Blu-ray Review Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things... (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things...

Airing on May 23, 1994, “All Good Things…” triumphantly brought to a close a remarkable television series. Released as a standalone ‘mini-movie,’ “All Good Things” is different from the standalone releases from the previous seasons as it was originally aired as a single experience, and has been available this way on previous Season Seven releases (compared to “Best of Both Worlds,” “Unification,” “Redemption,” and “Chain of Command,” which were specially edited together for their respective standalone releases.)What sets this release apart is the small collection of special features exclusive to this release. Those who are not, or have yet to pick up the full-season releases will appreciate the opportunity to own this edition as it is rightfully considered among the very best Star Trek ever produced. Loyal fans may wish to own it for completion sake, or to send CBS a message that we’re hungry for Deep Space Nine and more.

Studio: Paramount

Distributed By: CBS

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Audio: English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, Other

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Other

Rating: Not Rated

Run Time: 1 Hr. 30 Min.

Package Includes:

Standard case with fold-out sleeve

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: A

Release Date: 12/02/2014

MSRP: $29.99

The Production Rating: 4.5/5

“For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. *That* is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence…”

Captain Picard finds himself shifting through time, to a point in the future as an old, retired tender of his father’s vineyards, and to the past to just before he took command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and lead his new crew to an encounter at Farpoint. The disorienting time shift is related to a rip in space inside the Neutral Zone, and Picard must discover what’s happening to him against a crew in the past yet to trust their new captain, and his long-time friends in the future willing to go to great lengths to help him, but strongly believe he may be suffering from an advanced illness and imagining the whole thing.Writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, with the unenviable task of bringing to a close the still wildly popular series after seven years of science fiction adventures and dramatic allegorical explorations of serious subjects, hit all the right notes, sending off the series in the best possible way, with a cast in the full embrace of characters we would come to know and love.The story follows Captain Picard’s foxing shifts between the future, present and past with an original concept that offers each cast member welcome moments of focus. It also offers the return of John de Lancie’s Q, bookending the series with a return to the place where humanity was placed on trial by the omnipotent species of Q (seen in the Pilot episode, “Encounter at Farpoint.”) The sense of closure is rewarding, but the truest success of this final is the delightful merging of science-fiction concepts with dramatic, human examination, enabled through the collection of characters we’d come to know and love over 170+ episodes. It’s a balancing act to close out a series and still serve the story being told, and in that “All Good Things…” is the perfect closing to a magnificent and legendary series.In all of the Star Trek television series, no series finale embodied so aptly all that was enduring and endearing about the series that preceded it as “All Good Things…” did for The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine’s exciting finale, “What You Leave Behind” is a close second as it carried emotional resonance, explosive action, and dramatic gravity, but The Next Generation’s closer pulled together every single high point and earned character moment in strands of wonder that elevated the series beyond standard science-fiction fare over its seven years. Many fans lament this “All Good Things…” is the stuff that should have been found in the crew of the NCC 1701-D’s first big screen adventure (instead of the disappointing fare we found in Generations,) and they are probably right. But sitting down to watch all seven seasons of The Next Generation remastered in glorious high definition, “All Good Things…” is exactly the way I would choose to bring this experience to a close.

Video Rating: 5/5 3D Rating: NA

As a reminder, transferring this series to high-definition is a mammoth undertaking. The show’s visual effects were shot on film requiring every visual effects element to be re-compositioned (rather than suffer an upconversion from videotape). This requires re-cutting over 25,000 film reels, meticulously rebuilding the episodes and preserving the original episodes in lush detail transferred to high-definition detailAs I stated in my review of the full season, CBS-Digital once again handled the conversion efforts on the final season and the results are unsurprisingly excellent. All Good Things benefits nicely, with great clarity in the location shoot (Picard’s future on the vineyard,) and shows of the new sets created (Dr. Beverly Picard’s ship and the nicely outfitted Enterprise under Riker.) The finale is also brighter, lighting wise and color-wise, than the moodier rest of the season, and so highlights the gains of HD especially well.

Audio Rating: 5/5

My comments on the audio for the full season ring true for “All Good Things” and the welcome 7.1 DTS-HD track. The audio breathes the ambiance of the Enterprise very nicely, with pulsing, humming sounds spread to the surrounds along with an assortment of subtle and direct sound effects. Also included is a DTS-HD 2.0 track that more closely resembles the stereo presentation of its original airing.

Special Features Rating: 3/5

Another quite small collection of special features, but what’s here is very good, particularly the retrospective on the making of “All Good Things…,” where a number of cast and crew recall the chaos of producing the two-hour finale while working on the first big screen adventure as well (Generations.) Some archival interview footage is woven in as well, but Michael Dorn’s story from the filming of the poker scene is memorable. Ronald D. Moore’s recollection of writing with Brannon Braga and getting confused as to which script the scene they were working on was for (the film or the finale,) is particularly interesting. More of this is covered in the newly recorded audio commentary, and to wrap things up are nearly eight minutes of deleted scenes.Audio Commentary by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon BragaThe Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making “All Good Things…”Deleted ScenesEpisodic Promos

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

The fantastic series finale, “All Good Things…,” would be followed quickly by the production of the crew’s first outing on the bug screen in Star Trek Generations. By the end of their run – after seven seasons and four films, it would be clear that their greatest successes came from their years on the small screen as the cinematic outings were mostly disappointing (with Star Trek: First Contact being the most successful and engaging.) “All Good Things…” is about as perfect an episode, and series finale, as one could ask for.

Reviewed By: Neil Middlemiss

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[Wayne_j]

I assume that you didn't mean to give the audio a rating of 1/5 since you gave the season 7 set a 5/5 and having heard this episode both ways didn't notice a difference.

 

[SilverWook]

It's too bad they bailed on more theatrical showings of episodes after Best of Both Worlds. This would have rocked on the big screen!

 

[joshEH]

Yeah...is that Audio Rating number just an accidental typo (I'm assuming)?

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I assume that you didn't mean to give the audio a rating of 1/5 since you gave the season 7 set a 5/5 and having heard this episode both ways didn't notice a difference.

Yeah...is that Audio Rating number just an accidental typo (I'm assuming)?

You are correct. The review template is set to 1/5 and in my haste to wrap up before the New Year's Eve night kicked off for me, I neglected to select the proper audio rating.

Thanks!

 

[Citizen87645]

I watched this today. I have good memories of watching the finale with a friend in college. It was sad to see it end, but it hit all the right notes and still does.

 

[andySu]

Nice review, review Neil. Watched the last episode years ago.. early 1990's in NICAM digital sound. It was touching ending to the show.