Star Trek Magazine and stuff

I picked up the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine while cruising Fred Meyer. A couple of articles caught my eye: a section devoted to TOS episode The Doomsday Machine (including the new remastered version), and a quick blurb about the new comic “Star Trek: Year 4.” It was funny to learn that William Windom, who played Commodore Matt Decker, doesn’t like Star Trek and he’s never watched the show except for The Doomsday Machine. Also, the original concept for the “machine” had thousands of gun platforms but this obviously had to be nixed due to budget restraints. I was also happy to learn that the Star Trek Year 4 comic will include characters from the animated show. They won’t have big staring roles, but they’ll appear. That’s very cool, as I enjoy the cartoon Star Trek quite a bit. It’s a nice nod and appreciated by fans like me.

A surprising fact I learned from this issue was that DeForest Kelley gave up the chance for an experimental treatment for his cancer. He did it because he felt he’d lived a long life and that a younger person should receive it. How about that! This info comes via Kris Smith, a family friend, who has a book coming out soon about Kelly. Makes me miss him all the more.


On a side note, I realized I didn’t get a copy of the Who Wants to Be a Superhero comic book staring Feedback. So, rustled one up at another store. It’s your standard Superhero story. Not much to say about it, but it is getting me excited for the second season, which premieres July 26th.

-Swinebread

Remastered Memories

It’s been strange watching Star Trek Remastered. Of course you know about Star Trek TOS being updated with new effects right? The remastered shows have been airing since September 2006. I’m not a purest and I do realize that the original FX looks rather dated, but I had been worried that the whole thing would be too George Lucas-ly. Fortunately, the few episodes I have seen were quite enjoyable. The mantra of the effects team as spoken by Mike Okuda:

We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original... Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?"

This seems to be true.


Certain fans might say this is sacrilege akin to colorizing old black and white films, but somehow it seems appropriate. It’s as if a much-neglected part of the Star Trek franchise is getting it’s due after being basically ignored. Many times, I’ve had conversations with younger fans and they simply can’t stand the old Star Trek. Often they speak about how much they like Deep Space Nine or whatever instead. I would try and talk to them about how great the stories, sci-fi concepts, or character interactions were in the original, but they were still very dismissive. What I have come to realize through Star Trek Remastered is that much of what they didn’t like was really the effects. The old FX is jarring. Imagine being pulled out of the story every time you saw the ship. Kind of a downer huh? It’s like the Star Trek Remastered CG frees them up so they can finally focus on the narrative rather than thinking “this is just some old show.” Although, I admit the effects team will never be able to do anything about Spock’s Brain.



I’ve been thinking about this as I just recently watched the remastered episode of All Our Yesterdays. It’s one of my favorites. I actually missed most of the remasterd shows but the few I’ve seen I found to be quite enjoyable especially The Doomsday Machine and The Immunity Syndrome. Regardless, I think it’s just nice to have Kirk and Spock back on regular TV. They had to do something for the 40th anniversary.

Here's the first trailer:


Here is the remastered effects for of The Doomsday Machine :


There are plenty more on youtube and startrek.com

-Swinebread