|
|
|
By GustavoLeao / 20:18, 11 May 2009 / General Star Trek
SPECIAL TREKWEB EVENT
Transcript of TrekWeb.com chat with STAR TREK historians Michael and Denise Okuda
May 7, 2009
Bill : Captain on the bridge!
Welcome everyone to a very special TrekWeb.com chat! I'm Bill Williams, the media editor/reviewer for TrekWeb.com, and it is my pleasure to welcome Star Trek historians Michael and Denise Okuda to the chat! Thank you both for taking time out of your schedule to chat with us this evening.
mikeanddeniseokuda : Hello everyone! It's great to be here!
Bill : As we're getting started this evening, let me remind everyone joining in that if you have a question for the Okudas to please PM me your question, and I will acknowledge your question in the order in which it is received. First of all, this comes in from Joseph C. who asks, How did you first get started in the business? And what brought you into Star Trek?
mikeanddeniseokuda : Mike: Both Denise and I grew up reading science fiction and watching the Apollo astronauts walk on the moon. And of course, we both loved Star Trek. For me, I was working in corporate graphics and community theater. A friend of a friend directed low-budget television commercials, and he happened to see some futuristic props that I had made for a play so he asked me to help him out on an upcoming science fiction themed commercial.
mikeanddeniseokuda : Denise: Like Mike, I grew up with science fiction, space, and Star Trek. I was working as a Registered Nurse when Mike and I first started dating. It seemed like Mike was working nearly every waking hour, so the only way I could share a meal with him was to go up to the studio. (Pizza, usually.) While up there, I offered to lend a hand with his work, so I got some on-the-job training. This paid off later when Star Trek VI started up and Herman Zimmerman offered me a job. I could legitimately say that I knew what to do. And that led to a job on Deep Space Nine. We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Bill : That's wonderful! From Alex S: What has been the response thus far on the first Blu-ray release of the original Star Trek series?
mikeanddeniseokuda : Everything we've heard has been very, very positive. The fans love seeing the uncut versions of the episodes in glorious HD, as do we. And of course, everyone seems to like the seamless branching feature, which allows you to choose between the original visual effects, and the digitally re-rendered effects. Truly the best of both worlds.
Bill : That to me has been the best way to enjoy both versions of the episodes.
mikeanddeniseokuda : Oh, and they even included the original mono soundtracks!
Bill : And of course your interactive Starfleet Access commentaries have been a blast to enjoy as well!
mikeanddeniseokuda : Before he passed away, Bob Justman called us and told us that he absolutely loved the new transfers of the original series. He said that the show finally looked the way he wished it had, back in the 1960s!
Bill : One of the most fun aspects has been mixing the original versions of the episodes with the 7.1 tracks and vice versa. I'm sure if Mr. Justman were here, he would have enjoyed the Blu-ray release as well, too.
Bill : From David: As fans, which do you prefer, DVD or Blu-ray?
mikeanddeniseokuda: Absolutely, the Blu-ray releases. The new film transfers are simply beautiful. And seeing the HD versions on a big screen is just stunning. It really re-creates the theatrical experience.
Bill : From Jim B: Recently fans were treated to a BD-Live feature of event footage from last week's German FedCon, as well as exclusive downloads. Will we see more BD-Live exclusive features in upcoming Blu-ray releases of the Star Trek series and feature films?
mikeanddeniseokuda : We met with the folks developing the BD-Live features fairly early in the project, but we didn't follow the actual development too closely because we were swamped with our own deadlines. (It's always deadlines!)
Bill : That's true! :)
mikeanddeniseokuda : They had a lot of great ideas. We're excited to see how the first BD-Live Star Trek feature does. We've been told that our friends at Paramount will be exploring BD-Live options for future Blu-ray releases, so we'll be excited to see what they come up with.
Bill : From Jan B.: When will we see the remaining Star Trek series (TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise) and feature films released to Blu-ray, and will you be involved in those releases as well?
mikeanddeniseokuda : Don't know. Most of the other series were shot on film, but edited in standard-def video, so bringing them to high def will probably involve a lot more than TOS required.
