Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Doctorossi]

Speaking of Star Trek... I know this question is probably about 4 years premature, but has anyone heard any hints about the animated series?

[Jeff Kleist]

Hmmmm..... I didn't notice the nacells used as thrusters in the movie. With that, the pod port and the phasers I agree with you - although I would hold out on the phasers that they were just on a different setting. After all, phasers also have stun and kill settings, and IIRC can disintegrate a body or not.

Phasers are focused energy weapons, and can only exist in beam form. In order to pulse you have to be using plasma style weapons

For the viewscreen, I didn't see it as a windshield, more like a plasma screen that cracked. For the fights, I thought all the fights were homage in themselves, at least a little. Young Spock had the spot of blood on the corner, but that doesn't really count.

There's an exterior shot looking in through it. It's an overlay HUD

The biggest complaint I had (after the "you can beam planet to planet/planet to ship in warp" issue), along with many others, was the chase on the ice planet. You can almost see the spitballing session. "We need to get Kirk off the ship and then we need to get him to run into another character. How can we do that without involving other actors." The path they chose was the easiest and simplest. What alternatives could they have gone to that wouldn't have added subplots or slowed the pace of the movie.

Taking the real spock out of the movie. You noticed it was shoehorned in, because it was, very late, when Nimoy agreed to do it. You CAN beam ship to ship at warp if you match warp velocity for transport as established in TNG However the whole light year beaming thing, no. That and a red crab creature could never have thrived on a snow world, because of the obvious camoflauge issue . As one nitpicker said "Eject him off the ship? What, is the brig broken?"

[Bolty]

On two occasions in the Original series they used the main phasers as pulse weapons.

That includes a dozen shots in Balence of Terror. There was great controversy during the 'Remastering' project as to whether they should 'fix' those shots. They decided it was was 'canon' that the phasers can be used in that way. Also some of the phasers shots in Wrath of Khan are rather short and 'pulsy' looking.

As for the window/viewscreen on the bridge....

In the shot where they clearly show it is a window,it looks to be very, very thick, maybe two feet and 'transparent aluminum' is said to be stronger than most metals in the trek universe, so i don't think it would neccessarily be a 'weak spot' on the bridge.

The only tech thing I didn't like was the transport beaming' as it seems to be such a fantastic advantage (and plot device) that you could beam that far. I hope that they don't use it again as it was apparently a technology from the pretty far futture and perhaps Spock prime didn't give the entire formula to young Scotty.

[NL197]

Originally Posted by Invitation1

I loved the first season, and loved most of seasons 2 and 3.
Ron Moore temporarily joined the show in season 6 after DS9 ended, only he never fit in there because of Braga and Joe Menosky. He also raised a critical point most people don't realize:

When the show was being developed, the creators were sticking to a continuity that would force the writers to be creative with the ongoing journey home. That's why the first episode stranded them without a full crew, limited supplies of food, energy, weapons and shuttles.

While the food idea was maintained for a while with Neelix serving as a chef, and they introduced the idea of some sort of credits for replicated food, they continuously hit the reset button on most other areas, like endless weapon supplies and shuttles, a larger crew than originally shown, and a spotless ship every episode despite the massive battles and non-conflict-based damage they suffered.

They betrayed those original ideas by pressing that reset too many times.

I stuck with Voyager until the bitter end (which was equal to washing dishes - had to do it but didn't like it at all) and I felt they made their biggest mistake by having them "get home" in the last episode, because it robbed them the opportunity to really explore life after the Delta Quadrant, living in a post-Dominion War federation.

-The remaining Maquis-turned-Starfleet officers...what would have happened to them after getting back? How would they adjust? Everyone they knew was wiped out by the Dominion. Would Starfleet give them all a pass for being a part of the Voyager crew?

I made an almost verbatim post like this several pages back....

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Phasers are focused energy weapons, and can only exist in beam form. In order to pulse you have to be using plasma style weapons

Originally Posted by Bolty

On two occasions in the Original series they used the main phasers as pulse weapons.

That includes a dozen shots in Balence of Terror. There was great controversy during the 'Remastering' project as to whether they should 'fix' those shots. They decided it was was 'canon' that the phasers can be used in that way. Also some of the phasers shots in Wrath of Khan are rather short and 'pulsy' looking.


The only tech thing I didn't like was the transport beaming' as it seems to be such a fantastic advantage (and plot device) that you could beam that far. I hope that they don't use it again as it was apparently a technology from the pretty far futture and perhaps Spock prime didn't give the entire formula to young Scotty.

You are also forgetting the pulse phasers of the USS Defiant (DS9).

The "nacelle as thruster thing" was shown when George Kirk set the Kelvin on collision course with the Narada. I don't have a problem with it, using power from the warp engines in a short burst to supplement the impulse engines.

