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Planets in TOS and TOS Remastered - Part 1

by Jörg Hillebrand , Anthony Pascale and Bernd Schneider, with comments from Max Gabl and Mike Okuda

General Notes Talos IV Planet 1 Earth Guardian Planet Planet 2 Planet 3 Sigma Draconis Excalbia Asteroid New in TOS-R Other Celestial Objects

At least one of these planet models (referred to by us as planet 1 ) was surprisingly detailed as we can see on a photo. But like with shots of the Enterprise, the filming techniques and the film transfer of the 1960s didn't allow a better resolution.

It looks like there used to be no more than five distinct planet models that were modified through color overlays to represent different planets. In several cases no changes at all were made, and stock footage served to represent a new planet.

Thanks to CGI, these shortcomings were eventually corrected in the remastered version of Star Trek (TOS-R), produced by CBS Digital from 2006 to 2008. In TOS-R every planet has a distinctive appearance, even though the consequence is that few of them still look as they did in TOS. Overall, the variety of planet surfaces has considerably increased, while the color variations are not as remarkable as in TOS any longer, owing to the use of more natural hues in TOS-R.

Our article has two purposes: It identifies the planet models that can be seen in TOS in the order of their appearance and a couple of other celestial objects, something that has never been done systematically before. All headings and other classifications refer to the TOS versions of the planets. We then contrast these planets with the new ones of TOS-R. Note that we didn't bother to match the perspectives of our TOS and the TOS-R screen caps because in the exactly corresponding shots in the episodes they often don't match either. So we picked TOS screen caps that show identical planets from as many different angles as possible for the sake of diversity, and TOS-R caps that provide a good look at the new planet surface.

Mike Okuda has been a co-producer of TOS-R. Max Gabl created most of the planets and matte paintings for the show. We have been able to gather many comments from the two on what they changed and why.

General Notes

All planets to be re-imagined for TOS-R were specified in a way to comply with existing location and planet set shots before the task was given to the artists.

Max Gabl: "Usually Mike [Okuda] and Dave [Rossi] approached me with the basic concept of the planet. Something like, 'earthlike, with large dark mountain ranges, pink skies, poles, swirly type of clouds, 30 percent oceans.' These preconditions came from the shots in the corresponding episode. If we could see a red sky and a sandy soil, the planet had to look like that from outside too. Aside from these specifications, I enjoyed almost absolute freedom. Naturally, there were also the inevitable last-minute revisions. It was very pleasant to work with Mike Okuda. He is a great artist in his field and a nice person. He created almost all graphics for Star Trek and was the architect of many of the buildings. 'He's got the Star Trek look down to a science'."

Once Max Gabl had the basic parameters of a planet, it was up to him to get its look right.

Max Gabl: "First I was given instructions for the planets, including surface type, cloud type, atmosphere color, percentage of water bodies, special features, etc. Then I asked my own set of questions mostly on scale, light/type preferences, etc. Based on the specifications I received, I could determine the feasibility of the assignment. E.g.: a red atmosphere over a lush, green canopy of plants, as seen from space, would translate into a brownish canopy (also imagine what the red will do to the blue oceans underneath). This could confuse the viewer who just saw a shot filmed on a stage with a lush green forest foreground with a red stage sky behind, not affecting the greens in the shot. The red sky on Gamma Trianguli VI... ...requires a brownish canopy of the planet. Add to the assignment, that the producer wants to see a hint of the tall buildings on the planet from space. How tall would the 1000 feet buildings have to be to be visible from space? 100 miles tall maybe? That would make the planet look small. So at the end it was about what was possible without sacrificing realism, so the viewer could 'live' in the image. I projected the textures onto 3D geometry, which was the fastest solution due to the fact, that painting a sphere from scratch, with the constantly mathematically correct shifting of perspective and falloff, proves to be quite a task, and sometimes weeks of work. A lot of times, I modeled and lit entire scenes in 3D and then painted them over. The average time frame given for the planets though was about 2 days a piece. Along with the 49 planets I created, there were 33 additional 'on the surface' matte paintings and a few nebulas for TOS-R on my list, some purely 2D and some 3D/2D. And there were other shows on the side to be worked on (btw, I was not involved with the outside Enterprise shots). [...] Niel Wray, our vfx supervisor, contributed some excellent 3D buildings (along with his valuable insights and knowledge of course) to some of the surface matte paintings, by the way."

