SFX Video
(WMV)
New and Old
Approaching Sigma Iotia II
Orbiting Sigma Iotia II
New surface fire Phaser effect
Leaving Sigma Iotia II
Off on the next mission
Comparison Video
SFX Video
(WMV)
New and Old
Approaching Sigma Iotia II
Orbiting Sigma Iotia II
New surface fire Phaser effect
Leaving Sigma Iotia II
Off on the next mission
Comparison Video
Great work on all the stuff, gives us (dare I say) a piece of the action!!!
thanks a lot Matt (and Rick)
i like the opening flyby shot
not sure I like the new stun beam effect.
One of the finest episodes I’ve ever seen. Heroes step out of the charesters & this looking great. Spock as gangster is brilliant. Plus, we got a many quotes from this episode (-Check? – Right.). And remastering of this episode is awesome. I’ ve seen it two days ago and think “Nothing need a remastering! Dont touch “A Piece of Action”!” But I was wrong. New phaser effects and Enterprise (look on last photo!) was great.
P.S. Sorry for my bad English, I’m from Russia.
Nice and simple, but still beautiful work
*sigh* ST:R has been pre-empted here in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past two weeks for re-runs of old American Idol episodes.
Curse you KBHK!
I like the new stun effect on the cars. I always thought the original looked hokey, even as a 10 year old.
This was pretty good. Most of the effects are untouchable…get it? Untouchable? Aw…(sighs)…Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
ed, they moved it to 2am here in the bay area!
Don’t trust the channel guide. It is indded on ch. 12 at 2am sun morn!
#5
*sigh* ST:R has been pre-empted here in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past two weeks for re-runs of old American Idol episodes.
I am so sick of stupid @#$%@# American Idol. Especially reruns –like pouring lemon juice in a knife wound.
They better get their crap together next week -I don’t want to miss Tomorrow is Yesterday.
CW network sucks.
New stun effect = GOOD
What’s up with SCENE MISSING?
One thing I’ve noticed that kind of bugs me. The roaring rocket sound as E is orbiting the planet. That noise was heard only in the first season of TOS. Niether the second nor the third season had that rumble. Eh, just a nick pick.
#8 Thanks dm! I’ll try 2am Sunday morning…
-Ed
#10 – Commodore Z – This was a choice on my part to include the original space shot. But they cut it out of the Remastered Syndicated version. It’s very rare for them to cut space shots, and since I already had it in place in the template, I thought I would point it out by saying … Scene Missing.
It seemed to be a necessary transition shot, but they cut it out, I’m sure it will be on the DVD and iTunes versions.
So the hallway stun beams were unaltered?
“Scene missing”? Means they messed up with live footage again?
LOL! This is one of these weeks I have to check which side is old and which side is new, only to realize the old effects were far more punchy. Try again!
They cut a bit of the Fizzbin Scene, crininal !!!!! I kind of ruined the joke later in the Scene, the oh no no no not another Jack…
Of course the new effects are better. I seriously doubt either the sanity or the sincerity of anyone that compares them side by side and says the old is better. Really. And that’s MY opinion, which, of course, by all accounts around here, makes it sacred.
The syndication cuts completely removed Scotty’s attempt to “outslang” Kirk with the “concrete golashes” and “cement overshoes.” These cuts reallyl change the tenor of the episode. But I did see an advert for a mortgage I don’t need!
I agree the cuts were very obvious in this weeks show, typically I watch the original about three times before I start cutting for a parody, and this was one of my favorites.
Making cuts to Fizzbin and the like is just terrible, when I watch the remastered I just cringe at the cuts. It’s horrific at times. I notice they pull single frames out of shots too, which seems like it would take more time than cutting whole scenes. This episode suffers more than most because comedy is about timing and pulling a line here, and a frame there really screws with the timing. I think the original director would have preferred they cut whole scenes than to trim jokes.
And NO they did not change the phaser scene where the two guys get shot, that I could tell. That would have required a crap load of rotoscoping and I don’t think they had the time or money for that.
