Star Trek: The Next Generation in HD

+1

 

I agree it looks blurry but that's just the source. The actual model work looks very nice. The other example looks very fake to me. Actually, both should look fake because how many Borg cubes actually exist in real life but I digress..........

 

I don't share your confidence. Not if they start from scratch and do real CGI. That is hard to do well. I've seen a lot of money and talent thrown at true CGI that failed miserably. 300 anyone?

By the way. I am talking true CGI computer generated imagery. Not digital compositing and augmentation of filmed elements. That is a different beast altogether and can be done well on the cheap. 300 anyone?

 

I think it would be a very poor choice for reasons I have already stated.

 

I would be up in arms about an aspect ratio change, but not redoing effects, and here's why: The redone effects in Star Trek TOS were very true to the originals. Many of the shots were identical, although computer generated, and the new shots were done in a very unobtrusive style. Also, the shots of the Enterprise 1701-D et al. were not the main draw of the show, it was all about the characters and dilemmas they face. Very few space battles in TNG were action packed.

On the other hand, Star Wars has more than just special effect replacement. Things like changing the order in which characters shoot at each other, digitally replacing one actor with another, adding new lines of dialogue, etc... I don't think that there would be such an outcry if all Lucas did was replace the X-Wing model shots with CG ones. Likewise, there would be a huge outcry if they digitally replaced Data with a CG version so he would look/act "more robotic".

Would I prefer the original effects? Of course. Am I going to lose sleep if the NCC 1701-D is CG? Nah.

 

Like DragonQ, I think that original shot looks awful. For being fan made, the CGI one looks pretty good. I'd expect better from the actual studio.

Generally I'd say go with OAR and leave it at that. I'm open to them using 16x9 if the original negatives have enough information to frame it that way, so that we aren't losing picture real estate and if there aren't things like mics and light stands that now become visible.

So I'll wait and see. I'm not willing to comdemn the possibility without seeing some results of what they can come up with.

 

There will be boom mics and other things visible. but worse than that is the framing that is carefully chosen by the director and DP will be screwed up. Composition will be arbitrarily tweeked and basic rules of cinematography that were respected in the making of these shows will now look like they were ignored.

anyway.... I don't want to get redundant here.

 

Scott, maybe we will get lucky and they will offer BOTH Aspect ratios on the Blu-Ray Discs. Thats "added value", which means they could charge a bit more for the set.

If they do that, then everyone is happy. And...I'll bet you that even adamant 4:3 folks here will watch *some* of the episodes in 16:9....because *some* will look good.

Me, I've been waiting for TNG on Blu-Ray since the series ended. So I will be happy no matter what.

 

Eh, they can just change 'em to walkie talkies...wait...wrong thread.

I seem to remember one of the reasons the 1701-D was styled the way it was is so that it filled the 4:3 screen nicely. I personally think it's one of the weakest starship designs ever, but it makes sense that it was created the way it was to look good on TV.

I'm hoping TNG gets released in the near future for no other reason than it's a step closer to getting a blueray release of DS9.

 

There are people ready to declare entire "Star Wars" films unwatchable due to "incorrect" colors of lightsabers, so there are plenty of people who'd be unhappy with the films even if all Lucas did was change effects.

I agree that updated "TNG" effects is not the same as story/editing changes, but I'm still surprised that so much of the reaction has been "they can do whatever they want as long as it looks good!" The biggest surprise comes from how many people say they'd be fine with an altered aspect ratio... :thumbsdn:

 

That'd be fine with me. I don't give a crap if Paramount releases altered versions of the series... as long as the original's available, too. That's what was nice about the "TOS" BDs...

 

no complaints about existing STNG DVD set, except that it is a little bulky and I don't love how the boxes unfold. Agree, show was shot in 1:33 and that's how it should remain. No Lucas type treatment....thas dumb.

 

The thing is - there's absolutely no point in releasing TNG on Blu-ray unless it is remastered - because the masters do not exist in HD. The existing masters would look exactly the same on Blu-ray as they do on DVD - so a Blu-ray in those circumstances would be pointless.

