Guest Author - Kirsten Olsen-Keyser

With the release of a new Star Trek film just on the horizon and the Celebration of a 40th Anniversary for the franchise, some great marketing has taken place in the form of Star Trek – TOS on HD-DVD. In order to give die hard Trekkies/Trekkers a taste of what is to come in the next year, Episodes 112 & 113, collectively “The Menagerie” Parts One and Two, where presented in movie theaters across the nation. Before each showing was a half hour presentation by Gene Roddenberry’s son, Eugene, explaining the thought process and techniques used to remaster the entire original show. It was truly amazing to see just how much cosmetic treatment the original negative needed due to degradation over time.

Beyond the mere cosmetic aspect of the film is the addition of special effects that could not be achieved in the 1960’s. For the first time, the Enterprise will look, feel and act with a more realistic flare! Other vessels including Romulan and Klingon have also undergone a facelift. The show’s opening sequence has been reworked to show planets in more detail and depth as well as all galaxy shots seen through the ship's view-screen. All of the matte paintings used in background shots have had just enough tweaking to make them appear more realistic. Last but certainly not least, all of the original music has been re-recorded in digital stereo audio with a live orchestra.

Now, some of you may be thinking that all this reworking is actually ruining the look and feel of original Star Trek. Thankfully, Michael and Denise Okuda, who have both dedicated their lives to Star Trek, where in charge of the artistic elements of remastering the Enterprise and special effects. Great attention and detail has been used in bringing the look and feel of TOS to a higher level without overdoing it!

On a personal note, the high definition look of this show is amazing! I was completely blown away by how much clearer everything appeared. Because such care was taken in “rebuilding” the Enterprise (including taking measurements from the original model now in the Smithsonian) it looks much more realistic (working lights, new angles, better definition) without looking too CGI.

As part of the 40th Anniversary celebration, the Original Series began to air on HD channels on September 15 and will continue to air through till August 2008. For a list of shows and channels, please refer to the links provided at the end of this article.

One final comment, the HD-DVD will also include “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest”, which includes rare home movies of behind-the-scenes antics of the cast and crew!

UPDATE: Now that HD-DVD is completely washed out, Star Trek-TOS in High Def has been put on hold until further notice.