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Season 2 Theatrical Event Date Revealed

Blu-ray (TNG)

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October 16, 2012

After the huge success of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 theatrical event earlier this year, Fathom Events and CBS will be teaming up once again for a special “celebration” of Season Two. In our interview with CBS executives Ryan Adams and David S. Grant earlier this month, Ryan was unable to reveal the exact episodes which would be featured as the event was still in the process of being finalized, however we’re now fairly certain at this point that one of the episodes will be fan favorite “Q Who“, the pivotal episode which first introduces us to the Borg.

Several theaters in the U.S. are now stating that the Season 2 special (entitled “Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Celebration of Season 2″) will hit the big screen (in selected theaters) on Thursday, November 29 (for one night only). The Season 2 Blu-Ray set would then be released just a few days later on Tuesday, December 4.

We expect Fathom and CBS to issue a full press release soon about the event! In the meantime, lock in your pre-order for the Season 2 remastered Blu-Ray set below!

	Order Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Blu-Ray today!		Order Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Blu-Ray today!

EXCLUSIVE: Nana Visitor Interview

TrekCore Archives

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October 16, 2012

5

Yesterday I had the delight of catching up with the multitalented Nana Visitor, known to millions of Deep Space Nine fans as Major Kira Nerys. Nana was incredibly candid and a sheer joy to talk to. She will be attending the Destination: Star Trek London convention this week (October 19-21) along with a host of other guests. TrekCore will be reporting live from the convention, so be sure to check back with our Destination London coverage for more news very soon! In the meantime, enjoy our interview with Nana!

Nana Visitor Interview

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

TrekCore: Great to talk to you, Nana! I thought we could kick straight off with DS9. Kira was arguably the strongest female character written for any Star Trek series. Was that written in from the start, or did you have to fight for it?

Nana Visitor: What was described to me was that this Bajoran woman was highly aggressive and very spiritual. I came in with the situation that was written in the pilot [‘Emissary’] and that’s what they liked. They wanted the aggression that I brought. From there, she evolved in seven years.

TrekCore: Can you tell us a bit about the audition process for DS9? Do you have any memories of it? I know you’ve gone on record as saying that the producers thought you were perfect for the role but you’d be a nightmare to work with!

Nana Visitor: Laughs Yes! Because I walked in… very often actors walk in and there’s a “Hello, How are you?” you know, niceties. I just didn’t do that with Kira – I came in as Kira and I said “Let’s just go”, which isn’t usual – to take over. Usually it’s the producers who run things and say “OK, shall we do this?” So, I think that they thought I’d be a problem!

TrekCore: Was this in front of Rick Berman and the studio big executives?

Nana Visitor: Yes it was! And in front of a whole bunch of Paramount people…

TrekCore: So that was quite a brave move!

Nana Visitor: Yes! Then they called me back and they said “Do that again”, and there were more people in the room, and I did it again. But you know – I went out and bought a pair of army boots, and I put them on for the audition – I bought them for the audition – I put them on and I was Kira, and that was that. And I knew it – and there’s a sense in the room when you’re waiting with other actors, sometimes you’ll go “Oh, that one’s got it already, she’s already got the part”, even though you all haven’t read that. And I sensed that there was a consensus that I was already Kira.

TrekCore: Over the years, Kira has famously sported a number of different hairstyles… [Hysterical Laughter!] …changing almost every season. Whose choice was that, and tell us your favorite and your most despised style.

Nana Visitor: Well, it’s me! Because I never keep my hair the same. As a matter of fact, I just went from long dark hair and now I have short blonde hair. I famously can’t keep the same hairstyle. My most despised was when they tried to soften and feminize me, and I had a little bit of curly hair – I despised that. I didn’t understand it at all! I very much liked what I ended up with, with the braid at the end, there was just a little braid that was in my hair, and I thought that was very Bajoran – I liked that.

TrekCore: What about the really short style in the first season?

Nana Visitor: Yeah I loved that! Yep, I like short hair.

TrekCore: What are your honest thoughts about the Kira/Odo relationship. How did you feel when you first found out where the writers were going to go with it?

Nana Visitor: Well, you know – honestly – I was disappointed. I thought it was so great to have a deep friendship between people who worked together that wasn’t romantic. I thought “Oh, here we go, the moonlighting thing – everyone always has to end up in a romance.” But then I had a very deep friendship with Alexander Siddig that ended up with a baby, so I had to go “Well, you know what? This is truthful! It happens!”

TrekCore: Art imitating life

Nana Visitor: Yes, exactly! Laughs

TrekCore: Were you pleased with how Kira and Odo turned out in the end, did it come around for you?

Nana Visitor: Oh it absolutely came around for me. I thought it was a beautiful love story, and a real love story that they both understood that he had to go back to the soup. Laughs

TrekCore: You and René had such an awesome chemistry on screen, does that transcend into a good friendship offscreen?

Nana Visitor: Oh absolutely! We have plans to have dinner Friday night in London. I can’t wait to see him, he’s one of my favorite people.

TrekCore: Wonderful! That leads me to my next question. The cast of The Next Generation are quite unique in Hollywood in still all being incredibly close to each other after 25 years. Do you remain close to the DS9 cast?

Nana Visitor: Well we don’t all live in L.A. I think The Next Generation cast as a whole are more social beings, we were kind of… I can certainly say that I’m a loner. I’ll say this – when we get together, you can’t … one of my favorite memories is when we would have an Ops scene, and we would all get to see each other once, and the director would be so annoyed because he couldn’t start the scene, we just kept talking, kept catching up, and joking and laughing and playing around. So I think there’s a deep fondness that we have. But we catch up when we see each other at conventions, or we happen to be in the same city, but no – it isn’t the same as The Next Generation, that really is unique. Although I talk to Siddig constantly obviously, our son is 16 now which is hard to believe – looks just like Siddig. So we have a lot to do with each other. I’ll be seeing him in London too.

TrekCore: So Siddig is in London at the moment?

Nana Visitor: Yes! He’ll be in London at a certain point for dinner probably, to see me, but he’s usually not in London.

TrekCore: So there’s no mini-DS9 reunion on the cards then?

Nana Visitor: No, I don’t think so. We’ll sneak off and catch up together, he and I.

TrekCore: We are very close to the 20th Anniversary of Deep Space Nine. Fans of the show have been incredibly vocal – to this day – about wanting to see more of it. Do you know if a DS9 movie was ever realistically considered by the studio?

Nana Visitor: No, and I really don’t know why that decision was made. But I know that it would be – I think it would be a great film, I really do – a great movie. I think Avery is so interesting on film, and René, Armin, Colm, Siddig… everybody. It would be a strong cast, and I think it could be a strong storyline.

TrekCore: Deep Space Nine was – some may say unfortunately – on the air at the same time as two other series, The Next Generation and Voyager. Do you think that harmed the series?

Nana Visitor: I don’t know. I know that it wasn’t what the Star Trek fandom as a whole wanted to see. It was dark, and I think that was our problem. More than being the middle child, I think it was just a very different take on Star Trek.

TrekCore: Many people have said DS9 was the black sheep of the Trek family. But in a way, it paved the way to shows such as Battlestar Galactica which were huge successes. Do you think it has been unfairly maligned?

Nana Visitor: I do, but when I catch bits of episodes, I go “You know what, it has staying power.” Armin and I used to say on the set – when people would say “You know, I don’t know if I really like this.” – we’d go “You know what, in ten years people will get it.” And I think even ten years from now, people will get the show.

TrekCore: It’s still incredibly politically, religiously and socially relevant. Were you consciously aware of that when you were filming it?

Nana Visitor: Yes! There wasn’t a time when I wasn’t – certainly I can speak for my self – when I wasn’t aware how important it was and the archetypes I was playing out that existed in the world. And that we were being watched so carefully made it so important that even if you’ve waited ten hours to do your scene in your little trailer, and you come out at 2 in the morning to finally work, it doesn’t matter that it’s 2 in the morning, it doesn’t matter that you’re tired or hungry or your makeup is driving you crazy – because what is about to be filmed will be watched and will be important and will have something to say. So you gotta bring it!

