I prefer the originals. The 60's quality has a strange eeriness that the new cgi cant quite capture. Plus it feels more cinematic to me and the crudeness adds to the atmosphere and loneliness of the black void of space that envelops you in those hazy shots. Too much colour and sharp detail to everything and it just loses all that dreamy mystery that tos had. Gone is that sense of fear at what could be out there. The original alien also had that feel.
Exactly... however you have to remember that the original imagery was sharp and clear and colorful, especially to anybody who had a brand new color TV back in 1966. Even though the picture itself was by our modern standards, very low definition. Later in the early 90s when DVD versions were released for the 25th anniversary, they were bumped up to 480i, and even though it was pretty magnificent. But when they decided to redo the entire series, they should have put as much effort into re-creating the original versions as they did doing their brand new “ruined versions“. I’ve bought a few episodes of the new ruined version, and they always had additional SD versions of the original effects, which they probably got from the DVD masters. Mostly I like what they did with a lot of this but they changed space seed, and they added some extra scenes to a few other episodes, the best thing they did was they created new establishing shots for devil in the dark. And Amok time, they made The Spock ancestral grounds look a lot like what they looked like in star trek three and four. But in the enterprise incident they changed one of the Klingon D7 cruisers that the Romulans were using into the old style Romulan flagship design. They should have given special attention to keeping things looking the way that we remembered them looking.
@@v8vrooooom they used to, when they originally made this “new video” version whenever you purchased the episodes it gave you the ability to watch the originals, I want to see the original episodes in HD. The ones that they gave with the purchase were merely SD
@@SocialSpit There was another reason for New Special FX and recorded music scores, extension of copyright. However, instead of recreating original scenes (for example the Doomsday Machine in which the Constellation jerkily starts up) they had to change the concepts and feel of the original in which the ship just starts up like it was going from a stop light while inside Scotty, Kirk, et al are thrown back and forth-the digital Constellation's progress incongruous to the interior scenes. Some changes were just arbitrary, the shift of a phaser beam from one color to another. I supposed the most recent crop of first viewers might not appreciate the originals (exterior planet shots) or care. The rear view shot of the wrecked Constellation (AMT Model) approaching the planet killer, however, could have been digitally enhanced with lights, damage, etc. to look less like a model, but even the Doomsday machine appearance should have been kept and recreated digitally the original Planet Killer, replacement was different for difference's sake (Meh). Star Trek for a Television show was a step up from B-Grade low budget Sci-Fi films (always a rocket ship), with the Stars streaming along (ala This Island Earth), and the Enterprise equally many theatrical releases, until 2001 a Space Odyssey. The digital changes do not improve the story lines and sometimes detract.
I agree also - I'm not a big fan of some of the CGI in the enhanced series. Regarding this episode the original is far superior with superb model shots and better music to image editing.
I have to weigh in on the side of not changing "James R. Kirk" to ,"James T. Kirk" on the headstone. It's not an object of objective fact, it was created by Gary Mitchell based on his knowledge, and foreshadows that his knowledge can be flawed. What it establishes is that Mitchell may be omnipotent (all powerful), but he is not omniscient (all knowing). He is capable of making cognitive errors. And that lack of apprehension is exactly how fails to foresee having a big rock dropped on him like Wile E. Coyote. If he knew everything, it would be impossible to trick him.
I love this episode. I rented the VHS from the library as a kid. It has the bones (pun) of Star Trek but with some different style changes that make it unique as an odd-ball thing. This episode also has a very lonely feel to it, for me - as in, the Enterprise can't just head to a Starbase or call another ship or something. It makes it feel as if they are well beyond the known and out on their own. And Gary Lockwood was awesome.
Agreed. The one thing that always bothered me about Star Trek was the feeling that they were in a well traveled heavily populated galaxy as opposed to being far out into the unknown. This episode was one of the few that had that "Forbidden Planet" feel that Roddenberry was striving for. Also, I always loved the bridge set from "The Cage", and, found what they did to it for the series cheap and unconvincing.
@@varanid9 The 'Forbidden Planet' reference is something I hadn't thought of but I, suppose, felt. This one had that REAL feeling of going out beyond. The cut prologue explains it a bit - establishes that the Enterprise is going outside of just patrol duty. The one flaw I see with Star Trek is that they are always going to new places but able to go back to bases and known worlds ... why the 5 year thing then?
(before fans show me the door) 8:48 to 9:59 was easy to explain: In the novels, Mitchell used to tease Kirk at the academy that racquetball was his middle name. For being such an athlete. *R* ichard was Chris Pike's middle name in the script. And, one of Roddenberry's writers remembered the _James R. Kirk_ reference and later used it for Nomad's creator Jackson Roykirk in "The Changeling" episode.
I always saw Delta Vega as an eerie lonesome looking planet. Those peaks and plateaus in the back ground, and that cloudy sky added an atmosphere to this episode. Also the Kirk Spock relationship is established at the end. In this episode it was Kirk and Gary who were the real pals. Spock was just the science officer who Kirk had left over from Christopher Pike's crew.At the end, after Spock had told Kirk how he felt about the situation, Kirk responds by saying " Mr.Spock, I believe there is hope for you after all." Kirk's new side kick, so to speak.
Yeah I agree the original vfx should have been left alown they should just enhanced the resolution and digitaly remove the scratches that was on the original film
I’m okay with the enhanced effects. On the newest Blu-ray set they have both the original and the enhanced and let the viewer choose for each episode, so it can satisfy everyone.
I'm probably a minority here, but I honestly prefer the redone CG effects. They're more interesting and effective to me. At least fans have the option to choose between them.
I am torn on the changes usually but this is one of the episodes in which I think the new effects are better. If nothing else at least they clearly fixed the barrier problem.
@@TrekkieChannel Wow, if this episode has the best 3D version, I can't imagine how bad the others are. I can agree that the barrier was good when the Enterprise navigates inside it. But everything else is terrible. The planet is worse than the original. Even the stars look fake when the original stars are much more acceptable. But the worst is the Enterprise itself. This new cgi could not improve anything, from the lighting to the materials of the ship. Not even the animation of the opening, where the ship seems to be crooked towards the camera. The only thing that saves is that we no longer have the black outline of the ship's composition with the background.
I would have done something better when I started working with CGI on an Amiga 3000 in the 90s, I sincerely believe.
This was a show produced on a Paramount backlot in the mid-60s using available technology. No computers for even such things as tracking (such as Dykstra pioneered for Star Wars,) no endless budget like Kubrick had for 2001. The effects were created of necessity by people who had worked on movies and TV. They had plywood, rubber, paint, lights, and stuff they found in thrift stores (like the salt and pepper shaker medical scanners). It was one of the most brilliant things about the show. Changing this is not only stupid, it's wrong. I want to see complete digital restorations of the films with the ORIGINAL effects. I think "improving" the original effects is an obscenity.
maybe that's why leonard nimoy was "also staring" (3:00) I found myself looking away. I'm fascinated by the subject, & I quite like the remade VFX in my copy of the boxed set, though I'll quite happily watch the originals too. but these videos... I found them badly edited. the snatches of music are distracting & they lack exposition- where's all the BTS stuff with the CG artists? & your massive captions are up for far too long each, long enough for a five-year-old to read each one about six times. I had to set yt to play this at 2x.
According to the Justman/Solow book “Star Trek: The Real Story”, the contact lenses were just pieces of plastic that had silver foil in them, with tiny pinholes so the actors could see. Sally Kellerman could pop them in and out but Gary Lockwood had a lot of trouble with them. Turned out the only way he could do a scene with the lenses in was if he tilted his head back - but the look was so good on film that it fit perfectly with the Mitchell character.
