Thoughts on fixing production mistakes in remasters?
Thoughts on fixing production mistakes in remasters?
Lucas made such a mess of the original Star Wars movies with his changes over the years that I'm sure a lot of people are probably sour in general on the idea of unnecessarily changing anything in a remaster.
But what about minor production errors that don't have any impact on the plot?
Modern productions like Lower Decks are usually extremely careful to use contextually-correct sounds and effects. But shows produced before the age of Web 2.0 weren't always so diligent.
I have DS9 in mind, specifically. We see the technology of numerous species in DS9 on a recurring basis, each with their own unique audio/visual cues that the viewers come to readily identify.
But due to what I can only imagine were production errors, things don't always sound like they should.
Does it make a difference to the story that the comms on the Defiant sometimes use the Terok Nor paging sound? No.
Does it drive a nerd up the wall with how jarring it is? You betcha.
So while we decide what color we want our unicorns to be eagerly await the DS9 remaster, what are your thoughts on correcting minor production issues along the way?
Do you lean strongly on either side?
If you're for minor corrections, where do you draw the line?
Would you like to suggest touching grass if something so minor even bothers someone?
I'm personally of the belief that a remaster should be the best possible version of whatever was originally produced, so I suppose that means I'm not in favour of correcting mistakes like those. It's not a hill I'd be willing to die on, but I would prefer it to accurately reflect the work that was done at the time.
I'll go further and say I'm not in favor of remasters. I want everything original, low res warts and all. Tasteful enhancements don't really bother me much, but I'm just as happy with the original versions, and consider them a record of history.
If the remaster is to address the quality degradation or to get a better starting point from the original film I am all in favor of it. Just improve the picture/sound quality, not the scenes.
To start things off:
I'm sure the first thing that will come to many people's minds is the infamous badging error in TOS:
https://www.startrek.com/news/starfleet-insignia-explained
Some may suggest that since it was caught during dailies and intentionally left in, then it should stay as it always was.
Others may suggest that if modern technology were around back then, it would have been fixed in post; so why not let that happen now?
For that specific example, I'd probably argue for leaving it alone.
That Bob Justman memo reminded me how much fun they had making TOS (as well as working long and hard of course). Perhaps my favourite is the memo chain Justman started about Vulcan proper names.
Re fixing mistakes: I guess I don't have a problem with it as long as the mistakes are trivial, are clearly errors, and the original version remains available. What constitutes a "trivial error" of course can be up for debate. Correcting a background audio cue - sure, why not? Changing early TOS references of "Vulcanians" to "Vulcans" - definitely not.
I'm for leaving them in, at least the minor ones. We've lived with them this long. Plus, it's always fun to spot the production goofs.
Re: Terok Nor paging sound on Defiant. I vaguely recall that, and I think my mind just subconsciously hand waved it. lol. Something about it being akin to DS9's custom ringtone.
I think I would be okay for a major correction. Like if the original version used the wrong transporter effect or something.
It's particularly jarring that they get it right in some episodes and wrong in others. Might make a good drinking game.
Leave them all in. Remasters are for restoring a work to as close as possible to the way it was meant to look when it was released, and nothing more. You wouldn't look at a painting by da Vinci or Vermeer and say "Hey the perspective is off there," or "That kind of bird doesn't belong in that time and place," and then "fix" the painting in the process of restoring it.
The creator(s) made a series of decisions during the original process of creation. Maybe some of them were mistakes, but they were their mistakes to make, and not anyone else's to try and second guess after the fact. Once you start down that path, there's nothing preventing George Lucas style special edition madness.
That's a tricky question. In some way, an unintentional error being corrected later makes sense. Especially since something like a sound effect doesn't change the plot. It's sort of akin to using digital effects to remove visible wires from model-based space shots.
But where does it end? I don't know if I have a good answer.
Sometimes I like to make up headcanon to justify mistakes for fun. For instance, maybe the paging system on the Defiant blew out on a mission and O'Brien had to wire in a Cardassian chime temporarily while he waited for a new part to get ordered.
Both DVD and blu-ray support branching paths the user can select, so I guess, why not both? Let the viewer pick.