The Deadly Years Screenshots and Video


 

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I think CBSD has given up. Their is no drama in these remastered shots. All very flat, while the new Birds of Prey look better, the lighting is horrible.

I must admit that some of the effects shots look a little been-there-done-that, but I love the little tidbits featuring the Enterprise under attack and the way it warps through space to get out of the Neutral Zone. I think this is the first time we have actually seen CBS-D make the stars look the way they should when the Enterprise is in warp.

Effects look alright to me. One thing I don’t get though, is why they didn’t RE-create a new “bridge” for the viewscreen? As long as its not the famous “over Sulu’s shoulder”, there should have been no problem doing this. We always get a grainy shot of the bridge, with new effects slapped on the viewscreen. Since its always the same shot of the viewscreen, it would have been easy to recreate just once and slap on new CGI in the viewscreen any time they wanted.

I don’t agree that these shots are flat or that the lighting is poor. To me, CBS-D is aiming for consistency across shots in the whole series, and that is a laudable objective.

It would make me happy to see the Enterprise twisting and rolling to evade being hit, and we could see disruptor (?) strikes hit somewhere other than the front, but I recognize that all of this would (1) cost more, and (2) create consistency problems in terms of how the Enterprise has been shown to move in space. Issue #2 is not a problem for me (it’s a futuristic space ship with inertial dampening, it doesn’t have to move like a cruise liner), but it would alienate the ‘purist’ fan-base.

I thought in the tv episode when the Romullan ship decloaked, there was a bit of a wavy effect. It doesn’t look that way in this vid cap. However, when the Enterprise first went to warp, on tv, the maneuvering looked really choppy. On the vid cap, it looks a little less choppy, but there’s still an awkwardness. Am I alone in this thinking? Is the only reason it looks awkward is becaue it si choppy? Or is there something else I’m not quite grasping? I till think the stars need to streak at warp. While it was good to see the stars speeding by, it really looked like Windows screensaver.

I don’t like the look of the weapons impact on the Enterprise, from either close, or far away. The weapons fire themselves need reworking. They need to see other Star Trek shows to get a grasp of shields. These really look like glowing paintballs hitting a flat glass pane. And the explosions don’t really look very “explosiony”. I think some canon-established shields should be seen.

However, I have to say, I LOVED the views of the ships. And I did like the showing of the ships firing on the Enterprise. I will even go as far as to say that I’m ok with the arc the weapons fired in (I’m basing this on the assumption that much like us good guys, the Romulans have the ability to and execute strategic targeting on certain areas of a ship). It really gave a good showing of how flanked the Enterprise was getting.

So ok, the question is: Is this really what they would’ve made the weapons look like in the 60’s? And are people ok with that? For me, if you are going to actually update and remaster a show, the effects should be given a modern look. We already have a Star Trek with 60’s effects. Why not let that be what it is, but have a Remastered project that has a 2007 look to it? Why make new “60’s effects?”

Leaving aside the famous “crotch shot” seen during Kirk’s rejuvenation, could there be any other evidence that this episode has a subtext about male potency?

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=64&pos=113

I thought it was okay, the shot of the Enterprise turning and leaving fast was strange, have wee seen that Enterprise do that? The weapons fire was a bit eh, but I figured they were trying to keep the look of the origional a bit so die hards wouldn’t be too upset with the cgi changes.

#1: These are screencaps, which is not the most optimum way of viewing the actual results of the re-mastering. If you’ve actually watched the episodes on TV then it could either be your TV or the broadcast network making the shots look “bad”.

They honestly look better than the equivalent TOS episodes that are broadcast on TV Land.

Okay… so what they are going for now? Just crappy effects that are ***NEW*** but just a touch different than the original show. So who the hell are these amateurs trying to fool?

They screwed up ‘Doomsday Machine’ by doing too much, and now they make this show look worse by trying to imitate the original… ineptly.

LEAVE THE DAMN SHOW ALONE, OR IF YOU DARE, CLEAN UP THE EFFECTS, BUT STOP TRYING TO SHOW OFF HOW MUCH **MORE** YOU CAN NOW DO!

I will NOT be buying the remastered episodes, and can only hope that Paramount will come to their senses and not send these guys a royalty for their cheezy work.