The reason I watched this video and then searched the comments was to find out how they did the eyes. I assumed it was some kind of special effect like the transporter's "beaming" effect, but I couldn't figure out how they kept it so perfectly contained inside the eyes with 1960s technology. Mystery solved! Thanks!
Here's my theory: Kirk and Mitchell had been best friends for years; Gary knew about Jim's tendency of getting his shirt torn in every fight scene (including the one in this episode.) The "R" stands for "Rip."
Love, love Nimoy as Mr. Spock! He died on my birthday! And one of my grad school essays was about Mr. Spock in Spanish! His logic appealed to my intellectual self! TOS all the way!
There is a difference between enhancement and alteration. You can only go so far to "enhance" the effects. When you start changing middle initials you do seem to cross some line. It is a small thing, I know, but some respect must be maintained.
They changed the misinterpreted shingshot effect in Tomorrow is Yesterday. It was obvious neither the VFX team or the writers, actors and directors knew what they were talking about. They just picked up a NASA term and used it as technobabble. They showed it and described it as Dennis the Menace slingshot....not David v Goliath. I think one of the first times Hollywood every gave us a good portrayal of orbital slingshot effect was in 2010....then copied in ST4 (except the weird heads thing)
The barrier is more sensible in the CGI version. I too always wondered why they couldn't just fly over or under it. It's like in the cartoon where the train is barreling down on someone and instead of getting off the track the runner just stays on the track and tries to outrun the train. Crazy! In this part the CGI is better.
It was supposed to be something that completely enveloped our galaxy; you couldn't simply fly around it. And also, they were investigating what happened to the other ship.
In "Balance of Terror" when the romulan ship fires the plasma bolt and the enterprise goes into max reverse, I couldn't understand why they couldn't go to the side to dodge the bolt and get out of the way?
@@TrekkieChannel I nominate all the shuttlecraft sequences for "worst changes" They all look very video gamey and it takes me out of the episode very quickly.
In the original version the energy barrier was just rippling with energy. An in a sense even looked almost like it was alive. And it's own way even almost looked threatening. But in the new fx it comes across as being not much more visually than just a big cloud!! Just sitting there. With no feeling at all like it might be something dangerous!!
I wish they had simply made the new barrier more of what was already there (still dynamic but maybe more 3-D as they went in), rather than rethinking the whole thing. They could have just stretched it vertically but without the rippling effect, the tension was drastically lowered (for me), not heightened.
I was wondering what happened to the "silver eyes" that looked so creepy, especially when the scene fades to black & the eyes were still staring back at you?
" Gary, .......i have proof .....that you are still human, and not a god ,.........my tomb stone you put " R" as my middle initial !!!!, ........my initial is,.... "T" !!!! , there for you are not a god!!".
1:34 No reflection of the monitor on the table. This still really annoys me that they didn't fix that. Overall though, I'll sheepishly admit I do actually like the CGI enhancements about 80% of the time however. It would've been nice if they had just waited another 10 years or so for better CGI technology, so that the ship would look a tad less cartoony. And they should have kept the timing of the transitions the same, so you don't lose that second or so of seeing the actors. (On those certain episodes where they did that.) Thanks for making these comparison videos! I can't get enough of them!
I am glad they dispensed with the whole Act 1, Act 2....thing something that Quinn Martin did with his shows like The Fugitive, The FBI, The Invaders, etc. This is film, not a play.
Some of the changes are OK but I prefer the look of the plant in the original footage rather than the more sharper focused brown CGI planet. also the space and star backgrounds look too busy rather that the original where you get that slight larger emptier feel of space.
Star Trek's "The Cage" was chosen as the story by NBC because it was considered the most effects heavy of the stories pitched in Roddenberry's "This is Star Trek" proposal. It was then rejected because NBC while commending the team for going above their expectations in delivering the pilot couldn't air it as a series starter because it was "too cerebral" to gain an audience. Realizing their mistake they ordered a 2nd pilot. This pilot was then chosen by NBC to air, and granted Star Trek a 11-13 episode series order but, even then it was decided that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" wasn't action oriented enough and too expositional and aired "The Man Trap" as its horror, and monster of the week vibes seemed perfect to introduce a sci-fi series to new fans.
Great stuff. The sort of paper fold rocks could have used some love, but this looks great...for the most part. There's a couple of original Enterprise shots I liked better in the OG cut.
One error (from the original 1965 Filming) that was never corrected was the "Briefing Lounge" Monitor has a (probably) 1/2" boarder with subtly rounded corners. On the last shot looking back at Kelso, the Boarder Disappears.
'Hollywood' (to my knowledge) has NEVER failed to rewrite a story, in adapting a story for the screen. I will agree that some 'improvement' has been good, but I suspect that those that do rewrites, are NOT encouraged to consult source material, for fear of sullying their minds. I do remember an author commenting about editors in general such that 'once they (editors) have urinated and defecated upon' my unique, wonderful, fantastic, almost godlike, words, they seem to appreciate the flavor better. While I have no proof, I suspect it may be a 'Copyright' or a 'Legal' issue. So it (the story) can be claimed as theirs, (Hollywood's, producer, writer, director, etc).
Does anyone think the updated effects improve anything? Re-doing the effects is a slap in the face to the talented people who worked so hard on the original. I'm surprised they didn't remove Shatner with CGI and replace him with Chris Pine.
The comments below reflect a loyalty to the original effects. Understood. Controversy aside, it's nice work in this presentation. The background star field is a nice thought. .... However, you must concede that it's visually confusing... as foreground panels display sample scenes with similar stars in them. .... Just a thought. ...One possible solution could be to render background stars a different color/shade when displayed against the samples of foreground panels. Just thinking. Good work, though. Back to the controversy: original vs. new effects. For the lovers of the original, I see their point. For the revision fans. I acknowledge the improvement. Perhaps the powers that be can make sure the original versions can remain intact and available while the improved version takes the stage. Both as opposed to either/or.
At some point, when the technology is cheap enough, I want them to rotoscope the actors and remake the sets, planets, aliens, etc. in CGI. Like make the ship look more like the SNW version, replace background elements like planet sets, rocks, matte paintings, buildings, etc. In other words, make it look like Star Trek would look if it were made today. I would love to see the cast on a more believable bridge or a more believable version of Vulcan for the Pon Farr episode. The planet on this episode could really look good if they replace the foam rocks and such. They could even make the uniforms look higher quality and more expensive
It's really horrible that these two TNG veterans helped to vandalize the wonderful, innovative, and charming work of the artists who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into building and shooting the incredible models. What's next? Fixing The Wizard of Oz? So dumb. To the Okudas: I hope you were paid really well.
No, these were still Cage-era uniforms. I'm hanged though, if I know why Spock was in beige, because the beige uniforms were the precursor for the red ones. Personally, I thought The Cage uniforms were kinda barfy. The best uniforms were the ones they started using in the Wrath of Khan. The worst ones were TNG first season. Blech! Gag me with a spoon! Not to mention, I really hated the fact they switched the command color with security/ops/engineering. They should have left well enough alone.
@@mem1701movies Yeah, and, actually, I preferred the Cage uniforms to the ones that the show ended up using. Those day-glo colors always seemed cheap. Also, there is a slight difference between the ones for this episode and the ones used in The Cage, in color as well as cut. And, though the barely pubescent me always found the mini-skirts of the female crew members terrific to behold, their impracticality and glaring difference to the uniforms of the males was always a sore spot with me.
