Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
In 1987, some 20 years after the original series had ended, Star Trek: the Next Generation was launched into a decade renowned for its materialistic greed, but also for its hesitant steps towards a more unified world order. Creator Gene Roddenberry revised his vision of humanity's future accordingly, shifting the Trek timeline 80 years on and reinventing the new Starship Enterprise as an Ark-like exploration vessel full of families, schools, soothing recreational facilities and a maternally pacifying computer voice (Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett).
The Next Generation crew were not soldiers, but scientists and diplomats. Unlike the fiercely individualistic Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart's patrician Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a model team leader: no matter how desperate the crisis, he ensured that everyone got to sit round the conference room table and talk it over. And in a true late-1980s touch, a key member of the Bridge crew was psychoanalyst Counsellor Troi, always on hand to discuss everyone's feelings. Even the slogan change to "Where no one has gone before" acknowledged that there's no "one" in a team. But for all its earnest political correctness and an over-reliance on "technobabble", good stories played by an appealing ensemble cast were at the heart of the show's success. --Paul Tonks
On the DVD: Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to DVD in a distinctively packaged seven-disc set. This is reproduced for all seven series, thus forming a handsome collection. The outer gunmetal grey case is plastic, and the discs themselves are held in a rather flimsy cardboard fold-out sleeve. Each disc has nicely done animated menus and audio/subtitle options for each episode--though no "play all" facility. Disc 7 also includes bonus features in the shape of informative cast and crew interviews (both new and from the launch of Season 1), subdivided into four chapters: "The Beginning", "Selected Crew Analysis", "The Making of a Legend" and "Memorable Missions". Picture is adequate 4:3 with good Dolby 5.1 showing off the innovative sound effects. --Mark Walker
Product Description
Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina SirtisWriters: Gene Roddenberry
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
99 of 103 people found the following review helpful
By M. Palmer
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's a shame that Amazon have included the DVD reviews under the blu ray product because although the stories are the same the product is completely different. I just received the blu ray box set of season 1 today.
The Next Generation was shot of film (both live action and special effects) however both were immediately transferred to standard definition tape, and they used this tape to edit the episode together and composite the special effects into the live action, and it is this tape copy that is the source for the old DVDs and what was and is broadcast on television. Paramount have gone back to the original film negatives and scanned them in high definition and have re-composited and re-edited and cleaned up every single episode shot for shot. Some people may be complaining and wondering why the blu ray release is apparently so expensive, well this is why, it's taken A LOT of manpower and resource to make these.
I have all TNG episodes on DVD so I watched the first episode "Encounter at Farpoint" on DVD to familiarize myself with it and then on blu ray.
For anyone who says that they are happy with the DVDs seriously needs their head examining. The picture quality on the blu ray release is totally and utterly stunning, I cannot overstate how spectacular it looks. The DVDs picture is blurry, fuzzy with incorrect colour timing and terrible picture smearing.
The blu ray picture on the other hand is pin sharp with correct colour balance. Watching the Enterprise D slide into view for the first time my jaw literally dropped, instead of a fuzzy ship with blurry windows, a deflector dish consisting of a fuzzy blue ring and vague details which you got on the DVD, on the blu ray the stunning work of the model makers can be seen in crisp detail, the ship surface actually has a richness and shimmer to it I'd never seen before.
When Q first appears on the bridge his armour which just seemed dull and lifeless before you can now see highlights glinting off the detailed designs on its surface and details on it you couldn't see before. Panels glint under the studio lights, costume details stand out, the displays look crisp.
Also now that the colours have been corrected everything looks more natural and you no longer get colour bleed between surfaces and people's faces no longer look sunburnt.
The only downside to such quality is that it also meant I could spot a piece of fluff on the bridge carpet and noticed the edge of a power cable going into Data's console at the front of the bridge, details you wouldn't have seen before because the original pictures were only in NTSC resolution of 525 lines.
The sound has also been remixed from 5.1 to 7.1. I only have a 5.1 setup but the sound seems a lot more immersive and the dialogue much clearer than on the DVD releases, perhaps because on blu ray the sound is not compressed.
