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Comparing The Three Versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Is there a definitive version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture at last? We compared all the different versions of this misunderstood movie to find out.

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Some 44 years after it went into production, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is finally complete.

We don’t say that frivolously. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is one of Hollywood’s most famous “unfinished” films. Rushing to meet a December 7, 1979 release date, with many of the visual effects being completed right up until the last possible minute by Douglas Trumbull (who had replaced the previous VFX supervisor), director Robert Wise ( The Day the Earth Stood Still , The Sound of Music ) pretty much just stopped working on the film, carrying the first available print on a plane to the movie’s Washington D.C. premiere.

The complicated story of how ST: TMP – the first major motion picture based on an existing TV series — was developed, written, filmed, and released is a long, winding one that has been told before. It’s also well-known that the original theatrical version of the film – the one that Wise had to deliver finished or not – was not well-received by either fans or critics, although it became a sizable box office success.

Yet Star Trek: The Motion Picture steadily grew in stature over the years, gradually beginning to hold its own with fans even as later favorites like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ascended to the top of the franchise.

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With fans and even critics constantly reappraising the original film, Paramount Pictures – with the encouragement of two members of Robert Wise’s production company, David C. Fein and Michael Matessino – allowed Wise and his team to revisit the movie in 2001, reconstructing it to finally adhere more closely to Wise’s original vision.

The release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition in November 2001 on home video (DVD and VHS) confirmed for many fans that there was a far better film after all hidden inside the “rough cut” (Wise’s own words) released in 1979. Scenes were excised or trimmed, a few were reinstated, and most importantly, the visuals were spruced up with the help of CGI. The legendary Wise, who passed away four years later in 2005, got the chance to finish the movie the way he wanted.

But the story wasn’t over yet.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Reborn

Earlier this year, Paramount+ premiered a 4K Ultra HD (high definition) version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition . Prepared over the course of six months by Fein, Matessino, and a visual effects team with access to Paramount’s archives, this iteration of ST: TMP stayed true to the vision established by Wise for The Director’s Edition in 2001, while doing a further, extensive, HD restoration and upgrade of the entire film.

Now the Ultra HD Director’s Edition , along with 4K Ultra HD versions of the original theatrical cut and the “Special Longer Version” that was created for broadcast television in 1983, are available in a newly released set called The Complete Adventure , which gives us a definitive document of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in all three versions, looking perhaps the best they’ll ever look ( The Director’s Edition is also available on its own or as part of a set containing Ultra HD upgrades of all six films starring the original Trek cast).

Having seen the film in its original theatrical release, then on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray, we were always put off by the seeming drabness of the image and the colors. To our eyes, Star Trek: The Motion Picture – despite the occasionally awe-inspiring visuals it did manage to pull off against all odds – never seemed to pop off any screen or medium we watched it on.

That problem is now solved, and overpoweringly so: the film in 4K Ultra HD looks absolutely magnificent, as if we’re truly seeing the film for the first time.

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Yes, many of the VFX have been digitally enhanced or even freshly recreated, but they’re integrated almost seamlessly into the original aesthetic of the film, while many of the rough spots in the original release have been repaired or replaced. Now the 4K image really does leap off the screen in amazing color and detail. To watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture in this way is to watch a 44-year-old science fiction movie that looks in many ways like it was made last year.

And now that all three versions of the movie are here in this beautiful, pristine form, which one holds up the best and do they differ?

The Original Theatrical Cut

It may look better than it ever has, but the original theatrical cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture still has all the issues it had when it first came out. It’s slow-moving to the point of being inert, it spends way too much time on endless visuals (the first sight of the refurbished Enterprise , the lengthy flyover of the massive V’Ger spacecraft – heck, even Spock’s neck-pinch of some poor slob guarding an airlock takes way too long), and it leaves certain plot information and character motivations ambiguous at best and absent at worst.

What ST: TMP does retain is a sense of grandeur, and occasionally a sense of wonder, that often marked the best of the original series and has been sadly lacking in so much filmed science fiction ever since, including later Trek movies and TV series.

So many of the later movies – especially the J.J. Abrams-conceived Kelvin trilogy , but some of the classic and Next Generation films have the same problem – revolve around fairly simple bad guy/revenge motifs.

The original series had its share of those simple action-adventure episodes, but so much more of it was dedicated to great ideas – whether it be truly alien encounters, mirror universes, or moral quandaries posed by the Enterprise sticking its saucer in a new planet’s business.

And yes, even though Star Trek: The Motion Picture is in some ways a rewrite of the original series episode “The Changeling,” it’s much more expansive and even cosmic in its implications. While several later Trek films are superior in many ways, few of them have matched ST: TMP in its ambitions and pure science fiction concepts.

The acting is inconsistent, to say the least, although all our old favorites each have a memorable moment or two, and the glacial pacing really is at odds with the imagination glimpsed in the storyline and the visuals. In many ways, the theatrical cut remains a slog, but it’s also a one-of-a-kind Trek movie.

The ‘Special Longer Version’

Star Trek: The Motion Picture premiered on American network television – ABC, to be exact – on February 20, 1983. Not only was this the first TV showing of the movie, but it also introduced a different cut of the film that came to be known as the “Special Longer Version.” Running for two hours and 24 minutes (without commercials), as opposed to the theatrical cut’s two hours and 12 minutes, the “SLV” essentially incorporated a number of scenes that were left unfinished and kept out of the picture by director Robert Wise in 1979 – who apparently did not approve of this version.

A lot of the scenes that were added back into the movie for the “SLV” were and are clearly extraneous, although in some cases amusing to watch.

There are a couple of exchanges between Sulu (George Takei) and the Deltan navigator Ilia (Persis Khambatta) – whose species is apparently quite sexually attractive and active – that are possibly meant to suggest Sulu is coming under her spell, although they were jettisoned to focus on Ilia and Decker’s (Stephen Collins) relationship (there is also more of that present in this cut).

Other sequences – like a moment in which Spock (Leonard Nimoy) weeps for V’Ger and a quick scene of Ilia helping to relieve Chekov’s (Walter Koenig) pain after he is injured – actually made it into the Director’s Cut and work well there as improved character moments.

Most infamously, the original release of the “SLV” contained a literally unfinished shot of Kirk (William Shatner) leaving the Enterprise airlock in a spacesuit to pursue Spock as the Vulcan himself spacewalks deeper into V’Ger’s interior. When the “SLV” was first shown, parts of the soundstage around the airlock set were still visible, as a result of the effects for the scene never being completed (the new 4K Ultra HD version of the “SLV” rectifies that, although the incomplete version is provided as a bonus feature).

Importantly, the new version of the “SLV” has restored it to its theatrical matting – the movie was cropped to the old TV screen ratio of 1.33: 1 for broadcast (and for several subsequent home video releases), turning Wise’s widescreen compositions into a nightmare of forced zooms and pan-and-scanning. At least now this version of the film is restored to its proper ratio.

That said, the “Special Longer Version” is in many ways the worst version of the film. While it’s always interesting for completists to see footage left out of a theatrical movie, this iteration simply pastes all that material back into the film – ostensibly to fill a three-hour “network movie premiere” slot, back in the day when such things mattered – without any consideration of whether it should be there. If the pacing of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has always been a bone of contention for you, the “SLV” doubles down on that.

The Director’s Edition

Ironically enough, the Robert Wise-supervised “Director’s Edition” of Star Trek: The Motion Picture runs for two hours and 16 minutes – four minutes longer than the theatrical release. It also includes some of the scenes Wise left out initially, which surfaced in the interim in the TV version of the movie (a detailed list of alterations and additions can be found here ).

But while it still suffers from pacing issues, they’re less of a detriment. The Director’s Edition still moves slowly, but doesn’t feel like it drags, and there’s more of a stateliness to it that is befitting the movie’s larger themes – which are also given more clarity in this version.

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Perhaps the most important edition in that sense is the scene in which Spock weeps for V’Ger – a scene that makes it much clearer what V’Ger is seeking as it returns to Earth, and why its quest has reached a potentially catastrophic dead end.

