New TNG season one trailer

Just days away from its release, StarTrek.com have released another new trailer for the bluray release of Star Trek: The Next Generation season one:



They also posted a new interview with CBS's producer and director of special features, Roger Lay, Jr., in which he discussed the approach they are taking with the new extra features in this season and beyond.

Some of the highlights he noted from season one:

The process of going back to the original film elements in order to rebuild the episodes from the ground up allowed us to get our hands on material that had never been seen by the public before. David Grant, Ryan Adams, Angelo Dante, Craig Weiss and the team at CBS Digital have found amazing footage that we have been able to incorporate into the body of the documentaries you'll find on the season one Blu-ray set. We also have cast and crew members commenting on these discoveries and sharing some incredible stories to go along with these really fascinating visuals.

At times it was information we got from the cast and crew during our interviews that led to some amazing discoveries. For example, Rick Berman, Dorothy Fontana, David Gerrold and Patrick Stewart all told us about an actor Dorothy had introduced to Gene Roddenberry early on during the casting process who became his first choice for the role of Captain Picard. After hearing this, we went ahead and reached out to him and were utterly surprised and thrilled when he confirmed the story and agreed to come in for an interview. So for the first time ever, fans will get to hear from the man who was almost cast as the Captain of the Enterprise-D and the story on how he ended up passing on such an amazing opportunity is really compelling. There’s also a really fun Easter egg featuring Brent Spiner which we’ve included on disc six which I’m hoping the fans will find! None of the early reviewers have mentioned it, so I guess they haven’t come across it yet.

He also talked about the efforts they are making to have the new extra features work as a whole across the release of the seven seasons, giving an in-depth look into the creation of TNG. He highlighted some of the features plans for future seasons:

Along with the individual interviews for the documentaries, we've also been able to get the entire cast of the show together for a really intimate reunion piece. I think fans are going to be very surprised with that one. It’s just wonderful to see them all together again as a family. It could be a one-hour network television special, but the only way to see it is on the season-two Blu-ray set. There's also a standalone piece I'm really excited about that we are calling Inside the Writer's Room. It will feature key staff writers from the show, including Ron Moore, Brannon Braga, Rene Echevarria and Naren Shankar. These guys have gone on to incredible careers since TNG wrapped and you'll see them together again, taking fans through the process of coming up with and breaking a story for TNG. We also have Seth McFarlane, who created Family Guy and is a huge TNG fan, discussing the impact TNG had on his career and modern science fiction programming.

Down the line we also have a piece on the directors of the show, a piece on the music of TNG, and a tribute to Michael Piller for season three. We've shot over 100 hours of all new interviews with cast and crew with a very specific plan in mind in terms of how we would use these interviews to build all the documentaries and supplemental pieces.

You can read the full interview, and see some new sample images, on StarTrek.com.

TNG Season 2 bluray trailer

There's just a week to go until the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation season one on bluray, but I'm sure it's the later seasons we're all itching to see in HD - Fortunately TrekCore have a trailer for season two to give us a taste of what's to come. Bluray Borg anyone?

The trailer also gives us a peak at the lovely golden cover for season 2:

TrekCore also recently reported from the TNG panel at Comic Con, where CBS's Ryan Adams mentioned that they are already considering the possibility of DS9 in HD too. It was apparently the overwhelming interest from fans for TNG in HD that helped push that agenda, and he wants to hear from us if we want DS9 too: "If this is what you want, make it vocal – especially now with social media, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging – you guys let us know what you want next. We want to please the fans and give them what they want.".

So Mr Adams, yes I very very much want DS9 in HD, and Voyager, and Enterprise! Heck you don't even have to convert the last one! Also TAS would be awesome, especially if you made a new TAS episode using the all the original cast voice recordings made for the lamented Secret of Vulcan Fury video game...

More on TNG season 1 blurays and beyond

CBS have released three new images from TNG season 1, and are rather cruelly teasing us with what the new effects look like in widescreen (while the blurays will be presented in the original 4:3). TrekCore posted comparisons with the DVD shots:

 

 

 

Both TrekCore and TrekMovie have posted interviews with the Okudas. Asking about whether the remastering team plan to reuse effects shots where they were before, or add more variations, they said this:

This varies on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, there will be variations. In some cases, there will be straight reuses. In some cases, there will just be something new! It simply depends on what’s happening at that moment. There is a subsequent use of that exact green planet where if you first look at it, you go ‘It’s the exact same planet!’ [But] if you look at it a little more closely, you’ll notice there are some subtle differences. I didn’t see it when I first saw the show – I was thinking ‘It’s the same planet’. And then they pointed out the differences to me and I was ‘Oh my God!’ But that’s further down the road – it’s not a first season episode.

