Were they for sure shot on studio video cameras?
This page says they were shot on 35mm as were most TV shows of the time (or 16):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060028/technical
And they have been now mastered to HDCAM @ 1080@24p.
I bet they will be gorgeous to watch the way they were shot.
If they had all of the original film footage and scanned it in high resolution, then that would be fan freaking tastic.
Actually, it looks like they did. Woo hoo! Shows how out of touch I am. I haven't been following recent developments in the original series.
Now I wonder what HD format they'll use to release it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series#Remastered_series
Remastered series
In September 2006, CBS Paramount Television began syndication of an enhanced version of Star Trek: The Original Series in high definition with new state-of-the-art CGI visual effects.[11] These are being done under the supervision of Mike Okuda, technical consultant to the show. All live action footage was scanned in high definition from its original 35 mm film elements, while visual effects shots have been digitally reproduced. Notable changes include new space shots with a CGI Enterprise, and other new models (a Gorn ship is shown in Arena for example), redone matte background shots, and other minor touches such as tidying up viewscreens, etc. A small number of scenes have also been recomposed, and in some cases new actors have been placed into the background of some shots.[12] In addition, the opening and closing music has been re-recorded in digital stereo.
The first episode to be released to syndication was "Balance of Terror" on the weekend of September 16, 2006. Episodes are being released at the rate of about one a week and broadcast in 4:3.
While the CG shots have already been mastered in 16:9 for future applications, they are currently broadcast along with the live action footage in the original 4:3 TV format to respect the show's original composition. If the producers choose to reformat the entire show for 16:9, live action footage would have to be recropped, widening the frame to the full width of the 35 mm negatives while trimming its height by nearly 30%; though this would add a marginal amount of imagery on the sides, much more would need to be eliminated from the top and bottom of the frame to fit.