More importantly, the scene also brings Spock’s own character arc in the film into much better focus – he realizes that his desire to purge all remaining emotion from his own life (the kolinahr ritual) could lead him to the same cold, empty existence that V’Ger now faces, which he firmly rejects.

Also retained is Ilia’s healing of Chekov, adding a little more nuance to what is mostly a blank slate of a character, as well as some brief interactions between the supporting crew members.

What is left out are, most notably, the full-length travelogues along V’Ger’s exterior and interior (although we do get a neat shot of the entire V’Ger vessel emerging from its cloud above Earth). The scenes are still there, but this material – and a number of other visuals – is trimmed and sharpened to give the movie a little more forward motion. Along with that, so many subtle visual and audio touches have been added – whether it’s better matte or CG backgrounds or original sounds from the TV series – to create more ambiance and an overall more fulfilling cinematic Trek experience.

When Wise and his team took the movie back into the shop in 2001, they overhauled the visuals and the sound mix with the best available technology at the time – yet the limitations back then in terms of resolution meant that the Director’s Edition was only available on DVD for the next 20 years. With the new upgrade, all the visual and sonic enhancements (plus new ones) have been rendered so that they can now be seen in 4K Ultra HD – thus giving Star Trek: The Motion Picture the most up-to-date restoration possible.

The result is an often eye-popping science fiction spectacle that looks fresher and better than ever before. As rushed as the original production was, it’s a tribute to Wise, Trumbull, and the team that completed the film in 1979 that so much of their work still holds up and was able to mesh so well with the enhancements of both 2001 and 2021.

But just as importantly, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is now about as close as it will ever come to being the visionary sci-fi epic that it was first conceived as. The new version of The Director’s Edition retains all the narrative revisions that Wise made more than two decades ago, while adding the visual grandeur that such a cerebral story needed in the first place. Yes, there are still flaws in the film, and it may never replace, say, The Wrath of Khan at the top of Trek movie rankings, but more than four decades after it first came out, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is now finished.

This film’s journey is at last complete, but the human adventure is still just beginning.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition – The Complete Adventure is out now on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray.

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

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For the first time, you can now watch every star trek movie in 4k hdr, 13 star trek movies are available in 4k, dolby vision, and dolby atmos..

Samuel Axon - Apr 10, 2023 8:06 pm UTC

For the first time, you can now buy or rent every single Star Trek movie in the latest 4K and HDR standards. That includes all six movies based on the original series cast, all four featuring The Next Generation 's cast, and the more recent J.J. Abrams films.

On April 4, Paramount released an UltraHD Blu-ray set that included Star Trek: Generations , Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek: Insurrection , and Star Trek: Nemesis along with several special features. The set marks the first time these films have been available in a 4K and HDR home video release. Alongside the Blu-rays, the films also became available on on-demand storefronts like Apple's TV app.

Further Reading

So as of this week, all 13 theatrically released Star Trek films are finally available in 4K and HDR. The latest releases also support the Dolby Atmos audio standard in addition to Dolby Vision HDR.

That said, large swaths of the classic Trek TV series aren't even available in HD, much less in 4K or HDR. All three seasons of  The Original Series and all seven of  The Next Generation got Blu-ray and digital HD releases in recent years, as well as Enterprise and The Animated Series , and all the new Paramount+ shows are in HD. But Deep Space Nine and Voyager  are still only available in standard definition.

A documentary about  Deep Space Nine released a couple of years ago featured small segments upscaled to HD to show what might be possible and there have been fan projects to do the same with AI, too. However, there hasn't been much movement on an official full series upscaling project.

Update : A previous version of this article failed to properly distinguish between the non-AI and AI techniques used in prior attempts to remaster portions Deep Space Nine . It was corrected in an update.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs .

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Star Trek The Next Generation 4K Movie Collection Review

Following the heels of last year’s Star Trek The Original Motion Picture 6-Movie 4K Collection , we now have The Next Generation 4K collection. This boxset features the final four movies of the ‘prime’ timeline before the alternate reality jump in 2009. These films are, of course, Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Insurrection (1998), and Nemesis (2002). Given Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is airing right now, it’s a perfect time to dive back into The Next Generation .

This boxset represents what will likely be the best versions of these films we receive, and in that respect, it feels somewhat… Lacking. While the more popular The Wrath of Khan had a comprehensive remaster effort in 2016, followed by the recent remaster for The Motion Picture Director’s Cut . None of The Next Generation films has had a similarly comprehensive ‘new coat of paint’.

The pricing for this set is especially strange in this regard. A boxset with six films, including a just-completed, remaster and three different directors’ cuts, was priced at £99.99 (UK), or £16.50 per film in only September. Then we have four films that have not had this treatment, with no additional cuts, priced at £79.99 (UK), or £19.99 per film.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie Boxset 4K UHD via Amazon | £79.99

Artwork and Packaging

The cover art of this boxset follows in the footsteps of the previous 4 and 6 movie collections of the Original Motion Picture Collections . On the box itself we have artists renditions of a selection of hero and villain ships from the movies in the set. Our respective heroes and villains accompany them. In many ways this artwork is an improvement on that of the previous releases, the ships depicted are in the correct configuration for their appearances. There is also the subtle detail of the outline of the Enterprise E saucer above the heads of Picard, Data and Riker which brings the artwork together in a pleasing manner.

But it’s far from perfect. The portrait of Patrick Stewart immediately takes the eye as not being quite… Right. In an ‘uncanney valley’-esque manner. You recognize it’s him, but it seems like a mash-up of different publicity photos that don’t quite mesh together. Riker bears the strongest resemblance, while poor Gates McFadden is shrunk down and then pushed behind all the other characters. Sadly she seems to have had her face distorted in the process.

It shares the same lack of innovation as The Original Motion Picture 6-Movie Collection . We have the same three large portraits from the box art, missing the opportunity to show the artwork of the other characters in more detail. The disks are similarly uninspired, just black or blue with the film’s title art and the rating. The rating that confusingly is set at 15 on the box and Blu-rays, despite the films being PG, 12, PG, and 12 on their own.

The Films – Technical advisories and historical context

Like my previous review of the 6 Movie collection, this review is based on viewing the 4K versions of the films released in this box set. The Boxset also contains standard Blu-ray versions, which are not a repack of the 2009 masters, but the scans of the film used for the 4K versions are further compressed and without HDR. The screenshots present these features throughout this review due to the difficulty in capturing 4K HDR images.

Like the previous six movies, The Next Generation films also suffered from colour shifting and overuse of Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) in their original high-definition presentation released in 2009. The new masters have restored the films to their original state, a change that, depending on your perspective, may come across as a relief or disconcerting as you watch.

Fortunately, the edits to the later films weren’t quite as aggressive as they were to the original cast outings for those that didn’t mind the previous releases. But Generations especially suffered from a greenish hue over the film. One that, fortunately, has now been removed. For those that preferred the older, sharper images. Remember that they were originally shot slightly soft, as the director’s intention.

Generations

Generations was always a slightly controversial film due to its killing off William Shatner ‘s iconic James T. Kirk. Those hoping for a greater look into the film, the original cut of Kirk’s death (that was re-written after test audience feedback). Will be disappointed. The presentation and extras are exactly as they were for the 2009 release. The Next Generation 4K Movie Collection DVD extras are in standard definition, and the 2009 extras are in HD.

With that said, the film looks fantastic in its restored form. Like with the previous films, the extra resolution makes some of the seams (both literally and figuratively) more noticeable if you’re looking for them, but overall improves the presentation. The HDR makes some moments, like the 6-foot model of the Enterprise D’s slow approach on the Amargosa observatory, jump off the screen.

The ‘set piece’ of the film – the crash landing of the Enterprise D saucer – looks similarly spectacular. Aside from the slightly more obvious background matte paintings, the practical effects work holds up really well. The scale and impact of the Enterprise reaching her (not quite so) final resting place hits as hard as it did the first time I saw it (again, both literally and figuratively).

