“Arena” Screenshots and Video [UPDATED]

Thanks for the update!
I’m trying to catch it on another channel. It usually blacked out. It’s on a half hour later! Doh!

To all SUPER-HARDCORE fans: IF you really and truly want to watch the updated Star Trek….then at least consider this option. What the heck?
Get Dish-Networks West Coast package and watch it on channel – 235
Thats the Denver channel (Channel 2 there!) They show it at these times.
2:00 A.M. (Eastern Time) on a Sunday.
Then they show the previous weeks episode on Saturday at 6:00 A.M. Eastern…it all digital and a decent picture. Blah….blah….blah….!
Or Bonk…..bonk to the head…….Just kidding about the Bonk….bonk….Ok?

I loved the new clear print – gorgeous colors throughout and very clear. I thought the final shots of the Enterprise heading to Cestus III were very nicely executed, and one ship insert at the beginning of an act also looked great.

The eyeblinks were a nice subtle improvement, which they were careful not to overdo. The Gorn is such an impressive opponent, what with Ted Cassidy’s wonderful voicing, it really doesn’t need much help and there isn’t much one can do about the costume. The eyes were very shiny in this clean print, which I thought made him look that much more eerie.

Keeping the Gorn ship barely in view matched the plot, so I’m not disappointed we didn’t get a closeup. Let it remain a mystery.

The most distracting thing, evidently a by-product of a cleaned print, is the poor framing of the matte on the viewscreen as the crew watches the competition. It jostled up and down, with a blue line appearing and disappearing inside of the usual blue edge of the viewscreen. I wish they had cleaned that up with a wider screen border masking the matte errors. And what I presume are in-camera lens flares from the Metron’s outfit (especially noticeable to the left of him) are still there – that always annoyed me in the original show.

But those are minor quibbles in a beautifully cleaned-up remaster. Kudos to Okuda and his team.

^ Also wanted to say the blue phasers look good too, hope they keep them a consistant color. Some were wanting them to change torp color for the different eps, hope they just choose one and keep it. Clicked “Say It” before I was done… :(

I just realized with the before after shots whats really wrong with the ship: Not highlights.

For everyone wondering what makes this think look flat and cartoonish or at least what we mean by that is that the ship has midtones and shadows, but there are zero highlights. Look at the secondary hull in all the old shots, there is a bright highlight running parallel along the side. I shows the roundness of the object. It also has sharp edges because in real life nothing really fades from one brightness to another evenly. I think if the team learns this they’ll have some good images.

Ok, just saw the show. Still great! No glowing impulse because the ship is in warp during exterior shots. Blinking Gorn from the dusty world… cool.

But I ‘ll tell you what. This would have been a great future movie concept. Can you imagine 1000 yrs in the future the Federation is in a peace of a 1000s yrs. Then a new threat emerges. The Federation negotiates peace talks with a deceptive race for peace. The Federation is suspicious of the peace talks but go thru with it. The race wants to eliminate the Federation of Planets and proceeds with their conquest. It looks like the end is near when on the horizon a glimmer… a glimmer of hope. A new species comes to the aid of the Federation. To bring them out of the brink of defeat. The Metrons battle the evil empire in a great battle along side the Earthlings and all species of the Federation. Its a great battle of magnificent magnitude. It’s like all of the Universe is involved. The Metrons put up a heroic battle to save the Federation. The battle settles at one last stand. The Metrons advances to the front to confront the evil for one last battle. The Battle of Armageddon.

