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Set in the 24th century, the exploits of the U.S.S. Enterprise continue as it explores the universe, seeking new life and new worlds. This title will be released on July 30th, 2013. Learn more |
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Special Features
- Over 120 minutes of brand-new documentaries featuring all new cast and crew interviews
- TNG 25th Anniversary Cast Reunion
- "Making It So: Continuing The Next Generation (Multi-part documentary)"
- Original episodic promos
- Special features from DVD release
- Deleted scenes
- 7.1 DTS HD-master audio and original Stereo Surround audio!
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In a crucial series development, Guinan (special guest Whoopi Goldberg) revealed a connection to Q in her helpful capacity as Ten-Forward's enigmatic host, while Q himself (John DeLancie) precipitated the Enterprise's first, fateful encounter with the Borg (in the suspenseful "Q Who?"). Through it all, Patrick Stewart brilliantly intensified all of Picard's renaissance qualities (especially in the dazzling "Time Squared"), exploring the captain's facets with equal measures of curiosity, fascination, amusement, courage, and philosophical insight. Despite its lame finale with the money-saving clip-show "Shades of Gray," season 2 charted a warp-nine course to the even better season 3. --Jeff Shannon
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Customer Reviews
The episodes themselves were extremely varied. Due to the writer's strike, the season was cut short to 22 episodes rather than the full 26 ending with the appalling "bottle show", 'Shades of Grey' (Plot summary: Riker in a coma and Deanna "looking worried" while Pulaski puts copious L.E.Ds on his forehead). "The Royale" was also truly terrible. There were some storming episodes though, the best being "Q Who." This episode had everything: Q, the introduction of the Borg, Guinan, great special effects and a superb score by Ron Jones. Other great episodes were "Contagion" and "Time Squared"
This box set has everything you could wish for (that's why I'm giving it 5 stars): remastered picture and Dolby Digital sound, one hour of new interviews and documentaries, and some really awesome DVD menus. Although seasons 1 and 2 aren't the best you can't really miss these, they are great foundation episodes with the DVD box sets given the care and attention they deserve.
Episode list:
The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
The Dauphin
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Shades of Gray
The Child - Dr. Pulaski pronounces Troi pregnant at the hands of a traveling alien. The child is born in two days and matures at a quick rate.
Where Silence Has Lease - An advanced alien traps the USS Enterprise in a mysterious black void, as part of some research. The aliens only have to sentence half the crew to die in its research.
Elementary, Dead Data - Data, Geordi, and Dr. Pulaski play out a Sherlock Holmes mystery in the holodeck. Geordi ask the computer to create an adversary capable of defeating Data, Professor Moriarty that takes over the ship.
The Outrageous Okona - The USS Enterprise grants asylum to Okona, a roguish captain pursued by the planets Atlek and Streleb.
Loud as a Whisper - The Enterprise seeks Riva, the deaf Great Mediator, to settle a dispute on Soleis Five. When Riva's Chorus of telepathic translators are killed, Troi assists Riva.
The Schizoid Man - Dr. Ira Graves transfers his consciousness into Data, and separating the two disparate personalities rests with Picard's ability to persuade Graves of his mistake.
Unnatural Selection - The crew of the USS Lantree die of old age. The Enterprise traces it to the Darwin Genetic Research Station, where Dr. Pulaski gets infected.
A Matter of Honor - A Starfleet exchange program brings a Benzite ensign on board the Enterprise and sends Riker to the Klingon vessel Pagh. The Klingon's captain attacks the Enterprise, suspecting Picard of sabotage.
The Measure of a Man - Captain Picard defends Data's rights and the prosecuting attorney is Commander Riker.
The Dauphin - The future ruler of Daled Four, falls for Wesley Crusher.
Contagion - A mysterious computer virus destroys the USS Yamato, and threatens the Enterprise.
The Royale - After finding wreckage from a NASA vessel around Theta Eight, Riker, Data, and Worf become trapped in the Hotel Royale, a reconstruction of an Earth novel.
Time Squared - The USS Enterprise stumbles upon one of its own shuttles carrying a duplicate of Captain Picard from six hours in the future. It is six hours in the future that the ship is destroyed.
The Icarus Factor - Riker has been promoted to command the USS Ares, but first he must deal with the problems between himself and his father.
Pen Pals - Data breaks the Prime Directive while communicating with a young girl on a distant planet, which is about to be destroyed by seismic disruptions.