First Contact

From the moment the film opens, it becomes obvious that First Contact got most of the budget for these remasters. The HDR pass on the film is quite simply fantastic, with the colors of the (at the time) new uniform undershirts really standing out on screen. The entire film makes great use of the advances in display technology and the introduction of HDR to add another level of ‘moodiness’ or in some cases ‘spookiness’ to some scenes, in a way that complements and improves the original cinematography.

Being the most popular of The Next Generation films it’s no surprise that First Contact got a little more attention and the improvements are welcome. The variety of set pieces throughout the film really benefit from some improved contrast and color enhancement. Particularly the EV scene set against the backdrop in space. You gain a whole new appreciation for Worf’s unease.

But no review of First Contact would be complete without a dedicated section on how The Battle of Sector 001 looks. First Contact fans, you have nothing to fear. It looks better than ever. The CG models of the fleet hold up and the practical model work for the Sovereign class continues to be outstanding. Star Wars fans – the falcon is also a bit more noticeable now. Does this make it canon?

Insurrection

Insurrection was a bold movie. If nothing else, due to the fact it was the first Trek film to ditch physical models for the space shots entirely. The results of this in The Next Generation 4K Movie Collection, unfortunately, are as mixed as at the time of the original release. If there was ever a film needing a few extra weeks of work to give it that bit of extra edge, it is Insurrection. Sadly it seems that this, the likely final version of the film, has still not been given that time.

That’s not to say it’s entirely unimproved though. It seems that the color depth added by the HDR pass does manage to bring out some previously unnoticeable (or subtly added) reflections on the Enterprise at times, this is especially noticeable when the ship enters the Briar Patch. In the 2009 release, the ship was distractingly dark, so it didn’t fit with the background. That has fortunately been fixed for this release.

But even in my scanning through the blu-ray copies to get screenshots, I could notice some errors introduced by it as well, such as Phasers being shifted yellow. The higher resolution in the 4K master also makes some production errors more obvious. A good example is the crash mat for the poor Sona hit by Picard and Data.

The tag, line A Generations Final Journey Begins, was much more appropriate than we could have ever imagined at the time. Especially considering that Star Trek: Picard is referencing and picking up threads from Nemesis to this day . When I first heard of The Next Generation 4K Movie Collection, Nemesis bizarrely was the film I was most excited to see improved. Tragically, it seems it by far, has the worst ‘final’ presentation.

The scenes on the planet where they discover B-4 were always harsh to look at due to the shooting method used – shooting overexposed images through a yellow filter. This was presumably to give the impression that the planet was somewhat alien. This sequence is absolutely not enhanced by HDR and was almost painful to watch at moments. The film also suffers from the addition of greater resolution, making the seams in the darker Reman sets much more obvious at points.

But it, like the rest of the boxset, is not without its redeeming factors. The CG for a film released in 2002 is absolutely fantastic and holds up well to this day, even after a pass under the 4K scanner. The additional contrast added by Baird to the external space shots (in comparison to previous films) works really well with a lick of HDR, as does the introduction of Shinzon, which takes on a new level of ‘creepiness’ with the darkness fully realized.

After the fantastic presentation of the original cast films back in September. A presentation that included the new Motion Picture director’s cut remaster and even a new master of The Undiscovered Country director’s cut. The Next Generation 4K Movie Collection feels like a big missed opportunity in terms of content and capitalizing on the current hype around Star Trek: Picard as its third and final season airs .

While the release date seems almost intended to coincide with it (and First Contact day, of course). There has been little to no hype building around this set. Given that the entire Next Generation cast was united for at least a small amount of time on set. It seems a waste that they didn’t even have them sit for a roundtable discussion. Equally, given that Frakes is still a very active part of the Star Trek director team, it seems a shame not to offer him the opportunity for a director’s cut (or two). Or perhaps even a Frakes cut of Nemesis…

If you’re looking for the ultimate versions of these films, this is the boxset for you. Even if you hate the other three, First Contact will not disappoint. However, if you were hoping to have a similar level of love and care given to the films in this set as some of the older Trek films have seen in recent years, I expect that, like me, you will leave it somewhat disappointed.

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Published Feb 21, 2023

All Four 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' Films Arriving on 4K Ultra HD for First Time Ever

Relive the adventures of Captain Picard and his crew in time for First Contact Day!

StarTrek.com

StarTrek.com is thrilled to reveal all four big-screen adventures featuring fan-favorite Star Trek characters Picard , Riker , Data , La Forge , Worf , Troi , and Dr. Crusher arrive for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD™ with Dolby Vision™* and HDR-10 on April 4, 2023 , just in time for First Contact Day (April 5, the day Vulcans first made contact with humans).

The journey begins with original cast members Kirk, Scott, and Chekov in a story that spans space and time in Star Trek Generations , continuing with a terrifying face off against the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact , a dangerous plot against a peaceful planet in Star Trek: Insurrection , and a familiar old foe returning in Star Trek Nemesis .

All four films will be available together in the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION 4-MOVIE COLLECTION . The 4-Movie Collection includes each film on 4K Ultra HD, as well as fully remastered on Blu-ray™, plus all legacy bonus content and access to Digital copies of each film.  The Collection is presented in a slipcase beautifully illustrated to complement the Star Trek : The Original 6-Movie Collection , making this a must-own set to complete every fan’s collection.

In addition, each film will be available individually on 4K Ultra HD with a bonus Blu-ray featuring the fully remastered film, along with all legacy bonus content and access to a Digital copy of the film.

Special features are detailed below.

STAR TREK GENERATIONS Bonus Content

• Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
• Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Library Computer
• Uniting Two Legends
• Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion
• Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire
• Scoring Trek
• Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures
• Crashing the Enterprise
• Main Title Sequence
• The Nexus Ribbon
• Saucer Crash Sequence
• A Tribute to Matt Jeffries
• The Enterprise Lineage
• Captain Picard’s Family Album
• Creating 24th Century Weapons
• Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert
• Stellar Cartography on Earth
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 1
• Trek Roundtable: Generations
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
• Deleted Scenes

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT Bonus Content

• Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes
• Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale
• Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Making First Contact
• The Art of First Contact
• The Missile Silo
• The Deflector Dish
• From “ A ” to “ E ”
• Borg Queen Assembly
• Escape Pod Launch
• Borg Queen’s Demise
• Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute
• The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane
• First Contact : The Possibilities
• Industrial Light & Magic - The Next Generation
• Greetings from the International Space Station
• SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 2
• Trek Roundtable: First Contact
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex
• Unimatrix One
• Design Matrix

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION Bonus Content

• Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis
• It Takes a Village
• Location, Location, Location
• The Art of Insurrection
• Anatomy of a Stunt
• Making Star Trek: Insurrection
• Director’s Notebook
• Westmore’s Aliens
• Westmore’s Legacy
• Star Trek ’s Beautiful Alien Women
• Marina Sirtis - The Counselor Is In
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 3
• Trek Roundtable: Insurrection
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba’ku and Son’a Conflict
• Shuttle Chase
• Advertising

STAR TREK NEMESIS Bonus Content

• Commentary by director Stuart Baird
• Commentary by producer Rick Berman
• Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Nemesis Revisited
• New Frontiers – Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis
• Storyboarding the Action
• Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis
• Build and Rebuild
• Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier
• Screen Test: Shinzon
• A Star Trek Family’s Final Journey
• A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier
• The Enterprise-E
• Reunion with The Rikers
• Today’s Tech Tomorrow’s Data
• Robot Hall of Fame
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 4
• Trek Roundtable: Nemesis
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation
• Romulan Lore
• Shinzon & the Viceroy
• Romulan Design
• The Romulan Senate
• The Scimitar

* To experience Dolby Vision on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, a Dolby Vision enabled TV is required with a Dolby Vision enabled 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review – Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection

April 7, 2023 by Brad Cook

Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection

Directed by David Carson, Jonathan Frakes, and Stuart Baird. Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe, and Tom Hardy.

