When I initially planned to go see Star Trek: The Menagerie in high definition on the big screen, I assumed that it was just going to be a really good looking version of my familiar Star Trek. Star Trek was my first religion, and I was mainly looking forward to “worshipping” with a lot of like minded people. To my pleasant surprise, I got a lot more than just that!
Not only was the episode better looking than ever before, all of the exterior/background special effects had been redone using modern technology! Oh my god! The planets look like real planets and the space flight effects are gorgeous. You even see stars moving through the captain’s cabin window. At first glance, one might think that Star Trek has been given the sometimes reviled, Star Wars Special Edition treatment. But that would be unfair to say because the improvements/reimaginings have been applied with the kind of restraint that George Lucas has not quite mastered. The intent was to make things look “like they should have looked” in the first place.
Absolute, don’t change anything, purists will hate this. But I for one am very excited and looking forward to seeing more of the remastered and enhanced episodes. This theatrical release is also great martketing because I had no idea this was even coming and now I’m totally jazzed about the rerelease. It almost feels like hooking up with an old flame!