Tholian Web Original v Remastered

I have to say I think they got it wrong this time – overall. The change to the enterprise themed ships is so blatant: the glowing coloured ships could have been incorporated better, maybe they were shields or something, whatever, but they changed too much. And the ship swinging infront of the camera after Spock says GO, too distracting… a bit disappointing overall. Better luck next time!

Outstanding! This was far superior to anything CBSD has done to the series. And it looks SO much better than the original. I, for one, and all for the remastering… and I have watched Trek since the original was first run. I will definitely pick up the DVDs when they are available. Thanks CBSD for your amazing work.

Great work as usual, Spockboy!

Wow, this comparison really shows how dark the remastered version is.

The Tholian commander was not redone.

This episode looked pretty darn good as far as ‘rendering’ the enterprise is concerned. They used a very unflattering shot of the enterprise a few times. It’s the one where they are behind her and do a bit of a pan. The original shot was taken from higher up and made the ship look far nicer. The lighting is still far too drab in my opinion. There were a few more shots where the original angles worked better, but…what is a guy gonna do?

Now in all seriousness, I will be specific in what I think doesn’t look quite up to par.

1. The approach on the Defiant. The ship appeared on the view screen twice at a particular angle and then shifted to a different angle and then switched back.

2. When the Enterprise fired on the Tholian ship, the ship threw back in a strange manner. The underside of the ship in this shot also didn’t match the underside seen in the rest of the episode

3. The deflector dish. It was very dull in color. A little more orange would be better. Eden FX’s digital model of the Defiant is very good when it comes to color.

As far as the rendering of the ships and their design, it was OK, but it could have been better. Certain details made the model seem a little too CGI. Do better next time guys. I know you have the potentail to.

I think if ‘ol Frank Van Der Veer had more time and lots of money, the original fx would have looked pretty much like this. STILL- there is something conceptually NOT right about CBS’s work. Lighting, shot design… something.
They need someone with Trumbull or Dykstra’s eye.
And I always liked the “alienness” of the Tholian ships. The new ones are far too “ENT” for me. (Screw canon when it comes to THAT show.)

I loved almost all the new effects and think they are doing a fine job, but, I miss the old “pivot shot” of the Enterprise after the Defiant vanishes. I always liked that shot. It seems there are a few shots like that whcih CBS-D shy’s away from. I wonder why that is. Did anyone notice that the phaser beams coming out of the big E were “fatter” this time, like some fans asked for? I’m not sure if I liked that better or not.

“10. Crap – April 2, 2007
Now in all seriousness, I will be specific in what I think doesn’t look quite up to par.

1. The approach on the Defiant. The ship appeared on the view screen twice at a particular angle and then shifted to a different angle and then switched back.

2. When the Enterprise fired on the Tholian ship, the ship threw back in a strange manner. The underside of the ship in this shot also didn’t match the underside seen in the rest of the episode”

Sorry I just have to chime in here. Point number one TOS did this all the time did you ever pay attention to the huge amounts of special effect inconsistencies they had??? Point two are you poking fun at the underside of the Tholian ship or the flying back part??? 1st why don’t you get into a very small ship and we will have the big E fire her huge phasers at you and see if you don’t bounce around a bit! Especially after your shields go down! Secondly there are two tholian ships if you recall they don’t necessarily have the same underside! Whets this??? Two different looking ships instead of the same model used like in TOS!!! Damn it all that is just over the line I am done. I am never watching this again… I am selling all my thousands of dollars worth of DVDs… I am have the Spock lives tattoo removed from my arse even though I know it will leave a scar! Damn it all boycott in front of CBS D today at noon by the flagpole whose with me???

Aaron R.

P.S. Just in case you can’t denote, it is intended as sarcasm! I would never get rid of my Spock lives tattoo! ;-)

Aside from the Enterprise in the interphase/void shot with the darkened E flying ahead and the underside shot of the Enterprise toward the end of the episode, I found the original VFX superior to the remaster in this instance. On the whole, I’ve been impressed with CBS-D, especially with Doomsday… but this one disappointed me. Oh well… guess you can’t hit a homer every time…

I, for one, liked the E swinging in front of the camera. It reminded me of the TNG credits where the E-D does the very same thing right before it stretches into warp. The spot where the E is in the darkness was also sweet.

