Star Trek – The
Next Generation: Season 3 + Star Trek – The Best of Both Worlds
(Paramount Blu-ray Sets)
Picture: B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B+/B Episodes: B+/A-
As may have been previously mentioned, I am uncertain as to whether Paramount upgraded/restored
all of the Next Generation episodes
at once or is slowly chipping away at the long running series; either way the
series looks wonderful here on Blu-ray.
What in previous years (on VHS and DVD) took years to distribute, we now
seem to be getting a steady stream of Star
Trek releases at a good clip. This
could be due to the popularity of the JJ Abram films, or just that it was time;
again, in no way complaining.
Star Trek – The
Next Generation: Season 3 follows suit with the two previous seasons
released. Technical issues that plagued
the DVDs have mostly been remedied here on Blu-ray, a host of extras exist, and
the complete content of the series is here unedited, unsullied.
In previous reviews I expressed my love for this series, but also alluded
that it had some troubles in the beginning; trying to winner over original
series fans and concurrently making a name for itself. Season
3 is where Next Generation hits
its stride; finally whittling it down to essential cast and giving audiences that
strong connection with the crew. Along
with the audience getting a familiarity with the crew of the Enterprise, we also started to get better
scripts and immense and immersing story arches; story arches that would span
seasons.
The level of detail that comes out of Season 3’s episodes is captivating as the introductions and
formalities are out of the way paving the way for philosophical insight and
futuristic wonderment. The writers also
manage to slickly make a variety of episodes charactercentric; expressing that
crew members thoughts and emotions on situations without slapping you in the
face or making it a ‘lesson of the week.’
We get to go with the crew as they experience life, death, evolution,
innovation, love, and so much more. All
of this exemplifies that the series is about to take off in all kinds of
directions and that the Star Trek universe is much bigger than was captured in
seasons one and two. New alien races are
abound this season (some friendly, others hostile), which is incredibly cool
and would be added to the Star Trek canon/mythos for series to come, but it is
the interactions between races (often hitting close to home) that really takes
the series to the next level.
Star Trek TNG –
Season 3 is amazingly well done, setting the stage for the coming seasons. I wait in anticipation for each coming season
here from Paramount Blu-ray.
Then we have Star Trek – The
Best of Both Worlds, a release for extreme fans of the series, being
composed of the Season 3 Finale (cliff
hanger) and the Season 4 Premiere. Considered two of the best episodes (totaling
nearly 2 hours) fans often times refer to them as cinematic as the script,
acting, and visuals are among the best the series would ever demonstrate.
I fully agree with those fans, though I find this Blu-ray release
somewhat absurd. I suppose it is meant
for extreme Star Trek collectors/enthusiast,
those who can’t wait for Season 4 to
arrive to experience the resolution, or those casual fans who (oddly) only like
those 2 episodes. I find the third
speculation to be the least likely.
From my point of view just wait for Season 4 to arrive and continue buying up entire seasons.
The two episodes here chronicle the capturing of Captain Picard by the
part organic, mostly machine race known as the Borg. The Borg assimilates Picard into their race
and uses his knowledge of Starfleet in an attempt to bring it to its
knees. The story is action packed, fast
paced, well written, well acted, and overall a solid episode that finally
brings home the point that the universe is a dangerous place.
The technical features for these two episodes are the same as Season Three (as they restored
concurrently) and will be reviewed with Season
Three below.
Note that extras for Star Trek:
The Next Generation – Best of Both Worlds includes the following:
-
TV promos
-
Audio Commentary
-
Gag Reel
-
Regeneration: Engaging the Borg Featurette
o
Great Featurette that is full of depth and insight into
these landmark episodes
-
Ultra Violet Copy included
The technical features here on this Blu-ray set are well done and do
not hit any of the snags that plagued the first/second seasons. The first two seasons were not done by CBS
themselves and it showed; here in the third season I can honestly say that this
is the best TNG has ever looked on
home video. No longer does the picture
have moments of appearing like a bad VHS tape and the remastered 1080p image is
stunningly well done. The level of
detail is astonishing and elements that were never able to be displayed on TV
are available here; as well as CBS going back and touching up (digitally) some
of the special effects and planetary visuals (clouds, water, etc). Every time TNG was on television I always found it fuzzy, outdated, and
unappealing now that we have HD; well here fans finally get the HD
treatment. Colors are vibrant, blacks
are dark and framing, and the overall presentation is more than enjoyable. The sound remains a DTS 7.1 HD Master Audio
that again uses the whole soundscape and even better than in the previous two
releases. Dialogue is clean and clear,
ambient noises fill the speakers, and the series dramatic musical scores
project with ease.
Standard Definition Extras for Season
3 include:
·
Promos
·
Archival Mission Log: Mission
overview Year 3
·
Archival Mission Log:
Selected Crew
·
Archival Mission Log:
Departmental Meeting Year 3; Memorable Missions
·
Archival Mission Log:
Departmental Meeting Year 3; Production
High Def –
·
Audio Commentaries (5 in total)
·
Gag Reel
·
Resistance is Futile: Assimilating the Next Generation (great
featurette split into 3 parts)
o
Biological Distinctiveness
o
Technological Distinctiveness
o
The Collective
·
Inside the Writers’ Room
·
Tribute to Michael Piller
Great series and great Blu-rays!
- Michael P. Dougherty II
