Season SEVEN OFFICIAL TNG Blu-Ray Discussion Thread

[jimbotron]

I'm watching Pegasus now and at eight around 25 minutes in, there's an aft shot of the Enterprise in the asteroid field that appears to be CG. I don't recall this being mentioned previously.

Yup, it was originally stock footage from Booby Trap, which was replaced with the CGI model for TNG-HD. http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x06/booby_trap_hd_305.jpg . That shot is seen again in Genesis too.

The CGI Enterprise is also seen replacing this shot:
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s7/7x12/thepegasus102.jpg

 

[trekker670]

I just watched Lower Decks. I noticed a nice touch during the last scene in Ten Forward, the ensign that was Riker's parallel did the "Riker Maneuver" while taking his seat. It was subtle, but a really good addition to the scene. Props to whoever in the production made that call.

 

[Admiral Bear]

My Nordic Season 7 turned up today from Finland. Feeling rather sad that there's no more to come, and that this really does seem to be it.

Only had the briefest of looks, but All Good Things is showing a lot of excess grain early on in certain shots, even after playing with the sharpness controls on the TV. It's particularly apparent in the pre-credit opening with Troi and Worf which is also a lot darker than I remember it. Also a lot of grain in the blue sky during the Picard and Geordi vinyard scene. The other interior scenes which I've seen look very nice.

Will watch The Pegasus tonight.

Edit: The Pegasus. . .sweeeeeeeeeeet. Oh my, the shot of the Enterprise just as it's entered the asteroid.

I puddled.

Slight shame about the one CGI Enterprise shot. It's very nice, but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[tomalak301]

I know people rat on Masks as being one of the series worst episodes, but it is my guilty pleasure and one of my favorite episodes of Season 7 and the blu ray transfer for it looked amazing. Loved watching the transformation of the Enterprise into the Alien city and when it transfers back to normal. Also, the shots of the archive and the comet look really really nice. I had forgotten how visually great this episode was, as well as Spiner's performance and the whole mystique of it.

 

[jimbotron]

Much like with season 1, the Blu-ray presentation gives me a new appreciation for this season, even a stinker like Sub Rosa. Even if the plot sucks, it's still a feast for the eyes (and ears). The episodes that go low on the lighting (Sub Rosa, Masks, Genesis) come off particularly well.

 

[Balok's Head]

Some interesting discussion on cinematography here. I liked Marvin Rush's work the best, the show just looked too bright and flat to me for the last two seasons. The blu ray's make this even more noticeable, and the late TNG era flat wallpaper music certainly doesn't help! Just made the show look like it was phoning it in for the remainder of the series.

I also have noticed the way the bridge set is lit in Encounter at Farpoint is completely different from the other 1st season episodes. The lighting looks far superior IMO, after that the cinematography seems much darker, harsher and somewhat cheaper for the rest of the season.

The only other episode that looks like the pilot in terms of lighting (particularity the bridge set) is and The Naked Now from what I've noticed.

Does any know know what went on with this?

 

[MikeS]

It's not the best season, but it's nowhere near the worst. Actually, in watching the Blu Ray, I might put it above Season 5, which was the year of the children which was annoying.

Agree completely. Season five is well over-rated.

 

[Salinga]

Fun fact I learned from the S7 extras (directors discussion): Patrick Stewart avoided blinking with his eyes on camera, because it would make the character of Picard appear weak.

 

[Salinga]

Watching Genesis now. I notice that the cinematography is very different. The camera placement and angles differ from the more standard camera placement. It's noticeable early on in the bridge scenes. I guess Gates was changing things up in her directorial debut.

... and according to the extras, Gates was even held back. If the producers would let her do what she wanted, the episode would even be much more "crazy" regarding the direction (like dropping Barcley from the ceiling like a real spider).

 

[jimbotron]

It's not the best season, but it's nowhere near the worst. Actually, in watching the Blu Ray, I might put it above Season 5, which was the year of the children which was annoying.

Agree completely. Season five is well over-rated.

It's also the year of Ro Laren, so that balances it out, I think.

 

[Admiral Bear]

Sub Rosa. . .not great, but unfairly labelled a terrible episode. All those dark scenes in Granny Howard's old house looked really clear and crisp in HD. I sat there watching it thinking it was quite an effective old fashioned ghost story.

For British fans of a certain vintage, it reminded me slightly of Tales of the Unexpected.

Going back to the first season season of new Doctor Who some years ago. . sorry, I'm crossing shows, but there's a scene in The Unquiet Dead where the old dead woman lying in the coffin is infused with the blue alien mist, sits up, gets out of the coffin, and runs out of the funeral home. Looked very much to me like it could've been copied from the scene in Sub Rosa where Ronan goes in to the body of Granny Howard and briefly brings her back to life.

 

[Lance]

Oh, there are definitely elements of Sub Rosa that almost, but not quite, manage to succeed on merit of their audacity. But I think what hurts it is the feeling that it's just treading ground. We subsciously recognise that the show is finishing up, yet they're wasting what precious air time they have left on garbage like this?