Regarding the extended cut of The Measure of a Man in season 2:

Mike: With regard to ‘Measure of a Man’. That was kind of an unusual circumstance in that… first of all, we had a very, very early cut of the picture. It happened to be Melinda Snodgrass’ first professional tale. So when we found out there was an early version that was quite a bit longer than the final version, we were so excited about that! This was back in the day, I actually asked our friends in the editorial department for a copy of it and we gave that to her and she happened to hold onto it for all these years, because normally that sort of thing isn’t saved. When the Blu-Ray project started up, we emailed Melinda and said ‘Hey, is there any chance you still have that VHS tape?’ And she was so kind. She just mailed it back to us – that’s why we have it.

Denise: And everyone’s trying their darndest to make it happen. It’s kind of a crapshoot, but everybody is very enthusiastic that the process is going forward. Right now we can’t tell you if it’s going to be a happy ending, but everybody is very excited about the possibility and trying to make it happen.

Mike: The plot itself does not change. What changes is more character development, more texture, there’s more emotion to it – you understand people’s motivations a little better.

Denise: The cutting is a little bit different. There [are] more wide shots than the final finish – the courtroom has more shots and closeups. So there is additional footage, it doesn’t change the story though.

They also mentioned that they don't expect there to be many more extended cuts like this, which has almost quarter of an hour more footage. They believe most episodes had at most a scene or two cut out.

Following up on the thirteen seconds os SD footage that were upscaled for Sins of the Father on The Next Level teaser disc (which have now been restored to the episode in HD for the season bluray release), the Okudas mentioned there are a few more missing seconds in season one:

For the live-action footage there is a two or three second close-up shot of Riker in one of the later episodes that had to be upscaled. I think that is pretty much it.

There was apparently also some concern that the footage of Okona's ship from The Outrageous Okona had been lost, and a new CGI replacement had even been made. The footage was however found.

Discussing changes to effects:

In one of the very early shots in an episode in the first season – ‘The Naked Now’, there is a scene where Data is watching a computer screen, and information is flashing up. That information is flashing very, very fast. The flashing animation is actually a piece of film that I created using Film Animation, and I gave the film to visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel – but my art was actually black and white. I said to Gary ‘here are the colors I would like you to use, because these are the colors of the console.’ You have to remember that at the time, we were all working 60 hours a week, and we were all working for weeks and weeks and weeks on end and we were all just scrambling to meet the airdates. For whatever reason, Gary forgot! And he made the animation green – and I was very disappointed, because that wasn’t the color that I wanted. Now, fast forward 25 years later. The opportunity exists to correct that mistake. And I really thought about fixing it, because I had in mind still the color I wanted, [but] Denise pointed out to me ‘people have been watching that for 25 years. That’s the way people expect it to be. That’s the way it should be.’ And she’s right – it’s going to stay green, because that’s what people expect it to be.

On the other hand, in that sequence – there was an actual mistake. They’re looking at a history tape, and the dialogue talks about the Original Series Enterprise, but the actual screen image shows the movie Enterprise. That was the mistake! An understandable mistake, but once it’s done – it’s done. That, we fixed. We did a piece of art, of the Original Series Enterprise...

They also spoke enthusiastically about the possibility of converting DS9 to HD, but alos recognise that is something to worry about in the future, with years of work still ahead on the TNG project!

You can read the full interviews on TrekMovie, and in three parts on TrekCore, here, here, and here.

More TNG remastered comparisons

TrekCore have posted several more comparisons of bluray and DVD shots from TNG season one, highlighting once again what a dramatic improvement in picture quality the forthcoming bluray release will be giving us. It's also interesting to see that even when completely new effects shots are having to be used, the restoration team seem to be going to great effort to match the look of the old, with crispy new planets matching the overall look of the fuzzy old ones:

 

 

 

More new effects shots from TNG remastered

CBS are showing off their new CGI crystalline entity again, and very shiny it is too:

They've also posted a comparison (on the Star Trek Facebook page) of new and old flame effects we can look forward to enjoying when TNG season one comes out on bluray in just a few weeks!