CBS-D is the worst thing that has ever happened. Everything they do- they screw up.
My life was going along very well until they remastered Star Trek. Now my doctor tells me I have six months to live, and my wife has left me. I was a wealthy man but now I am penniless.
Things were so much better when Star Trek was not remastered. Things were better when every planet they visited was the same one. Things were so much better when there were matte lines around the ship. I am so angry. ANGRY.
My life has been ruined. I used to be such a happy person….

Some of the shots of the Enterprise being surrounded by Romulan Warbirds are reminiscent of the the shots of the Enterprise surrounded by Klingon D7’s in the Enterprise Incident.

Ugh. Things were going well on this reel until the Birds-of-Prey surrounded the Enterprise–then, everything went straight to hell. Horribly lit, coreographed, and executed, with the last shot in particular looking like something from New Voyages–early New Voyages. (And the reworking of the “hit shield” effect first seen in “Errand of Mercy” continues to suck.)

This was easily CBS-D’s worst effort in months. As a story “The Deadly Years” is a turgid mess, but this scene at least had the potential to generate a little excitment, as well as correct the impression that the Romulan superweapon had inexplicably lost all its power. What the heck happened??

What’s the famous “Kirk crotch shot”?

#13: Writhing on the table while the meds go to work. The top of his body is obscured, and his crotch bounces all around. Unless there’s another one?

#13, 14

No idea – I’ve always looked directly into his brains.

I don’t know what the hell your problem is, people.

I enjoyed this episode’s remastering, and loved that extended shot of the Enterprise being pounded by the Romulans. I also liked the shot of the Enterprise orbiting across the terminator into darkness (even though they used it twice).

#4 – we saw Romulan hits on the side of the Enterprise in this episode.

#12 – isn’t it likely that Starfleet improved the technology of their shields after “Balance of Terror,” thus making it appear that the Romulan plasma torpedo has lost some of its effect?

ety3… what’s your job title at CBS Digital?

Piece of sh*t.

The Romulan hits on the Enterprise’s shields look like sh*t,

The Enterprise leaving at ludicrous speed looks like sh*t.

Consistency across shots? Is bull sh*t.

A chimpanzee and two trainees …..

Compared to the “news” coming out about Star Trek XI, the Remastered Star Trek is good stuff. Really the only reason to keep coming here, although I get caught up in the “can’t look away from a train wreck” thing and read the movie articles and posts as well.
Maybe the Remastered project isn’t perfect, but I have really enjoyed watching for the changes, most of which have been very well done.

the sequence where the enterprise turns to warp away does look a bit dodgy but otherwise the other changes are OK. This episode is a poor one though.

#10 GarySeven
So are you implying that no-one should be critical of these re-mastered episodes because, on the whole, they’re better than the original? Well that would be okay if these were people doing this as a hobby, but they’re doing it to to try and sell you something you’ve probably already seen several times, and maybe even spent money on buying.

Now, if this was a forum on the problems of mankind and the general mess of things we tend to make, then yes, all this criticism of star-trek remastered would be laughable. But it isn’t, is it. It’s a star-trek website and this particular thread is about a remastered episode of star-trek.

#10 “My life was going along very well until they remastered Star Trek. Now my doctor tells me I have six months to live, and my wife has left me. I was a wealthy man but now I am penniless”

That’s the stupidest complaint about it I have ever read! I am pretty sure that those had nothing to do with Star Trek Being remastered. YOu did those on your own.

The Enterprise and romulan ships are alright, I guess, but the new plasma torpedo effect completely botches the “alien-ness” of the original version. And dont get me started on yet another shit-brown planet. Have these guys ever looked at the mindblowing colorfulness of the universe, as portrayed in numerous NASA shots? Oh right: bland is “realistic”. ;)

Just saw it. I really liked the new effects. The new wide shot of the Enterprise being srurrounded and fired upon was very cool. It looked slick but not overdone to 24th century standards. I loved the quick departure of the Enterprise as well, but instead of speeding up the stars as the ship travels at high warp, I wish they would go back to the streaking “blur” used for the opening credits. This was used to great effect in the original versions and when that effects shot was inserted, you knew the Enterprise was hauling ass! Sped up star movement just don’t work as well.

Other than that, great job!