@@ecclestonsangel In this pilot, there are still LASER pistols!!!!(like in the Cage) & only a Phaser Rifle. The rifle should have also been used in the "Devil in the Dark"!! Oddly, the transporter control panel in the 2 pilots is more modern looking than the one in the regular series! No slide controls! c2.staticflickr.com/4/3844/14799682335_503224c259_b.jpg & they should have retained the kewl phrase "address intercraft" for the regular series.
I understand the reasoning why they totally destroyed this beautiful, iconic effect that I have remembered from when I was nine years old- The image of the enterprise being battered like a ragdoll right before they leave the barrier, is the most iconic image of all Star Trek. They didn’t even try to homage the way the saucer section tilts into the picture. I think they should have just re-created the original photographic effects, shot for shot- because that is the way it was originally filmed and that is the way that most of us remember seeing it until the brand new “ruined version” was released. They did well with other episodes that have photographic effects, particularly “the menagerie” all they could really do was make those effects even more colorful than they were originally. But they did not destroy an iconic scene, they merely reproduced it beautifully. But with the second pilot? They choked the duck.
The remastered version of this episode aired after the new versions of “The Corbomite Maneuver” and “Space Seed,” which I thought were very successful. Unfortunately, I found this effort to be quite disappointing. The lighting on the Enterprise is too dim and flat when the ship is in interstellar space (a constant issue with TOS-R), and overly garish when it’s in the Barrier. I get the logic of extending the Barrier so the ship can’t just maneuver around it, but the overall effect feels more like a generic CG particle cloud rather than the original’s hellish zone of lethal radiation. And while I appreciate the attempted fidelity to the look of the filming miniature in the second pilot, the rear nacelle caps are textured so dark that the details don’t read on screen. I actually liked much of the work CBS Digital did on the restoration project, and fortunately on the one episode they really needed to excel, “The Doomsday Machine,” they damn-near knocked it out of the park. But given its iconic status in Trek history, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was a real letdown.
The biggest problem with "The Doomsday Machine" episode is at the end when the machine slowly sinks when it dies. THERE'S NO UP AND DOWN IN SPACE!!! It's bad enough that Star Trek has gravity almost everywhere, even in badly damaged ships, like the Constellation in this one! The original show got the death right. It even looked cold an icy. It looked dead. The new one . . . augh. Admittedly, the Constellation looked pretty bad on its final run toward the machine. But the DM dying, in the new version it looked like water is coming out of it, and a pretty lame "explosion" followed. And another problem is that the DM in the CGI version was just basically a flamethrower. Nothing more. In the original the beam was abstract. The inside looked like nothing we'd seen before. In the CGI version it was just more flames. And the way the shuttlecraft takes off is just crazy in the new version. It wouldn't be like that. More "cool" than real.
@@betaneptune Well, we disagree, and that’s okay. I personally found the interior to be more “hellish” and scary, and the machine’s anti-proton weapon effect much better, in the new version. But to each, his own.
@@michaelhall2709 In the CGI version it's just a flamethrower. Scary or not it's so ordinary. So terrestrial. A device that came from another galaxy that could chop up and consume planets would certainly have something more advanced than a flamethrower. OK. Yes, we disagree.
@@michaelhall2709 The machine doesn't, but its "ray" does. And its interior is filled with fire. And wisps of fire come out of it after it swallows the shuttle craft. I have to admit that upon this new look at it, the center of it looks better than I previously thought. Still kind of fire-like, though. OK. Regardless, "The Doomsday Machine" is probably the best of the action episodes, while "COTEOF" is the best story episode. The best of the CGI effects is the moving-stars background when the ship turns. In the original, the stars stay put and the object moves. NO! That's not how it works. The CGI people got this one right. Both move. I'm guessing the TOS production crew couldn't afford a wider moving-stars setup. Conclusion: CGI had mixed success. Oh, the battle scenes definitely look better in the CGI version, too. But not much else.
IMO: they should've taken the original elements and digitally re-composited them (preserving the unique design of the era while simultaneously improving image fidelity). The motion of the starship is disconcerting - the camera just didn't move like that back in the day - so the live action set pieces don't match the spaceship fx.
Some of the faces look better with the CGI. I also noticed that one of the ceilings look better with the CGI. Even though the ship looks better with CGI most of the time you can barely see it because it's so dark. Everything else looks horrible in CGI. I think sometimes CGI has a really bad habit of sacrificing detail for blackness.
is it just me or do the stars in the new VFX shots of space move waaay too fast? they look like specs of dust floating by rather than stars millions of miles away
What's lighting up the ship? It's in deep space. The only light is from distant stars. You wouldn't be able to see it at all. Well, maybe its silhouette.
@@daledillard3281 Yes, of course. Let me add the following: The CGI is supposed to be "more realistic" when in fact it often makes things _less_ realistic. The lighting of the ships is just one of many things that are not realistic. Amazingly, the CGI makes the Enterprise darker (and maybe the other ships, too?), which is a step in the right direction. But they had a chance to do other things better that wouldn't stop the show, like stopping the planets from visibly rotating, which is very high on my list. Getting the lighting right and not having stars visible through the dark side of a gibbous moon (I think it was either "Assignment: Earth" or "Tomorrow is Yesterday") is another one of their failings. Damn, stars visible through the moon! Sheesh. Back to the original point: The "what's lighting up the ships" bit kind of ruins "Balance of Terror," as does Kirk's hitting the Romulan ship even when running totally blind. OK, Kirk did lose one round. Still. I'd watch this video documentary again, but it's got the annoying moving star background throughout. No, it's not cool; it's annoying. A waste of time and effort. It's distracting. Why would anyone want that? We're watching a documentary, not on a ride in an amusement park. Maybe I can block it with a help panel and the edge of the monitor. . . . Later, maybe.
It's "Tomorrow is Yesterday." If you can find it, put the image in Preview or similar program, cover the moon with a black circle, you will see that at least one of the stars is truly behind the dark side of the moon. Sorry, but this is unforgivable. If you're trying to make effects in space more realistic, you should at least have some basic knowledge of astronomy, like the fact that the moon is spherical, and that the unlit side is still there. Sheesh.
Actually every episode in the first half of the first season had a unique opening credits section, every one of the composers even recorded their own interpretation of the main theme. When the series went into syndication new film prints were created, the opening credits were unified so that they're the same for every episode and I think that the new prints are the source of the Blu-rays
TrekkieChannel really? I never heard that before. I know THE CAGE theme was slightly different. Then this pilot had a totally different theme and QUINN MARTIN ACT I type of stuff. Then an electronic theme then standard season one.
Denise was wrong - besides Spock, Sulu and Scotty were also carryovers from this pilot. Only difference was that Sulu was in physics. And don't believe Roddenberry's urban-space legend that the first pilot "The Cage" was rejected because it was "too cerebral". It was rejected because of the sexual controversies within it, including Majel Barrett as second-in-command.
So you read "These Are the Voyages"? :) But yes, it was way too sexual for 1960's TV and the network executives had a problem that he gave the second most important part to his lover. Especially if he was married.
Not always, but, yeah, I think 1) the original planet looks better IMHO, 2) the original installation matte definitely looks objectively better, and 3) I understand why they changed the galactic barrier, but, the new one looks "cliche'", kinda like every other energy barrier or space storm we see in modern CGI movies. The original had a sort of unique northern lights vibe. Even a couple of the original shots of Enterprise looked better than the CGI version. As far as optical effects go, TOS had the best I've ever seen to this day. The master shots of the Enterprise in space still look more convincing than any other Trek series. Just when they try to superimpose them into shots they were never intended for does it get wonky looking.