While new planets were not created from scratch, every one of them went through several design steps.

Max Gabl: "I started with templates from NASA that I manipulated until I had something to work with. Then a lot of 'paint from scratch' was added to the mix. When I'm talking of 'paint from scratch', I mean painting with a pen on a graphics table (Wacom Tablet). Many of the initial textures that I created were later modified (repainted, colored, cloned, etc.) and used for new planets. When I had the textures ready, I projected them onto 3D spheres. I also obtained so-called geo-data for the elevations (mountains & valleys) from geological web sites, and I painted over them and otherwise modified them to be used as so-called bump and displacement maps. This is how the 3-dimensional look of my planets was created. It was much work to harmonize the color textures and the displacement maps. The clouds (all of which are painted) consist of so-called alpha channels that I projected on a second, slightly larger half-transparent sphere. This gives us the illusion of a cloud layer hovering above the planet. Finally I painted over the projections ('fine tuning') once again, in order to eliminate the '3D look' and to add some extra details." 

Unlike it was customary in the time of TOS, no footage was simply turned or mirrored to act as a different planet.

Max Gabl: "I recycled textures and displacement maps and rearranged, recolored, repainted them. Mirroring would be too obvious, and a lot of the textures repeat (tile) around the sphere, being obvious too. Most of the times, in TOS-R you see the planets do only a small turning movement..."

The majority of planets of TOS-R was created by CGI artist Max Gabl. The planets not done by him include: M113, Planet Q, Beta III, Organia, Starbase 11 planet (from space), Earth (all appearances), Cestus III, Beta XII-A, Guardian of Forever planet, Amusement Park Planet, Capella IV, Tyree's planet aka Neural, Kelvan, Ekos.

Max Gabl: "Niel Wray [TOS-R VFX supervisor] told me that he used photos of Earth for one or two shots. [...] It looks like some of these planets are based on photos of Earth and of existing planets, blended with textures that are partially derived from my creations. Most of the artists that were working for TOS-R with CBSD are not here any longer. So I can't provide more detailed information on their planets."

The first ever planet visualized for Star Trek is Talos IV in the first pilot movie "The Cage", which later appears in TOS: "The Menagerie, Part II" too. The surface of Talos was created coloring a picture of Earth's Moon and overlaying a cloud pattern. See also at StarTrekHistory.com .

While the Talos-Moon never appeared again as a "live" planet in Star Trek, we can see its picture as set dressing on the Enterprise's bridge in countless TOS and TOS-R episodes.

Planet 1a - brown/red

Planet 1a is characterized by its brown basic color, its rather blurred surface and the elongated cloud stripes that indicate a fast rotation. And really, we can see in brief shots with the Enterprise in orbit that the planet is spinning. Planet 1a begins its life in the second pilot episode, TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In "The Alternative Factor" Spock says about the planet of that episode: "Iron-silicon base, oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere, largely arid, no discernible life" .

The same planet reappears several times in TOS, predominantly in the first season, twice in the second and just once in the third season. We can mostly see it in composite shots with the Enterprise in space, less frequently on the main bridge viewer. Quite possibly all these later incarnations are stock footage that was already shot for TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". While the brightness, contrast and the exact hue is subject to vary, the brownish color remains essentially the same in all following TOS episodes with Planet 1a.

Planet 1b - blue

This is the very same model as Planet 1a. However, since the script of TOS: "Mudd's Women" called for a windy and cold planet, the available shots of Delta Vega (Planet 1a) were colored bluish for Rigel XII. We can see that the blue color is a modification accomplished by filming the original footage through a blue filter, since the formerly brown/white image has gained an overall blue tint. The bright blue clouds against the very dark blue surface make Planet 1b rather unrealistic. Still, in the blue guise the planet model made a total of six appearances in TOS, five in season 1 and the second appearance as the Starbase 11 planet in "The Menagerie, Part I" in season 2.