[Jeff Kleist]

That includes a dozen shots in Balence of Terror. There was great controversy during the 'Remastering' project as to whether they should 'fix' those shots. They decided it was was 'canon' that the phasers can be used in that way. Also some of the phasers shots in Wrath of Khan are rather short and 'pulsy' looking.

Laws of physics say otherwise, and remember, they had to change things to make them more "real"

When you pull the realism card, you get held to it for everything.

Khan were short, they weren't pulses. Star Wars is pulses, and that's what they were using. I just finished watching Khan, so my reference is about 5min old

In the shot where they clearly show it is a window,it looks to be very, very thick, maybe two feet and 'transparent aluminum' is said to be stronger than most metals in the trek universe, so i don't think it would neccessarily be a 'weak spot' on the bridge.

It was cracking in the movie. Transparent aluminum never was said to be "stronger than most metals", only that it was strong LIKE metal. I seriously doubt it's stronger than duranium. At the very least, Battlestar Galactica solved the problem giving the ship a blast shield that would open and close, not that I would advocate the addition of one.

Seriously, the viewscreen is versitile, there was no need to put a window there.

You are also forgetting the pulse phasers of the USS Defiant (DS9).

Which did not exist 70 years prior (a) and (b) were plasma weapons like the klingons use.They're specifically designed to shred a target and cause maximum damage. The phased energy is used to ignite plasma (yes, I asked this question to one of the DS9 VFX people I know, and he said they had a big debate about it when the ship hit about how it worked as a phaser, and that was their BS excuse )

The "nacelle as thruster thing" was shown when George Kirk set the Kelvin on collision course with the Narada. I don't have a problem with it, using power from the warp engines in a short burst to supplement the impulse engines.

The warp nacells do one thing- create a field that make faster than light travel possible. They have no actual propulsion capability. They were shown in the movie as the impulse engines repeatedly, while the actual impulse engines did nothing. Transferring warp power is a regular occurance, but "pull power from the port nacelle to shields"? That would in their universe cause them to spin around in a circle. The "enterprise" was shown doing this multiple times, including going to warp.

[Batman1980]

Bill/Jeff, what's considered a bigger deal in Hollywood, Star Trek or Star Wars.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Bolty

In the shot where they clearly show it is a window,it looks to be very, very thick, maybe two feet and 'transparent aluminum' is said to be stronger than most metals in the trek universe, so i don't think it would neccessarily be a 'weak spot' on the bridge.

Transparent Aluminum can't exist in this universe because Scotty wouldn't have come back to 1986 to invent it.

[Michael.Schinke]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Laws of physics say otherwise, and remember, they had to change things to make them more "real"

When you pull the realism card, you get held to it for everything.

Khan were short, they weren't pulses. Star Wars is pulses, and that's what they were using. I just finished watching Khan, so my reference is about 5min old



It was cracking in the movie. Transparent aluminum never was said to be "stronger than most metals", only that it was strong LIKE metal. I seriously doubt it's stronger than duranium. At the very least, Battlestar Galactica solved the problem giving the ship a blast shield that would open and close, not that I would advocate the addition of one.

Seriously, the viewscreen is versitile, there was no need to put a window there.



Which did not exist 70 years prior (a) and (b) were plasma weapons like the klingons use.They're specifically designed to shred a target and cause maximum damage. The phased energy is used to ignite plasma (yes, I asked this question to one of the DS9 VFX people I know, and he said they had a big debate about it when the ship hit about how it worked as a phaser, and that was their BS excuse )




The warp nacells do one thing- create a field that make faster than light travel possible. They have no actual propulsion capability. They were shown in the movie as the impulse engines repeatedly, while the actual impulse engines did nothing. Transferring warp power is a regular occurance, but "pull power from the port nacelle to shields"? That would in their universe cause them to spin around in a circle. The "enterprise" was shown doing this multiple times, including going to warp.

Jeff, you're my FRACKING hero!

[Jeff Kleist]

Bill/Jeff, what's considered a bigger deal in Hollywood, Star Trek or Star Wars.

Star Wars. The first movie or two has made more money than the combined Trek movie franchise at the BO (or close enough for government work, so put away the calculators ).The Trek franchise is beloved, were made for low budgets and had excellent return.

I should add that the pulses that Meyer had them used were meant to emulate cannon fire (remember, it's Horatio Hornblower ), but if you watch it, they're still beams. fired in rapid succession. JJTrek has individual, standalone pulses flying out like Star Wars

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Phasers are focused energy weapons, and can only exist in beam form. In order to pulse you have to be using plasma style weapons

Have you seen Wrath of Khan? Great use of "pulse-style" phasers and torpedoes. Only original cast movie where they fire phasers IIRC.

As far as the new movie... it was decent SF flick but poor Star Trek and bad plot with great action and SFX.

Some of the changes are completely unnecessary and have no bearing on the time travel aspect (examples: redesign of the hand weapons, uniforms, etc). The DS9 Tribbles episode and TOS remastering showed how to respectfullytreat the limited SFX of the 1960s....

