Trailer Time
You’ll need Quicktime 7 to play this file… But here is the trailer for my version of “The Doomsday Machine”…
I was happy to have Anthony at TrekMovie.com debut this trailer last night. (If you need a WMV version of the trailer, you can find it at his site…) Now, I’ll take up some of the slack.
There has been some consternation about my timing in releasing this thing… so let me clear some things up:
I’ve been quite vocal about my thoughts and concerns about the Trek Remastered project… and have tried to give specific examples about how I thought things should look, based on my own tastes and idea of what a TOS “revitalization” project should focus on. I’ve always thought that the way to go about it was to try and come as close as possible to the original show’s look and feel… (If in fact the statement by the studio of “The original effects won’t hold up on HD” is to be taken at face value)… I’ve given very specific suggestions at how to accomplish what I had in mind… and week after week, I was seeing the same things occurring that I thought were problems… or at least not the way I would have approached the shots. In the end, it all comes down to opinions on what looks good, or appropriate… and what the end goal is to be. My end goal was to reproduce the original… but give a little more “bang for the buck”… Rather than write week by week about the same things… I found it easier to just show what I had in mind. I wanted to finish what I had started… and that was the “Doomsday Machine”. I realized that an arbitrary deadline of “before CBS releases theirs” would be the best way for me to get off my ass and actually get it done. This would give me a specific target… and I also reasoned that releasing it afterwards would just open the can of worms of “Well, he just waited to see what CBS would do so he could make his better, or so he could steal some good ideas…” or what-have-you. I realized that I would get criticism either way… so I decided to have a clean approach… and not be influenced by anything that CBS had done. I would have fulfilled my original purpose. And that’s what I’m doing. Fully aware of the criticism that it would receive.
Contrary to what people may think… I do respect the folks at CBS… and am impressed at what they’ve cranked out. It just isn’t the route I would have taken… and that’s fine. But I also feel that my route had merits… and I wanted to give it a chance to be seen. As has been stated before… CBS has had plenty of time to establish their “look”… I wanted to offer this for those of us who wanted something closer to what we remember.
No, it’s not sour grapes. If it were, I would have just forgotten the whole thing. It really is due to the fact that I love doing this. Plus, I wanted to prove to myself that I could actually finish it. (I hope it happens sooner than later… lol) It is fun for me. I was up til 3 in the morning the other night working on this… and the next day I haven’t felt more alive in a long time. I would have done the whole thing for nothing. (don’t tell Paramount about that…) lol
For those who like direction I’ve taken… here is something for you. For those that don’t… there will be 78 more episodes of stuff you like available from CBS/Paramount.
I do look forward to seeing what Mike, Denise, Dave, Niel, and the other folks at CBS Digital have in store for us. I truly do.
Click the above Picture to join the fun… and nitpicking party.
February 1st, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Mr. Dochterman,
It looks gorgeous! Your vision is much more aligned to what I had expected and hoped for in a retouched Star Trek. Sure, I love every minute of Star Trek: Remastered, but I also love your vision, thoroughly enjoy the Exeter ship by Dennis Russell Bailey, and so forth. And a big hug goes your way for your work in helping finally complete Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the Director’s Cut.
I greatly prefer the brighter lighting and visual clarity of your Big E in comparison to the dimmer look of CBS Digital’s vision. I understand both camps, but I get to pick my favorite! And while I think the effects in the new Battlestar Galactica look far more realistic than almost any other scifi show, and adore how they have been able to work more realistic propulsive physics into their Vipers and Raptors, such styling would look grossly out of place in 1960s Trek. So I love how your take seems like someone went in and simply fixed all the filming and optical flaws in the old series effects and threw in a bit more flexibility in the shooting of the grand old 11-footer. Your Doomsday Machine looks great as well.
What a treat to have such a professional yet free version coming our way. I recall many years back my disappointment at seeing someone’s early efforts to redo Doomsday with primitive CGI, and now I’m going to get two *fun*tastic versions of Doomsday Redux in only a few days. Life is good.
THANK YOU!
February 1st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Well, I am impressed, and no, I’m not a sycophant. Now, perhaps it’s my computer, but the sound is out of synch. That’s my only nitpick. And yes, you are true to your “take” that the U.S.S. Enterprise looks like the model used in the show, but only if they had better compositing and lighting.
Now, if I were producing, I would have chosen perhaps, at least a test, to try lighting more in the style of Doug Trumbull’s take; I wish they used the infamous “nacelle caps” effect in the motion picture version, but I suspect, and I did talk (dates me) to Jim Dow of Magicam, that it would be impossible to composite/photograph. Trumbull didn’t use bluescreen, thus the exquisite detail of that ship. What you have done, Daren, is more like ILM, but without their bluescreen spill.
But to me, it’s better than CBS’ work, and less flat.