TrekCore: Ira Behr and Ronald D. Moore had to go against the studio a lot of times, against Rick Berman’s almost Roddenberry-esque vision of Star Trek to create a darker show. Did you feel that created tension between the show-runners and the studio?

Nana Visitor: We were protected from a lot of that. There was tension on set too, we were that kind of show. It was dark, and there were problems, and there were scenes when there was dischord. So that creates a certain energy, so it didn’t seem out-of-place if the higher-ups were having the same relationships.

TrekCore: How did you all feel when Michael Dorn [Worf] came on board from The Next Generation.

Nana Visitor: Well I found out about it on a stage at a convention! One of the people asked “How do you feel about Michael Dorn joining the show?”, so that was – laughs – I mean, I know the fans always knew stuff before we did, it was true. But that was a little bizarre. I wasn’t crazy about it because I was afraid that my character would be demoted in terms of being the woman second in command, I didn’t know how that was going to work out. But it worked out well and Michael is so adorable and I am crazy about him, and he was a great addition to our cast.

TrekCore: When the show ended did you feel that there any other places that you wanted to go with Kira?

Nana Visitor: She was such a fully-rounded being that just like life, when I think “Is there something else I’d like to do? Is there somewhere I’d like be next week?” I go “Yeah, sure!” It was the same with Kira – they really… I didn’t feel like she was a character just drawn on a piece of paper that had to stick to that paper, I felt that she was outside the lines and even outside the paper, she could go on.

TrekCore: What do your two sons think of your role on Star Trek?

Nana Visitor: You know when they were younger and they’d be flipping through the channels, they’d come to Deep Space Nine and go “Oh look, there’s momma!” – and then keep changing the channels! Laughs Django honestly said this when he was about three years old, someone said “Where are you from?” and he said “Star Trek, Los Angeles”. So they had the unique thing that they really were brought up on the set, it was like everyday stuff for them. Literally every day. So, to see the show, I don’t think they were that interested – [because] they were there.

TrekCore: Do you have a favorite role that you’ve performed outside of DS9?

Nana Visitor: You know, I loved Madame X on Dark Angel. I thought that was a very interesting role. Especially because, well of course we never got to explain why she was chasing these children around, but that she was… I think hundreds of years old actually, and was using their DNA – she’d found the fountain of youth. From that perspective, you go “Well wait a minute, she’s after something important.” And I love that. I love when it looks like you can flip the perspective on if someone is bad or not.

TrekCore: What led you to choose a professional acting career over the offer to study at Princeton?

Nana Visitor: It just happened. I went “OK, I’m just going to be a chorus girl, and it’s one season of summer time and then I’ll go to Princeton.” And I did that. And then I got another job and another job and another job, and I kept deferring. The second year I deferred, I said to myself “You know what, I was going to Princeton to become an actor. I am.” You know, it would have been really fun – looking back – to have that experience and that kind of childhood, almost. You grow up very fast in the business, but I don’t regret doing it the way I did it. I’ve had an opportunity to perform with so many interesting actors and do really interesting work.

TrekCore: Tell us about Family Guy, Nana. You’ve had a huge number of different roles on this show, how did that come to be?

Nana Visitor: Well Seth [MacFarlane, Family Guy Creator] of course loves Star Trek. He finally had me in for this role, and he found me funny! He was like, “Oh my God! She can do this stuff!” I, of course, was in complete awe of what he does – how he goes from character to character with such ease. The fact that he was there reading it with me, as opposed to just having someone else put it down, he was delightful to work with. Yeah, I just did another show recently – I’m living in New York now – and I just did a show in a studio here for them. I love working on that show.

TrekCore: Do you find it tough creating personalities for different characters just through your voice?

Nana Visitor: No, because it’s not a typical “cartoon”… what he wants is truthfulness and then he makes the situation. It’s really just being an actor, being a truthful person and he makes it funny. The writers make it funny.

TrekCore: Bring us all up to speed with what you’ve been doing at the moment. I had no idea that you’re an online gourmet sensation!

Nana Visitor: Oh, I had a business in New Mexico when I was living there, a bakery, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. It was incredibly tough, I learned so much. But at the end of the day it was time to go back to acting. I spent a year in L.A. after that, did a couple of shows, and then my husband got a job on Broadway – he’s a general manager. He’s taken so much time letting me do what I want to do, really the only place where he can do what he does is either Vegas – although that’s not even true any more, those shows have pretty much all died – but here in New York. So, I went “Yeah, we’ll do that.” So I moved a couple of months ago, and I’m settling in – of course I’m from New York City so it’s fantastic to be back here, and I’ve just established myself with an agent, so hopefully there’ll be work here. I’d love to work in television here.

TrekCore: Final random question for you Nana – how does it feel having an asteroid named in your honor?

Nana Visitor: You know, laughs, there will be random times in the day when I go “Wait a minute, just think about that!” It astounds me, it absolutely astounds me. It’s kind of unreal and wonderful.

TrekCore: Right! I couldn’t help but think how I’d feel if there was a big lump of rock out there floating around with my name on it!

Nana Visitor: It’s crazy, isn’t it!? It’s as crazy as having a little doll that’s an effigy of you.. It’s bizarre

TrekCore: But a great story for dinner parties!

Nana Visitor: Yes, absolutely. Laughs

TrekCore: OK, Nana – it’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you

Nana Visitor: Same here! I’ve loved it.

TrekCore: Hope we can catch up with you at Destination London

Nana Visitor: I’d love that! Please come and say “Hello”!

EXCLUSIVE: John de Lancie Interview

TrekCore Archives

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October 14, 2012

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To coincide with the 25th Anniversary celebrations of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I had the delight of interviewing actor John de Lancie, famous for his role as the ever mischievous Q in TNG as well as Deep Space Nine and Voyager. John will be attending the Destination: Star Trek London convention next week (October 19-21) along with a host of other guests. TrekCore will be reporting live from the convention, so be sure to check back with our Destination London coverage for more news very soon! In the meantime, enjoy our interview with John!

John de Lancie Interview

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

TrekCore: We’ve all been celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation this week, in fact it’s 25 years to the day tomorrow when “Encounter at Farpoint” aired [this interview was recorded Sep 27], so it’s great to talk to you at this time!

John de Lancie: Laughs Really? Oh my God, it’s 25 years!

TrekCore: You’ve had the privilege of playing roles in so many iconic genre series, including Star Trek, Stargate, Torchwood, Breaking Bad – do you have any shows that are still on your bucket list to appear in?

John de Lancie: You know, I don’t really operate that way, for a couple of different reasons. I tend not to watch much of anything, which isn’t to say that I just sit around staring at the wall, but I read a lot, I work on creative things – you know, that type of stuff. So I don’t tend to watch a lot of stuff, which is difficult because I have actor friends who say to me “Well I’ve just gotta be on this show” or “I’ve got to do this play” or what have you, I just have never done that. So the answer is no.

TrekCore: In that case, is it more a case of these shows head-hunting you for appearances?

John de Lancie: No, it’s a matter of trying to find things that are interesting. You know, tasty little morsels – just tasty bites which are interesting, which make my life interesting, which other people enjoy watching. You know, those are the things that are the criteria – you know, well written – all that type of stuff is the criteria for what I do.

TrekCore: John, I’m obliged to ask you some Star Trek questions, especially in the anniversary week! How much of the Q character was your own inspiration? Did you push your vision of Q on to the screen, or was it more direction from the producers and the director which informed your portrayal?

John de Lancie: Well, it comes first and foremost from the writing. Then what you do is that you – this is just how the process works – somebody writes it and they audition a lot of people, and then somebody comes in and – from the producer’s point of view and the writer’s point of view – they nail it. In this case, when I walked out, the person who walked out behind me and stopped me and put his hand on my shoulder, he said “You make my writing sound better than it is”, something of that nature, and it was Gene Roddenberry. So, technically – actually answering your question seriously and technically – what does that mean – ‘I’ve made what he’s written sound better than it is’? Well what you’re looking for in that audition process when you’re going through 15-20 people who are reading the same lines, you are really looking for somebody who brings themselves to the role, because still what is on the page is two-dimensional. You are waiting for somebody to breathe life into that idea. And in this case, I guess I was the one who understood the character best, and then had the opportunity to play it.

