With the recent anniversary of Katrina, and the five year anniversary of Bush’s biggest failure coming up, it is easy to forget that this month marks another event–the 40th anniversary of Star Trek. While the stories and values hold up well, the card board special effects do not translate as well in the digital age. It had previously been announced that CBS was remastering scenes from the original Star Trek series in high definition, but new details were published this week. TrekWeb reports that “the focus is primarily on exterior and viewscreen shots, as well as the occasional matte painting that can be enhanced without entirely changing it. In total, each episode may only log about a minute and a half on average of enhanced footage.” Plans are to remaster 35-40 episodes this year and they will be available in both 4:3 and 16:9 versions.
The episodes will be released in the full 50+ minute versions but local stations may continue to show the edited 43-minute versions in order to sell more commercial time. Sci-Fi Wire also reports that the opening sequence will also be improved.
As I noted earlier this week, the second of ten web casts which bridge the gap between the second and third seasons of Battlestar Gallactica is now on line. A few spoilers are also included in the earlier post. Sci-Fi Storm reports that the season three trailer is now available for download. One additional SF related story this week told of yet another mystery involving Lost.