Season TWO OFFICIAL TNG Blu-Ray Discussion Thread

[JJ-R]

What do you think the chances are of seasons 3, 4, and 5 all being released next year, as opposed to the twice-yearly schedule CBS initially projected?

Since the team are deep into season 3, releasing it in time for the new Abrams movie seems plausible, as well as a no-brainer in publicity terms. At the pace they've established, season 4 coming out around August and season 5 in December seems entirely possible.

Plus, CBS no doubt would like TNG-R finished ASAP so it can be sold into syndication. And maybe we would then see DS9-R in late 2014. A dream perhaps, but it would make sense to keep the infrastructure in place, after all.

Maxwell, did you get the impression that the second team hired to scan and edit the season 3 film were to be a permanent addition? Or just a stopgap to help pick up the pace?

[JJ-R]

FrontierTrek wrote:

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Report on upcoming Season 2 at TrekCore: http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/09052012_s2initial.html

I cannot emphasize enough how AMAZING this release is going to be!

Argh, tantalising! Sounds like you've heard whatever Robert Meyer Burnett just heard. Suddenly the question about three versions of Measure of a Man is reduced to miniscule importance.

And so it's Rob Bowman on the Q Who commentary - that makes a lot more sense. I look forward to any insights he may offer about his more innovative shooting techniques and why they weren't received well.

Naturally I'm not remotely dissatisfied with the extras on these releases, but I was hoping for a featurette each season on the restoration work, covering any new hurdles they discovered and giving us a sense of the progress of this mammoth project. Perhaps on season 3, when episodes like Yesterday's Enterprise and BOBW come into play.

[FrontierTrek]

I would imagine Season 3 and 4 will hit shelves next year.

A lot of the mystery about the remastering of the sets, schedules and processes should hopefully be cleared up when I publish our interview with CBS Digital next week. They were extremely helpful and candid, and I'm sure everyone will be very excited about what the team have to say.

Season 2 is going to drive fans crazy! That's all I will say. There's going to be no sitting on the fence with this release, it is a MUST MUST MUST buy!

[USS Intrepid]

Really looking forward to season 2. There are a quite a few of my favourites in there.

I may actually be the only person looking forward to The Dauphin.

[Falcor5]

FrontierTrek wrote:

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Report on upcoming Season 2 at TrekCore: http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/09052012_s2initial.html

I cannot emphasize enough how AMAZING this release is going to be!

AAaah now I am getting really excited to hear what all the surprises will be!!!

[Maxwell Everett]

JJ-R wrote:

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Maxwell, did you get the impression that the second team hired to scan and edit the season 3 film were to be a permanent addition? Or just a stopgap to help pick up the pace?

Back in June I was only told Season Two and Three were being worked on concurrently and that they had "a second team working at the same time."

Turns out it was Illuminate Hollywood (according to Dan Curry in a video posted by Larry Nemecek) who were brought in to handle most of the workload of Season Two, while CBS Digital were supposedly busy working on Season Three. It's likely they are alternating even/odd seasons -- Illuminate says on their website they are working on "multiple seasons." According to them, they are using a relatively new process called iConform (<--definitely read this page) to do the restoration work on Season Two (and others).

FrontierTrek probably has a definitive answer on my even/odd speculation. I guess we'll know sometime next week.

[JJ-R]

Maxwell Everett wrote:

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According to them, they are using a relatively new process called iConform (<--definitely read this page) to do the restoration work on Season Two (and others).

Wow - great find, Maxwell. I wonder if this service has only been established since TNG-R got up and running.

So we've gone from thinking that re-doing post-production on a video-edited/composited show like TNG was either impossible or too much work, to CBS figuring out a way to do it, to now a third party developing a technology and system so that studios can pay for it to be done more quickly and cheaply. That's a startling transition over the last couple of years.

It seems that a lot more has developed in the industry in this regard than we may have thought. It also suggests that there's sufficient demand among rights holders to convert their 80s and 90s content into HD that a service like this is deemed worthwhile.

Perhaps TNG is only the tip of the iceberg. Could The X-Files be next? And might the reduced costs of assembling the footage make the effects work for DS9 and Voyager an acceptable expense?

FrontierTrek wrote:

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Season 2 is going to drive fans crazy! That's all I will say. There's going to be no sitting on the fence with this release, it is a MUST MUST MUST buy!

I can't fathom what this could be, which makes me all the more intrigued. A swath of rediscovered deleted scenes? Shades of Gray re-edited with alternate takes? Footage of the TOS and TNG casts interacting during the filming of Star Trek V? I must know!

[bullethead]

I wonder if the Hybrid Extended cut of Measure of a Man has upscaled VFX, because I remember hearing something about how the TNG-R team would have to completely redo the effects with CGI or something like that.