At least they [said] “Well, geez this guy… worked on a couple of different levels, one is – he’s shown us not only the character, which is what we want but he has brought something to the role which now we appreciate as being something that we need.” And then what happens is that the director and the producer [say] “Wow, we don’t have to worry about him. We just need to give him certain directions along the way to stay sort of in the path that we have for the entire show. But he is a completely self-contained element, and he can go on and he’ll do it.” And everybody then says “Oh, well we’ve got that character handled.”

TrekCore: In that respect then, when you filmed the pilot, did the director Corey Allen just take a back seat and let you roll with it?

John de Lancie: Uh, yes. To the extent… the only place that Corey and I had a difference of opinion – not that, I mean we were all very friendly so it was just a difference of opinion – is that Corey wanted Q to be straighter than I thought he should be. I always felt that Q was more of a god, an omnipotent being with clay feet… No, sorry – an omnipotent being who was too stupid to know it! Or, a god with clay feet. Or, a supremely confident person who privately was really insecure. Those were the things that I thought were… and because I got a second chance, you began to see it later on.

TrekCore: Why do you feel that Q didn’t return to Deep Space Nine after your one appearance there? I understand that it was a very different cast to work with than The Next Generation.

John de Lancie: Uh-huh. First of all, they were only bringing me back once a year, so that was that. I don’t think that that episode [‘Q-Less‘] was a particularly successful episode because from the point of fact that… the episode was low on philosophy. Q works best when there’s a big philosophical issue… and whether Q loves Vash or not just isn’t. I think that once the writers saw that there was sort of a comedic flair, they began writing to it, to which I would say “Please don’t do that. I can undercut, I can spoof, I can give a wink and a nod. But if you start writing me comedic, I don’t have anywhere to go.”

TrekCore: In that sense, do you prefer to play Q with a threatening menace, with an element of cruelty to him like we saw in Farpoint, or do you prefer the comic-relief type element?

John de Lancie: Well I prefer them both. I don’t think that there is one element that defines him. What I tried to do was fracture all of that so that you were never quite sure. You know the lines might say “I love you”, but you can say it in a way where the other person gets an unpleasant chill down their spine. So it’s just to make sure that all of the colors – you know, all of the colors of the rainbow were open to… and it just made him unpredictable. You’re just never quite sure – he seemed to be nice, but wait a minute – you know what, I don’t know! You just can never settle with the character. You’re never quite sure. So if you were sure that he were always mean-spirited or evil as some people would say: “You know he was always evil! He was evil wasn’t he?” The answer is no! Then you just get a cardboard character of him.

TrekCore: I know your son Keegan did an acting turn in Star Trek: Voyager amongst others, but he’s since said in an interview that you were relieved he went into a career route other than showbusiness. Why was that do you think?

John de Lancie: Well, I think that he’s eminently qualified to do what he’s doing. He’s in the state department – he’s an Arab expert, a Middle East expert. You know, there’s all of that. I think it’s an important job, I think it actually helps people in a very concrete sort of way, as opposed to helping people in an escapist sort of way. And I think his talents are much better used in that area. You know, the acting world is not a particularly happy experience for the vast majority of actors. The irony is that most actors knew at the age of 14 that they wanted to be actors, and they get to do it not nearly as much as they’d like to – while people who don’t have any clue as to what they want to do at the age of 25 are doing whatever they’re doing every day. I’m delighted that both of my sons are in other fields, I think that they will get a great deal more satisfaction out of their lives.

TrekCore: Do you think that if you were a young actor starting out today that you’d still want to go into the business knowing how it is?

John de Lancie: Well I think that I am inherently theatrical. I sort of think that way. I like the puzzles that are presented to me in terms of plays and writing and figuring things out, and in terms of what you see and what have you, but I don’t kid myself that it’s brain surgery!

TrekCore: I know you had some of your [theatrical] training at Julliard, and I understand your father was a professional oboist. Do you play any instruments?

John de Lancie: Well I don’t anymore. I used to play the oboe and the piano, I don’t anymore. You know Julliard has a very famous drama school. I was in the drama department where we just did plays all the time. In my class, there were two really super-successful people, Bill Hurt and Mandy Patinkin. Most of everybody else – let’s say out of a class of 35 people – there are only about 8 or 9 who are still actors, or something similar. The rest fell off, you know the business is not a kind business – frankly no matter how talented you are. The attrition rate is very, very high.

TrekCore: You’ve done films, hugely popular TV shows, writing, narration, production, directing, lecturing… what do you want to achieve next? Are there any ambitions you have that are yet to be fulfilled?

John de Lancie: Well I enjoy just continuing doing all those things. Right now I’m doing something which is particularly strange… I’m doing a documentary on “Bronies”. Do you know what I’m talking about?

TrekCore: I think so – I read that you were a staunch defender of older male fans of “My Little Pony”

John de Lancie: Right! So that’s something that’s tremendously time consuming, and is really interesting. We were very fortunate to get highly funded – a lot of support from the community. So we’re putting together a documentary, it’s a very different process than what I’m used to in terms of directing, you know operas or plays or what have you. It’s a much more collaborative venture than I’m used to. The work itself, or the show itself, is something I’m … you know, it’ll all be finished by December, but it’s really all-consuming. We were shooting last night and the minute I leave – I’m in my office right now, but – people are here to edit some of the stuff we were shooting last night. I’m really excited about that, I think it’s going to be really terrific.

TrekCore: I’m really curious John. How on Earth did you get involved with the “Brony” community, it seems so random!

John de Lancie: It does seem random. I just got called to do… I get calls to do Assassins Creed, or a new thing called… uh, anyway, I don’t know what that was called! Laughs But in any case, so I just got called to do, you know, “John, My Little Pony?” I didn’t even know what they were talking about! But I said “Well send the script over”, and I read the script, and I thought “Oh this is very sweet, and well written and I like it. Sure why not! It’s not a big deal, you work on it the night before and you go in and you knock it off.” And three months later I came down to my computer and there were hundreds of emails about this. I read a bunch of them – extremely well written – and I talked to my wife and said “I got all these emails. What do you know about My Little Pony?” And she said “Well you voiced it about three months ago! It’s a program for little girls.” And I said “Well let me tell you something, these aren’t little girls who are writing in.” So that started the process.

So obviously right off the bat, I went through the same thing that everybody goes through… “Well, come on – 20 year old guys watching a program for little girls. They’re all gay, they’re all paedophiles, they’re all whack.” And then that weekend I had to do an event, and I had a bunch of guys come up to me and they said “We’re Bronies.” And I said “Really?!” And that happened a couple of times, and I recognized – I have two sons – and I recognized them as being not unlike my sons. So a friend of mine came over for dinner who does documentaries and said “We should do a documentary.” And I said “No no no no no. It’s not my world, I don’t want to be jumping into it.” But then a week or so later he sent me a Fox News things which – as far as I’m concerned Fox has done more to destroy the news in our country than anything else – and I was very upset by what they had to say, and I just went “Those fucks! Let’s do this documentary.”

We’re not going to take… Our position on it is not an exposé, it’s more along the lines of a mirror – a mirror up to nature, not unlike how the… for my generation, you probably don’t know it, but it was called the Drama of the Gifted Child. The premise is that the baby looks into the mother’s face, and the mother needs to be mirroring what the baby is doing as opposed to pouring all of the mother’s neuroses and self-doubts on to the baby. What happens is that a gifted child which is what you are and I am, frankly most people are, is going to start reading the mother and trying to fulfil the fantasies that the mother is providing. What happens is that by the age of 25 or 30, they are people who are so good at reading what other people expect of them, but they don’t really know who they are.

TrekCore: So they’re almost preconditioned to do it from a young age?

