The original Star Trek series has been remastered with updated effects and cleanup, but the updates are just better versions of what was there before. No fancy crap has been added.

And best of all, both versions are included on the Blu Ray set. You can even toggle from “remastered” to “clean original” on the fly.

I don’t know if this is true for the ST:TNG stuff. The first release there is a test before they release full series.

As I understand it, The Wizard of Oz had a lackluster theatre run initially, and it was only later in the TV age, when it was revived and became a yearly ritual (remember that from when we were kids?), that it became a cultural icon. All of which means that only a few people ever saw the movie in its original high-rez theatrical form, while the vast majority have only ever seen the grainy low-rez TV version. TWoO just got radically better for the large majority of us.

Just this morning on an impulse I ordered a new blurary containing four episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation that have undergone the remastering and polishing treatment like TOS. Supposed to be a preview of an upcoming remastered series release, the whole series redone in 1080.

Like TOS, it was supposed to be really hard, involving in some cases recreating CGI from scratch. One reviewer described it as “reengineering” the old episodes. Which makes me wonder, at what point does it stop being just a technical upgrade, and becomes a revision, a “director’s cut”? Did they make ST:TNG better, or make a new show?

Reminds me very much of the old debate about colorization. I can see the argument that a colorized version of a black and white movie is a different movie. The production/aesthetic values for color are different, and one could argue that the director would have shot the film differently in color than in the original b&w.

I agree with your last para, I like getting the positive parts of the “full theater experience” without the negatives (whoever said “hell is other people” must have thought that up while sitting in a theater). Plus conveniences like pausing the picture. Imagine if you could do that in a movie theater.

She’d never heard of it, and gave me one of those Looks daughters give their dads.

“Trust me,” I said.

She loved it.

Best way to check it out yourself is to visit Best Buy or any major electronics store and look for one on display.

Only a Blu-Ray disc (combined with a hi-def TV of course) can deliver that resolution.

My cable service also has many shows in hi-def, including most familiar cable channels.

BBC-America does not have a hi-def version on my cable. Bugger.

I’m not arguing, I’m just saying I don’t understand the issues.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/808858e6b0/blackadder-ii-lord-flashheart