Since I heard about the Remastered Star Trek I have been searching the internet for a good source information and images of what CBS are doing. Being a UK based Star Trek fan, we have had no word as to when or even if any channel over here will pick up these remastered episodes so I have found this site excellent for incite as to what they are doing. I have enjoyed reading the comments people have been making. Its seems to me that on the whole CBS are doing a good Job, but its not quite right yet, especially some of the ship shots. (although I loved the still frame shot of the Enterprise from I Mudd around the yellow planet breaking orbit). I have been a Fan of Star Trek for over 25 years and I have fond memories watching re runs of the show on BBC2 as a kid thinking it was the greatest thing ever. The stories are still great but the effect have badly dated although for some this is part of the quaint appeal, I for one am please at the prospect of what CBS are doing. I really hope that when they come to release this on DVD that they will go back and add a few more effects and tidy up some of the obvious things they have missed out. This project could be SO cool if they get it right. It sounds like they are going to go back eventually and I hope they do bother to make some or most of the changes the fans are suggesting. I would love to see all of the planets surfaces where they are obvious in a studio set have some backgrounds put in to give the look of theses strange new worlds some depth. I would have loved them to have created the whole head of the Gorn with more movement around the whole of his face. Maybe the shot of the Gorn ship being so far out in the distance was being to represent full to the original shot. They should go back and maybe have the same shot but then move the camera forward through the view screen and zoom in on the ship with the Metron solar system showing behind it. I am all for the changes in the effect and I don’t see it as disrespectful to the original effects team at all. I understand they have a tight demanding schedule to produce these episodes each week but I plead with produces, paramount, CBS, Dave Rossi or Mike Okuda or whoever has a say on this… Take you time to get it right. I have loved the updates on the small things like the new Normans inners and the dial from the naked time. I love the new matt paintings too. If you have a tight schedule to get these out each week and are missing out on doing things you love to do then make sure you go back and do them before you finish this project and put it out DVD. It will be a shame to have to wait another 40 years for some new updates when you have the chance and opportunity to do it now. I’m not a CGI man but I do work as graphic designer and have a keen eye for attention to detail. I just BEG you guys to take your time before you finish this project and also to go back to other episodes you have already aired where you know you could have done better with the ship and the little things. If you need an extra second here or there to show something off then do so I don’t think we are going to mind if the episode ends a second or too longer then it did before. By that I don’t mean change the story I just mean be a bit more daring with what you are doing. For example the Ultimate Computer, during the battle scenes you can still tie the sound to the new images still but if you want to show a shot of the battle you have thought up where it might not tie to the original sound then repeat the Sounds that phaser or torpedo would have made as you know from the other times we have seen or heard whatever weapon it is being fired. Saying all of the above I have a lot of respect for the what the CBS guys are doing and have already done , I just hope you can make what seems a good project into a great one with some awesome visuals that will stand the test of time for the next 20 years or so. Just make sure that when the final piece of… Read more »

This episode was sort of a mixed bag, the viewscreen bits are so easy to fix I can’t image why they didn’t do it. They didn’t even bother to remove the scratches on the film while the Gorn talks to Kirk while the Enterprise crew watches. The Gorn’s blink was cool.

I think I was most shocked at how good the print looked when Kirk was standing on a rock and you could see his while long-johns under his tunic, and LACES oh his boots.

I would give this updating about a 3 out of 10.

Ok….just one question. Isn’t that battle scenes with Kirk and the Gorn in the same general area where the batcave was for their 1960’s series?
Also….for anyone living in that area where it was shot – can these places be easily traveled and viewed by the common public or is it private land now? What can be told about these area where you see Kirk running up the cliffs and so on? Thanks for any and all input on this. I appreciate it!

Thanks for your efforts in posting the video and images Matt. I always look forward to them.

Ohhh. Cute little Gorn Ship! Ok… I think it will be larger when the Ep airs. Will it?
But I still don’t like the Enterprise. It’s surface is way too smooth. I want some more details!

I’m not sure ANYONE actually broadcast as part of the episode the shot of the Enterprise breaking orbit with the impulse engines lit, even though it was online and in a preview. My local station certainly did not air it. Can anyone verify that shot was aired in the episode on their station? If it wasn’t, then I wonder if that was a shot that would appear in the uncut DVD/HD version that will eventually be sold, or if it was just an insert for the episode preview.

Enjoyed it, but a few things:

Gorn blinks – appreciated the simplicity of it, certainly easier than giving it “lizard eyes” and replacing the silver compound eyes. However, I felt that it didn’t blink enough. Only three or four times, by my count. I understand not wanting to overdo it, but c’mon. Also, his eyes should have been closed when he was knocked out by the boulder and then by the bamboo cannon.

Viewscreen – incredibly distracting. Definitely needed fixing. I guess they just ran out of time.

Gorn ship – I’m glad something was on the screen, but I would have liked to see it a little closer up.

And I’m still holding out hope for a Klingon battle fleet in “Errand of Mercy.”

^^^
Oops! Make that Korob, not Kolob. Love the guy, even if I can’t get his name right. ;-)

Upside: New ship’s phasers effect, initial Cestus III opening shots with crater and mountains, and Gorn blinking (but not enough), and I agree with the comment of when the Gorn should have had its eyes fully closed.

Dowside: No improvement in Enterprise shots, still lack colored stars, viewscreen problems (noted many times on here), Gorn ship no more than than a little blob on viewscreen, problems in the speed of the Enterprise. At one point the stars on the viewscreen and moving very fast, follwed shortly by an external shot of the Enterprise where the stars are moving about 1/10th as fast. With more time, they could have added many nice touches to enhance this episode.

I also agree with the comment about Errand of Mercy. This episode needs to show a Klingon (and hopefully Federation) fleet.