…they took out my fave jo jo krako and scotty scenes on the big -e!
…cries in the corner quitetly…..
plus kirks horrible but fun driving scenes chopped.
og one other thing?
i really like the look of the old planet better….alot better,
the old star trek planet shots sometimes were better…they only needed to insert the new cgi ent into them …keep da planet!
Apropos of preemptions, and syndication cuts …
I’ve got a suggestion for CBS and CBS-D:
If you can keep other CBS shows up-to-date on iTunes,
can you possibly try and do the same for ST-R?
That would be helpful — particularly for people who
missed an ep on TV due to preemptions or scheduling.
(And of course we would appreciate it also because
episodes on iTunes are complete without cuts.)
The last ST-R update on iTunes was March 19th
when the Remastered episode section was established
and 11 episodes were posted.
Now more than a month has passed with no further
updates. Still just 11 remastered eps on itunes. :{
I’m sure there’s a reason why it hasn’t been done.
(Is there no budget to pay someone to do the updates?)
Dear CBS, I hope you can find a way.
Even if you can’t keep the show up-to-date every week …
how about at least a batch update once a month?
Is that too much to ask?
What about the folks who bought a season pass
(before the initial promise of updates ‘every week’
got removed)? Those folks are still waiting, too.
#20
Actually I don’t think it would have been that hard. If you recall the scene in Wink of an Eye where they took a still frame and just digitally moved Kirk, Spock, and the 2 redshirt’s arms while they fired. In this scene, because nothing moves while they are actually firing, it would have been much easier to just take the last frame, do the new effect, then cut to the guards dropping. They would STILL have to rotoscope around the guards, but since they just stand there while they are being hit, you would only have to rotoscope 1 frame essentially. Then add a little film grain over the whole sequence to cover up the difference between still frames and moving ones. Guess they ran out of time or something.
I thought the stun effect from the ship looked very good. The old effect kind of reminded me of Batman. : )
About the clumsy scene cuts made to permit more commercials:
I remember hearing (years and years ago) about an idea to have more commericals without needing to cut any scenes. The theory would be speed things up a bit (2%, 5%, some small amount.) Presumingly, the increased frame rate would not be so much as to be blatantly obvious. More subtle work would need to be done to the soundtrack (to avoid having everyone’s voice raised an octave or two.)
Re: Spockboy: “I thought the stun effect from the ship looked very good. The old effect kind of reminded me of Batman. : )
You are so right! You almost expected to see the word “Zzzap!!” over the starburst!
did anyone notice the “longjohn” gangster is played by a completely different actor when they all look out the window?
re: Post #5- Yes, Ed, here in San Francisco, they’ve shifted TOS-Remaster to 2:00am the past 3 weeks. It wasn’t advertised and the on-line TV Guides didn’t have the time updated. Luckily I caught the time change on TV Guide.com. It was at 2:00am still this past weekend.
One thing I wanted to ask Anthony to look into, or if he had insight into, is how the remaster is doing. One question I have is why the show continues to air at early morning hours in such large markets as SF and LA. And why the local SF station shifted it without any notice.
Are the ratings okay? Do stations that carry TOS-R do it because they are a CBS affiliate and have to and decide when to air it? I am assuming it’s aired when they have an openjing in thier schedule. Seems like my local station doesn’t even care about Star Trek, given it’s a CW station, they of course are commited to CW shows, and it seems like the wrong demographic for Trek.
Looking at the big picture, of course Star Trek is a niche right now. So I am not surprised it’s not getting the kind of love we would like it to have and given a terrific time slot. I am annoyed at my station for moving it from 11:00pm to 2:00am without any notice and no updates to online TV Guides. Luckily, I happen to be home and could reset my DVR.
As for APOTA, I loved the panning fly-by shot. The remastered really make the colors of the gangster suits show much brighter! The only area that I have not had a chance to check is whether the scene Spock and Kirk stun Jo-Jo’s thugs with their phasers was altered. I think it was, a red glow was enhanced to fill the frame, I believe.
