At long last, the four Star Trek: The Next Generation films have finally received the much-needed remastering treatment, following the six Original Series movies which arrived in fancy new 4K editions in 2021 and in 2022.
Rebuilt and rescanned from the original film sources, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis made their way to 4K Blu-ray and 4K-sourced standard Blu-ray disc last month, the first new editions of the Picard-crew movies since their original high-definition release back in 2009.
Like the first-edition Original Series film Blu-rays, the 2009 editions of the four Star Trek: The Next Generation films were plagued with a heavy-handed use of digital noise reduction (DNR) treatments, artificial sharpening efforts (to restore detail erased by the DNR process), and odd color timing that — in some instances — drastically changed the look of the movies when compared to previous VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD home media releases.
The new editions of the Next Gen films can be found in one big four-movie box set, but they’re also available in individual 4K + Blu-ray releases, and well as in standalone Blu-ray-only releases (for those of you who haven’t make the leap to 4K at home just yet).
Those new Blu-ray discs are remastered as well, using the new 4K scans as source material for the updated releases — but there’s no new extra features; all the commentary tracks and movie-specific bonus material is carried from the 2009 Blu-rays.
Star Trek: Generations (1994) gets perhaps the largest amount of color restoration in its new presentation, as a noticeable yellow-green tint (which permeated the 2009 edition) is scraped away in the 4K edition.
Most noticeable in the scenes shot on location — Worf’s promotion aboard the holographic sailing ship and at Soran’s launch platform filmed in Nevada’s Valley of Fire — are drastically changed from the previous edition, bringing back the sunny blue skies and warm desert tones of the original presentation.
Likewise, greys and silvers aboard the Enterprise-D sets return to their expected color, as do the mustard-color operations uniforms worn by Data, Worf and La Forge. Fine facial details are also no longer so exaggerated, thanks to this edition’s lack of that heavy-handed DNR and artificial sharpening effects.
Curiously, a number of shots are slightly repositioned compared to the previous editions of the film, such as the crew’s arrival to the bridge while wearing their holodeck sailing-ship costumes; this occurs sporadically throughout the film without much obvious rhyme or reason.
It’s not a huge issue, as one probably won’t even notice most of the time — but some shots certainly feel “off-center” now because of these framing adjustments.
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Star Trek: First Contact (1996) takes the crew aboard the first Enterprise-E adventure, filmed on sets that are naturally darker than the Galaxy-class setting of the previous film.
This remastered edition features some nice lighting, contrast, and detail enhancements thanks to the new scan from original film elements.
Like Generations, the 2009 edition of First Contact also had a similar green look that has fortunately been eliminated — the steel and bronze set elements aboard both the Enterprise and in the Phoenix launch facility now shine with proper metallic coloring, and costume elements like Riker’s leather jacket regain their proper tones.
Some color correction appears to veer slightly too far into the blue tone in a few darker sections the new release, however it’s not obvious in the majority of shots and seems to be a limited issue.
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Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) truly benefits from the lack of DNR and artificial sharpening found on its 2009 edition, as the heavy filtering impacted the cast’s facial features dramatically in that old presentation.
The new scan now offers a much more natural look both the actors and the Ba’ku planet, really showcasing just how bad the original Insurrection disc looked.
The natural features of the Ba’ku planet have slighly tone-down coloring — reducing its somewhat oversaturated appearance in the 2009 release.
Fine details like the piles of straw in which Data and Artim play are no longer a messy blur, Geordi’s sunrise now actually looks like the sun is warming up the Ba’ku valley, and visual effects shots that once had an odd orange-red vibe are shifted more properly to a golden color tone.
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The remastered edition of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) has less detail improvement than the other TNG films, but better color and lighting fixes — gone is yellow-green tone that permeated the film’s previous release.
While that overall greenish tone has been cleaned up, elements which SHOULD be green — grass, nebula, Thalaron radiation, cymbals — retain their proper coloring.
The ‘mountains’ of Alaska are no longer so pink and purple, and there are several other nice color adjustments (like Guinan’s outfit now properly and and brown, rather than green), and the stained glass aboard Shinzon’s vessel now appears teal and blue rather than green and purple.
The desert landscape of Kolarus III is no longer overexposed to the point of highlight blow-out, and dark scenes have a more balanced lighting and shadow, with some moments having a bit of a colder (but more consistent) look.
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Overall, this is the best that these four films have ever looked on home media — and while we’re always going to prefer the physical releases for best-quality presentation, with any luck, they’ll supplant the 2009 editions across all streaming services sooner rather than later.
We can’t recommend these new 4K presentations enough, even with some of the minor quibbles mentioned above — while it took much longer than it should have to give these films the remastering treatment, the wait has been worth it with these new 4K discs.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection is in stores now.
Have you upgraded your Next Generation film library to these new remastered releases? Still trying to decide if you want to get the new discs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!