Spin Up The Remastered Tholian Web Preview

StarTrek.com have put up a preview for next weekend’s "The Tholian Web" Remastered.


click image to play in WMP or Click Here for QT

some other key shots:

 

here are an original TOS Tholian ship and a (Mirror) ENT version


TOS


ENT

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Oh boy! Oh boy! I can’t wait for this one :)

One of the best episode of season 3. I also like that Enterprise episode that tie into the events of this episode.

Marvelous, absolutely marvelous, this episode is another epic akin to Doomsday and it appears it’s once again in good hands.

wow, its amazing how it does look one drop better than the original.

Soooo excited… Drool… Drool…. Drool….

I meant does’t. And why was it necessary to make the tholian ship look so enterprise/ds9 looking? It doesn’t fit a 60’s aesthetic at all.

The images in the preview show they are being somewhat faithful to the original superb effects in this episode: the Defiant’s exterior being of an odd color, the look of the web (livened up with energy pulses), and the Tholian shields. I like how they are adding some more detail and color to the Tholian ship, and look forward to some fancier camera moves. However, I actually prefer the original more washed-out Defiant exterior coloration better than the vivid green here…but perhaps this green will help sell more color sets.

I have been a strong supporter of the TOS remastered experiment, but am I the only one not impressed with this preview?

1. The phaser hit on the Tholian ship borders on cheesy.

2. Despite the limited effects at the time, the ghostly Defiant appeared more haunting in the original version. A desaturated green fog is not particularly menacing, plus it’s an obvious color choice for “hey, look–there’s something weird going on here.” Why not blue/violet, like the original?

3. The green fog effect and the Tholian web itself (especially in the quick pan upwards) reminds me of the video-based effects used in “Encounter at Farpoint.”

Are there different teams animating different episodes? It seems for this “big” effects episode, we got stuck with Team B… or C.

I have been a strong supporter of the TOS remastered experiment, but am I the only one not impressed with this preview?

No, your not. I find these previews hard to watch anyway but I was quite shocked how unreal the enterprise looks on some shots. It just didn’t look as though it were out in space; it looked like plastic — like an early remastered episode. And the ‘arrow’ thing creating the web just looked like what it is, a computer graphic. Again, it just didn’t look as though you were looking at it out in space some how. I don’t play computer games but it is how I image one to look. Not as good as some of their more recent work. Then again, who’s to say what order they do them in.

I very (*VERY*) rarely comment myself, I’m more of a voyeur, however I feel the need to pipe up and speak my piece (not peace) on this one.

The phaser / contact shot between the Enterprise and the Tholian vessel looks absolutely Saturday morning cartoon – worthy.

The web effect is fine, I suppose. Better than the original, but nowhere near what I was expecting. It seems to be coming across as a bit too much with all the flickering. It’s distracting. Of course, that’s pure opinion… however I stand firm on my first comment about the phaser / Tholian shot as a fact that would hold up in any court.

The “ghostly” appearance is nice, though I tend to agree that the original is more “haunting.”

The semi – solid human Doctor McCoy is reaching for looks SO MUCH BETTER than the original that I repeated it four times and willed myself not to blink. Kudos.

Overall, (judging SOLELY from the preview) two stars our of ten. Honestly, I’ve recently seen video games with graphics that would shame this preview.

Anthony, best from Austin. Come to town and let us buy dinner, the spouse and I are huge fans, thanks for all you do.

Cameron Boehme

on my 19″ LCD, the preview box is 4.5″ diagonal. My RP HDTV measures 51″ across. Then compare that to the forthcoming HD DVD release and no one can argue about “Whaa, it doesn’t blow me away! Whaa whaaa whaaaa!” People, get a grip.

There’s one small problem with the original Tholian ship. It doesn’t look real. It seems that some people are so obsessed with the original look that they are unwilling to accept a new perspective. Many of the people that worked on the Original Star Trek that are still alive today seem to be totally in favor of these new effects. If they could have used these effects back then don’t you think they would have. And as for Mark 2000, I think you are trying to tell yourself that the new effects aren’t better than the original to satisfy your purist view on the show. So what if it doesn’t look like the original. The original was all on budget constraints. Now we are fortunate to see things the way the writers intended. Okay, the style’s not really 60’s retro, but hell, it’s the 21st century.

People STILL seem to forget these little video clips aren’t reflective or indicative of the final appearance on TV, they certainly never have been when I have watched the clips then the actual episode.

Right you are Josh T. I will reserve my judjement on this episode until I see it on TV. And also, I think the reason some people think the phaser hitting the Tholian ship is corny or video gamy is probably because its hitting a force field, not the actual ship. Think of it that way and it doesn’t seem so bad.