I like how they showed the darkside of the planet at the bottom half, like they did with the planet in “Wink of an Eye”. They don’t do that too often.
I love this episode! When I was studying film 20 years ago, we had to write a script and I used this episode as inspiration. The title: Krako’s Revenge. I still have the script somewhere. It takes place after the Enterprise leaves and how Krako ends up with some items that were “left” by the crew. Would have made a great spinoff. :)
I, too, am disgusted that garbage like American Idol reruns (not that the first run American Idol isn’t utter rubbish, too :) ) has shifted Trek in the SF/Bay Area to 2AM on Sundays. It was kind of fun to watch the show live on my new HD set, but 2AM is too late for me now so I have to rely on my DVR.
I should point out for those of you in my area that most cable and satellite systems do carry Ch. 50 (from Santa Rosa) which has TOS-R on at 9PM on Sundays with a rerun of the previous week’s show at 3PM also on Sundays.
Look on the bright side, Jon… now that you folks in the SF Bay area won’t have to worry about things like going to work, you’ll have more time to watch Trek Remastered at two in the morning. :(
Kee-rist!! That footage of the bridge ramp collapse was stunning, to say the least. Is this mini-disaster affecting you?
The footage of the collapse was amazing! Luckily for me, I am in the Silicon Valley, but it will affect most of us in the Bay Area I’m sure. They say tonight’s commute will be a disaster.
No affect to my commute as I work in SF itself and live in the first town south of the City. My commute is all of about 15 minutes. My wife is directly affected, though, as she uses one of the damaged connectors every day for her commute :( .
I am wondering how it went for her this morning…she carpools and they tried to leave 30 minutes earlier than usual this morning to see how it would go…
The tanker driver is incredibly lucky to have survived and I hope he recovers O.K., but if the accident was caused by an error on his part (i.e. fell asleep or speeding), I sure as heck would not want to be in his shoes as the investigation continues…
Did this episode set the record for the highest number of vulcan neck pinches??
# 24. They do speed up TNG for syndication on Sky Channel in Europe. Riker’s voice in particular is noticeably higher on those broadcasts.
Good episode though many jokes were cut for time. I’d forgotten about Kirk and Spock stunning the guards. They must have settled on the burst effect for stun later. Or is that only with phaser 2? Good show, though.
TNG is sped up on Sky Channel in Europe because Europe is PAL, which is 25 frames per second. TNG in originally 29.97 frames per second on videotape, and to broadcast PAL means it has to be sped up.
The distribution arm of CBS has nothing to do with the CBS Network other than the fact they are owned by the same umbrella organization. The network is a completely seperate entity from the TV distribution arm.
TV shows like STTOSR are offered to all TV stations in a local market on a 50/50 split basis. This means the local TV station can sir the show for free if they allow Paramount to sell 50% of the available commercial time in each episode.
This allows the stations to pretty much air the episodes in whatever timeslot they deem appropriate.
In the event that a station paying for the show and controls all the commercial they are locked into a more statndard contract which forces them to find a timeslot that the studio deems appropriate to help the stations generate revenue to pay for the syndication rights to the shows you watch.
Paramount is making very little money at this time on STTOSR. Their finicial payoff comes when the episodes hit DVD and after the first round of syndication contracts expire in three years.
Until that time, the sales from itune downloads and downloads from other sources are not making a load of cash for CBS Paramount. OTHO, when they offer these for syndication overseas (I believe) next year, CBS Paramount stand to make a boatload of cash, as there are no deals in place overseas to sell 50% of the airtime before the stations get the episodes. That concept is only in place for US distribution.
Hence, CBS is rushing to put out TOS Remastered on DVD/HD DVD so they can make more of a profit on it.
#39 I wouldn’t doubt they would go for 100 dollars a pop. Paramount’s concern is if Star Trek is in neon lights anyone will buy it and watch it .