What really burns me up is the up and down inconsistency of the effects from CBSD. For example, I just watched “Operation: Annihilate” and while the jelly fish like creatures are untouched, the new CGI sattelite shots are pretty good:

http://www.makemoviesnow.com/images/st_tos_AH_sat.jpg
http://www.makemoviesnow.com/images/st_tos_AH_E_drops_sat.jpg

Also, in this shot you can acrually see dirt and hair in the frame at the bottom of the screen – yet most of the image is restored…

http://www.makemoviesnow.com/images/st_tos_ah_dirt_gate.jpg

really interesting and tells you how manual the image cleaning process really is.

#10 Gary — That was a funny piece of writing, however one feels about the Remastered project. Thanks for the morning chuckle.

Scott B. out.

“#10 “My life was going along very well until they remastered Star Trek. Now my doctor tells me I have six months to live, and my wife has left me. I was a wealthy man but now I am penniless”

That’s the stupidest complaint about it I have ever read! I am pretty sure that those had nothing to do with Star Trek Being remastered. YOu did those on your own. ”

Sweet god…..you know there’s some sarcasm on the net that’s tricky to pick up and then there’s this…This is not the first time recently that I’ve seen someone respond seriously to what is obviously, very obviously, sarcasm. Jeez.

Operation: Annihilate? I don’t recall that one being shown.

As for Deadly Years. Most of the stuff was cool…Enterprise going to warp…not so cool. And as for the idea that the original has to conform to it’s spin-offs for shield and warp effects….not “no”, but “HELL no”.
The streaking stars works with TNG ships, they didn’t streak in the original show, they didn’t streak in TMP or most of the movies IIRC.
So keep your TNG FX in the TNG era.

Operation: Annihilate! has not been shown, but you can buy it on iTunes.

There are some PO’d people here.

I thought the episode was OK. The shot of the E warping out was a little cartoony to me, but other than that it was fun to watch.

I liked seeing all of the Romulan ships flanking the Enterprise and firing on her. Not CBS’s best work but not terrible.

I watched Operation Annihilate last week off of I-tunes and I thought they did a great job with the satellites emitting infrared light on the planet. They actually cut out some live action footage of the bridge to put that shot in there (similar to what they did for Amok Time). I love it when CBS gives us little nuggets like that to enhance the episode even more and increase the “scope” of TOS.

Overall, this was a credible effort by the CBS-D team, a decent attempt to choreograph the battle between the Enterprise and the Romulans as described in the dialog. The Enterprise warping away did look odd, though I’m not sure how they could have represented it differently. “Realistically,” if the Enterprise were to suddenly jump into high warp from a stationary position it would simply vanish from sight, but that’s a bit of a letdown dramatically. Perhaps this is one of those cases where a warp effect (like those from the movies or TNG) would have better communicated what was happening.

In any case, I’m glad that CBS-D is still trying to make battle scenes look unique instead of resorting to a collection of stock shots, even if the results aren’t quite perfect. The weapon strikes on the shields do need work, though. I just don’t get the feeling that they packed any punch. Interesting that the Romulan fire seemed to have curved trajectories as well.

Lastly, a question to the other CGI artists on these boards. A while back, CBS-D said that they obtained a new, more accurate CGI model of the Enterprise that dramatically reduced rendering time. Looking at the vidcaps from this episode, the Enterprise model looks a lot like the one built by “Buckky,” available on several Trek-related CGI websites. Does anyone else out there think that’s the model they’re using now?

I don’t know what people are complaining about. I thought the whole battle with the Romulans was very well done, and the warping away shot was more consistent with the live action shots than the original. I think the “awkwardness’ was done on purpose to show they were doing a maneuver that the ship wasn’t really designed for.

(And those Romulans do hava mean curve ball, don’t they!)

This has nothing to do with the CGI, but it always bothered me how Kirk’s hairline goes from receded (see the screenshot above – presumebly his real hairline) to a lower hairline when he’s even older and greyer! – It just busts me up.

I wonder if Shatner, watching the previous days rushes, insisted that they restore his hairline with the next wig….gotta wonder.

