To boldly go...
...where no man has gone before.
My brother Rich sent me the following story:
Original Star Trek Gets CGI Upgrades for HD Syndicated Return
On the cusp of Star Trek's 40th birthday, the Original Series shall stun syndicated television with shiny new CGI features.
Affirming rampant Internet rumor, TV Guide reports that CBS Studios is giving all 79 episodes of TOS a makeover, digitally remastered with computer-generated effects, utilizing High Definition technology that wasn't available when Gene Roddenberry crafted the timeless stories.
My brother knows that I have been a Star Trek fan for a long time, of course. I barely remember seeing the original series when it first aired, 'cause I was a bit young to appreciate it, but when it was later syndicated as reruns I couldn't get enough. So I guess that makes me a nerd or geek...whatever. I can live with that.
There's a Star Trek website, which I've got "bookmarked", naturally. Occasionally I'll visit it to see what's on the horizon, which at present is the next movie.
And before this mixed blessing I affectionately call "da 'Net" was invented there were (and still are) these fascinating social phenomena known as Star Trek conventions, of which I have been to precisely one.
This occurred when I was in high school; I saw a few of the cast members there and met James Doohan, who played Scotty. He was quite a personable fellow. Not many know this, because he hid it well, but he had lost the middle finger of his right hand. I learned this when I shook that hand. Now that you know, if you pay attention the next time you see him on Star Trek you'll see that he's almost always clenching his right hand or hiding it, but if you look carefully it's noticeable sometimes. I looked into it, and found out that it was actually shot off by machine gun fire on D-Day. "Scotty" was a genuine war hero! The day he died (July 20, 2005) Spike TV aired the Next Generation episode in which he appeared; I happened to catch the show, then heard later that he'd died that day. I never did find out if that was coincidental, or in memoriam. The final appearance of Scotty is in Star Trek Generations, which was the movie that handed off the Star Trek movie franchise from The Original Series cast to the one from The Next Generation.
DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. McCoy, appeared as an antiquated Star Fleet Admiral in the inaugural Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. He was also the first member of the original cast to go where none of us has gone before...
My brother Rich sent me the following story:Original Star Trek Gets CGI Upgrades for HD Syndicated Return
On the cusp of Star Trek's 40th birthday, the Original Series shall stun syndicated television with shiny new CGI features.
Affirming rampant Internet rumor, TV Guide reports that CBS Studios is giving all 79 episodes of TOS a makeover, digitally remastered with computer-generated effects, utilizing High Definition technology that wasn't available when Gene Roddenberry crafted the timeless stories.
My brother knows that I have been a Star Trek fan for a long time, of course. I barely remember seeing the original series when it first aired, 'cause I was a bit young to appreciate it, but when it was later syndicated as reruns I couldn't get enough. So I guess that makes me a nerd or geek...whatever. I can live with that.
There's a Star Trek website, which I've got "bookmarked", naturally. Occasionally I'll visit it to see what's on the horizon, which at present is the next movie.
And before this mixed blessing I affectionately call "da 'Net" was invented there were (and still are) these fascinating social phenomena known as Star Trek conventions, of which I have been to precisely one.
This occurred when I was in high school; I saw a few of the cast members there and met James Doohan, who played Scotty. He was quite a personable fellow. Not many know this, because he hid it well, but he had lost the middle finger of his right hand. I learned this when I shook that hand. Now that you know, if you pay attention the next time you see him on Star Trek you'll see that he's almost always clenching his right hand or hiding it, but if you look carefully it's noticeable sometimes. I looked into it, and found out that it was actually shot off by machine gun fire on D-Day. "Scotty" was a genuine war hero! The day he died (July 20, 2005) Spike TV aired the Next Generation episode in which he appeared; I happened to catch the show, then heard later that he'd died that day. I never did find out if that was coincidental, or in memoriam. The final appearance of Scotty is in Star Trek Generations, which was the movie that handed off the Star Trek movie franchise from The Original Series cast to the one from The Next Generation.
DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. McCoy, appeared as an antiquated Star Fleet Admiral in the inaugural Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. He was also the first member of the original cast to go where none of us has gone before...
posted by camojack | 03:58
16 Comments:
Star Trek will forever be remembered as the TV series that brought SF to mass culture. Some of the episodes were written by SF's biggest writers. While the phenomenon was derided by many of the Science Fiction purists for it's "space western" formula, the series was the pioneering entry that paved the way for the current crop of more sophisticated and complicated SF series (such as Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Firefly, and many others).
May it "live long and prosper"!
I'm a big Star Trek fan too. Have been since they were on TV. All good stuff, and the spin-offs (Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, etc.) are also excellent. Never did go to a convention though! Lucky you...