So - the option then is to remaster the show from the original 35mm film elements. That's great for the regular "acting" scenes - but something has to be done with the effects. The completed effects only exist on standard definition video - so releasing the show on Blu-ray with beautiful high definition footage of the actors combined with low resolution effects shots would be ... horrible.

Consequently the effects have to be redone. Even if many of the original film elements are used (and they might well be) - model shots of the Enterprise, for example - everything is essentially going to be redone in terms of the effects. Whether most of the work is CGI, or only a little bit is CGI, every effects shot will still have to be redone. I can guarantee that the rather murky looking shots of planets seen from orbit in many of the Season 1 and 2 episodes will get "upgraded", just for a start!

And all this talk of aspect ratio - well, so far we know nothing about the aspect ratio. Everyone's getting all worked up about something that probably hasn't even been decided yet.

The comparison to the "Star Wars" controversy isn't valid. Yes, there may be a few Star Wars fans who get hot under the collar about the appearance of light sabers - but most Star Wars fans are annoyed about all the changes Lucas has made - if he'd just cleaned up the effects shots (and done nothing more) I'm sure that 99.7% of fans would have accepted that (or even been happy). One thing is for sure - these TNG Blu-rays aren't about to change the storylines or give Worf a different kind of growl...

Also - in terms of the effects - "Star Wars" was released to cinemas on 35mm (in fact I think the effects shots were done in Vistavision) so it's not as if Lucas had to redo the effects because they were mastered on video! Completely different kettle of alien fish to TNG. Lucas didn't have to do anything to "Star Wars" when it was rereleased in the nineties.

TNG is a whole different thing - there is no point releasing standard definition video on Blu-ray. That would just be a massive waste of time. I wouldn't bother buying it - it's already on DVD. Clearly the best option is to provide both 4:3 and 16:9 versions on Blu-ray - that way nobody complains.

 

I would be happy with the original aspect ratios.

I would also be happy if they digitally edit out the "Troi's got another headache" episodes too.

 

Can they edit out Geordi's banana clip eye piece too?

In response to His Master's Voice post above, a new transfer can improve upon the picture quality of what's come before so that's a plus. And even though Blu-ray won't add anything to the resolution due to the format of the source material, it would offer lossless audio as well as potentially a higher video bit-rate (not sure how much the signals were compressed on the DVDs). I'd certainly prefer this over purchasing the existing DVDs.

 

Actually they would probably look worse because of the unforgiving higher resolution of the Blu-ray format and HD.

As far as new visual effects it really depends on the shape of the original film elements and how time intensive it is to do the scans vs. creating a CGI model.

I'd vote for a combination of both particularly if they can improve some of the episodes although the model work holds up extremely well.

 

You mean the 35mm source material of the actors? You better believe Blu-Ray will take full advantage of such things.

Are people not paying attention? The plan is to RETRANSFER ('scuse me if I pick the wrong term here) the footage of the actors from the 35mm, and then recreate the visual effects. The exact same (or very similar!) process that the TOS-R team followed on that project will be followed on TNG-R.

 

The main difference being that the TOS-R team did not change the aspect ratio.

 

True, but so far we have no firm confirmation that TNG-R will be widescreen.

 

I've always thought this was the best Trek franchise myself and look forward to seeing the episodes look better, lets hope they do it right.

I've always wondered why they didn't try for another Next Generation feature film, one with a great script. that was a great cast that really had great chemistry together and not sure they ever really gave them a feature film they could be proud of...

anyway, i'm ok with either ratio as long as it's compelling to watch and doesnt look like its missing parts of the shots.

 

Because Nemesis lost truck-loads of money, and the one-two punch of the Nemesis and Enterprise failures effectively killed off Star Trek for years.

Also, they killed off the best character of the series.

 

They could always release the discs as dual-sided or something, with 4:3 on one side and 16:9 on the other (or whatever). Or just include more discs...but then I guess a crapload of discs will be needed in the first place!

 

You don't think they can be proud of "First Contact"? I really liked "Insurrection" too, but I know a lot of people didn't. I'm only a moderate TNG fan to begin with.

I also really liked "Enterprise". But what character you referring to as the best character of the series that was killed off? Are you talking about TNG or Enterprise?

 

Data of course.