<p>I probably don't have to tell you that this entire article will be filled with <strong>spoilers</strong>. So <strong>RED ALERT</strong>.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/red-alert.jpg" alt="Red Alert">
</div>
<p>I don't know if I'll write a review of every episode this season (or if I'll even have time). But I had thoughts after watching S3E01 and I wanted to write them down.</p>
<h2>Season 1</h2>
<p>First, let me back up. It's not that I hated season 1. I found it enjoyable. But it didn't feel particularly like Star Trek sometimes. It had it's moments, but I wasn't thrilled. And I should have known to some extent that it wouldn't be up to my standards based on Patric Stewart's stated criteria for returning. He wanted to "do something different." As a Star Trek fan, that's not necessarily what you want to hear. I understand wanting to move forward, but it turns out that his and the writer's idea of "different" was that Picard became very un-Picard like in the years he was off-screen. He was sitting around waiting to die. That's not what you want of heroes in stories.</p>
<p>I have other things I could say about season 1 both good and bad. But the only other thing I'll say here is that I liked the season okay, until (remember I said SPOILERS)…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>…they <strong>killed Picard</strong> and brought him back as an android. I felt that was just disrespectful and not very forward-looking. And it certainly did the character a disservice. Personally I try to pretend that didn't happen moving forward or else it overshadows everything that comes after where you're thinking, Picard is actually dead and the Picard we see now is a copy. I can't deal with that so I pretend that didn't happen.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/arent-you-dead-1.gif" alt="Aren&#x27;t you dead?">
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/arent-you-dead-2.gif" alt="Aren&#x27;t you dead reaction">
</div>
<h2>Season 2</h2>
<p>Season 2 started off <em>really</em> good. I'd say the first 2 episodes were stellar. Episode 3 was like treading water. And it tanked from there. In the end, I quite disliked season 2. Oh, I loved seeing Q back on-screen, but I felt he was dreadfully misused and it was a terrible send-off for him.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Annie Wersching was a <em>fantastic</em> borg queen and her loss last month was so sad.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/annie-wersching-borg-queen.jpg" alt="Annie Wersching as the Borg Queen"></p>
<h2>On to season 3</h2>
<h3>What Works</h3>
<p>So, here comes season 3, and while I've been hyped based on everything coming out about the season, I've also had a bit of trepidation (and still do) based on past experience with Picard.</p>
<p>But I will say Episode 1 was mostly good. The pacing is fantastic. The vibe feels right. Seeing Beverly Crusher AND Will Riker was great. And it's so good to see Seven of Nine in a Starfleet uniform.</p>
<p><img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/picard-7of9-riker-titan-command-center.jpg" alt="Picard, 7 of 9, and Riker in the Titan A&#x27;s Command Center"></p>
<p>The episode has a lot of callbacks to various eras of Star Trek — TOS movies, TNG movies, TNG series — and those callbacks come in various forms: scripting, visuals, music, and sound design (you'll hear a lot of familiar chirps and chimes). It <em>mostly</em> works. That coupled with production design and basic look and feel say feature film quality rather than TV quality.</p>
<p>And there's a lot of fun romp vibe for Picard and Riker as well. Though they're a bit hesitant at first, they're both glad to be "back on the road" so to speak.</p>
<p>I'd say, in fact, that this is the best episode of 24th century and beyond Star Trek we've seen on screen in the new era of Star Trek on TV. The reason I qualify that time period is because <em>Strange New Worlds</em> would <em>probably</em> take the best overall show with the best episodes so far of the modern era of Star Trek. It's set in the 23rd century, hence the time framing.</p>
<p>In short, I really loved this episode, I laughed at the jokes, I sat on the edge of my seat for some of the suspense. And it's clear that in large part, there's a great story coming, and we're left wanting more and wanting to unravel the mystery that's been set up.</p>
