Remaster the Animated Series Anyone?

[Damian]

I checked to see if there were any recent threads about this topic and the last one I see is from 4 years ago so I figured I'd throw it out there again.

I'm currently rewatching the animated series. It's been a few years since I watched it and I was wondering how it would look with updated animation using the existing sound. I'm thinking sort of how they handled the remastering of the original series. Update everything visually with current animation technology but keep the intent of the original animation (for instance the look of the various aliens like the Kzinti would reflect how they looked originally but updated with modern techniques). The same with the basic look of the planets and the ship design.

I would of course use the existing voices in most cases (esp. of the main characters). I suppose you could have new voices dubbed for secondary characters that were originally done by Nichols, Barrett, Doohan and Takei just to add a bit of variety. I'd personally keep the existing score. I know it's a bit corny and repetitive but I'd prefer to do it like they did to the original series and not change too much.

I'd be fascinated to see them do it to an episode and see what it might look like. Maybe one of the more popular episodes that included a lot of aliens that you could see what they might look like today.

This time I actually remembered to add a poll question just for curiosity. I figured I'd throw in 3 possible responses. My personal preference would be the 2nd. Update the series with modern animation and updating, but keep the intent of the original and retain the existing soundtrack/music (though as I noted I am open to redoing some secondary voices).

 

[thribs]

Do you mean a remake because I think they remastered it for the blu Ray release.
A remake with CG animation might be fun but I feel that it would lose its charm.

 

[wayne66]

I voted for the second choice. I like the music but it does get a bit repetitive, so I would throw in some of the original series music to give it some diversity. I would also redo some of the secondary voices. Keep some of James Doohan's better work. I also would bring the surviving cast members back to add additional dialogue. Make the episodes 30 minutes long without commercials, etc. Get Walter Koenig back to play Chekov. I would also want them to take the computer games from the 90s and create additional TAS episodes. Sounds like a nice limited edition series for CBS All Access.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Remastering means creating a new master from elements, not a special edition (which TOS-R ended up being because it was felt the VFX needed a technical upgrade that then became artistic). Those were a fad of the 90s and the 00s, which is why TOS-R looks dated already and only TNG-R remains definitive with its almost invisible updates. The current sense is that a director can get away with creating a “final cut” or a showrunner a 16:9 version of a 4:3 series if they’re as good or better than what came before, but remaking a period release into that of a different period is a definitive “no”. TAS is a product of the 1970s; the focus must be on creating uncomfortable Star Trek for today, rather than waste a penny on “improving” a period piece.

 

[Relayer1]

Do you mean a remake because I think they remastered it for the blu Ray release.
A remake with CG animation might be fun but I feel that it would lose its charm.

Remake it with CG animation.

It has no 'charm'.

 

[thribs]

Remake it with CG animation.

It has no 'charm'.

I wouldn’t say that. It’s certainly unique.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I voted to leave it as is. My second choice would be to replace all the visuals with CGI, but for Pete's sake, don't alter the audio content. It's not like King Kong or Dracula, where a new director can take the same story and make it again from scratch.

The TAS stories are not so strong that they should be recycled into whole new productions like that. Much of the show's value for me is in recapturing the childhood experience of seeing it in first-run on NBC. The original dialog, sound fx, and music would be the minimum I'd need to stay emotionally connected to the material.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I keep seeing this misconception that special editions are a regular tool in the box even though some that do exist were created as a result of varying circumstances, most of which can be traced back to George Lucas’s Star Wars updates and the notion that you could sell a product again by giving it bells and whistles of the day. But in the end they’re no different than colorizing films: as soon as a changed version leaves the period and has people ignoring it as a temporary version of a different period, it’s a failure.

Can we forever accept “The Gathering” (B5, 1998) or TPM with CGI Yoda? I think yes, because the changes improve the art and are still fairly period (within a few years). However, undoing Filmation’s (!) work in favor CG animation of the 2020s implies that the voice work and stories are vastly more important, even though everything is a part of the whole, and you wouldn’t have written those stories without knowing how they’d be animated. As annoying as it may be to listen to the music which sounds like the original with minimum changes needed to avoid rights issues, that’s what the limitations were at the time, and there is not much use pretending otherwise. If you want, you can just imagine the whole thing in live action while watching.