(:D) Regards...
< < < YAWN > > >
Sorry guys...
:-)
Ah Star Trek. I had been reading Science Fiction for years before I first watched that show. (I used to steal my Fathers novels off his bedside table to read starting when I was about 11)
I like to give my ex a hard time and tell him that the only reason he started dating me in high school was because he heard we had color tv and he had never seen the episodes in color. There may be some truth to that. :)
I have invited him over for the 40th anniversary special on TV Land because he does not get that channel. He is quite happy about that.
I remember how excited we were when Next Generation came out.
If these 'shiny new' episodes come out on DVD I am sure he wil be asking for them for Christmas.
We didn't manage to ensnare our older two children but the youngest, who will be 23 shortly, is a fan of all of the series', and like her Father and I is definitely a geek/nerd.
I lost a sentence that should have said I have always loved Science Fiction.
BTW I told my brother the news and he said "It's about time!"
Beerme:
Star Trek was enthusiastically received by the Science Fiction community, some of whose biggest writers did indeed write episodes. Because of it's "space western" formula, it was sometimes demeaned as "Wagon Train to the stars". But they showed 'em all!
Hawkeye®:
I enjoyed all the spin-offs except Deep Space 9; it was too much like a soap (space?) opera for me.
Regarding the convention scene, some of those characters were serious geeks and nerds, and were masterfully parodied on Saturday Night Live once when William Shatner was the guest host.
darth_meister:
I can't wait, either. Although they did amazing things on a shoestring budget when the series originally aired, with CGI enhancements it's gonna be even better.
'da Bunny:
It may (or may not) interest you to know that every episode of the original Star Trek series was a morality play, with a moral to the story...IOW, classic literature.
Maggie:
Yeah, what you said!!!
Nylecoj:
I have no doubt that these "shiny new episodes" will be coming out on DVD at some point, nor that I'll be acquiring them for myself.
(Unless some benefactor gets 'em for me)
All:
In my web surfing, I came across this:
Brokeback: The Final Frontier
I hope you relish it as much as I...
"Peace, and Long Life!"
Good news for those of us who loved the original!
benning:
Interestingly enough, the Klingon Language Institute (speaking of geeks and nerds) is located none too far from my rambling estate...it's in Flourtown, PA.
(That's about 12 miles away)
Oh, and eleventeen...
Forty years, wow... I watched every episode of Star Trek except one... I am not sure if it was when they moved it to Friday or when they moved it to Saturday, in either case I remember I got to second base that night... I watched every episode of New Generations and Deep Space Nine, as a fan I was very happy and I can understand why people became Trekies .... As for Voyager after the second or third season it began to suck big time, the plots were just plain stupid... So when Enterprise hit the screen again the fan within watched with joy... After awhile the plots were like a snake eating its own tail and it was like watching them in closet with a night light... The CGI effects became better is true but they fired the lighting crew and hired writers that the AP would not hire...
Remastered??? Re-aired??? I believe it is all just hype for the DVD sales to come...
As John Belushi said when doing a Captain Kirk impersonation, "we have found intelligent life throughout the universe, except for one T.V. network."
JR:
Yes, forty years...where did the time go? I really was disappointed when they cancelled "Enterprise" after three seasons.
I think the CGI effects will make the original episodes look better, although the stories stood on their own merit.
Grant Jones:
I'd alter that quote; I think most of the stuff on network television demonstrates a marked lack of intelligence...
The Iranian Ambassador to the UN had just finished giving a speech, and walked out into the lobby where he met President Bush.
They shook hands, and as they walked the Iranian said, "You know, I have just one question about what I have seen in America.
President Bush said, "Well, anything I can do to help you, I will."
The Iranian whispered "My son watches this show 'Star Trek' and in it there is Chekhov who is Russian, Scotty who is Scottish, and Sulu who is Chinese, but no Arabs. My son is very upset and doesn't understand why there aren't any Iranians on Star Trek."
President Bush laughed, leaned toward the Iranian ambassador, and whispered back, "It's because it takes place in the future."
Jack's a Trekkie? [teeheehee]
mig:
That's a good one, and quite on topic, too.
MargeinMI:
Jack's been a Trekkie...for a long time, yes.
Star Trek?
Which episode of Star Wars is that?
Is that the one where there is a creature on the wing of an airplane?
Dunno but that Shatner guy could use some plastic surgery, and swimming lessons.
Beam me up John Carter.
Libby Gone™:
Which episode of Star Wars is Star Trek? The FIRST one, of course...the inspiration for it, probably.
And I believe it was his wife who could've used those swimming lessons, but it's too late now...
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