<p>It's also clear that Terry Matalas and his crew also really love Star Trek and that Season 3 is starting off as a love letter to Star Trek. And indications are the rest of the season will continue in that direction.</p>
<p>In keeping with the title of this section "what works," Picard and Riker's relationship is a delight. They are both much more mature people at this point, and they work together as equals, even if, technically, Picard is an Admiral (retired), and Riker is still a captain (but with no chair). Watching them work together as old friends really makes this episode feel special. It was particularly delightful when Will referred to Picard as "captain," then apologetically says, "old habits." And shortly after, Picard refers to Will as Number One with no apology whatsoever.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/picard-and-riker.jpg" alt="Picard and Riker sit in a bar">
</div>
<p>As always, it's so great to see Seven of Nine again. I know she was brought onto Voyager to make that show gain a little more sex appeal, but what happened instead is the show became more intelligent and following her journey into becoming human again after living in the Borg collective gave the show heart. Bringing her into Picard and mixing her up with the former "Locutus" just made sense. And now that they have an established rapport from seasons past, Picard and Seven's relationship here feels natural. And her direct manner with Picard (and Riker), along with her loyalty, really makes our 3 main characters here stand out.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/seven-picard-riker.jpg" alt="Seven, Picard, and Riker">
</div>
<h3>What Doesn't Work as Well</h3>
<h4>Lighting</h4>
<p>While the lighting and overall look and feel of TNG could be very bright, carpeted, and washed out — which, much as I love TNG, wasn't always great — Picard has taken a much more dark and metalic approach. Overly so. Season 3 is no different. Many scenes feel difficult to see. The bridge of the Titan A feels like a very dark place to work.</p>
<h4>Yet again, Starfleet is the enemy</h4>
<p>Look, as a card-carrying libertarian (reminder, small L, not the Libertarian party), I get it: government and quasi-government organizations can be bad. But it feels like this has been played to death in Star Trek. And not only do you have Beverly saying, "don't trust Starfleet" causing our heroes to go rogue, but you also have Captain Cold in charge of the Titan A. At least he's not a "badmiral" (Haftel, Satie, Pressman, Dougherty, Jameson, Marcus, Leyton, Cartwright, Buenamigo, Kennelly). But there have been plenty of bad captains in Star Trek (Styles, Esteban, Jellico, Harriman, Braxton, Waters, Ransom, Decker [technically a commodore], Garth, Tracy, Maxwell, Lorca, Benteen) and I'm over it. I can't figure any reason Captain Shaw would ever actually have made it to the rank of captain with how bad he is at actually working with people.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/captain-shaw.jpg" alt="Captain Shaw">
</div>
<p>And let's talk about Shaw a little. Shaw is clearly displayed as the bad guy for our heroes to overcome. But he's put in an impossible situation. He has no orders to do what Picard and Riker are asking him. And, yes, he's bad at managing people or responding graciously or having any respect for Admiral Picard and his predecessor in captaining a ship named Titan, Captain Riker, at all. And he clearly doesn't like Seven; there's bad blood there.</p>
<p>But then, he turns around and trusts Seven with the command of the ship while he goes off and does whatever he wants. And that clearly indicates a level of trust that would seem unwarranted by everything else present in the story. And then she rewards the trust with betrayal. I liked a lot of the writing in the episode, but I felt this part was not so great.</p>
<h4>A Tad Too Much Fan Service</h4>
<p>I'm a fan, and I like a little fan service. Nevertheless, there were several times when I felt that it was overplayed. Some of the direct echos of past script and music in the departure sequence made me feel strange.</p>
<h4>Titan A</h4>
