman Rand was a pot addict (and is that even a real addiction? Maybe she was just addicted to Funyuns.) Second of all, it's not the special effects or the music that make the original interesting. Ask Ben, he can't stand watching TOS but will watch the same episodes of Next Generation over and over again. It's the imagination, the stories, the overdramatic acting, the look and feel of sci-fi in the 60's. To me, watching old Star Trek doesn't seem dated. I don't rewatch the episodes because I've seen all of them already (some, like the one with the Gorn, I must have seen a dozen times. I just saw the Family Guy that references it too) but it's not the fact that the special effects are outdated that new people aren't watching the old series. It's because all the shows from the 60's have such a drastically different sensibility than they do now.
Nick at Nite is all 80's shows now and who do you think under 30 would dig on Get Smart! ? The 60's were so huge because there were so many Boomers, now those people are grandparents. I dunno, the original stories are imaginative and fun, but they also capture a moment in time, a snapshot of social relevance that created icons and invaded the culture, but getting a teenager to sit through an episode of the original series now must be like watching a history lesson. Maybe improved special effects will do the trick, but I don't think so. Trust me, I believe we need William Shatner now more than ever, but I'd rather see new stories than watch the same ones with effects that didn't needed to be updated in the first place (okay, maybe the one with the silicon-based pizza monster, but that's about it.)
Watch out for the pepperoni, Spock!
