[DNA-1842]

It arrived this morning, along with the Wrath of Khan. The difference is tremendous!! They've been showing TNG on Sky2 and CBS Action here in the UK, and the film quality of the early episodes is quite appalling. I didn't realise this until today.

The detail on the Ent-D has film-worthy clarity, and looks even better than any CGI job that could have or has been done. Really quite beautiful.

And that was just with Encounter at Farpoint. And I thought that it would make the make-up and prosthetics rather fake-looking, but it looks no worse than it did before, just sharper. (A credit to the make-up artists, I guess.) And Sins of the father is full of Klingon prosthetics!

(Just to add, the prosthetics were of course of a lesser standard than one would find today, but they hold up as well as can be expected.)

I have yet to watch the Inner Light. I'll do that later.

[kevin]

Mine arrived the other day so I have sat down and begun watching it.

Em...............yeah I think I may be sold!

'Encounter at Farpoint' looks superb, especially the visual effects (I don't know if visuals such as the opening fireball that the chain link grid collapses into to follow the Enterprise with have been redone or whether that is the remastering of the original elements again) and the D looks gorgeous.

No wonder she's been my favourite ship since '87!

I do think in some of the darker shots the effect is slightly less (the Battle Bridge and the Court) but even then the improved clarity is clear to see, but the main Bridge etc comes up glossy and lovely!

I think in general Blu-ray does sometimes have trouble with darker light conditions at times though, I've always thought in Blu-ray that it's daytime and natural light based shots that always come up best, alongside other natural elements like water and also obviously your crisp CGI visuals as well in films.

It's kinda quaint to watch a TV show not filmed in Widescreen though! I'll move onto 'The Inner Light' and 'Sins of the Father' soon but I was never big on it. My understanding is that these episodes were chosen for initial remastering because 'The Inner Light' is very brightly lit, 'Sins of the Father' is very darkly lit and 'Encounter at Farpoint' has a lot of varied visual effects and particularly starship and space shots. Which, seems fair enough for experimentation.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by DNA-1842

It arrived this morning, along with the Wrath of Khan. The difference is tremendous!!

Now, can I ask if that is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Blu-ray?

Reason being, I have yet to see any of the Star Trek films (apart from Abrams') on Blu-ray so I have no idea how the remastering job is on those. Although I'm quite interested in seeing Star Trek III: The Search for Spock remastered personally.

I assume that they all have been but since I already have the old 20 disc Special Collector's Editions Box Set of the first ten films I was reluctant to spend money purchasing basic individual Blu-ray editions or partial sets as I'm (rather cynically) wondering if a similarly extra's laden Blu-Ray complete box set of the first ten films is on the horizon.

[kevin]

Actually I'll amend that earlier note to way more than sold. I just finished watching them all and then put in my DVD versions and it's like wiping condensation off a window pane.

[kevin]

While snooping around Trekmovie (since every once in a while they post something interesting!) I found this about a possible feature of the Season 2 Blu-ray remaster for TNG when it comes out.

http://trekmovie.com/2012/06/25/writ...sure-of-a-man/

Now, this is the sort of thing which (if true) is one of the more interesting aspects of the benefits that can come from re-releases.

Don't know if it will come to pass, but since it does involve one of TNG's best outings it's certainly of interest to me.

[Saquist]

I don't know about 20 more minutes....
But this is one of the Episodes that define Trek as a true intelligent drama. I'd be interested in seeing if more is better on this front or not.

[samwiseb]

I said this in the thread, but I wouldn't necessarily assume this extended episode (and yes, 20 minutes seems like a lot to have never heard of this before) is getting the full HD assembly treatment. It could just be a BluRay extra. In standard SD resolution. And in second generation SLP-speed VHS quality at that. While the regular 46-minute episode is what gets the full HD treatment.

It's possible.

[Ditroi]

One of these days i'll get something that plays blu-ray... then I'll buy these! I wants!!! I still don't own the TNG series! These things are expensive and I've been busy!

[kevin]

Originally Posted by samwiseb

I said this in the thread, but I wouldn't necessarily assume this extended episode (and yes, 20 minutes seems like a lot to have never heard of this before) is getting the full HD assembly treatment. It could just be a BluRay extra. In standard SD resolution. And in second generation SLP-speed VHS quality at that. While the regular 46-minute episode is what gets the full HD treatment.

It's possible.

It's a while since I looked at that specific page, but the MA entry for the episode seems to state that a 'significant' amount of footage was cut from the episode. However, I have my suspicion that that has been more recently updated by someone.

I've certainly heard often enough of TV episodes which run long and have to be cut down a lot (I think the commentary for the season 2 episode of 'Angel' called 'Are you now, or have you ever been?' mentions that they had to cut 9 minutes out of that episode for broadcast in 2000 because it ran too long) to be aired, but that is a lot of material if it's the case.

The impression seems to be that may be trying to remaster it, but if it was cut then maybe it won't have survived all that well.

Or maybe it could be some sort of branching special edition on the Blu-ray where you can watch the originally aired version and then the longer cut in a rougher restoration.

[samwiseb]

Originally Posted by Ditroi

One of these days i'll get something that plays blu-ray... then I'll buy these! I wants!!! I still don't own the TNG series! These things are expensive and I've been busy!

Fortunately, the BluRays appear cheaper than the DVD sets were back in the day. I envy you: for not having bought the DVDs these new sets would be a no-brainer.

Fortunately it seems like everyone who says "Meh... I won't be buying these again" comes around after seeing just how much sharper the episodes look. With enough demand, we should have no problem getting all seven seasons remastered as planned.