picked it up, not a bad set, wish the menus were better tailored for each film, the overall design is a bit too generic
Agreed. The menus for the Special Collector's Edition DVDs were much better.
Honestly, if you DON'T have a Blu-Ray player, don't worry about it over this set. Aside from the trailers for Generations and Nemesis, you're not missing much. And you can see the trailers on YouTube anytime you like. :-)
I don't have a Blu-Ray player. However, FYE knocked $20 off the price of the new DVD box set of the
Next Generation films. Add that to my 20% birthday discount, and I couldn't resist.
The DVD version of the set doesn't include any trailers for any of the films (apart from the final threatrical trailer for the J.J. Abrams movie). Nor does it include any of the old commentary tracks, such as the excellent Brannon Braga/Ronald D. Moore commentaries. Instead, it's mostly commentaries from people who had little to nothing to do with the making of the film. The only thing I liked was the beginning of the
Generations commentary, when Manny Coto is giving a shout out to
Odyssey 5 (which David Carson directed the pilot of).
As for the new bonus documentaries, most of them aren't very good. They're certainly nowhere near as comprehensive as what you'll find on the Special Collector's Edition DVDs. A few of them are kinda nice though. The villains one is really good, particularly getting to hear Nicholas Meyer's take on Dr. Soran. The multi-part Brent Spiner interview gives a new perspective on the man. "I Love the Star Trek Movies" is a total puff piece but a fun bit of mutual Trekkie nostalgia. Although, for a bonus feature on the
Next Generation movies set, it's conspicuously lacking in
Next Gen. movie moements (other than Captain Picard smashing the window in
First Contact). Although Frakes & Sirtis were incapable of doing a compelling
Insurrection commentary track, their documentary is pretty fun. They obviously have great chemistry (better chemistry IRL than on screen, I'd say). I love their pitch for a Riker & Troi sitcom.
As for the new transfers of the film, they do look absolutely gorgeous, even on my crappy TV. But with one exception:
Nemesis looks too light now. On my old DVD, it looks very black & moody. On the new one, it's too brightly lit, particularly in Shinzon's first scene. When he comes up to touch Troi's hair, we get a clear view of his face before the big reveal. On the old DVD, his face is completely obscured by darkness until he raises the lighting 4 levels.
Not that it was such a great reveal to begin with. Everyone knew from the reviews going in that Shinzon was a clone of Captain Picard. Plus, I don't see such a definitive resemblance between Tom Hardy & Patrick Stewart. I'm able to suspend my disbelief for the movie but that particular moment I don't think reads very well. Let's face it, despite the prosthetic nose & chin they've put onto Hardy, he still doesn't look much like Stewart. That's why they shaved his head, because baldness is Stewart's most prominent feature.
Still, WTF is up with that drastic lighting difference?
I suspect that Paramount was too cheap (befitting its reputation) to actually pay for the licensing rights for the actual cast.
Which would seem odd because it's not as if Frakes, Burton, Mulgrew, Picardo, & Krige aren't already, you know, IN the movies we've bought on the set.