Josh – Point well taken. If they would produce these previews in a higher quality i.e. less compression and larger dimensions it would really help. Episode previews go out of the way to hide the story line as well so I put little stock in them. TDM preview was nowhere near as nice as the final episode which will of course look less than stellar compared to the HD DVD release.

Looks like shields to me…

If that’s a new long shot of the Defiant it looks pretty good.

Looks fantastic to me.

I think it’s looking pretty good myself. Making harsh judgements based on these QT movies is a bit premature. I really dig the camera moves and the energy of the web. Incorporating the tholian ship design from Enterprise is a no-brainer… why not incorporate it? I say that because Enterprise incorporated the tholian ship design from TOS… the only difference being that they added aft energy pods.

Remember all of the Hooplah over the Fesarius?

And that ended up kicking ass and silencing people.

I like this episode because of the obvious allegory and inspiration taken from the popular Bermuda Triangle accounts from the late 60’s and early 70’s, plus, the Philadelphia Experiment, right down to the eerie green glow.

Again, people getting all bent out of shape from a lousy preview with millisecond images cut together. You…can’t….see….diddle…on….these…previews.

As Josh T. stated above, the episodes always come out looking better than these previews.

If I had to depend on these previews to make me want to watch the shows, I wouldn’t watch them. Fortunately I know better.

This is definitely one I’ve been looking forward to! Can’t wait!

This really does look more like one of the earlier remastered episodes. They finally got the lighting down over the last couple episodes, but we’re back to plastic this time.

Color me very unimpressed with the way this preview looked, but I’m certainly willing to reserve judgement.

This looks great!! I need my ST Remastered fix soon!!! Even though the preview is somewhat poor quality, I’m sure the version that appears on the tube will do the episode justice.

I never saw “Miri”:Rm so I’ve got 18 sraight weeks of Star Trek: Remastered to look forward to!! Bring it on!!

#24 Chunkay…. what part of the posts above yours didn’t you read? These clips always look one thousand times better on TV than here.
Honestly… give it a chance.

My only question is why are they not doing “The Ultimate Computer”? I would love to see the other starships in the war game with M5.

This is coming out more than a week earlier than usual. Which may indicate the CBS crew are not pressed for time, therefore the effects are getting prime prep time. The new amoeba for Immunity should look really good.

I’ve seen both, and I don’t find the differences particularly striking. In my perception at least, the previews resemble the final product fairly well.

#26 Miri Remastered
Let’s see if they really can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear! Michael J. Pollard’s muttering of “Miri, miri…” haunts me (in a BAD way) to this day! This episode is a piece of horse manure! Actually, that description is being kind. “Miri” makes “Spock’s Brain” look like “On The Waterfront”!

#30 Chunkay… I disagree…. but it’s your opinion.

#31, Michael A.
And what part is the horse manure? Are you speaking of the episode, the remastering or the station edits?

Don’t know if you can tell from the small Quicktime video…but does it look like the Tholian ships are exactly the same as they appeared on “Enterprise,” or have they been “updated”?

No, please don’t misunderstand me, I’m talking about the fabric of the storyline itself! You can revamp, massage and “tweak” a television episode all you want, but if it’s a crappy premise in the first place, good luck!

Well, I for one like what I saw from this preview. The added detail to the Tholian ship is a real blessing. The original looked like a space-faring clothes iron. The web effects look great as well. The weird “phasing” effect on the Defiant could have been spruced up, though. It looks a little too plain in this preview. The extreme close-up on the Enterprise in the opening shot is simply beautiful. I love the fact that CBS Digital is really trying to give the ship a sense of scale it never had in TOS.

Mark 2000 (#6): Personally, I’m glad that they’ve toned down the “60’s aesthetic” regarding ship design. I wish they could do that with the live-action scenes as well. It makes TOS more modern without diluting the impact of the story-telling. Watching these remastered episodes, sometimes I can almost believe I’m watching an all-new series instead of one that’s 40+ years old.

In terms of the show’s original aesthetic (sets, costumes, physical effects, etc.) I think a little “artistry” with the CGI is okay. I know there is an effort to go “photorealistic” with the ship and the rendering of graphics, but someone above mentioned how the phaser shots looked “Saturday morning” like, and while I agree they didn’t appear “real” I do have to say that they didn’t look bad or out of place in terms of the show’s overall look. No, CBS-D isn’t nor should it endeavor to replicate “cheesy” effects, but at the same time we have to consider that the first priority is to keep the visuals in the same aesthetic realm.