The effects of the first two pilots were fine, they did not need replacing with CGI, just restoration or digital remastering. Instead of changing the 'R' into a 'T' on Capt Jerk's tombstone, why not just remove it?
@@stevebishop9468 I wouldn't argue that. But to say the 50 year old special effect looks far superior to a modern computer generated CGI is just going far beyond reasonable. It looks different, but I certainly not call it better.
I think the original bright lite blue MODEL enterprise looks much better than the dull grey CGI one! blah!! & the CGI guys forgot to put the blinking light from the model on the very front of the cgi saucer! Who noticed that?! The CGI guys should have instead done something to the FRONT shot of TNG enterprise D. It looks terrible - like a toy! Oddly, the side & rear views of the enterprise D look fine!
Hmmm, the original matte of the installation looks better than the cleaned up version. In the orbital shots, the original planet looks better, too, though, more like a different planet than actually "better".
Regarding the angles/vectors of the ship fly-by shots, I believe most of the originals are more dramatic and more interesting. The CGI version seems more "ordinary" and uninspired, just looks like every other CGI fly-by we've seen in the last 20 years.
Re the matte at 7:49: Neither is better overall. The big tanks are clearer in the original. It looks like the place was partially destroyed in the CGI. But the CGI doesn't have the sloppy part in front of the entrance. I think in most ways the original is actually better. Well, the building is clearly better in the CGI.
A lot of these changes seem like changes for the sake of making changes. I guess you have to have something to charge money for. And why change the original design look of the planets? Methinks because the second ones are presets and filters out of the box and easier to make rather than actually holding true to the original look.
Horrendous. It's one thing to clean up lines that were around the original effects or clear glitches. It's a completely another when the planets become bland, when the mattes they put in look awful, the ships under-lit and utterly different, with new angles for shots of ships; it's a pretty savage slap in the face of the original production crews. Geeky fans who grew up with the original and could now get their paws as co-creators of an icon. Nearly as bad as Lucas' revamps.
There is one significant difference - there is no way how you can (legally) watch the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies, you can freely buy and watch any version of any Star Trek episode
@@TrekkieChannel That is not strictly true - if you own the original Star Wars versions then you can watch whenever you want, e.g. on VHS or Laserdisc.
Well, don't be TOO PROUD of what you did with the new FX. As a big fan, I can tell you that your success was very hit and miss.....some things you did well, and some things suck. For instance, you omitted in this episode the very iconic shot of the Enterprise tumbling towards the camera where you can read it's series number, but then you added a very cool shot of the ship leaving the barrier. Also, I would take the original effects of the ship orbiting planets over the new shots because the old ones show the ship on an almost linear trajectory past the camera while the new ones show the ship turning as it gets closer. That doesn't work. There are other things I didn't like......I could go on and on. Just don't think.you hit a homerun. You DEFINITELY got to second base, but I don't know if you made it to third.
With all due respect, most of the changes including the barrier (the scale of it at 5:03), are arbitrary, or my first thought "chicken shit!" T for Tiberius does not come around until the Animated Series. The depiction of the planet from Space is less convincing than the original. Changes for changes sake, rather than a recreation of the original in digital. Digital to repair damage (if necessary) to the original film, remove Blue Screen bleed through, and the real reason for New Special FX and recorded music scores in new formats, extension of copyright for the current owners of the TOS Series.
Please get rid of the moving stars on the sides. It is annoying, distracting, and adds nothing, zero, nada, zilch, nil, nullski to the experience. Why would you want such a thing? Why waste time, expense, and effort on it?
![Star Trek - The Cage - Visual Effects comparison [redux] (part 1 / 2)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SgGf_JDbKc8/mqdefault.jpg)
I prefer the originals. The 60's quality has a strange eeriness that the new cgi cant quite capture. Plus it feels more cinematic to me and the crudeness adds to the atmosphere and loneliness of the black void of space that envelops you in those hazy shots. Too much colour and sharp detail to everything and it just loses all that dreamy mystery that tos had. Gone is that sense of fear at what could be out there. The original alien also had that feel.
Exactly... however you have to remember that the original imagery was sharp and clear and colorful, especially to anybody who had a brand new color TV back in 1966. Even though the picture itself was by our modern standards, very low definition. Later in the early 90s when DVD versions were released for the 25th anniversary, they were bumped up to 480i, and even though it was pretty magnificent. But when they decided to redo the entire series, they should have put as much effort into re-creating the original versions as they did doing their brand new “ruined versions“. I’ve bought a few episodes of the new ruined version, and they always had additional SD versions of the original effects, which they probably got from the DVD masters. Mostly I like what they did with a lot of this but they changed space seed, and they added some extra scenes to a few other episodes, the best thing they did was they created new establishing shots for devil in the dark. And Amok time, they made The Spock ancestral grounds look a lot like what they looked like in star trek three and four. But in the enterprise incident they changed one of the Klingon D7 cruisers that the Romulans were using into the old style Romulan flagship design. They should have given special attention to keeping things looking the way that we remembered them looking.
@@SocialSpit I wish Paramount+ would have the option to stream TOS all the way through with the original FXs as beautiful and imperfect as they are.
@@v8vrooooom they used to, when they originally made this “new video” version whenever you purchased the episodes it gave you the ability to watch the originals, I want to see the original episodes in HD. The ones that they gave with the purchase were merely SD
@@SocialSpit There was another reason for New Special FX and recorded music scores, extension of copyright. However, instead of recreating original scenes (for example the Doomsday Machine in which the Constellation jerkily starts up) they had to change the concepts and feel of the original in which the ship just starts up like it was going from a stop light while inside Scotty, Kirk, et al are thrown back and forth-the digital Constellation's progress incongruous to the interior scenes. Some changes were just arbitrary, the shift of a phaser beam from one color to another. I supposed the most recent crop of first viewers might not appreciate the originals (exterior planet shots) or care. The rear view shot of the wrecked Constellation (AMT Model) approaching the planet killer, however, could have been digitally enhanced with lights, damage, etc. to look less like a model, but even the Doomsday machine appearance should have been kept and recreated digitally the original Planet Killer, replacement was different for difference's sake (Meh). Star Trek for a Television show was a step up from B-Grade low budget Sci-Fi films (always a rocket ship), with the Stars streaming along (ala This Island Earth), and the Enterprise equally many theatrical releases, until 2001 a Space Odyssey. The digital changes do not improve the story lines and sometimes detract.
I agree also - I'm not a big fan of some of the CGI in the enhanced series.
Regarding this episode the original is far superior with superb model shots and better music to image editing.
For me, Star Trek (the original serial), it Is a timeless sci-fi serial!
The One and Only!
yes, apart from the fact that its not a serial, but shhh
Absolutely incredible that this phenomenal episode was essentially the very first in the series. Even TNG took an ENTIRE season to hit its stride.
Because he once told Gary "Risk is my middle name."
Or Randy more like…
Or Revere (the Humans are coming)…
I have to weigh in on the side of not changing "James R. Kirk" to ,"James T. Kirk" on the headstone. It's not an object of objective fact, it was created by Gary Mitchell based on his knowledge, and foreshadows that his knowledge can be flawed. What it establishes is that Mitchell may be omnipotent (all powerful), but he is not omniscient (all knowing). He is capable of making cognitive errors. And that lack of apprehension is exactly how fails to foresee having a big rock dropped on him like Wile E. Coyote. If he knew everything, it would be impossible to trick him.