The four films in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series have gotten their big 4K Ultra HD debut, with beautifully remastered image quality that was also used for the Blu-ray platters included here. You also get codes for digital copies as well as tons of bonus features that were ported over from the 2004 DVD and 2009 Blu-ray editions. This one is a must-have for fans, and it arrives just in time for the anniversary (or pre-anniversary) of first contact.

I’ll confess I never got into later iterations of Star Trek the same way I enjoyed reruns of the original series when I was a kid in the 70s. I still land on the side of Star Wars in that age-old “Which franchise is better?” debate (I find such debates a waste of time, honestly), but five of the first six Trek movies will always occupy a special place in my heart next to all the other genre films I loved during my formative years.

That said, I still find Star Trek: The Next Generation enjoyable. I’ve always appreciated the follow-up series’ approach to remaking the crew of the new Enterprise, leaving behind the trio that dominated the original cast in favor of an ensemble approach. Just like I don’t have much use for Star Wars vs. Star Trek debates, I don’t care much for Kirk vs. Picard arguments; each of them is an interesting, fully developed character in his own right.

When the Next Generation movies began to appear, I went along for the ride, although it felt like they petered out, rather than conclude on a rousing finish like the original cast’s films did. That was a bummer, but perhaps it was for the best: It paved the way for the reboot trilogy, and now Trek thrives as a group of streaming series. In today’s modern media world, perhaps Trek (and Star Wars , to be honest) is best enjoyed as an episodic series.

If you’re a fan of the Next Generation movies, however, you’ll want to get yourself a copy of this new four-movie collection that presents the post- Star Trek VI films with spectacular 4K visual quality. The remastered films are also found on accompanying Blu-ray discs, along with a heaping helping of bonus content ported over from previous editions. If this is the end of the line for Trek movies on physical media, it’s a fine way to go out. And as with previous Star Trek films on 4K UltraHD, codes for digital copies are included too.

Star Trek Generations (1994)

Meant to pass the baton from the original cast to the new one (although without half the former), Generations is a bumpy opening to the next phase in the movie series, much like Star Trek: The Motion Picture was when it kicked off the film franchise. However, unlike ST: TMP , which has aged pretty well, Generations remained a “meh” experience when I revisited it.

I hope I’m not spoiling anything for anyone when I note that while the film opens with Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov, only Kirk ends up meeting Picard and helping him save the day in the end, thanks to an interstellar ribbon that traps him in a kind of stasis for nearly one hundred years. Kirk’s death (again, this isn’t a spoiler, right?) during act three is a bit of an anti-climactic moment given the way it happens, but the ending sets up the potential for more entries in the series.

The bonus features include a pair of audio commentaries, a text commentary by Denise and Michael Okuda, a bunch of featurettes, several deleted scenes, and more. As with the other movies in this set, none of the extras are new, having been ported over from the 2004 DVD and 2009 Blu-ray editions, but it’s nice to have them all in one place. And they’re so exhaustive that I’m not sure what else Paramount could have included here.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★★ / Movie: ★★★

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

This one is my favorite of the four films in this set. Time travel stories are always a blast, especially the Trek ones, and this tale is unique in that the crew of the Enterprise-E travels to our future, the year 2063. That’s the year humans launched a spacecraft that first achieved warp speed, garnering the attention of some passing aliens (thus “first contact”) and setting the stage for our journey into space.

The date of first contact is actually April 4, which, unsurprisingly, informed the release date of this set. (It’s also my dad’s birthday, so I have to give a shout-out in his memory; he died in March of last year.)

The Borg also factor into this story. They’ve gone back in time to assimilate the Earth, since humans couldn’t defend themselves against such an onslaught in the past (not sure why they didn’t just do that during The Next Generation ’s run on TV), leading our heroes to chase them. James Cromwell turns in a great scenery-chewing performance as Zefram Cochrane, the pilot and ship builder responsible for such a momentous historical event. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t quite live up to the image that the Enterprise-E crew has of him.

First Contact also has a nice big batch of extras, including three commentary tracks, the Okudas’ obligatory text track, tons of featurettes, and deconstructions of three scenes.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★★★ / Movie: ★★★★

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Unfortunately, the Next Generation film series started going into a tailspin here. Insurrection feels like it should have been a two-part TV episode, complete with all-CGI effects that don’t hold up well today. Rather than go big and bold, the powers that be decided to go small and old.

In this outing, Picard and his crew must intervene in the lives of the peaceful Ba’ku people, who have eschewed all modern technology, after Data seems to malfunction while conducting an undercover assignment to observe them. It turns out that a Federation Admiral is in cahoots with the Son’a people, who want the Ba’ku’s secret for longevity for themselves.

I’ll confess that I don’t remember if I ever saw this film, so it seemed new to me when I watched it. Maybe it was so bland that it slid out of my brain shortly after I originally saw it. That’s not to say that it’s a bad movie — it’s a decent one, but there really isn’t much that elevates the story to “This should be a big-budget film” status.

The bonus features include a commentary track, the Okudas’ text commentary, deleted scenes, and a bunch of featurettes.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

The last film until the 2009 reboot, Nemesis is a more interesting outing than its predecessor. The story involves a human named Shinzon who lives among the Remans, a slave race of the Romulan Empire. Shinzon leads a revolt that culminates with him taking control of the empire, and he seeks to confront Picard, from whom he was originally cloned.

That’s quite a setup, of course, and the story does delve into a “nature vs. nurture” theme as Picard tries to convince Shinzon that he could choose a different path, but the whole thing just feels a bit blah. Like Insurrection , it’s not a bad film, and it actually has a story worthy of the big screen, but I’ve never found it very engaging. Next Generation fans may beg to differ with this one, as well as the other three movies in this set, to which I say, “To each their own.”

The extras include no less than three commentary tracks, the Okudas’ text commentary, and a bunch of featurettes. As with the other films in this set, it’s nice to have all the previous extras in one place.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★★★ / Movie: ★★★

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Review: ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection’ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Is An Engaging Upgrade

| April 4, 2023 | By: Matt Wright 67 comments so far

Just in time for First Contact Day on Wednesday, the four Star Trek: Next Generation movies have been newly rescanned and released in 4K Ultra High Definition. The films are being released today in a new boxed set edition as well as individual releases. This review covers the new boxed set.

Seeing The Next Generation crew “graduate” to the silver screen, like The Original Series crew did before them, was a momentous occasion for a Trek fan in 1994. Generations didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it sure did look nice, showing just how great the Enterprise-D sets could appear with more cinematic lighting. The new 4K HDR transfer gives the moody Enterprise interiors a bit more room to breathe, and the harsh sunlight of Veridian III looks a little bit more natural than before.

The Enterprise-D bridge in the new 4K remaster

The Enterprise-D bridge in the 2009 HD version

The sophomore outing for the crew, First Contact was an instant success, setting a high bar for future Trek movies. The next film, Insurrection , is enjoyable in the spirit of an expanded episode of TNG, but not exactly blockbuster status. (Screenwriter Michael Piller’s Fade In: The Making of Star Trek Insurrection documents all the changes the plot went through to get to the average outing we ended up with.)

Geordi looks over Ba’ku with real eyes in the 4k restoration

Geordi looks over Ba’ku with real eyes in 2009 HD

First Contact and Insurrection were both directed by Jonathan Frakes with cinematographer Matthew Leonetti. Both films look great and both have similar gains in this new 4K transfer. Arguably, First Contact is the best-looking of the 4 films. Insurrection started to use more CGI, so it has a few softer or less convincing shots here and there. Where the two films really shine (pun intended) is in the natural lighting when our characters get off the ship. The new HDR dynamic range also helps with small things like the specular highlights from sweat beads in the hot and humid (39.1ºC) Borgified sections of the Enterprise-E.

