There was a baseball card set back in the mid 90s that claimed there were never original film reels for Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show that existed. Boy that couldn't have been farther from the truth, and truth be told this show now officially looks like it was shot yesterday.
CBS studios decided to invest in having a production team go back to a vault, buried somewhere in Pennsylvania, and dig up every single 35mm film reel that was shot for every episode of the entire series. So far, a season 1 remastered set in glorious HD has been released. Words can't describe how much this show pops to life now. I really can't give justice to all the painstaking work that has gone through to bring this show to high definition life for the first time, you'll just have to take my word for it. There are so many nuances you'll discover for the first time watching it in this format if you were a fan of the show previously. Subtle variables such as the different costumes characters wore that now look supremely bright and colorful, or the accessories that were worn that now just seem to stand out like never before.
There's one particular example, in the disc 1, season 1 episode, Code of Honor, where a guard standing next to Captain Picard clearly has something wrong with his right eye. This was obviously on purpose to hint that these guards get into fights all the time, however there's no way in hell anyone watching the show in standard definition ever would have noticed this before. It's simply that crystal clear. Add to it, the sound has been remastered into 7.1 DTS sound, which is quite remarkable considering this show use to air on TV with a standard two channel audio track. The opening theme has never sounded better thanks to the sound tweaking.
If you're a fan of this series, pick up this set. If you're a new fan of Star Trek in general and want a PROPER introduction to this classic TV show, do yourself a favor and only watch it in this format. It's almost criminal how faded, and bland the original aired versions of this series looked by being converted from film to VHS tape. I do realize a lot of fans hated season 1 of this series, and I can partially see why, but at the same time this season had a certain sense of zaniness and fun the later seasons just never had. That's obviously because the shows writers didn't have a grasp on how to write the main characters consistently and seemed to be trying very hard to emulate the feel of the original series. In the end, it's still worth the trip down memory lane because of the fact it feels like it was filmed on the Paramount lot this year.
If there was ever an example of why Blu-ray is worth the upgrade for most films and TV shows, this is it. When proper time and money is invested in remastering an old film or in this case a now 25 year old television show, the results are beyond the realm of thought. Besides, now you get to see Capt. Picard's bald head in high-def, ya just can't beat that! Nuff said:)
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