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Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season One
Welcome to the 24th Century
October 10, 1986, seventeen years after the
cancellation of the original Star Trek series,
Paramount launched a new generation of Star
Trek with an all-new cast of characters. The
show went on to have an Emmy award-winning
seven-year run. It has become the best Star
Trek series of all time.
Sixteen years after its television premier,
Paramount Home Video is giving the ultimate
homage to this series by releasing it in an
amazing series-by-series package in which
Executive Producer Rick Berman notes, "Every
element of this collection has been carefully
created with you, the Star Trek fan in mind."
Paramount was not going to repeat their original
mistake with handling Star Trek television product
on DVD. The original series was released in no
less than 40 individual volumes containing two
episodes each. Even more frustrating was the fact
that it took the studio over two years to get the
entire series out. One can easily forgive Paramount
knowing that this was their very television entry
at a time when no other studio was releasing
television product. The studio was nearly getting
their feet wet and as you can see, learned by
their mistakes.
I have to admit that I was a bit surprised at
first by the packaging. Many of the early pictures
of the packaging made it look like this set was
coming in a large plastic outer case. I was quite
surprised to find it housed instead in cardboard.
I am not totally disappointed, however, as this is
THE most attractive television boxed-set I have
seen thus far. The pictures above show a very
strong and durable outer cardboard box that opens
up to a gatefold enclosure inside.
Star Trek The Next Generation Season One is
presented in a very handsome 7-pane gatefold that
opens up to an impressive span, holding the entire
first season laid out across 7 DVDs placed in plastic
housing. A total of 25 episodes are presented here,
all available for the first time in 5.1 surround sound.
Inside the gatefold's end pocket sits a small
pamphlet that opens to an impressive 26 1/2"
2-sided fold-out. The one side features artist
renderings of all the main Star Trek characters
and various ships including those belonging to
the Romulans and Klingons. The second side begins
with a Welcome introduction by Executive Producer,
Rick Berman. There are then individual pictures
and summaries of each of the show's characters.
Two pages of this booklet are devoted to
The Episodes which are listed in alphabetical
order. I would have preferred listing by air date.
In any case, a quick reference tells you the
original air date of each episode and what
corresponding disc that episode appears on.
How is the transfer?
Generally, the series looks quite good. My
initial problem was that I was used to watching
so much film on DVD over the past few weeks, and
watching a TV show on DVD is a totally different
experience.
First of all, the series is presented in its
original broadcast "Full Frame". This is going
to ultimately bother viewers with anamorphic sets,
but ultimately, it's no more difficult to adjust
to over regular broadcast television.
Second, I had to come to terms that this was
not going to be a film-like presentation. The
picture looks generally good, but just because
I like to nit pick, there are a few oddities I
did notice. The show's titles have a lot of video
noise in them. Many of the effect shots show
picture shimmer. There are some shots of Captain
Picard in "Encounter at Farpoint" that show an
excessive amount of redness in his face compared
to the other surrounding characters. Am I being
a bit too nit picky? You bet! The transfer is
probably as good as the source was, and I have no
major gripes about the picture quality.
You would think that by the look of Data's
face, he had the same sonic experience I did
listening to these episodes. The new 5.1
Dolby Digital mix is absolutely stunning.
Crank your system up, because you are going
to be blown away not just by the 5 channels
of crisp, direction-defined sound, but also by
the amount of LFE sound that had my SV SUBWOOFER
shaking the floor as the Enterprise rolled on
by. The most impressive example of bass sound
came in the show's final episode, "The Neutral
Zone" when a Romulan ship suddenly decloaks and
roars upon the screen.
What I enjoyed most about this 5.1 mix is that
the soundstage is set up so that you are placed
in the Captain's chair as the action happens in
front of you, and the hum of the ship's engines
are placed behind you. Such detail makes these
episodes more than just a viewing experience.
Special Features
It's the little added touches that totally
immerses the viewer into the Star Trek experience.
As you pop in the disc, you are greeted with a newly
produced animated sequence. The planet Saturn
appears, as character faces dissolve in and out of
the planet surface. The Enterprise makes her way
across the front of the planet as the show's titles
appear, ending the sequence.
A computer seemingly loads the episode retrieval
log....
Welcome to the Main Menu that has been replicated
to look like the ship's computer mainframe.
