Season TWO OFFICIAL TNG Blu-Ray Discussion Thread

[Salinga]

I'd love to know CBS-D's reaction to the season 2 work, but I guess because of NDAs etc., we won't ever know the dirt.

I am pretty sure the love that went into the show from them was also based on their own interest to enjoy watching the show. If they pop in Season 2 at home, they more than anyone else can see the mistakes on the screen and are much more distracted by them. They probably have noticed things that even we didnt see so far.

 

[trekker670]

CBS-D used it as a challenge. HTV used it as an excuse.

^ This.

I'd love to know CBS-D's reaction to the season 2 work, but I guess because of NDAs etc., we won't ever know the dirt.

I agree, I was thinking a few days ago what it would be like to be a fly on that wall when CBS saw HTV's product.

 

[Warp Coil]

I'd love to know CBS-D's reaction to the season 2 work, but I guess because of NDAs etc., we won't ever know the dirt.

I agree, I was thinking a few days ago what it would be like to be a fly on that wall when CBS saw HTV's product.

Well, my question is this - shouldn't CBS have seen the final product far enough in advance to have given HTV a mandate to improve? If I were outsourcing an entire season's worth of work to an external vendor, I'd want to keep tabs on their progress. As they finished work on their first couple of episodes, shouldn't someone from CBS have screened the episodes to see how they looked? And noticed the difference?!

 

[NewHorizon]

I have a feeling that since it was Dan Curry, Doug Drexler, etc that they probably felt that these guys should know what they're doing...and damn, they should.

I recall reading a post on Doug Drexler's website before Season 1 was released, before we knew HTV-Illuminate was involved. Doug basically said that they were going to make the show look just like we remembered it, but it would look like they wiped the dirt off the screen. I don't remember Next Gen looking this bad. That's the thing about memory, we remember it better. Dan, Doug and the gang attempted to make the show look..not how we remembered it...but exactly how it looked, but clearer. Well, like the reviews say...it's a mixed bag.

I don't think HTV was ever on the same page as CBS, and that's a HUGE problem. They had two completely different approaches and it should never have been allowed to happen. The CBS execs should have put their money behind CBS digital, relaxed the schedule and put the bloody fire out that was roaring beneath their butts.

So, HTV is gone...but is this new FX house going to be any better? Will they share the passion CBS-Digital obviously has, will they honor CBS-D's approach, and will CBS-D invest the time and guidance to ensure the outsourced Seasons match up?

 

[Trekker4747]

If anyone can do a screencap comparison of just an exterior shot of the Enterprise between the two seasons, that might help show what I mean here.

Like these?

Season 1: http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x25/conspiracy_hd_386.jpg
Season 2: http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/images/cbs_icarussbmontgomery_hd.jpg

Yeah, the S1 ship has much more natural looking colors and lighting to it. I like it much better.

 

[Salinga]

Doug basically said that they were going to make the show look just like we remembered it, but it would look like they wiped the dirt off the screen. [..] Dan, Doug and the gang attempted to make the show look..not how we remembered it...but exactly how it looked, but clearer.

And they even didnt manage to do that, since the lighting of the compositing was much better in SD:

Including: The SD version has no wrongly aligned light passes. The compositing done in 1988-89 with analog tools was better than in 2012 with digital tools used by HTV. That alone has EPIC FAIL written all over it.

 

[MickJo1701]

they were going to make the show look just like we remembered it, but it would look like they wiped the dirt off the screen. I don't remember Next Gen looking this bad. That's the thing about memory, we remember it better. Dan, Doug and the gang attempted to make the show look..not how we remembered it...but exactly how it looked, but clearer. Well, like the reviews say...it's a mixed bag.

I think I can speak for most of us in saying we were quite happy with the approach CBS D took on Next Gen, respect the original but improve on what doesn't work in now. No offense intended to those involved but if it at least didn't match the quality we saw in Season 1, it was never going to be good enough.

 

[tomalak301]

Doug basically said that they were going to make the show look just like we remembered it, but it would look like they wiped the dirt off the screen. [..] Dan, Doug and the gang attempted to make the show look..not how we remembered it...but exactly how it looked, but clearer.

And they even didnt manage to do that, since the lighting of the compositing was much better in SD:

Including: The SD version has no wrongly aligned light passes. The compositing done in 1988-89 with analog tools was better than in 2012 with digital tools used by HTV. That alone has EPIC FAIL written all over it.