More seriously on the make up – I found the special effects make up looked rather bizzare – especialy on McCoy. It looks like they had a hard time blending the prosthetics with his real skin, especially around his jowls and lips. I’m concerned the detail in HD will make this look even worse…

Now I’m kinda glad I missed it.
I’m still amazed that an experienced, seasoned CG-FX house wasn’t brought in to handle a job of this magnitude.
It’s like when Paramount brought in Bran Ferren to handle the effects for STV. “Hey, let’s re-invent the wheel- again!”

Well, at any rate. CBS D are consistent in their inconstancy with the ‘stye’ and ‘quality’ of the CGI work in their episodes. It now looks like they’re veering away from shoe horning motion picture styled effects into the episodes and going for more of a Docterman type approach. Kind of has a retro sixties style to some of it. Kind of.

Did anyone catch the dissolve fx miss hap on this weeks episode?

About 22 minutes into the show, right before Kirk is asleep in the command chair, the original shot was a dissolve into the ship orbiting the planet. The new effect was also a dissolve.
(These must be a constant bitch for these guys to do since they have to start the dissolve earlier in the scene over the original footage. Usually it just comes in a little early on the scene.)

On this particular shot you can actually see a little bit of the original FX shot they had to dissolve into and over.

It’s a great way to compare how they aline the shots and also to see the look of the original Enterprise with that of the new one. I don’t think they have made this mistake before.

It’s only a few frames but you should be able to see it

you can please everyone… but this project is definatly worth it! Afer all, no production is ever really ‘done’…. just look at the many different editions of the Star Wars films.

The Enterprise turning to warp and some other shots remind me of a waaaay back commercial that aired for White Castle which featured the Enterprise pulling up to a White Castle in space and ordering something ridiculous, like 4000 hamburgers.

I exaggerate, but … not impressed with these long shots of the Enterprise moving around like an X-Wing Fighter, it’s just not working for me. I think ST WOK is the best example of how to show these large ships fighting eachother. (at least in terms of movement)

Doug L.

#17 —

I would love to have a job at CBS-Digital, but having to listen to the comments of a-holes like yourself would give me second thoughts.

#38:
I agree with you 200% on your ST:WOK comments. Mabye the next time the series is re-mastered, the job will be more consistent.
I did like the streaking star effect though-that was fun, although admittedly borrowing from the Next Generation era SFX.

Jeez, there’s an awful lot of bitching here for what amounts to a handful of new shots. Once again, I get the impression most of the whiners here are basing their opinion SOLELY on the low-quality FX video up top. That is NOT what it looked like on TV, people.

I agree with others here that the warping away shot was a bit odd (the E maneuvered more like the Millennium Falcon than a huge starship), but come on guys, these new shots and compositions are still lightyears more exciting and dramatic than the ones that USED to be there. Are you seriously telling me the stock footage from Balance of Terror was better?

I never quite understood all the angry and indignant remarks about the remastered project. It’s not like the original episodes are out of print or not available anymore. Some posters are definately in need of of meds and professional counselling!

Mike :o

I have no problem with the ship moving fast in some shots, particularly when it’s at a good distance from the camera–dialogue and the fact of how these ships are supposed to work, maneuvering at incredible velocities, always implied that we would see this kind of action but executing it with Sixties technology was impossible. I love The Wrath of Khan too but that was always just taking the Star Wars approach of making spaceships move like lumbering battleships on the ocean–that’s great if the ships only move about 40 miles an hour…I think there’s a good mix of majestic, slow-moving shots and quick action.

But I definitely agree about the inconsistency of the shots–some shots do look photoreal, others do not.

OK, CGI folks: Why have you *again* refused to put Impulse Engines on the back of the Romulan bird-of-prey? I’m not buying your new DVDs until you fix this silly omission here and in “Balance of Terror.”

And while you’re at it, you’d better add Impulse Engines to the back of the Klingon/Romulan battle cruisers for “Elaan of Troyius” and “The Enterprise Incident.”

The “Deadly Years” battle sequence certainly was an improvement over the sound effects/time sync botch-up in “Errand of Mercy” (another thing you need to fix).

Although the original “Deadly Years” used the same “Errand of Mercy” footage of the Enterprise being hammered by torpedoes, the deliciously vicious sound effects were dropped, so you had *that* to contend with when re-visualizing the battle sequence.

I don’t understand why you aren’t *adding* sound effects to the original soundtrack when they’re clearly needed. Perhaps that’s a whole other project … something for which we’ll have to wait until the *next* re-release of the remastered TOS (all the more reason *not* to buy now).