Bill : One of the best part of the Original Series Blu-ray was your Starfleet Access, so it would be nice to see that in future Blu-ray releases down the road.
mikeanddeniseokuda : In a lot of ways, the relatively primitive nature of classical film editing made the original show a lot more HD-friendly than most of the spinoffs. And of course, all of the movies were made on film or at film resolution, so they are inherently HD, which is why they look so good on BD.
Bill : Next question is from Steve W: One concern that a number of fans has expressed is that with the latest Blu-ray releases, certain features that were on previous DVD issues of the Original Series (among them the Easter eggs and other documentary features) were not ported over to the Blu-ray release. Why is that?
mikeanddeniseokuda We don't know. We do know that the Blu-ray sets have a number of new features that were created just for Blu.
Bill My next question is this: There have been a number of features that have never been released on any Star Trek DVD or Blu-ray release - for example, the original alternate version of "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; the deleted scenes from Star Trek II which clarify Saavik's half-Romulan origin; the European prologue from Star Trek IV (which has never been seen in the United States); scores of deleted scenes from various Star Trek movies; direct-to-VHS documentaries on the Original Series, TNG, and DS9; and the bloopers immediately come to mind. Why is that? And will these ever see the light of day in an official release?
mikeanddeniseokuda A lot of it just comes down to practical issues like availability of material or rights. We don't know what the issue might be with the bloopers, although we'd LOVE to see that have an official release. Maybe it will, someday. The folks at home video are genuinely interested in pleasing the fans, and they always try really hard to give them what they want.
Bill I had wondered about some of these releases because they feature some interviews with prominent Trek creators who are no longer with us. De Kelley, Jimmy Doohan, Majel, Bob Justman, James Goldstone, and Wah Chang come to mind.
mikeanddeniseokuda Yeah, we'd love to see that happen.
Bill Next question comes from Lucy F.: Which of the Star Trek DVD releases (TV or movie) have you enjoyed working on the most?
mikeanddeniseokuda Whichever one we're currently working on! Seriously, we've really enjoyed working on the Blu-ray releases of the Trek movies, if only because they gave us an excuse to sit down and watch all the films on a big plasma screen in glorious 1080 resolution! Same thing with the Blu-rays of the original series!
Bill This next one comes in from Kep Matlock, Justin B., Jean-Luc Frechette: "Any hope of a new Chronology or Encyclopedia with updated information for DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and the last couple of films?" I myself loved your work on those projects, too!
mikeanddeniseokuda We'd love to do so, and we know that our friends at Pocket Books would love to see it happen. As you may know, Star Trek "nonfiction" books have not done well in recent years. Naturally, we're hoping that the new movie will change this. Besides, it would be fun to incorporate the new film into those books, or maybe to do standalone versions for the movie.
Bill The last release, the Star Charts publication, did not do as well as everyone hoped. I hope the new movie will convince Pocket Books to change their minds.
mikeanddeniseokuda Yes, we were disappointed. Geoff Mandel did a great job on those star charts.
Bill That would be great to see separate standalone versions! Speaking of standalone versions, I have to pose this question... What are your thoughts on the different fans' interpretations of the expanded timelines?
mikeanddeniseokuda It's endlessly fascinating to see different interpretations. Often, you see things or ideas that you wish you'd thought of. On the other hand, we're often jealous of the freedom that the fans have to interpret material as they wish.
Bill Let's face it, you set the standard for everyone to follow, even me! And speaking of the new movie... From Jean-Luc Frechette: "Were you involved in the new movie in any capacity? Whatever the answer, what is your impression of it?"
mikeanddeniseokuda We were asked a few times for a little bit of help here and there, mostly for small things that even die-hard fans aren't likely to notice. But we didn't work on it in any official capacity. We were, however, very impressed with the film. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were excellent as Kirk and Spock. And Bruce Greenwood was flat-out terrific as Christopher Pike. Abrams and his team took on a tremendous challenge.
