Season FOUR OFFICIAL TNG Blu-Ray Discussion Thread

[tomalak301]

I'm about 25 minutes into the Art Department feature and man this is some boring stuff. They're not even talking about TNG. At least with the writers room you had personalities and the stories they told were interesting and funny. Not only that, but they provided examples. With these guys I'm not sure if I'm really interested in anything they've brought up so far, and it's something that seems to be better fit on the DS9 Blu Rays.

I fell asleep 3 or 4 times while trying to watch it the first time. I feel asleep again the second time while watching it. It was after my fourth attempt that I finally finished it. It really need an outside moderator to keep it more focused. I wanted to hear more about TNG not DS9.

So does this mean we can thank Seth McFarlene for the writers room feature? I enjoyed that, and Seth's moderation. Maybe we should just get him to moderate everything. He's a huge fan, he's shown he is prepared, and I would love to see him back for more features.

 

[tomalak301]

I buckled down and bought the Redemption disc today, and I'm glad I did. I've been complaining this entire thread about the Bonus features not being up to the standards they set with the previous releases, and then I just watched Empire at War. Man what a bonus material this was. It makes me sad that we might have to buy extra discs to get good material (A direction taken with Star Trek Into Darkness that's pissing me off because it might become normal and that's scary), but this is the kind of Special feature I expect from the blu-ray.

I loved this feature, and when they brought on Gwyneth Walsh to talk about B'Etor, I was like, yep, this is the best special feature on the Season 4 sets. Not only that, but Dan Curry (Who I think is kind of boring) talking about the Bat'Leth was amazing, especially showing the climatic fight scene between Worf and Duras to end "Reunion". If there was one thing I wish they would have had in this feature, it would be tying in the romulan story, but I almost expect that to be in the Unification set. I mean that episode featured Sela too, so we might just see the set just feature all the Romulan stories and maybe do a tribute to Andreas Katsulas. Coming back to this feature, I'm glad I bought the disc just for this feature. I'll watch the episode, but the feature was more than enough to justify the purchase.

 

[Doug Otte]

It's THREE. SECONDS.

Yeah, it's barely noticable.

I watched BOBW 2 last night. I know that the shot is w/ Frakes on the battle bridge, but I could not detect it. Disclosure: I was on my 2nd gin 'n' tonic of the evening, which could have affected my vision, but still...

Edit: I just went over to Trekcore and read about the scene. I do remember seeing that bit. It might have been a little softer, but with the dark lighting, I wasn't sure. I didn't see as much difference last night as I see in the Trekcore comparison.

 

[Hober Mallow]

It makes me sad that we might have to buy extra discs to get good material (A direction taken with Star Trek Into Darkness that's pissing me off because it might become normal and that's scary)--

It's already normal.

 

[tomalak301]

It makes me sad that we might have to buy extra discs to get good material (A direction taken with Star Trek Into Darkness that's pissing me off because it might become normal and that's scary)--

It's already normal.

What other products other than Star Trek makes you buy the same thing over and over just to get all the special features? Of course I don't buy many blu-rays/DVDs so I legitimately do not know, but I thought Star Trek was the only franchise that did this.

 

[BillJ]

What other products other than Star Trek makes you buy the same thing over and over just to get all the special features? Of course I don't buy many blu-rays/DVDs so I legitimately do not know, but I thought Star Trek was the only franchise that did this.

Star Trek is a major property and retailers are using the exclusives to get people into their stores. It isn't as big in home-video but retailers have been doing the same thing with video-games for close to a decade.

 

[TheSeeker]

THERE! ARE! THREE! SECONDS!

Well played sir.

 

[jimbotron]

There was also the shot from The Drumhead that could not be located. It was a dark and cloudy shot of the warp core, so we lucked out. It fits right in.

Imagine if an iconic shot couldn't be located, like Picard's loooong emotional shot in Sarek.

 

[Leto_II]

It makes me sad that we might have to buy extra discs to get good material (A direction taken with Star Trek Into Darkness that's pissing me off because it might become normal and that's scary)--

It's already normal.