<p>Before I say the parts I don't like, I do want to say I'm generally a fan of the ship's design. It's a nice harkening back to my favorite era of Starfleet ships (the <a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Constitution_class#:~:text=During%20the%20early%202270s%2C%20Constitution,to%20serve%20with%20upgraded%20technology.">refit constitution class</a> is easily the best looking starship ever made). And it makes sense that Starfleet would still be making ships of this general design. There are plenty of cars still being made that hearken back to older eras because there are things about those designs that still work well. And I also buy that line of reasoning for Starships.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/titan-a.jpg" alt="Titan A">
</div>
<p>What's not working so well for me is that this ship bears the name Titan. Riker's "Titan" was a <a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Luna_class">Luna class starship</a>, very different from this <a href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Neo-Constitution_class">neo-constitution class</a> ship. And I get that nameplates get transferred to new classes of ships. But with the Enterprise, you could at least see a progression from no modifier and A, to B, to C, to D, to E. This feels like it's out of left field. Nevertheless, if that was all, I'd be okay.</p>
<p>But it gets stranger. As Picard and Riker are pulling up and getting ready to park in the shuttlebay, Picard refers to this <em>new</em> ship as Riker's old command. And Riker looks like he has stars in his eyes looking at this ship he never actually commanded.</p>
<p>But it gets stranger still. Captian Shaw says he had to purge Riker's jazz music out of the system. What? How? <a href="https://trekmovie.com/2022/09/14/interview-terry-matalas-on-uss-titan-backstory-seven-and-rikers-roles-more-star-trek-picard-season-3/">In an interview, show runner Terry Matalas said</a> that it was because they salvaged some of the systems from the Luna class Titan to reuse on this Neo-Constitution Class Titan A. But that's so weird. Wouldn't whatever the equivalnt of disk storage is in the 25th century have been purged, or, probably, replaced?</p>
<p>This could have been any ship, why Titan? It's very odd. If you're going to have the Titan, why not just make it the Titan?</p>
<h4>Will and Deanna Are on the Rocks?</h4>
<p>Look, I was actually one of the 3 people very into the idea of Worf and Deanna near the end of TNG's run. But then the show ended, Worf went to DS9 (where he was a wonderful addition), and he married Judzia (also a big fan of Worf and Judzia). And it's clear that from TNG and the writer's perspective, it was always supposed to be Will and Deanna. And, in <em>Insurrection</em>, they really started pulling their relationship back together, then in <em>Nemesis</em> they tied the knot.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/will-deanna-wedding.png" alt="Will And Deanna&#x27;s Wedding">
</div>
<p>Further, one of the most moving parts of Picard Season 1 was Will and Deanna's relationship, what they had been through, and their daughter, Kestra.</p>
<div>
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/picard-will-deanna.jpg" alt="Picard, Will, and Deanna">
    <img src="/images/blog/2023/02/17/kestra.jpg" alt="Kestra Troi">
</div>
<p>So the hint from Riker that he and Deanna aren't doing well is unwelcome and unneeded. And why do we need that drama? The show seems to have plenty of other drama to worry about. I'd be much happier if Will and Deanna could just be happily married. And I really quite liked the young actress who played Kestra in Season 1. I hope we get to see her again this season.</p>
<h2>Make it so</h2>
<p>Despite these complaints, I hope it was apparent from earlier sections in this "review" for lack of a better term for this stream of consciousness, that this first episode made me quite happy and I'm greatly looking forward to the rest of the season. Terry has been saying all the right things. The set-ups in this first episode are intriguing. And, I'm greatly looking forward to seeing the crew back together.</p>
<p>And, as I've already stated, the pacing feels much more like Star Trek than the often languid pacing of past seasons. I'll say again that this <em>feels</em> like Star Trek in a way that the previous 2 seasons have not. So thrusters on full, I say.</p>

