I picked up the new Blu-ray release of the first season Star Trek: The Next Generation a few days ago and just finished the final episode, The Neutral Zone, with Marc Alaimo (better known as Gul Dukat) playing a shifty Romulan.
I can’t get over how utterly fucking amazing it is.
They went back to the original 35mm prints, sitting in a warehouse somewhere, and recut the episodes exactly as they were when originally edited in standard definition. Since all the special effects were processed in SD, they recomposited all of them.
At 1080p, TNG looks absolutely amazing. The detail you can see if phenomenal. You can see the shadows around peoples’ rank pips. The French tips on Beverly’s fingernails. The scuffs in the gridlines on the holodeck. You can read all the little doodads and whatsits on the control panels. I remember the first season of TNG looking especially bland, but in HD, I have a whole new appreciation for how detailed and impressive the sets were. And I’m talking about the ordinary background stuff that they captured on film, not the special effects which they updated via CG.
They remixed all the audio, too. It’s now in 7.1. Somehow, I was able to enjoy it despite having “only” a 5.1 system. Patrick Stewart sounds more amazing than ever when delivering his pontifications while the music swells on the side channels. The Enterprise whooshing by at warp produces a thunderous boom from the subwoofer while the sound pans across the soundstage.
I know I sound like a retarded fanboy jumping with glee, but I just can’t get over how awesome this set is. And keep in mind that this is the first season, hardly TNG’s dramatic triumph. Nonetheless, even stinkers like The Last Outpost and Code of Honor are somehow remarkably compelling in the new format. The increase in quality makes it look like they shot it yesterday. (With 30-year-old hairstyles.)
I’m gonna go watch them all again now.
[sub]If they give DS9 the same treatment, I will jizz in my pants.[/sub]
A lot of those first season episodes were better (dramatically) than I remember them. You tend to remember the 30 seconds of awful cheesiness and forget that many of them actually had pretty good stories and classic Picardian dialogue. In particular, The Battle, Hide and Q (with the exception of Frakes’ scene-chewing Q-ness), Datalore, Too Short a Season and Heart of Glory (the first big Worf episode) were all pretty good.
Well, I tend to remember lots of things, like weak storylines, contrived endings, preachy speeches… “The Neutral Zone” episode specifically had those three 20th-Century cryogenics patients, as I recall, mostly for an opportunity to pontificate about how their example demonstrated what a cultural wasteland and savage dead zone the 20th century must have been. That the revived businessman observed that the Romulans were bluffing (something I’d’ve though Troi was supposed to do) was a tad refreshing, I admit.
You know, I only watched the first couple episodes when they originally aired, and never looked at them again.
But a little way into the run, I saw a little of it on a neighbor’s set - a “big screen” rear projection set-up, with 5.1 audio - and even then I thought it was a lot more watchable that way than it was on my 27" stereo CRT. Just the sound on the bridge was hypnotic, with the immersive sound of the drive and everything looking so shiny and cool.
I think I may actually check the series out on Blu-Ray. Sometimes production counts, and god knows it held enough people’s attention when it aired originally - I know that I am more open minded as I get up into comfortable middle age than I was when I was a judgmental teenager who sincerely believed the only television worth watching was the original Star Trek, the (original) Twilight Zone, Dr. Who, and Late Night with David Letterman, while all the rest was clearly worthless crap.
After the mess Warner made of Babylon 5 by releasing it in “widescreen” despite the unavailability of effect master files (they faked it by fuzzy digital zooms and cutting off the top and bottom of the image rather than extending the sides), I distrust 16:9 remastering almost as much as ThreeDee.
I also ended up buying them as well. Loving them (even though I started a thread a few weeks back complaining about the price) but did have some issues:
Several disks have a mistake in their audio mix. The dialog sounds tinny and faint. If you have the issue, you’ll know. You’ll hear it. A link with info on getting replacement discs is here.
On the last disk, if I tried to select either of the two episodes on it individually, my Blu Ray crashed and shut down. The only way I could watch them was by picking the Watch all option.
Otherwise they do look fantastic. I just wish the episodes were better
I’m surprised at how much more I’m enjoying these episodes now that I can appreciate them on my HD set. I thought I was just chucking money in the trash (I have the series on DVD) but I’m sold. These look & sound great and to me are totally worth it. As long as they keep making them, I’ll keep buying them. Then, on to DS9! I hope.
I remember being impressed with the hi-def release of Space: 1999, which always reminded me a bit of The Next Generation - in so many ways - and this looks great fun. Have they edited out the bits of black cardboard that appear in the background of the bridge in some of the episodes? They’re mentioned here, e.g. this shot. Apparently they were supposed to cut out reflections of the studio lights on the reflective bridge computer screens.
There’s a visual run-down of the remastering differences here. Really nitpicky stuff. You know, I used to be irritated that Riker had grown a beard, but looking back I realise that I was dead wrong. This was the period when Troi wore a miniskirt, wasn’t it? Or some kind of cheerleader uniform thing.
Troi had a miniskirt and gogo boots, but just for the pilot. During the rest of season one, she has her horrible denim cleavage suit.
They don’t do a lot of cleaning up. They chose to focus on making the transfers as “genuine” as possible while doing the minimum necessary for the effects shots. There are some shots where you can clearly see blocking tape and slightly misaligned set pieces. It’s only noticeable if you’re looking for those details.
I am reaaaally looking forward to seeing how the better seasons (3-6) come out. I hope they don’t take as long to release as the DVD sets did. IIRC it was something like four months between each season for those.
It was tortuous actually watching it when it was first broadcast in the UK. There was a batting match between terrestrial BBC2 and Sky One, the satellite channel, which had more money but less reach. The BBC didn’t start showing TNG until 1990, and they broadcast the episodes in order - right up until “The Best of Both Worlds Part II”, at which point there was a two-year gap until the BBC got the rights back. So just as it was getting good - with “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and so on - it went off the air.
Now, you will feel my pain. For the next release you’ve got Dr wassername thingy Pulaski, that’s it. And “Shades of Grey”, the clip episode. A season made out of leftovers and recycled scripts from Phase II, because there was a writer’s strike. But what else was there at the time? After the mercy killings of Buck Rogers and the original Battlestar Galactica there was a huge sci-fi wasteland right up until the mid-1990s. Except for Quantum Leap, which was pretty good once it got into a groove.
There really is no greater betrayal of the viewing audience than foisting a clip show upon them. There’s some great stuff in season two, though. Measure of a Man is one of the best of the series.
ETA: Also, I’m the only known human who loves The Royale.
Hey, I’m on record liking it. I see it as a close cousin to A Piece of the Action, i.e. the characters get tangled up in a bizarre society with strict rules, and the way to win is stop fighting and play by those rules.
Patrick Stewart sounds more amazing than ever when delivering his pontifications while the music swells on the side channels. The Enterprise whooshing by at warp produces a thunderous boom from the subwoofer while the sound pans across the soundstage.
During the rest of season one, she has her horrible denim cleavage suit.