Season TWO OFFICIAL TNG Blu-Ray Discussion Thread

[trekker670]

The "Reading Rainbow" episode would be great as it goes through the entire production process as it happened, not a look back, and it shows why they have to do so much work for the remaster

The "Webster" episode would be great too, but I doubt that would happen due to rights and royalties. Either way, I'd be interested in seeing a copy of the episode. I couldn't find it on dvd or online anywhere though.

[Mott the barber]

davejames wrote:

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If I had to guess, I'd way Sirtis was probably one of those giving her a hard time, considering how close she was with McFadden.

That'd be my guess too. The only others she didn't mention in the interview were Sirtis and Frakes, and Frakes doesn't strike me as the type or have as much motive to dislike her.

[Mott the barber]

Everyone take a step back and think about this for a second... Can you believe we're actually debating which episodes will be shown (in high def) on the big screen? (it will be Q Who? and Measure).

I still have to pinch myself that this project ever even happened after all the years of saying it was for all intents and purposes impossible.

[Mr_Homn]

Mott the barber wrote:

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I still have to pinch myself that this project ever even happened after all the years of saying it was for all intents and purposes impossible.

Yeah it's great. Remember all those posts by people claiming "This will never happen"

[mswood]

Warped9 wrote:

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One of the things I like about Season 2 is that it's a nice mixture: we were getting new ideas and new Trek adventures yet it still had something of a TOS resonance to it. Plus it was generally a lot more polished than S1.

While I still find this season a miss, it is an improvement in my view. The writing is a little sharper, the acting is better, the characters more defined, and the production is overall sharper (as it should get after its first year). And as much as I love TOS, TNG shouldn't be TOS, and this season moves further away from TOS (especially the look), heck just in the costume department the break is huge.

[Brikar99]

Mr_Homn wrote:

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Actually, in a way, that would be the perfect thing to show in the theater. It would serve as a great preview to many of the HD restored episodes of the season! Only problem is that it contains so much season one footage too...

Add a '50' in front of it, and the line of bored housewives will be around the block.

[Kegg]

Brikar99 wrote:

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Add a '50' in front of it, and the line of bored housewives will be around the block.

So... watching Shades of Grey fifty times in one seating?

That's not a fate I'd wish on anyone, no matter how bored.

[Warped9]

mswood wrote:

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...And as much as I love TOS, TNG shouldn't be TOS, and this season moves further away from TOS (especially the look), heck just in the costume department the break is huge.

I didn't say it was like TOS I said it resonated with it and nothing wrong with that. And as the franchise lost that resonance over time they also lost me as a viewer.

For me the early TNG seasons (1-4) were like that off-and-on, but then I didn't care anymore. There'd be the occasional decent DS9 episode and the rest was disposable. After that for me it ceased being Star Trek anymore, particularly VOY, ENT and ST09.

[BillJ]

Mott the barber wrote:

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Everyone take a step back and think about this for a second... Can you believe we're actually debating which episodes will be shown (in high def) on the big screen? (it will be Q Who? and Measure).

I'd rather see Contagion and The Royale myself.

[BriGuy]

MikeS wrote:

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Thanks for sharing that excellent find. I only watched from 15 - 30 minutes as that seemed to be the limit of her talk about TNG, but what an insightful 15 minutes!

Also great to see she's still smoking 50-a-day.

She sure looks like it, and that's not good. Looks a lot like my stepmother who died from COPD recently.

[KNH]

Kegg wrote:

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So... watching Shades of Grey fifty times in one seating?

That's not a fate I'd wish on anyone, no matter how bored.

I think he's referring to the, uh, supernatural sexual relief aid in book form that is currently trying to follow in Twilight's footsteps.

[Warped9]

I'm looking forward to Season 2. Last night I finished with S1 and it was worth it.

In this respect I like TNG-R much better than TOS-R (and everyone knows TOS rules for me). Indeed in general I don't like TOS-R. I like TNG-R because it enhanced what was already there. The fixes were minor tweaks rather than wholesale changes. It is what it has always been only with improved colour and clarity.

[tomalak301]

Warped9 wrote:

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I'm looking forward to Season 2. Last night I finished with S1 and it was worth it.

In this respect I like TNG-R much better than TOS-R (and everyone knows TOS rules for me). Indeed in general I don't like TOS-R. I like TNG-R because it enhanced what was already there. The fixes were minor tweaks rather than wholesale changes. It is what it has always been only with improved colour and clarity.

One of the things that originally made me skeptical about the whole remastering process was I felt that the mentality of a show just changes with the passage of time. What I mean is Star Trek was a 60's show yet it seemed like the attitude of most people was that it was out of date and should become a 2008 show. It seemed like the Star Trek remastering took away some of that 60s feel and the respect for a show done at that time was lost.

I didn't feel that for TNG Things still looked like the show was done in the 80s/90s, things just got cleaned up. Of course I wonder what we will be doing, say, 10 years from now when something greater than HD comes along (Like holograms or something) but I like the idea of remastering a show but still respecting the time and technology of when it was originally done.

[The Gentleman]

trekker670 wrote:

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The "Webster" episode would be great too, but I doubt that would happen due to rights and royalties. Either way, I'd be interested in seeing a copy of the episode. I couldn't find it on dvd or online anywhere though.

A possible factor in favor of "Webtrek" is that it's also a Paramount production. I would think that would ease the process somewhat. Wishful thinking, probably.

I love the idea of including this on the blu-ray. Especially since the episode is apparently a clip-show itself, the dream sequence on the Enterprise with Worf used as the framing device. What better way to respond to longstanding complains about "Shades of Grey" than by adding ANOTHER clip show to the set! In any case, I *think* chronologically it belongs with the second season, but since I haven't even seen a screen shot for all I know Worf is still in his red uniform (dating it 1st season).

I've wanted to see this for many years, despite the complete certainty that it will be awful (I had a similar fascination with the Star Wars Holiday Special). I've been frustrated to never found a copy online. Surely some obsessive Trek fan recorded this on VHS when it was originally broadcast could convert and upload a copy! Somehow I suspect the rights holders aren't prioritizing stamping out Webster copyright violations.

Over the last year or so, Shout Factory has been releasing full season sets of the show, but this initiative may have stalled out as of the 4th season(though they are releasing a best of set, it doesn't seem to include Webtrek). This might be just as well, as I don't know if I can bring myself to buy an entire season of Webster, just for the sake of satisfying my morbid curiosity. But at least it would have put a digitalized version of the episode "out there."

There is another set out there that claims to feature the entire series, but my best guess is that it's a bootleg.

Here's some wild speculation. What if CBS can't release the episode because of the Webster rights issues, but Shout Factory also can't release it due to the Star Trek rights issues? In that case, wouldn't you think a mutually beneficial deal could be worked out where both sides agreed to let each other include it in their respective sets?

[davejames]

mswood wrote:

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While I still find this season a miss, it is an improvement in my view. The writing is a little sharper, the acting is better, the characters more defined, and the production is overall sharper (as it should get after its first year). And as much as I love TOS, TNG shouldn't be TOS, and this season moves further away from TOS (especially the look), heck just in the costume department the break is huge.

Yeah I'd agree. As great as some episodes were in the first season, there was still this cornball, "gee whiz" feel to the whole thing, like they were aiming it more towards a younger audience or something.

But in the second season you can feel the tone getting a bit more serious and adult, and the characters seemed to act more like actual professionals (who are less prone to saying things like "Woo-eee!", for example).