 

Latest TNG bluray trailer and extra feature details

StarTrek.com has posted a newly extended trailer for the cinema screenings of two TNG episodes, marking the release of TNG season one on bluray this month:



TrekCore meanwhile has released details of the special features on said release. They include a new three-part documentary and a look at how the remastering process works:

The all-new, three-part documentary Stardate Revisited – The Origin of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION provides unique insight into the early beginnings of what was soon to become one of television’s most successful sci-fi series.

The first part, entitled “Inception,” includes interviews with original staff writers D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold discussing the early days of the show and Gene Roddenberry’s mission to create a program that would live up to the cultural phenomenon of the original Star Trek series.  In addition, executive producer Rick Berman looks back on the crucial pre-production period including preliminary casting choices and key creative decisions for year one.  Plus, the documentary includes insight from the entire art department including Star Trek expert Mike Okuda – who, along with Denise Okuda, served as a consultant throughout the ongoing Blu-ray project – providing a revealing look at the design process for such iconic elements of the series as the Starship Enterprise and redesigned Starfleet gear for the 24th century.

Part two of the documentary, “Launch,” features all-new interviews with cast members Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) and Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher).  With never-before-seen makeup and screen test footage of the cast, fans will have their first look at Burton and Spiner trying multiple versions of their iconic design elements such as the VISOR and Data’s makeup.  Plus, the cast will walk viewers through their auditioning process, and share memories of the making of Encounter at Farpoint, the fan-favorite television movie that launched the series.

The conclusion of the three-part documentary, “The Continuing Mission,” includes first-hand accounts by Berman and producer David Livingston who detail the creation of the first season of the series from script to final edit. Members of the special effects teams also provide a never-before-seen look at the creation of the groundbreaking effects from motion control photography to video compositing techniques.  Also, Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar) joins other cast members to take a look back on the controversial decision to kill off her character in the first season episode “Skin Of Evil.” Finally, Eugene Roddenberry shares memories of his father, series creator Gene Roddenberry, who was responsible for one of the most enduring and beloved franchises in history.

In addition, the set also includes a newly produced documentary titled Energized! Taking The Next Generation to the Next Level, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the FX artists and film restoration technicians at CBS Digital, detailing the philosophy and process behind the restoration.

StarTrek.com also recently posted a bit about the extra features, where they managed to talk at remarkable length with the Okudas about the neat little animation of people walking around inside the observation lounge, which can be seen in the opening titles - A cool little detail which was practically invisible until being rediscovered and recomposed for the remastered episodes. You can read all about that, here.

Steelbook release of TNG Season 1 coming to Germany

Amazon.de have added a listing for an exclusive steelbook release of the TNG season one bluray set. Coming about a month after the standard release, it looks like they are planning a steelbook for each season, building up a spine image, which is based on the poster being used to promote the TNG episode screenings.

According to the description each release will also come with a pin, and if you get all seven you can send off for a case to put all your pins in!

New TNG Season 1 bluray trailer

CBS have released a new trailer for the not so far away TNG Season 1 bluray release. Enjoy:

TNG screening trailer, plus extended cuts?

Here's a trailer for next month's cinema screening of two TNG episodes, to mark the release of TNG Season 1 on bluray. It includes a new look at the new CGI crystalline entity:



UPDATE: StarTrek.com have announced the screenings wi;ll now be occurring in Canada and Australia and well as the US. Fingers crossed for Europe following soon!

Meanwhile, looking ahead to season 2, Trekmovie's eyes in the twitterverse have glimpsed something exciting. The writer of Measure of a Man has revealed a 20 minute longer version of the episode may be released!:

Need to send first cut of The Measure of a Man back to CBS today.Version is 20 minutes longer than broadcast.Will be on DVD's.
— Melinda M. Snodgrass (@MMSnodgrass) June 20, 2012

More treats like that please CBS!

TNG screening poster

Tucson Weekly has revealed a new poster to promote the forthcoming screenings of two TNG episodes, Where No One Has Gone Before and Datalore, to mark the release of the newly remastered first season of TNG on bluray:

TNG HD coming to the big screen

TV Shows on DVD reports that to mark the release of season one of TNG on bluray there will be special screenings of two episodes from the series, Where No One Has Gone Before and Datalore, along with some of the new special features, at 600 cinemas across the US on July the 23rd; the day before the release.