Planet 1c - green

The original footage of Planet 1a was modified one more time in the same fashion as with Planet 1b, this time with a green new tint. This green variant Planet 1c appears in two more episodes, giving us a total of 22 appearances of all versions of Planet 1.

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/tos_planets1.htm

Last modified: 18 Oct 2020

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Star Trek: The Original Series

An Introduction to Reviewing TOS

By Jamahl Epsicokhan

September 17, 1998

Article Text

I wonder: How many times have I said it when people ask me?

"No, I have no intention of going back to review The Original Series or The Next Generation ."

I'm not even sure. Many times.

But now, here I am, reviewing TOS . (I still have no plans for reviewing the 180-some episodes of TNG , but the lesson to be learned here is to never say never.) The reason why I'm doing TOS is pretty simple: because it's something that I can do relatively easily right now. The Sci-Fi Channel cable network is airing all of the episodes in order (see my comments below about this project), giving me a chance to see them again and in a new light.

Because of where I live and what the TV stations in my area carry, I haven't seen these episodes for about 10 years. Ten years ago I was 12.

So, for me, seeing these episodes again is really only seeing them for the second time, in a mindset that is bound to be radically different from when I originally saw them. In a sense, I'm the perfect target audience for this rebroadcast project. I'm the kid who now gets to see them as an adult.

A lot of these episodes are surprisingly fresh in my mind. After watching them over the past two weeks, it's funny to realize how easily scenes and lines so vividly snap back into my memory as I see them. I can remember watching some of these shows on a battery-operated 3-inch TV in my dark, quiet bedroom—so that I wouldn't get caught staying up after my bedtime. I apologize for being nostalgic for what was only a mere 10 years in the past. Hell ... no, I don't apologize—a big part of the experience in watching these episodes is in opening yourself up to the nostalgia factor.

Now the question is: Just how can I review these three-decade-old shows? The answer: As best I can. Like when I went back to review seasons one and two of DS9 a little more than a year ago, I've opted to review TOS in a "capsule review" format, which means I'll provide a few sentences of plot summary, followed by a few more sentences of general analysis. I'm going to try to avoid saying what's been said a million times about these shows, but I understand that may be very difficult, if not impossible; a lot has been written about these episodes in the last 32 years. Whatever I say here is mostly for me, and anyone else who cares what this one fan thinks. I'll try to keep my thoughts as original and as true to my own feelings as possible.

The Original Series was, of course, a product of its time: often bold and sometimes brash, which generally cannot be said about the cautious, conservative, and politically correct 1990s. It was also a pioneer for television science fiction considered as serious drama, whereas now you can find sci-fi aimed at mature audiences almost anywhere and everywhere.

Since I'm a product of the 1980s and 1990s, my take on some of these shows is bound to differ from opinions held 30 years ago, and those opinions still held by people today who may have been watching when the series originally aired, or even those who were watching 20 years ago when the series was in reruns. I will always keep that in mind as I'm writing. But I will also be remembering that the best science fiction and character stories are those that withstand the passage of time and remain relevant and entertaining, even after three decades.

Thumbs up to the Sci-Fi Channel

Turning to the project itself, I find the "Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition" of Star Trek: The Original Series to be very worthwhile. With all the new TV Trek that's been in production for the past 11 years, TOS has, at least from where I stand, essentially stepped back to make way for the newer projects, even if in an unconscious way. The Special Edition is for me exceptional timing, and it offers benefits that should make this revisit worthwhile for all sorts of Trekkers.

First of all is the touted "digitally remastered" benefit—a true benefit if I've ever seen one. These episodes look and sound great. The color is brighter and sharper, and noise and film grain has been substantially reduced as compared to what you could find in typical syndication or even on the videocassette releases. It's truly is like watching the episode as it originally was filmed and intended—except probably on a bigger and better TV set.

The episodes are also uncut, unlike in syndication where snips would be made to fit the episode into an hour with extra commercial breaks. The Sci-Fi Channel achieves the uncut status by airing the episodes in a 90-minute format. This has its pros and cons. On the pro side, this does allow us to see the entire uncut episode, along with supplemental commentary (which I'll discuss momentarily). On the con side: 90 minutes is a long time to watch 45 or 50 minutes of actual episode, and there are so many commercial breaks during the Sci-Fi Channel broadcasts that it seems we only go about five minutes from one break to the next. My recommendation is that you tape an episode and watch it later so you can bypass the commercials; it's much less painful that way. Of course, the problem is that doing so really eats into your tapes—and if you're saving them, you're going to be mowing through tapes like crazy. (Still, it's cheaper than buying the videocassette collection.)