The initial menu lists all the episodes and
features appearing on that particular DVD.
Once you select the episode, you have several
options laid out before you. ENGAGE will
immediately start the episode. COMMUNICATIONS
lets you select either ENGLISH STEREO or ENGLISH
5.1 SURROUND. It is here that you can also turn
subtitles on, if you wish. CHAPTER LOG
breaks the episode down by scenes, with individual
picture stills allowing you to quickly access your
favorite points in the episode.
Disc 7 holds the DVD's extra content. Let's
take a look at it....
Labeled as Mission Logs, there is an
interesting blend of added material here for fans.
Take a walk down memory lane with In the
beginning. A newly produced featurette
intercut with original 1985 interviews brings
us onto the Paramount lot and onto the show's
soundstage as we see crew putting together the
massive sets. In the background, cast members
give a toast to the new crew of the Enterprise.
Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry and Supervising
Producer Robert Justman (who both worked on the
original series) reflect on putting this new show
together and why it had to be done with a new cast.
Each of the cast members tell their stories of
coming aboard as cast members and how they were
just overwhelmed by the futuristic look of the
sets and computers. We then get a glimpse of
production designs that include all the effects
shots done with miniatures. Pat Sweeney from
Industrial Light & Magic shows us a brand new
technique called the "max-stretch" which will
enable the Enterprise to go into warp speed. This
17-minute featurette ends with all the cast members
reflecting on Gene Roddenberry and his true visions
for the 24th century.
Opening season jitters run amok in Selected
Crew Analysis. Produced in 1985-86, we are
taken on the set to talk to Patrick Stewart,
Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden and the rest of
the crew who talk about the jitters of doing a
television series that would probably never come
close to the original. This is a really fun piece
that through fast edits, tells the story of
countless auditions and near misses that each cast
member had. The cast later talk about the
development of their characters over the seasons
from hairstyles that changed (see Worf's humorous
Lena Horne look) to evolving relationships between
the characters. Frakes and Steward end this 15-minute
featurette commenting about how a huge cast working
70-80 hours a week together, still managed to be
a happy one.
Executive Producer Rick Berman describes the
Enterprise as "a substitute for Mother Earth"
in The making of a legend. This 15-minute
featurette looks at the concept of creating
a futuristic film-like show for broadcast TV.
One of the most interesting aspects of creating
a show about the 24th century is that every
prop seen has to be manufactured. This includes
everything from medical equipment to simple items
that sat on shelves in shipmate quarters. Even
a planet's surface required materials to be used
in a way they were never used before. This show
was produced right before digital effects became
the norm, and thus, all the effects had to be
done with opticals. We are treated to a look at
how the transport "beam up" is created with the
different layers of effects. It's interesting
to watch how all the props (from guns to tricorders)
have been updated from the original series in order
to show how much has been advanced since then.
Next up we take a look at the things that MAKE
the character from Worf's make-up to Geordi's visor.
We are then taken on a soundstage where the orchestra
lays down the score for the episodes.
Jonathan Frakes talks about Metamucil and black
printer's ink as one of his most Memorable
Missions. Patrick Steward remembers how
the entire set was in hysterics for 45-minutes
because Frakes couldn't say his dialogue. FX
Supervisor Dan Curry laughs about a shampoo
bottle and an Easter Egg became a desperate
last-minute killer robot. This 17-minute
featurette is a fun look at how special episodes
have special memories for members of the cast
and crew.
Let me give special kudos to Paramount for
presenting all of these featurettes with the
option to add subtitles.
Final Thoughts
This is a very special moment for Star Trek
fans and Paramount Home Video.
Fans finally get treated with the respect
they deserve as Paramount really pulls out the
stops with a season boxed set that doesn't cut
corners. The studio is being very aggressive,
promising to release all 7 seasons this year.
What other studio is giving that sort of priority
to their seasons of sets?
I would boldly go where no reviewer has gone
before and say that this is the ONE series that
is worth the investment whether you have ever
watched a single episode or not. You see, Star
Trek speaks a universal language about ourselves
and how we get along together amongst different
races. I think that Supervising Producer Robert
Justman said it best....
"What Star Trek is about, what the series is
about..is about morality and that hasn't changed
one bit since the early days back in 1965 and '66."
Amen! Now buy the set!