There are actually a lot of episodes in Season 7 that feel that way to me. Season 6 felt like it was still breaking new ground, but Season 7 feels almost like a contractual obligation album.

 

[tomalak301]

Oh, there are definitely elements of Sub Rosa that almost, but not quite, manage to succeed on merit of their audacity. But I think what hurts it is the feeling that it's just treading ground. We subsciously recognise that the show is finishing up, yet they're wasting what precious air time they have left on garbage like this?

I don't get this argument for TNG because it wasn't an arc based series. How would you wrap up a series like this where you pretty much judge the episode on it's own. Of course there are a few episodes that do provide some closure like Journey's End, Firstborn, and Preemptive Strike, but this series didn't really need to wrap up anything other than in the final episode.

 

[Lance]

Oh, there are definitely elements of Sub Rosa that almost, but not quite, manage to succeed on merit of their audacity. But I think what hurts it is the feeling that it's just treading ground. We subsciously recognise that the show is finishing up, yet they're wasting what precious air time they have left on garbage like this?

I don't get this argument for TNG because it wasn't an arc based series. How would you wrap up a series like this where you pretty much judge the episode on it's own. Of course there are a few episodes that do provide some closure like Journey's End, Firstborn, and Preemptive Strike, but this series didn't really need to wrap up anything other than in the final episode.

It isn't really about being a part of an arc, more the sense that there are multiple episodes that just feel like they're killing time, rather than being of merit within and of themselves. It's like the season is bloated by filler.

 

[Admiral Bear]

I don't get this argument for TNG because it wasn't an arc based series. How would you wrap up a series like this where you pretty much judge the episode on it's own. Of course there are a few episodes that do provide some closure like Journey's End, Firstborn, and Preemptive Strike, but this series didn't really need to wrap up anything other than in the final episode.

Agreed. The lives of the Enterprise crew wern't finishing or moving on to another phase a la What You Leave Behind, and the cast and writers all knew the adventures would continue on the big screen, so there was no need to wrap anything up. That said, All Good Things is a very good and clever bookend to 7 seasons.

 

[Admiral Bear]

Luckily I chose to preorder. For about a day Amazon lowered the price to about £125 so their guarantee of charging the lowest pre-release price came in handy. But I would've thought there's a decent chance of it being in the Boxing Day sale.

For the first time I'll be watching TNG in order from start to finish though! In the past it has always been random episodes on TV or favourites I've fancied watching from the box set. Can't wait given the reception and the comparisons against SD I've seen online. I'm just hoping some of the season 1&2 episodes aren't as poor as I've remembered them being in the past when I've tried watching them...

Having just seen a customer video on Amazon showing the packaging of the complete set, can I ask what you think of those two awful looking fat Amaray cases?

 

[tomalak301]

Watched All Good Things... tonight and I still want to hand it to CBS digital for this project. It was a great project and I'm glad to get my favorite series on blu ray in High Defination. For the most part it looks beautiful and watching the finale tonight, it felt like being transported back to 1994 watching the episode for the first time. That ending, from Picard talking to Q ("That is the exploration that awaits you, not mapping stars or studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities...of existence) to the final poker scene, still gets me. It was a brilliant ending and why All Good Things is my favorite of the Trek finales.

Now back to Enterprise and the Xindi Arc, which is where I stopped to watch TNG Season 7.

 

[Salinga]

The problem of season 7 with its technobabble deus ex machina galore already begins with "Decent II" (and was unfortunatly a forshadowing for VOY). Its just lazy story telling. I know the writers were really struggling with DS9, GEN and VOY in the making during that season, but it now always takes me right out of the story when I watch an episode and suddenly a technical device pops up that combined with technobabble saves the day just when you need it. It hurts enjoying the show.

 

[MikeS]

The problem of season 7 with its technobabble deus ex machina galore already begins with "Decent II" (and was unfortunatly a forshadowing for VOY). Its just lazy story telling. I know the writers were really struggling with DS9, GEN and VOY in the making during that season, but it now always takes me right out of the story when I watch an episode and suddenly a technical device pops up that combined with technobabble saves the day just when you need it. It hurts enjoying the show.

Which episodes? I recognise that accusation when levelled at Voyager but how many episodes of TNG relied on it?

 

[tomalak301]

The problem of season 7 with its technobabble deus ex machina galore already begins with "Decent II" (and was unfortunatly a forshadowing for VOY). Its just lazy story telling. I know the writers were really struggling with DS9, GEN and VOY in the making during that season, but it now always takes me right out of the story when I watch an episode and suddenly a technical device pops up that combined with technobabble saves the day just when you need it. It hurts enjoying the show.

Which episodes? I recognise that accusation when levelled at Voyager but how many episodes of TNG relied on it?

Maybe Genesis, but I really wasn't bothered with the Technobabble on TNG as I was with Voyager. Maybe it's just watching the episodes over and over again that it's not a big deal any more?