Scott M (Oldsmith) Film Score Monthly forum - Feb 1, 2015 said:
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There’s a bit more. As I understand it, the newly-created effects shots in the 40th anniversary remastered were created in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which would be cropped for most presentations but not all. Apparently in Japan, where widescreen adoption in the home got much more traction earlier, non-widescreen material (requiring pillarboxing for older 4:3 material) is supposedly routinely cropped at the top and bottom of the frame, so that it fits a 1.85:1 display. … Anyway, I believe the Japanese release of TOS: Remastered is all 1.85:1, though I’m not sure …
Also, for whatever reason, apparently the versions of episodes of TOS:R available for download on XBox Live are (or were) a mix, with the new effects shots all in 1.85:1, while the original footage remains in its 4:3 ratio. Thus, people getting the episodes that way are / were able to see everything intended to be seen in either the original footage or the wider new effects shots. Supposedly, though, this itself was a mistake; it apparently was never intended for any one version to feature shifting aspect ratios like that, and it was always meant to be presented either in 4:3 (with the new footage cropped), or in 1.85:1 (with the old footage cropped), depending upon the regional preferences of a particular market. … for whatever reason, some individual episodes got presented this way on Netflix (!) - for a little while, one could watch “The Immunity Syndrome”, “Bread and Circuses” and “The Tholian Web” with aspect ratios shifting between 4:3 for the original footage and 16:9 for the new effects shots. Those versions have been replaced with the correct ones (with constant 4:3 aspect ratios).
At the same time, the episode “Obsession” was (and still is), for whatever reason, entirely the original version, without any of the new effects. I don’t know why they pulled and replaced those other three but not this one.
A quick look and I cannot find ST-TOS S1 HD-DVD “widescreen” set for Japan or any country. Maybe the widescreen was strictly broadcast (for the Japanese market).