John de Lancie: That’s right! So, I’ve said that this is a documentary, and it’s for them. It’s not my opinion, it’s them. I’m going to give them some space, enough so that they can go “Hey, bug off if you don’t like who we are.” So I’m quite excited about how the documentary is developing.

TrekCore: I must thank you for your time John, I know you have a very busy schedule. I hope that I have the chance to catch up with you in London and perhaps continue the chat!

John de Lancie: Alright – so come by and introduce yourself, remind me of what we did and we’ll continue the chat! See you in London, Adam!

	Order TNG - "The Best of Both Worlds" Feature Blu-Ray today!		Order Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 Blu-Ray today!

Destination: Star Trek London kicks off October 19 at the ExCeL Centre, London and will feature a huge array of famous Star Trek guests, including the five captains William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula.

Meet John deLancie (and TrekCore!) there – get your tickets at www.startreklondon.com

REVIEW: Star Trek The Next Generation 365

TrekCore Archives

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October 14, 2012

1

REVIEW: Star Trek The Next Generation 365

Star Trek: The Next Generation 365
Paula M. Block & Terry J. Erdmann
Published by Abrams • Hardcover
744 Pages

With the launch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry somehow managed to recapture lightning in a bottle. This new incarnation of Star Trek was an instant hit, and its popularity inspired four films and three spin-off television series. To commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary, Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 provides a fresh, accessible overview of the entire series, including an authorized guide to all 178 episodes. Featuring rarely seen and now-classic photography and illustrations, this visual celebration of the voyages of Captain Picard, his crew, and the Enterprise-D offers a loving look back at the Emmy and Hugo Award–winning series.

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of talking to authors Paula Block and Terry Erdmann about their latest Star Trek non-fiction title TNG:365. You can read the full interview here. In the meantime, please enjoy our full review of the book – a must-buy for every fan!

Star Trek: The Next Generation is undoubtedly undergoing an almighty renaissance in this, it’s 25th Anniversary year. The much acclaimed remastering project has breathed life into a series which still captures the imaginations of millions of people around the globe. You could be forgiven for thinking that we’ve seen just about everything there is to see when it comes to this iconic TV series, but thumbing through the pages of Paula Block and Terry Erdmann’s stylish new tome Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 proves that there really is a treasure trove of unseen material waiting to be appreciated by fans.

Paula and Terry are well known to fans of Star Trek for producing a series of exceptionally popular non-fiction titles spanning over a decade. Following the recipe for success they found with 2010’s Star Trek: The Original Series 365, they’ve team up once again – this time putting The Next Generation in the spotlight.

As a site which specializes in multimedia, especially images, I’d like to think that we’re pretty familiar with the vast majority of photographs, designs and drawings from The Next Generation, so when I first set my eyes on the beautifully designed pages of TNG:365 I was somewhat taken aback at just how much new material is in there.

TNG:365 is a weighty volume bursting at the seams with hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and memories. Paula was in the fortunate position of having a wealth of material and personal experiences to draw from thanks to her time working in licensing at Paramount Pictures. Along with Terry, she has organized all this information into a sumptuous coffee-table book that you’ll be flicking through for years to come.

This book isn’t simply a colorful episode guide, in fact it thankfully deviates from that somewhat restrictive format, instead opting to present the reader with wonderfully crafted vignettes of information and behind-the-scenes morsels accompanied by mostly unseen photographs. The label “photographs” doesn’t really do justice to what we are presented with here… the authors have sourced a huge amount of fresh, candid imagery from the making of the show including original costume and makeup tests, original advertisements, design sketches and delightfully intimate photos taken as the episodes were rehearsed and filmed.

I level criticism at TNG:365 reluctantly, as this volume is perfect in so many ways, however it was somewhat disappointing to see a smattering of low-resolution DVD screenshots incorporated into the book. Obviously the authors couldn’t have access to the remastered high-definition TNG prints, unless they had waited a further 3 years to publish the book, so the presence of screenshots is understandable from that perspective. However it does detract somewhat from the otherwise high-quality polish of the book.

That minor issue aside, with all candor I must state that TNG:365 is – for me – a triumph of Star Trek non-fiction writing, and should be considered by all fans as an essential part of their Trek library. This book is the perfect companion to the newly released remastered blu-rays, and it’s a joy to refer back to it after you’ve watched an episode. Want to know what the writers really thought of their work once they saw it played back? The sometimes damning indictments are laid bare for all to see here (I couldn’t help but burst into laughter when reading Naren Shankar describing Season 6’s “Suspicions” as “a misery… the whole thing was a clusterfuck”!)

Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 is available to buy now:

Amazon US
Amazon CA
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Amazon FR

EXCLUSIVE: Walter Koenig Interview

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October 8, 2012

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A couple of weeks ago I had the huge pleasure to interview Star Trek legend Walter Koenig who played Commander Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series between 1967 and 1969 along with the first seven Star Trek feature films. Walter will be attending the Destination: Star Trek London convention next week (October 19-21) along with a host of other guests. TrekCore will be reporting live from the convention, so be sure to check back with our Destination London coverage for more news very soon! In the meantime, enjoy our interview with Walter!

Walter Koenig Interview

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

TrekCore: Hi Walter, great to talk to you. I wonder if we could kick off by talking a bit about your iconic Star Trek role. How was the character of Chekov received by Russian fans?

Walter Koenig: Well at the time, Star Trek was not really being played in the Soviet Union. There was an iron curtain, and it was in some cases more literal than figurative, and [Star Trek] was kind of blocked out so Russian fans did not discover Star Trek for several decades. The fact that Paramount Publicity Department issued a statement that the Russian newspaper Pravda was complaining about the fact that we didn’t have any Russians aboard the Enterprise was strictly a publicist’s fantasy, my appearance on the show had nothing to do with the Russians at that point. It was to do with the fact that they were looking for somebody who appealed to the younger demographic I think.

TrekCore: When the show started getting played in Russia after the iron curtain was lifted, did you have a good reaction to your character?

Walter Koenig: Well, it’s curious. Two year ago I was invited to Russia by a group of fans. However, they were not Star Trek fans – they were Babylon 5 fans! And the reason is that Babylon 5 was playing in primetime and Star Trek was playing at two in the morning. So these fans were more familiar with Babylon 5. They were not totally unfamiliar with Star Trek and the fact that I played Chekov, but they brought me out there to celebrate Babylon 5 and my character of Bester. By the way, I had a terrific time – I had not been to Russia, and we were in Moscow and St. Petersburg, it was just a great experience.

TrekCore: How did working on Babylon 5 as the wonderful villain Bester compare to filming Star Trek back in the sixties?

Walter Koenig: Well it was a much more substantial role, much more dimensional – I’m talking about Bester. When I appeared in a story, the character was pivotal to the plot. That particular story evolved beautifully. The cast and staff, down to the last man and woman, were very easy to work with – they were very comfortable, very professional people. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere on the set and I really could have gone on to do it for another five years, that’s how loving and stimulating it was for me.

TrekCore: That’s wonderful to here. Does Chekov as a character ever leave you as an actor? We’ve seen you reprise the role so many times and each time you seem to fit back into his shoes as if you’ve never left them.

Walter Koenig: Laughs. Well, he doesn’t have as much character certainly. Whatever is there is my invention. I don’t boast about it, there’s not a lot you can do with lines like “Warp Factor Two, Captain”, that’s what he’s saying most of the time. [He was] an expository character, used as a vehicle to explain the story line, we didn’t investigate how the character was feeling, what he was going through emotionally, personally. But that’s ok, I have enormous gratitude for my experience on Star Trek and the years that I’ve been involved with it.

TrekCore: We’ve recently seen the very touching ceremony of you finally being awarded your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Now you’ve had a couple of weeks to process it, what does it mean to you to be immortalized on a sidewalk?