The detail and gleam from the sweat elevate the feeling of being there to a new level

Picard and Borg Queen (2009)

After Insurrection didn’t reach the heights of First Contact , the future of the TNG film franchise was mulled over by Paramount leadership, stalling the cadence of Trek film releases. Eventually, Nemesis was released in 2002. The film desperately wanted to say something about roads not taken, age, mortality, and sacrifice for comrades, but it just didn’t land (for a number of reasons that are well-known to Trek fans). Sadly, this ended the TNG cast’s time on the silver screen. Nemesis comes to 4K looking as good as it ever has. The darkly lit throne room scenes are a bit better refined in HDR, but it’s not a massive difference. For those wondering, the dune buggy chase on Kolarus III is just as blown out as ever since that was an intentional style choice.

Captain Picard bids farewell to newly promoted Captain Riker in Nemesis (4K)

Captain Picard bids farewell to newly promoted Captain Riker in Nemesis (HD)

The Ultra HD Blu-ray set

The boxed set comes with a large 8-disc flipper case inside. The four Ultra HD Blu-ray versions of the movies are in the front half, and then in the back half are the four movies on standard HD Blu-ray discs. The Blu-ray discs are based on the same newly restored versions of the films, just in 1080p. The Ultra HD movies are also sold individually. And new versions of the 1080p Blu-ray movies are also available, sold individually, for those who haven’t made the leap to 4K/HDR.

Video Quality

The short version: These four movies look great. The wider color gamut of Ultra HD allows for richer colors; for example, the deep shades of the departmental colors in the uniforms. It’s especially noticeable in Generations , where the later season TNG uniform is still used. The films also benefit from a restrained HDR grade that helps retain details in the extremes (dark/light) of a scene.

Geordi and Data discuss Data’s emotion chip (2023)

Geordi and Data discuss Data’s emotion chip (2009)

Unlike the TOS movies, the TNG movies fared a bit better in their older 2009 versions. The older versions still leave quite a bit to desired, with too much grain reduction at times and certainly too much sharpening applied, which makes them look a bit too digital. Those versions might have looked pretty good in the early 2000s when they were first created, but as TVs have gotten larger and better quality, they’ve started to look pretty ragged. Thankfully, the new 4K scans of the original 35mm films freshen them up and make them as engaging as ever, with skin tones and skin texture looking noticeably more natural now.

Data and the Borg Queen (2023)

Data and the Borg Queen (2009)

Audio Quality

The audio mixes are effectively the same excellent lossless 5.1 Dolby TrueHD mixes that were released with the previous Blu-rays; however, this time it’s presented in 7.1 format. I will say I’m slightly disappointed they didn’t remix the movies in Dolby Atmos, but that isn’t a deal-killer by any means. The mixes were great in 2009 and still sound great on a modern surround system.

Having a 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos system, I can attest that the audio tracks work very nicely via Dolby Surround Upmixer (DSU) to fill out a room (this is a technology to extrapolate Dolby Atmos-like sound from a traditional surround soundtrack). Doing a rewatch of the four films, I was quite engaged by both the video and audio.

Special Features

As is common practice, the Ultra HD Blu-ray discs have minimal special features to allow maximum space for the 4K video. The majority of the extras are found on the standard Blu-ray discs. This set carries over pretty much all of the special features from the  2009 versions  of the movies, which in turn carried over most of the DVD features from before. I recommend you check out  our review for more . (A full list of special features can be seen below)

There’s only one noteworthy feature missing: “The Captain’s Summit,” made for the original series 2009 boxed set and not released again. The summit included the Next Generation cast, so I had some small hope it might be included in this TNG boxed set. It’s understandable why “The Captain’s Summit” feature isn’t there, as it was a specially commissioned documentary that was included as a separate bonus disc, but it sure would be nice to make it available to people who don’t have the 2009 set.

Final thoughts

The four Next Gen movies have never looked better. For fans who enjoy these films and want to have them in the best possible format, this is a must-buy. Fans need to vote with their wallets. Releasing the movies only to digital is relatively easy and low cost for Paramount (the remastered First Contact has quietly been available in digital for a year now), but physical media requires time and effort since it is a physical product. Showing the studio that fans want Trek movies on physical media is important.

Streaming rights come and go and vary by region, so the only surefire way to collect these movies in 4K to keep as your own is on disc. And at least for the US version of the set, it comes with a code for a digital copy of each movie, so you can have your handy digital version while also showing your support for the disc format.

Available today

Standard Blu-ray

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Full list of features

Star Trek Generations  4K Ultra HD

• Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
• Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda

Star Trek Generations Blu-ray

• Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Library Computer
• Uniting Two Legends
• Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion
• Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire
• Scoring Trek
• Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures
• Crashing the Enterprise
• Main Title Sequence
• The Nexus Ribbon
• Saucer Crash Sequence
• A Tribute to Matt Jeffries 
• The Enterprise Lineage
• Captain Picard’s Family Album
• Creating 24 th  Century Weapons
• Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert
• Stellar Cartography on Earth
• Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 1
• Trek Roundtable:  Generations
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
• Deleted Scenes

Star Trek: First Contact  4K Ultra HD

• Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes
• Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale

Star Trek: First Contact  Blu-ray

• Making  First Contact
• The Art of  First Contact
• The Missile Silo
• The Deflector Dish
• From “A” to “E”
• Borg Queen Assembly
• Escape Pod Launch
• Borg Queen’s Demise
• Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute
• The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane
• First Contact: The Possibilities
• Industrial Light & Magic – The Next Generation
• Greetings from the International Space Station
• SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight
• Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 2
• Trek Roundtable: First Contact
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex
• Unimatrix One
• Design Matrix

Star Trek: Insurrection  4K Ultra HD

• Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis

Star Trek: Insurrection Blu-ray

• It Takes a Village
• Location, Location, Location
• The Art of Insurrection
• Anatomy of a Stunt
• Making  Star Trek: Insurrection
• Director’s Notebook
• Westmore’s Aliens
• Westmore’s Legacy
• Star Trek’s Beautiful Alien Women
• Marina Sirtis – The Counselor Is In
• Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 3
• Trek Roundtable: Insurrection
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba’ku and Son’a Conflict
• Shuttle Chase
• Advertising

Star Trek Nemesis 4K Ultra HD

• Commentary by director Stuart Baird
• Commentary by producer Rick Berman
• Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda

Star Trek Nemesis Blu-ray

• Nemesis Revisited
• New Frontiers – Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis
• Storyboarding the Action
• Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis
• Build and Rebuild
• Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier
• Screen Test: Shinzon
• A Star Trek Family’s Final Journey
• A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier
• The Enterprise E
• Reunion with The Rikers
• Today’s Tech Tomorrow’s Data
• Robot Hall of Fame
• Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 4
• Trek Roundtable: Nemesis
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation
• Romulan Lore
• Shinzon & the Viceroy
• Romulan Design
• The Romulan Senate
• The Scimitar

More images

Captain Kirk in Generations (2023)

Captain Kirk in Generations (2009)

Picard pursues the Borg (2023)

Picard pursues the Borg (2009)

Riker and Geordi on Earth (2023)

Riker and Geordi on Earth (2009)

The landing party beams down to Ba’ku (2023)

The landing party beams down to Ba’ku (2009)

Keep up with all the  home video and streaming news, reviews, and analysis at TrekMovie.com.

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Is it me, or are these 4K Shots a bit Darker then their HD counterparts? Is this some HDR thing?

I was wondering the same thing. The HD version looks better than the 4K shots.

NOTE: The screenshots included in this article are down-converted from 4K and HDR, so they’re not a perfect representation—they may appear darker on your screen than they will when watching the movie on a proper HDR display—but still give a good idea of the subtle improvements that give these latest editions a more filmic quality. Staring at still frames of a motion picture isn’t exactly how a film is intended to be watched, so take these as a general demonstration of the changes.

That note appeared after my Comment, so it’s all good

Ah! I didn’t catch the note.

Same here; thanks for clarifying :)

I agree and thought it was just me; the 2009 HD’s all look crisper and brighter than 2023, I don’t understand…

It’s like Star Trek :) They are so used to their Scanners and View Screens, that most forgotten to look outside the Window.

