SPECIAL EVENT: Remastered "Menagerie" in Theatres!

[Trekmachine 0]

10.05.2007

SPECIAL EVENT: Remastered "Menagerie" in Theatres!

 

 

On Tuesday, November 13, the two-part Star Trek Remastered version of "The Menagerie” will beam onto the big screen in a special engagement with selected theatres. The screening — a first for episodic Star Trek on this scale — will be seen in nearly 300 venues across the U.S. and Canada. This one-night-only event will also feature a special introduction by Eugene "Rod” Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, plus an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Remastered series.

 

"The Menagerie" will be presented in its digitally remastered, high-definition format and in Cinema Surround Sound. The screening is in part to promote the HD-DVD/DVD release the following week (Nov. 20) by CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment.

 

If you recall, the two-part "Menagerie" is the only episode to feature the casts of both the original pilot and the regular series, with Spock the only character to make the transition from from the pilot to the series. Much of the footage, of course, is taken from the rejected first pilot "The Cage." The story sees the Vulcan hell-bent on returning Captain Pike to Talos IV, the intention being that this is where his injured former commander can peacefully live out the rest of his days. Spock risks his career in Starfleet by hijacking the Enterprise and faces a court-martial for his actions. All this is eventually revealed to be an illusion, courtesy of the Talosians and their very strong telepathic hallucinations. Spock is then exonerated, Pike is returned and everything works out in the end. (Oops! Sorry to give it away!) "The Menagerie" was the 16th episode of Star Trek produced, and the 11th one to air.

 

The Article

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Considering I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere - I'm guessing this won't be playing here. :)

[Trekmachine 0]

Considering I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere - I'm guessing this won't be playing here. :lol:

 

I know same here :)

[Kor37 9]

WOW! I would love to see this in a theater. I'll keep my eyes open for it!.. :)

[A l t e r E g o 9]

:) I'm going to ask to go to this for my birthday. Usually Oct is a crappy month for B-D movies, (unlike my wife and daughter, who always get a killer movie out during their B-D months) so this would be a real treat for me. :lol:

[trekz 7]

Checking for theaters, it seems to only be playing in ONE theater that is actually in Chicago! A very few suburbs have it, but I bet tickets may go fast.

[Kor37 9]

Checking for theaters, it seems to only be playing in ONE theater that is actually in Chicago! A very few suburbs have it, but I bet tickets may go fast.

I just checked myself and there are 3 theaters within driving distance that are going to show it. Ironically, the theater I will most likely go to is directly down the street from where our yearly Trek con, Shore Leave, is held.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

HERE is a participating theater locater. :)

[TJ Phaserman 2]

hey trekz, if you want you can come to my area of th chicago area and see it with me.

[jadziaezri 0]

Considering I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere - I'm guessing this won't be playing here.

i'm on the wrong continent in the wrong hemisphere :) :) :lol: :)

[GhostofMajorHayes 10]

I am looking forward to this event! I thought that the Menagerie was some of TOS' best stuff. :)

[MrPsychic 1]

The theater that has it in this area is actually a very good one, though ticket prices are sure to be expensive.

[BakulaBabe 2]

It'll be in a theater near me, but since I live in Southern California, that's not too surprising. When I go to work tomorrow I'll ask for that day off. I'm not sure I'll get it, because it's during the holiday shopping season, and we usually aren't allowed to ask for any time off then (I work in retail).

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I wasn't planning to go until yesterday. I woke up and realized, why shouldn't I go? I think that one of the reasons is that one of the theaters playing it is close to where I live and I am curious as to who the local Trekkies are!

 

It'd be cool to see how many Trek fans besides me are around where I live

[Bethlehem 7]

:) I aready have my tickets and I live in the middle of nowhere. I am thinking about dressing up for it to. At my age who cares what people think. :rockon:

[ddillard 2]

I would so love to go see this. And it is showing in my area, but why do they always have to do everything in the evenings during the week when I work second shift Monday - Friday and will not be able to go.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I am stilling planning to go tonight, but I won't buy my tickets until tonight when I go. I doubt it is sold out where I am since we have two theaters within 10 miles of each other playing it. How can 8 shows be sold out? I doubt there are that many Trek fans in my area

[Kor37 9]

I'd actually be more excited if they were showing a remastered "The Cage". After seeing "The Cage" in its entirety, I had no more use for "The Menagerie".

[Stephen of Borg 2]

If you miss it, you aren't missing anything. It is really no better than watching it on TV. I went last night and there were only four people in the audience (including myself). I wasn't that impressed by it

[Kor37 9]

If you miss it, you aren't missing anything. It is really no better than watching it on TV. I went last night and there were only four people in the audience (including myself). I wasn't that impressed by it

So the big screen made no difference at all? How about the remastering? Were the F/X at least good?

[Mike 5]

I had a totally different experience..I thought it was fantastic..Perhaps because I don't have a HD setup at home..Remember this was an episode of a television show not a theatrical movie..It was totally enjoyable for me and I left wishing they would do this with other episodes of the original series..The theatre I was at wasn't packed with people in each seat but there were people in each row.. I also enjoyed Rod's introduction before the show..

 

I'm glad I didn't miss out on this..