Is the SD DVD versions the stuff on the left? If it is HTV might have made the picture worse than even the DVD version, which then yes I agree, this is a big failure.

 

[tmosler]

Has any heard? today CBS D announced that season 4 and 6 will be done by another special effects house! So lets hope this special effects house does a better job then the people who did season 2 did.

 

[tomalak301]

Has any heard? today CBS D announced that season 4 and 6 will be done by another special effects house! So lets hope this special effects house does a better job then the people who did season 2 did.

I hope there is more oversight on the project than what it appears to be on Season 2. I think the thing that blows my mind (And I might even call it a trend) is that there seemed to be no quality checks when it came to the episodes. I would imagine someone in CBS's quality control area would have seen this early in the process and reported that this wasn't the quality they were looking for.

As for connecting this to Season 1, I'm really started to question CBS (or CBS D) quality control on this whole project. You have audio issues on Season 1 that should have been obvious to those who oversaw the project, and then in season 2 it looks like the outsourcing company didn't live up to whatever standards were set. I would have loved to be there to understand this organizational structure they have because right now I'm questioning it.

With that being said, I understand the need to outsource. I know CBS digital can't do this whole thing by themselves, and if I were CBS, I would want the project done as soon as possible because you take 10 years to do a project, by the time you're at Season 7, it might be diminishing returns. Hell, we're already seeing blu ray becoming second fiddle to digital downloads, if we haven't already. I hope this new company does a better job, but what I really hope is there is more communication between CBS D and this new company and just more supervision on both sides.

 

[Maxwell Everett]

Including: The SD version has no wrongly aligned light passes. The compositing done in 1988-89 with analog tools was better than in 2012 with digital tools used by HTV. That alone has EPIC FAIL written all over it.

Here's a shot with misaligned passes from back in the day:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x03/nakednow106.jpg

Also, don't forget that they're having further problems today due to differential shrinkage on all the negatives.

 

[MikeS]

Here's a shot with misaligned passes from back in the day:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x03/nakednow106.jpg

Also, don't forget that they're having further problems today due to differential shrinkage on all the negatives.

I've never noticed or heard about that misalignment in SD before. I'm wondering whether to buy this HD season two in the hope that I carry on "not noticing"...

I'm really torn over whether to buy this.

 

[BillJ]

I'm still going to pick this up. I want the project to succeed and I don't think we're ever going to get a better version of TNG. But CBS better make sure the screw-ups are kept to a minimum going forward or else they will be losing a customer.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Here's a shot with misaligned passes from back in the day:

http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s1/1x03/nakednow106.jpg

Also, don't forget that they're having further problems today due to differential shrinkage on all the negatives.

I've never noticed or heard about that misalignment in SD before. I'm wondering whether to buy this HD season two in the hope that I carry on "not noticing"...

I'm really torn over whether to buy this.

I'm still going to pick this up. I want the project to succeed and I don't think we're ever going to get a better version of TNG. But CBS better make sure the screw-ups are kept to a minimum going forward or else they will be losing a customer.

Damn, I just don't know - I'm seriously considering skipping this now.

 

[Salinga]

Has any heard? today CBS D announced that season 4 and 6 will be done by another special effects house! So lets hope this special effects house does a better job then the people who did season 2 did.

Which surprises me, regarding special effects. Since CBS-D did such outstanding work, you might think that live-only footage only goes to another house, but everything regarding effects stays at CBS-D. Plus this forces every house doing the live-shots to work closely with CBS-D, thus the project is always under quality control.

 

[Dream]

 

[sadsquid]

Not the biggest fan of the colour (probably look better in person anyway), but it's exciting to see something to do with Season 3! Wonder what the gap between S2 and S3 will be (talking about release dates, not quality lol)

 

[Dream]

I hope we get two seasons released next year instead of three. They really need to take their time and get it right.

 

[jimbotron]

Since they plan to release three seasons in 2013, I would imagine the release dates will be March/April, July/August and December.

 

[davejames]

Eh, that kind of thing doesn't bother me. I'll take the greater detail of the HD shot over the more contrasty low-res shot anyday.

There are definitely some effects problems in S2, but nitpicking stuff like this is where I think people go a bit overboard. Just because the shadows aren't quite as dark as you'd like, doesn't automatically make it a terrible effects shot.

Let's keep some perspective here.