The episodes retain their square 4:3 picture format (ie they are not in widescreen) just like the blu ray releases of The Original Series, they have done this because this is how they were shot, the only way to make them widescreen would be to zoom the picture in but you would lose too much picture from the top and bottom, so a headshot would suddenly become eyebrow to lips shots, and you can't zoom out sideways any further because literally just out of the 4:3 frame was where the crew were standing with light reflectors and boom mics. It's dependent on the viewer but you soon forget you're watching it in 4:3 after a few moments and then it seems no different to watching a widescreen programme.
As a Star Trek TNG fan is this blu ray release worth £50 - Yes! Absolutely! It looks like it was shot yesterday. The improvements over the DVD release are truly astronomical.
The Next Generation was shot of film (both live action and special effects) however both were immediately transferred to standard definition tape, and they used this tape to edit the episode together and composite the special effects into the live action, and it is this tape copy that is the source for the old DVDs and what was and is broadcast on television. Paramount have gone back to the original film negatives and scanned them in high definition and have re-composited and re-edited and cleaned up every single episode shot for shot. Some people may be complaining and wondering why the blu ray release is apparently so expensive, well this is why, it's taken A LOT of manpower and resource to make these.
I have all TNG episodes on DVD so I watched the first episode "Encounter at Farpoint" on DVD to familiarize myself with it and then on blu ray.
For anyone who says that they are happy with the DVDs seriously needs their head examining. The picture quality on the blu ray release is totally and utterly stunning, I cannot overstate how spectacular it looks. The DVDs picture is blurry, fuzzy with incorrect colour timing and terrible picture smearing.
The blu ray picture on the other hand is pin sharp with correct colour balance. Watching the Enterprise D slide into view for the first time my jaw literally dropped, instead of a fuzzy ship with blurry windows, a deflector dish consisting of a fuzzy blue ring and vague details which you got on the DVD, on the blu ray the stunning work of the model makers can be seen in crisp detail, the ship surface actually has a richness and shimmer to it I'd never seen before.
When Q first appears on the bridge his armour which just seemed dull and lifeless before you can now see highlights glinting off the detailed designs on its surface and details on it you couldn't see before. Panels glint under the studio lights, costume details stand out, the displays look crisp.
Also now that the colours have been corrected everything looks more natural and you no longer get colour bleed between surfaces and people's faces no longer look sunburnt.
The only downside to such quality is that it also meant I could spot a piece of fluff on the bridge carpet and noticed the edge of a power cable going into Data's console at the front of the bridge, details you wouldn't have seen before because the original pictures were only in NTSC resolution of 525 lines.
The sound has also been remixed from 5.1 to 7.1. I only have a 5.1 setup but the sound seems a lot more immersive and the dialogue much clearer than on the DVD releases, perhaps because on blu ray the sound is not compressed.
The episodes retain their square 4:3 picture format (ie they are not in widescreen) just like the blu ray releases of The Original Series, they have done this because this is how they were shot, the only way to make them widescreen would be to zoom the picture in but you would lose too much picture from the top and bottom, so a headshot would suddenly become eyebrow to lips shots, and you can't zoom out sideways any further because literally just out of the 4:3 frame was where the crew were standing with light reflectors and boom mics. It's dependent on the viewer but you soon forget you're watching it in 4:3 after a few moments and then it seems no different to watching a widescreen programme.
As a Star Trek TNG fan is this blu ray release worth £50 - Yes! Absolutely! It looks like it was shot yesterday. The improvements over the DVD release are truly astronomical.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
In 1987 Paramount undertook one of the bravest gambits in their history. They revived their most famous franchise, Star Trek, as a new, ongoing television series. Unable to afford to bring back the original actors, they created a new ship and a new crew, boldly going where no-one had gone before roughly a century after the events of the original series. Everyone expected the new series to flop badly, but instead it was an instant smash hit. 27 million people watched the pilot and the show would go on to last for seven seasons and 178 episodes (a hundred episodes more than the original series). It spawned no less than three spin-offs (the superb Deep Space Nine and the somewhat-less-accomplished Voyager and Enterprise) and led to a resurrection in small-screen SF shows of all stripes.