(aka Silent Run of the Normandy – Mass Effect)

That’s artificial sharpening. Look at the images full screen, there’s much more natural skin textures.

I own all of these already. Remaster Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and I’ll make it rain.

But according to this article things won’t happen unless everyone buys more physical media! Buy it all! Again and again!

some kind of Idol industry

no, “some kind of star trek”

Same here. How many times am I supposed to buy the same films, for God’s sake.

Nice to see Riker, as a character, getting his due on the promo art.

Alt TNG movies:

Generations – Tomorrows Enterprise (Ent D in 23rd Century) First Contact Insurrection – Into The Mirrorverse Nemesis – The Resurrection of Khan

Not sure how these stills were grabbed, but the brightness levels look far too low in the new version examples. Hopefully that’s due to how they were obtained.

I’m incredibly disappointed. I was expecting a dynamic new transfer that improved upon the original Blu ray release. Sure, there will obviously be greater resolution for the 4K, but these screen grabs look like a downgrade in terms of overall visual quality. Meh.

As the disclaimer says, these screenshots were made with an algorithm that adjusted the HDR for standard displays, it’s an art not a science, I targeted them for a bit brighter screen (200 nits) than it seems most people have, if you view it on a high quality display at higher brightness you can see they look just fine. I will re-do them at some point soon for 100 nits.

In person they look great.

Cool, good to know.

What about the included regular 1080p HD Blu-rays? I plan to get these, but although we do have a 4K display we don’t yet have a 4K player, and it may be a whole, during which time I’ll just be watching the “regular” 1080p Blus in these packages (where so many of the extras live anyway).

The same basic comments apply since they come from the same source. They look more natural/filmic and the color timing has been redone for the films, I think again, they look more natural, and in some cases a little warmer. Generations and First Contact are the most noticeable. In the older versions, Generations had a yellow cast to it, and First Contact was a little bit colder (bluer) in places.

I updated the images in the article, so you should be able to get a better idea of how the movies look now.

Super cool, but seriously; why are they all darker than the 2009 versions? WTHeck?

There’s a note right there in the article.

Yes, I see; but, like, every commenter is asking the same question. :)

Have to admit the screen-captures aren’t doing a good job convincing me. They look softer and darker.

Got my set in the mail today. Nice sturdy case for them. Cover art could be better but the price was very good for digital/blu/4k combo for 4 movies. Now i have all 13 features in combo packs except for VI and TMP those weren’t offered. VI directors cut was 4K only, TMP directors only available in limited box set no standard combo was offered. You could get the 4K and blu separately now for what they should have offered a combo for in the first place but that isn’t my point.

I’ve bought each of these 3 times already – on VHS, then DVD, then Blu-Ray. Nemesis, 4 times (the initial bare-bones DVD edition, then the two disc special edition). I’m sure these will look better than the 2009 edition, but I can’t justify buying them again. (Yes, I bought the TOS movies on 4K – but there we got the remastered TMP, and Director’s cut of TWOK.) But I’ll be there for Picard Season 3 in 4K!

I will probably just buy First Contact.

If they stick the landing I’ll be picking up PIC s3 as well. Big time rewatch value, here.

I’ll get FC and Insurrection. I love those two films!

Cool. Interesting to see that Star Trek has actually been too dark since 1994!

Ha! Good one!

I’m never sure what to do with these kind of reviews. The 4K images always look worse than the 2009 editions and you give us a NOTE as to why that is. So what exactly are we to take from this? Why provide us with screen grabs if they don’t actually show us what we would see on screen? If you (Paramount) want us to vote with our wallets, this won’t achieve that to be honest, because based on this review, I don’t need this set.

You’re right — the images with the review are completely unhelpful. It would have been better not to include them at all.

The thing is, I picked it up earlier today and just finished watching “Generations. Trust me when I say that it looks an order of magnitude better than the previous blu-rays. This is as crisp and clear and beautiful as that film has ever looked, and I every reason to expect the other three will be just as remarkable.

The other thing is, when you have a good TV/home theatre system these days, it’s somewhat pointless to debate things like “It’s too dark” since TVs have so many customizable settings. Before-and-after pictures just aren’t that helpful when any person can make their TV display a film any way they want…

Count me as one of the people who doesn’t understand all the “It’s too dark” people, for what it’s worth. Those people obviously don’t have their TVs set up properly. Or even if they do, and they still legit just think it’s darker than they would prefer, it would be a simple matter to go in and bump up the brightness 10% or something.

Thanks for the reply. This was really helpful. Would love to hear your thoughts on the other 3 films once you’ve seen them.

Surely someone has these image descriptions the wrong way around??

7 episodes into (Picard season 3) darkness and everyone is like: “second one, second one, second one!”

“If people don’t buy these on disc, it sends the message that streaming-only is okay.”

Sir, respectfully, this is your own narrative.

Sometimes… if people don’t buy new released on disc… it’s more often because the releases are lazy, overpriced or do not add any specific extra value. ie: no Atmos remixes.

That last part is certainly true for me. I’ll buy any new updated edition IF it’s worth it (price, content, quality), but only then. You can only spend your money once (this might be a Dutch expression).

Also that whole “buy now to send the right message” is kinda consumerist. But then again, he didn’t say WHEN to buy it. ;) You could wait till the price goes down haha.

It goes beyond being consumerist. I enjoy reading reviews of new products, and unbiased recommendations are useful. That statement is not.

My biggest problem with physical media releases are the mind-boggling attempts that studios make to DARE me to not make future purchases…

• Forced movie trailers / advertisements when I insert the disc in the player.
• Painful navigation menu animations.
• A closing title screen / copyright paragraph at the end of EVERY single special feature segment or deleted scene. To the point of sometimes the end title copyright paragraph is longer than the deleted scene clip.
• The sheer laziness and disdain of special features ported over from previous releases not converted to 16:9 so that the formatting goes screwy on your TV…. or not doing a simple upscale to HD of old SD special features.

I found that statement incredibly distasteful. Because 1) what if we think streaming-only is okay. 2) what if we just don’t want to buy these discs.

It might be fine for someone to say in the comment section, but for the site to peddle that message is bad form, and hardly any kind of journalism. At best it essentially paints those who don’t buy the discs as bad fans, and at worst, it comes across as a paid endorsement, and makes me wonder if they were told to push that message — or some “go buy this” message — in exchange for free copies.

We get it. You think streaming only is just fine, which you’ve said all over our comments any time a physical media release comes up. So then you’ve made your choice, and you’re voting with your wallet. Which is really what my point was, vote with your wallet. I encourage people to support physical media, and in the current business climate of physical media becoming a niche, this is what we’re going to get, and it’s not a bad upgrade for $18/movie that you own forever. You’ve made your choice. Now please move on.

“Showing the studio that fans want Trek movies on physical media is important…If people don’t buy these on disc, it sends the message that streaming-only is okay.”

I disagree with this (and I’m a big supporter of physical media). These need to be in 4K HDR anyway because that future-proofs them for streaming in the future when the public will prefer 4k HDR streaming (and the future bandwidth will support it for most homes/locations).

Besides, they’re not going to use the expensive physical methods to eventually upgrade DS9 and Voyager to 4K. Instead, they’re going to use AI/deep learning software remastering tools — once these tools mature in the next three to five years — to remaster them to 4K via software/AI.

That all being said, I’m still going to pick this up for my collection. I just don’t believe in this rationale that’s all

Yup. This does not look like a great product, so the message it sends if everyone buys it isn’t “they want high quality physical media,” it’s “wow, they’ll buy lackluster products.”

Every single one of the 2009 screencaps looks better to me. Hopefully the movies will look better to me in motion.

As the disclaimer says, these screenshots were made with an algorithm that adjusted the HDR for standard displays, it’s an art not a science, I targeted them for a bit brighter screen (200 nits) than it seems most people have, if you view it on a high quality display at higher brightness you can see they look just fine. I will re-do them at some point soon for 100 nits.