I love this episode. I rented the VHS from the library as a kid. It has the bones (pun) of Star Trek but with some different style changes that make it unique as an odd-ball thing. This episode also has a very lonely feel to it, for me - as in, the Enterprise can't just head to a Starbase or call another ship or something. It makes it feel as if they are well beyond the known and out on their own. And Gary Lockwood was awesome.
Agreed. The one thing that always bothered me about Star Trek was the feeling that they were in a well traveled heavily populated galaxy as opposed to being far out into the unknown. This episode was one of the few that had that "Forbidden Planet" feel that Roddenberry was striving for. Also, I always loved the bridge set from "The Cage", and, found what they did to it for the series cheap and unconvincing.
@@varanid9 The 'Forbidden Planet' reference is something I hadn't thought of but I, suppose, felt. This one had that REAL feeling of going out beyond. The cut prologue explains it a bit - establishes that the Enterprise is going outside of just patrol duty. The one flaw I see with Star Trek is that they are always going to new places but able to go back to bases and known worlds ... why the 5 year thing then?
(before fans show me the door)
8:48 to 9:59 was easy to explain:
In the novels, Mitchell used to tease Kirk at the academy that racquetball was his middle name. For being such an athlete. *R* ichard was Chris Pike's middle name in the script. And, one of Roddenberry's writers remembered the _James R. Kirk_ reference and later used it for Nomad's creator Jackson Roykirk in "The Changeling" episode.
The original is perfectly fine, should be left alone. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something
I always saw Delta Vega as an eerie lonesome looking planet. Those peaks and plateaus in the back ground, and that cloudy sky added an atmosphere to this episode. Also the Kirk Spock relationship is established at the end.
In this episode it was Kirk and Gary who were the real pals. Spock was just the science officer who Kirk had left over from Christopher Pike's crew.At the end, after Spock had told Kirk how he felt about the situation, Kirk responds by saying " Mr.Spock, I believe there is hope for you after all."
Kirk's new side kick, so to speak.
Yeah I agree the original vfx should have been left alown they should just enhanced the resolution and digitaly remove the scratches that was on the original film
I’m okay with the enhanced effects. On the newest Blu-ray set they have both the original and the enhanced and let the viewer choose for each episode, so it can satisfy everyone.
@johnbockeliTalos 4 was equally eerie.
I'm actually truly amazed by the FX from the 50s/60s. Original FX at this time was fantastic.
I'm probably a minority here, but I honestly prefer the redone CG effects. They're more interesting and effective to me.
At least fans have the option to choose between them.
I am torn on the changes usually but this is one of the episodes in which I think the new effects are better. If nothing else at least they clearly fixed the barrier problem.
@@TrekkieChannel Wow, if this episode has the best 3D version, I can't imagine how bad the others are.
I can agree that the barrier was good when the Enterprise navigates inside it. But everything else is terrible.
The planet is worse than the original. Even the stars look fake when the original stars are much more acceptable. But the worst is the Enterprise itself. This new cgi could not improve anything, from the lighting to the materials of the ship. Not even the animation of the opening, where the ship seems to be crooked towards the camera. The only thing that saves is that we no longer have the black outline of the ship's composition with the background.
I would have done something better when I started working with CGI on an Amiga 3000 in the 90s, I sincerely believe.
I prefer the new effects with the option to watch the old ones if you want
This was a show produced on a Paramount backlot in the mid-60s using available technology. No computers for even such things as tracking (such as Dykstra pioneered for Star Wars,) no endless budget like Kubrick had for 2001. The effects were created of necessity by people who had worked on movies and TV. They had plywood, rubber, paint, lights, and stuff they found in thrift stores (like the salt and pepper shaker medical scanners). It was one of the most brilliant things about the show. Changing this is not only stupid, it's wrong. I want to see complete digital restorations of the films with the ORIGINAL effects. I think "improving" the original effects is an obscenity.
I agree with one exception - during the first two seasons it was Desilu backlot
I noticed the older version of the Enterprise seemed to be faster.
I mostly watched this to see if they did anything to address the Most Painful Contact Lenses in Television History! :D man, that must have sucked!
maybe that's why leonard nimoy was "also staring" (3:00)
I found myself looking away. I'm fascinated by the subject, & I quite like the remade VFX in my copy of the boxed set, though I'll quite happily watch the originals too.
but these videos... I found them badly edited. the snatches of music are distracting & they lack exposition- where's all the BTS stuff with the CG artists? & your massive captions are up for far too long each, long enough for a five-year-old to read each one about six times. I had to set yt to play this at 2x.
According to the Justman/Solow book “Star Trek: The Real Story”, the contact lenses were just pieces of plastic that had silver foil in them, with tiny pinholes so the actors could see. Sally Kellerman could pop them in and out but Gary Lockwood had a lot of trouble with them. Turned out the only way he could do a scene with the lenses in was if he tilted his head back - but the look was so good on film that it fit perfectly with the Mitchell character.
The reason I watched this video and then searched the comments was to find out how they did the eyes. I assumed it was some kind of special effect like the transporter's "beaming" effect, but I couldn't figure out how they kept it so perfectly contained inside the eyes with 1960s technology. Mystery solved! Thanks!
Here's my theory:
Kirk and Mitchell had been best friends for years; Gary knew about Jim's tendency of getting his shirt torn in every fight scene (including the one in this episode.) The "R" stands for "Rip."
Love, love Nimoy as Mr. Spock! He died on my birthday! And one of my grad school essays was about Mr. Spock in Spanish! His logic appealed to my intellectual self! TOS all the way!
There is a difference between enhancement and alteration. You can only go so far to "enhance" the effects. When you start changing middle initials you do seem to cross some line. It is a small thing, I know, but some respect must be maintained.
The middle initial is changing an error in continuity. That's the whole point of a remaster.
They changed the misinterpreted shingshot effect in Tomorrow is Yesterday. It was obvious neither the VFX team or the writers, actors and directors knew what they were talking about. They just picked up a NASA term and used it as technobabble. They showed it and described it as Dennis the Menace slingshot....not David v Goliath.
I think one of the first times Hollywood every gave us a good portrayal of orbital slingshot effect was in 2010....then copied in ST4 (except the weird heads thing)
The barrier is more sensible in the CGI version. I too always wondered why they couldn't just fly over or under it. It's like in the cartoon where the train is barreling down on someone and instead of getting off the track the runner just stays on the track and tries to outrun the train. Crazy! In this part the CGI is better.
It was supposed to be something that completely enveloped our galaxy; you couldn't simply fly around it. And also, they were investigating what happened to the other ship.
In "Balance of Terror" when the romulan ship fires the plasma bolt and the enterprise goes into max reverse, I couldn't understand why they couldn't go to the side to dodge the bolt and get out of the way?
One of your Best My Man. So Engrossing... 😎😎😎🤠🤠🤠
Glad you like it :)
In "The Changeling" Nomad mistakes James T. Kirk with Jackson "Roy" Kirk. Coincidence?
The 1701 is the most beautiful ship ever
Absolutely
Is there any information how they came up with the design? As a kid I always wondered.
Have you though about doing one video that covered the biggest changes for the whole season? Great work.
No, but I plan to do a "top 10 best changes" and "top 10 worst changes" after each season
@@TrekkieChannel I nominate all the shuttlecraft sequences for "worst changes"
They all look very video gamey and it takes me out of the episode very quickly.
Albert Whitlock was my early FX heroe. Matte background paintings would have been great at this time.
love how they saw how people reacted to the Star Wars special edition and were like "yeah thats the ticket"
In the original version the energy barrier was just rippling with energy. An in a sense even looked almost like it was alive. And it's own way even almost looked threatening. But in the new fx it comes across as being not much more visually than just a big cloud!! Just sitting there. With no feeling at all like it might be something dangerous!!