Here’s a link to the model used in the film — I don’t think this level of detail would be possible, convincingly, in CGI, for Abrams version, but then again Poseidon was all digital.
http://www.cloudster.com/Sets&Vehicles/STMPEnterprise/STMPEnterprisePhotos.htm
So, amazing; CBS advocates always cry “money” but hell, those guys are on salary; money doesn’t affect design, I think.
And wish you and Ralph Winter could work together — how about Dave Weber’s book PATH OF THE FURY?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_of_the_Fury
And I was pleased you worked on MASTER AND COMMANDER — I wish there was a sequel to that; great book series that appeals to Trek fans.
February 1st, 2007 at 6:08 pm
After Trek Remastered comes out on HD, there’s only one more way to update and /or change TOS. 3-D. Oh, wait, Interactive Holography with optional character manipulation. My first post.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Daren,
Thanks for the eloquent explanation. I have been a fan of your Star Trek work for quite a while and fondly remember the afternoon I spent watching your Doomsday clips over and over long before the current Remastered effort. As I have noted before (on another site) my favorite of your works is the TMP Enterprise flyby shot from the end of TMP that you recreated on your laptop.
I am also a fan of Trek Remastered and I like the direction it has taken of late. But there is room for both “Doomsdays” in the coming weeks.
I have only one wish at this point and I would like gauge your interest. I feel that a reworking of Star Trek V is in order (as do many others on the net) and that you are the just the man to do it. I’m not talking about an independent project on your own but a full fledged new addition from Paramount/CBS. If they were to approach you, would you be interested and have you already considered what yould would like to do with such an opportunity.
It is a great time for STAR TREK once again.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Wow, can’t wait! I love the way the Trailer gave double meaning to the show’s themes: “One man’s obsession” (Decker’s or that of a brilliant CGI director) will have us believing “Tomorrow is Yesterday” (CGI used to render a more faithful version of Trek than what we’ve seen from CBS) to give us “the ultimate Doomsday Machine” (I believe your’s wiill definitely be the final word!!). Now, can we talk you into doing “The Tholian Web”?
February 1st, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Looks great! However, unless you have an Intel P4 or an AMD Athlon64 or higher, the playback is jerky. On my AMD Athlon 2800+ 32-bit processor, playback is jerky. While not the most modern equipment, my system is no slow poke either. But, I feel I won’t be able to fully enjoy the final product.
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:29 am
Strange, I’m only running an AMD Athlon 2000+ and it’s smooth as silk for me. Click Start - Run and type msconfig into the run box. Click ok. Click the startup tab and uncheck everything in there that you think you can live without starting up with your computer. It’s safe to uncheck everything in there if you’re running XP. I would say you’re computer just has too much going on in the background. I have everything turned off in that startup panel. Hopefully that will make a difference.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 am
I have never, NEVER seen the Enterprise you look beautiful than in your edition of it, Daren. The detail was incredible and it shows that you have a love for the show. CBS’ stuff is getting better but I truly belive it was their mistake for not hiring you. Only time will tell but I will say this: YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE THE REMASTERING. Gods, the Enterprise was striking. The Constellation looked freightenly real with all that colateral damage. I can’t wait to see the planet killer fire its anti-protn beams. Man, I just can’t wait to see it. I don’t wanna be a pest, but do you have a target date planned for us to see the entire episode?
Best
Bill
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:16 am
I’ve been hoping this day would come for quite some time now.
I’ve been aware of Daren’s work on this episode for a few years now and always hoped it would be finished. When I bought the directors edition of TMP, I didn’t actually get to watch it for 3 months..as we didn’t own a DVD player. I managed to buy a sony DVD rom for my computer and was then introduced to the amazing work on the Directors Edition.
The recent work by CBS has gotten cleaner, but it’s a complete departure from the look of TOS and I believe unfaithful. When I look at the trailers on this site, I see the TOS ‘look’ brought to life with modern tech. It’s a fine art. I have always felt the original effects looked great, so I’m really disheartened that CBS has chosen to deviate so far from the original artists vision. I truly respect your work Daren. You pay tribute to the original artists by recreating their work as best as humanly possible…and your appreciation for the long days they endured truly shows.
Thanks for this gift.
Waiting anxiously.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:22 am
I am pretty sure the problem is the codec that QT7 uses to playback HD quality video. The AMD’s before the Athlon64 don’t have hardware based SSE2. Thus, the decoding has to be done in software which the CPU then is running at 100% trying to decode the video. It can’t keep up thus you get choppy video.
Turning off everything in msconfig is foolish. You would be turning off your virus scan and firewall (if using something other than the XP firewall). I won’t go on the net without those two items.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:40 am
“Turning off everything in msconfig is foolish. You would be turning off your virus scan and firewall (if using something other than the XP firewall). I won’t go on the net without those two items.”