Star Trek: Picard, Season 3, Episode 1


<p>I know this is way random, but a friend of mine was picking my brain about Twitter and trying to get my opinion on various <em>Star Trek</em> things. I ended the writing portion of MovieByte so it feels a little weird to write a single random article there again. So I'm writing this here to answer the questions put to me.</p>
<h2>A ranking of various <em>Star Trek</em> incarnations</h2>
<h3>The Original Series (TOS)</h3>
<p>TOS has some very good episodes, some in each season — though season 3 has the least I think — even though it is certainly very much a product of its time and has many '60s tropes. The HD re-mastering has helped it out a lot and I enjoy watching my favorite episodes that much more.</p>
<h4>Some favorite TOS episodes</h4>
<ul>
<li>Dagger of the Mind (S1E9)</li>
<li>The Corbomite Maneuver (S1E10)</li>
<li>The Conscience of the King (S1E13)</li>
<li>Balance of Terror (S1E14)</li>
<li>The Galileo Seven (S1E16)</li>
<li>The Squire of Gothos (S1E17)</li>
<li>Arena (S1E18)</li>
<li>Tomorrow is Yesterday (S1E19)</li>
<li>Space Seed (S1E22)</li>
<li>A Taste of Armageddon (S1E23)</li>
<li>This Side of Paradise (S1E24)</li>
<li>The Devil in the Dark (S1E25)</li>
<li>Errand of Mercy (S1E26)</li>
<li>The City on the Edge of Forever (S1E28)</li>
<li>Operation -- Annihilate! (S1E29)</li>
<li>Amok Time (S2E1)</li>
<li>Mirror, Mirror (S2E4)</li>
<li>The Doomsday Machine (S2E6)</li>
<li>Journey to Babel (S2E10)</li>
<li>Friday's Child (S2E11)</li>
<li>A Piece of the Action (S2E17)</li>
<li>Patterns of Force (S2E21)</li>
<li>By Any Other Name (S2E22)</li>
<li>Bread and Circuses (S2E25)</li>
<li>Assignment: Earth (S2E26)</li>
<li>The Enterprise Incident (S3E2)</li>
<li>For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (S3E8)</li>
<li>Wink of an Eye (S3E11)</li>
<li>Whom Gods Destroy (S3E14)</li>
<li>Requiem for Methuselah (S3E19)</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Next Generation (TNG)</h3>
<p>I always having a hard time deciding whether I like TNG or DS9 more (stop asking me to chose favorite children!). Ultimately it comes down to this: TNG has great characters and many amazing stories. But all those stories are one off episodes. DS9 is more arc based — particularly when the Dominion War starts. DS9 also has great characters. I like both shows.</p>
<p>Also note that the HD re-master is fantastic!</p>
<p>The list of favorite episodes is going to be long because there are A LOT of favorites. I recently just went through and watching all my favorite episodes so I remember more easily which ones are. I will not be able to do that with DS9 because it’s been about 4 years since I watched it. I’ve actually just started re-watching.</p>
<h4>Some favorite TNG episodes</h4>
<ul>
<li>The Battle (S1E8)</li>
<li>Hide and Q (S1E9)</li>
<li>Datalore (S1E12)</li>
<li>11001001 (S1E14)</li>
<li>Too Short a Season (S1E15)</li>
<li>Home Soil (S1E17)</li>
<li>Symbiosis (S1E21)</li>
<li>We'll Always Have Paris (S1E23)</li>
<li>Conspiracy (S1E24)</li>
<li>The Neutral Zone (S1E25)</li>
<li>Where Silence Has Lease (S2E2)</li>
<li>Unnatural Selection (S2E7)</li>
<li>The Measure of a Man (S2E9)</li>
<li>Contagion (S2E11)</li>
<li>Q Who? (S2E16)</li>
<li>The Emissary (S2E20)</li>
<li>Peak Performance (S2E21)</li>
<li>The Ensigns of Command (S3E2)</li>
<li>The Survivors (S3E3)</li>
<li>Booby Trap (S3E6)</li>
<li>The Enemy (S3E7)</li>
<li>The Vengeance Factor (S3E9)</li>
<li>The Defector (S3E10)</li>
<li>The High Ground (S3E12)</li>
<li>Déjà Q (S3E13)</li>
<li>A Matter of Perspective (S3E14)</li>
<li>Yesterday's Enterprise (S3E15)</li>
<li>The Offspring (S3E16)</li>
<li>Sins of the Father (S3E17)</li>
<li>Allegiance (S3E18)</li>
<li>Captain's Holiday (S3E19)</li>
