Template:Realworld Curt McAloney is a photo lab technician who has, around 2005, embarked on a mission to digitally restore film clippings that originated from the production of Star Trek: The Original Series.
At the time that the Original Series was in production, 1966-1969, it was not commonplace to save or archive shot footage, that was edited out in post-production. This usually consisted of deleted scenes, test shots and behind-the-scenes footage. Clippings of these were simply discarded. However, Gene Roddenberry, in those years, habitually collected these clippings whenever he was able to and later, after productions wrapped, sold them in the early 1979s as merchandise through his company Lincoln Enterprises at conventions. It is this production material, McAloney specializes in, or as he has put it on an archived version of his website, "The goal for this web page is to create a repository of restored images showing the production aspects of the original Star Trek series. This would include out takes, deleted scenes, close-ups of props, effects scenes and publicity photos. These behind the scenes aspects of the series should be preserved for posterity before they disappear."
As a photo lab technician, McAloney is aware that the film material of the 1960s deteriorates over years. On his website, he invites owners of these clippings to submit their material for restoration for free. As payment, McAloney reserves the publication rights of the restored material that "can be used as startrekhistory.com sees fit, such as posting on the internet or used for any other venture". Several clip owners have taken up McAloney's offer, and his website currently features a growing library of unique Original Series production material.
In recent years, licensed publishers started to discover McAloney's work, and restored material by his hand has appeared in among others:
- Star Trek Magazine issue 120, 2005, Behind the scenes: Visual Effects, with William S. McCullars, p. 81
- Star Trek: The Original Series 365
- Star Trek Magazine issue 162, 2011, Richard Datin, Dayton Ward, pp. 10-12
External links
- StarTrekHistory.com - current website
- Template:Brokenlink - archived version of the website
- McAloney's Star Trek photo album at Flickr.com