CBS/Paramount are doing Star Trek on Blu-ray up proper. As seen with the The Original Series (TOS) releases a few years ago and more recently with Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) Seasons 1 and 2, as well as a pair of standalone releases, they’re taking this opportunity very seriously and I think that shows respect for the material as well as the fans eager to consume it.
With Season 3, the trend continues with not only re-mastered image and sound, but in many visual effects cases, completely new effects and art (for some of the planets, for example). Combine that with a host of extra features that will leave you intrigued long after the credits for “The Best of Both Worlds Part 1” roll, and you’re on your way to one of the most complete releases of the year.
As with any television season, especially those with twenty-plus episodes (twenty-six in this case), it’s nigh impossible for every episode to be a favorite or legendary. Season Three has a few of those less-than-amazing episodes as well, but then you have gems like “The Best of Both Worlds Part 1,” “Deja Q,” “The Survivors,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and “Allegiance,” amongst many others. “The Survivors” felt a lot like something out of TOS, which I thoroughly enjoy. In it, a planet is completely devastated and uninhabitable except for a small plot of very habitable land with an elderly married couple living. The Enterprise investigates (after having received a distress signal), Counselor Troi almost loses her mind (literally) in the process, and the true identity of these two inhabitants is ultimately revealed. It certainly had that TOS feel to it, what with the whole “things aren’t as they seem” theme.
Any episode with Q is bound to be an interesting narrative on humanity, and with “Deja Q” you get exactly that. He once again sees humanity’s unrelenting good will in times when good will could hardly be expected. Stripped of his powers by his own counsel, Q is turned into a mortal, a human, and he appears on the Bridge out of nowhere (at his request). He’s upset a great many species in his time, and now that they know he’s vulnerable, he seeks shelter on the Enterprise. Fortunately only one powerful species comes after him right away, but meanwhile the Enterprise is dealing with a moon falling out of orbit inexplicably and it’s about to smash into a planet with millions of people. They need Q’s help, but he can’t — or won’t — help them. Most of of the episode sees the Enterprise crew very unsure if this is all just a ruse by Q whose given them such trouble in the past. I thought the writers did a great job of keeping that uncertainty in play; great stuff.
Time travel and wormholes are always going to be fascinating; “Yesterday’s Enterprise” centers around this and the ending is nothing short of amazing. The Enterprise encounters a temporal rift and suddenly the NCC-1701-C is found next to them, out of place. They were responding to a distress signal from a Klingon outpost, but were nearly all killed when Romulan warbirds came onto the scene. Only Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) is able to discern that something is wrong — this endless Klingon war that has killed billions, and has pushed the Federation to the brink of total collapse — should never have happened. Picard, himself trapped in this new timeline, goes with his gut and believes her, and together the crews from the 1701-C and D work together to stop this Klingon-Federation war from ever taking place. The final moments of this episode, just before the C gets back into the rift, is just surreal.
These are a handful of season three’s memorable episodes that I could watch just about any time. Their themes are timeless; the acting, writing, and effects, especially now on this Blu-ray release, are outstanding. When you think of AAA quality television production, this was it. TNG would go on for another four seasons after this, but many would argue that as a complete season package, it never got better than this one.
Fortunately for series fans and collectors, this Blu-ray release does the series and the season justice. The technical detail and effort put into restoring, tweaking, and even re-vamping the image quality is really quite a feat. The sets of Star Trek, both on and off the Enterprise including, especially, the scenes in space, are full of detail, but never before have they been this saturated and rich with detail. There’s a great deal to see, and you may find yourself studying the sets and backgrounds as much as the actor in focus. The crispness of the LCARS display is nothing short of dazzling and stands out as one of my favorite examples of image quality. The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio will keep your ears happy with excellent ambient sound from the Enterprise’s systems — all kinds of soft beeps and hums help promote the idea that you’re there with the crew, it’s great. I refuse to skip the title sequence because it sounds so darn good, especially right at the very end when the Enterprise jumps to warp speed. From the packaging to the menus to the image and sound, the presentation work here is top shelf.
Three pillars of measure in any Blu-ray release are content, presentation, and extra features. TNG S03 has all three in spades. I do not know for certain if all of the previously released extra features from the S03 DVD release are intact here, but many are. They’re still in SD, but, there is also a lot of new extra materials that will leave Trekkies happy. Here’s a breakdown:
-Audio Commentaries – You might be expecting a ton of these, but there are actually just a few. “Yesterday’s Enterprise” actually has two separate audio commentaries. Episodes with commentaries by various cast and crew are: “The Bonding,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” “The Offspring,” and “Sins of the Father.”
-Promos – Each disc contains the original aired promotions for the episodes. These brief ads can be shown before the launch of each episode to get you excited or something. Seriously though, it’s nice to see these included.
-Mission Overview: Year Three (SD, 17m41s) – As someone not end-to-end familiar with TNG, this feature on disc one was appreciated to give me more context about this season. Various plots like the return of Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher and Whoopi’s role are discussed; well worth watching.
-Selected Crew Analysis: Year Three (SD, 13m50s) – This feature is, as the name suggests, about some aspects of the crew, such as Commander Riker and Counselor Troi’s relationship.
-Departmental Briefings Year Three: Memorable Missions (SD, 13m25s) – A third feature from the original DVD release from many years ago, here several episodes are examined in more detail such as “Deja Q” and “The Enemy.”
-Departmental Briefing Year Three: Production (SD, 20m05s) – Another worthwhile feature about a few more episodes and their production.
-In Memoriam: David Rappaport (HD, 5m7s) – The actor who committed suicide during the filming of this series is remembered.
-A Tribute to Michael Piller (HD, 13m50s) – The late writer from the series, and of the epic “The Best of Both Worlds,” is remembered.
-Star Trek: The Next Generation: Inside the Writer’s Room (HD, 71m) – A candid roundtable discussion with several of the writers of the show, hosted by Seth McFarlane. Each talks about how they got the writing gig, the challenges and timelines, etc.
-Resistance Is Futile – Assimilating Star Trek: The Next Generation (HD, ~90m) – A superb documentary split into three thirty minute sections, namely Biological Distinctiveness, Technological Distinctiveness, and The Collective. All of these are introspective and, for hardcore fans I’m sure, quite fascinating. Even for a casual Trek fan like me they were interesting. This is all new material as well.
-Gag Reel (HD, 8m36s)
CBS/Paramount have done it again — the complete third season of Star Trek TNG is the best so far, in terms of content and the merits of the total package. To the summary…