Remastered “Journey to Babel” Screenshots and Video

A favorite episode gets a proper CGI upgrade…

SFX Video


(wmv

New and Old

 
In Orbit of Vulcan
 
Shuttle Landing Sequence 1
 
Shuttle Landing Sequence 2
 
Shuttle Landing Sequence 3
 
The Shuttlebay
 
Leaving Vulcan
 
The Orion ship hovering
 
The Orion ship makes a pass at the Enterprise
 
The Enterprise fires at the Orion ship
 
The Enterprise tries to torpedo the Orion ship

 
The Enterprise drifts
 
The Enterprise fires phasers at close range
 
The Orion ship is disabled (notice the chunks floating in the new version)
 
The Orion scout ship self-destructs

 

Assorted Shots


Spock attempts to teach McCoy the Vulcan salute

Ambassador Sarek

Amanda


The Ambassador Reception

It ain’t a party until little gold men start boozing it up!

"…A teddy bear!"

The spy Thelev looking menacing

Surgery while being fired upon

A better look at the Orion ship damage

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As usual cool images! Now the wait for the vfx vid. I don’t see any pics so I guess what I read earlier about the rear shot of the shuttle approaching wasn’t in the syndicated version? Also the article on startrek.com said something about the overlook being added to the shuttlebay wall behind sarek? True? No?

I really wish I could get these here on tv, prefer to sit down on the couch and watch but at least this site lets me see it quickly. :)

Since the “Where no man has gone before” thread is kinda past I thought I would post this here. I did a test earlier tonight on the viewing screen on the bridge, not complete but a start.

http://media.putfile.com/Screen-Test-66

Thanks for the screengrabs, we’re a week behind here in Phoenix. Dadgummit! Looks awesome, can’t wait until, uh, next week :(

Also to add, love that “…a teddy bear” pic. The look on McCoys face, great!

It almost seems from the screen shots that even with the addition the live shots wouldn’t really match the new bay. Both the color and the details that I would think be seen behind look to be more than that. Still would like to see it if possible. :-)

#1 You can see the very bottom of the observation deck outcrop (for lack of a better word) above the shuttlecraft as the scene goes on. Its not much but its there in the episode (if not in the screen grab).

I love that all the windows are black in the shot of the Enterprise adrift. Engineering really did cut the power, port and starboard.

Fast work, Matt. Thanks for the added pic.

Thank you Matt. Awesome looking shots.

Bravo CBS-D! This episode was awesome!

Matt, you forgot to scan these clips in at 4K and reprocess them from their original source. :)

just kidding.

Great and FAST work.

FInally they get a new fraking model shown up close!

Nice Orion ship.

What happened to the exterior shot of the shuttle approaching from the rear of the engineering section? That was a beautiful perspective. Perhaps it’s in the uncut version and we’ll have to wait for it in the DVD?

My one complaint!! For the broadcast time, they cut the shuttle approach!! That shot was awesome!! Asides from that, this was cool as hell. This was a really good ep. The new visuals help alot. One question? How did Krik wind up in that fight with that Andorian? It showed the ship and then suddenly he was fighting him. What was up with that I wonder? Here’s an image of the shuttle approach that they cut!!

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h112/DreamerOutThere/320×240.jpg

Just saw the episode and was impressed. It’s not a very FX heavy episode but the stuff that was done looked good. They could have made the entry into the shuttlebay longer but I understand they were trying to match the original music. The shot where the security guards stun the “andorian” wasn’t changed (I don’t think) but the original didn’t look bad from that angle and distance w/o a beam.

This episode has always been great. Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard did such a wonderful jobs that thier characters became very memorable even though this was the only TOS episode to feature them. The scene where Amanda strikes Spock is probably one of the biggest TOS tear-jerk moments since “City on the Edge of Forever.”

Only thing I don’t get about these remastered episodes- Does the TOS Enterprise not have any dorsal phasers? They always seem to fire from the bottom of the primary hull. This means that the Enterprise has no way of defending itself from above…. not a very good design :(

Otherwise, nice job :)

Thank you DreamerOutThere. Oh well, gives us something to look forward to. Yes, the fight made me feel like I’d looked away and looked back midstream. Well, I think they’ll be looking at all the discontinuities before mastering the DVDs, but it was amusing.

Oh yeah, I did notice the immediate cut to the fight already in progress. A bit of an odd editing choice on from the original TOS editors.

This is the best version of the Enterprise, to date. I did note however, that Vulcan looks a great deal like Mars, only with a minimal atmosphere.

I would have to rate this as one of the best Star Trek episodes of all time.

The correlation to todays terrorist problem seems to be a very obvious theme. Kudos to Kirk on his handling of the situation.

