Week 2 of Trek Remastered gives us Devil in the Dark. Don’t expect much in terms of new space effects with Kirk and a few red shirts hunting Horta. That being said this week will mark a Trek Remastered first with some redone (and possibly animated) versions of the old matte paintings. Check our listings for your station and showime (if your local time is not there then send us a tip to add it).
Promos are already airing, here is one from Chicago (thanks to a loyal reader)
TrekMovie.com will have screenshots and a review up this weekend, and if you see any promos for Trek Remastered let us know.
but you don’t need to wait for that to tell us what you think of Devil in the Dark Remastered.
That promo does a great job not showing the Horta, which since CBS isn’t messing with the aliens, should still look like a big rubberized pile of spaghetti with meatballs.
I like this episode.
Wasn’t this episode one of the episodes Leonard Nimoy was nominated for an Emmy- his monologue while mindmelding with the Horta?
Horta Hears a Who ; We are here! We are here!!
In real life, during the shooting of this episode, Bill Shatner’s father passed away. Shatner cites this episode as one of the more meaningful ones to him personally, and his acting in it is very strong. And of course, Josh is right about Nimoy’s acting in this show. FYI, Nimoy was nominated for an Emmy for each of the three seasons of the original run. How he never won an award is deeply disappointing.
Indeed this is an excellent episode and a favorite of mine. It is a huge shame that ST was passed up every year by the Emmy’s.
I just checked Leonard Nimory was indeed nominated every year: 1967, 1968 and 1969 for Outstanding performance by an actor in a supporting role.
Special effects from TOS was also nominated nearly every year and was snubbed every time.
As the Horta burned it’s way into the chamber where Kirk was waiting, we can now see a more realistic ‘rock vaporizing’ effect as the Horta emerges dramatically from the tunnel it created. That was a great spot to update, it really needed it. It’s good to see this: some interior effect shots being enhanced as well.
The ship shots looked fine with the planet and I really enjoyed the ending where the Enterprise flys by the camera in one long shot with the traditional ending of the Enterprise flying into the darkness.
So who won special effects that year over trek? Sister Batrille?
Did anyone else notice the little workers inserted in the matte painting in the office?
Those are the little touches that add so much.
Also, the tracking shot of the Enterprise at the end of the episode was glorious, and a first for Classic Trek, I was hoping a shot similar to this would be used to blend the two shots in the opening titles into one, the Enterprise approaches and instead of switching to a shot as it speeds away, the camera just follows as it zips by at Warp Speed.
Amazing, keep up the good work!
I’m really looking forward to seeing the hangar bay and Shuttlecraft Galileo on these remastered episodes.
Also the Klingon Battlecruiser.
Oh hell, I love it all!
im not too sure how I feel about this, I’m generally against the “remastering” of classis media just on principle. The chessy SX are part of the appeal of TOS anyway.
If nothing else this gave me an excuse to run out and buy the complete series of TOS on DVD, just in case the original material would no longer be available after the “upgrade”
I too thought the cruising shot of the enterprise at the end was great. i have to say i was looking forward to seeing more of the “chamber of the ages” oh well.
My comment is general, applying to a good number of episodes featuring ‘aliens.’
I would like a ‘middle road’ approach to alien digital enhancements.
Taking one episode as an example, after viewing the Horta in the updated clips, it seems that the original alien props, no matter how cheezy, will not be visually ‘replaced.’ I understand the reasoning behind this decision.
So, instead of entering into an “totally change vs. totally keep” discussion, I have a third suggestion.
Go ahead with keeping the original versions of, for example, Flint’s M-4, Nomad, the Horta, the psudeo Rastafarian Cocker Spaniel (“The Enemy Within” episode) and so on. However, do something with them; digitally add to, erase, airbrush…whatever the most laughable visual elements while retaining the prop’s overall original appearance.
Returning to the Horta example, the obvious, four human limbs moving under the horta prop are what make it visually cheap. So, digitally copy and paste, say, two of those intermittently buldging parts to two, additional areas of the prop as it moves. Resulting in, for example, three moving ‘limbs’ per flank.
GRAtRez