[Mott the barber]

Warped9 wrote:

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What I'm looking forward to see.

***** Excellent
“Elementary, Dear Data”
“The Measure Of A Man”
“Q Who”

**** Good
“Where Silence Has Lease”
“Unnatural Selection”
“A Matter Of Honor”
“Contagion”
“Pen Pals”
“Up The Long Ladder”

*** Fair
“The Child”
“The Schizoid Man"
“Loud As A Whisper”
“The Emissary”
“Peak Performance”

I'd throw "Time Squared" under "Good" as well.

Wow, the excitement builds all over again! I'll definitely be at that theater screening again as well.

[Jeyl]

Warped9 wrote:

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*** Fair
“The Child”

Nice to know the episode that really cemented women's roles in Star Trek as being nothing but walking incubators and insultingly unprofessional officers has been labeled as being a "Fair" episode. I cannot wait to kill this episode once we get to it on the "Episode a week" topic.

But I will agree that despite some flubs here and there, Season 2 does have some pretty unique and well done stories. One episode I'm looking forward to seeing again is "Where Silence has Lease", even though they kill the black guy.

Worf: "This ship has one bridge. ONE BRIDGE! ONE RIKER, ONE BRIDGE!"

What about the battle bridge?

[Scotty]

Maxwell Everett wrote:

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And I'm puzzled by the "Q Who?" commentary. Forgive my ignorance, but who is Don Berman? Anyone know?

According to Trekcore they mean director Rob Bowman.

[Scotty]

Jeyl wrote:

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Nice to know the episode that really cemented women's roles in Star Trek as being nothing but walking incubators and insultingly unprofessional officers has been labeled as being a "Fair" episode. I cannot wait to kill this episode once we get to it on the "Episode a week" topic.

Woah there! Don't get your femministic panties in a twist. Generalize much? Women's roles on Trek nothing more than incubators and insulting and unprofessional? What about Kira, Dax, Torres, Janeway? These were strong and well written characters. Even Troi was given more respect by the TNG writers in later seasons when she finally donned a starfleet uniform and was promoted to Commander.

[Jeyl]

Scotty wrote:

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Woah there! Don't get your femministic panties in a twist. Generalize much? Women's roles on Trek nothing more than incubators and insulting and unprofessional? What about Kira, Dax, Torres, Janeway? These were strong and well written characters. Even Troi was given more respect by the TNG writers in later seasons when she finally donned a starfleet uniform and was promoted to Commander.

Well, Kira was literally used as someone else's incubator, but that was handled much, much better than in the Child. Dax is a character who certainly earns respect with her being Sisko's right hand officer and being able to earn the respect of three legendary Klingons.

Janeway? Well, she demands respect and loves the Prime Directive more than Picard loves his Earl Grey Tea. Sure, she's the captain, but she doesn't really do anything to earn the respect of the crew under her command. One of her biggest missteps was making Torres the chief engineer, the character who punches officers square in the face, disobeys direct orders, puts the ship in danger and can't even identify fecal matter even with a tricorder. Obviously chief engineer material for starfleet standards.... well, at least standards for Janeway since when it comes to talking about crossing the warp 10 barrier, Tom Paris, Neelix and Harry Kim deliberately shun her off. Obviously the chief engineer whom they respect obviously knows nothing about warp engines. No, the helmsman is the one to turn to.

Also, why would you include Janeway at all? Compare her treatment of Harry Kim to Sisko's treatment of Nog. During the coruse of seven years on DS9, Nog went from a petty thief who ended up serving on DS9 to becoming a fully fledged Starfleet Lieutenant who served on the Defiant under Sisko's command during the Dominion War. During the course of seven years on Voyager, Harry Kim went from ensign to..... ensign. This is a character who has died several times in the line of duty, and Janeway never considers his acts worthy of an additional pin.

But I guess times have changed for the better, because now Star Trek has only one female character in the entire cast and so far she'll leave her station at the drop of a hat whenever it involves her boyfriend. You know her potential is really high when Chekov is the one who does her tasks.

[Trekker4747]

Jeyl wrote:

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Nice to know the episode that really cemented women's roles in Star Trek as being nothing but walking incubators and insultingly unprofessional officers has been labeled as being a "Fair" episode. I cannot wait to kill this episode once we get to it on the "Episode a week" topic.

Generalize much? Calm the fuck down.

...even though they kill the black guy.

Worf: "This ship has one bridge. ONE BRIDGE! ONE RIKER, ONE BRIDGE!"

What about the battle bridge?

Obviously in his rant Worf was talking about the main bridge, the central command center of the entire ship that is usually not connected to another duplicate right next door.

[Scotty]

I think Jeyl that your view on the women of Trek actually says more about you than it does about the show, the characters and the writers intentions.