With the new versions of the classic Trek episodes (the syndicated repeats air locally on Saturdays at 5 p.m. on KVCW Cox Channel 6, and on Sunday nights/Monday mornings at 1 a.m. on KVMY Cox Channel 12), it's clear that the people behind the revamp (primarily longtime Trek producers Michael and Denise Okuda) are as concerned with preserving the integrity of the original show (and thus avoiding fan wrath) as they are with updating it for modern audiences.
Watching the first remastered episode, "Balance of Terror," I'm not sure I would have even noticed the new effects if I hadn't been looking for them. Certainly hardcore Trek fans can immediately tell that the hokey scale-model Enterprise that flew past matte-background starscapes has been replaced with a CGI ship that eerily replicates the model's design, flying through a CGI star field with greater depth and variation. There's clear dedication to the dated aesthetic of the original show here—in a way, the Enterprise looks even clunkier with its design flaws amplified by the detailed CGI.
The best improvement comes in the depiction of the planets that the Enterprise orbits. Even Earth itself gets a makeover, and the added realism is welcome, although it's also jarring, given that the sets, costumes, hairstyles and, of course, dialogue remain unchanged. In the episode "The Devil in the Dark," with the Enterprise crew coming to the aid of a mining colony menaced by a mysterious creature, matte paintings of the mining equipment are replaced with new graphics that add a greater sense of scope and reality to the setting. But the Horta, the silicon-based life form that is attacking the miners, still looks like a giant sausage pizza and moves awkwardly, like a bunch of little kids covered in a crude costume.
Would it be better if the producers replaced the Horta with a CGI representation, as Lucas did with Jabba the Hutt in The Empire Strikes Back? It might be more consistent with the CGI ships and the realistic planets, but it would distract from the storyline of the episode. For all its sci-fi trappings, Star Trek has never been all about its special effects the way other science fiction movies and shows often are. Looking for updated effects in the remastered episodes only emphasizes how sparingly the effects were actually used, and by updating them equally sparingly, producers have subtly enhanced the viewing experience without changing the core of what makes the show work.
There's no reason that shows like Star Trek can't retain their integrity while getting a slight visual facelift every so often. Enough time has passed that the show's future is no longer entirely futuristic, so the enhanced effects make it more convincing for a modern audience. Star Trek's message is still relevant, so its look should be, too. And with the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation just around the corner, the entire franchise might benefit from an updated visual style.