Walter Koenig: Well it’s… you know it’s… laughter… I’m still trying to figure that out! What does it mean to me? You know, I mentioned it to a couple of other people – I walk down that Walk of Fame and I see John Gielgud’s name and I see Jascha Heifetz and I see Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brandow – and I think “what the blankety-blank am I doing here!?” Then, on the other hand I see Big Bird and characters of that nature and I think “well, there must be a place for me here!” I think I’m certainly as good an actor as Big Bird! That really makes me proud of myself. I’m very pleased – for a long time over the years I’ve thought about it, it has not been obsessive in my thinking and not something that I pined for, but something that I fantasized about on occasion and wondered how that would feel. And now that it’s here, I’m still wondering how it feels! I don’t think I’ve entirely come to grips with what it means to me. I know it has to do with popularity and pop culture, and all the thanks go to Star Trek, because that’s what launched my career in terms of the public. I mean, I had worked before Star Trek but not with the same sense of public consciousness I had after Star Trek. So, I give a great deal of gratitude and thanks to Star Trek’s influence on this. I also have an enormous gratitude… I’m very pleased that the fans were so participatory in making this happen.

Very frankly, in all of the other cases the financial support came either from the studio or from communities that helped get the other actors installed. In this case, the fans were – across the world – were heavily responsible for making this happen with their contributions. I hate to talk money and the mercenary aspects of this, but when they were first installing stars, or at least as far back as I remember – you had to come up with $2,000 and then it became $5,000 and then $10,000 and then $15,000 and this year it’s $30,000. Could I afford that? I could not in all conscience put out the money, because I couldn’t let other actors feel I’d bought this thing. I couldn’t live with that – I mean, all the joy and sense of pride that goes with having your name immortalized, as you say, is sort of lost in the fact that you’ve paid for it. So, I didn’t, and my determination was that if we didn’t raise the money then it wouldn’t happen. Well the fans did come through – as I say, from all over the world – and it was really heart warming. And the ironic part is that Star Trek launched me on this road and Gene Roddenberry specifically, since he cast me, and his son Rod Roddenberry came up with the final amount that was still needed to make this possible, and it was a substantial amount of money. So I am indebted to the Roddenberrys, who have been very important in my career in one way or the other.

TrekCore: We’ve seen many an interview with you sat proudly in front of your collection of models and memorabilia in your house. We’re all dying to know, what does your wife Judy Levitt think of it?!

Walter Koenig: Laughter. She’s very tolerant! As long as… we built an upstairs, and that’s where I have everything. She’s very tolerant of my collection and my collecting so long as it doesn’t come down the stairs into the living room or any of the bedrooms.

TrekCore: Tell us what inspired you to write a graphic novel about vampires. We understand it will be released in October this year.

Walter Koenig: Yes! Well to go back a way – and I’ll try to make it as succinct as I can – I was at a convention 20-25 years ago, and the Star Trek editor at DC Comics was giving a speech and I raised my hand at the back of the room hoping I wouldn’t be seen, and that only my voice would be heard, and I said “When are you going to do a story about Chekov?” And the editor recognized me and said “Well, why don’t you do it?” And we agreed on an idea, and it entailed that Chekov got the girl and that he saves the day and that he’s prominently displayed on the cover. Having achieved both conditions, I went ahead and wrote an episode of the Star Trek comic, and I had a good time doing it.

I was at that time in the middle of a quiet period – which is a euphemism for a period of unemployment – and I came up with an idea for a kind of superhero, and I went to Malibu Comics which was a thriving publishing company at the time, and we contracted for a series of three comic books about this character called Raver. Incidentally, Raver is coming out as a graphic novel too with the first three episodes being the ones from the 90s, and the fourth one being a brand new one, which I think is the best of the lot. But in any case, I jumped from there in the 90s to now and I was trying to come up with an idea for a screenplay which I thought would be viable and commercial, and would not only be about the things that interested me, but that had a universality, at least a current popularity. So I wrote an outline for a movie based on vampires after the apocalypse being the only sentient beings on Earth, and how they got to be here, and what is their significance, and what does the future hold for them, and these are the thought processes that they are going through. And there’s a considerable amount of turmoil and conflict because they don’t all think the same way. So in one aspect, it’s kind of a coming-of-age story. It does have the necessary ripping out of throats, but not in an excess that most vampires do! But it doesn’t have much of a love story, it’s not that kind of a story.

TrekCore: One final question Walter, if you were a young actor starting out today – would you still want to go into the business as it stands?

Walter Koenig: Laughter. I thought you were going to ask me what I would tell a young actor! And what I would have told them today is “Go Back! Go Back!! Don’t take another step forward!” Laughter. Actually, I feel very lucky – I feel very, very lucky. And that is not false humility. It’s downright candor. I think I have talent. I think it measures up to most people, but certainly not to an extraordinary degree. And [that] I have come this far and succeeded as much as I have is a testament to something since I have very little faith in deities, I have got to stay that I’ve had an extraordinary run of luck to be an actor for four to five decades since I started.

TrekCore: Walter, it’s been an absolute pleasure to talk to you, and I look forward to meeting you at the Star Trek Destination London in October!

TNG Remastered Season 2: Blu-Ray Trailer

Blu-ray (TNG)

TrekCore Archives

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October 7, 2012

40

TNG Remastered Season 2: Blu-Ray Trailer

With Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s second season Blu-Ray release less than 2 months away, we take a look at the epic trailer that CBS have released for Season 2.

The trailer was first seen as a special bonus feature on the 1st Season Blu-Ray release and showcases scenes from several Season 2 episodes including ‘The Child‘, ‘Where Silence Has Lease‘, ‘The Measure of a Man‘, ‘Contagion‘, ‘Time Squared‘, as well as the epic fan favorite which introduces us to the Borg, ‘Q Who‘. The trailer also features a sneak preview of some of the bonus features which will be included on the Season 2 set, namely a roundtable discussion featuring the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation!

Watch the trailer below in full 1080p high definition!

CBS has – without a doubt – managed to produce one of the most epic trailers for a Star Trek DVD/Blu-Ray release yet. Even though many fans will have seen these episodes dozens of times before, they manage to come across as fresh, exciting and new again after 25 years.

We’ve got a selection of HD-screencaps from the trailer available below:

Secure your copy of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Remastered Blu-Ray today by pre-ordering from Amazon using the links below! Season 2 is released on Dec 4 (US/CA) and shortly after that in Europe.

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EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part III

TrekCore Archives

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October 6, 2012

25

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part III

Ryan Adams and David S. Grant from Multimedia at CBS Television Distribution are two of the key figures who have been working for years behind the scenes to get Star Trek: The Next Generation’s HD remastering project off the ground. I was fortunate to catch up with David and Ryan who both took time out of their busy schedule to answer questions on TNG Remastered and the future of Star Trek in high definition.

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 3

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

TrekCore: Moving onto the other angles you’ve been taking such as the cinema screenings. I know that Fathom’s Season 1 screenings were a huge success with fans and I understand that there’s a similar event planned for Season 2. Could you tell us which episodes will be featured? Do you think this is going to be a regular occurrence as the project continues?

Ryan Adams: I know that Ken Ross and Jeff Nemerovski who really drive the theatrical screenings, and Mike and Denise – and all of us have been talking about them – we’re finalizing that right now, so I don’t want to speak out of turn in case we go in any different directions. But as far as I know, Season 1 was a success in regards to the theatrical screenings, so we’re doing Season 2. If Season 2 is a success, who knows? It would be nice!

TrekCore: We’ve had a lot of European fans asking if the screenings will ever hit Europe. Are there any plans for this or is it just an American and Australian deal?

David Grant: I don’t know. We’re not privy to that information yet. It comes out of New York.

Ryan Adams points out that CBS and Fathom Events are finalizing another TNG cinema screening right now (for Season 2). Could “Q Who” be one of the two episodes that will be shown? We hope so!

TrekCore: Regarding the audio on the remastered release – How was it originally recorded? Is it contained on the negatives you are unboxing, or is it on a separate tape somewhere? If that’s the case is there a possibility of a missing audio track at some point?