It would be fair to say that the series did not start off at its most promising, however. The show spends most of its 25-episode first season finding its feet. Fierce behind-the-scenes battles between Gene Roddenberry and his writers resulted in some muddled scripts, whilst Roddenberry's own vision of an egalitarian, equal future are let down by some dubious sexism (it's not until quite late in the season that the female characters get some interesting storylines and cool moments) and racial stereotyping (the episode Code of Honour is particularly wince-inducing in this regard), severe enough to draw criticism from the show's own star.
What saves the first season from early disintegration is Patrick Stewart's thoughtful and intelligent performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Stewart hits the ground running and never gives anything less than 100% to the role and to the scripts, regardless of how hammy the dialogue or how embarrassing the storyline. His co-stars are more variable but generally improve as the season goes along, with arguably only Denise Crosby not hitting the same level of quality as the rest of the cast by the end of the season. Brent Spiner, in particular, embraces his role as the android Data with enthusiasm and aplomb.
It can also be said that, generally, the season improves as it goes along. Early episodes include the aforementioned stereotype-filled Code of Honour and the excruciatingly awful Justice (Jogging Aryans try to kill Wesley Crusher for crushing a flowerbed but relent when even their own Space Alien God thing realises this is lame). Elsewhere, the likes of Where No-One Has Gone Before and The Last Outpost hint at potentially interesting ideas, only to be weakened by sloppy execution. The failure of the Ferengi to impress as villains and the difficulty of using the super-powered Q (a fine performance by John de Lancie) too frequently both leave the show without a convincing set of antagonists, although the rise of the Romulans as a threat towards the end of the season does alleviate this issue. Later on we have more solid episodes like 11001001 (which sets up an intriguing alien race, only for them never to appear again), The Arsenal of Freedom (a brainless but nonetheless effective action episode) and Skin of Evil (which, despite one of the worst alien costumes in the show's history and some poor voice work, does offer up some solid dialogue and the biggest shock in the entire show's run), whilst even weaker episodes show some promise. Angel One has an unappealing premise (the crew visit a planet where women are the 'dominant' gender) but there are some surprising flashes of competence (particularly the notion of the women of the planet being larger and stronger than the men, who are all played by actors of limited height) before it falls apart into embarrassing sexism. Symbiosis sets up a genuinely unsettling and complex moral mess for Picard to deal with, but sabotages it with an awful, "Drugs are bad, m'kay," message.
A special word must be reserved for Conspiracy, probably the most unexpectedly violent episode in the entire history of Star Trek and certainly the goriest, featuring people's heads exploding after being hit by phaser blasts and monstrous creatures (though awfully-realised) eating their way out of corpses. For those planning to revisit the series with younger children, caution is advised with regard to this episode.
Ultimately, the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is horrendously uneven. Even the worst episodes usually have flashes of competence, but there is a notable lack of really strong, totally satisfying episodes (Datalore and Heart of Glory probably come the closets, but even they have problems). That said, there is a certain amount of enjoyment and interest to be gained by seeing the cast improving episode-by-episode, and certainly by seeing the impressive remastering job that has been performed on the series.
To bring Star Trek: The Next Generation to high definition, a team of editors had to fully re-edit and reassemble every single episode from scratch. This involved retrieving the original film canisters (all 25,000 of them) from storage and re-inserting every optical effect in the series. It was a huge job, apparently taking some six months and costing more than $9 million for the first season alone (hence the somewhat high price for the Blu-Ray set). However, their work has paid off. The show now looks like it was filmed yesterday, with the re-editing of the show using modern equipment having the most satisfying side-effective of eliminating all bluescreen artifacts from the series. Matte lines around spaceships are now a thing of the past and the slight discolourations as characters passed in front of viewscreens or windows are now gone. The series looks vivid and impressive, fifty times better than it ever has before. Each episode is also accompanied by its trailer which remains in standard-definition, allowing viewers to see how effective the re-mastering has been.
This first season release is also accompanied by a number of new documentaries, featuring new retrospectives from the cast and crew on its creation as well as the new editing team on the remastering job. These documentaries are a welcome addition, featuring some interesting perspective and trivia about the series. All of the special features from the 2002 DVD release have also been included, albeit still in standard definition.
