back to article Star Trek TNG revamped for Blu-ray in 2012

Captain's log 65209.2, CBS has officially confirmed Star Trek: The Next Generation will be heading to Blu-Ray in 2012. And, in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary, each of the 178 episodes throughout TNG's seven series will be remastered in 1080p HD. TNG will be available from January, starting with a sampler of …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Jon Press

    Visual effects are then recompositioned

    Remake it so!

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Visual effects are then recompositioned

      ROFL

  2. ThomH

    "exactly as they first aired"

    Is that in the sense of exactly as they first aired as long as you didn't look at any of the bits they've almost certainly cropped or stretched to make a widescreen image?

  3. Lockwood
    Unhappy

    Star Trek DVD boxsets were prohibitively expensive, even second hand they can go for as much as £15, compared to the £5 <other tv show> boxset next to them.

    Ok, they did have the funky plastic bump case.

    The TOS movie BluRay was even worse costwise when it came out.

    I think these TNG BluRays will, if history guides us, not have that many units sold...

  4. Roger B

    was'nt this all filmed in 4:3 ratio and not 16:9? How will this work?

    1. nigel 15

      it was filmed on 35mm WS

      it's just all the post was done in SD 4;3

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Stretching ...

    As long as they resist the temptation to crop the original 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 then this is all good.

    1. Adam T

      Re: 4:3

      A quick Google...

      - Aspect ratio for Blu-ray release is the original aspect ratio as it aired on televsion – 1.33:1 (4:3) - confirmed by TrekMovie.com and The Digital Bits

  6. Annihilator
    Paris Hilton

    Crucially

    What will the format be in? As I recall it was all 4:3 - will they be leaving that the hell alone or tilt 'n' scanning it into 16:9? I really hope the former...

  7. Lottie

    In HD

    we can see the grain on the wooden performances!

    Although it DID get better after season 2

  8. nigel 15
    Alien

    I'm so excited i've got wood.

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

      Re:

      That'll go well with the wooden acting then...

      1. Joe Drunk

        Agreed. Was a fan of TOS but could never get into TNG. Too sterile.

  9. Paw Bokenfohr
    Happy

    If they really do...

    ...use the original film and clean it up nicely to HD, and remake the visual effects properly in HD, then assuming they don't charge $100+ a series, these might be a nice purchase.

    1. Adam T

      Visual effects will not be upconverted from videotape, but instead will be recompositioned from the film elements available.

      Meaning, they're not remaking them. They'll be crisper, but they'll still be shite :)

  10. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Happy

    I watched a couple of the really early ones the other day, certainly a product of their time! They seem to have had the Cybil Sheppard Soft-Focus Filter (tm) installed while shooting!

  11. Northern Fop
    Happy

    To squee?

    Or not to squee? The former, I think.

    Engage!

  12. Jacqui

    CGI quality

    This will really show up the horrific *state of the art) CGI quality used on the earlier shows - unless they have redone it?

    1. nigel 15

      that's exactly what they are doing. they are using the original film and redoing all the effects.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      CGI

      Actually there was very little CGI indeed in TNG, I believe they only really used it in the much later seasons and IIRC there was never a CGI Enterprise-D. It was all done as 'traditional' effects.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm impressed with the work they're going to on this

    although undoubtedly some Trekkies will up in arms at the loss of the soft-focus look that came to typify the converted-from-NTSC UK terrestrial broadcasts. It'll be interesting to see how well the sets and make-up bear up to being viewable in far greater detail than originally intended

    1. NogginTheNog

      Maybe I can now watch them then

      That soft-focus look was what made the original broadcasts unwatchable to me, though the oh-so-PC and condescending storylines helped a little as well! I much preferred Voyager... ;-)

      Maybe I can now give them a second chance now (once the price drops to a reasonable level of course).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Actually...

      It was filmed on 35mm and converted to both NTSC and PAL, this way you don't get video conversion problems, so familiar of 1980's American news clips on UK TV. This was a very common way of making anything of any mid-to-high budget in the US.

      As a foot note - see The Day Today for the 'larious US TV news sections.