<li>Hollow Pursuits (S3E21)</li>
<li>The Most Toys (S3E22)</li>
<li>Sarek (S3E23)</li>
<li>The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26, S4E1)</li>
<li>Family (S4E2)</li>
<li>Reunion (S4E8)</li>
<li>Future Imperfect (S4E8)</li>
<li>Final Mission (S4E9)</li>
<li>Data's Day (S4E12)</li>
<li>The Wounded (S4E12)</li>
<li>Devil's Due (S4E13)</li>
<li>Clues (S4E14)</li>
<li>First Contact (S4E15)</li>
<li>Galaxy's Child (S4E16)</li>
<li>The Drumhead (S4E21)</li>
<li>The Mind's Eye (S4E24)</li>
<li>Redemption (S4E26, S5E1)</li>
<li>Ensign Ro (S5E3)</li>
<li>Disaster (S5E5)</li>
<li>The Game (S5E6)</li>
<li>Unification (S5E7, S5E8)</li>
<li>A Matter of Time (S5E9)</li>
<li>Conundrum (S5E14)</li>
<li>Ethics (S5E16)</li>
<li>Cause and Effect (S5E18)</li>
<li>The First Duty (S5E19)</li>
<li>I Borg (S5E23)</li>
<li>The Next Phase (S5E24)</li>
<li>The Inner Light (S5E25)</li>
<li>Time's Arrow (S4E26, S6E1)</li>
<li>Realm of Fear (S6E2)</li>
<li>Relics (S6E3)</li>
<li>Rascals (S6E7)</li>
<li>Chain of Command (S6E11)</li>
<li>Ship in a Bottle (S6E12)</li>
<li>Face of the Enemy (S6E14)</li>
<li>Tapestry (S6E15)</li>
<li>Birthright (S6E16, S6E17)</li>
<li>Starship Mine (S6E18)</li>
<li>Lessons (S6E19)</li>
<li>The Chase (S6E20)</li>
<li>Rightful Heir (S6E23)</li>
<li>Second Chances (S6E24)</li>
<li>Timescape (S6E25)</li>
<li>Descent (S6E26, S7E1)</li>
<li>Gambit (S7E5, S7E6)</li>
<li>Attached (S7E8)</li>
<li>Inheritance (S7E10)</li>
<li>Parallels (S7E11)</li>
<li>The Pegasus (S7E12)</li>
<li>Lower Decks (S7E15)</li>
<li>All Good Things (S7E25)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Voyager</h3>
<p><em>Voyager</em> was not as good as it's predecessors, but it wasn't a bad show. I particularly always enjoyed The Doctor. I believe he had the best arc on the show without contest.</p>
<h3>Enterprise</h3>
<p>Enterprise Seasons 1 &#x26; 2 are some of the most consistently worst <em>Star Trek</em> ever made — boring, dull, lifeless — with a very occasional decent episode thrown in there. Also, that theme song. Can I just say WORST EVER?!? Seasons 3 and 4 are actually somewhat decent with some really great episodes. Unfortunately I think most people had quit watching the show by the time it recovered from seasons 1 and 2.</p>
<h3>The Movies</h3>
<p>The only <em>bad</em> Star Trek movies are <em>The Motion Picture</em> and <em>The Final Frontier</em>. The reboot has obviously breathed new life into the franchise. I was very much opposed to it when the first reboot film was in the works — and I still think it would have been better to move forward — but I was quite happy with <em>Into Darkness</em> even though the film had its annoyances.</p>
<h4>A ranking of <em>Star Trek</em> films</h4>
<ul>
<li>The Wrath of Khan (2): 5 stars</li>
<li>The Undiscovered Country (6): 4.5 stars</li>
<li>First Contact (8): 4.5 stars</li>
<li>Into Darkness (12): 4 stars</li>
<li>The Voyage Home (4): 4 stars</li>
<li>Insurrection (9): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Nemesis (10): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Star Trek (2009) (11): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>The Search for Spock (3): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Generations (7): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>The Motion Picture (1): 3 stars</li>
<li>The Final Frontier (5): 2.5 stars</li>
</ul>
<h4>A ranking of Star Trek Music</h4>
<p>Ranking of Film scores:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>The Motion Picture</strong>
Jerry Goldsmith really brought ST to the next level and established themes and motifs that still live on. While the film is kind of terrible, the score if FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.</li>
