Overall, I don't find the updated visuals to make much difference one way or the other. I think both are good and mostly they did not go too far with the updates, but still my preference is for the original version, just because they are original. There is one exception where I feel the updated version is much better, and that is "Doomsday Machine".
First, let me say that I actually prefer the original "machine" as it looks creepier and scarier to me. But, when it comes to the movement of the Enterprise in relation to the machine, the new version is much better and makes the situation look more realistic and believable.
I think a few other episodes have some battle scenes and ship movements which are improved also.
Anyway, to me this is more important than getting the distance numbers corrected. It is very easy to just ignore the number and not do the mental calculations, but when you see the Enterprise heading towards the mouth of the doomsday machine and then they cut away and go back and the Enterprise is farther away and should have already been eaten, it is hard to ignore that.
I think that getting the distance numbers correct - the first time - is far more important than getting good special effects. If you play the game of pretending that
Star Trek is real, you have to imagine that knowledge of
Star Trek events was sent back centuries into the past and into an alternate universe, our 1960s.
Since the extant of that knowledge of future events is not specified officially, we can only speculate how extensive it was and how much of
Star Trek is real. Possibly ship's record tapes were sent back into the past and all the scenes aboard the
Enterprise are actual images and sounds of what happened. But even in that case the exterior images of the
Enterprise and other ships in space could not be on the record tapes and would have to be 1960s special effects.
On the other hand, it is possible that only written mission reports were sent back in time and that everything visual about TOS was created in the 1960s, with primitive and backwards 1960s props, sets, and special effects.
Even pretending that
Star Trek is factual, the only aspects of
Star Trek that we can be certain are factual, even in the fictional universe of
Star Trek, are what is mentioned in the scripts and the dialog. Everything else about
Star Trek might be a 1960s invention, even in the fictional universe of
Star Trek.
So I care far more about the scripts getting the facts of "galactography" correct in the first place, or fans providing ways for the episodes to make sense.
In my post number 16 in this thread, I discussed one of those problems. In "The cage" and "Menagerie", The Enterprise was traveling from Rigel to Vega, a distance of less than 1,000 light years, when it detoured 18 light years to visit Talos IV. At Talos IV Pike told the Talosians:
PIKE: Can you hear me? My name is Christopher Pike, commander of the space vehicle Enterprise from a stellar group at the other end of this galaxy. Our intentions are peaceful. Can you understand me?
If "the other end of this galaxy" means on the other side of a line that divides the galaxy into a near half and a far half, then there is a problem, because that line dividing the near end or half and the other end or half of the galaxy would have to go through the center of the galaxy. The center of the galaxy is 26,490 light years, give or take 100 light years, from Earth, so a star and planet in "the other end of this galaxy" must be at least 26,390 light years from Earth and possibly as much as three times as far from Earth.
Even though the
Enterprise might not have been traveling straight from Rigel to Vega, it would probably not have taken a detour of over 50,000 light years, and was almost certainly too slow to get there in two weeks.
In my post number 16 in this thread I discussed two possible solutions.
Possible Solution One:
Our galaxy has a galactic disc which is about 100,000 light years or more in diameter and about 1,000 to 2,000 light years thick near Earth. The galactic plane is the term for the mathematical central plane of the galactic disc halfway between the "upper" and "lower" edges of that disc.
The most up to date information I have suggests that the Sun is 17.1 plus or minus 5 parsecs, or 55.77 plus or minus 16.3 light years, or about 39.47 to 72.07 light years, "above" the galactic plane.
https://astronomy.stackexchange.com...ow-the-galactic-plane-and-is-it-heading-towar
It is possible that as the
Enterprise traveled from Rigel toward Vega, possibly on a curved path, it might have crossed the galactic plane at least once. And it might have crossed the galactic plane while detouring 18 light years to Talos IV.
So it is possible that Talos IV is on the other side of the galactic plane than Earth, and that Pike really meant to say they were from "the other side of the galactic plane" when he is quoted as saying "the other end of this galaxy".
Possible Solution Two:
Everyday English doesn't have a term for a region of space intermediate between a solar system and a galaxy. In fact, many English speakers get "solar system", "galaxy", and "universe" mixed up. But possibly the future English of the era of
Star Trek does have terms for one or more levels of volume intermediate between a solar system and a galaxy. And possibly when
Star Trek characters use such a term it is sometimes mistranslated into 20th century English as "galaxy".
So possibly Earth and Talos IV were on opposite sides of the central point of some sort of galactic region and Pike told the Talosians he was from "the other end of this galactic region" and that was mistranslated into 20th century English as from "the other end of this galaxy".
So there are two possible solutions and explanations for Pike's statement he was from "the other end of this galaxy".
In "What Are Little Girls Made of?" Kirk says:
KIRK: Yes, I know your reputation. The whole galaxy knows who you are and what you stand for. That's why all this makes no sense.
Kik's exaggeration would be much less if he was actually talking about some sort of galactic region instead of the entire galaxy.
In "Miri" Kirk says:
CAPTAINS LOG: Captain's Log, stardate 2713.5. In the distant reaches of our galaxy, we have made an astonishing discovery. Earth type radio signals coming from a planet which apparently is an exact duplicate of the Earth. It seems impossible, but there it is.
And it is quite possible that they were actually only in the distant reaches of a comparatively small galactic region.
In "Menagerie Part 2":
CAPTAINS LOG: Captain's log supplemental. Mister Spock, on trial for mutiny, has forced the court to accept unusual evidence. On our monitor screen, the voyage of Captain Pike and the Enterprise to the one forbidden world in all the galaxy.
In "Arena":
SULU: Captain.
KIRK: Mister Sulu.
SULU: It's impossible, but there's Sirius over there when it should be here. And Canopus. And Arcanis. We're. All of a sudden, we're clear across the galaxy, five hundred parsecs from where we are I mean, were. I mean
KIRK: Don't try and figure it out, Mister Sulu. Just plot a course for us back to Cestus Three.
Five hundred parsecs is 1,630.78 light years. Since the galactic disc is 100,000 light years in diameter and 1,000 to 2,000 light years thick, 1,630.78 light years is nowhere near clear across the diameter of the galactic disc, but is pretty close to clear across the thickness of the galactic disc, so possibly the 1,630.78 light years, give or take a few dozen, was mostly in a "vertical" direction across the galactic plane and through most of the thickness of the galactic disc.
Or if Sulu was talking about a smaller galactic region a few thousand light years in diameter, 1,630.78 light years, give or take a few dozen, might possibly be between one quarter and three quarters of the diameter of that smaller galactic region, which might be about 2,200 to 6,500 light years in diameter. Thus if Sulu said "We're clear across the galactic region...". he might be only slightly exaggerating, and it might have been mistranslated into 20th century English as "...clear across the galaxy...".
In "The Alternative Factor" Commodore Bastow says:
BARSTOW [on viewscreen]: You may not be aware of its scope. It occurred in every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond. Complete disruption of normal magnetic and gravimetric fields, timewarp distortion, possible radiation variations. And all of them centring on the general area which you are now patrolling. The question is, are these natural phenomena or are they mechanically created, and if they are, by whom? For what purpose? Your guess, Captain.
And later:
CAPTAINS LOG: Captain's log, stardate 3088.3. We continue to orbit the dead planet, which seems to be the source of the phenomenon which has struck the Enterprise and all sections of the galaxy once again. As for Lazarus, the story he tells me about the humanoid continues to trouble me.
This implies that Barstow received reports of the effect from beyond the galaxy, even though there is no other evidence in TOS for communication with other galaxies to report the effect from beyond our galaxy. But if Barstow was talking about the effect occurring far beyond "this galactic region", and his words were mistranslated as "galaxy", that would not be as big a problem.
In "Errand of Mercy":
KOR: Sentimentality, mercy. The emotions of peace. Your weakness, Captain Kirk. The Klingon Empire shall win. Think of it, as we sit here, in space above us the destiny of the galaxy will be decided for the next ten thousand years. Can I offer you a drink? We can toast the victory of the Klingon fleet.
and:
KIRK: We have legitimate grievances against the Klingons. They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens. They're openly aggressive. They've boasted that they'll take over half the galaxy.
I find it a little hard to believe that the puny little Klingon Empire could conquer the galaxy, or even half of it, by defeating the puny little Federation. But if Kor and Kirk were talking about conquering a much smaller region of the galaxy, and that was mistranslated as "the galaxy", that would make their statements much more plausible.
In "Mudd's Women":
EVE: Oh, the sound of male ego. You travel halfway across the galaxy, and it's still the same song. There. You going to eat or talk?
This would be much more plausible if Eve was talking about a galactic region much smaller than the entire galaxy. But the tendency of humans to exaggerate things by hundreds and thousands of times should not be ignored.
So these are examples from the first season of TOS where my two proposed solutions from my post number 16 would be helpful in making the episodes more plausible.