LOL, Kaaaaaaaahhhhhhhn, I noticed that too, seems like a simple fix there.
I also thought the Gorn didn’t blink enough!!! When Kirk claps his hands over the Gorn’s “ears”, it would’ve been nice. Also, when the Gorn was downed by the canon, it’d been nice to see some alien blood and injury, as well, as lidded eyes. ;-D
Other points that could have been jazzed up a bit… the mortar fire from the Gorns. The Gorn ship, of course.
Honestly, though I was against CGI Gorn, damn, did I laugh my butt off at the intial Kirk/Gorn fight. IMHO, They shoulda tweaked the film speed there, and worked on some Gorn plasticity to his facial features and blending the head and body better, nothing too fancy.
Most of the Enterprise shots were pretty good… but still room for improvement.
And, the Gorn “voice”, what a hoot! :-D I kept thinking of Bender from Futurama for some reason.

People who are expecting all new space ships in scene where they weren’t before are probaly going to be very disappointed. It takes mucho money to create new models for such ships, and also, because of the time restrictions imposed by syndication, there won’t be space for any additional scenes.

It’s one thing to fix an old show; but it’s something else to *redo* an old show. And many fans don’t want to see what happened to Star Wars happen to Star Trek: too many things changed until it’s no longer what it was that made the shows great.

Liked the Gorn blinks, very effective, but not done enough. Phasers, photon torpedoes, nice. The new BG on the wide shots, beautiful.

But, since they are fixing things, HOW could they have let one glaring thing get by… When Sulu is hitting the buttons on the board in one scene, ther are NO sound effects, just, bap, bap, bap. It was an obvious oversight on the original show and one easily fixed when doing it now. Just a few button effects would have fixed it.

I just don’t get it. Fix some things and not what they should.

That Gorn ship looked like a TIE fighter…LOL!!!

I wish we could have seen the ship closer up…and something that is reptillian looking…or organic looking. I don’t imagine the Gorn ship having a real high-tech appearance…

To answer a question asked above, the “Batcave” is located off Bronson Canyon in Hollywood, near the 101 freeway; Bronson Canyon is the beam down point at the beginning of “Bread and Circuses” but it’s not used in “Arena.” The Vasquez Rocks are past Santa Clarita on the 14 freeway, a 30-45 minute drive from downtown Los Angeles–and both sites are accessible to the public.

The big frustration for me here was the deletion of the two big shots highlighted in the preview, the breaking orbit shot and another one showing the Enterprise and Gorn ship facing off. REALLY frustrating that we now have to wait until 2008 or something to see that on DVD. The Gorn blink was subtle (it WAS a green eyelid, not a white nictitating membrane as someone postulated earlier, although it’s so quick you’d have to watch it frame by frame to catch that)–they even seemed to make the Gorn’s eyes half-closed in a shot towards the end but this quickly switched to an eyes-wide-open shot so if there was an intended effect there it was lost. Phaser/photon torpedo effects were fine (yes, the original torpedo shot in the episode shows red torpedoes).

Interesting question about a Klingon fleet for “Errand of Mercy.” I can’t imagine they would go that far, although they did create a Gorn ship where none existed before. The philosophy is to at least try to do shots somewhat in the style of the original and any kind of massive fleet shot would have been far beyond the capabilities of classic Trek (as would some of the panning motion control-style shots done in previous remastered episodes, but…). I have a feeling the most we’ll get in that area is in “The Ultimate Computer” because that episode DOES show four ships onscreen at once, the most the old show ever did.

I’ll be interested to see Catspaw too. Obviously they’re going to do something with the aliens at the end, but what do you do about all the awful “giant cat” shots? They’re not going to create a CG monster cat and you just can’t help those original shots of an adorable black tabby too much.

Did anyone notice the blood on the Gorn after Kirk hit him with his improvised cannon? Was that added or there in the original print? It might just have been visible now with the cleaner version. Any thoughts?

Hey, what am I, chopped liver? I’ve been to Vasquez Rocks AND Bronson Canyon… :)

The name is Bond. Jeff Bond.

Dude of course you can be on the team. You are very 007 in the pants my vasquez rocks and chuck bronson visiting e-friend.

I was watching the remaster with my kid yesterday. I was explaining to him about cestus 3 and the vasquez rocks and whatnot. He recognized the episode from Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. He was the one that pointed out the Gorn blood to me. I had to show him the blinky eyes fo the Gorn too. He thought it was fakey but then conceded the gorn costume was pretty cool for late 60s. I mean what does the kid know, he’s only 10. He’s never laid down with a woman. He plays that XboX all day long and watches Viva La Bam. I think that he might be a pooftah but for now I give him the benefit of the doubt. He sure took a shining to the Metron™ though. Wait… I guess that was me. SORRY BOUT THAT SIR. thank you drive thru.

best!!

=h=

I didn’t see no Gorn blood, if there was it was damn subtle… I’ll admit I was doing something else at the time, but I have it recorded, so I’ll check it out again.

Aother thing that would have been nice is a some tiny lil Gorns added to the skyline shots when Kirk and Co. where trying to pinpoint them, silouhettes would be fine.
;-D