But I agree with others reference the awkward rear angles, the Tholian throwback and the initial defiant approach angle/s.

Why is the remastered version so friggin’ dark? Can someone please “enlighten” (heh, heh) me? Thanks!

I am going to take a different side of the argument now and point out what CBS-D did right or OK. I will also comment on the things that need improvement. My intentions are not to insult CBS, but to give suggestions for their future work. Screwing up Star Trek is a crime in my eyes. It’s a well respected TV show. If it had award winning effects in the 60’s, then it should have award winning effects today.

I think that the digital render of the Enterprise is not bad at all. It does however seem a bit bland. The random elements of detail are a nice touch, but there is something about them that looks strange, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. Again, I think the deflector dish is very dull. Brighten it up a little bit.

As for the Tholian ships, I like their new design. They don’t quite have that sci-fi look from the original, but they do look much more real. They also have a darker look to them which gives a different and probably more realistic feel to what the Tholians are really like.

I think that the Enterprise’s approach on the Defiant looked a bit off. In the first shot when it appears on the viewscreen we see the Defiant leaning to the right. Then in the next shot, just a couple of seconds after, we see it leaning to the left. This would have been ok if they were some movement to suggest that the Defiant changed positions.

When the Enterprise fired on the Tholian ship, we saw the Tholian ship’s force field come up, which looked pretty good to my eyes. However, the ship being thrown back as a result of the phaser fire looked quite awquard. There was no debree or explosion, just a flash of light on the ship’s surface. After the phaser fire, the ship had no evidence of any damage either.

I also believe CBS-D is being too faithful to the original shots. This is neccessary to a degree, but I believe some more realistic shots will give viewers a more realistic view of the show.

The Enterprise’s phasers don’t have enough substance to them. They look so perfect, it’s hardly believable. In the Enterprise episdoes “In a Mirror Darkly” parts one and two, Eden FX did a fantastic job with the look of the phasers. Just look at those and you’ll know what I am talking about.

Everything else looks good.

I will say again, I am not trying to be critical of CBS-D’s work. I am just trying to report any of the concerns which I have that invole the remastering project.
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Next week’s preview for the Immunity Syndrom looks fantastic!!! The ship looks pretty good from what I can tell (than again, I have been wrong before). The colors look fantastic, as does the rendering of the space amoeba. I am very excited.
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P.S: “The Tholian Web” looked very dark, both on television and on this site. That’s not a real big problem, it just bothered me a bit.

CRAP= Can’t Remastering Achieve Perfection? Yeah, that must be it!

I loved it and I think that a slightly darker E is more realistic and makes the old shots look bad. I mean really… E is all lit up, no shadows in her pale blue (wrong) hull plates. Talk about no depth, no dimension. And to those that compare this to DS9 or ENT as being dark….pffft. She needs some shadows, there are light sources out there… try ummm… STARS! A local sun or two.

As I said before, some of you critique God’s sky in the morning. CBS-D does a great job and won’t please everyone. (God, it’s too blue…doesn’t look believable. Try again or we won’t buy the DVD.)

I understand what you’re saying Xai and I agree. I know that you are not totally refering to me, however, when I post things that aren’t exactly praise, it’s not to complain, but to simply give suggestions that might enhance the wonderful work they CBS-D is doing. I think they’re is doing a great job for the most part. Just a few cinks to work out.

Glad to hear it.

the ship is flying diagonally in the first shot! why remaster the show at all if they’re going to keep it that consistent?!

I got it, everyone!!!!

The reason why many of you don’t like the Tholian ship being thrown back by the phaser hit is……….*drum roll, please*……….because the the phaser beams FOLLOW the ship as it flings backwards. Wouldn’t the beams remain stable while the ship flings out of their path?

Either way, I still like their work, though! lol

Thanks for the side by side comparison. It really helped me realize… I much prefer the original. I’m 39 and been a fan of Star Trek (especially TOS) for as long as I can remember. Remastering was totally unnecessary in my opinion. Clean it up if you like, but don’t change anything.

“Clean it up if you like, but don’t change anything.”

yes, boldly going nowhere.