A similar screening of The Menagerie was organised to mark the release of season one of TOS on betamax, uh, I mean, HD-DVD. These two episodes should be, like The Menagerie, pretty impressive effects wise; as demonstrated by the shiny new crystalline entity. Hopefully the screenings will also occur overseas again too!

Check out the new crystalline entity!

Robert Meyer Burnett, director of Free Enterprise, is currently busy working on documentaries for the forthcoming TNG bluray releases. He has also recently started tweeting samples from the remastered episodes, giving us some tantalising new looks at TNG. Most notably the all new crystalline entity (from DataLore):

Amazing huh? The crystalline entity was one of the earliest CGI effects in all of Star Trek, so I'm sure it's original form will remain a notable appearance for many more technical viewers. But as far as just immersing oneself in the episode goes I cant wait to see more of this twinkly new version!

Burnett has also released a sample from Code of Honor. A somewhat less exciting view, but I continually impressed just how good TNG looks without that pink fuzz!

The first season of TNG is set for bluray release later this year, Amazon UK recently added a listing for the set suggesting a July release. Keep an eye on TrekCore, who posted up the comparison images and continue to provide fantastic coverage of the remastering project.

UPDATE: TrekCore have spotted something else on Burnett's twitter: The thirteen seconds of missing footage from Sins of the Father which was replaced with upconverted SD footage for the release of the The Next Level sample disc, has been found! (Thankfully as those few seconds were incredibly jarring!):

It was indeed found and replaced. For the season three box set, SINS will be intact. We deal with this in a documentary for Season One.

Timetable for TNG bluray, and maybe more series later?

StarTrek.com have posted an interview with CBS's Ken Ross, who discusses the incredible amount of work that is going into the TNG remastering project:

It was and continues to be an enormous project that will take several years to complete. From a manpower perspective, we have more than 20 people working on this project full time in three shifts 24 hours a day. It’s a huge commitment to transfer all seven seasons to high definition.

CBS are aiming to release about two sets a year, starting with season one late summer or early autumn this year. Which means the whole series should be done by 2015. There will also be new extra features coming with the releases.

Beyond TNG Ross had this to say:

Our focus right now is on TNG, but we will certainly consider all of the other Star Trek series.

Yay for maybe DS9 and Voyager in HD! But I hope that doesn't mean we have to wait until after 2015 for Enterprise, which needs no converting!

£5 off with TNG: The Next Level

My copy of the TNG HD sample disc, The Next Level, arrived this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to find inside a leaflet advertising the season one box set, and on the reverse, a slip that can be posted off to get a five pound refund when I purchase the season one set later in the year. At Amazon.co.uk's price for The Next Level, that effectively makes the sample disc just £1.99. Are there similar offers around the world?

The Next Level also comes in a slipcase; despite my general aversion to excessive packaging I find it wholly satisfying when books and DVDs come in slipcases.

As expected TNG in HD looks simply amazing, gone is that horrible pink tint, and the effects are stunning. There are bumps too though, while you can pick up lots of nice extra details, it's also seems more obvious when there are mistakes in the set dressing, and some of the wobbly steadycam work seems even more pronounced. The few seconds of upscaled footage in Sins of the Father are also alarming obvious; it does at least serve to demonstrate how impressive the new transfer is. I still feels very much a product of its time, and I've always found TNG seems to have aged the worst of the Trek series; this renewed version goes a long way to fixing that. While the cinematography and editing still feels dated in places (especially in Encounter at Farpoint) the picture quality is outstanding, and allows the detail and attention to the design of the series to really shine; I feel confident TNG will no longer feel like the ugly duckling of the franchise.

The Okuda's on TNG remastered

TrekMovie have posted a two part interview with Mike and Denise Okuda about the TNG remastering project; here are a few bits that caught my attention, about making tweaks while putting together the episodes again:

One thing we are trying to be cognizant of is that people who buy the show, know the show really well. We want them to get the show that they fell in love with and not say "wow, these guys were really clever." We want them to say "the original designers were clever." We want to highlight their work.

...very occasionally there will be some minor tweaks. An example of that is in The Next Level, there is a shot where Picard orders the phasers to be fired at a low level to bathe the wounded space creature to bring it back to life. In the original version the phasers incorrectly came from the Captain’s Yacht. Having worked at Paramount at the time, the original ship’s designer Andrew Probert was very disappointed because that wasn’t where the phasers were supposed to come from. So we thought "let’s make Andy happy."