  14. Greg J Preece

    Excellent

    Now when are WB gonna get around to doing this with Babylon 5? The DVD transfer for the first few series was dreadful.

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Excellent

      No, I think you mean 'the first few series were dreadful'.

      :-)

      1. Greg J Preece

        @Tony

        The first series wasn't as good as the others, granted, but it did set a lot of stuff up, storywise. Sinclair's acting was bad, but in a funny way rather than a God-awful way. B5 just didn't work as well with the stand-alone episodic format, so once the main storyline got going it was much improved.

        And compared to Star Trek? Much as I love the Trek and its cheesy dialogue, wooden arms-by-the-side acting, and tendency to resolve all problems in the last 5 minutes of the show with concentrated technobabble, it just doesn't come close to B5.

        B5 definitely has its crap moments, but they are heavily outweighed by the good stuff. Riker incompetently firing one shot at a BoP and getting his ship destroyed, or Sheridan dive-bombing a ship full of nukes into Za'ha'dum, before throwing himself off a cliff because his balls are solid titanium?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      When JMS stops being an asshole

      ie, never

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Err...

      If I may be permitted a Simon Peggism:

      "Babylon five's a big pile of shite."

      (Although, I do have a soft spot for it!)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @People who downvoted AC1937

        It was a quote from Spaced, which Simon Peg's character used to get sacked from a comic book shop, rather than have to serve his notice.

  15. Robert Heffernan
    Facepalm

    Oh Great

    ... Now I gotta buy it all again!

  16. McBread
    Gimp

    Rumour has it...

    ...in order to meet the director's original vision;

    Jean-Luc now has CGI hair.

    Wesley now has a genetically enhanced monkey that sits on his shoulder, wise-cracking and introducing moments of slapstick levity.

    Data walking about is now accompanied by the sound of steam-pistons; an oversight saw this removed prior to the original broadcast.

    The Borg only start to assimilate people after the TNG crew were mean to them first.

    1. GitMeMyShootinIrons

      I heard that.....

      Worf randomly shouts 'NO....'

    2. Studley

      Also...

      ...there are now five lights.

  17. Paul Westerman
    Thumb Up

    Q'apla!

    Good news. Leave 'Sub Rosa' til last please.

  18. LAGMonkey
    Happy

    eeeee

    well i guess ill be buying this on import in order to get avoid the upscaling costs. And i shall echo the worries of others about the 16:9 strech.

    Maybe they can take the future frame when the camera is panning to add in the extra bits at the side from 4:3

    maybe some temporal-shifting is in order.

    1. Brian 6
      Happy

      No need to import.

      Its being converted from 35mm not from video tape. So both the US and UK HD versions will be the same. No strech.

  19. cs94njw
    Alien

    Desperately looking forward to this!

    Star Trek - The Search for Spock is BEAUTIFUL on BluRay. Doesn't look crappy at all, and actually compares well with most modern film productions. Everything was clearer and crisper. Praying the STTNG remodel is the same quality!!

  20. Suburban Inmate
    Paris Hilton

    30 Posts!

    And no mention of Marina Sirtis' forward sheilding... Has ElReg been DNShafted again?

  21. James Melody
    Coat

    Can I be the first to complain.....

    .......Riker shot first!

    Mine is the one with the tricorder in the pocket.

  22. Greg J Preece

    The TOS remaster was well done, with the CGI replacements true enough to the original models that they didn't really look out of place. Much better done than with other films, such as...oh, I don't know...Ghost in the Shell 2.0. *Shudder*

  23. John 62
    Meh

    redoing the sfx?

    the new effects just looked daft on TOS. why do they have to do it?

    from what I've read the plan with B5 was to always to re-render the computer effects for when it was released on future formats, but I'm glad they found it too expensive to bother (they also apparently filmed with widescreen stock, ready for 16:9 presentation later, but everything was framed for 4:3 so it looked naff in 16:9 anyway, though I wouldn't mind seeing it for myself)

    I love TNG*: if it's on TV I have a hard time tearing myself away from it, though I don't love it enough to get it all on disc, just because of the time commitment for watching them all again.

    * the early episodes are awful on so many levels (men in miniskirt tunics??), but seem to have a strange charm that I can't explain.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like