I wish they had simply made the new barrier more of what was already there (still dynamic but maybe more 3-D as they went in), rather than rethinking the whole thing. They could have just stretched it vertically but without the rippling effect, the tension was drastically lowered (for me), not heightened.
I was wondering what happened to the "silver eyes" that looked so creepy, especially when the scene fades to black & the eyes were still staring back at you?
No changes there
" Gary, .......i have proof .....that you are still human, and not a god ,.........my tomb stone you put " R" as my middle initial !!!!, ........my initial is,.... "T" !!!! , there for you are not a god!!".
The barrier makes more sense in the new version, but somehow the Enterprise itself looks pretty bad against it.
Original barrier is alive, the new one is dead.
1:34 No reflection of the monitor on the table. This still really annoys me that they didn't fix that. Overall though, I'll sheepishly admit I do actually like the CGI enhancements about 80% of the time however. It would've been nice if they had just waited another 10 years or so for better CGI technology, so that the ship would look a tad less cartoony. And they should have kept the timing of the transitions the same, so you don't lose that second or so of seeing the actors. (On those certain episodes where they did that.) Thanks for making these comparison videos! I can't get enough of them!
I love the fact that they started to add missing table reflections in the TNG Blu-ray versions.
@@TrekkieChannel Ah I didn’t realize they did! I’ll have to watch more of your TNG comparisons. I’ve been watching the TOS ones like crazy.
they ever so slightly changed the typeface in the credits too. notice the "G" in "Gene Roddenberry"
I see no reason for the added CGI effects. The original was quite satisfactory.
I am glad they dispensed with the whole Act 1, Act 2....thing something that Quinn Martin did with his shows like The Fugitive, The FBI, The Invaders, etc. This is film, not a play.
Some of the changes are OK but I prefer the look of the plant in the original footage rather than the more sharper focused brown CGI planet.
also the space and star backgrounds look too busy rather that the original where you get that slight larger emptier feel of space.
Star Trek's "The Cage" was chosen as the story by NBC because it was considered the most effects heavy of the stories pitched in Roddenberry's "This is Star Trek" proposal. It was then rejected because NBC while commending the team for going above their expectations in delivering the pilot couldn't air it as a series starter because it was "too cerebral" to gain an audience. Realizing their mistake they ordered a 2nd pilot. This pilot was then chosen by NBC to air, and granted Star Trek a 11-13 episode series order but, even then it was decided that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" wasn't action oriented enough and too expositional and aired "The Man Trap" as its horror, and monster of the week vibes seemed perfect to introduce a sci-fi series to new fans.
Great stuff. The sort of paper fold rocks could have used some love, but this looks great...for the most part. There's a couple of original Enterprise shots I liked better in the OG cut.
One error (from the original 1965 Filming) that was never corrected was the "Briefing Lounge" Monitor has a (probably) 1/2" boarder with subtly rounded corners. On the last shot looking back at Kelso, the Boarder Disappears.
And a white reflection on table.
Sharp eye!
I say that if somethings not broken dont fix it.
'Hollywood' (to my knowledge) has NEVER failed to rewrite a story, in adapting a story for the screen. I will agree that some 'improvement' has been good, but I suspect that those that do rewrites, are NOT encouraged to consult source material, for fear of sullying their minds. I do remember an author commenting about editors in general such that 'once they (editors) have urinated and defecated upon' my unique, wonderful, fantastic, almost godlike, words, they seem to appreciate the flavor better. While I have no proof, I suspect it may be a 'Copyright' or a 'Legal' issue. So it (the story) can be claimed as theirs, (Hollywood's, producer, writer, director, etc).
Does anyone think the updated effects improve anything? Re-doing the effects is a slap in the face to the talented people who worked so hard on the original. I'm surprised they didn't remove Shatner with CGI and replace him with Chris Pine.
7:19 Columns from the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasilia
I like that they make a big deal about turning the "screen on" in the bridge. Why would it ever be off?
That's probably why they never used it later
Like FIRST CONTACT they were just staring at a wall
Should have had a cat screensaver, lol.
The comments below reflect a loyalty to the original effects. Understood. Controversy aside, it's nice work in this presentation. The background star field is a nice thought. .... However, you must concede that it's visually confusing... as foreground panels display sample scenes with similar stars in them. .... Just a thought. ...One possible solution could be to render background stars a different color/shade when displayed against the samples of foreground panels. Just thinking. Good work, though. Back to the controversy: original vs. new effects.
For the lovers of the original, I see their point. For the revision fans. I acknowledge the improvement. Perhaps the powers that be can make sure the original versions can remain intact and available while the improved version takes the stage. Both as opposed to either/or.
It was amazing it just a year or so before this was the likes of 'The Outer Limits' which looked something out of the stone age compared with this.
At some point, when the technology is cheap enough, I want them to rotoscope the actors and remake the sets, planets, aliens, etc. in CGI. Like make the ship look more like the SNW version, replace background elements like planet sets, rocks, matte paintings, buildings, etc. In other words, make it look like Star Trek would look if it were made today. I would love to see the cast on a more believable bridge or a more believable version of Vulcan for the Pon Farr episode. The planet on this episode could really look good if they replace the foam rocks and such. They could even make the uniforms look higher quality and more expensive
It's really horrible that these two TNG veterans helped to vandalize the wonderful, innovative, and charming work of the artists who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into building and shooting the incredible models. What's next? Fixing The Wizard of Oz? So dumb. To the Okudas: I hope you were paid really well.
The matte paintings of ST TOS were done DECADES before the Hubble telescope.
David R Rossi looks like a younger version of Paul Cicero from Goodfellas played by the late Paul Sorvino who of course starred in one episode of STNG
The in-between subtitles are up for way too long. I can read them 5 or 6 times. Fortunately, there's the right arrow button.
Just re-watched the episode and I noticed there were no red shirts or even security personnel.
No, these were still Cage-era uniforms. I'm hanged though, if I know why Spock was in beige, because the beige uniforms were the precursor for the red ones. Personally, I thought The Cage uniforms were kinda barfy. The best uniforms were the ones they started using in the Wrath of Khan. The worst ones were TNG first season. Blech! Gag me with a spoon! Not to mention, I really hated the fact they switched the command color with security/ops/engineering. They should have left well enough alone.
Correct, this was still just the pilot, red shirts etc. were introduced when the full series went into production
ecclestonsangel actually Kirk and Spock and Yeoman Smith were in GREEN that photographed kind of a greenish gold
@@mem1701movies Yeah, and, actually, I preferred the Cage uniforms to the ones that the show ended up using. Those day-glo colors always seemed cheap. Also, there is a slight difference between the ones for this episode and the ones used in The Cage, in color as well as cut. And, though the barely pubescent me always found the mini-skirts of the female crew members terrific to behold, their impracticality and glaring difference to the uniforms of the males was always a sore spot with me.
@@ecclestonsangel In this pilot, there are still LASER pistols!!!!(like in the Cage) & only a Phaser Rifle. The rifle should have also been used in the "Devil in the Dark"!! Oddly, the transporter control panel in the 2 pilots is more modern looking than the one in the regular series! No slide controls!
c2.staticflickr.com/4/3844/14799682335_503224c259_b.jpg
& they should have retained the kewl phrase "address intercraft" for the regular series.
I am glad they did not change the tombstone!
Me too, I got used to it during the years.
