Rumor: TNG-HD is a-coming

[MrPointy]

http://trekmovie.com/2011/05/09/rumor-cbs-moving-forward-with-star-trek-tng-in-hd-project/

YES. GOD YES. MAKE IT SO.

Basically, there are a lot of technical issues with the SFX making it a giant hurdle to do a TOS-R style remastering. Aparently, they've fixed it and CBS are willing to give TNG-R the go ahead.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I won't believe it until it's official, but I hope they do a good job of it. Since it's such a big job, I hope they have the money and time to do it justice.

 

[Harvey]

I'll wait until the official word, of course, but I hope it happens.

 

[Art Vandelay]

God, I hope this is true.

I just hope that if CBS decides to do this, enough people take the plunge, double-dip and buy those Blu-rays. The worst case scenario is CBS stopping after a few seasons just because the sales aren't there. TNG in HD must me a smash hit, after all I'm really waiting for DS9 to go that route.

What I don't get is why they don't test the waters by releasing Enterprise on Blu-ray. That series was shot in high definition, so the necessary investment is minimal.

 

[ALF]

Quality:
I can't wait to see it.

 

[Harvey]

What I don't get is why they don't test the waters by releasing Enterprise on Blu-ray. That series was shot in high definition, so the necessary investment is minimal.

That series was less popular, and has already been seen in HD, so it wouldn't be a very good test balloon for TNG. That said, I'm surprised it wasn't released on Blu-Ray to coincide with the last movie. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens when the next film is released, since so little investment would be needed to release the set (though I do kind of hope more audio commentaries, etc., are done for it).

 

[exalted one]

I surely hope they'll hire someone else to do it. Okudas, no matter how much I respect their work, took way too much liberty with original Star Trek. Turning black-on-white clock display into yellow-on-black for no good reason (totally oblivious to the fact black on white is inherently easier to read and thus much more probable to be used in a professional environment)? Making stars tiny, almost invisible in standard definition? Recoloring all the pretty planets for the sake of "realism"? TNG doesn't need no such tampering, does it?

 

[ALF]

TNG doesn't need no such tampering, does it?

TNG looks a little muddy in places, and I'm not talking about the special effects. The overall product could use a digital lather and scrub.

 

[Harvey]

In the very least it could use a return to the original 35mm film elements, which hopefully will see at least some clean-up.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I surely hope they'll hire someone else to do it. Okudas, no matter how much I respect their work, took way too much liberty with original Star Trek. Turning black-on-white clock display into yellow-on-black for no good reason (totally oblivious to the fact black on white is inherently easier to read and thus much more probable to be used in a professional environment)? Making stars tiny, almost invisible in standard definition? Recoloring all the pretty planets for the sake of "realism"? TNG doesn't need no such tampering, does it?

And here I always thought the general consensus was that the Okudas treated TOS with an incredible amount of respect. They only touched up things that would have been done better had the technical means and the budget been available in the late 60s. Also, I have no idea what that clock is you're talking about, and there were certainly bigger things that were changed that one might complain about. (Like retconning a Vanguard-type station into The Ultimate Computer, which I thought was a very nice touch.)

As for the tiny stars I can only say: Then don't watch TOS-R in standard definition!

Finally, please take a look at the "pretty" planets on early TNG. On big screens you can see they are really bad 80s CGI, you can even tell how they were created:

a) Create a flat picture of the planet's surface.
b) Blow the picture up to 500%.
c) Blur. (So those huge pixels kinda meld into each other, but not really.)
d) Wrap around a spherical shape.

Just horrible.

 

[Zaku]

I believe it is just too much expensive:

1. Rescan negative orginal cuts (hoping nothing is lost)
2. new FX
3. Editing the film again

Basically is a new postproduction for every single episode.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

I really, really want this. The video quality on much of TNG is absolutely appalling - shockingly so on many episodes. On a very large screen it's incredibly distracting (blurry, smeared, horrible screen edge artifacts etc.), to the point where it becomes close to unwatchable and necessitates transfer to a smaller screen to make it bearable.

 

[Jefferies]

This has made my day! I hope to god this is true! The future belongs in HD!

 

[Skywalker]

I really hope this happens, too. Sure, redoing the effects would be expensive, but I think CBS would more than make their money back in sales and syndication.

 

[RAMA]

I want to remind everyone they'd been working on the TOS-R for a long time before the official announcement.....I made this reminder a few weeks ago as well.

Edit: OK so it will show on Netflix first..that's fine..the poll shows 66% of the respondents are willing to buy the blurays!! There's your sign CBS!! 92% are interested in seeing(paying)if you include itunes or netflix.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

I surely hope they'll hire someone else to do it. Okudas, no matter how much I respect their work, took way too much liberty with original Star Trek. Turning black-on-white clock display into yellow-on-black for no good reason (totally oblivious to the fact black on white is inherently easier to read and thus much more probable to be used in a professional environment)? Making stars tiny, almost invisible in standard definition? Recoloring all the pretty planets for the sake of "realism"? TNG doesn't need no such tampering, does it?

No, they did treat it with a lot of respect, and the creators from the original series who are still alive thought so too. Honestly your examples are so miniscule and ridiculous I laughed out loud when I saw it. If anything they should have done MORE work on the original show, not less...but I am satified the product struck a balance that satisfied most people.

RAMA

 

[MrPointy]

Remastered TNG is going to sell bucketloads on any format. I didn't get TOS-R; I never completely got into 60's Trek, but I would buy TNG Bluray in a heartbeat.

I'm hoping that if it does happen, we'll eventually get HD upscales of DS9 and Voyager, not complete remastering because they probably don't need it.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Remastered TNG is going to sell bucketloads on any format. I didn't get TOS-R; I never completely got into 60's Trek, but I would buy TNG Bluray in a heartbeat.

I'm hoping that if it does happen, we'll eventually get HD upscales of DS9 and Voyager, not complete remastering because they probably don't need it.

I think Voyager and DS9 would require the same level of time and work as TNG, because I think the editing and FX were pretty much done the same way despite the better quality, and I know many if not all of the CG shots are pretty much lost and would need to be redone from scratch (for the later seasons that used CG).
So since they are all 7 seasons, I'd say they're just as much trouble as TNG to remaster in that way, and neither one is as popular as TNG. It just depends on how long it takes before CBS believes it's worth the investment. And let's see how long it takes them to finish up remastering 7 seasons of TNG. I can't imagine them putting that time into Voyager especially (as much as I love it).

 

[Doug Otte]

I'm highly skeptical about this speculative rumor, for two reasons:
1) Hugely expensive and labor-intensive, as Zaku detailed above;
2) Do Netflix streamers really care about picture quality? Wouldn't they just watch the SD original versions of TNG without complaint?

Doug

PS I hope I'm wrong, and I'll gladly come back here and eat raw Targ (and I'm a vegetarian!) if the rumor is true.

 

[Campe]

As a Netflix streamer, I do care about picture quality. You can definitely tell the difference between SD and HD even when it streams.

Having said that, I'm excited to see what they can do with this, but I don't think I'll buy this on Blu-Ray. I don't think TNG has aged all that well, at least enough so I don't want to purchase it.