David Grant: Well the audio goes back to the original quarter-inch audio that was done on the set. Then, there have been mixes done throughout the years. There was a stereo mix, they did a 5.1 mix and stuff. We’ve gone back to the stems, the individual stems, on all the different elements and recreated it for 7.1. And then, from there we can derive a 5.1. So it’s sort of re-posting the audio also. Nothing has been missing so far on the audio. Ryan and I both give our great applause to the original editorial team, because a lot of times when you’re done with the show, you just box it up quickly and you don’t do a good inventory because not a lot of people are going to get into it. This show did an amazing job of the inventory and trying the best they could to keep everything where it was supposed to be and an inventory of it. We still have huge battles – visual effects were used in [an] episode, and then [might be found in another] one – but we have a whole team deciphering where all of this stuff is, kind of learning the language that they did 25 years ago. With the audio, it’s been, you know, we haven’t missed anything.

TrekCore: Do you have to re-edit the audio as well? Or are you synching up to the original audio track to guide the visual edits?

David Grant: Yes, it’s just the original tracks. And they go back and they do a restoration of it and we do a whole new mix of it. And Ryan and I go in on Fridays and we review the mix. So there’s not really – there’s no editing – it’s coming off all of those original network stems.

TrekCore: I see, so in terms of sound effects and things like that, they’re all contained on the original stems?

David Grant: Yes, because just like we’re trying to keep the picture as original as it was for the fans, we’re trying to do the same for the audio too. We’re not adding effects, we’re not taking effects out – we’re leaving it and it’s just … it sounds cleaner, it’s more restored.

TrekCore: We had a very interesting question from a fan regarding the possibility of isolated scores in future blu-ray releases. When “The Twilight Zone” was released on blu-ray, they equipped the sets with a separate score-only track. Is that a possibility for TNG? Would you consider it?

David Grant: Yeah, it’s probably more in the DVD world – we don’t know. It’s funny, because we did the remaster on “Twilight Zone” too. Yeah, we did it for CBS and – I can’t remember the company that put it out – but anyway, that’s another show. But yeah, anything’s possible – if there’s a cry for it from the fans – I wouldn’t be surprised if we did it.

Rumors are rife that Star Trek: Enterprise’s arrival on blu-ray may be imminent… according to David Grant “there’s talk”, whilst Ryan Adams declares there are “discussions happening as we speak”!

TrekCore: Is there a chance that Star Trek: Enterprise might be released on blu-ray some day soon? Mike Sussman tweeted the other day that he knew of another Trek series coming to blu-ray soon, is that by any chance Enterprise?

David Grant: Well we’ll keep that… I’m not going to… Let’s just say there’s talk.

Ryan Adams: There are discussions happening as we speak. Discussions about other Star Trek entities, properties.

TrekCore: Last time we heard from you guys at Comic Con, DS9 was officially “on your radar” for remastering. Ryan gave a beautifully cryptic quote that CBS were “considering it”. How are plans moving along? We have a constant stream of emails, with hundreds of fans asking about it.

Ryan Adams: See, well that’s wonderful! Here’s the thing, David and I would love nothing more than to segue from TNG into DS9 and all of them to be honest with you. We’re having a blast doing this. And when I see that we engage with the fans, I love the fact that they’re writing in. In order for us to go to John Nogawski, Scott Koondel – the decision makers, let’s call them – and get an approval for this, we need that kind of stuff behind us. We need to be able to say “The fans are screaming for this. This is what they want next.” And like we said at Comic Con too, it would really depend on – because let’s be honest, it’s financial as well for the studio – on how well TNG does. And since it’s doing well thus far, David and I are still very hopeful that [DS9] will be one of the next big projects that we do. So our hope is “yes”, but we still have to get the decision makers to say yes.

TrekCore: So there’s been no official green light yet?

Ryan Adams: No, there’s no official green light on DS9 yet.

TrekCore: Fans need to keep writing then, that’s good to know!

Ryan Adams: Keep writing, and keep buying TNG.

David Grant: The more you buy TNG, the more you get DS9! Put it that way! Laughter

Ryan Adams stresses there is no official green light on a DS9 Remastering yet. Both Ryan and David urge fans to make it known that we want HD-DS9 and keep buying TNG blu rays!

TrekCore: We’d love to know if there are any future plans for bringing TNG in HD to iTunes?

David Grant: That comes out of our digital distribution division, so I can’t answer for them. I don’t know what they’re doing.

TrekCore: What have been some of the lessons you’ve learnt along the way with this project, and what are some of your personal best and worst moments?

David Grant: Laughs Well, they’ve all been good, it’s just levels of goodness.

Ryan Adams: The best was getting the “yes”! You know, to do this project. Because David and I, we were pitching this when we worked under the Paramount umbrella, and then when we came under the CBS umbrella with the split that happened several years ago, we continued pitching this. So when we were finally told “Yes, you can move forward” – that, by far, was the best moment for me.

David Grant: Yeah, and it was very funny, Ryan and I talk about this a lot. We were with John Nogawski, the President of Distribution, and Scott Koondel, the President of Distribution Sales, and they kinda gave us a “yes”, and we hopped in the car, Ryan and I called each other and were like “I think we just got a yes”

TrekCore: It was great when I spoke to Craig [Weiss], he said the best moment for him was getting the “yes”, the worst moment for him was getting the “yes”!

Laughter

Ryan Adams: Very well put!

TrekCore: It’s been a pleasure talking to you both, I know you have to run off to color correction now…

Ryan Adams: It was great talking to you too, hopefully we’ll talk again when we’re doing Season Three!

David Grant: Yes definitely, it’s been great and we hope to talk to you again soon.

Ryan Adams (left) and David S. Grant (right) in one of their
TNG-Remastered review sessions with Mike and Denise Okuda

Go to Part: 1 2 3

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Enterprise on Blu-Ray: First News Emerges

Blu-ray (ENT)

TrekCore Archives

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October 6, 2012

48

Just as news of the Star Trek: The Next Generation remastering project broke initially through a tweet from LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), the first details of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s transition to Blu-Ray have emerged in a similar fashion.

Mike Sussman (long-term writer and producer on both Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise) revealed in a tweet on September 23 that another Star Trek series was destined for Blu-Ray:

Have it on good authority that another Trek series is making its Blu-Ray debut early next year…

In our exclusive interview with TNG Remastered’s David S. Grant (VP of Multimedia, CBS) and Ryan Adams (Director of Multimedia, CBS) I asked David and Ryan if the series mentioned by Mike Sussman could in fact be Enterprise. Their response was encouraging:

David Grant: Well we’ll keep that… I’m not going to… Let’s just say there’s talk.

Ryan Adams: There are discussions happening as we speak. Discussions about other Star Trek entities, properties.

In a further tweet today, Mike Sussman confirmed these hopes, with some other very interesting information:

Trippin’ down memory lane: just wrapped up an interview for the @StarTrek Enterprise season 1 Blu-Ray set coming next year. #itsabouttime

Fans have long since hoped that a release of Star Trek: Enterprise on Blu-Ray would come sooner rather than later as that series was already filmed in native 1080p HD, and as such requires no remastering (unlike the series that preceded it). CBS would now appear to be already prepping the bonus features (or VAM, Value Added Material) for the release of Enterprise. In light of their incredible work on Star Trek: The Next Generation Remastered VAM, it’s highly likely that Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay Jr. will lend their extensive talents to the Enterprise Season 1 VAM production.

One potential obstacle in putting Enterprise out on Blu-Ray is that all the special FX sequences were rendered at 720p resolution, lower than the native 1080p live-action sequences. As a result, CBS would appear to have two choices – either up-rez the 720p to full 1080p or re-render the CGI sequences in native 1080p. In the case of Enterprise, an up-rez isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Iconic shows such as Firefly and Battlestar Galactica have both used up-rezzed special effects in their Blu-Ray releases, and such a technique is often a creative choice to avoid the overly sharp VFX imagery which would result from a 1080p render. Doug Drexler (Senior Illustrator on Enterprise, but has also worked on Battlestar Galactica) sums it up nicely in an article he wrote some time back:

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the fact that the CGI on BSG is rendered “only” at 720 and upscaled to 1080 for the final. Everyone should understand that render time was the LEAST important factor in this decision.

