In principle, I have nothing against new versions of old films, so long as the original versions are still available; and in principle, I have nothing against adding CGI effects to an old film, so long as they “fit in” with the look and feel of the rest of the movie.
So, while we all know how intrusive the new CGI effects have been in the “special editions” of the Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), I have always admired the new CGI effects that were produced for the “director’s edition” of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) that came out on DVD five years ago; the new effects shots look like they could have been produced a quarter-century ago, if a little more time or money or thought had been put into them.
One of the people who worked on ST:TMP‘s new effects was Daren R. Dochterman, who, just for fun, also revamped a few scenes from the original Star Trek (1966-1969) and posted them at this website; I can’t find the clips there any more, but a sampling of his work on ‘The Doomsday Machine’ is available at YouTube.
Now comes word — via E! Online, Entertainment Weekly, and others — that the original series itself will feature newly enhanced CGI shots when it goes into syndication again on September 16.
Some fans are worried, but I figure if the effects crew — which will apparently not include Dochterman this time — goes about it as tastefully as they did with ST:TMP, then it shouldn’t be too bad. And as long as the original version of the original series remains available, I wouldn’t complain even if the new effects did stink.
Just so long as they don’t tweak the Klingons to make them look more like the Klingons of the movies and later series.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In