@@TrekkieChannel Why not just digitally erase it entirely?
Maybe "R" was the initial of a Pet Name Mitchell gave Kirk.
@@craigbrowning9448 "Rowdy"
love it cgi effects on blueray
The real question at hand should be why did they give Kirk the middle initial T. in the first place?
Interesting that the planet turns on its axis in opposite directions depending on the version.
How were the eye effects done in the original? Contacts?
Correct, specially created contact lenses
Nice how the laser beam is sucked back into the rifle. That CGI guy really sucks.
I understand the reasoning why they totally destroyed this beautiful, iconic effect that I have remembered from when I was nine years old- The image of the enterprise being battered like a ragdoll right before they leave the barrier, is the most iconic image of all Star Trek. They didn’t even try to homage the way the saucer section tilts into the picture. I think they should have just re-created the original photographic effects, shot for shot- because that is the way it was originally filmed and that is the way that most of us remember seeing it until the brand new “ruined version” was released.
They did well with other episodes that have photographic effects, particularly “the menagerie” all they could really do was make those effects even more colorful than they were originally. But they did not destroy an iconic scene, they merely reproduced it beautifully.
But with the second pilot? They choked the duck.
“Also starring … “ 3:00
Agreed. New FX help with lasers and photon torpedoes.
The remastered version of this episode aired after the new versions of “The Corbomite Maneuver” and “Space Seed,” which I thought were very successful. Unfortunately, I found this effort to be quite disappointing. The lighting on the Enterprise is too dim and flat when the ship is in interstellar space (a constant issue with TOS-R), and overly garish when it’s in the Barrier. I get the logic of extending the Barrier so the ship can’t just maneuver around it, but the overall effect feels more like a generic CG particle cloud rather than the original’s hellish zone of lethal radiation. And while I appreciate the attempted fidelity to the look of the filming miniature in the second pilot, the rear nacelle caps are textured so dark that the details don’t read on screen. I actually liked much of the work CBS Digital did on the restoration project, and fortunately on the one episode they really needed to excel, “The Doomsday Machine,” they damn-near knocked it out of the park. But given its iconic status in Trek history, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was a real letdown.
The biggest problem with "The Doomsday Machine" episode is at the end when the machine slowly sinks when it dies. THERE'S NO UP AND DOWN IN SPACE!!! It's bad enough that Star Trek has gravity almost everywhere, even in badly damaged ships, like the Constellation in this one! The original show got the death right. It even looked cold an icy. It looked dead. The new one . . . augh. Admittedly, the Constellation looked pretty bad on its final run toward the machine. But the DM dying, in the new version it looked like water is coming out of it, and a pretty lame "explosion" followed. And another problem is that the DM in the CGI version was just basically a flamethrower. Nothing more. In the original the beam was abstract. The inside looked like nothing we'd seen before. In the CGI version it was just more flames. And the way the shuttlecraft takes off is just crazy in the new version. It wouldn't be like that. More "cool" than real.
@@betaneptune Well, we disagree, and that’s okay. I personally found the interior to be more “hellish” and scary, and the machine’s anti-proton weapon effect much better, in the new version. But to each, his own.
@@michaelhall2709 In the CGI version it's just a flamethrower. Scary or not it's so ordinary. So terrestrial. A device that came from another galaxy that could chop up and consume planets would certainly have something more advanced than a flamethrower. OK. Yes, we disagree.
@@betaneptune Well, sorry, it doesn’t look like a flamethrower to me at all.
@@michaelhall2709 The machine doesn't, but its "ray" does. And its interior is filled with fire. And wisps of fire come out of it after it swallows the shuttle craft. I have to admit that upon this new look at it, the center of it looks better than I previously thought. Still kind of fire-like, though. OK.
Regardless, "The Doomsday Machine" is probably the best of the action episodes, while "COTEOF" is the best story episode.
The best of the CGI effects is the moving-stars background when the ship turns. In the original, the stars stay put and the object moves. NO! That's not how it works. The CGI people got this one right. Both move. I'm guessing the TOS production crew couldn't afford a wider moving-stars setup. Conclusion: CGI had mixed success. Oh, the battle scenes definitely look better in the CGI version, too. But not much else.
*Wait ... am I supposed to like the CGI Effects one more? (I don't.)*
IMO: they should've taken the original elements and digitally re-composited them (preserving the unique design of the era while simultaneously improving image fidelity). The motion of the starship is disconcerting - the camera just didn't move like that back in the day - so the live action set pieces don't match the spaceship fx.
IMHO - the CGI is very cartoonie. If they had waited a few years, higher resolution rendering would have been possible.
Why didn’t they have to go through the barrier again on the way back?
They never made it all the way through. They went in, got wrecked, and reversed back into the galaxy.
Some of the faces look better with the CGI. I also noticed that one of the ceilings look better with the CGI. Even though the ship looks better with CGI most of the time you can barely see it because it's so dark. Everything else looks horrible in CGI. I think sometimes CGI has a really bad habit of sacrificing detail for blackness.
I think they should’ve cleaned up the original visuals to look exactly the same but for UHD.
Well this was done in the early 2000's, there was no such thing as "UHD" back then (at least it was not common)
The Hubble stuff is all rendered in false colour. The original is more realistic.
Let me guess - its the composite color NASA does to make things visible
@@ammosophobia I think you need to go work for Transworld Consortium.
@@varanid9 We change the name often ....
is it just me or do the stars in the new VFX shots of space move waaay too fast? they look like specs of dust floating by rather than stars millions of miles away
What's lighting up the ship? It's in deep space. The only light is from distant stars. You wouldn't be able to see it at all. Well, maybe its silhouette.
Artistic liscense is lighting up the ship. Wouldnt be much of a show if we couldnt see the ship.
@@daledillard3281 Yes, of course. Let me add the following: The CGI is supposed to be "more realistic" when in fact it often makes things _less_ realistic. The lighting of the ships is just one of many things that are not realistic. Amazingly, the CGI makes the Enterprise darker (and maybe the other ships, too?), which is a step in the right direction. But they had a chance to do other things better that wouldn't stop the show, like stopping the planets from visibly rotating, which is very high on my list. Getting the lighting right and not having stars visible through the dark side of a gibbous moon (I think it was either "Assignment: Earth" or "Tomorrow is Yesterday") is another one of their failings. Damn, stars visible through the moon! Sheesh. Back to the original point: The "what's lighting up the ships" bit kind of ruins "Balance of Terror," as does Kirk's hitting the Romulan ship even when running totally blind. OK, Kirk did lose one round. Still.
I'd watch this video documentary again, but it's got the annoying moving star background throughout. No, it's not cool; it's annoying. A waste of time and effort. It's distracting. Why would anyone want that? We're watching a documentary, not on a ride in an amusement park. Maybe I can block it with a help panel and the edge of the monitor. . . . Later, maybe.
It's "Tomorrow is Yesterday." If you can find it, put the image in Preview or similar program, cover the moon with a black circle, you will see that at least one of the stars is truly behind the dark side of the moon. Sorry, but this is unforgivable. If you're trying to make effects in space more realistic, you should at least have some basic knowledge of astronomy, like the fact that the moon is spherical, and that the unlit side is still there. Sheesh.
I'm surprised that this did not really feature them using their superpowers.
There have been no changes done in those scenes (as far as I know)
@@TrekkieChannel Thanks for response
I almost prefer the original over the CGI....
Why take away the prologue? Are people really that upset that he says, "where no man has gone before"?
They didn't, I recall that it was a mistake by the production team and was missing from the original run.
