The OFFICIAL STNG-R general discussion thread!

Well we might not know exactly what happens with the 4-ft model shots for years yet, because we have to get through seasons 1 and 2 first!

There is a shot of the 2ft model from the underside where it passes by the camera, I will find a cap in a bit.... I think its going to look like shi* in HD.

 

Nerds will...

Honestly... the differences are big... really big!

 

Just looking at the screencaps posted at Trekcore. Funny how "EaF" looks better than the later season episodes included on the preview disc. Contrast and colour are far bolder. Interesting.

 

To me the best change isn't so much the added detail, but the fact they finally got rid of that awful pink tint the show had.

 

Yes!! That pink tint was AWFUL, and permeated pretty much every episode in the first season. My eyes are totally adjusted to it after watching the episodes so many times, so seeing the HD masters without the tint is bizarre!

Ha, yes!! I noticed this too - although I'm sure this is primarily down to the change in the lighting on the show after the 2nd season.

 

Oh yeah, forgot about Ten Forward. And then they had to fatten up the other hull to remain consistent.

I know I'm in the minority, but looking over screenshots of both models.... I have to say I slightly prefer the 4-footer. I always thought the thicker aztec panels were a huge improvement, and the fatter hull thing doesn't really bother me all that much.

Of course the ideal would obviously be putting the aztecking on the thinner hull.

 

No, because it's slit-scan photography, not CG... just like in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The film is exposed as it moves through a slit-shaped aperture:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-1kkB_qF28&feature=related[/yt]

or even:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x06/wherenoone053.jpg

 

The Enterprise-D jumping to warp just ahead of the Amargosa shockwave is possibly the best they've ever done.

Chekov jumping the Enterprise-A to warp to dodge that Klingon torpedo is possibly the worst.

 

Yeah, when Marvin Rush took over for Ed Brown as Director of Photography, the style he used had more fill lighting in the shadows. Jonathan West in seasons 6 & 7 used even more! Especially the bridge. It just gets brighter and brighter and brighter as the show goes on. Then in Generations it's dramatically lit again! That was Chinatown DP John Alonzo, by the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fill_light

 

As I am watching season 1 all the way through, I am noticing how much more cinematic the show was back in 87 as opposed to the early 90's. The show had a very unique feel in terms of direction, sound and style. Interesting that it lost that along its way.

 

I much prefer re-watching seasons 1 and 2 over 5,6 and 7 nowadays, whereas years ago I would have thought the opposite. After season 4 ended the show became much more talky/soapy and filled with too much technobabble whilst abandoning its action/adventure/scifi beginnings.

 

It's ironic that pretty much the same thing happened with TOS. The first season had all these interesting camera angles and shadows everywhere, and by the end everything was completely flat and washed out.

Shame that both series had to go in that direction.

 

I still think seasons 3-6 are the strongest, but yeah, it's mostly the first two that I'm really looking forward to revisiting in HD-- just because they were so much more visually dynamic and experimental.

The storytelling might have improved later on, but it also got a lot more safe and formulaic.

 

^ Agreed. I think the stories were there in the first 2 seasons, just let down by some less than stellar scripts and acting. But there was a sense of adventure and wonder that was lost towards the end, IMHO of course.

 

Using one of the Blu-ray screenshots (the only one I could use, annoyingly!), I've made a 1080p desktop wallpaper, cloned outwards on one side to make it widescreen, then flipped.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9457/tnghd.jpg

Slightly iffy planet edge aside, it's quite nice. I might try cropping one instead of extending, but then you don't get the full resolution out of it.

EDIT:
A couple more widescreen wallpapers. These ones are cropped, so they lost a bit of detail (and I reduced the grain a little)...

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4448/tnghd1.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6307/tnghd2.jpg

 

The fly-along shot of the Enterprise and Excelsior-Class looks good, though the Excelsior-class looks maybe a bit out of scale to the -D.

 

Redemption is a good example, because at the beginning of the trip to the Neutral Zone, all the ships are together in a convoy. I'd like to see more than 3, not all 30 are necessary, but they have a chance to CGI in at least 10-12 or more ships.

The Warbirds were always shown as confrontational, and this is only because of the budget they had (couldn't keep showing battles, too much money to keep blowing up models).

And this really is my biggest gripe with the whole concept of keeping it "true to the original".

It was only "original" because they didn't have the budget do massively upscaled battle sequences. A good example would be "The Survivors". They actually did a great job with the battle sequences there, but only because I understand that for the time, this was a huge undertaking! and I was happy to get that much on screen. That battle would be more kick ass if they actually have the ships do more on screen.

I still have my hopes that they will. Keeping it "true to the original" can mean true to the original intent.

Think of TOS-R's "The Doomsday Machine". I know the casual viewer who remembers the original episode was blown away by the remake. I know my dad was, he loves TOS, but now he adores it. I believe TOS-R stayed true to the series, as the same scenes were kept but updated (like the more realistic matte paintings, etc). When the episode needed it though, like in Doomsday Machine, they freakin' delivered! Why can't they do the same with TNG. I'd be happy if they keep everything the same, but enhance the scenes with the Borg Battles, key scenes with Romulans, and the last fight with the Klingons in AGT.

From what I've seen so far, the remastering is worth buying the Blu-ray sets when they come out, so they already got me hooked. I'm a beggar and I can complain, but I'll take anything better than what's there now.

 

Here's the Season 5 title card. Interestingly enough, it looks like they kept the original starfield, but the streak photography element (reminiscent of the kind used in the credits of Superman: The Movie, Superman II, etc.) doesn't match or the timing is off for this frame. They also composited it too bright, so the series title is more difficult to read:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/104549

And the blue glow on the left is gone, so we can assume it's gone on the end credits too.

 

Nice, thank you. For my own use, I fixed up the flipped shuttlebays (anal, I know) so that they are back in the right spot. If you want my slightly altered version...