What's the Best Single Disc of Star Trek? (TNG Edition)

You know what, I need a distraction. When I feel this way (it has been happening more and more since, oh, November), my go-to strategy is "watching Star Trek." And no, not on Paramount Pus, the most awful streaming service ever created (I have given up cataloging the multifarious ways it can break on me, and I am only still subscribed because I split it three ways), but on disc. 

Taste the rainbow of actually good Star Trek!

Before and After

Matt and I have Season 3 of TNG on Blu-ray, and it's pretty special. Even low effects episodes are delightful, like Who Watches the Watchers with all its outdoor splendor look great in HD. Anyone who hasn't gotten to Booby Trap yet is in for a real treat when they see the Promellian battle cruiser. Some more specific comments on each episode will be forthcoming, but I wanted to share this now. I watch the discs on my computer, so it's easy to pull up Netflix and look at before and after shots. I was watching The Defector, and captured these screen grabs. The top is from Netflix and the bottom from the Blu-ray transfer.

In case anyone was sitting on their hands until the comparatively more awesome Season 3 to get the Blu-rays, what in the name of sanity are you waiting for? It's not just the detail itself on the ships themselves, though that is awesome. The engine on the bird of prey and the individual windows on the warbirds look particularly good. It's also that the black is so much blacker since the background wasn't degraded by multiple composite layers. The lighting is also less harsh, particularly on the bird of prey wing in the forground and on the drive section of the Enterprise. I don't know if that was a result of the transfer or some kind of manipulation of the original image, but the magical omnipresent light source in deep space looks softer and much more uniform. 

What struck me the most is how much better the scene looks as a piece because of the detail and lighting improvements. The SD version looks like what it is, several two dimensional images layered on top of each other. The HD looks like a three dimensional scene you could fall into, which could reasonably happen given the amount of time I spent staring at the picture. 

So for anyone who hasn't gotten the Blu-rays or just not season 3 or is having any hesitation about buying a series they have already purchased at least once, enjoy this image, then go buy it. 

Best of Both Worlds: The Movie

I saw Best of Both Worlds in HD in a movie theater on Thursday and it was pretty much as awesome as you would think it would be. I was happy to note that the theater I was in was pretty much sold out, and with people of all ages. This wasn't just people 30-something and above re-watching a show from their past. That was encouraging.

Like seasons 1 and 2, they had some behind the scenes stuff. My favorite part of that was an interview with Elizabeth Dennehy. She talked about how young and stupid she was when she auditioned and how she was able to stare down Riker because she had no context of the show to tell her she shouldn't have been able to, so her character was good at being the outsider because the actress was as well. She did note that some of the treknobabble was burned on her memory. In the interview she recites the line about how much of the Borg ship would have to be disabled before it shut down, and they overlaid the shot of the character saying it in the episode, and it was spot on, and pretty funny. There were also the standard blooper-reel stuff, which I'll be honest, only does so much for me. It's worse with movies in general, where I really don't care to see the cast I just watched stand around and laugh, but at least for TNG, it helps reinforce the sense of fun and family the cast had. It also is a neat way to see scenes that got dropped. One of the bloopers was a shot of Riker and Shelby (failing at) having a conversation in a corridor that was not in the final episode.

Now onto the episode itself. Obviously, the transfer was gorgeous. I'm just going to run through some random thoughts:

- The matte shot of the hole in the ground in the New Providence colony was stunning, as was the planet work.

- The nebula scenes looked amazing. The way the light diffused around the Enterprise was gorgeous.

- The interior shots of the Borg cube benefit less from the upgrade than you would think simply because the scenes are so dark. That being said. whenever there is light, the small details really pop. Things like Locutus' viewscreen on the cube looked great with bright icons popping off the screen rather than being mottled by the composite process.

- The shot through the window of the shuttle of the drive section, saucer, and cube almost made me cry openly in the theater. It was that good.

- The lab scene was great. All the panels in the background really popped. The close-up of Data's circuitry was stunning. There's a lot more fine wire work than you could see in the original.

- The graveyard scene was really great. You could make out decals on the nacelles of the ships, and the redone lighting effects were great as well.