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I was dead tired last night. I had been up since 1 am that morning with no sleep in between that and 7:30pm. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so sleepy

[Bethlehem 7]

I for one loved it seeing it on a movie screen, remastered very well I thought. Not many people though, but there was no advertising for this at all. I talked to people who said if they had know about it they would have planned on going.

[Kor37 9]

Thats true about the advertising. If this hadn't been mentioned on this site, I would have never known about it!

[Mike 5]

I do believe that they are showing it one more time tomorrow night..If anyone still wants to check it out..

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Fast food dinner for 2: $15

 

2 theater tickets to something I've seen a dozen times before: $25

 

Seeing my favorite Menagerie scenes on the big screen: Priceless.

 

 

I agree the picture quality wasn't all that spectacular, really no better then on our TV but it was the biggest screen I'd ever seen it on. Those buttheads were HUGE! :P

 

I checked at the guest services; the event was only 35% sold out but they were all big fans.

 

Our experience rivaled going to a Con, many people were talking about Trek past, present and future and we seen people we've seen at other Trek events, nice seeing them again.

 

My only complaints would be not seeing or hearing any mention of the new film, would have been nice to see one of those promised teaser spots. 2. $12.50 a pop?! :P

[Mike 5]

Those who were disappointed in the picture quality, just what did you expect to see? I knew it was just going to be a remastered episode shown on a big screen..

 

Screening of The Menagerie Huge Hit!

The history-making screening of the Original Series episode "The Menagerie" was a huge hit on Tuesday night, with sold-out shows all around the country. STARTREK.COM was at two of the locations in Southern California — Burbank and Century City.

 

Some fans in Burbank braved the warm evening air and arrived two hours before the event, forming an orderly line outside the theatre. As the anticipation and crowds grew, some of the special guests arrived including Bjo and John Trimble, the couple who helped save Star Trek in the '60s. Others in attendance included numerous CBS Digital employees who work on the Remastered series, author Larry Nemecek, and Original Series and TNG assistant director Charles Washburn.

 

The Burbank audience was also treated to a special live introduction with the Star Trek Remastered producers Dave Rossi, Mike Okuda, Denise Okuda, along with special effects supervisor Niel Wray. Following a brief spoken tribute to Roddenberry's Star Trek by Mike Okuda, Wray brought up several members from his team to take a bow.

 

At 7:30 sharp, the big screen lit up with the face of Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, son of Gene, and the show was off and running. After a short "making-of" documentary, the episode kicked off with the opening remastered shot of Starbase 11 that, if you look closely enough, features some of the CBS Digital people in the background!

 

Rod Roddenberry and several other VIPs attended the Century City screening. The episode's two guests stars (not counting "The Cage" footage), Malachi Throne ("Commodore Mendez") and Sean Kenney (the disfigured "Christopher Pike") were at that venue, along with Billy Blackburn, the frequent Star Trek extra/guest star whose home movie footage from the set appears on the First-Season Remastered HD-DVD that comes out next Tuesday.

 

Also at Century City were representatives of CBS Paramount TV who have been working on the Remastered effort in conjunction with CBS Digital: Ryan Adams, David Grant and Phil Murphy. Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Productions was also there, along with several other friends and VIPs, including a local fan in a Vulcan costume.

 

At this theatre, the plan was for Roddenberry to address the audience and thank them for their support before the show started. But while he was still at the concession stand, the footage began to roll and there was no turning back. We learned the digital projection was automatically programmed to start at 7:30 sharp, and there was no manual override. The incident was rather ... poetic (given the plot of the episode). And then when the final credits rolled and the show was over, the lights failed to come up and the audience had to file out in the dark. Technology, gotta love it!

 

As mentioned above, "The Menagerie" and all other Season 1 Remastered TOS episodes will be available on HD-DVD/DVD (one side HD DVD, one side standard DVD) starting next Tuesday, November 20. This set will include eight episodes that have not yet aired in syndication, such as "The Enemy Within" and "Operation: Annihilate!" You can pre-order it now at the Star Trek Store!

 

Due to popular demand, an encore presentation of "The Menagerie" will be held in the same theatres on Thursday, November 15.

StarTrek.com

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Those who were disappointed in the picture quality, just what did you expect to see? I knew it was just going to be a remastered episode shown on a big screen..

 

As did I, I'm not talking about the remastering though.

 

During the last 30 mins leading to the start of the show there was a Fathom sideshow running, about every 7th slide or so was a picture with imgs of characters from the episode, its title, etc, and headed by a sentence saying: Beamed onto the big screen in HD

 

Over the course of waiting for the show to start I must have noticed that sentence a hundred times and that, combined with my thoughts of how much more expensive this event was over a regular show, (rivaling a digital 3-D showing and being nearly as much as an IMAX presentation!) planted a powerful expectation in my mind that we were going to see something truly extraordinary.

 

Now I do not own a high def TV but I have seen them extensively at department stores and know what a HD picture looks like, what I actually saw in the presentation paled in comparison, it really wasn't any better a picture than is normal for that theater.

 

 

And then when the final credits rolled and the show was over, the lights failed to come up and the audience had to file out in the dark.

 

That happened to us as well.