Refering to an effects shot that was recreated in Sins of the Father:

Virtually all the ship shots are the original film elements. Occasionally a film element won’t be found or will be unusable for whatever technical reason. In that particular case, that was not a CG Enterprise, that was actually a new matte painting. However, they do have a digital Enterprise, because we know it will be needed at some point.

On details revealed in Okudagrams that wouldn't have been visible in SD previously:

For the most part we are going to leave those as they are, as they are not particularly noticeable if you don’t go looking for them. There will be a few places where if we think they are going to be distracting, that is if you watch the show and go "oh, there is Gene’ Roddenberry’s name!" Those kind of things we will look more closely at them and undoubtedly change some of them.

You can read the full interview, here, and here. Screencaps from TrekCore.

TNG Season 1 bluray cover

TrekCore has revealed the cover art for the first season of TNG on bluray:

This comes from the trailer for the first season on the The Next Level sample disc, which is out soon. TrekCore has more caps from that trailer showing some of the behind the scenes footage we have to look forward to.

Meanwhile Blu-ray.com has a review up for the sample disc with lots more screencaps from the episodes.

Sample images from TNG in HD

Ahead of the imminent release of the first TNG sampler, The Next Level, TrekMovie have released two screen caps, from Encounter at Farpoint, and Sins of the Father, showing the remarkable increase in quality we are going to get from the new transfer:

HD, Encounter at Farpoint

SD, Encounter at Farpoint

HD, Sins of the Father

SD, Sins of the Father

UPDATE: You can see even more screencaps from the sample disc, thanks to a review by Blu-rayDefinition.com.

Special features for The Next Level

TrekCore has confirmed the special features for the forthcoming TNG HD sample disc, The Next Level. There are three:

• The previously released trailer for the TNG HD project. 
• A trailer for the iPad PADD app. 
• And the only one that's worth caring about; a trailer for the season one bluray set. 

Hopefully the latter will be a nice long trailer with lots of exciting footage, and maybe some idea of new extra features coming with the full season releases. The Next Level is due by the end of the month, with season one to follow later in the year.

New TNG remastered comparison

Entertainment Weekly has posted a video comparison of a sequence from Encounter at Farpoint, one of the episodes soon to be released on, The Next Level (the first TNG HD bluray sampler disc). The video shows again the dramatic improvement in clarity, and colour (goodbye pink tint); particularly in the effects shots:

Original effects team returns to work on TNG remastered

Doug Drexler has announced on his blog that he will be joining others from the original production team of TNG to work on the remastering project, and also gave an insight into the modus operandi of the remastering project:

Tomorrow I start work with Dan Curry, David Takemura, and Mike and Denise Okuda on the Star Trek: The Next Generation Remastered.

You heard right, this time around Paramount is bringing in a team that lived TNG as it happened. Dan, as I’m sure you know, was the visual effects supervisor on Next Gen. Unlike the remastering of TOS, this job will be 100% true to the original. Visual effects shots will not be reinvented, pulling you out of the show. What’s about to happen is truly extraordinary. The studio has saved all the original footage, and VFX elements from the good old days.. We will be recompositing them, and then outputting them in high definition. Here and there, elements have been lost, and we will recreate only those missing pieces, and with this promise: aside from looking like you had your windshield cleaned, you won’t know the difference. Star Trek:The Next Generation is Gene Roddenberry’s legacy, it is culturally significant, and we will rejuvenate the show with curatorial eyes only. Paramount Picture deserves a round of applause, and I can’t wait to dig in with my friends.

This echoes Mike Okuda’s recent comments in response to readers of his blog when he posted about TNG remastered:

The good folks at CBS are working very hard to make their work fit in with the original versions, except sharper and clearer. Very occasionally there are a few small aspects (like the green planet in "Sins of the Father," shown above) that are tweaked a little for HD. We don't doubt that sharp-eyed fans (and VFX professionals) will notice some differences, but for the most part, the idea is for CBS to re-create HD versions of the effects that everyone has been so familiar with for so many years.

TrekCore meanwhile have added a new comparison feature for the footage so far released, demonstrating what a remarkable improvement is being made. Go check it out.