Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture 5-Movie Collection (DVD)

I just received my TNG Blu-Ray set from Amazon. After the TOS set, which had a decidedly mixed quality, I was ready to give this set some tough scrutiny. Happily, I can report that A/V quality is superior to the previous set, and the extras and packaging share the same quality with that set.The films:Generations - I find this movie to be underrated. The intro sequence aboard the Enterprise B is just a terrific bit of continuity expanding coolness. The emotional weight of the movie is great, and although it falls into the "big villain" syndrome, the big villain is 1. played by Malcolm McDowell, 2. is realistic in his motivations and his abilities. The only failings in my book are some torpid pacing in the "Nexus" scenes, and some painful Data scenes. Still, this is a movie that I appreciate more each time I watch it.First Contact - this is everyone's pick for "2nd best of all time" (after "Khan" of course). I'm not going to disagree. It's got a whiz bang action story, the Borg, time travel, good continuity, and great effects. I do think the story sullies the Borg somewhat by introducing the "Queen." But, then again, she is played very well by Alice Krige. As far as time travel, while this wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back, it did probably contribute to the trend of too much time travel in Trek.Insurrection - More like an extended episode than a movie, this film has the germ of a good sci-fi story: how much of its scruples will the Federation trade for a technology that could render humanity immortal? Unfortunately, this movie more than most falls prey to the "big villain" syndrome, with an extremely irritating antagonist, the Sona. There is some good fan service, however, with Troi and Riker finally getting together for good. I'd rate this along with some of the so-so two parters in TNG's TV run.Nemesis - Ah, Nemesis. The film that "killed the franchise." The one which necessitated a "Reboot." The one which pooped on several characters and even a few races. This movie is riddled with problems from concept through to execution. It ret-cons the Romulans and adds the "Remans." It brings back Wesley as a Starfleet lieutenant, even though he dropped out of the academy to cross dimensions with the Traveler. It introduces Data's mentally challenged brother "B-4," even though his existence is specifically contradicted by several TNG episodes. It shamelessly rips off a TNG episode in which Troi is mentally assaulted. It posits an outlandish clone plot with Captain Picard, as if the Romulans could both obtain his DNA several decades ago as well as anticipate its usefulness in the future. It kills a main character for no apparent reason. About the only thing worthwhile in this film is the wedding of Troi and Riker. The more I see this film, the angrier I get at the complete lack of care that went into its making.The Blu-Rays:Unlike the TOS set, the video quality of these 4 films is in general extremely good, and at times spectacular. Though there is a tiny bit of edge enhancement visible at times (Especially on the sailboat in Generations), Digital Noise Reduction is not obtrusive at any point. Detail is extremely strong for the most part, and colors are absolutely vibrant. Black levels are deep and strong, but detail in shadows is still evident. You will want to be sure to check the calibration of your brightness, contrast, and gamma, to get the most from these films (for those without a disc like AVE, try the THX calibrator on "Star Wars" DVDs for some good brightness/contrast patterns).I would say First Contact is the best transfer of the bunch, but truthfully, all of the final three films are competitive with the upper tier of Blu-Rays on the market today. Only Generations shows its age a bit, but it still looks very good - better than all but ST2 in the TOS set. Insurrection and Nemesis betray a bit of color banding in clouds and space scenes, but it is not oppressive. Some standout scenes from all the films in terms of visual quality: Data and Geordi discussing the emotion chip (Generations). The opening pull-back in First Contact. The establishing shot of the Baku homeworld in Insurrection (known as a torture test for 3:2 pulldown on DVD).Audio is presented in a set of aggressive 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD mixes. All of them work well, with lots of surround action, deep bass, and clear dialogue.Packaging is identical to the previous set, with a slipcase and 5 slim BD cases. Art and inserts are all tasteful and good-looking.Extras include a plethora of commentaries. The most interesting of these are Ron D. Moore and Brannon Braga on Generations and First Contact, and Jonathan (Riker) Frakes and Marina (Troi) Sirtis on Insurrection. Most of the films have multiple commentaries, some have three! The same amount of detail goes into the extras on each film as did the previous set, with most discs recapitulating all of the DVD extras and adding some new ones (such as the execrable "Starfleet Briefings" from the TOS set). Like the previous set, trailers include the 2009 Trek film and a promo for all the recent Trek Blu-Rays. Thankfully, these are skippable.As far as deleted scenes go, it seems that the DVD extras have been replicated for Blu-Ray. The most interesting are for Nemesis, the deleted scenes being excised "character bits" including "Wesley's New Mission" and "Crusher At Starfleet Medical" that would have made this film feel a lot less generic. Why Paramount has not authorized an extended edition with this material edited into the film is beyond me. It would certainly take some of the bad taste out of true Trekkies' mouths that their favorite characters got short shrift. Unfortunately, all are presented in non-anamorphic 480p, so they look terrible, for the most part.The main extra is the bonus Blu-Ray, with 77 minutes of new HD documentary footage split into 7 programs. These include investigations into the evolution of the Enterprise, a spotlight on villains, a piece on the movies' influence on fans and Trek creators, an interactive map of the Trek Galaxy, and three (?!) pieces on the Star Trek Experience from Las Vegas. The Enterprise and Villains segments are the best (though still not very good), and I wish they had been expanded and improved. The other pieces are a bit more frivolous. All told, it's definitely not as impressive as the interview disc from the TOS set, but it still should entertain fans at least marginally.Summary:For this price, a Trek fan really can't go wrong with this set. You're getting 4 feature films (two great movies, one good one, and one stinker) with loads of special features and a full disc of (so-so) HD extras. The A/V quality is almost uniformly spectacular, especially in comparison with the TOS set. As far as I'm concerned, this is a must buy for a Trekkie/Trekker with an HD setup. Worth every penny.

