TOS Remastered

Trek Remastered Schedule Released, Station List Updated

CBS have released their full list of 39 episodes for season 1 of Trek Remastered. The list has been been integrated into the TOS Remastered Episode Guide on this site. You will note an empty space next to each episode for ‘review’, starting next week there will be a full review by an industry expert only here on TrekMovie.com. Before year’s end we will see remastered versions of many fan favorites like ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’, ‘The Corbomite Maneuver’, ‘Space Seed’, ‘Trouble With Tribbles’, ‘Mirror Mirror’ and the 2 parter ‘The Menagerie’ In addition CBS have updated their Stations list , unfortunately the CBS list does not have showtimes. The TrekMovie.com stations & showtimes list is now half complete. If you don’t see a showtime for your station then please do us (and your fellow citizens) a favor and look it up and send it in…we really appreciate all the help of those who have provided showtimes in their cities.    


Daren Dochterman Talks ‘ST:TMP Directors Edition’ And His ‘Trek Remastered’ Pitch

When word of Star Trek Remastered hit the web last week, very often discussion mented the name Daren Dochterman. It was a reasonable to speculate that Dochterman was inovled in the new project since he was the digital effects supervisor for ‘Director’s Edition’ of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and had recently launced  TrekEnhanced a site dedicated to the notion of adding CGI effects to the original series. The speculation of his involvement was so rampant that after the official announcement from CBS, Dochterman issued an official statement to tell fans that although he had pitched, he wasn’t involved. TrekMovie.com decided to give Daren a ring and talk to him about his history with Trek and the new Trek Remastered project.


CBS To HD Affiliates: No HD Trek For You

One area that hs been the source of much discussion regarding Star Trek Remastered has been the issue of it’s availability in true HD. The original press releases was not entirely clear and at one point CBS did claim that ‘only a handful’ of stations would be getting Trek in HD. However, when pressed on the issue during last week’s conference call, CBS downgraded ‘handful’ to ‘none’. Trek Remastered producer Dave Rossi stated “Our understanding is the major affiliates don’t have the storage capacity to do anything but live broadcast, so the choice has been made that we’re going to air them in their standard definition" TrekMovie.com has spoken to some Trek Remastered affiliates who say they are fully capable and want the show in HD. CBS acknowledged this in an email to TrekMovie.com, but claimed that these affiliates are only a small minority. CBS did tell us that they would start sending out the HD version ‘once enough stations have upgraded,’ but weren’t specific on what constitutes ‘enough stations’.  Now TVWeek have picked up on this issue: But some station owners, who have spent millions to upgrade to high definition, said the "Trek" team’s argument is not, as a certain Vulcan officer would say, logical. "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" are going to be syndicated (by CBS) in HD starting next week, with about 50 upgraded stations on board. And Bill Carroll, VP director of programming at Katz Television Group, said stations want "Star Trek" in an HD format." Stations are looking for as many HD opportunities as they can, "Mr.Carroll said. "You don’t make these kind of investments if you don’t believe there’s an emerging audience."


Trailers for Trek Remastered Hit the Web and the Airwaves

In their recent press call, CBS said they would give Star Trek Remastered a promotional push. Well that push has started. At a number of  Con this weekend (more on that soon), CBS showed a new trailer that they have also put up on YouTube. UPDATE: TrekMovie.com now has a higher res version available as a download   …and stations across the country are also starting to show promos…here are a couple from WWME (Chicago)



More ‘Just For Fun’ Images From EdenFX

As mentioned in a previous article, the Emmy Award winning team at EdenFX love Star Trek. Although CBS decided to go in-house for Star Trek Remastered, the team are still inspired to play with their Enterprise models. Eden sent over some of their ‘fun shots’ as a 40th birthday present for their fellow Trekkies…try not to drool. NOTE: These are shots being done independently of CBS and Star Trek Remastered. (click on the pics to see them full sized)   


TOS Remastered Station List Updated

The first set of showtimes is up on the TOS Remastered Station List, which is part of the TrekMovie.com TOS Remastered Subsite.The list has full list of TOS Remastered stations and a partial list of showtimes. Note that stations that list a ‘yes’ in the ‘Digital?’ column are confirmed to run a separate simulcast channel on digital cable and/or satellite. The showtimes page will be updated regularly and is based on user submissions here and on TrekBBS, so if you want to help with corrections and/or additions please send send them in. The subsite has also been updated with the latest info sent out by CBS this week.    Editor’s Note: TrekMovie would like to welcome Cameron Martin to the family, he will be updating the subsite and contributing more in the future


Trek Remastered Producers: Nothing Is Being Changed [update with pics & video]

This morning CBS Paramount held a telephone press conference with Star Trek Remastered producers David Rossi, Mike Okuda and CBS Paramount Domestic Television President John Nogawski. Although the call covered a number of issues, the CBS team wanted it to be clear that Star Trek Remastered was about improving quality and not about changes to the narrative of Star Trek. “We are not changing the story,” said Okuda “We are passionate about Star Trek and are just enhancing the experience”. Nogawksi discussed their reasoning behind the project saying that with a new generation being brought up with HDTV it was ‘imperative’ that they update the classic series. Mike Okuda said that like Rossi he was initially reluctant, but after he was assured that CBS wanted to preserve the shows original intent he became very enthusiastic. Okuda and Rossi went into detail on how every new CGI shot will mimic the original choices made the original editors and director, right down to the placement of stars. “We think of the original show like a period piece,” said Okuda. The producers said that they have been checking out fan response on various Trek boards and felt that their respectful approach has gone over well.