Back to the Piece of the Action I really didn’t care for the Batman Phaser stun effect either, But It didn’t detract me from enjoying it. Heck the could have had people doing the macarena inserted I really wouldn’t care lol. From what I seen their really wasn’t a big opportunity to do new stuff. After two weeks of grueling episodes it was nice to have a change to have something fun. .
Thanks for the info about how the broadcast deal works and how they plan to earn back the investment of the remaster.
Since this is considered “Season One” for the remastered Trek, I wonder if for the “Second Season” where we will see the remaining 40 or so episodes remastered for broadcast will see if the stations showing Trek Remastered will re-evaluate broadcast times and dates. Hopefully for the better!
I’m the man who “burns” for the lit-up impulse engines and you guys came through again in “A Piece of the Action,” during the final CGI of the Enterprise leaving Sigma Iotia II. Thank you! It really feels like you’ve been listening! Can’t wait for “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” and then, especially, “Errand of Mercy.” I love you guys!!
Thanks for the pictures and videos guys.
However, I think the order should be OLD and NEW not unlike BEFORE and AFTER which feels more chronologically correct.
Unless ofcourse I’m in a Mirror universe, in which case……. blah blah blah…
: )
What some channels do (not the CW here in the Bay Area YET…) is employ a “time machine” .
http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/36057/Trimming_TV_Time.html
What this does is remove about one frame, (2 fields) per second to make the episode run quicker so they can get an extra 30-seconds to one minute squeezed in. TNT does it sometimes. Watching ANGEL in the morning (when I am UP at that hour) is virtually unwatchable to me as I do notice the “skips”, “jumps” although the creator of the technolgy SWEARS it isn’t really noticeable, (Yeah, right!) Anytime an object, person moves quickly across the screen, (or say, a starship moves left to right…) or the camera pans it is VERY apparent. I think Spike TV does this too. It doesn’t raise the pitch as it isn’t really sped up across the board, it just electronically skips.
I absoluetely HATE it. It also wreaks total havoc with my displays’ (Mitsubishi DLP FP) line scaler and I see combing etc…
I’d actuyally rather have them chop an extra 30 seconds or so out then watch this silent movie jerky looking mess. That coupled with obnoxious station bugs and “COMING NEXT!!!!” moving graphics that take up 1/3 of the screen and often have SOUND now just makes TV watching terrible IMHO. but I’m a grumpy old man…
Also, back in the 60’s-70’s an hour long show typically ran 50 minutes without commercials, Nowadays they are more like 42 minutes. What will they be in 10 years time? 30…?
:) d
http://advertising.about.com/library/weekly/aa110502a.htm
Ironically, the advertising world of all people are opposed to using these devices, even on programs themselves!
Can someone please tell me if they are now airing the Original Series speeded up??
THEY SIMPLY DO NOT FEEL RIGHT TO ME as I watch them now in 2007.
I know they cut content. In Piece of the Action the line about I hit Krakow and Krakow hits Capone and Capone hits Zeppo, was cut out. But even aside from cutting things out, they just feel way too fast for me. I actually don’t like them and don’t plan to watch much longer.
Any info on this???? Thanks.
P.S. If you know the answer please let me know at KroozNow@yahoo.com ’cause I may forget to check back here. Thanks.
The old phaser stun effect on the guards (who conveniently stood facing away from the door, and never looked back to see who was entering) was one they should have fixed up. The old splashing beams effect is dated and needed to be redone more realistically like the other phaser beam shots we have seen.
With such a light workload this time you would think they would have taken the time to do it.
#44 dm
Whaaaaaat? Here in the U.K. although any hour long shows shown on the publicly funded BBC channels are mercifully commercial-free, our other terrestrial channels ALRREADY chop up popular shows every 15 MINUTES or so for long drawn out advertising. I DREAM of the day it was only every 42 MINUTES…
And can I say that if you guys are getting “sped up” remastered Star Trek and keep getting scenes “cut” from the originals also, then this is just an unacceptable treatment of the material by the broadcasters there. Man, just give me the DVDs if our broadcasters turn out as slipshod here.