For the occasion of Star Trek’s 40th anniversary (and for the benefit of Paramount’s pocketbook) classic Star Trek is being re-mastered in hi-def and stereo, complete with new CGI space sequences, and the occasional matte painting touch-up.
I’m not completely against this idea, but I’ve been anxiously awaiting an answer to a question that’s bugged me since I first heard about the project. In fact, the whole idea has bugged me for… well… practically the entire 40 years.
What’s been bugging me? Phasers and photon torpedoes. In many of the episodes (particularly the earlier ones) the Enterprise would “fire phasers” which were obviously more torpedo-like. Later in the series, phasers would be continuous beams of light, similar to a laser.
Would the special effects folks change the phasers and finally make them into beams? They cannot change the terminology, so they’d have to change the picture. That, too, raises a dilemma: The sound effects. Do they change them, too?
I grabbed this screen capture of the same shot from the original DVDs and the trailer for the new releases, and, I’m quite pleased with what they did.
The old photon torpedo sound is intact, but the phaser shot has been changed subtly. The new phaser shot is like a pulsed phaser beam, allowing it to “match” with the torpedo sound, but still obviously be a light-beam weapon.
Bravo! If the special effects had to be re-done, that was a good choice.
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