do the bluray releases make tng more watchable?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by tmosler, Jan 27, 2014.

  1. tmosler

    tmosler Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    a few years ago i watched all the seasons of tng for the first time and loved them. But after rewatching it again on netflix i found it almost unwatchable and even enjoyed the original series more and found it more watchable. My question is does the amazing work done by the remastered team help tng to be more watchable?
     
  2. GNDN

    GNDN Commodore Commodore

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    The blu rays definitely bring out the gorgeous lighting, photography and vfx of the early seasons (which, it so happens, was when TNG was most TOS-like)

    As to the later seasons, they still look gorgeous, but it's still up to you if you enjoy the shift in story-telling style or not.

    I would imagine the sampler disk of three select episodes is available very cheaply nowadays and it is a great example of how both early and later episodes compare.
     
  3. OneBuckFilms

    OneBuckFilms Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Really, I think the strengths of TNG as a show were in the stories and characters, and they were a little shaky at times in the first couple of seasons.

    No amount of visual cleanup can change that.

    What the Blu-ray presentation does do, for me at least, is provide a much more polished presentation of those stories, and work to highlight the audio and visual quality of all areas of production, even if elements were updated.

    It means that some of the visuals that didn't quite work due to the time and technology available, worked a lot better, aiding in the suspension of disbelief.

    So in a way yes, but also no.

    I'm personally floored by the quality of these Blu-rays, and how much detail the producers were able to pull out of the original elements.

    They have also been incredibly, and correctly, faithful to the original episodes, making this more of a restoration and cleanup than anything else.

    To me, this is how a TV show such as TNG should be treated, as the work here adds life to the original work, and keeps new generations talking about and enjoying it as we have.
     
  4. Makarov

    Makarov Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    To me, absolutely. The difference is huge. I watched an episode on Amazon video and the quality was so much worse that it takes some of the believability away for me.
     
  5. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    It's the same exact show.
     
  6. tomalak301

    tomalak301 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Is that how we see shows now? Take a show that was done in the 80s-90s and call it unwatchable by today's standards? How fair is that.

    TNG has always been watchable, but the Blu Rays make it look more beautiful. That shouldn't take away from the characters or stories and characters.
     
  7. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If you don't like the content of the show, a crisper picture won't make any difference.

    I grew up loving TNG, but I also find it almost unwatchable now (and this coming after mostly-enjoyable rewatches of TOS, Voyager and Enterprise in the past few years). My interest in the Blurays is zero.
     
  8. jimbotron

    jimbotron Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Season 1 is the worst season, but before 2012 it was also the worst looking season, either on TV or DVD.

    It now looks very beautiful and pristine. For me, that does help somewhat, but I still only watch the episodes I watched before. When I got the sets, I watched every episode, but HD or not, I'm probably never watching Code of Honor, Angel One, Haven, or The Outrageous Okona again.
     
  9. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Visually it does but storywise and actingwise it's still the same great show.
     
  10. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    The great thing about TNG in high definition on Blu-ray is that the amazing amount of picture resolution and detail makes it seem as if the series had just been produced a year ago (and that the actors hardly aged). It immensely adds to the viewing experience, so yes, it makes TNG (Season One) more watchable.

    Another thing in the future that will help make it more watchable for younger audiences, IMHO, will be a re-formatting into 16:9 widescreen.

    Having seen films and other series in widescreen in HD prior to TNG, image compositions like this with extra head and especially a lot of bottom space made me wonder if it wouldn't look more epic and/or up-to-date to have those extra areas trimmed to get a widescreen image.

    Bob
     
  11. Armored Saint

    Armored Saint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Of course, if your issue is strictly about visual quality, you're better to try with one or two episodes on iTunes (or else), because of course, the remastered TOS on Netflix look well-better than the un-remastered one of TNG.;)
     
  12. Kev72

    Kev72 Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I'm in the same boat; do I want to watch on Netflix or buy on Blu Ray?
     
  13. SpHeRe31459

    SpHeRe31459 Captain Captain

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    Just an FYI, unless something changed very recently, the only two streaming providers that have any TNG remastered seasons are Hulu Plus (S1 and S2) and Amazon Prime Streaming (S1 through S4). Netflix has not updated their copies of TNG last I looked.
     
  14. Borjis

    Borjis Commodore Commodore

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    haha Concur! and add Shades of Grey!
     
  15. Hober Mallow

    Hober Mallow Commodore Commodore

    Nope, TNG on Netflix is still crappy-looking SD.
     
  16. trevanian

    trevanian Rear Admiral

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    But your perception of it is changed (well, I'm guessing, I've only seen frames of TNG on BR.) I assume the difference is probably something akin to seeing excellent VHS tapes from 35mm on TOS in the mid to late 80s in place of a decade of 16mm versions in syndication, which for me was a revelation almost on par with seeing TOS on laserdisc and later on DVD.

    It's not always a good thing ... when I saw the crisper ENEMY WITHIN, I was badly distracted by the makeup on evil Kirk.

    But by and large seeing more detail and with greater clarity improves the experience. Look at BLADE RUNNER on widescreen VHS (yeah, I actually work with somebody who only has movies on VHS) and then look at it on BLU-RAY and yeah, it's the same movie but such a different impact, the BR gets you back to how it looked in the theater (and I'm guessing when they get around to releasing 2001 in 4K it'll be the same trip back in time for me.)
     
  17. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    But that's enhancing or detracting from something you already like. No amount of remastering makes Tasha's "say no to drugs" speech any better.
     
  18. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    It's prettier. But no episode ranks better or worse for me based on the remastering effort. Whether on DVD or Blu-ray, "Code of Honor" and "Sub Rosa" are still dogs and "The Best of Both Worlds" is still great.
     
  19. Isolinear

    Isolinear Commander Red Shirt

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    No! Just NO! If you really want widescreen, tell your TV to use a 16:9 (zoom) aspect-ratio. But don't cut off precious filmed material just to cater to "young audiences". That's wrong.
     
  20. LogicDeLuxe

    LogicDeLuxe Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Agreed. I hate it when TV stations do this. I've seen this done with TAS.
    If that wasn't bad enough, TV stations even do this with interlaced SD sources, which of course looks uglier than necessary, due to the complexity of resizing interlaced material and its already low resolution to begin with.