 

[Phoenix219]

I've always wanted to see a TAS fanedit where they replace the corny 70s cues with classic TOS sound effects and musical breaks.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I have never bothered to watch the original version. lol But maybe that makes me some kind of "possible target audience" for a remastered version? idk

I'm not sure I'd be interested. Probably not. If I were interested, I'd want the original anyway because I tend to prefer the original versions of things.

 

[Maurice]

[...]and you wouldn’t have written those stories without knowing how they’d be animated.[...]

I think the only way animation effected the stories was they knew that animation freed them up, e.g. that have a crazy alien instead of a human or a wild background instead of a normal one was not more expensive as it would be in a live action show. I've never seen any indication that the fact the show was animated restricted them at all, or that the particular style or production process impacted what stories were told, again, outside of freeing them up.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I've never seen any indication that the fact the show was animated restricted them at all, or that the particular style or production process impacted what stories were told, again, outside of freeing them up.

I’m not referring to a specific quote either, but in general the writers imagine the end result and describe it in the script as specifically as possible. With that in mind, would I suggest Filmation create something with an insane amount of detail, minimum stock footage and complex animation, something that’s accomplished more easily with CGI? Maybe at first, but after a while I’d know what I could get back then.

 

[Forbin]

I find I have less of an emotional attachment to TAS than TOS, so I'd be up for a CGI recreation, using an unaltered soundtrack.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I find I have less of an emotional attachment to TAS than TOS, so I'd be up for a CGI recreation, using an unaltered soundtrack.

But how do you imagine that happening in the here and now (as opposed to a totally new CG series)? Who would be motivated to produce such an idea rather than hire writers and actors to do their own thing first? Again, a special edition is a risky proposition and creatively a waste of time. It‘s just something fans imagine for projects they know, without taking into account the need to expand the audience with more than a repackaging.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd love a full-out CGI remake of TAS, but with the original audio track.

 

[Henoch]

Even though I'm a fan of TAS, sadly, I don't think it was that good and not worth any more effort. The only ones seeing it are die-hard fans via DVD/BluRay/Netflix/etc. I wouldn't mind a little digital clean up of scenes fixing the wrong color uniforms or missing body parts, but in general, leave it as is.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

I'd love a full-out CGI remake of TAS, but with the original audio track.

Again, how and why do you see that happening in the real world? Where would official money come from to pay for modern CG animation on top of what is known to be an OK series but otherwise not that groundbreaking? Everyone likes to invest in something that at least has a chance of becoming more than just fine; TAS is a known quantity.

Remember, TOS-R wasn’t accepted as the definitive version of the show: there is the classic people remember and then there is that version from the 00s with middling to poor CGI that takes you out of the live-action 60s.

 

[BillJ]

I'm solidly in the leave it alone camp. It was a product of its time and doesn't need to be erased in the name of progress.

 

[Relayer1]

Even though I'm a fan of TAS, sadly, I don't think it was that good and not worth any more effort.

Sadly true.

However, should they just keep the dialogue and re-do the rest rerecording and adding to the music, top notch CG animation and classic sound effects, I'd be happy...

 

[Damian]

Hmm. I see leave it as is as the current leader. I'm sort of a in between guy. I guess remaster is the wrong word, but I was thinking of how they did the original series. Update the episodes but keep the original intent of how they were designed. I noted the Kzinti. I'd want them to be recognizable from the original but with added detail. I'd even keep the pink uniforms, but again with a bit more detail. I know the pink uniforms were a mistake but you could say pink is an aggressive color in Kzinti society.

I wonder too, some people noted upgrading to computer animation. What about the possibility of updating but using traditional animation? It's still a children's oriented show and traditional animation may retain that element of the episodes.

Or how about do what the they did with the original series and just update the space and landscape shots and leave the characters as is?

I'd never do away with the originals though. Unlike Star Wars, Paramount/CBS has always been good about giving you both options. Star Wars seems to want to hide the original version of some of their work. But with Star Trek you always have the option of watching the original version. I'd still keep that and in fact do what they did with the remastered series, have them side by side.

This is all just fan speculation though. I seriously doubt CBS will ever reanimate the animated series. It's a pretty niche market for that series and they probably figure it's not worth the money. There'd probably be a bigger market for redoing the special effects of Star Trek V (God I wish they'd do something with that--I DO think there'd be a market for that)