Bill Bethany T. wants to know, what are your thoughts of Karl Urban as Bones?
mikeanddeniseokuda We thought Urban was good, although our favorites were Pine, Quinto, and Greenwood.
Bill I'm really excited about this new movie, no matter what happens... Jean-Luc Frechette also asks: "The new movie takes place in an alternate universe. Do you think this was a good idea so sequels et al aren't confined by existing canon?"
mikeanddeniseokuda Abrams and his team took on a tremendous challenge. How do you reinvigorate Star Trek for a new generation of fans, while paying respect to all that has come before?
Bill That is a very solid question. In this age of reinvention, with Batman and James Bond, how do you keep it fresh while appealing to older audiences?
mikeanddeniseokuda We think they did exactly that, in a very clever, very appropriate way.
Bill That's what we'll find out this weekend, I believe! From Viic Salinas: What do you both think of the new design for the Starship Enterprise and the design graphics on the bridge? From what I can discern from released photo's, it seems like a type of transparent interface will be used. Very futuristic."
mikeanddeniseokuda Whenever you do a new version of the Enterprise, you're always facing a tough question: How much do you keep the same, how much do you change? If you keep too much the same, it doesn't feel fresh and exciting. If you change too much, it doesn't feel like Star Trek.
Bill Bill D. wants to know, if you had to redesign the Enterprise, what would you do?
mikeanddeniseokuda For the new film, they needed to change quite a bit, but I think they were successful in making it feel like Star Trek. As far as the graphics go, there are certainly things that I might have done a little differently, but I think their stuff looks both futuristic and functional.
Bill Next up, from Justin Olson: "Any plans to remaster Star Trek: The Animated Series in 3D CGI with "photo-real" versions of the cast ala "Final Fantasy" or "Final Flight of the Osiris"? Perhaps get D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold to come in and expand the scripts to 50 minutes, record more dialogue with the remaining cast and release it as the missing 2 years of the first five year mission?"
mikeanddeniseokuda Not that we know of. That's one of those things that you hear about from time to time, but it would be quite a huge task. It would be fun, though!
Bill Justin also asks: "Do the 35mm film negatives from Star Trek: The Next Generation still exist (from both principle photography and visual effects) and if so what is the likelihood that CBS would greenlight a remastering project for that show -- provided that the new film is a huge success for Paramount and your Star Trek: Remastered Blu-rays also sell well? (P.S. I am a proud owner of Season One on Blu-ray!)" That was also expressed a few years back from Bill Hunt on The Digital Bits who believes the effects from TNG are in need of an upgrade.
mikeanddeniseokuda As far as we know, virtually all of the original camera negative from ST:TNG is still in storage. (We asked, several years ago.) Remastering TNG would be a much bigger project than it was for the original series, but then again, there are a LOT of people who really love the adventures of Captain Picard and company. Star Trek: The Next Generation holds a special place in our hearts, and we'd love to see it in glorious HD.
Bill Hopefully that'll come down the pike one day. From Robert Bernardo: In regards to Star Trek: the Remastered Series, a common question going through the forums is the question of time for doing the new special effects. If you had more time, would you have made the effects even better than those that were decided upon? If so, can you give examples? If you had more time, would you have put in more new effects? If so, can you give examples?
mikeanddeniseokuda Well, it's virtually a law of physics that no matter how much time or money you have, there's always something else you want to do, beyond your schedule or budget. That said, there were a lot of little "extras" that we wanted to do, and CBS Digital accommodated us as much as they possibly could. Things like the Gorn eye blink or the tiny monorail in the Eminiar 7 matte painting. Or the moving star fields in Pike's quarters in "The Cage" and the observation deck window in "Conscience of the King."
That stuff clearly demonstrated their willingness to go above and beyond in the name of Star Trek. Some big things, too. Like the two new matte paintings of the Vulcan landscape in "Amok Time" or rotoscoping out the puppet strings in "Catspaw," which turned out to be a much bigger job than we had initially thought.
