Comments on: Tonight Is Menagerie Night + Send In Your Pics

By: Oztrek

Oztrek — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:17:36 +0000

This seems to be a dead topic now but never mind.

Australian Viewing just occurred last night. Perth venue was packed.
Three star fleet uniforms in the crowd gave out tickets for a door pize – the 1st seasn on HD-DVD no less. There was a video crew filming and interviewing guests before and after the show.

It is interesting to observe how today’s audiences read against the grain of a visual text like TOS. There was lots of laughter during moments that would have been high drama in the sixties. However the crowd seemed to dig retro because there was generous applause at the end of the screening.

In previous posts everyone has already stated how good it looked and they were spot on. Such detail! The make-up on Shatner, if anything, was plastered on pretty thick. No wonder he stil looks good, all that foundation!

By: James

James — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:52:11 +0000

Beese, Yes, the Aspect was truely out, good to see on big scrren shame they did not make the extra effort to make it perfect. JD

By: Greg Stamper

Greg Stamper — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:05:01 +0000

#226 – “It was filmed in black and white, so I seriously don’t believe that they were out to save a few bucks by undertaking the use of existing footage. They had to colorize it to incorporate it into The Menagerie.”

No ‘Star Trek’ was ever filmed in B&W. The famous B&W Cage reel Gene Roddenberry would show on College Campuses and other places was a work print. The Full Color film of “The Cage” was once trimmed to fit “The Menagerie” and everyone thought it had been thusly destroyed by the process. However another Full Color Print of “The Cage” was later discovered in a Paramount Vault and released on VHS, plus a TV Special hosted by Patrick Stewart.

By: Doug L.

Doug L. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:00:45 +0000

Hey, I know i’m a little late in the thread here, but there are a lot of people describing The Menagerie as a “clip show”. I’m not absolutely certain about this, but pretty sure that the Cage was never originally aired by itself, so viewing audiences in the day never saw it. Inherently that makes this “NOT” a clip show since nobody saw it.

2nd – It was filmed in black and white, so I seriously don’t believe that they were out to save a few bucks by undertaking the use of existing footage. They had to colorize it to incorporate it into The Menagerie. I believe that Roddenberry loved the original story, that it was closer to his original vision and that he very much wanted to have it be seen.

I think it was very well done, and added a whole rich depth of history to the series that would otherwise never have been known.

Doug L.

By: Randall

Randall — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:11:19 +0000

#222 & #223…

I had thought this was some kind of tie-in with the upcoming movie… (?) So seems unlikely that they’d present any other episodes on the big screen this way.

I’m mystified about all these bad experiences people had (such as Strag, #224). How tough can it be to work a digital projector and get the picture right? I’ve had to do it a million times at work, it’s not rocket science. I can’t blame people for being upset therefore—might have been a good idea to demand your money back, or at least to ask for a free pass to another movie. You certainly would have been within your rights… especially at those prices.

By: Strag

Strag — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:17:03 +0000

I saw “The Menagerie” on Thursday night at the AMC Lennox Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. I have to say that the presentation was very poor. It took them three tries to get the picture started (we’d have audio but no video) and, when it was finally started, the picture was of poor quality. There was a very noticeable halo around actors and objects in most scenes, and the picture was dark. As cool as it was to see TOS on the big screen, it was not worth $13.50 per ticket due to the presentation.

By: Mr. Fancy Pants

Mr. Fancy Pants — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 01:14:29 +0000

They should show two-fers of the episodes…that would be suh-weet!!!

By: Oregon Trek Geek

Oregon Trek Geek — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:50:08 +0000

I was unable to see The Menagerie. Does anyone know (Anthony?) if there are plans to show any other remastered ST episodes on the big screen? Perhaps a double feature of 2 episodes….

By: Leonel

Leonel — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:56:07 +0000

216 – “Also…it’s amazing to me how much they got right just in the original pilot.”

Agreed.. this is what probably got me most hopeful about the movie. As in, I wonder how of it will be set on Pike’s Enterprise. It will be great to see how faithful to that period in the Trek timeline the movie will be.

Sure – the Menagerie screenings did have that DVD Promo feel – but instead it got me thinking more of the movie!!!

By: Utterlee

Utterlee — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:29:50 +0000

It seems a shame that people had such a varied experience in terms of quality with this presentation. Seems we at Covent Garden, London were quite lucky as the picture really as amazing; I thought it was indistingishable from a 35mm projected film. Other people sound like they may as well have been watching it on Youtube!