Yes, but that’s why I said (uncheck everything in there that you think you can live without starting up with your computer). Obviously you don’t want to turn off your antivirus, that goes without saying.
It’s also true that it’s safe to turn everything off in the startup tab, since XP hides all the system specific operations. Again, depends on what you ‘need’ to run at startup.
I run a tight ship myself and I’m behind a secure router. I don’t use firewalls or antivirus. I ‘ll run an AVG scan once a month, but I’ve never had a virus yet. I’ve been a computer tech for 10 years, certified of course. I really don’t know why viruses are such an issue for some people, they just seem to get them on a daily basis, when all a person needs to do is be careful. I have repaired computers in the last year with 30,000 viruses. It’s insane. Even though it’s bad for business, I tell people how to avoid them…I give them a brochure with all kinds of tips…but I still end up getting them back in a few months with another 15,000 viruses. I won’t even begin to guess what they’re clicking on to get these things.
As for the quicktime issue…perhaps it’s because I don’t use the ‘official’ Quicktime anymore, haven’t for years. If you haven’t already, try out Quicktime Alternative. Works like a charm for me, and just lets you play the files in Windows Media Player.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am
Alright, just to prove the theory right or wrong, I turned off everything in the startup tab and restarted. None of items I turned off turned themselves back on when the machine was running again in Windows after the restart. I played the video again. The video was just as choppy as it was before. So, my system does not have too much going on in the background. Also, my video card is an ATI Radeon 9800 with plenty of onboard memory. So, it can’t be the videocard. The system has 1GB RAM. That is more than enough on XP. I still contend the problem is a lack of SSE2 on the AMD processors prior to the Athlon64’s. HD quality video played in QT7 with a lack of SSE2 will exhibit this skipping problem. I have seen it with other HD quality QT7 video on a number of different P3 and AMD (prior to the Athlon64) computers.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am
Sorry, I should add the following:
Using Quicktime Alternative, my CPU usage floats between 15 and 25 percent usage…usually settling at around 20′ish.
With your faster CPU, you should have super smooth playback with quicktime alternative.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:49 am
Yep, I use QT Alternative also. I have been a computer tech for 12 years. I run a tight ship. I don’t like AVG. It’s detection rates are too low. I use NOD32. It is light on system resources, very high detection rates, and frequent small updates. QT Alt doesn’t run through Microsoft Windows Media Player. It does run in Media Player Classic (which looks like the old Microsoft Media Player 6.4 but it really isn’t that player).
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:49 am
Ok emhdoc, that’s fine.
I was just giving you some options. If you’re decoding in software…and using 100% of your CPU, it would make sense to try freeing up some system resources would it not? 
At any rate…that didn’t work for you, so try out Quicktime Alternative. You’re system specs are pretty much the same as my own…except you have a better processor, so you should be ahead of the game.
I have.
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
1 Gig of Ram
Geforce 6800 - Recently upgraded from a 5200FX and quicktime alternative played fine on it as well.
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:52 am
“QT Alt doesn’t run through Microsoft Windows Media Player. It does run in Media Player Classic (which looks like the old Microsoft Media Player 6.4 but it really isn’t that player).”
Strange, I’m watching it on WMP right now. Odd. I can set it to run on MP Classic as well.
So, is this choppy video happening when you stream, on downloaded quicktime files…or both?
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:52 am
I do use QT Alt.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 am
The problem occurs regardless of whether it is streamed or ran from a saved file. I’ve seen it on numerous non-P4 and non-AMD64 machines.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:04 am
Gah. I’m really sorry man. When I watched the trailer, I had gotten it from Trekmovie.com, since it was posted there first. I didn’t realize until now that I was actually watching the WMV version. I’m seeing what you’re talking about now…that’s too bad. I’m sure a WMV version will be made available though.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:05 am
I didn’t think about it. I went ahead and saved the file to my hard drive both as an MP4 and a MOV file. The MOV file played a lot better but still with a few stutters. The MP4 file did not stutter at all but it had more artifacts.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:13 am
The WMV file looks WONDERFUL. It has a lot fewer artifacts than the MP4 file and no stutters! Thanks for pointing out the WMV file on Trekmovie.com!
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:17 am
Daren wrote: “I was up til 3 in the morning the other night working on this… and the next day I haven’t felt more alive in a long time.”
The Post-Creativity Rush for any project is a wonderful feeling and demonstrates you really care. It says many things about a person also. Bravo Daren, looking forward to the release very much.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:30 am
To be fair… lol I did mention the WMV file in the post… so there. (After I realized so many people couldn’t view the h.264 encoded .mov file, I made a WMV for it and sent it to trekmovie.com… I would put it directly on here, but honestly I don’t know how to get it to play on a webpage… lol… and haven’t quite figured out the direct download thing… I’m just making this web stuff up as I go….
