Steve Granitz/WireImage Photo
	William Shatner

“Captain, our monitors have picked up a strange phenomenon.” The original Star Trek series is returning to broadcast syndication after having been in the hands of cable channels for the last 16 years. But when it returns to regular TV channels, it’s going to look different.

Two hundred television stations around the country will begin broadcasting the 79 episodes of the venerable series starting in mid-September. Not only has Paramount ponied up for complete digital remastering of the shows - in High Definition, no less - but they’ve given the show a serious facelift, at least outside the Enterprise. The fuzzy model shots that comprised the exterior views, starship passes and space battles have been completely replaced with state of the art CGI effects, all based on the original Enterprise, Klingon, Romulan and what-have-you alien designs from the ‘60s. Planets, galaxies, and “exterior” background matte shots have been replaced with much more detailed digital effects. Paramount even went so far as to bring in an orchestra to re-record the Alexander Courage composed Star Trek theme, and digitally remastered William Shatner’s “Space - the final frontier” monologue at the beginning.

Paramount is looking to the future with the facelift for Star Trek. Not only is the series 40th anniversary in the immediate future, but the studio is obviously looking for a long continuing return on the improbably popular ‘60’s space opera well into the HDTV era.