What other products other than Star Trek makes you buy the same thing over and over just to get all the special features? Of course I don't buy many blu-rays/DVDs so I legitimately do not know, but I thought Star Trek was the only franchise that did this.

Yeah, it seems that Star Trek fans are the battered spouses of the entertainment industry...even moreso than ACTUAL battered spouses in the entertainment industry. This whole STID Blu-Ray issue is simply a cynical ploy by Paramount (and Bad Robot, according to later reporting) to appease the retail conglomerates while standing on the backs of the actual consumers.

(Which, sadly, I've reluctantly decided to go along with -- I preordered the Target version, since the Best Buy exclusives can be downloaded for free, and the video commentary track is included. Yes, I'm part of the problem. Don't weep for me.)

 

[Leto_II]

There was also the shot from The Drumhead that could not be located. It was a dark and cloudy shot of the warp core, so we lucked out. It fits right in.

Imagine if an iconic shot couldn't be located, like Picard's loooong emotional shot in Sarek.

LOL

 

[BillJ]

This whole STID Blu-Ray issue is simply a cynical ploy by Paramount (and Bad Robot, according to later reporting) to appease the retail conglomerates while standing on the backs of the actual consumers.

Retailers are willing to pay a pretty-penny for exclusives so they can lure people into their stores who otherwise wouldn't shop there. Paramount/Bad Robot would be stupid to not offer retailers what they want.

 

[Leto_II]

Absolutely true, but as Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits pointed out this past week, when a precedent already exists for the inclusion of every produced supplement within the covers of a single release (the BD version of ST09), it starts to smack of cynical greed and perfidy, especially where the customers are involved.

But still...like I said, I'm part of the problem, since I've (very hesitantly) decided to go along with this whole scheme; another article from a different website prompted me along here, going into some detail regarding Paramount Home Video's current business model, and that the likelihood of a later, "ultimate edition" being virtually slim and none at the moment.

 

[NewHorizon]

Well, finally ordered Season 4. Hoping it holds up to Season 3 well enough to justify the purchase.

 

[jimbotron]

Well, finally ordered Season 4. Hoping it holds up to Season 3 well enough to justify the purchase.

For live action, it is completely up to CBS-D's standards, since they worked on it. The effects are halfway between HTV's best work and CBS-D's best work.

But it has a ton of 4-footer footage compared to season 3, so that doesn't help.

 

[The Caretaker]

I've just watched Night Terrors, and the promo surprised me. The very last shot contains what can only be described as a piece of cheap sponge flying behind the Enterprise. Was this an early abandoned special effect or is it something lifted from another episode? I don't remember ever seeing it before?!

 

[LitmusDragon]

I've just watched Night Terrors, and the promo surprised me. The very last shot contains what can only be described as a piece of cheap sponge flying behind the Enterprise. Was this an early abandoned special effect or is it something lifted from another episode? I don't remember ever seeing it before?!

Do you mean this thing (the alien ship in the episode)?

 

[The Caretaker]

No, it's a completely different shot and looks pretty bad. It looks like an early version of th alien ship that was scrapped. It's kind of a cross between a sponge and a crystalline rock.

 

[Langenscheiss]

Watched the art department reunion. While it was not as interesting as the cast reunion, I think it is still an interesting piece to look at. In particular because, unlike the writer's room feature, it was not a repetition of stories already told in the various audio commentaries. I agree, a moderator would have been helpful, but it's imo definitely not a lot worse than the writer's room VAM.

 

[Dukhat]

No, it's a completely different shot and looks pretty bad. It looks like an early version of th alien ship that was scrapped. It's kind of a cross between a sponge and a crystalline rock.

Yep, I just watched the promo on Youtube and it's there. Certainly looks like a scrapped VFX shot of a completely different-looking alien ship than what was seen in the ep, and I don't think that shot was used anywhere else.

 

[NewHorizon]

Just got my Season 4 Blus in the mail yesterday. Watched a few episodes and while it's not HTV bad, I can definitely notice the slight drop in quality over CBS-D's work.

Not bad, but noticeable.