If you liked Next Generation then they are perfect. Not exaspensive and each movie has its own disc with special features.

Great set. More compact.

REGION FREEDisc 1: Star Trek VII Generations Theatrical Edition1994, 118 min.Video: 1080p High Definition 16:9 WidescreenAudio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,Spanish 5.1 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, PortugueseExtras: Audio Commentary by Director David Carson & Manny CotoAudio Commentary by Writers Brannon Braga & Ronald D. MooreLibrary Computer, Uniting Two Legends (26 min.), Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion (9 min.), Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire (23 min.),Scoring Trek (HD, 9 min.), Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures (10 min.),Crashing The Enterprise (11 min.),Scene Deconstruction: Main Title (4 min.), The Nexus Ribbon (7 min.),Saucer Crash Sequence (5 min.)A Tribute to Matt Jefferies (20 min.), The Enterprise Lineage (13 min.),Captain Picard's Family Album (7 min.), Creating 24th Century Weapons (14 min.),Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert (HD, 5 min.),Stellar Cartography on Earth (HD, 8 min.),Brent Spiner Data and Beyond Part 1 (HD, 10 min),Trek Roundtable Generations (HD, 12 min),Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 007: Trilithium (HD, 3 min.),Deleted Scenes (33 min.), Storyboards, Production Gallery,Trailers, Eastereggs & BD-LiveDiscs 2: Star Trek VIII First Contact Theatrical Edition1996, 111 min.Video: 1080p High Definition 16:9 WidescreenAudio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,Spanish 5.1 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, PortugueseExtras: Audio Commentary by Actor/Director Jonathan FrakesAudio Commentary by Screenplay Writers Brannon Braga & Ronald D. MooreAudio Commentary by Damon Lindelof & Anthony PascaleLibrary Computer, Making First Contact (20 min.),The Art of 'First Contact' (17 min.), The Story (15 min.),The Missile Silo (14 min.), The Deflector Dish (10 min.),From "A" to "E" (7 min.),Scene Deconstruction: Borg Queen Assembly (11 min.),Escape Pod Launch (5 min.), Borg Queen's Demise (3 min.)Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute (20 min.), The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane (12 min.),First Contact: The Possibilities (20 min.),Industrial Light & Magic The Next Generation (HD, 12 min.),Greetings From the International Space Station (HD, 9 min.),SpaceShipOne's Historic Flight (HD, 5 min.),Brent Spiner Data and Beyond Part 2 (HD, 7 min.),Trek Roundtable First Contact (HD, 13 min.),Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 008: Temporal Vortex (HD, 3 min.),Unimatrix One (14 min.), The Queen (9 min.), Design Matrix (18 min.),Storyboards, Photo Gallery, Trailers, Eastereggs & BD-LiveDisc 3: Star Trek IX Insurrection Theatrical Edition1998, 103 min.Video: 1080p High Definition 16:9 WidescreenAudio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,Spanish 5.1 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, PortugueseExtras: Audio Commentary by Actor/Director Jonathan Frakes &Actress Marina Sirtis,Library Computer, It Takes a Village (17 min.),Location, Location, Location (20 min.), The Art of Insurrection (15 