Q Who - Q takes the Enterprise to another part of the galaxy to encounter the Borg.
Samaritan Snare - A Pakled vessel kidnaps Geordi and Picard's goes in for heart surgery.
Up the Long Ladder - While Picard is rescuing one colony in the Ficus Sector from solar flares, he learns of a second colony comprised of a dying race of clones.
Manhunt - Picard hides in the holodeck in the Dixon Hill scenario because Troi's mother shows up while undergoing "the Phase."
The Emissary - A group of suspended Klingons are revived and set on attacking the Federation. A special emissary K'Ehleyr is called in to mediate a special problem she was a former love of Worf's.
Peak Performance - The Enterprise is pitted against the USS Hathaway in war-games.
Shades of Gray - Riker's body is invaded by a mysterious parasite and Dr. Pulaski's only recourse seems to be the stimulation of his mind with memories.
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TNG season 2 is where the show really begins, even if half of season 1 remains remarkably watchable.
Cast additions are made, existing cast roles are refined and honed, and the season takes on a darker tone. "Contagion" deals with computer viruses (a new concept at the time), "Q Who" has the Borg, "Time Squared" deals with seeing a dire future and trying to prevent it, "The Icarus Factor" has Riker meeting up with his estranged father, "Loud as a Whisper" deals with a unique situation involving a mediator's assassination, all instantly come to mind.
Season 2 is still varied in terms of episode tone and quality, but the producers did look at what went right in season 1. All remaining hurdles would be dealt with by season 3, which is pretty much revered as TNG's finest and for all the right reasons...
I'd love to give this 5 stars, especially as season 2's stronger episodes are fantastic entries into the canon. But there are some problems, which have been discussed, and should be made known as caveats...
A couple professional reviews, and a surfeit of information and visual samples from the site known as "Trekcore" has prompted me to post early. I will update this review as, despite the cost of $64.99, I will splurge. At which point I will give individual grades for each episode. I'm hoping the actual discs fare better than what has been put on display so far...
The remastering of season 2 was handed out to an outside agency by CBS. And the results reported by Blu-Ray reviewers so far?
PROS:
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* fantastic sharpness and detail for many scenes
* fantastic color gamut for live action footage (from the pics I'd seen, which were numerous, but as the whole of the series was shot on over 25000 reels of film, averaging to be 3571 per season (maybe 3000 for season 2), I suspect some of the cons will be apparent in the live action footage as well as the "remastered" f/x work:
* a matte painting for "Q Who" for the zoom-out scene had to be re-created. The original matte, a painting, still exists, but brush strokes would have been visible. The new version blends slightly better and has a more detail. The only nitpick is that, on the lower right, the same Borg model was used for two decks, despite surrounding alcoves on each deck being populated or empty. Spot this nitpick in the screencap but a still image is more revealing than motion video. All in all, it is FAR better than the original matte insert.
* a close-up of the Enterprise, in CGI, for "Where Silence Has Lease" looks more accurate than the midrange shot of the off-color Enterprise in "Hide and Q".
* in the same story, Nagillum's recompositing looks authentic to the original. At least as a screencap - the actual scene might be a tad different (e.g. shimmering effects).
CONS:
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* poor shadow detail (uneven blacks, especially for recomposited f/x work - outer space is not supposed to be dark gray, with ship details being darker than outer space) - some of these bits take a moment to spot, but once you see it you're not going to get around it
* excessive noise and grain reduction, leading to a plastic look for the characters and a general blurry look. DO NOTE: Some scenes' softness (e.g. some from "The Child") are due to the pan and scan techniques used at the time (camera equipment), but if the camera is not moving and the image is soft and lacking detail, that's a giveaway that excessive DNR was used. It depends on the scene in question...
* inaccurate screen ratio: the aspect ratio is 1.35:1 and some scenes, including the Enterprise, disappear off the edge of the screen while the planet can be seen farther to the right
* poor compositing - in a couple of scenes, layers were put on backwards (e.g. shadow detail over the Enterprise hull)
* poor color timing - one scene has an overly bright Borg cube, and the Enterprise warp nacelles are a bright turquoise (despite the reflection from the hull being the appropriate blue.) The bussard collectors are a purplish-red instead of pure red. Another scene has a shuttlecraft with bright turquoise warp nacelles as well.