- The thing that struck me the most was the Borg make-up. It's far more nuanced than in the original airing. Particularly on Locutus, it looks more gray and white, and more necrotic. It makes the eventual make-up in First Contact make more sense. The appliances also looked better in more detail, not worse as I initially feared. The tube on the side of Picard's face doesn't just attach to jaw, it looks like there is more hardware under the skin, and it looks great in close-ups.

- They redid completely the pass of Saturn by the cube and the Enterprise, and it looks like they used photos from the Cassini probe to make the planet look as real as possible. You can see gas swirls on a far more nuanced planet, and the rings looked less sharp, but thus more realistic.

- The explosion of the cube was redone for the Bluray, and it still uses the original explosion but fleshes it out a little with some additional layers behind it to make it more realistic, and I think they succeeded.

One small complaint, and I suppose this is aimed more at the standalone release of this episode. They aired as a feature length, single episode, and only played the opening credits after the first teaser. The only real problem with this was we get Riker saying, "Mr. Worf....fire," and literally the next frame is the deflector discharging. So we didn't get the awesome To Be Continued... music cue and dramatically speaking, that line  really needs a moment to breath. I hope on the actual discs, they are maintained as two separate episodes. Just like when they split Encounter at Farpoint or All Good Things or Way of the Warrior into two episodes for reruns, the point of the split always feels slightly off, like it's not really a cliffhanger. Here skipping the cliffhanger was a little jarring. Even a fade to black and a quick return, sans Majel Barrett's recap, would have worked. It's a small quibble, but other than that moment, the entire project has hewed so sucessfully to the original intent of the creators that it seems odd no one caught that when planning this.

Overall, it was an awesome episode presented beautifully and a good time was had by all. I kind of hope they do this again for Season 4 and use Redemption, so we get to see both season 4 and season 5. I have already preordered my copy of season 3 as I assume Matt has. As soon as we get them, we'll start re-reviewing them for the blog.

Season 2 at the Movies

Richard, a few of our friends, and I attended the HD TNG Season 2 event last week, and I have opinions. Like the Season 1 event, a good time was had by all and it was fun watching the show with so many people. They showed Q Who and the extended cut of Measure of a Man as well as some bonus features. Some opinions in no particular order.

Q Who looked pretty good overall. The higher detail on the Borg costumes is pretty nifty. The scene in engineering still looks really dark and grainy. I'm curious how it will look on TV. The detail on the Borg cube was great obviously, but the ship as a whole doesn't look as great. They used the plastic trees in model kits for a lot of the surface of the cube and in higher def, it makes it looks like the edges aren't quite crisp, straight lines. The effect on the saucer section were really, really cool, however.

The extended cut of Measure of a Man had some good and some bad in it. There was an extended scene of Picard wrestling with the issues and talking about them with Data. The additional dialogue also fleshes out more clearly that Maddox was only forcing Data to transfer off the Enterprise if he refused the refit. If the refit proceeded, he could have stayed on the Enterprise, and some of the dialogue seems a little more clear as a result. There was a scene of Picard in Data's quarters preparing his testimony that was interesting but not vital. We got some additional dialogue with Nakamura about Picard's early career, which was nice, but dispensable. My favorite parts were an additional scene between Geordi and Data where he gives Geordi his Holmes pipes as a goodbye gift, and some additional dialogue in the party scenes, including the party being crashed by Maddox.

On the downside of the additions is a fencing scene with Picard and Riker where it appears Riker is gunning for Picard or something. It adds an odd emotional component to what's going on and is bizarre in light of the fact an actual friend is at stake, so good cut there. Overall, the additions didn't make the episode feel too long, though the cuts they made were largely good ones. There was also an additional lines of dialogue in Louvois' summation, where she starts her speech with the now cut line "I don't know boys." It was a good cut.

The snippets of the cast reunion were awesome and sweet and funny and the blooper real was great since it had more than people cracking up at themselves, though there was plenty of that. According some review I read, the features include the Reading Rainbow episode where LeVar Burton goes on a backstage tour of the show. Like last season, as a longtime viewer, the most exciting part for me is the special features. Matt has already started reviewing the episodes themselves for the blog. I'm most excited for Contagion as between the Romulans and the Yamato, it should be a hoot.