And one thing I do like to say in these instances is “what do ‘real’ phasers look like anyway?” Indeed…

Looks tantalizing! I’m glad they seem to be sticking close to the original on this one, as fitting tribute to one of the best FX efforts of TOS. What ain’t broke, they ain’t fixin’!

Have fun with previews! Load the QT video, slide the button to a frame the same as a still pic from the above selection, put them side by side, cross your eyes to make one pic in the center, that combined right/left pic will be in 3D. Enjoy!

Looks great to me!

Blends perfectly with Enterprise.

Now, if they could only explain why it takes them 100 times longer to spit a grid in the 23rd century when compared with their – [22nd] century counterparts, that would be nice.

#19- “Making harsh judgements based on these QT movies is a bit premature.”

You would think it would be pretty much impossible.

Who in the hell do the Tholians think they are attempting to wrap the Enterprise in a web like that? What nerve. What audacity. What sheer unmitigated gall.

They are just taking advantage of the fact Kirk Unit is lost in transit and not attending to duties, otherwise he’d smoke that Tholian ass with a smirk, a torpedo, and a shakey camera.

Huh. Tholians. Kirk has peices of enemies in his stools bigger than these clowns.

What they should have done is have Kirk beam aboard the Tholian ship, what with it’s protoplasmic enviroment, and drop kick that bastard Losken in her jewel looking chin.

Punctuality indeed.

Which episode was that with the pathetic out of his league Commodre commanding the Enterprise during an attack. That’s another prime example Kirk should have dashed out of the turbolift and drop kicked his ass right out of the center seat.

A drop kick a day keeps bad guys at bay.

Off-Topic news

——————– TOS IS BACK ON ITUNES ——————–

iTunes now offers TOS in 2 separate sets:

One set is purely TOS Remastered. As of Monday night, this set currently has 11 remastered episodes. Presumably this set should be updated regularly with additional remastered episodes.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=218818763

Separately, the full first season set (the set that was previously offered on iTunes until it got pulled several weeks ago) has now been restored.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=209375853

Currently (Monday night), that set is still apparently a ‘mixed’ set (as before), in which some episodes are remastered — just 9 of these are remastered (not 11) according to the full Descriptions of each episode.

So if those Descriptions remain accurate, the ‘mixed’ set is going to create some confusion (as it did before). I hope that perhaps the mixed set may get some further updates and clarifications soon, to prevent confusion. (The mixed set alone was the subject of some complaints by confused newcomers previously.)

The new “Remastered” set also includes newly written episode Descriptions, touting the new remastered FX for each episode. (Note for iTunes newbies: To view the detailed Descriptions, click the “(i)” information icon in each episode’s Description column.)

At this time (Monday night) the new Remastered set does not yet have any user reviews posted. But the old ‘mixed’ set still has 174 user review comments that it had before it was pulled several weeks ago.

#41. Sean4000, a couple of differences. If I recall correctly there were more ships which I would think make it easier to spread a web and it was the mirror universe. The mirror tholians may have devoted more to advancing there web tech.

Oh and very much looking forward to this ep. Great ep and it seems like its been awhile with the little update to Wolf in the Fold.

^^^ Note about my previous post above: I am not an authority or staffmember with any inside knowledge of the offerings on iTunes. I’m just a user who was glad to see that TOS has been restored to iTunes. None of my comments are intended as complaints, just observations. If there are any errors in my description of the current situation I apologize. Thanks CBS/Paramount and Apple for bringing TOS back to iTunes.

#45

You’re right. There were more in Tholian vessels surrounding the NX-01 in the “Mirror” ep….setting aside any backstory technological differences between the Mirror Universe Tholians and the ‘normal Star Trek universe’.

In our universe, their technology only allows the ability to snare spacecraft passing through the speed trap set up within their small territorial annex — and sentence the crew to hefty fines to support a corrupt Tholian Sheriff and Mayor. “Whee-click-pop-pop…” Trans: “Alien captain, you in a heap o’ trouble” (smile)

And, the ‘new’ Tholian ships look great!

#36

“The original looked like a space-faring clothes iron.”

Or, a token from a Monopoly game set.. But then, I thought the Ent-D looked like a large number of windows/ports with a few structural elements tying them together — with a pair of warp nacelles. Sort of a warp-driven “Glass Bottom Boat” exploring the universe.

Well, little dissapointed now….. was thinking this was for the upcoming weekend, guess its a longer wait afterall. I’m sure it will be worth it though, maybe watch “Mirror Mirror” and “In a Mirror Darkly” along with this ep……not for entertainment though, just to nit-pick :-).

Pretty sure thats the same day the new season of Doctor Who starts… good tv day.