Trek Producer Defends Star Trek Remastered [updated w/ video]

As with anything regarding Trek, news of the newly remastered Star Trek: The Original Series with new CGI effects has sparked much debate amongst Trekkies, pitting enhancement advocates against Trek ‘purists’. Today on G4’s Attack of the Show, Star Trek Remastered producer David Rossi debated the project with Geek magazine editor (and contributor to the new ‘Star Trek Constellations‘ book) Jeff Bond. Rossi began by saying that he considers himself a ‘purist’ and would have been against the project years ago, but after seeing how younger audiences ‘snicker’ at the old effects he feels the show needs a facelift. “There is no reason why a ten year old shouldn’t be able to to sit down and get immersed into the show and realize that Captain Kirk and the crew and the Enterprise are kick ass,” argued Rossi.


Remastered Classic Trek To Replace Enterprise In Syndication [update: CBS denies connection]

It would appear the answers to questions about the future of Star Trek Enterprise in syndication and where one can find the newly remasted Original Series are related. The Trek Movie Report has confirmed what many have suspected, CBS Paramount Television will no longer send Enterprise episodes to stations currently running the show. Staring Sept 16th CBS will begin providing remastered Star Trek The Original Series episodes. Star Trek Enteprise began it’s life in syndication in September of 2005, 4 months after the end of it’s fourth and final season on UPN. In it’s first year CBS Paramount ran 26 episodes, the last of which ‘Regeneration’ will air this upcoming weekend. CBS Paramount will be sending out 35-40 episodes of the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series in each of the next two years allowing them to run through the entire series by the end of the original 3 year syndication deals. Stations that were airing Enterprise were informed of the coming change over the summer. Although it is leaving broadcast syndication, fans of Star Trek Enterprise will be able to find the show on both HDNet and SciFi channel staring this fall. And of course all 4 seasons are availble on DVD.


HDTV Trek Will NOT Be in Widescreen…Plus Some More Details

Since breaking the story on Star Trek going HD, TrekMovie.com has been trying to get more and more updates to keep answering the questions coming from the fans. One burning question was about the ratio, will it be formatted for HD TVs in 16:9, or as originally formatted in a 4:3 ratio, or both. Many thought that after seeing the Eden test it might be in 16:9 widescreen, but the official CBS photo is in 4:3. Now we have that info and some more directly from CBS Paramount: Ratio: 4:3 (no letterboxing on regular TVs, ‘windowboxing’ on HDTVs) Countries: USA only Episodes/yr: 40 (one new episode per week, with some repeats) First Episodes: “Balance of Terror”, “Miri”, “The Devil in the Dark”, and “The Naked Time” Station List: TBA (only ‘handful’ will broadcast in HD) Runtime: TBA (not original 51 minutes, will be edited down for commercials) New TOS In HD Section There is a new “TOS In HD” page which will have all the details on the new project, it will be updated regularly.


Trek Movie Report Talks To EdenFX About HDTV Trek…See Their Test Footage

One company that vied for the CGI effects work on the new HDTV Trek project was EdenFX. The L.A.-based digital effects house has a long relationship Paramount and Star Trek dating back to the 90s. The team has racked up a couple dozen Emmy’s for their Trek work, most recently in 2004 for Star Trek: Enterprise. Last year when Eden created a digital version of a ship from Kirk’s era for the ‘In A Mirror Darkly’ arc, fans got a taste of what the classic Trek might look like with state-of-the-art visual effects on HDTV . When word of a new HD Star Trek: The Original Series project started going around town, EdenFX was on the scene immediately. The company quickly put together a bid including test footage (see below). In the end CBS decided to do the initial CGI work in-house. However, EdenFX owner John Gross is still optimistic they can be part of HDTV Trek as the project goes along. CBS Paramount has committed to deliver ‘new’ episodes on a weekly basis, so it sounds like there is a lot of work to do over the next two years. EdenFX Test video (QuickTime – opens new window)


It’s Official: Classic Trek Coming To HDTV With New CGI [UPDATED]

You heard it here first CBS Paramount are now confirming that Star Trek: The Original Series is coming to a HDTV near you, a story first broke by the Trek Movie Report earlier this week. TV Guide has the details, but they are pretty much what has been reported here: TOS remastered for HDTV Syndication No DVDs New CGI effects for space shots and static paintings Static paintings will add some new animation and details Will ‘honor original’, but fixes some ‘goofs’ Original title music re-recorded Starts Sept 16th First episode “Balance of Terror” One episode per week (out of order) over next two years


HDTV Trek To Air Out Of Sequence + More Details

News of Star Trek: The Original Series coming to HDTV with new CGI effects has swept the interweb today from G4TV to Slashdot to dozens of forums in the geekosphere. The news is promting a lot of questions and speculation; The Trek Movie Report has learned some more details that should answer some of those questions: Broadcasts start in mid/late September No DVD (or HD-DVD or BluRay) release in the near future Episodes will NOT air in the original production order (nor original airing order) First episode will (probably) be “Balance Of Terror“ CGI Trek Videos on YouTube (here and here) are not related to this project TV Land and G4 will continue to show ‘classic’ Trek in standard 4:3 ratio Again since this is not official some details may change when finally announced by CBS Paramount, which should be soon (they only have a few days until Trek’s 40th B-Day!)


Original Star Trek Getting a CGI Makeover!

Before JJ Abrams gets to bring the TOS era back to the big screen in Star Trek XI, CBS Paramount has a secret plan to get it back on the small screen, but with a makeover. Over a month ago it was announced that CBS was selling a new broadcast TV (not cable) syndication package for the original series. At the time it seemed a bit odd to try selling a 40 year old show to local TV stations, especially after it has just been sold to yet another cable outlet (this time TV Land…home of retro TV). The Trek Movie Report has now learned from trusted insiders, that CBS Paramount are actually offering an HDTV enhanced version of the Original Series with new state-of-the art CGI visual effects.