The best part of the evening, hands down, is the promo for season 3 on Bluray. They were showing snippets of Yesterday's Enterprise and Best of Both Worlds, so that makes me think that will be the movie event, which AWESOME! The Borg cube looked much better and I cannot wait for a season in high definition that has a very high number of episodes I actually want to see again.

The Next Generation Season 1 Blu-Ray Review

I've been waiting until I had viewed each episode, including extra features, to review the set for the blog.

In a word, it's spectacular. But in more words (what did you expect?) here are my detailed thoughts.

Treknobabble at the Theater

Last Monday, I went to Fathom Events' screening of two TNG episodes to celebrate the release of season 1 on Blu-ray. They showed Where No One Has Gone Before and Datalore. Matt has already discussed some of the nuts and bolts of the episodes is the comment sections, but I wanted to add mine. Where No One Has Gone Before was breathtaking. The crispness in the galaxy-scape and end of the universe scenes were incredible. And especially on the big screen, you could make out every hideous crinkle of whatever material that orange sweater was made out of. And the Crystalline Entity managed to be a new effect that was stunning but managed to remain completely in keeping with the original designers' intent.

What struck me the most was not just how awesome the episodes looked themselves, but how great they looked on the big screen. But for the aspect ratio reminding you it was a TV show, both shows looked completely at home on the scale of a modern American cineplex. It's really a testament to the quality and detail put into the show even when the creators at time had to know it was just for themselves.

It was also great sharing the experience with a pretty full theater. It wasn't quite Rocky Horror levels of audience participation, but everyone laughed and cheered together at the right places, particularly "Shut up, Wesley!"

Matt and I will dive into the special features in a couple of days, but I wanted to talk about the preview for season 2's release, which apparently will reunite the crew in a roundtable to talk about the show. Michael Dorn is bald now, Jonathan Frakes has hipster glasses, and it's really fun seeing how they have all aged. In about six years, they will be the actual ages they were portraying in All Good Things, and I totally think they should reshoot the future scenes. Just for fun.

By sheer random coincidence, I managed to have another Trek-related theater experience last week. I saw Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music at the Writer's Theater in Glencoe, Illinois. I was waiting to go into the theater and saw the cast list and noticed that part of Desiree Armfeldt was being played Shannon Cochran, whom Trekkies will recognize at Maquis member Kalita from TNG's "Preemptive Strike" and DS9's "Defiant" and, of course, Sirella, Martok's imperious wife from "You Are Cordially Invited." First, let me say, she was awesome. I love Sondheim, but this show is really easy to do badly, particularly for anyone inclined to overact or oversing, but the entire cast really was phenomenal, and Shannon Cochran in particular was amazing. I seriously recommend anyone in the area see it before it closes on August 12th. Also, if anyone asks what I did last Thursday night, I can say that I watched Sirella, mistress of the House of Martok sing "Send in the Clowns" and she almost made me cry.

You haven't experienced Sondheim until you've heard him sung in the original Klingon.

And a quick youtube search reveals that the theater has put a clip of the song online, so it's not even copyright infringing when I embed it. Now take a good look at the above picture and then hit play. It will make the transition more entertaining.

Star Trek TNG: The Next Level Blu-Ray Review

Well, Kevin, Richard, and Kelly and I just got together tonight to watch the new Blu-Ray teaser for TNG. It contains the episodes Encounter At Farpoint, Sins of the Father, and The Inner Light. We got through the first two, and we are quite able to form and communicate some detailed impressions to you. I'll post some pictures taken with a digital camera and a tripod, to at least give you an impression of how good things look here. But it can only be an impression, because as opposed to a direct screengrab, there is an additional layer of processing and potential degradation introduced.  The contrast is a bit blown out compared to a direct screen grab, and the detail is not as impressive as seeing them directly with your eyes. I would say these pics are about 75% as impressive as seeing the real thing. Either way, right-click and open the images in a new tab to zoom in!

So, on to the review...

To boldly explore pores like never before...