Actually every episode in the first half of the first season had a unique opening credits section, every one of the composers even recorded their own interpretation of the main theme. When the series went into syndication new film prints were created, the opening credits were unified so that they're the same for every episode and I think that the new prints are the source of the Blu-rays
TrekkieChannel really? I never heard that before. I know THE CAGE theme was slightly different. Then this pilot had a totally different theme and QUINN MARTIN ACT I type of stuff. Then an electronic theme then standard season one.
Although the cg effects are not that realistic, they are more effective than the original in terms of telling the story which is what matters.
Denise was wrong - besides Spock, Sulu and Scotty were also carryovers from this pilot. Only difference was that Sulu was in physics.
And don't believe Roddenberry's urban-space legend that the first pilot "The Cage" was rejected because it was "too cerebral". It was rejected because of the sexual controversies within it, including Majel Barrett as second-in-command.
So you read "These Are the Voyages"? :) But yes, it was way too sexual for 1960's TV and the network executives had a problem that he gave the second most important part to his lover. Especially if he was married.
@@TrekkieChannel - LOL! Absolutely. 🖖🏼
I think Denise was referring to Spock being the only carry-over from The Cage to Where No Man Has Gone Before.
@@larrywt656 - I see. You're probably right.
The original shots of Delta Vega are MUCH nicer... the CGI planet is butt ugly.
The original galactic barrier effect was by far superior to the loathsome CGI abomination
The thing which I like on the CGI version is that they made the barrier so huge that the Enterprise had no other chance than fly through it.
At 2:58 it should read "starring", not "staring".
What is the point of new CGI effects if they often look false and cheap!
I know?!?! They SUCK!
Not always, but, yeah, I think 1) the original planet looks better IMHO, 2) the original installation matte definitely looks objectively better, and 3) I understand why they changed the galactic barrier, but, the new one looks "cliche'", kinda like every other energy barrier or space storm we see in modern CGI movies. The original had a sort of unique northern lights vibe. Even a couple of the original shots of Enterprise looked better than the CGI version. As far as optical effects go, TOS had the best I've ever seen to this day. The master shots of the Enterprise in space still look more convincing than any other Trek series. Just when they try to superimpose them into shots they were never intended for does it get wonky looking.
The effects of the first two pilots were fine, they did not need replacing with CGI, just restoration or digital remastering.
Instead of changing the 'R' into a 'T' on Capt Jerk's tombstone, why not just remove it?
I assume it would be the same amount of work
Captain jerk? Perhaps the tombstone should have read chad castagana 😎
The prologue really needed to stay since it was historic. Its a disservice to politicize history.
The original barrier effects were by far superior to the dreadful CGI version
@GaryPeterson67 the barrier and the void from Is there in truth no beauty were perfection...the the remastered effects look like cheap screen savers
Some people have that opinion about vinyl too.
@@krane15 special effects are supposed to blend seamlessly into a scene,the CGI effects look hopelessly cartoonish and out of place.
@@stevebishop9468 I wouldn't argue that. But to say the 50 year old special effect looks far superior to a modern computer generated CGI is just going far beyond reasonable. It looks different, but I certainly not call it better.
@@krane15 the updated effects look like a screen saver...and an unimaginative screen saver at that. They could have done so much better..
I would have went with “T”.
The ship is more beautiful in original because of its white colour..
Leave well enough alone, quit messin' with it.
it's like they Photoshopped and filtered all the actors like they do models in fashion magazines. Kirk is chunkier and Spock has higher cheek bones...
I honestly don't know any fan that prefers the new effects.
I think the original bright lite blue MODEL enterprise looks much better than the dull grey CGI one! blah!! & the CGI guys forgot to put the blinking light from the model on the very front of the cgi saucer! Who noticed that?! The CGI guys should have instead done something to the FRONT shot of TNG enterprise D. It looks terrible - like a toy! Oddly, the side & rear views of the enterprise D look fine!
Hmmm, the original matte of the installation looks better than the cleaned up version. In the orbital shots, the original planet looks better, too, though, more like a different planet than actually "better".
It for some reason looks less detailed, but it blends with the live action part better - the original has an ugly outline around the actual set.
sadly the new cgi shots look like a cartoon and not real
The "updated" effects are already dated and cheesy. The original remain classic.
its interesting to see the people responsible for the horrible cgi effects..amazingly they seem proud of their bad job!
I prefer the old planet, and they could have made the phaser shot way cooler.
I'm not impressed by the new CGI changes, especially the planet shots. The originals were much better and pleasing to look at imo.
Regarding the angles/vectors of the ship fly-by shots, I believe most of the originals are more dramatic and more interesting. The CGI version seems more "ordinary" and uninspired, just looks like every other CGI fly-by we've seen in the last 20 years.
Re the matte at 7:49: Neither is better overall. The big tanks are clearer in the original. It looks like the place was partially destroyed in the CGI. But the CGI doesn't have the sloppy part in front of the entrance. I think in most ways the original is actually better. Well, the building is clearly better in the CGI.
A lot of these changes seem like changes for the sake of making changes. I guess you have to have something to charge money for. And why change the original design look of the planets? Methinks because the second ones are presets and filters out of the box and easier to make rather than actually holding true to the original look.
I prefer the original, it is of its time,campy and quirky.
Horrendous. It's one thing to clean up lines that were around the original effects or clear glitches. It's a completely another when the planets become bland, when the mattes they put in look awful, the ships under-lit and utterly different, with new angles for shots of ships; it's a pretty savage slap in the face of the original production crews. Geeky fans who grew up with the original and could now get their paws as co-creators of an icon. Nearly as bad as Lucas' revamps.
There is one significant difference - there is no way how you can (legally) watch the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies, you can freely buy and watch any version of any Star Trek episode
@@TrekkieChannel I remember seeing The Cage on a big screen when they did that limited run back in 2008!!!
@@TrekkieChannel That is not strictly true - if you own the original Star Wars versions then you can watch whenever you want, e.g. on VHS or Laserdisc.
Well, don't be TOO PROUD of what you did with the new FX. As a big fan, I can tell you that your success was very hit and miss.....some things you did well, and some things suck. For instance, you omitted in this episode the very iconic shot of the Enterprise tumbling towards the camera where you can read it's series number, but then you added a very cool shot of the ship leaving the barrier. Also, I would take the original effects of the ship orbiting planets over the new shots because the old ones show the ship on an almost linear trajectory past the camera while the new ones show the ship turning as it gets closer. That doesn't work.
There are other things I didn't like......I could go on and on. Just don't think.you hit a homerun. You DEFINITELY got to second base, but I don't know if you made it to third.
I hope you do realize that this is just a fan channel, and that the people who have done it will probably never read the comments.
@@TrekkieChannel Folks who make/remake things DESERVE (have earned) feedback, both negative and positive.
With all due respect, most of the changes including the barrier (the scale of it at 5:03), are arbitrary, or my first thought "chicken shit!" T for Tiberius does not come around until the Animated Series. The depiction of the planet from Space is less convincing than the original. Changes for changes sake, rather than a recreation of the original in digital. Digital to repair damage (if necessary) to the original film, remove Blue Screen bleed through, and the real reason for New Special FX and recorded music scores in new formats, extension of copyright for the current owners of the TOS Series.
The CGI is crap
You can’t see the ship in space and they look as bad as BABYLON 5 and. THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Please get rid of the moving stars on the sides. It is annoying, distracting, and adds nothing, zero, nada, zilch, nil, nullski to the experience. Why would you want such a thing? Why waste time, expense, and effort on it?
@TrekkieChannel >>> 👍👍