Kirk doesn’t get a lot of face time, but what Shatner did was excellent. You could see the pain, very clearly.

This episode also gave us our first glimpse into Vulcan society and the dynamic within Spocks family.

The new visual effect clearly lend a deeper dimension to the show. I’m still confused as to why the TOS fans at Trekbbs have been so against this type of thing for so long.

Thank you CBSD!

Really looking forward to next weeks installment. I remember a contest we had at Trekbbs, art forum, some years ago, where the members were tasked with making thier version of the Doomsday Machine. I came up with something original, while many others attempted to redo the same effect seen in the show, However, there was a gentleman that came up with one of the most effective versions of the DDM I have ever seen.

In short the DDM was a mass of sinew, covered with bones and what was reminicient of a sharks maw, at the forward section.

This thing looked like a monster, like something out of a Geiger painting. I can’t remember who the author was, but I would love to see something original, like that.

I hope they don’t go back and try to recreate what was one of the worst looking effects of the series.

Keep on Trekkin!

# 2 – We are not a week behind in Phoenix. The current episode is shown Sunday afternoon at 3 pm. Saturday at 9 pm is last week’s episode. We actually get to see them twice, because we can watch them on Sunday, and then again Saturday. So, for example, you can watch Babel about 15 hours from the time I’m posting this, and then again next Saturday (the 10th.)

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21 & 22 what does that have to do with JTB and the new sfx?

Just curious?

OK, I think I’m the first to ask this. Can anyone else confirm that CBS-D blacked out the mispelled sign that used to read “Hanger Deck”?

In general, great work! I think the E looked great, including the re-do of the closing shot. The Orion exploboom was great to look at. However, the original scene appears to have missed a beat as Kirk says, “If they want to surrender…” The light cue seems to take a second too long. Nitpicky, I know.

Yes, the stunning of Thelev appears to have been tweaked. It used to be a diamond-shaped affair, I think.

OK, everyone must be using Trekcore.com right now, so I can’t trace down the answer to my own question. Someone will have to answer for me.

Great episode!!! Great work, CBS-D. Was there an exterior approach shot of the shuttle???

Good stuff overall! The added shot of the Enterprise floating with all power shut down was a tad odd looking, funny with lights off I guess. But the engines we idling this time, not turning!

The wrecked Orion ship was a really nice touch and I agree, the new CGI Enterprise was really working this week. Too bad there were so many edits to this show, missed the shuttle approach and missed a great line, “Well go get that old portable cardio stimulator!”

One week to go now!

The shots of phasers arcing along the screen, did anyone notice the shuttle pilot move his head as the landed? The hangar sign was still as it was. Mis-spelled from what I could see. thats ok. Great job on the disabled orion ship. Love the floaty bits!

Very nice work this week. I think I actually liked every new shot, and the shuttle landing sequence was gorgeous. Pity that they couldn’t have put the entire reworked shuttle bay into the live action shots, though. Actually, the one bit that I didn’t like is the breakup of the Orion ship after it’s hit. Nothing wrong with the effects work — that looked just fine — but from a story perspective it seems jarring to me. When we see the ship actually break up, it looks like the thing has been destroyed, which makes Kirk’s comment about surrender seem very strange. The original, where the ship’s rapid spinning just burns out and stops, gives a much better sense that the ship is disabled but not necessarily obliterated.

The dynamic motion of the Orion ship as the Enterprise’s phasers try and fail to track its motion was particularly well done, I thought. Really made me think, “Damn, that thing is hard to hit.”

#24 CmdrR: Nope, it looks like the “Hanger Deck” sign is intact. There is quite a bit of empty black space on the sign after the word “Deck,” so maybe you’re noticing the shots where the words are covered but the end of the sign is showing.

#26 kf — Good catch on the shuttle pilot’s head. It’ll be really nice to see this in HD on a big screen some day….

This is the best work thus far on TOS remastered. The phaser shots are brilliant – this is the first time that the new effects haven’t been distracting.

Why oh why does the CG Enterprise have windows in the engine pylons?

Bravo to all the new FX! It’s really good to see the enhancements to one of my favorite episodes.

#32
I think you will find that the original model had windows in the pylons but they were never illuminated…

So why are they always illuminated now?

The Enterprise looks better and better to me each week. Nice work CBS-D. They are getting a better handle on the scale and mass lately. The movement is improving too.

My current list of improvements include:
-make the blinking lights on the saucer and on the shuttle bay much brighter. they are barey visible.
-The Enterprise could still be a bit brighter … pleeease, it’s sooo dark!
-Reflector dish is so dark you can’t see it sometimes. Get some color in there.

that’s it.

Can we petition CBS-D and Paramount to go back and tweak/finish the effects for DVD release. CBS-D seems to be finding their stride now, it’s a shame to have such inconsistent work in a DVD release.

