Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level (Blu-ray)

This should be a must-buy for any real fan of The Next Generation. The episodes contained within, (Encounter at Farpoint, Sins of the Father and The Inner Light) are all clasics in their own way and represent some of the best next gen trek available.. Encounter at Farpoint being the series Pilot gave us our first look at the new crew tasked with furthering Roddenberry's vision. Although the first season is hardly be considered amongst the series best it will be in these early years that the high definition transformation will be most apparent. Previews of the changes highlight just how much work has been done and the end result is colours that are far more vibrant, details that much more sharp and vastly improved special effects. Thankfully the decision has been made to not replace all of the model shots (some of the best model work in Sci Fi in my opinion) with CGI as in the Original Series. The external shots of the Enterprise look fantastic in high definition, one can only speculate how vital ship/battle heavy episodes such as Yesterdays Enterprise or Best of Both Worlds will look presented in this format.
Sins of the Father is a seminal episode from series 3, dealing with Worf, Honour and Heritage and although not heavy on special effects (although i do recall some model shots that will benefit from the Blu Ray treament) the dark shadows and muted colours of the Klingon Homeworld Qo'noS should also do well in Hi Def. The final episode being presented 'The Inner Light' is one of my personal favourites with a defining performance from Patrick Stewart and a truly touching story. Being from season five it never looked too shabby in the first place but i cant wait to see what magic is wrought upon the sweeping vistas and beautiful scenery that comprise much of this epsiode.
Overall its a great teaser of what lies ahead for fans. Three great trek episodes that should highlight in the best way the new hights the series will be capable of reaching in Blu Ray. Simply put.... 'Make it so'

I had to order this Star Trek Nex Gen taster on Blu-Ray when I saw it on Play. With the first episode of the series - Encounter at Farpoint, Sins of the Father and The Inner Light it should give some idea of how Star Trek: The Next Generation will work on Blu-Ray, so ill be looking forward to sitting back and watching Next Gen - The Next Level.

I have just finished watching this disc, I will not go into the episodes as they have been around for a while now.
What I will go into is the picture quality... so does it bode well for updating to HD.... the answer is Yes.
The picture is vibrant and sharpe, the colours are rich and the picture detailed. the FX looks amazing and almost unrecongnisable from the VHS and previous DVD releases. The detail on the enterprise took me by surprise and Enterprise D has never looked so lovely.... forget the muddy, murky pictures on DVD especially from season 1&2, you will not recognise these episodes and this disc does bode well for the release of all 7 seasons, I have to say I am quite excited at seeing Q-who, Yesterdays Enterprise, Best of Both Worlds etc in HD.

Its great to see that TNG is coming to Blu-ray this summer, you also get a five pound off voucher with this disc.
Personally im in two minds wether to get it or not, let me explain why.
I bought all the hard plastic cased TNG when originally released on DVD at 75 pounds a time, do I really want to spend that again or do you?

You might, carry on reading about this disc below....

3 Episodes with English 7.1 DTS-HD, French/Japanese/Spanish Mono & German Stereo

Subtitles English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish & Swedish

Running time 182mins

Sins of the Father Episode contains 13 seconds of upscaled video as the original elements have not been located.

All episodes are 1080p but only 4:3 ratio (Full Frame) which is a missed opportunity in my opinion, they are also a little grainy but still look great.

I would imagine this is how the full set will look once released, now you know a little more about them its time to decide if you want to purchase them or not, if you do play.com is the perfect place to pre-order.

Obviously most of us would have preferred the disc to contain 'Best of Both Worlds', 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and 'All Good Things' but then we might not bother buying the full box sets, ha!

This is a good sampler even it means having to watch 'Encounter At Farpoint' for the billionth time.