I decided to have a go at watching one of the newly remastered editions of Star Trek (The Original Series). In case you haven't heard of this they are taking all of the original shows, cleaning them up, and adding new effects to the space scenes. You can get them on iTunes for $1.99 a pop.
I have to say, they look a lot better than I remember. The digital effects aren't overwhelming at all, they fit in nicely. And the quality of the non-space scenes is extraordinary.
Plus the shows aren't bad either. Shatner isn't nearly as bad as we all remember. And the plot, at least of the one I watched (Balance Of Terror) was very engaging. Event though it was clearly limited by time and budget constraints.
I think the original series certainly stacks up well against the later shows. It beats almost all of Enterprise hands down. It beats the first season of Next Generation handily. But then the only Trek that I think is any good are the Borg episodes of Next Generation, the arc shows in DS9, and the later "Seven of Nine centric" episodes of Voyager.
There is a lot of good retro TV on iTunes available relatively cheaply. The only thing I wish they had but they don't so far is the third season of Babylon Five, which was some of the best Sci-Fi ever produced.
Posted by jherr at February 8, 2007 06:15 PMiTunes? You're supposed to watch it on your big HDTV. They are remastered to 1080i. Digital broadcast Bay Area Channel 44.1, Saturday, 11 PM. This week is the classic "Doomsday Machine". Can't wait to see what the new effects for the "unstoppable, planet-eating machine" look like.
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