Despite the absence of space-battle sound effects, you conceived several clever “long shots” showing the Enterprise being attacked from all sides, and also included several “tiny” BoPs in the distance to correspond with Sulu’s assertion that a “maximum of 10” BoPs was attacking. Very, very nicely done. Can’t wait to see what you do with “The Ultimate Computer” and “Elaan of Troyius.”

“The Deadly Years” is famous for several terrific camera “reveals” that still bowl you over, even after 40 years. I suppose Alvin’s reveal to Chekov would be the first, even though we can see something is coming in the dark. The next snap reveal is much more effective: Robert and Elaine Johnson appearing from out of nowhere, accompanied by a perfect musical cue.

We never see the next shocking reveal coming either, because he sounds fine on the intercom … but just when we’re focused on Kirk’s arthritis and McCoy’s graying sideburns, suddenly Scotty walks in with completely white hair and a drawn, haggard face. Kirk’s exclamation “Scotty!” and the accompanying music cue round out this terrifically filmed/edited sequence.

After the commercial break, we’re back in Sickbay and Kirk is watching Chekov on the workout table … Kirk’s back is to us and nothing looks amiss … until Shatner performs one of his classic “quick-spin” reveals, showing how the aging process is ravaging him. You never see it coming!

In the same scene, one of the best ideas was keeping Lt. Galway off-camera (you forget she’s supposed to be there with the rest of the landing party) until McCoy addresses her … and then we can hear in her voice that she, too, obviously is racked with age. Then we get her shocking reveal in the mirror … she’s more far-gone than anybody else.

Great stuff, “The Deadly Years” …

re 42, 43

For me personally, I agree, some posters need meds. Regarding whether some of us “really think” the original effects are actually better than the new effects, well, that’s not a relevant question really. It’s comparing apples to oranges.

Stylistic choices not withstanding, I compare the remastered effects with today’s quality of effects, not 60’s quality effects. By today’s standards, I think they aren’t as good as they could be.

Coming around to the “stylistic” argument that many have brought up, I am perfectly happy with a “classic look” approach, but would have been just as happy with the more modern take that Eden might have brought to the table.

In the end my concern is to see a fully fleshed out effect that resonates for me. In many cases CBS-D has done this extremely well with some great beauty shots and orbit shots, but in just as many I’m left thinking that a shot looked absolutely awful or they missed an opportunity to do something that they either didn’t or couldn’t.

To Jeff’s Star Wars analogy…, X-Wings and Ties moved fast, Star Destroyers lumbered. The Enterprise is a lumberer visually, not a speedster…

Since most who post here are probably intimately familiar with the originals, and likely 50% of posters cite some measure of dissatisfaction with the new effects, it stands to reason that the effects aren’t entirely up to par.

I have recently posted that I think they have made big improvements of late, but still this is an uneven project at best, and I’m left just wondering how much more time and money would have been required to take it up a notch to a level where you only have the 10% of people who gripe about everything anyway airing their grievances.

Anyway it’s a cool project, but from a business perspective, I find this to be a typical management cheap out proposition with a lack of vision towards the final product. I know the goal was ultimately for the HD releases, so I guess their sales will tell the story in the end. Of course people will buy just about anything.

Doug L.

44: I agree with the need to sometimes add sound effects. I don’t think you necessarily need to change the way the effects SOUND, but simply digitally reproduce and re-record the sound effects.

I also have to ask, has any of the music been re-recorded, other than the opening theme? That would be a great enhancement too… a digital re-recording of ALL the music as originally composed (such as the fighting theme… who wouldn’t want to hear “ba-daaa, ba-da ba-da, da-da da da da da da, DA da-da-da-da” re-recorded? I apologize for my poor approximate typed rendition).

#45 – “It’s comparing apples to oranges.”

Actually, I think a more apt description would be, “comparing apples to apples I had 30 years ago as a kid.”

re 47

True dat!

My goodness, these effects look more like video games than TV or cinema. It’s awful.

#27 The streaking stars works with TNG ships, they didn’t streak in the original show, they didn’t streak in TMP or most of the movies IIRC.
So keep your TNG FX in the TNG era

They also used it in Enterprise which took place Before TOS. How do you explain that.