Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Celebration of Season 2
To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before!
Back in July I was able to beam over to my local theater for a unique night at the movies. The ever impressive Fathom Events was having a special showing for the Star Trek: The Next Generation 25th Anniversary. Two spectacular episodes from Season 1 would be shown on the BIG screen. My fellow trekkie friend AJ joined me as we secured snacks and goodies from the replicators and prepared ourselves for thousands of inches of Sci-Fi goodness!
The show began with some behind the scenes interviews which would be included on the Season 1 Blu-ray release. Several members of the CBS restoration team regaled us with the tales of the complexities the restoration process had taken. TNG was shot on 35mm film but all of the visual effect shots had been outputted at TV resolution. This meant all of the SFX had to be redone with modern CGI. But unlike the Star Wars: Special Edition in 1997, this restoration strived to keep the shots as accurate to the originals as possible. After some more words with more Star Trek legends such as Michael Okuda, it was time for the first episode.
Where No One Has Gone Before is a great place to start off a cinematic night of Star Trek. The visual effects of this episode are the best of the entire season. The Enterprise is hurled off to a far edge of the universe where thoughts can dangerously turn into reality.
Datalore was the second episode of the night. Lt. Commander Data discovers he has a long lost and disassembled brother. But in true evil twin fashion, Lore attempts to take over the Enterprise and uses his superior strength and cunning to outmaneuver the crew.
The best part of the evening was knowing that these beautifully restored episodes would be available on Blu-ray and could be enjoyed on my television at home.
Now another Fathom event is scheduled, Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Celebration of Season 2 will be shown on November 29th, 2012. I have already secured my ticket and hope to bring a landing party full of trekkies with me. The first episode will be the Emmy Award winning Q Who , where the Enterprise is thrust into an unbalanced encounter with what would become their greatest enemy, The Borg! After some additional behind the scenes interviews and footage, the night will round out with a special extended cut of The Measure of a Man. This is by far my favorite episode of Season 2 as it highlights exactly the kind of man Captain Picard is. His diplomacy and tact in the courtroom set this character apart from James T. Kirk.
I cannot wait for this event and to share more about these two amazing episodes of TNG Trek.
-LLAP
