Paramount releasing "The Ultimate Star Trek Movie Collection" on HD DVD
Captain Kirk is about to meet high definition. Paramount is currently working on remastering all of the original movies found in the Ultimate Star Trek Movie Collection into HD DVD. There is also a slight chance that they are going to do Blu-ray too. It just keeps getting better though. MovieWeb is reporting that the studio is also remastering all 79 original episodes into high-def as well. Are we going to stop there with the Star Trek news? Oh no. We've got more for you as it seems that they have ideas to release all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise on a high-def format too. We don't have any release deets for you yet, but you can expect to see it as soon as we do.
What does this mean for the HD DVD format? Huge or nothin' special? We vote huge.
Filed under: Programming, Industry
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Reid @ Jul 26th 2006 5:28PM
How do you reformat a show that filmed in SD into HD? It's not widescreen to begin with, so will they strech it out, crop the bottom, or have black bars on the sides? Or am I missing something?
cckrobinson @ Jul 26th 2006 5:49PM
I just can't wait to see the tricorder in beautiful HD glory.
This will sell a few more players.
Martin VanMeter @ Jul 26th 2006 5:53PM
Was the original Star Trek shot on film ?
In the 60's, tape was marginal and digital was for certain medical exams.....
If they are remastering from original film stock, that would make sense
Jim @ Jul 26th 2006 5:59PM
I think this is huge. Early HD adopters are more likely to be techy-scifi types and/or sports buffs. It's definitely another notch in the HD-DVD belt.
Just because they *remaster* the original show, doesn't mean they are going 16:9 per se. Perhaps black bars with crystal clear 4:3 action? They may be cropping the top and bottom to fit 16:9 but adjusting the crop frame-by-frame (cut out just the bottom, just the top, etc) to include the most important details perhaps of each frame.
Whatever they are doing, it's AG. (all good)
Derek @ Jul 26th 2006 6:04PM
They are remastering old film stock. That's the only basic answer. Anything else would look silly. Now if only Lucas would listen and do similar to Original Star Wars.
Belcho @ Jul 26th 2006 6:25PM
Too bad releasing Enterprise on HD DVD won't make that show suck any less.
I'm a big Star Trek fan, but that show is just painful.
Blaine Doss @ Jul 26th 2006 6:27PM
Engage....
This will for sure bump HD-DVD in the lead... :-)
Make is so...
Gabe @ Jul 26th 2006 7:14PM
I have all the movies on DVD, and the entire TNG series as well, and I will STILL get the movies on HD-DVD! This is just the sort of thing to get me to jump on board. And with all due respect Belcho, I understand a lot of people didn't like Enterprise, including you it seems, but I really thought it was an excellent show.
Belcho @ Jul 26th 2006 7:48PM
The theme song alone is reason to not like Enterprise.
What the hell were they thinking?
EatingPie @ Jul 26th 2006 10:00PM
I have Star Trek I, Star Trek II, Star Trek VI, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Nemesis in High Definition.
Let me say that ALL of these -- with the exception of Nemesis, which looks great -- absolutely NEED remastering. The colors are faded and the source film stock is poor. (ST:VI might even survive without a remaster.)
The regular DVDs of these films were also a huge disappointment (save for the latter films). Paramount has done a terrible job taking care of their greatest franchise, and I'm not too optimistic.
They are *saying* they'll remaster, so I will take that as a hopeful sign.
-Pie
judd sandage @ Jul 26th 2006 10:37PM
so your saying the Remastering of ST:TMP and addtion of some new sceans was bad? I dont know, I thought that it look real good, better then the first release same went for ST II:TRoK, havent bought the 3rd or 4th yet but will soon.
Rakesh @ Jul 27th 2006 6:48AM
ST II:TRoK
Surely you mean ST II:TWoK :)
MIKE S @ Jul 27th 2006 8:30AM
I'd remaster them to 14:9, with slight cropping off top and bottom, with small pillar bars.
Dan in DCVA @ Jul 27th 2006 8:44AM
I wonder if they will release the "even-numbered-movies-only" collection. That's the killer app right there.
I don't think I want to watch (yet again) the one where Kirk meets a wannabe god with Spock's huggable half-brother (#5) or Kirk and Picard ride horses on a romantic afternoon then go hiking in Nevada (#7) or Picard has pic-nic on the immortal planet and finds a babe who he neglects bang (unlike Kirk) (#9).
Maybe they'll be *better* in high-def, right? Will they be more entertaining than watching ants mate in high-def on Discovery Channel? Hmmm....
Phil @ Jul 27th 2006 4:10PM
I'd imagine TOS would be done in a similar manner to what was done with Hogans Heros on HD-NET, i.e. the original source was just a bit wider than 4:3 so when remastered we get more than what was originally seen on tv. I'd prefer that because there are just little black strips on the side and it does give the show a new look. I personally hope they do remaster TOS, and fast.
TJ @ Aug 4th 2006 12:00PM
Phil- your idea sounds great, as long as the edges of the picture don't show the crew members who open the doors on the bridge! ;)
And yes, if this goes HD DVD only, its a huge blow to Blu-ray (though I think ultimately it will be on both formats).