<li><strong>The Wrath of Khan</strong>
This is basically James Horner’s great take on what Goldsmith did before him with a tone that matches the more action filled and much less boring film in question. And it feels like it has the heart of the original series.</li>
<li><strong>Into Darkness</strong>
Michael Giacchino did some fantastic work here with a major update to his 2009 Star Trek score, introducing new and touching themes and motifs. I enjoy this one a lot.</li>
<li><strong>The Final Frontier</strong>
Goldsmith returned to build upon his original work while establishing themes and motifs that would continue to carry the franchise. Again, the film was the worst in the series, which some of the best music — truly frustrating.</li>
<li><strong>The Undiscovered Country</strong>
Cliff Eidelman’s score didn’t sound very "Star Treky" in some ways, but a lot of interesting is going on in his score and I always enjoy listening to it and it fits the film very well.</li>
<li><strong>First Contact</strong>
Goldsmith is always fantastic and he always finds a way to build on his previous work in a way that references it but doesn’t feel like a completely re-use.</li>
<li><strong>The Search for Spock</strong>
Mostly a more melancholy re-hash of Wrath of Khan with an added new Klingon theme that would go on to be heavily borrowed from in his <em>Aliens</em> score.</li>
<li><strong>Insurrection</strong>
I think Jerry Goldsmith added some really nice and touching bits to build upon his previous work.</li>
<li><strong>Nemesis</strong>
This is my least favorite work from Goldsmith in this franchise. It felt kind of tired, and he was experimenting with some sort of sound that I do not favor. That said, there are some great no motifs and awesome tracks here.</li>
<li><strong>Star Trek (2009)</strong>
While I think <em>Into Darkness</em> takes the score to a whole new level that is much better, I don't think the original film is Giacchino's best work and feels a little like it ignores Star Trek’s legacy. I enjoy some of the tracks in this score, but overall a bit of a miss.</li>
<li><strong>Generations</strong>
While I have enjoyed Denis McCarthy’s work on the various series (the first episode of Deep Space Nine is phenomenal), I don’t feel like he hit this one out of the park. Nevertheless, I do listen to the soundtrack sometimes. It’s okay, just not great.</li>
<li><strong>The Voyage Home</strong>
Perhaps the worst misstep in the <em>Star Trek</em> movie franchise. Some of it works, some of it is mediocre, and much of it is terrible.</li>
</ol>
<p>The Shows:</p>
<p>My favorite theme is probably <em>the original Deep Space Nine</em> theme. Also, the score for the first episode of <em>Deep Space Nine</em> is on Apple Music and I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>I also quite enjoy the main theme of <em>The Next Generation</em>. Goldsmith’s <em>Voyager</em> theme is top notch, but not my favorite.</p>
<p>Overall, starting in season 3 of <em>TNG</em> the scoring of each episode was usually good. The first 2 seasons of <em>The Next Generation</em> — while always composed and not <em>canned</em> music, felt way to synthesized and icky. Though the synthesized sound was sometimes still present in <em>TNG</em>'s music from time to time in Season 3, it largely began to go away and was replaced by the symphonic sound we think of with <em>Star Trek</em> nowadays.</p>
<p>The only music I really don't enjoy that much is pretty much the entirety of <em>TOS</em>. I'm not a fan of the theme, and most of the music is canned and reused throughout all three seasons. They basically wrote some various <em>Star Trek</em> mood motifs and reuse them all throughout. That was kind of the thing to do at the time.</p>