Glad you like it.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Daren,
Once you’ve finished your version you may wish to send a link to Norman Spinrad, the author of the episode’s original teleplay, via his website. Spinrad, in case you didn’t know, is still very much in the writing game and though he initially wasn’t too happy with Gene L. Coon’s re-writes of his “Doomsday” script (and didn’t much care for the appearance of the machine itself in the finished show), his attitude towards the aired version has warmed considerably in the years since, and he’d probably get a big kick out of all the renewed attention it’s been getting. I’m pretty sure he still lives in Paris at this point in time, so the news from the home front would probably also be welcome.
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:41 am
Sorry, I was so excited about the trailer, I didn’t even read the post. I just clicked the picture of the Enterprise. Will you post the whole episode in WMV?
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Excellent, truely excellent.
February 4th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Daren,
As usual, excellent. I can’t wait. I use the real QT Pro so I had no problems playing this file. I will be converting it to DiVX when I download the full episode so I can transfer it to DVD and play it on my DiVX capable DVD player (I wanna see it on my TV, the gang can sue me). Once I get back to work, I will be replacing my PC with an iMac, and that will be that.
Steve
February 4th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Excellent work!!!
God. I hope CBS looks at this. This is MUCH better looking than ANY rendering they have done. I’ve really been frustrated by how dim the new remastered Enterprise looks.
How can the Enterprise look dim orbiting a planet? If the Enterprise orbited above the Earth, would the light AVOID Enterprise, circle around it and light up Sahara Desert so bright you have to squint? The land below Enterprise is bright, yet the ship which is closer to the sun, is dim….
I do respect the work these guys are doing too. But if you are going to redo the Star Trek special effects, you have to make Enterprise look GOOD. And it looks so dark and dim.
it’s sad.
Oh well. I love the work you did. I think it should be the standard of any remastered Trek.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the impulse engine light could look better. The orange could be improved. And as the shuttle takes off, it would look better if it didn’t turn.
Also the doomsday machine might look better if you chisled the mouth more like raw crystals.
Outside of that, I love it!
PS, I would be careful of leaving spaces in filenames online. You can have problems with that.
Awesome work sir!
But please remember not to put a space in a file name. It can mess older browser up.
February 4th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
btw, if you ever do the initial scene of the Constellation just drifting in space, you might want to add little pieces of the ship floating around it. It could have it’s own debris field drifting with the ship.
:)
February 5th, 2007 at 2:08 am
quietly falls off chair in amazed stupor……
February 5th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Daren,
Are you gonna have a strong enough server to handle all the downloads when the Trekkers go ape sh*t and gaa-gaa for your episode? I’d hate to see it crash 5 seconds after you posted it. Do you have mirror sites?
Can’t wait to see it.
Bill
February 5th, 2007 at 9:23 am
That is a valid concern… and I have been thinking about it a lot… lol I have a pretty good server… and a respectable amount of bandwidth… but from the feedback I’m getting… you’re right… it could just fry the whole thing. lol
I’d welcome anyone volunteering to mirror…
February 5th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I’m very much anxious to see the completed product, but I’ve gotta say - the trailer really doesn’t over impress me. The Enterprise movement looks way too stiff (as if we’re looking at a freeze framed ship over a moving starfield background - a la Shatner’s ST:V).
The lighting looks great, the ship details looks great (although I was hoping for more elaborate ship damage than just a very nicely rendered version of a match-lit ERTL model) and the actual Doomsday Machine is amazing!
The Enterprise is just a little too well lit IMO. Some “mysterious source light” shadowing would really give it more life.
That all being said, I am always VERY impressed with the work you’ve done. I really want you to be able to hit this one out of the park and show Paramount that they blew it the first time around by not getting you involved.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I’ve found that Quicktime rendered movies can sometimes look a bit washed out, not sure why…but a trailer we did for the Doom 3 Mod I’m working on was washed out in Quicktime, but looked great as a wmv or avi.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Hey Daren!
Your work looks fabulous: almost a cross between actual TOS and the TOS movies. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing this episode. Like a lot of us out there, I’d love to see the HDDVD/Blueray versions of the movies get the ‘Dochterman’ treatment! Good luck with Get Smart!
All the best, Dom
February 7th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Well, actually, you could make it available as a torrent file which would allow you to upload to one loaction and then post the link on your site. It then becomes a distributed file. After one or two others have the complete file, you disconnect and allow the others to seed it. This allows you to get the entire thing out without killing your bandwidth.
If I had to recommend a torrent site, it would be torrentspy.com and then use the uTorrent client to create the torrent file. Upload the torrent file, seed it and off you go.
Dave
February 8th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
If you mkae it a torrent, it will seed faster, letting everyone get a look at the work at a greater scope.
Probabaly the best thing to do.
Bill