In terms of quality of the episodes themselves (***), the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation can be said to be 'watchably disappointing'. However, the fantastic remastering job and the extra content rise the overall quality of this set (****) to something far more worthwhile and interesting. The series is available on Blu-Ray now (UK, USA).
It would be fair to say that the series did not start off at its most promising, however. The show spends most of its 25-episode first season finding its feet. Fierce behind-the-scenes battles between Gene Roddenberry and his writers resulted in some muddled scripts, whilst Roddenberry's own vision of an egalitarian, equal future are let down by some dubious sexism (it's not until quite late in the season that the female characters get some interesting storylines and cool moments) and racial stereotyping (the episode Code of Honour is particularly wince-inducing in this regard), severe enough to draw criticism from the show's own star.
What saves the first season from early disintegration is Patrick Stewart's thoughtful and intelligent performance as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Stewart hits the ground running and never gives anything less than 100% to the role and to the scripts, regardless of how hammy the dialogue or how embarrassing the storyline. His co-stars are more variable but generally improve as the season goes along, with arguably only Denise Crosby not hitting the same level of quality as the rest of the cast by the end of the season. Brent Spiner, in particular, embraces his role as the android Data with enthusiasm and aplomb.
It can also be said that, generally, the season improves as it goes along. Early episodes include the aforementioned stereotype-filled Code of Honour and the excruciatingly awful Justice (Jogging Aryans try to kill Wesley Crusher for crushing a flowerbed but relent when even their own Space Alien God thing realises this is lame). Elsewhere, the likes of Where No-One Has Gone Before and The Last Outpost hint at potentially interesting ideas, only to be weakened by sloppy execution. The failure of the Ferengi to impress as villains and the difficulty of using the super-powered Q (a fine performance by John de Lancie) too frequently both leave the show without a convincing set of antagonists, although the rise of the Romulans as a threat towards the end of the season does alleviate this issue. Later on we have more solid episodes like 11001001 (which sets up an intriguing alien race, only for them never to appear again), The Arsenal of Freedom (a brainless but nonetheless effective action episode) and Skin of Evil (which, despite one of the worst alien costumes in the show's history and some poor voice work, does offer up some solid dialogue and the biggest shock in the entire show's run), whilst even weaker episodes show some promise. Angel One has an unappealing premise (the crew visit a planet where women are the 'dominant' gender) but there are some surprising flashes of competence (particularly the notion of the women of the planet being larger and stronger than the men, who are all played by actors of limited height) before it falls apart into embarrassing sexism. Symbiosis sets up a genuinely unsettling and complex moral mess for Picard to deal with, but sabotages it with an awful, "Drugs are bad, m'kay," message.
A special word must be reserved for Conspiracy, probably the most unexpectedly violent episode in the entire history of Star Trek and certainly the goriest, featuring people's heads exploding after being hit by phaser blasts and monstrous creatures (though awfully-realised) eating their way out of corpses. For those planning to revisit the series with younger children, caution is advised with regard to this episode.
Ultimately, the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is horrendously uneven. Even the worst episodes usually have flashes of competence, but there is a notable lack of really strong, totally satisfying episodes (Datalore and Heart of Glory probably come the closets, but even they have problems). That said, there is a certain amount of enjoyment and interest to be gained by seeing the cast improving episode-by-episode, and certainly by seeing the impressive remastering job that has been performed on the series.
To bring Star Trek: The Next Generation to high definition, a team of editors had to fully re-edit and reassemble every single episode from scratch. This involved retrieving the original film canisters (all 25,000 of them) from storage and re-inserting every optical effect in the series. It was a huge job, apparently taking some six months and costing more than $9 million for the first season alone (hence the somewhat high price for the Blu-Ray set). However, their work has paid off. The show now looks like it was filmed yesterday, with the re-editing of the show using modern equipment having the most satisfying side-effective of eliminating all bluescreen artifacts from the series. Matte lines around spaceships are now a thing of the past and the slight discolourations as characters passed in front of viewscreens or windows are now gone. The series looks vivid and impressive, fifty times better than it ever has before. Each episode is also accompanied by its trailer which remains in standard-definition, allowing viewers to see how effective the re-mastering has been.