The fact is, at 1080, the CG just came out WAY too crisp. When intercut with the live action (or even composited), the CG popped off the screen and didn’t match the look and feel of the rest of the show. I’m sure all of you have had the experience of watching computer generated material on a flat panel or other high quality display and noticed just how razor-sharp it can look. It can often appear unnaturally crisp.

TrekCore will of course keep you up-to-date with all the developments of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s transition to Blu-Ray, so make sure you check back regularly for all the latest news!

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EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part II

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October 5, 2012

15

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part II

Ryan Adams and David S. Grant from Multimedia at CBS Television Distribution are two of the key figures who have been working for years behind the scenes to get Star Trek: The Next Generation’s HD remastering project off the ground. I was fortunate to catch up with David and Ryan who both took time out of their busy schedule to answer questions on TNG Remastered and the future of Star Trek in high definition.

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 2

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

TrekCore: We’ve become a lot more familiar recently with Craig Weiss’s wonderful team at CBS Digital thanks to the bonus features on Season 1. Could you tell us a little bit more about the second team? I understand that there have been some famous faces popping up in that team.

David Grant: Well yeah, we had Dan Curry, who was heavily involved in Season 2 with us. That really helped us. With Mike and Denise Okuda and Dan Curry, it was – you know – it was like having part of the original team back together.

TrekCore: So is the second house [Illuminate Hollywood] a separate corporation?

David Grant: Yes, we’re calling them HTV – but HTV Illuminate is the name of the company.

TrekCore: With Season 2 just a couple of months away now, I’d like to touch on one of the huge selling points from the set, the extended edition of ‘Measure of a Man’. Just how much of a challenge was it to cut together an extended HD version?

Ryan Adams: It was quite a challenge! You know, we had the VHS… you know, it’s interesting. I mean, thank god we have the technology that we have now, because we were able to ingest that VHS that Mike and Denise found from the writer [Melinda Snodgrass] and basically input it into a software system, and it would go through and tell us, OK – these are all the pieces that we have already from the HD mastering of the episode, but here are all the pieces you’ve got to find that don’t exist on that HD remastered episode. And we would go back to the film and have to search through. I mean, not us personally, but we had a wonderful team that would search through and find and eyeball every single shot until we were able to literally piece it back together like the VHS.

TrekCore: So that almost sounds like 24th century technology!

Ryan Adams: Yeah, absolutely! We were able to get all the shots, and Mike and Denise came with us, and it’s phenomenal – it’s just amazing. It’s a great episode to begin with, but not to give anything away from it, but you have some more character driven points and it’s really a huge selling point and a great episode, the extended version.

The extended edition of ‘The Measure of a Man’ is one of the major features in the Season 2
blu-ray set. Ryan Adams describes the process as “quite a challenge” and calls the result “phenomenal… just amazing”

TrekCore: Do you know what the potential is for future extended editions of fan-favorite episodes?

David Grant: Erm, future – do we have any other extended versions?

Ryan Adams: Not that we know of.

David Grant: Yeah, not yet that we know of.

TrekCore: How was the musical score dealt with for the extended episode? Was other music reused, or did you score brand new music?

Ryan Adams: Luckily, so – the scenes that created the extended version primarily were extensions of scenes that were pre-existing. So we were able to go back and use, by going back to the original audio tracks, and able to use that audio that was originally scored for those pieces. So we didn’t have to, you know, take it upon ourselves to create new music or anything like that.

TrekCore: So, when you say extensions of original scenes… was the music originally in a longer form and cut for the network version?

Ryan Adams: Right

TrekCore: So we’re going to be hearing some new music, it’s just that it was recorded before but never made it [out] in it’s full version?

Ryan Adams: It will just be a fuller version of a cue that was already used.

TrekCore: After the critical success of Season 1, CBS have really pushed the boat out for the Value Added Material [VAM] on Season 2. I know fans have long since lobbied for new audio commentaries on episodes, and we’re really excited to hear that we’ll get those for ‘Measure of a Man’ and ‘Q Who’. How much does fan feedback influence the decisions you make on the project?

Ryan Adams: Actually, fan feedback has a lot to do with what we do. In my opinion, they help drive us in the direction that we’re going. Like David said earlier, it really was the fans who were saying to us “When are we going to get TNG?” Dave and I were like “Hey, if that’s what you want, let us go and see what we can do.” So I know myself, David, Ken Ross [Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Home Entertainment], Phil Bishop [Production executive at CBS HE overseeing the blu-ray production] and all the people who are involved in this – we all keep an eye on those boards, and we listen to the fans’ feedback. We get emails, we get hit on facebook and we take all that stuff and we bring it to the table.

Robert Meyer Burnett & Roger Lay Jr. (pictured at San Diego Comic Con this year) have left no stone unturned for TNG’s second season and have produced some of the most groundbreaking special features ever seen on a Star Trek home video release.

TrekCore: What can you tell us about the other bonus features that will be included in the second season? Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay have been working tirelessly to make the features even better than the first season. Robert has hinted to us that you guys have found some very special material for him – he wouldn’t say exactly what was on the reels, but he did say he thinks there may be outtakes or bloopers that no one has ever seen before!

Ryan Adams: I’m going to take the same high-road that he took and just say – not going to say any more than that – but there are some definite gems that we unearthed from the film that was in the vaults all these years.

David Grant: For us, the great thing about going back to the negative on this project which has never been done, is – we are now finding – since we have to scan all the negatives for the whole season – we are finding stuff like never-before-seen takes and all of that stuff that could be… and bloops, and all the kind of stuff, which has never been seen in 25 years. So, there’s been so many extra special features that have come out over the years that had to be created, but no-one has done this – so as we have to go back to the negative, we’ve told the houses “Look for any kind of interesting stuff, and put it aside.” And we give it to Roger [Lay], and it’s brand new never-before-seen material.

TrekCore: So that’s interesting – because when I spoke to Craig Weiss he mentioned that they are just scanning in the material required to make the dailies to build the episodes…

David Grant: Yes, they do that to build the episodes, but we also have them go and do a pass of the rest of it too to get any extra special features.

Ryan Adams: So this is kind of a second-tier that is happening.

TrekCore: So how does Season 2 stand so far? A lot of fans have been asking if there was any film footage lost requiring an SD up-conversion?

David Grant: I don’t think so…

Ryan Adams: I don’t know…

David Grant: I don’t think there is.

TrekCore: That’s great news. I wanted to talk a little bit about Mike and Denise Okuda, as they’ve both been really instrumental in helping you with the project. What led you to bring them on board, and what is their role?

Ryan Adams: What led us to bring them on board was really the fans. One – they come from the franchise. Two – we know how much the fans respect them, and Three – I just can’t think of anyone else out there who has the knowledge of Star Trek, whether it be the Original Series, Next Gen or DS9 or what it may be – the Okudas have their fingers on the pulse of Star Trek and the fan community. So, when this project came up, it was pretty much a no-brainer for all of us. Me and David, you know, our bosses, everyone – we got together and said “To do this right, we need to have Mike and Denise involved.” So we reached out to Mike and Denise and said “Hey, we need you.”

As Ryan Adams explains, Mike and Denise Okuda were brought on board the TNG Remastering project for their huge wealth of Star Trek knowledge as well as the enormous respect they receive from Star Trek fans around the world.

TrekCore: What are the weekly reviewing sessions like with the Okudas? Who takes part and do you focus on a different episode each week?

Ryan Adams: It’s kind of a combination. There are so many moving parts that, how it kind of breaks down is – today is Tuesday, so today we are going to go and look at color correction. We’re going to make sure that – you know, we already have the established look of the bridge and on the ship, and if we go to other worlds and other planets, we want to make sure that – Mike and Denise help us, and say “This planet has this kind of atmosphere, and it’s this and it’s that…” – so we’re able to really capture the original intent of the look when you’re on that planet and things like that. And then on the Wednesday morning we get together with Mike and Denise and we can go through whatever visual effects CBS-D has ready. It could be three episodes-worth, or a little bit here and there, as they have multiple artists working. And we do, we just go through – we compare the SD versions to the HD version, and we make sure “Look, does it match? Does this fire at the same time? Does it do this?” They help guide us in the direction of making sure that we’re doing everything correctly to just honor the original intent.