* poor f/x - CGI planets are often soft and blurry, and sometimes shadow detail and light sources don't match between elements
UNKNOWNS:
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* certain effects, like the morph effect in "The Dauphin" had to be redone from scratch. They may be better than the original or they may fall flat.
Now it's true, some of the original footage used a poor quality 2' model for the Enterprise and its issues can be seen with perfect clarity now. That doesn't bug me.
True, the original footage was made on numerous types of film stock - different exposure settings and darker sets show more grain. That does not bother me.
But there are definite differences between original film source issues and improperly-handled remastering. I've restored film in the past and these issues of excessive noise reduction, color timing, et al, are visible from a mile away. Maybe the company was rushing, but their efforts make themselves look bad, and it doesn't reflect well on CBS either.
Do note, CBS did remaster season 1, with spectacular results, and the work CBS has done on season 3 so far shows their efforts being top-notch. So season 3 is going to be a big WIN. Season 4 has been handed out to another agency, however. May season 4 have better results than the poor handling of season 2. If you're a fan of season 2 like me, be prepared for a shock.
UPDATE 001: (12/04/2012)
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Before popping in the blu-ray, I rewatched "Q WHO" and "Pen Pals" on the original DVD. The borg ship was oversaturated in many spots (not the chroma noise present with the ship and stars in outer space, but garish greens, blues, and reds on the borg ship hull). Many scenes had visible scan line distortion from the original editing process. I knew that this Blu-Ray would be better in many ways, but given the standards season 1 had set, that was my focal point for this exercise... so, onto the show:
I watched:
"Q Who" - 5/5 for story, 4/5 for f/x. All live action film blows away all of the problems one could find in the original SD release. The lack of scan lines (especially the transporter room scene when they beam off the Enterprise) is refreshing, especially with the far-more-accurate color palette. While the Borg ship is a massive improvement overall (green and other color tones/glows are subdued and look more natural), there are some angles where the cube was given too much brightness and stands out for the wrong reasons. One scene had a poorly re-composited Enterprise, but it was fairly brief. The existing clips of the 2' model with the turquoise nacelles are bothersome, but brief and therefore minor. Oh, I did like the borg shield effect when the security guard's phaser hit the borg. The 3D borg interior does not show the defect I found in the released still image with the duplicate model on two levels, and the animation seen during this pullback scene of individual elements really hits a home run. Kudos to the production team involved! (I refuse to be anything less than objective. There are times they did a, pardon the pun, stellar job.)
"Pen Pals" - 4/5 for story, 3/5 for f/x. Hannah Louise Shearer always brought something new and fresh to TNG, and usually in very good ways, though the ending of this story is what knocks down 1 point - because it wrecks the story's point of noninterference and repercussions in an attempt to be too sentimental. But it's not unforgivable. As for the f/x: Most f/x shots are easy on the eyes. The main planet for the story IS soft, but not as distracting as I had originally thought.
"The Dauphin" - 4/5 for story, 4.5/5 for f/x and restoration. This story proves Wesley is, oh my, a human and not a wonderboy on par with the wonder twins... Most f/x scenes work, all look nice, and the new morph effect boosts the score. I loved the original f/x, given the time they were made in, but this is a case of getting the revamp right. It's not overblown or excessive and feels true. It's not the same, but it gets a pass. The scenes with Selaya in the holodeck are sumptuous; the original footage intact. Some DNR is present, but it wasn't as bad as the screencap I had seen prior to the official release. The only letdowns are some exterior shots, but it's minor.
"Contagion"- 5/5 for story, 3/5 for f/x. Another great season 2 storyline has many f/x scenes featuring dark gray outer space instead of, you know, black. Once again, some DNR is obtrusive, but it's not beyond redemption. as usual, some exterior shots look a little off with bussard collector and impulse engine color, but it's minor. And the nice touch of showing the white blip when the probe was launched from Ikonia was top-notch as well.
So far, the season 2 Blu-Ray set DOES look better than many critiques of posted screencaps were suggesting. Mostly because motion video hides flaws that still photos will otherwise proverbially shriek to the viewer. One still photo represents 1/24th of a second, after all.
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UPDATE 002: (12/06/2012)
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I rewatched "Q Who" to be sure.
One scene between Q and Guinan has its incidental music a tad loud. Not enough to drown out dialogue, but almost...
And some of Data's dialogue later on in the episode almost seems sped up. Something about his voice seems slightly off. Read more ›
One of my least favorite episodes is the season finale however. Read more
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