The episodes are all hosted by William Shatner, who discusses story themes and behind-the-scenes trivia, and offers anecdotes, all of which can be fun even if not always inspired. There are also brief segments held during the breaks called "Star Trek Insights," where cast members, guest stars, and crew members talk about the episodes they worked on. Sometimes these "insights" are worth hearing about, and sometimes they're not. (You can tell they're hurting for something relevant to say when Grace Lee Whitney talks about hairstyles, costumes, and makeup more than once in a single show.) True, it's all slanted in favor of making Star Trek look good and important (you won't find anything approaching negativity or animosity here, which of course leaves out some pieces of the behind-the-scenes story), but that's not really the point, is it? This is about making the series look good.

Most of all, this project is worthwhile because it offers a national market for airing TOS in the order they were originally shown on NBC. This allows people who want to talk about the shows in national or international circles (like out here on the Internet) to maintain common ground with everyone else who is watching. It is, after all, the reason I'm doing this in the first place.

Like this site? Support it by buying Jammer a coffee .

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Comment Section

2 comments on this post, genre-buster.

My girlfriend and I came across Jammer's site shortly after CBS.com put up the entire old series on their website. We were looking to weed out the duds, and Jammer performed marvellously. Of course, we became hooked on the show (my girlfriend for the first time, me for the fourth or fifth), and are almost finished watching the whole series. For us, watching an episode just isn't complete until we've seen what Jammer had to say. We agree with him about ninety percent of the time, taking exception only when Jammer glows about a particularly action-packed episode; we don't go much for the action thing. Needless to say, we are grateful that Jammer took the time to review these old chestnuts, and we sincerely hope, Jammer, that you're going to finish the TNG reviews soon. Prognosis?

This Intro is one of the more fun reads on the site, due to its mentions of taping a show, the TOS videocassette releases (possibly even worse than the 2-episode per disc DVDs!,) and of course..."Thumbs up to the Sci-Fi Channel." That phrase no longer applies on so many levels, from "SyFy" to BSG writing directives, scheduling, etc...at least they were able to handle those just fine for a series aired in the 60s, other than the absurd amount of commercials, which I remember. Shatner's hosting was always fun, too, but like you say, filled with fluff. It reminds me of the "official" Beatles interviews and documentaries from Apple Records, where everything was fun, perfect, and golden.

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Episode list

S1.E0 ∙ The Cage

S1.E1 ∙ The Man Trap

S1.E2 ∙ Charlie X

S1.E3 ∙ Where No Man Has Gone Before

S1.E4 ∙ The Naked Time

S1.E5 ∙ The Enemy Within

S1.E6 ∙ Mudd's Women

S1.E7 ∙ What Are Little Girls Made Of?

S1.E8 ∙ Miri

S1.E9 ∙ Dagger of the Mind

S1.E10 ∙ The Corbomite Maneuver

S1.E11 ∙ The Menagerie: Part I

S1.E12 ∙ The Menagerie: Part II

S1.E13 ∙ The Conscience of the King

S1.E14 ∙ Balance of Terror

S1.E15 ∙ Shore Leave

S1.E16 ∙ The Galileo Seven

S1.E17 ∙ The Squire of Gothos

S1.E18 ∙ Arena

S1.E19 ∙ Tomorrow Is Yesterday

S1.E20 ∙ Court Martial

S1.E21 ∙ The Return of the Archons

S1.E22 ∙ Space Seed

S1.E23 ∙ A Taste of Armageddon

S1.E24 ∙ This Side of Paradise

S1.E25 ∙ The Devil in the Dark

S1.E26 ∙ Errand of Mercy

S1.E27 ∙ The Alternative Factor

S1.E28 ∙ The City on the Edge of Forever

S1.E29 ∙ Operation -- Annihilate!

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