DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Star Trek: Generations - Special Collector's Edition (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Kikin]

I flipped through the chapters and the shimmering is very noticeable throughout. The beginning of the last scene when the rescue shuttles are landing on the Enterprise looks really blurry.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I did notice a couple of visual problems, and that's on a 24-inch 4:3 TV, so I can only imagine what those with high-end systems are feeling.

Something I noticed that was more troubling than shimmering happened during the opening credits. When the bottle breaks against the hull of the new Enterprise, the last "E" in Enterprise and the "B" of NCC-1701-B were not in the picture. What could be causing this, and has anybody else experienced this problem? On the featurettes, the same shot was correct once and wrong once.

The commentary with Moore and Braga was very interesting, and they had many of the same issues with this film that I have. There are a lot of great elements and seeds of ideas in Generations, but they never quite come together. I think my enjoyment of the supplements was affected by my thoughts of the movie. I was slightly disappointed after watching the bonus features, even though they were all pretty interesting individually, and I cannot think of anything major that they left out.

Two more things that I wonder as I think about this movie: was there any serious thought at Paramount about adding a VII to the title, and why did they change the text commentary to a format that is more difficult to read?

 

[EnricoE]

this is not correct!!! i just checked my copy of the new s.e. region 1 and the region 2. in both transfers the "E" and the "B" are well readable. i think the problem you've or someone else encountered is during overscan on the tv

a full comparison between the r1 s.e. vs. the r2 standard edition will be posted soon at dvdbeaver.

 

[Osato]

Question on the trailers being pulled from the dvd.

I have one of the trailers on the William Shatner Star Trek Memories VHS tape. I cannot recognize the music at the beginning of the trailer, but aside from the first few seconds the rest is all Star Trek music from other films.

Does anyone know what film the music is from?
Is this the reason the trailer could not be included?

I believe Nemesis used the Danny Elfman Planet of the Apes score, so that one will be missing from the future Collector's Edition release?

Thanks!

PS - On my earlier post, I was able to locate the dvd at Border's after all on Tuesday.

 

[Bill Williams]

To answer your question, Tim, on the full theatrical trailer that was included on the VHS tapes of Star Trek Memories (and also on the VHS of From Here to Infinity: The Ultimate Voyage), the following music is utilized:

- music from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" symphony (I believe it is the "Neptune" suite, IIRC, though I don't have my copy of the CD on hand right now)
- the TNG theme
- Cliff Eidelman's temp score music from the "Star Trek VI" trailer
- the TNG theme reprised

It becomes clearer now that the music clearance concerns had to do not only with Jerry Goldsmith's estate (with the use of Goldsmith's unreleased TMP music in the teaser trailer), but also with the Holst estate.

As for the "Nemesis" teaser and full trailer, while I'm not familiar with Danny Elfman's "Planet of the Apes" score, I'm thinking that it is indeed his music in both trailers. Ironic, though, that the "Nemesis" teaser was included on the "Star Trek III" CE DVD and the TNG Season 5 DVD set back in '02, the full theatrical trailer was not only any of the "Star Trek" DVD releases (though it was included on one of the discs of Movie FX DVD Magazine). It could have been that both trailers were simply left off the DVD because of disc space, so it's possible that they may be included in a future CE DVD release.

So far all we know is that there will indeed be a "First Contact" SCE DVD set in 2005 - and that was confirmed earlier this year by none other than Brannon Braga. As for an "Insurrection" SCE DVD set, I'm thinking there will be. The existing single-disc release is really sharp-looking and sharp-sounding, akin to a "SuperBit" release, with just the film, the trailers, and the 5-minute feature, so it wouldn't be a surprise that there would be a 2-disc release in '05, given their release ratio of two films per year on DVD. All we can do is wait and see what will be announced.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I am a bit puzzled with the image quality. I do see aliasing/moire issues, but I don't see ringing - this on a 92 in screen, prog scan. On the one hand, it does appear to be electronically enhanced, and yet, reveals very little ringing. Strange...

 

[Jason Borchers]

.

 

[Travis Hedger]

I picked up my copy. Strange that it doesnt have a paper insert on the inside left portion of the cover. The first disc also doesn't show a DTS logo or that there is DTS audio on it at all.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Why? No Paramount disc has had inserts for quite a while, now (inc. ST6). I'd be surprised if there *was* an insert.

 

[Sebastien S]

At least the box is the right color (black and NOT white) and the "disc art" isn't upside down.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Yes, I was about to say, this seems like a great example of underusing low pass filtering (the more common complaint is overuse).

 

[John Alderson]

Is there also a possibility of a 3:2 pulldown error? The stars are doing a mighty odd dance during one of the pans during the credits.

 

[Bob McKenny]

It's an aliasing problem as Jason Borchers describes above. I compared the new DVD to my old Laserdisc version and the problems are identical on both. Viewing the DVD progressively scanned I see the same artifacts as I do on the Laserdisc when viewed interlaced. Too bad as we have been waiting a long time for an anamorphic version of this movie. Wonder if we could petition Paramount to fix the problem? If they would do a recall for an error on the cover art, seems like they should do one for a major problem with the transfer.

Bob

 

[AndyMcKinney]

You're forgetting, this is Paramount and Star Trek we're talking about here. They know that they could've put a cow pat in the DVD case and the fanboys would still have bought it.

Seriously, though. They know it's gonna sell, so they're only gonna put forth the minimum effort it takes for the release. Even though Universal has screwed a lot of things up in the past (Monty Python's Meaning of Life, for example), they at least did make things right eventually with not one, but two recalls.

 

[Antony James]

Much as it pains me to say it...after comparing the SE to the previous release, I think I will stick to watching the old one.

The old one may be non-anamorphic and quite soft, but the new one just plain sucks. How can I possible enjoy enhanced resolution when it comes with all that aliasing and dirt?


(Ouch, that really did hurt.)

 

[Eric F]

Apparently they have. And no, I won't be buying it.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I have issues with the video quality of this disc, but it is an improvement over the last release. The screenshots by Sam in post #220 is a good indication of the differences in shadow detail, etc.

I viewed this release on a 92in screen, via Panny RP-91 prog scan. While there are clear instances of aliasing, I will not watch the old release again on my setup.

 

[Doug_B]

I feel the same way. I don't have the non-anamorphic version either, and I'm not particularly picky about video quality (even with a 92" screen), but if the studio did a poor job, I don't want to give them my money. The only ST movie not in my collection; so be it.

Doug

 

[Kwang Suh]

What, you have ST5? Now that's dedication.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

[Thread Troll] This will continue to be the only ST movie not in my collection because it's not a film worth owning. (Yes, worse than ST5!) [/Thread Troll]