Release Date: March 26, 2002
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season One
Welcome to the 24th Century
October 10, 1986, seventeen years after the
cancellation of the original Star Trek series,
Paramount launched a new generation of Star
Trek with an all-new cast of characters. The
show went on to have an Emmy award-winning
seven-year run. It has become the best Star
Trek series of all time.
Sixteen years after its television premier,
Paramount Home Video is giving the ultimate
homage to this series by releasing it in an
amazing series-by-series package in which
Executive Producer Rick Berman notes, "Every
element of this collection has been carefully
created with you, the Star Trek fan in mind."
Paramount was not going to repeat their original
mistake with handling Star Trek television product
on DVD. The original series was released in no
less than 40 individual volumes containing two
episodes each. Even more frustrating was the fact
that it took the studio over two years to get the
entire series out. One can easily forgive Paramount
knowing that this was their very television entry
at a time when no other studio was releasing
television product. The studio was nearly getting
their feet wet and as you can see, learned by
their mistakes.
I have to admit that I was a bit surprised at
first by the packaging. Many of the early pictures
of the packaging made it look like this set was
coming in a large plastic outer case. I was quite
surprised to find it housed instead in cardboard.
I am not totally disappointed, however, as this is
THE most attractive television boxed-set I have
seen thus far. The pictures above show a very
strong and durable outer cardboard box that opens
up to a gatefold enclosure inside.
Star Trek The Next Generation Season One is
presented in a very handsome 7-pane gatefold that
opens up to an impressive span, holding the entire
first season laid out across 7 DVDs placed in plastic
housing. A total of 25 episodes are presented here,
all available for the first time in 5.1 surround sound.
Inside the gatefold's end pocket sits a small
pamphlet that opens to an impressive 26 1/2"
2-sided fold-out. The one side features artist
renderings of all the main Star Trek characters
and various ships including those belonging to
the Romulans and Klingons. The second side begins
with a Welcome introduction by Executive Producer,
Rick Berman. There are then individual pictures
and summaries of each of the show's characters.
Two pages of this booklet are devoted to
The Episodes which are listed in alphabetical
order. I would have preferred listing by air date.
In any case, a quick reference tells you the
original air date of each episode and what
corresponding disc that episode appears on.
How is the transfer?
Generally, the series looks quite good. My
initial problem was that I was used to watching
so much film on DVD over the past few weeks, and
watching a TV show on DVD is a totally different
experience.
First of all, the series is presented in its
original broadcast "Full Frame". This is going
to ultimately bother viewers with anamorphic sets,
but ultimately, it's no more difficult to adjust
to over regular broadcast television.
Second, I had to come to terms that this was
not going to be a film-like presentation. The
picture looks generally good, but just because
I like to nit pick, there are a few oddities I
did notice. The show's titles have a lot of video
noise in them. Many of the effect shots show
picture shimmer. There are some shots of Captain
Picard in "Encounter at Farpoint" that show an
excessive amount of redness in his face compared
to the other surrounding characters. Am I being
a bit too nit picky? You bet! The transfer is
probably as good as the source was, and I have no
major gripes about the picture quality.
You would think that by the look of Data's
face, he had the same sonic experience I did
listening to these episodes. The new 5.1
Dolby Digital mix is absolutely stunning.
Crank your system up, because you are going
to be blown away not just by the 5 channels
of crisp, direction-defined sound, but also by
the amount of LFE sound that had my SV SUBWOOFER
shaking the floor as the Enterprise rolled on
by. The most impressive example of bass sound
came in the show's final episode, "The Neutral
Zone" when a Romulan ship suddenly decloaks and
roars upon the screen.
What I enjoyed most about this 5.1 mix is that
the soundstage is set up so that you are placed
in the Captain's chair as the action happens in
front of you, and the hum of the ship's engines
are placed behind you. Such detail makes these
episodes more than just a viewing experience.
Special Features
It's the little added touches that totally
immerses the viewer into the Star Trek experience.
As you pop in the disc, you are greeted with a newly
produced animated sequence. The planet Saturn
appears, as character faces dissolve in and out of
the planet surface. The Enterprise makes her way
across the front of the planet as the show's titles
appear, ending the sequence.
A computer seemingly loads the episode retrieval
log....
Welcome to the Main Menu that has been replicated
to look like the ship's computer mainframe.