This first season release is also accompanied by a number of new documentaries, featuring new retrospectives from the cast and crew on its creation as well as the new editing team on the remastering job. These documentaries are a welcome addition, featuring some interesting perspective and trivia about the series. All of the special features from the 2002 DVD release have also been included, albeit still in standard definition.
In terms of quality of the episodes themselves (***), the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation can be said to be 'watchably disappointing'. However, the fantastic remastering job and the extra content rise the overall quality of this set (****) to something far more worthwhile and interesting. The series is available on Blu-Ray now (UK, USA).
89 of 99 people found the following review helpful
By Colin Neal
Format:DVD
Paramount seem to have listened, planned and are going about releasing quality DVD box sets with extras. One season is planned for release every 2 months
The great news is that the picture has been remastered and the sound remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. 4 new documentaries have been created for this release lasting for an hour. Presentationally the box sets form a neat library of 7 packs when placed alongside each other. A booklet is also included per box.
Season 1 of The Next Generation has only a few outstanding stories. The rest (looking like they are from the eighties) tend to spend too much time on supporting characters such as Wesley Crusher. Fortunately Patrick Stewart does such a superb job of leading the cast, the weaker stories can be forgiven for the most part.
An excellent release with the entire 7 seasons on the way. Fingers crossed for Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise releases soon!
Episode List:
Encounter at Farpoint
The Naked Now
Code of Honor
The Last Outpost
Where No One Has Gone Before
Lonely Among Us
Justice
The Battle
Hide and Q
Haven
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
Angel One
11001001
Too Short a Season
When the Bough Breaks
Home Soil
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom
Symbiosis
Skin of Evil
We'll Always Have Paris
Conspiracy
The Neutral Zone
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 522 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
TNG in hi-def, what's not to like?
A welcome addition to my ever increasing blu-ray collection. As to be expected, the blu-ray remastering is phenomenal and I found myself noticing aspects of the set etc that I... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Silken
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great classic SciFi series
I bought this for my husband whose a much bigger fan than me. He was not disappointed.
This is one series where Blu-ray is way ahead of DVD and well worth the extra... Read more
This is one series where Blu-ray is way ahead of DVD and well worth the extra... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Eva V. C. Morley
5.0 out of 5 stars
DVD
My son was really happy to receive this as a gift and put this into his already growing Star Trek Collection.
Published 1 month ago by KarCup
5.0 out of 5 stars
TNG in blu-ray? Fantastic
I've owned this series on every format, from vhs to blu-ray, this is simply the very best way to see it. This is how it was meant to be seen. Read more
Published 1 month ago by movieviewer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Set phasers to STUNNING!!!
Set phasers to stunning! Star trek the next generation which is considerd to be the most popular star trek series of them all
Re-energises to the modern day audience. Read more
Re-energises to the modern day audience. Read more
Published 1 month ago by liam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good old Star Trek
Great cast, great stories, all you would expect from Star Trek. Nicely packaged and will look great alongside my other slimline collections, Voyager, Enterprise etc
Published 1 month ago by Mikey
1.0 out of 5 stars
Over 6 months after Faulty items were withdrawn - I got one!
I was desperate to notice that I have received obsolete item, discs with flawed audio mix! I wouldn't, clearly, be so surprised if I hadn't order them 6-7 months after new ones... Read more
Published 2 months ago by L. Koprivica
5.0 out of 5 stars
classic
what can i say if you like star trek you will undoubtedly buy this, if your new to the whole star trek universe then congratulations on buying this
Published 2 months ago by K. Berry
4.0 out of 5 stars
Season 1 so better is to come.
Slightly disappointed there isn't an option to make it widescreen but the transfer is OK. Some scenes still look a little grainy but all in all it is exactly as I remember it.
Published 2 months ago by S. Thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic transfer!
This is by far the best high definition transfer I have seen. When you watch the special features, they tell you that they wanted to keep all the original footage, because the guys... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Craigmoviebuff1980
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
