The OFFICIAL STNG Next Level Bluray watch and review thread

[Sho]

I've just watched Encounter and Sins, and I'm positively giddy about the experience. It's just incredible how well sets, wardrope and make-up designed for NTSC hold up to HD, and the textured film look triggers those memories of cinema that elevate the events to a whole new level dramatically.

The new sound mix is equally terrific, making clear little nuances that I never noticed before, like the transition from the saucer separation to the Picard/Riker conference scene - notice how the music blends over to the tingling of Picard stirring his tea with a metal spoon.

Next up is Inner Light, which should be incredible.

Personally I have no problem whatsoever giving them $100 per season or more for this, the value is there .

[Mark 2000]

GalaxyX wrote:

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All I want to see is what the original team originally intended but was unable to show because of budget reasons.

That's George Lucas talking, as well as Steven Spielberg before he realized how ridiculous that is. The thing is, more tech doesn't make things better. TOS-R looks terrible. It's not better than any other fanish, amateur stuff on YouTube.

You also have this odd idea about "original intention". Everything has an original intention. Who's intention are you going to go back to? The writers? The director? The FX guy? The compositer? When you make a building the thing in the architect's head is different than what he draws and what the engineers, planning commission, and general public allow to get made. Original intention is nonsense. What appears is built from ingenuity, skill, imagination, and love. I doubt anyone on the TNG crew walked away day after day seriously thinking "if only!". They would commit suicide if their lives were that bleak.

If you're not into HD, that's fine. Don't buy the set. Your DVD's are great. This is a wonderful excuse for you to not spend anymore. For a lot of people, just like anyone who bought 2001 on tape, DVD, and finally BR increase in quality is plenty enough reason to pick up a set.

[Sho]

^ This.

[GalaxyX]

Personally I have no problem whatsoever giving them $100 per season or more for this, the value is there

If they sell for around $80 each they got me as a customer. More than that and I'd have to think about it. I'm already bored of the 3 episodes I have so far, once the novelty of watching them in HD wore out. Up to $100 and I will probably choose the better seasons to buy. If they actually charge more than that, well, I will probably pass on it considering what I've seen so far.

That's George Lucas talking, as well as Steven Spielberg before he realized how ridiculous that it. The thing is, more tech doesn't make things better. TOS-R looks terrible. It's not better than any other fanish, amateur stuff on YouTube.

Maybe it is, because I happen to like the additions to the original SW Trilogy. Not all of them. The Jabba scene in ANH was completely out of place and unnecessary. I could care less who shot first, Greedo or Han. His character grates me anyway. Other than that I can't think of any major scenes that were out of place. I loved the extra Millenium Falcon shots in particular. If wanting a similar treatment to TNG makes me a Lucas fanboy, then I guess I am

[Sho]

GalaxyX wrote:

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If they sell for around $80 each they got me as a customer. More than that and I'd have to think about it. I'm already bored of the 3 episodes I have so far, once the novelty of watching them in HD wore out. Up to $100 and I will probably choose the better seasons to buy. If they actually charge more than that, well, I will probably pass on it considering what I've seen so far.

Well, personally I rewatch individual TNG episodes relatively frequently. Really, Star Trek is my comfort food; when I get stuck at home with a nasty cold or whatever, I pop on Trek episodes . And obviously I'm going to prefer the HD version to the DVD version for doing that in the future.

The other reason to buy it is voting with my wallet: I'd like them to get filthy rich from making TNG-R, so we get a DS9-R and a VOY-R.

[davejames]

Mark 2000 wrote:

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This, Ladies and Gents, is what it looks like when someone misrepresents what your saying to make whatever point they feel like. Look and learn.

Hey, you were the one going on and on about the importance of the "original work." All those other effects ARE the original work.

[DostoyevskyClone]

Sho wrote:

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Really, Star Trek is my comfort food

Right on. There's not another show close for me that matches that 'feeling' I get from TNG. Talking about the negatives of this new release makes for better conversation in some ways, but I was tempted to post something a few minutes ago to just say how damned grateful I am that TNGR even happened. I've been reading the original TNGR thread and was reminded in a post by Tosk about what a far-fetched improbability this seemed several years ago.

You and I had briefly 'talked' about doing a poll/polls Sho, which I'm still interested in. In fact, I've learned that a Pre-Poll thread can help, since the original poster can leave out/forget to include certain things. Feel free to message me if you'd prefer.