Star Trek Rankings

<blockquote>
<p>The first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is finally here in HD. Just in time for the 25th anniversary, the series makes its debut on Blu-ray on Tuesday. TrekMovie has had some time to check out the new set and it is impressive. More details and photos in our review.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Be sure to go check out the screenshots. Like any good geek, I opened the comparison shots in tabs and switched back and forth between them to compare. I really love what they are doing with the remaster!</p>

Athony Pascale writing at TrekMovie.com

TNG Remastered - Season 1 Available Today

<p>
    
</p>
<p>Senator Vreenak spotted some issues.</p>
<p>
    
</p>
<p>The fake teaser was pretty well done though…</p>

Anthony Pascale writing at TrekMovie.com

Star Trek Sequel Teaser (fake)

<p>My Star Trek: The Next Generation — The Next Level disc arrived yesterday and I took the opportunity to watch the first episode on the disc — Encounter at Farpoint — last night.</p>
<p><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/IMG_1221.jpg" alt="IMG 1221" title="IMG_1221.jpg"></p>
<p>Let me just say that, after only having the horrible transfers to DVD for years (especially horrible are the first couple of seasons) the image quality looks absolutely amazing! I mean it’s really incredible! The colors are much more true, the clarity and vibrance are breathtaking. TNG has really never looked this good.</p>
<p><a href="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-01.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-01_1.jpg" alt="Tng eaf 01" title="tng-eaf-01.jpg"></a>
This is the flyover at the end of the title sequence. Remember that this is the original model work, rescanned and re-composited in HD, but still the original work. Now notice the attention to detail. There are actually people in the observation lounge! That was never apparent before in the SD releases of TNG.</p>
<p><a href="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-02.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-02_1.jpg" alt="Tng eaf 02" title="tng-eaf-02.jpg"></a>
The whole look of the Q fence/forcefield thing may have been a bit odd, but you have to admit, the re-composite looks really good.</p>
<p><a href="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-03.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-03_1.jpg" alt="Tng eaf 03" title="tng-eaf-03.jpg"></a>
The ever annoying Wesley Crusher. But while we’re here, man do those color tones not look better than the old DVD transfers?</p>
<p><a href="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-04.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-04_1.jpg" alt="Tng eaf 04" title="tng-eaf-04.jpg"></a>
Mr. Troublemaker himself.</p>
<p>Of course, no amount of remastering of the image quality is going to make up for the horribly overwritten pilot. Or the bad acting that plagued the first season (and to a lesser extent the second season) of TNG. Or the fact that Gene Roddenberry had some strange ideas about what the 24th century would be like, or how uniforms would look in the future. Despite how great the image looks the quirkiness of Encounter at Farpoint remains, for good or for ill. The storyline still doesn’t make a lot of sense, and the seats at ops and conn still look stupid in that silly half reclined position. But to those of us who love TNG, and who know that it got <strong>soooo</strong> much better after season 2, I suppose it’s part of the charm.</p>
<p>Of course there is a lot of good to be had here. Encounter at Farpoint is rendered much easier to stomach now that the quality of the picture is vastly improved. And unlike with the remastering of The Original Series in HD, the effects and models have, for the most part, not been replaced with CGI. In fact the team has said that they are using original film elements and effects wherever possible. <a href="#fn:tngfarpoint1">1</a> In the case of TOS it was necessary to replace all effects and models with CGI since the model work and effects from the 60s simply would never hold up (they were in fact looking really really bad for a long time), and the original film elements had not been preserved, only the composites. In the case of TNG, the effects work was actually ground breaking. All the model shots were done on 35 mm film, of which most of the original elements are available in the archives, so the remastering team is able to simply transfer the original shots and re-composite it all with today’s technology. The result is pure awesomeness. It is my opinion that low budget CGI work simply can’t compare to the excellent model work originally done for TNG so I’m glad that is being preserved. There are of course some exceptions, and there will be some CGI work throughout the remastering of the series. For instance, Mike Okuda has said that over the course of the series many different techniques have been used for phasers and photon torpedoes (for instance). Often times those elements exist only in SD video resolution and so will need to be redone in CG. Mike Okuda has also referenced that occasionally a planet will need to be redone in CGI, such as in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708775/">Sins of the Father</a> because the planet only ever existed in video resolution. And they do have a digital CGI model of the Enterprise D because they know at some point in the series it will be needed when the occasional occurrence of a film element not being found happens. All in all, if Encounter at Farpoint is any indication, the model work and original effects hold up <em>very</em> well even by my stringent standards.</p>
<p>There were some things that were more noticeable. Data’s make up for instance just isn’t quite right. I’m not sure if they were using some sort of lipstick on him, or if it’s just that the pale skin makeup makes the lips stand out more. But whatever it was, it was way more noticeable how bad it was in that first episode. There were times when camera moves were shaky and not well executed which was made more noticeable due to the quality of the images being so much better.</p>
<p>Of course there are nerdy things to like too. Such as this: <a href="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-05.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/tng-eaf-05_1.jpg" alt="Tng eaf 05" title="tng-eaf-05.jpg"></a>
The original composite of this shot had the energy beam feeding the creature coming out of The Captain’s Yacht (the center portion of the underside of the saucer section) instead of the (later well established) phaser emitter bar. This remastering process provides the opportunity to correct things like that. This is, from a nerd’s perspective, much better! The beam is emanating from the proper place on the ship.</p>
<p>I did want to address something that I read in <a href="http://trekmovie.com/2012/01/30/star-trek-the-next-generation-the-next-level-review/">TrekMovie.com’s review of this sampler disc</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While there is more detail, it is important to remember that this show is 25 years old and so things were shot differently back then. The look can be a little soft (partially because of the purposefully slightly soft style common in the 1980s), and they have varying levels of film grain (again an indicator of the era), though nothing overly distracting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I found the look of the remastered TNG to be most pleasing. As far as I’m concerned, a <em>very</em> little hint of film grain is a desired quality. And I found no part of it to “look soft” to my eyes. It was not harsh looking by any means, but rather pleasing to look at. I’m a big fan of the filmic look, and as one who is often not a fan of the look of today’s movies and TV shows, I am very pleased with the look of TNG remastered.</p>
<p>I can’t wait for whole seasons to be released in HD. The teaser is just that and I’m excited to see the work being done.</p>
<hr>
<ol>
<li>Most of my info and facts come from <a href="http://trekmovie.com">TrekMovie.com</a>’s interview with Mike and Denise Okuda. <a href="http://trekmovie.com/2012/01/24/interview-mike-denise-okuda-talk-star-trek-tng-the-next-level-part-1/">Interview Part 1</a> and <a href="http://trekmovie.com/2012/01/25/interview-mike-denise-okuda-talk-star-trek-%E2%80%93-tng-the-next-level-part-2/">Interview Part 2</a> <a href="#fnref:tngfarpoint1">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Encounter at Farpoint in HD

