Star Trek Reloaded

Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic ‘60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.
"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.
The upgraded episodes — to be shown out of order and one per week — will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the ‘new' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." (Click here for a larger version of the image at left.) Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at ourselves."

Trek's opening theme is also getting an overhaul: The music has been re-recorded in stereo with a bigger orchestra, and a new singer has been hired to wail those famous but wordless vocals. And goofs will be corrected: In "The Naked Time," there was no beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. Now there is.
From Iwatchstuff, “Between keeping track of the reissuing the Star Wars films and their personal duties of repainting new uniforms on G.I. Joes, nerds just can't get a break when it comes to the renovations of their old obsessions. The latest to fall victim to the hand of progress is Star Trek: The Original Series (we in-the-know call it TOS, but quietly, so no one beats us up). Trek Movie claims the series will be re-aired with new CGI effects for the opening and outer space scenes created for HDTV broadcast. Great idea. Don't they know nerds hate it if you tamper with anything they have an obsessive following for? That's why so many have run away from home when their mothers replaced their Mountain Dew with Big K's Citrus Drop.
The studio hopes the updated effects will attract a younger audience, primarily by digitally replacing Chekov with Raven-Symone.”