I’ll tell you all… the way it is now, I won’t buy it. (i still think WNMHGB looked really bad)

Hey Anthony, how bout launching an e-mail letter writing campaign through your site? Get the time or additional personal to start going back through each episode, and tweak the stuff that needs improvement, plus finish the stuff they wanted to do, but couldn’t due to time constraints.

Doug

I hate the local station in Grand Rapids…

At midnight… they started to rerun “For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.” After the second commercial break, they jumped into “Journey to Babel.” At the third commercial break they started with “FTWIHAIHTTS,” and at a scene change went BACK to “JTB.” Can’t wait to see what happens at the 7 PM repeat tonight.

Overall not bad at all, and yes you can still see McCoy’s cigarette smoke while he’s operating on Sarek during the fire fight. My only slight quibble was when they shot the phasers while they were a drift, the ship was suppose to be dark, yet when they fire the ship is fully lit. I know it’s a terrible nit pick but still.

Cigarette smoke?

In the powered-down shot, it’s interesting how they turn off the nacelle “fans” but not the “christmas lights”. Maybe that part of the engine takes a while to cool down.

I’ve watched Star Trek since it’s last season in 1969. I’ve noticed just about everything goof up with exception to this little tid-bit. When Kirk, et al were first in the lounge with the ambassadors ( when he tells them to wait for their arrival at Babel to cast their votes–and the “Teddy Bear” scene) if you look closely at the floor, you can see the maksing tape used to block where the actors needed to stand.

The CGI stuff is pretty cool–the Orion ship looked great when it was damaged. But the editing of this show from the original version is awful. They cut out so many cues, so many lines that add to the characters personalities as well as the “logical” pacing of the show. Some shots just don’t make sense. Although the fight with the Andorian was the same edit–out of no where they are fighting.
I hope they put the edited scenes back in for theDVD release.

Great work from CBS Digital, but the visual effects served a great story, with wonderful acting.

I agree that the cuts to the episode to make it fit the 40 minutes of time are troubling, and an incentive to purchase the DVD.

I hope J.J. Abrams & Co. view this episode.

#39: Yes, De Kelley had a cigarette burning and you can clearly see its smoke in several of the uncut operation scenes – when I was little I thought it meant his surgical equipment was shorting out. In the syndicated Remastered cut we were given, I only spotted the smoke once, after the attack was over.

I must say that CBS-Digital hit a home run on this one! This is one of the best episodes in story, acting, music – the works. The Remastered folks gave it due honor with striking enhancements that helped the story along each time. The vast improvements in Vulcan and the shuttlecraft & bay help sell the opening ceremony’s grandeur. And boy, those battle sequences were gorgeous, as other posters have noted. The threat of the Orion ship was greatly enhanced by the failed phaser tracking plus getting to see a real ship that can zip around space and not just watch spinning lights make linear passes. The successful phaser hit by the Big E was fully sold by the damaged Orion ship, and I was impressed by the thump on the soundtrack coming over my speakers when the Orion ship self-destructed. If that thump was there all along, I’m glad to finally have an amplifier and speakers to make me sit up and notice.

And as others have stated, few moments in TOS can match the heartache of Amanda’s confrontation with Spock, powerfully enhanced by Gerald Fried’s music. I loved this showing, and cannot wait to get the DVD/HD-DVD and see it uncut.

#14, 18 — jump-cut to fight in progress
the fast cut from sickbay to kirk’s fight was in the original, but the syndication version deleted a few seconds of sick bay scene before the cut, making the transition seem awkward and out of place. in the original, the music meandered for a few extra seconds with some further dialog, and then there was a sharp “surprise” as we see what kirk’s gotten into. the music underscored the transition PERFECTLY! in the the syndication version, we get the entire fight scene intact, but without the music synching up perfectly, the transition feels awkward. chalk this into the “it’ll be better on dvd” column.

re: 35. Al – February 4, 2007

So why are they always illuminated now?

The lights are on…but nobody’s home.

22. [edited]

I thought criticism of other websites was a no-no here.

Ah. I thought the smoke was diathermy or something like that.

Oh, and I hate to ask this, but in the scene of the E firing phasers and not getting a lock, where’s the turbolift tube offset?

#41. SteveinSF
Caught the “Masking Tape” as well.

One thing I don’t recall having noticed before, but, that could simply be due to the effects of [my] creeping up on 50 years old…

…What the heck is McCoy doing with the Tantalus Field control system, in its little bulkhead niche, in sickbay? I guess that’s one way of dealing with the cadaver after the latest red-shirt’s post-mortum….

Or, in the non-Mirror universe, is it the just receiver for his 7.1 sound system?