<blockquote>
<p>The presentation blows any other available releases of Star Trek: The Next Generation out of the water. The existing standard definition versions found on the DVD set, TV syndication, and streaming on Netflix and Amazon have a rather flat dull look to them. The image on this Blu-ray has more contrast and the colors are richer. Things are much sharper too. You can see lots of texture on the walls of the bridge as well as costume fabric and even variations in people’s skin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So…</p>
<p>Yeah… I’m completely geeking out right now.</p>

Matt Wright writing on TrekMovie.com

TNG-The Next Level Review

<blockquote>
<p>After years of hearing how difficult it was going to be to bring the show into the HD future (and possibly impossible), I was concerned that this Blu-ray wasn’t going to cut it. However, shortly after “Encounter at Farpoint” started playing, all my concerns were put to rest.</p>
<p><a href="/assets/uploads/2012-12-21/GoingBoldly.jpg"><img src="http://appleuserpro.com/assets/uploads/2012-12-21/GoingBoldly-540.jpg" alt="GoingBoldly"></a></p>
<p>If anything, the remastering of Next Gen into HD is even better looking than the original Star Trek. The colors are more vibrant, but not jarring. The details are astounding and make you want to keep on pausing to make sure you don’t miss anything. This goes for both the live action shots, as well as the remastered visual effects shots. Unlike the original series in HD, this time CBS have remastered the original filmed effects, and then used CGI much more sparingly (primarily replacing effects which were originally done on video). In the end the effects shots, especially of the Enterprise and other space scenes, are just astounding and really bring the show into the 21st century (or 24th century).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I can’t tell you how excited I am about this project!</p>
<p><em>(click the image to view at full HD quality)</em></p>

Anthony Pascale writing on TrekMovie.com

First Impressions of Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level on Blu-ray


<blockquote>
<p>The release of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level” Bluray sampler with four episodes is coming up in a couple weeks. And today TrekMovie has two exclusive images to show off what TNG looks like in HD. Check them out below</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a certified geek, I am greatly looking forward to this.</p>

Anthony Pascale at TrekMovie.com

Exclusive Images From Star Trek TNG ‘The Next Level’ Bluray

<blockquote>
<p>Ever see “Star Trek V”? It’s a horrible, horrible movie, but the Macalope’s always found the scene where Captain Kirk asks “Why does God need a starship?” to be a guilty pleasure. Probably because he feels like he’s also often the only one who asks the obvious questions to talking heads. Like “Who were the ‘developers surveyed’?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Love it! So geeky! You’ve gotta love to hate “Star Trek V”, I mean as a geek! It was almost as bad as “The Motion Picture.”</p>
<p>There’s also some “Phantom Menace” analogies in the article. Good stuff!</p>

Posts tagged “Star Trek” from the blog