The plot... let's just say the idea that Kirk quite fortunately escapes monsters and stumbles into a cave that just happens to have the long marooned Old Spock in it might make me think the Force was involved if this were a different universe.

The abrupt promotion of a miscreant cadet to first officer and then captain over numerous more senior and unblemished officers smacks of absurdity.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

Transparent Aluminum can't exist in this universe because Scotty wouldn't have come back to 1986 to invent it.

Actually, they would have invented it anyway. Just Scotty gave them the recipe first.

That was Scotty's whole point, watch the film again. It's explained.

[Bolty]

^^Right Scotty didn't invent it---it already existed in the 23rd century invented by someone else.

But in the timeline created by Star Trek 4 perhaps they've had it since 1986 and it's waaaay stronger than it would have normally been by the the 23rd century

[al cos.]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I MGM has a lot of discs that were done during the hiatus that they're re-slotting, this is probably another one of them

Would you mind clarifying what this means? Thanks

[Bolty]

Technical question.

Why are Blu-ray movies always longer than their standard DVD counterparts?

At first I thought there must be some additional business in the opening and/or closing credits to account for the extra 8-15 seconds that they have.

But on side-by-side checks the actual movies are a few seconds longer.

I know that in some cases it could be a slightly different print or version, but every movie that I've checked is longer---never shorter.

Of course, I've only compared about 20 movies but they're always longer by that small amount.

Is there something about the hidef process that stretches the time by a slight amount?

Example: Trek 2 has always been 112 minutes and 52 seconds, but the new (same theatrical version) is 113 minutes and 1 second---nine seconds longer.
And at tleast 6 seconds are in the body of the film not beginning or end.

Even the label on the package still shows the old 112 minute running time as official.

[Jeff Kleist]

Have you seen Wrath of Khan? Great use of "pulse-style" phasers and torpedoes. Only original cast movie where they fire phasers IIRC.

Yes, I watched it literally 10min before posting that. Frame by frame it. It's a compromise between the traditional beams and the 'cannon fire" that Meyer wanted. By "pulse", I mean a star wars styel single isolated "bolt" like an arrrow would be. There is such a thing as a pulse laser, and one would assume, phaser as well that has intensity pulses in the beam.

http://www.powertechnology.com/pulsers.asp

The abrupt promotion of a miscreant cadet to first officer and then captain over numerous more senior and unblemished officers smacks of absurdity.

Indeed, there was extensive talk of the activities of LIEUTENTANT Kirk in the series as well. But of course, this is an alternate universe!

Would you mind clarifying what this means? Thanks

When AACS was broken, Fox stopped publishing Blu-rays for about 6 months till BD+ was ready. MGM had a lot of catalog titles planned for that window which have since dribbled out like Silence of the Lambs, that definately look the era in which the content was produced

[Jeff Kleist]

Why are Blu-ray movies always longer than their standard DVD counterparts?

At first I thought there must be some additional business in the opening and/or closing credits to account for the extra 8-15 seconds that they have.

But on side-by-side checks the actual movies are a few seconds longer.

I know that in some cases it could be a slightly different print or version, but every movie that I've checked is longer---never shorter.

Of course, I've only compared about 20 movies but they're always longer by that small amount.

Is there something about the hidef process that stretches the time by a slight amount?

Example: Trek 2 has always been 112 minutes and 52 seconds, but the new (same theatrical version) is 113 minutes and 1 second---nine seconds longer.
And at tleast 6 seconds are in the body of the film not beginning or end.

I really have no idea, but I would guess it's simply padding on the files so that you have space to ease into it. If you were in PAL territory the answer would be easier, because the films would be 4-5min shorter

[Bill Hunt]

For those interested, here's my FULL final review of the Trek Movie Blu-ray set:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/review...ews051409.html

My basic opinion is that at $80 on Amazon (around $13 per film), the set is still well worth upgrading to for fans. You get six films, good HD video that's better than DVD, great lossless audio, the captain's summit bonus disc, new commentaries, new HD featurettes, nearly all the original DVD material, BD-Live and BonusView content. On balance, not a bad deal, though high-end enthusiasts' mileage will vary.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Star Wars. The first movie or two has made more money than the combined Trek movie franchise at the BO (or close enough for government work, so put away the calculators ).The Trek franchise is beloved, were made for low budgets and had excellent return.

I should add that the pulses that Meyer had them used were meant to emulate cannon fire (remember, it's Horatio Hornblower ), but if you watch it, they're still beams. fired in rapid succession. JJTrek has individual, standalone pulses flying out like Star Wars

Although this MAY be changing, what with Abrams' new Trek raking in $100 million in just 5 days...

[al cos.]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Phasers are focused energy weapons, and can only exist in beam form.

I remember this kind being used quite a bit: (4: 45)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIwKaTfvJl4