To Boldly Return

Ok, fellow Trek-nerds, hold on to your saurian brandy. Something we never knew we wanted is about to make us...well, at least me...very happy. Last month I was cruising YouTube, the website where people can upload various video clips for the general perusal, and on a lark I did a search for Star Trek. Strangely there weren't as many as I would have thought, but in amongst the Simpson parodies and Con footage I came across some 'proof of concept' clips of original Trek episodes with modern CGI effects put in over the 'then ground breaking but now horribly dated' old effects shots. I was blown away. The Doomsday Machine seemed to be the favorite target, and it was awesome. At the time I thought to myself that wouldn't it be great if the studios actually allowed this to be done to all the episodes? You see, I was assuming that these clips were from ambitious fans with lots of mad computer skillz, and too much time on their hands. I was wrong.

Here is a quote from Startrek.com: "CBS Paramount Domestic Television has officially announced that they are releasing digitally remastered episodes of Star Trek, with all new special effects and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, according to John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television."

The shows are scheduled to begin airing on September 16th, starting with The Enterprise Incident, which was the first on-screen encounter with the Romulans, and will show off the new starship effects brilliantly.

I am sure that there will be some purists out there who will object to this, but I feel that, unlike what George Lucas did to Star Wars, this will only enhance the shows rather than alter them for the worse. And maybe, just maybe, some of the young punks today who giggle at the original series for its primitive look might finally develop some measure of respect for the little series that started a galactic empire.

If only Gene Roddenberry were alive to see this, I'm sure he'd be smiling.

Message ends.