The initial menu lists all the episodes and
features appearing on that particular DVD.
Once you select the episode, you have several
options laid out before you. ENGAGE will
immediately start the episode. COMMUNICATIONS
lets you select either ENGLISH STEREO or ENGLISH
5.1 SURROUND. It is here that you can also turn
subtitles on, if you wish. CHAPTER LOG
breaks the episode down by scenes, with individual
picture stills allowing you to quickly access your
favorite points in the episode.
Disc 7 holds the DVD's extra content. Let's
take a look at it....
Labeled as Mission Logs, there is an
interesting blend of added material here for fans.
Take a walk down memory lane with In the
beginning. A newly produced featurette
intercut with original 1985 interviews brings
us onto the Paramount lot and onto the show's
soundstage as we see crew putting together the
massive sets. In the background, cast members
give a toast to the new crew of the Enterprise.
Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry and Supervising
Producer Robert Justman (who both worked on the
original series) reflect on putting this new show
together and why it had to be done with a new cast.
Each of the cast members tell their stories of
coming aboard as cast members and how they were
just overwhelmed by the futuristic look of the
sets and computers. We then get a glimpse of
production designs that include all the effects
shots done with miniatures. Pat Sweeney from
Industrial Light & Magic shows us a brand new
technique called the "max-stretch" which will
enable the Enterprise to go into warp speed. This
17-minute featurette ends with all the cast members
reflecting on Gene Roddenberry and his true visions
for the 24th century.
Opening season jitters run amok in Selected
Crew Analysis. Produced in 1985-86, we are
taken on the set to talk to Patrick Stewart,
Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden and the rest of
the crew who talk about the jitters of doing a
television series that would probably never come
close to the original. This is a really fun piece
that through fast edits, tells the story of
countless auditions and near misses that each cast
member had. The cast later talk about the
development of their characters over the seasons
from hairstyles that changed (see Worf's humorous
Lena Horne look) to evolving relationships between
the characters. Frakes and Steward end this 15-minute
featurette commenting about how a huge cast working
70-80 hours a week together, still managed to be
a happy one.
Executive Producer Rick Berman describes the
Enterprise as "a substitute for Mother Earth"
in The making of a legend. This 15-minute
featurette looks at the concept of creating
a futuristic film-like show for broadcast TV.
One of the most interesting aspects of creating
a show about the 24th century is that every
prop seen has to be manufactured. This includes
everything from medical equipment to simple items
that sat on shelves in shipmate quarters. Even
a planet's surface required materials to be used
in a way they were never used before. This show
was produced right before digital effects became
the norm, and thus, all the effects had to be
done with opticals. We are treated to a look at
how the transport "beam up" is created with the
different layers of effects. It's interesting
to watch how all the props (from guns to tricorders)
have been updated from the original series in order
to show how much has been advanced since then.
Next up we take a look at the things that MAKE
the character from Worf's make-up to Geordi's visor.
We are then taken on a soundstage where the orchestra
lays down the score for the episodes.
Jonathan Frakes talks about Metamucil and black
printer's ink as one of his most Memorable
Missions. Patrick Steward remembers how
the entire set was in hysterics for 45-minutes
because Frakes couldn't say his dialogue. FX
Supervisor Dan Curry laughs about a shampoo
bottle and an Easter Egg became a desperate
last-minute killer robot. This 17-minute
featurette is a fun look at how special episodes
have special memories for members of the cast
and crew.
Let me give special kudos to Paramount for
presenting all of these featurettes with the
option to add subtitles.
Final Thoughts
This is a very special moment for Star Trek
fans and Paramount Home Video.
Fans finally get treated with the respect
they deserve as Paramount really pulls out the
stops with a season boxed set that doesn't cut
corners. The studio is being very aggressive,
promising to release all 7 seasons this year.
What other studio is giving that sort of priority
to their seasons of sets?
I would boldly go where no reviewer has gone
before and say that this is the ONE series that
is worth the investment whether you have ever
watched a single episode or not. You see, Star
Trek speaks a universal language about ourselves
and how we get along together amongst different
races. I think that Supervising Producer Robert
Justman said it best....
"What Star Trek is about, what the series is
about..is about morality and that hasn't changed
one bit since the early days back in 1965 and '66."
Amen! Now buy the set!
Release Date: March 26, 2002