min.),Anatomy of a Stunt (7 min.), The Story (17 min.),Making Star Trek: Insurrection (25 min.), Director's Notebook (19 min.), Westmore's Aliens (18 min.), Westmore's Legacy (HD, 13 min.),Star Trek's' Beautiful Alien Women (13 min.),Marina Sirtis The Counselor is In (HD, 8 min.),Brent Spiner Data and Beyond Part 3 (HD, 8 min.),Trek Roundtable Insurrection (HD, 11 min.),Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba'ku andSon'a Conflict (HD, 3 min), Creating the Illusion: Shuttle Chase (10 min.), Drones (5 min.), Duck Blind (5 min.), Deleted Scenes (13 min.),Storyboards, Photo Gallery, Trailers, Original Promotional Featurette (5 min.), Eastereggs & BD-LiveDisc 4: Star Trek X Nemesis Theatrical Edition2002, 116 min.Video: 1080p High Definition 16:9 WidescreenAudio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,Spanish 5.1 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, PortugueseExtras: Audio Commentary by Director Stuart Baird,Audio Commentary by Producer Rick Berman,Audio Commentary by Michael & Denise Okuda, Library Computer,Nemesis Revisited (26 min.),New Frontiers Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis (9 min.),Storyboarding the Action (4 min.),Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis (10 min.), Build and Rebuild (8 min.),Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier (10 min.), Screen Test: Shinzon (6 min.),A Star Trek Family's Final Journey (16 min.),A Bold Vision of the Final Frontier (10 min.), The Enterprise E (12 min.),Reunion With the Rikers (HD, 11 min.),Today's Tech, Tomorrow's Data (HD, 4min.), Robot Hall of Fame (HD, 5 min.),Brent Spiner Data and Beyond Part 4 (HD, 9 min.),Trek Roundtable Nemesis (HD, 10 min.),Starfleet Academy Scisec Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation (HD, 2 min.),Romulan Lore (12 min.), Shinzon & the Viceroy (10 min.),Romulan Design (9 min.), The Romulan Senate (9 min.), The Scimitar (13 min.),Deleted Scenes (27 min.), Storyboards, Production Pictures, Props Pictures,Trailers, Eastereggs & BD-LiveDisc 5:Video: 1080p High Definition 16:9 WidescreenAudio: English 2.0 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, French, Spanish, PortugueseExtras: Star Trek: Evolutions: The Evolution of the 'Enterprise' (HD, 14 min.),Villains of Star Trek (HD, 14 min.), I Love the Star Trek Movies (HD, 5 min.),Farewell to Star Trek: The Experience (HD, 28 min.),Klingon Encounter (HD, 3 min.), Borg Invasion 4D (HD, 5 min.),Charting the Final Frontier

This is a bargain and a brilliant collection of the four new generation movies, with lots of extras and very well mastered.Any fan will be pleased with these and at this price they are a steal.I guess if you want absolute HD perfection then you need to pay the double price for the Blu-ray set and get more extras, but I'm happy with this and the movies look stunning on my HD cinema setup.

I will not say I am a Trekkie or Trekker or whatever, but I do love the series, the stories, the plots, the characters, this whole world that Gene created in a time where peace and rest was debatable. Love each of the films and you will do if you love the series or merely love sci fi.

Ace box set as usual

Has a fault.Half way through it freezes.Not happy.

Very happy with purchase