[GalaxyX]

davejames wrote:

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Hey, you were the one going on and on about the importance of the "original work." All those other effects ARE the original work.

I think we could have seen a better reimagined TNG as far as FX work was concerned. It seems most of the purists are freaking out that we want to add a Jar Jar Binks to every scene in every episode, which is just ridiculous

[Captain Fine]

Anyone notice that SotF had the Paramount sound playing over the CBS logo at the very end?

The CBS logo seems out of place to me. The show wasn't made by CBS. Put the Paramount mountain back!

[Sho]

In terms of criticism, I don't really have anything to add that hasn't been said before. Yup, the opening shot of Sins is odd with the moving starfield but the absence of any perspective change on the ships. And yeah, the energy beam shot in Encounter stands out as terrible. I hope we'll see improved versions of both in the full season set. But if not, I can forgive that, too.

DostoyevskyClone wrote:

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You and I had briefly 'talked' about doing a poll/polls Sho, which I'm still interested in. In fact, I've learned that a Pre-Poll thread can help, since the original poster can leave out/forget to include certain things. Feel free to message me if you'd prefer.

There's a bunch of questions we have to find answers to for the "poll project":

• Do we care to fashion the polls in such a way that I can extract the data for a page like the one I made for the TrekLit reviews?
• Because if so, we need per-episode polls, which requires per-episode threads. Which begs the question whether it's too late now that we have this thread for the entire sampler. And later, when full season sets arrive, what are we going to do then - open 22/26 threads at once? Hrm.
• What do we want the polls to be about? They have to pose a clearly defined question, not something vague enough to fit both "how did you like the ep?" and "how well do you think it was remastered?".
• The poll question and response options also should be fashioned in a way that allows comparisions between threads.

[NewHorizon]

GalaxyX wrote:

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TOS-R was hotrodded.

Yup, and I didn't buy it because the work lacked proper direction. The work jumped in both quality and style from episode to episode. If the original TNG masters for all of the effects were lost, like they were for TOS, I would accept CGI replacement....however if the quality was of TOSR quality, I would pass on buying it.

For the record, if Daren Doctorman had been involved in TOSR, it would have been a far more visually cohesive project. He knows how to get the TOS look with CGI...just like he and his team were able to replicate the filmed footage for STMP DE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVv0Va5K0vk

[BillJ]

Mark 2000 wrote:

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That's George Lucas talking, as well as Steven Spielberg before he realized how ridiculous that is. The thing is, more tech doesn't make things better. TOS-R looks terrible. It's not better than any other fanish, amateur stuff on YouTube.

You also have this odd idea about "original intention". Everything has an original intention. Who's intention are you going to go back to? The writers? The director? The FX guy? The compositer? When you make a building the thing in the architect's head is different than what he draws and what the engineers, planning commission, and general public allow to get made. Original intention is nonsense. What appears is built from ingenuity, skill, imagination, and love. I doubt anyone on the TNG crew walked away day after day seriously thinking "if only!". They would commit suicide if their lives were that bleak.

If you're not into HD, that's fine. Don't buy the set. Your DVD's are great. This is a wonderful excuse for you to not spend anymore. For a lot of people, just like anyone who bought 2001 on tape, DVD, and finally BR increase in quality is plenty enough reason to pick up a set.

[tomswift2002]

The opening to "Sins of The Father" did look odd, but I wonder if that is because CB didn't have a chance to get Paramount to send over a film/HD version of the effect shot in STIII, since in SOTF & " Matter of Honor" both reused shots of the Bird-of-Prey from the movies, especially the shot from II where the Klingons have just disabled the Enterprise, but in TNG the movie Enterprise was replaced with the D. It's just like what they did in the Binus episode with the D docking at star base.

[Tosk]

The shot looks odd because it replicates the style of the original shot. The first few years of TNG had an unfortunate habit of doing space shots where the stars move a lot even if the ship doesn't. But everyone seems to be acting like this is new.

[NewHorizon]

Tosk wrote:

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The shot looks odd because it replicates the style of the original shot. The first few years of TNG had an unfortunate habit of doing space shots where the stars move a lot even if the ship doesn't. But everyone seems to be acting like this is new.

Yeah, I Know. The original shot was weird like that too. lol