Well, I watched the rest of the special features tonight and "The Child." The only thing I'm going to say about the Child is I think it's the exterior shots that are the biggest issues (The ship itself still looks too washed out) but the interior shots are impressive. While "The Child" isn't one of my favorite episodes, I do think when it comes to visuals, it's underrated and there were two shots (relatively close together) that I really thought were enhanced. The first was the camera panning outside Ten Forward and we see the Mural behind Guinan and that was a great shot. It's so clear and shiny now. That green providing the background came through really well and it's something like that I wish we had seen on Q Who. The second was the warping effect, still inside Ten Forward. Again, great shot back then, better shot now.
As for the remainder of the special features:
Making it So: Part 2
Again, CBS is living up to the standards they set in Season 1. It was great to finally set the record straight on why McFadden left, and it was a great interview with Maulder. I do think though that given another season, Pulaski would have been better developed. I think it was in Part 1 where Michael Dorn was considering leaving because it wasn't worth putting on the Make-Up 2 hours a day just to stand around. Well, he stayed because his role got bigger and we all know how he ended up. I do wonder what Pulaski's fate would have been had Mualder stayed. I was a little bummed we didn't get Maulder to talk about why she left and never came back to the series as a guest star though, but maybe that will come in later seasons.
I will say though, I thought at the end they were focusing too much on the special effects, but it was great to see how Neglium and the Tunnel from Time's Squared came to be. I'm not sure we needed the Q Who explaination on both the documentary and the Tech Update though.
TNG Cast Reunion: Reunification
First things first, I think I was way way too harsh on Marina Sirtis. When I watched the screening and heard her say "With all due respect to the other Trek shows, TNG was the flagship show", I was actually angered by that statement. Well, watching it again and seeing it in context, I still disagree with her that TNG was the flagship show, but I think I understood why she said it. TNG was successful, and in the early seasons of DS9 and most of Voyager, they tried to emulate that success. Still, the flagship show featured Kirk and Spock.
Another thing regarding Sirtis is she really let it all out during this hour. In fact, she made up for that flagship statement with her point about TNG providing a nice counterbalance to a lot of today's TV. I actually agree with her because, let's face it, a lot of Today's TV for one is really negative, and two, there are a lot of bad role models out there. It is great to go back to a series like TNG and think, yeah there is still hope for a better future. It would be nice if we had a TV show where the future was bright and not as dark as most shows have become.
This entire hour was really really awesome. From the Madeline Albright story, to how fans have reacted to the series, I've learned a lot about my favorite show buying these blu rays and visual effects be damned, these special features make that $70 worth it. The story about the woman who had Aspergers, or the cop who has lost all faith in humanity but still holds onto the Trek future, I would love to meet these people. I'm glad the cast did this, and again, I'm sorry to Marina Sirtis for calling her a ditsy chick. I still don't think she was a good actress until First Contact and Voyager though.
Anyway, well done to CBS for putting these together, and I'll end by doing the same thing I did after Season 1 came out, what special features I would like to see for Season 3:
-Gates McFadden coming back and what made her decide to come back
-Denise Crosby having a significant change of heart and coming back and becoming a major player in the Star Trek Universe with the Trekkies movies
-An Interview with Whoopi Goldberg done in 2012/2013
-They say there is going to be a behind the scenes look at the making of Best of Both Worlds. I say awesome
-Some kind of Archival interview with Michael Piller (RIP
) when he was first brought on. If there was one special feature I liked on the DVDs it was anything Michael Piller, North Carolina hat and all, said. I would love a segment covering him coming on to become kind of the new showrunner and how that ended up catapulting TNG into the successful show that it was.
Whatever they come up with in the Season 3 special features, I can't wait.
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