David Grant: And what we do in those weekly sessions is, CBS-Digital, whatever shop, since they’re working on the whole season and they have different people working on different episodes, they ship us whatever is ready each week. So, we don’t go episode-by-episode from the first to the last, we’re seeing shots from the whole season each week. And they have an emphasis, because we have a certain disk we have to complete first, so they try to work in that order also.

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EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part I

TrekCore Archives

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October 4, 2012

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EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Adams & David S. Grant Interview, Part I

Ryan Adams and David S. Grant from Multimedia at CBS Television Distribution are two of the key figures who have been working for years behind the scenes to get Star Trek: The Next Generation’s HD remastering project off the ground. I was fortunate to catch up with David and Ryan who both took time out of their busy schedule to answer questions on TNG Remastered and the future of Star Trek in high definition.

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 1

Interviewed by Adam Walker for TrekCore.com

David Grant: Hi Adam, this is David Grant. I’m the VP of Multimedia for CBS.

Ryan Adams: And this is Ryan Adams, I’m the Director of Multimedia for CBS.

TrekCore: Hi guys. It was Craig Weiss who recommended we chat to you. Obviously CBS Digital are not dealing with Season 2, and I know you are both overseeing the project as a whole. I wonder if you could start by telling us a little bit about your involvement in the project?

David Grant: Well, seven years back when we did the original remastering for TOS – the Original Series – we had gone to Comic Con and the fans were… – you know, we went to comic con, we also went to the Star Trek convention in Vegas – and the fans had been telling us the Original Series is great, it looks great – and here’s our next request, which is Star Trek The Next Generation. So, we went back with all the fans’ thoughts and comments, and went back to management and said that we would like to do that. It took us some years of doing some testing and checking elements and stuff like that, but finally the corporation was great, and they were like “Of course we get to do this, it’s a tent-pole project, and if the fans are asking for it, we should do it.” So, we got approved to do it!

Ryan Adams: To continue what Dave was saying… it actually took a handful of years to get the approval. We went through several different tiers of management, before we got to John Nogawski [President, CBS Television Distribution] who was the one that said “You know what, yeah, you guys are right. We do need to put this thing out.” So, John Nogawski was the one that really, and Scott Koondel [President of Distribution, CBS Television Distribution] – the two of them were the ones that we showed the test to, and it was John and Scott that were the ones who were like “You know what? We do need to do this! This does need to be in HD.”

Ryan Adams & David Grant had to convince a number of different executives at CBS Television Distribution before they got the green light for remastering TNG.

TrekCore: So, I guess a few years ago when there were questions going around the forums on the internet, “Will they, won’t they?” I think even the most ardent fans had always discounted an HD remastering because of the sheer scale of the project. What propelled CBS to take such a huge leap of faith with this effort?

David Grant: Well, [Star Trek: The Next Generation] is what we consider an ‘A’ or a ‘tent-pole’ title. Obviously, the world is going into HD. With Star Trek being such a huge property for CBS, we all knew that it had to be in HD soon or you’re not going to be able to sell it, and there is a lot of technology now out that helps these types of project. There’s stuff, maybe Craig spoke about, that can scan all the negative, can scan all the videotape and tell you what shots are the exact shots that were used in the network version.

Ryan Adams: Let’s be frank: the Star Trek fans are very discerning. They know their franchise. So, the only way to do this project was really… it was either to do it completely right or not do it at all, because we really wanted to give the fans what they wanted. We didn’t want to give them something meet-in-the-middle, and give them something they weren’t going to be happy with, because we know they’ve been loyal since day one. We wanted to show some respect to them as well, and do it right.

TrekCore: It was so nice to see the upscale tests you did first on the Season One blu-rays, and compare them to the huge leap you’ve made with the HD remastering. It was a really nice comparison to see what it could have looked like if CBS hadn’t invested so much.

David Grant: For me at least, but a lot of us feel this way, it surprised me – once we started looking at those HD images from the negative, and the visual effects we composited, it even amazed me just how amazing it looks.

TrekCore: What’s been the feedback about the remastering in the industry? I’m guessing that because it’s been such a success, other studios are now rethinking their strategies concerning HD releases of their shows.

David Grant: I don’t know in general what the consensus is, I haven’t really spoken to anyone. We’re going to be going to the AMIA Conference in a couple of months, where I’m sure it will be talked about a lot. But this is probably, and maybe the other show – 24 – is the biggest project that anyone has undertaken for this type of workflow. So, I don’t if people were waiting for someone to jump first or not, but this is definitely one of the biggest projects – and there are so many moving parts to it – but at least it’s showing everybody that it can be done and is being done.

Ryan Adams: It’s a re-posting of the show: minus being able to shoot it, we’re going back to that original negative and we’re re-posting it.

TrekCore: And we’re so glad that Star Trek was the guinea pig in this type of conversion

Ryan Adams: Us too! We’re having fun with it.

David Grant: The original TOS was much easier because we had cut negative on that show, but this show – like Ryan said – we have to go back and re-post everything.

The Original Series’ remastering was a far simpler process for CBS Digital as cut negative already existed, as David Grant explains.

TrekCore: So Season 1 has been out a couple of months now – how are CBS feeling about sales figures? Are you happy with it?

David Grant: Oh yeah. The DVDs sold, I think what they estimated for a couple of months, or a month or so, [for the blu-rays] sold in a week.

TrekCore: Oh wow!

David Grant: Yes, with preorders. And Season 2 should be just as big coming out December 4th. And from knowing the series, and the storylines, it just gets better as the series goes on.

TrekCore: Well I think this was the concern – that the first season was arguably the weakest, and it doesn’t hit it’s stride until the third season. So to hear it’s sold such phenomenal numbers is fantastic news indeed.

David Grant: Yes, and of course all the different divisions can’t wait to get their hands on it to sell it in their markets.

TrekCore: Craig Weiss mentioned that the decision was made to split the remastering workload between two teams. What brought about this decision?

David Grant: Well for Season 2 – it was basically just the amount of workflow and schedule. We’ve got Season 2 coming out this year, and next year we’re shooting to get three seasons out. So with the amount of work and scanning, there is so much pre-work that has to be done – from going through all of those thousands and thousands of cartons and seeing where the film is – that the schedule for what it takes to put out something like this [requires two teams].

TrekCore: You’ve touched on my next question. Has having two teams led you to revise the original release schedule? I know CBS originally intended to put out two seasons a year.

David Grant: It was really the corporation that told us what they wanted out, it wasn’t us telling them. They decided they wanted to do 2, 3 and 2. So because of that, once we knew, we knew we had to take Season 2 and take it out.

Ryan Adams: The great thing about this, even though Season 2 went out [to a different house], we still have Mike and Denise Okuda, myself and David staying super-close to the project through every season, and on Season 2, even though that was done out-of-house, I would go over sometimes once, twice, three times a week – with Mike and Denise Okuda – and oversee everything they are doing out of house. So, that continuity was still there. You know, Mike and Denise Okuda are well known, respected, connected to the franchise, so having them is – you know – kinda like that safety blanket you carry around.

David Grant: And CBS Digital is still sort of the visual effects house that oversees everything. So they work closely together to make sure the look is the same, and their files are the same. So all of us are working as a team together.

Ryan Adams: There’s definitely synergy even though there is stuff that went out [of house].

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Nana Visitor Interview

John de Lancie Interview

Walter Koenig Interview

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant: TNG Remastered Interview, Part 3

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant: TNG Remastered Interview, Part 2

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant: TNG Remastered Interview, Part 1

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 3

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 2

Ryan Adams & David S. Grant:
TNG Remastered Interview, Part 1