The OFFICIAL STNG Next Level Bluray watch and review thread

[davejames]

I also watched Sins of the Father. The opening shot is likely a matte painting, because there is zero movement. The stars move, but the ships (both the D and BOP) remain dead still. It looks a little odd If I'm honest, but hey, its just the one shot. The rest of the episode looks crisp and detailed, and, well, while Sins of the Father isn't my favourate TNG episode, its a solid "average" ep in my opinion, and the HD treatment gives it a bit of extra shine to make it really engrossing.

Interesting. I guess Okuda was right after all about that being a matte painting and not a new CG model.

 

[Maxwell Everett]

I also watched Sins of the Father. The opening shot is likely a matte painting, because there is zero movement. The stars move, but the ships (both the D and BOP) remain dead still. It looks a little odd If I'm honest, but hey, its just the one shot. The rest of the episode looks crisp and detailed, and, well, while Sins of the Father isn't my favourate TNG episode, its a solid "average" ep in my opinion, and the HD treatment gives it a bit of extra shine to make it really engrossing.

Interesting. I guess Okuda was right after all about that being a matte painting and not a new CG model.

I'm fairly certain the ships we're seeing in that shot are still 3D models (in the case of the Enterprise, the same one we've seen other shots of) that were rendered together as a still image, rather than animation and possibly manipulated further by a 2D artist... hence the term "matte painting."

From Wikipedia:

Paint has now been superseded by digital images created using photo references, 3-D models, and drawing tablets.

 

[Dac]

Well, yeah. I don't think it was painted, I mean it looked like a 2D shot.

 

[Dac]

I just watched The Inner Light, and that opening shot did not look nice to me. Sure, its vaguely close, but the flight path is wrong (well, wrong is relative, its more to the right than it was) and it looks really CG at the end of it. They've also done away with the the Katan glow when the sun is slowly going nova. Overall the rest of the episode looks great, and in comparison to Sins of the Father the stuff on the bridge looks really vibrant and has deep blacks. SOTF seemed a tad washed out I felt.

 

[davejames]

Well that was always painfully obvious i thought, the guy weighs like 20 pounds less than Brent did even back then!

There were a LOT of really obvious stunt doubles in the first season (like the fake Riker fighting the Admiral in Too Short a Season).

Thankfully later on they seemed to rely more on the actors, or just got better at hiding it.

 

[Mark 2000]

That's what I expected. The SOTF shot is a heavily edited, static CG render at best and the IL shot just looks bad. So, do we still want the 4 foot model erased and replaced? I'm guessing that answer is going to be more and more of a no as people get to see the footage.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'd guess the 4-Foot model can still be replaced well enough with CGI.

 

[davejames]

Well didn't someone say that the team working on the season sets is different from the Next Level team? They might be making some decisions now that are different from what they did on these 3 eps.

 

[GNDN]

Haven't seen it in motion, but the IL CG shot looked pretty poor in the still. Sadly this does not surprise me, and hopefully it will be re-worked before the Season Sets are released.

I'll be happy to see the 4-footer rendered in HD.

 

[RAMA]

Only have seen the previews so far...nearly fell over...

RAMA

 

[22 Stars]

Did you guys take the day off!? Why am I the only stooge at work and not watching this right now!? I believe my doorman now has the disc, I hope he isn't watching it too...

 

[BillJ]

Unfortunately, the remastering hasn't improved Denise Crosby's acting.

 

[RAMA]

I'm on vacation...lucky me. I'm getting paid to watch this!!

 

[22 Stars]

lol BillJ, @RAMA, well played sir, well played... I will be watching at 5 EST.

 

[BillJ]

The Farpoint mall scenes look even cheaper in 1080p than 480i.

There are times the fuzziness helps.

 

[BillJ]

Noticing some color banding in the first briefing lounge scenes. The only time I've noticed it.

 

[Kelso]

I'll be watching as soon as my fiance gets home from work. Can't wait!

 

[BillJ]

I understand why they changed Data's lip color later on. He looks like the Joker in Encounter at Farpoint.

Never notice that Spiner has a stunt double in the holodeck scene when hopping across the rocks.

 

[beamMe]

I just watched The Inner Light, and that opening shot did not look nice to me. Sure, its vaguely close, but the flight path is wrong (well, wrong is relative, its more to the right than it was) and it looks really CG at the end of it. They've also done away with the the Katan glow when the sun is slowly going nova. Overall the rest of the episode looks great, and in comparison to Sins of the Father the stuff on the bridge looks really vibrant and has deep blacks. SOTF seemed a tad washed out I felt.

I'm not sure you are correct. The ship always kept fairly to the right in that shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPD4J3Mhy3Y

 

[BillJ]

I never realized it before, but the "hope we can be friends" scene between Picard and Crusher is placed in a really odd spot in the episode.