Bill Those effects were really beautiful, especially for "The Cage"!
mikeanddeniseokuda Denise: We really did get to do most of the important things we wanted to do. But Dave Rossi REALLY wanted to change the "R" to a "T" on Kirk's tombstone in "Where No Man." Mike REALLY wanted to rework Gary's speed-reading computer screen in the same episode.
mikeanddeniseokuda Mike: Denise REALLY wanted to replace Beauregard theplant in "Mantrap."
Bill Speaking of which... whatever is the deal with that misspelling?
mikeanddeniseokuda Which misspelling?
Bill One of those great Trek conundrums... James R. Kirk! lol!
mikeanddeniseokuda Well, we wanted to fix the shots, and it was certainly possible from a technical viewpoint, but it was just something that couldn't be done with the schedule. Denise was happy, though. She didn't want to change it.
Bill Now I have to ask this next one, because I caught it in a recent re-viewing of "Journey to Babel"... One blooper that caught my eye was that even in the remastered versions... you can still clearly see the floor marking spots on the floor! No one caught it until I pointed it out to them! :)
mikeanddeniseokuda We would have had to have given up something else.
Bill Well, can't win 'em all, I guess! This next question's from Scott C.: What projects both Star Trek-related and non- are you working on at this time?
mikeanddeniseokuda Mike: Right now, we're busy with a couple of projects for Paramount Home Video, one is Trek related, but the other is not. We recently finished some graphics for a feature film from Warner, costarring Scott Bakula!
mikeanddeniseokuda Denise: Mike has some ongoing projects for NASA. And we're heading out to Florida, hopefully to see the launch of Atlantis!
Bill Cool! It's hard to believe that the space shuttle missions are nearing an end.
mikeanddeniseokuda It's scheduled for retirement next year, although there's some talk of a possible extension.
Bill Sharil from Malaysia wants to know: Not wanting to sound weird or anything, but would Gene Roddenberry approve of the current state of ST now?
mikeanddeniseokuda Without a Ouija board, it's hard to tell, but my guess is he'd approve.
Bill I hope so. So many fans have almost screamed heresy at Abrams' version of ST but it was Mr. Roddenberry himself who wanted someone to come along and do a version of ST that made his look like nothing. From Jeff J.: Has any thought gone into a Blu-ray version of TOS Season 2 at this point?
mikeanddeniseokuda It's in the works!
Bill From Kurt A.: What did you think of the designs and effects used in Galaxy Quest?
mikeanddeniseokuda Galaxy Quest is one of our all-time favorite movies! It was made with great love and affection for science fiction, and for science fiction fans.
Bill From Michael F.: If you had a choice to incorporate your own dream feature into a Blu-ray set... what would it be? Interactive star maps for individual episodes, perhaps?
mikeanddeniseokuda My current favorite feature is the seamless branching in the TOS remastered Blu-ray disks. That one seems like a no-brainer, but in fact there were some fairly hairy technical challenges that had to be overcome to make it happen. Fortunately, the good people at CBS Home Entertainment really were committed to making it a reality.
Bill Also from Sharil: Which design of the Enterprise is your favorite and why?
mikeanddeniseokuda For both of us, our favorite is the original series Enterprise. Matt Jefferies defined an entire new genre by coming up with something that was new, exciting, believable, and distinctive. All of us who have followed are indebted to Matt's genius.
Bill This next one comes in from Mark J.: Scientists recently teleported an atom three feet. How much of Star Trek's technology is possible in today's times? And yesterday I saw a news article posing the question, is warp drive truly possible? What are your thoughts on that?
mikeanddeniseokuda The transporter, as seen on Star Trek, may never be possible. Transporting a few particles across a short distance has been done, but a human body has so many billions of billions of billions of particles that it would take an almost inconceivable length of time to transport that many particles. Probably longer than the life of the universe. Still, science marches ever forward, and today's impossibility could well be tomorrow's reality. Warp drive is also something that is far beyond our present understanding of physics. No one has any real idea of how - or if - it might be possible.
Bill Maybe not in our lifetime, but down the road?
mikeanddeniseokuda Our suspicion is that when (and we said WHEN) humans finally traverse the distance to the stars, it will be with an entirely different technology. Perhaps multi-generation starships. Maybe suspended animation.
Bill Next up, from Willie Mc: Rotten Tomatoes has given the new Star Trek a 94 percent approval rating. Do you think this new film will bring forth a new generation of Trek fans?
mikeanddeniseokuda Yes, we're hearing a lot of positive response. It is gratifying that Gene Roddenberry's vision remains vital and exciting, thanks to JJ Abrams and company.
Bill From Teresa D.: What about the rumors of a possible extended cut of Abrams' Star Trek on DVD and Blu-ray? Do you think it's possible?
mikeanddeniseokuda Don't know. You'd have to ask Abrams.
Bill From Georgia W.: Quick question: Better captain - Kirk or Picard?
mikeanddeniseokuda Kirk! Although Picard is frankly more likely to get the job done.
Bill From Anita K.: This is the first ST film that's not spun off from a previous series. Do you think this could lead to a new TV series down the road?
mikeanddeniseokuda We sure hope so!
Bill From Nick: "I see you are involved in NASA projects, what sort of things do you do with NASA and how are you intertwining your Trek look/feel with what you do for them?"
mikeanddeniseokuda I've done a bunch of department and project logos for various groups at NASA. I'm not deliberately making any of it Trek-like, but some folks have said they see some similarities. I suppose that's a good thing, because there are a lot of closet Trek fans in the real space program. I did a commemorative emblem, honoring the crews who perished on Apollo 1, Challenger 51L, and Columbia 107. That emblem hangs on the wall of Mission Control, right next to the crew patches for those three flights. I've done a bunch of project logos for the Exploration Systems group, that's also known as Project Constellation. That includes project logos for Project Orion and Project Ares, which will hopefully replace the Space Shuttle and will ultimately return astronauts to the Moon and someday take them to Mars. And I got to do the crew patch for space shuttle mission STS-125, the flight of Atlantis that will (hopefully) be launched on Monday on the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. I even did an unofficial patch for STS-400, which is the designation for the rescue mission, if Atlantis gets in serious trouble up there.
Bill And one more just came in from Marcus B.: If you could get hold of any sci-fi series to remaster, which would be your dream project? (Other than Star Trek, of course)
mikeanddeniseokuda The original Star Trek would have been our first choice.
Bill Second choice?
mikeanddeniseokuda Hmm. There are a lot of shows we'd like to see remastered in HD, but not so many we'd like to see with redone visual effects. From the Earth to the Moon is something we'd LOVE to see in HD, even though the visual effects are excellent.
Bill I completely agree, as are the FX in Apollo 13. Final question... Speaking of remastered FX, what are your thoughts on the remastered effects in the Star Wars series?
mikeanddeniseokuda That's an entirely separate issue. George Lucas was the original creator and director of that material, so he had license to do whatever he saw fit. For the remastered original series, we did not feel we had the same freedom, so we tried to act as if we were working for the original directors and producers. Actually, we enjoyed the remastered Star Wars films, but we still prefer the originals and would like to get those on Blu-ray. (Hear that, George?)
Bill Hahaha! Well, that about wraps up our chat session for this evening.
mikeanddeniseokuda Cool.
Bill I would like to thank you, Michael and Denise, for taking time out of your schedule to chat with us this evening.
mikeanddeniseokuda Thank you for inviting us, and please thank your readers for some excellent questions.
Bill I will do that! And with that, for Michael and Denise Okuda, and for everyone at TrekWeb.com this is Bill Williams, media editor/reviewer for TrekWeb.com, signing off!
mikeanddeniseokuda Thank you again and good night, everyone!
UPDATE : The following DVDs and Blu-rays (mentioned in the chat) are all NOW AVAILABLE:
STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES: SEASON 1 Blu-ray
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE COLLECTION Blu-ray
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY Blu-ray & DVD
THE BEST OF STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES DVD
THE BEST OF STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION DVD
GALAXY QUEST: DELUXE EDITION DVD