They look great in person.

Just don’t understand why they’re Not in Atmos, and the same for 2,3,4 and 5 when The Motion Picture is. So I don’t think I’ll be buying. Pointless

I care more about the lack of original theatrical audio. It wasn’t a deal breaker i bought the 4K/blu set. But wish i could retire my DVD’s and Laserdiscs. I have no idea why all the studios now never include the original mix. Even Disney just released Cinderella in 4K its mono mix was left off, ridiculous. Its the original audio.

Surely it would be better to compare remastered blu ray to the older blu ray. Then you’d see the difference. I have the 4k remaster and in 4k her dolby vision is much brighter than these screenshot which do a dis service to the release.

I typically do Blu-ray to Blu-ray (apple to apples), this was an experiment with this review. I will re-do the screenshots at some point soon to better match the standard Blu-ray shots.

I found these screenshot comparisons perfect. I know the brightness will be different on my TV – it’s the detail and colour I’m interested in and these screenshots you provided show it all perfectly. Thanks to your review I am very excited to own this box set once it is available in my country.

Thank you, that was my hope when I first posted the shots, but it became clear I needed to re-do them since people were really distracted by the brightness differences.

I haven’t seen any announcements for release dates in other countries, which is disappointing.

Not everyone understands how HDR and 4K generally works. It’s not easy to capture in a computer screenshot. The fact you got it as clear and useful as you did deserves applause in my book! You’re doing great work for us Trek (and physical media) fans.

I agree, too. Please do not take it wrong @Matt Wright.

The New 4K Update Pictures looks now more fuller then their HD Counterparts

Much more filmic and natural looking over the overly-sharpened 2009 versions, can’t wait to see them in person (minus Nemesis, the worst Trek movie)

Hard pass. Especially Generations which was a real missed opportunity. TNG is great…. when done as a TOS movie era movie series!

Watched the 4K discs over the last couple of days, they are a MONUMENTAL upgrade over the excessively sharpened & DNR-laden 2009 Blu-rays.

(IMO) You must be half crazy (in the most innocent sense..) to pay those prices for what in essence is a product offering a different, but arguably marginal difference, in picture quality, no dolby atmos, and no new special features compared to the blu-ray 2009 edition. Paramount will not have worked especially hard with ‘remastering these’ because if they did, why wouldn’t they have upgraded the sound, and included at least one or two new features offering an up to date perspective on the film/s? These should be premium products but what are you actually paying for here? A somewhat different picture and that’s about it really.. seems extraordinarily expensive to me. But, if some find that worth it that’s OK. Maybe just a bit jealous I don’t have that sort of money to burn (lol).

I loved the lighting in Generations. The Bridge actually looked great dimly lit with the industrial lighting in the door alcoves… I also loved the warm orange from the Veridian star and wished more episodes considered how the external environment would effect the lighting in the ship. Overall, childhood fond memories made me love this movie no matter its faults (which I will agree is many)

Great review Matt. Lovin’ your work. It’s not easy to capture 4K screenshots (most reviewers don’t bother) and so it’s been great to see comparisons that are helpful. The detail and colours are an incredible upgrade. Also, the 7.1 mix is a draw for me.

I was always going to buy this box set, but this review has convinced me to pay top dollar for it instead of waiting like I sometimes do with these things!

I agree with the review’s comment on physical media. I love streaming, and it definitely has its place, but I’ve lost access to so many films and TV shows too many times. If I love something (as I do with these films and TV shows) I’ll always get them on disc if I can. Also, if my internet goes down – I can keep on Trekkin’! ;)

Are the included digital codes for upgraded versions of the movies on iTunes, or are the same releases? I already have the existing ones purchased, so don’t want to waste the codes.

The newer 4K versions of the TNG movies are on iTunes.

Typically (but not always) with digital purchases on iTunes you get access to the latest version of a movie. If you’ve already bought the TNG movies previously iTunes should offer up the newer version when you go back to it in the store. If the details say it’s available in 4K and Dolby Vision, you know it’s the new version.

A shame for Paramount these films aren’t worthy enough to do a Dolby Atmos 3D sound mix!

Rather disappointingly, there is less exposed frame on these 4K scans isn’t there? I’m watching Insurrection for instance, which had a geometric distortion corrected on the 2009 Blu-ray. By which I mean some shots the actors’ faces are heading towards an oval squashing. Coupled with the loss of picture at the edge of frame – cropping essentially – and I have to say there’s a difference here in the attention to detail applied to the original six films, and gleaning every last mm of picture information out of the frame.. that seems somewhat lacking in remastering First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis. Generations is the best I think I’ve ever seen it, but that’s a small consolation.

Actually disregard my above post. Double checking – by playing the 2009 Blu-ray side-by-side with the UHD and I find no loss in the frame. There’s actually slightly more to either side of the picture.What I’m seeing might be just an effect of the over-sharpening on the old standard HD disc.

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TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion

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New photos + a sneak peek from the Star Trek: Discovery series finale “Life, Itself”

New photos + a sneak peek at Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 9 “Lagrange Point”

New photos + a sneak peek at Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 8 “Labyrinths”

New photos + video preview from Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 7 “Erigah”

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54-Disc Picard Legacy Collection, Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Complete Series Blu-ray box sets announced

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New photos from this week’s Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale

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First Six Star Trek Movies getting 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray collection, standalone releases

The comprehensive 15-disc collection includes the first six big-screen adventures featuring the original series crew in 4K Ultra HD

Star Trek fans will soon have new items to add to their home media shelves, as the first six Star Trek movies are getting released in 4K/HDR Ultra-HD — both as part of the 15-disc Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection and as single-film releases. The Director’s Edition of The Motion Picture released earlier this year on Paramount+ is also getting a special home media release.

Fans can already watch the first four Star Trek movies in 4K/HDR thanks to the excellent Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection released last year. But now Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (which has taken on renewed attention recently thanks to a certain Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode ), and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , the last TOS- era Star Trek movie, will be watchable in 4K/HDR for the first time ever as part of Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection , and as standalone releases.

The Star Trek: The Motion Picture included in The Original Motion Picture Collection is the painstakingly restored Director’s Edition, which recently became available for streaming on Paramount+. The Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan release includes that movie’s director’s cut, which was released in 2016, and theatrical cut. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is only presented in its theatrical cut, as is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . The Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country release includes the theatrical cut of the film, as well as the Director’s Cut that was released in 2004 .

The Director’s Edition of The Motion Picture is getting a limited-edition collector’s set release, which you can pre-order here . This edition includes that movie’s theatrical cut and the “first-ever widescreen presentation of the Special Longer Version of  Star Trek: The Motion Picture , originally created for broadcast television in 1983,” according to the press release, as well as deluxe packaging with exclusive collectibles, including reproductions of original promotional material, a booklet with behind-the-scenes images, stickers, and more.

Check out a full list of features below.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition 4K Ultra HD

Ultra HD Disc bonus features

• Audio Commentary with David C. Fein, Mike Matessino, and Daren R. Dochterman — NEW!
• Audio Commentary by Robert Wise, Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, Jerry Goldsmith, and Stephen Collins​
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda​

Blu-ray Disc ™  bonus features

• Preparing the Future  – How the remastering began
• A Wise Choice  – The storied history of Robert Wise
• Refitting the Enterprise  – How the Enterprise design shaped future federation starships
• Sounding Off  – Exploring new dimensions of sound in Dolby Atmos
• V’ger  – The conception and restoration of an iconic alien antagonist
• Return to Tomorrow  – Reaching an already high bar with new CGI effects
• A Grand Theme  – Behind the iconic, influential music score that shaped the franchise’s future
• The Grand Vision  – The legacy and evolving reputation of this classic movie
• Deleted Scenes— NEW!
• Effects Tests— NEW!
• Costume Tests— NEW!
• Computer Display Graphics— NEW!
• Additional legacy bonus content

Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Cut — The Complete Adventure 4K Ultra HD

This Limited-Edition Collector’s Set includes all of the above, plus an additional 4K Ultra HD disc containing:

• The Theatrical Cut
• The first-ever widescreen presentation of the Special Longer Version of  Star Trek: The Motion Picture , originally created for broadcast television in 1983 

The set is presented in deluxe packaging along with exclusive collectibles, including reproductions of original promotional material, a booklet with behind-the-scenes images, stickers, and more.

Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection

This comprehensive 15-disc collection includes the first six big-screen adventures featuring the original series crew in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and HDR-10. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture—The Director’s Edition  also includes Dolby Atmos).  Both  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier  and  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  are making their 4K Ultra HD debuts.  The set also includes access to Digital copies of each of the six films, as well as hours of new and legacy bonus content.  Below is a breakdown of disc contents:

• Additional Blu-ray with bonus content
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Theatrical Cut) – Ultra HD & Blu-ray
• Includes Director’s Cut
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – Ultra HD & Blu-ray
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – Ultra HD & Blu-ray
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – Ultra HD & Blu-ray
• Includes Director’s Cut 

The Original Motion Picture Collection , as well as the single-film releases, will be available on September 6, 2022 . Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for reviews of these items as they become available.

Check out the official packaging art below.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the news on Star Trek merchandise releases, along with the latest details on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

You can follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

July 6, 2022 at 3:10 pm

Anyone know if iTunes will auto-upgrade digital copies of each to 4K if they were previously purchased? Only asking because I think that that’s typically what they do, correct?

July 7, 2022 at 2:16 pm

Soooo… what if I’m interested in all six UHD releases, but want the extra TMP Theatrical/Longer Cut disc? I have to forego the set and buy them all individually?

Martin Paternoster

July 13, 2022 at 1:06 pm

You could but the individuals for II thru VI, and the Complete Adventure set. Then you’d have it all content-wise in 4K.

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An important regarding these shots: the Paramount+ caps below were taken from a non-HDR display, which does not present the truest look of the color from the new version of the film for still-frame web display.

We’ll have more “accurate” comparison caps from the new  First Contact transfer from the hopefully in-the-works remastered Blu-ray release of the film, if and when such a Blu-ray is released.

(All “1” caps are from the 2009 Blu-ray; all “2” caps are from the current Paramount+ presentation.)

Star Trek: First Contact will be available on Paramount+ through July 31, after which the film will leave the streaming service (likely due to pre-existing contractual distribution agreements), though we expect it will be back before too long after that.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country are expected to arrive on 4K UHD Blu-ray this fall, though no formal announcement has been made regarding those films. As of this writing, no official news on a 4K disc release of the Next Generation films have been announced — but all good things come to those who wait.

We’ve reached out to Paramount+ for comment on the new transfer of  Star Trek: First Contact , and will update this post with any feedback we receive.

• Star Trek: First Contact
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection beams down brand new 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays featuring Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard and his crew. While the films are a mixed bag of genuinely excellent to middling to pretty bad, the new discs are terrific. Each film scores a winning 4K transfer and excellent audio upgrades with hours of bonus features for each film. This box set is the most convenient way for die-hard fans to upgrade, but unless you need every film at home, the single-title options are best. Recommended

All four big-screen adventures featuring fan-favorite Star Trek characters Picard, Riker, Data, LaForge, Worf, Troi, and Dr. Crusher arrive for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD™ with Dolby Vision™* and HDR-10 on April 4, 2023, just in time for First Contact Day (April 5th, the day Vulcans first made contact with humans).

The journey begins with original cast members Kirk, Scott, and Chekov in a story that spans space and time in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, continuing with a terrifying face off against the Borg in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, a dangerous plot against a peaceful planet in STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, and a familiar old foe returning in STAR TREK: NEMESIS.

STAR TREK: GENERATIONS Bonus Content

• Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
• Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Library Computer
• Uniting Two Legends
• Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion
• Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire
• Scoring Trek
• Visual Effects
• Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures
• Crashing the Enterprise
• Scene Deconstruction     
• Main Title Sequence
• The Nexus Ribbon
• Saucer Crash Sequence
• The Star Trek Universe
• A Tribute to Matt Jeffries 
• The Enterprise Lineage
• Captain Picard’s Family Album
• Creating 24 th Century Weapons
• Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert
• Stellar Cartography on Earth
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 1
• Trek Roundtable: Generations
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
• Deleted Scenes

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT Bonus Content

·          Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes

·          Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore

·          Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale

·          Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda

·          Library Computer

·          Production

o     Making First Contact

o     The Art of First Contact

o     The Story

o     The Missile Silo

o     The Deflector Dish

o     From “A” to “E”

·          Scene Deconstruction

o     Borg Queen Assembly

o     Escape Pod Launch

o     Borg Queen’s Demise

·          The Star Trek Universe

o     Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute

o     The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane

o     First Contact: The Possibilities

o     Industrial Light & Magic - The Next Generation

o     Greetings from the International Space Station

o     SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight

o     Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 2

o     Trek Roundtable: First Contact

o     Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex

·          The Borg Collective

o     Unimatrix One

o     The Queen

o     Design Matrix

·          Archives

·          Trailers

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION Bonus Content

• Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis
• It Takes a Village
• Location, Location, Location
• The Art of Insurrection
• Anatomy of a Stunt
• Making Star Trek: Insurrection
• Director’s Notebook
• Westmore’s Aliens
• Westmore’s Legacy
• Star Trek’s Beautiful Alien Women
• Marina Sirtis - The Counselor Is In
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 3
• Trek Roundtable: Insurrection
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba’ku and Son’a Conflict
• Creating the Illusion
• Shuttle Chase
• Advertising

STAR TREK: NEMESIS Bonus Content

• Commentary by director Stuart Baird
• Commentary by producer Rick Berman
• Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Nemesis Revisited
• New Frontiers – Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis
• Storyboarding the Action
• Red Alert! Shotting the Action of Nemesis
• Build and Rebuild
• Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier
• Screen Test: Shinzon
• A Star Trek Family’s Final Journey
• A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier
• The Enterprise E
• Reunion with The Rikers
• Today’s Tech Tomorrow’s Data
• Robot Hall of Fame
• Brent Spiner - Data and Beyond Part 4
• Trek Roundtable: Nemesis
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation
• The Romulan Empire

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Star Trek: Generations: 

As my colleague Joshua Zyber already wrote excellent coverage for this film (and the franchise as a whole), I’ll largely leave his words to speak for this review as well (even if I may be a little more forgiving). For my own sake, I’ve always liked Star Trek: Generations . It’s far from perfect, but it’s not terrible or anywhere near the worst Trek film we’ve ever seen. It was saddled (literally and figuratively) with being a bridge film from the OG crew’s cinematic run to the Next Generation team. Its biggest issue (in my opinion) is that the thoughtful meditative plot feels undercooked while trying to fit in big cinematic action setpieces. In the rush to get this to theaters ASAP, the story relies on a number of logical leaps to get by and it doesn't always stick the landing. In its goal to have Picard and Kirk share some screen time, their adventure is decidedly small-scale for what should have been a truly grand iconic passing of the torch. At least Malcolm McDowell delivers some scene-chewing villainy and Data finally got that pesky emotion chip installed!  3/5

Star Trek: First Contact:

It may be heavier on action than the average Next Generation episode, but it also finds time to be thoughtful and ponderous. In true grand Trek form, it explores interesting issues and needles around with them a little but doesn’t get so bogged down that it becomes a numbing slog. There’s heart, humor, and plenty of thrilling action-packed set pieces to keep the blood pumping and your attention firmly fixed on the screen. I wouldn’t call this the greatest Star Trek cinematic adventure, but it’s up at the top of the heap with the best efforts of the Original Crew and Kelvin Crew films.  4/5

Star Trek: Insurrection:

Much like the maligned Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , this is a film that thinks it has big ideas and themes to explore, but only enough plot and interesting action to sustain your average series episode. Insurrection has some thoughts about mortality and humanity’s use and abuse of natural resources without consequence, but its plot doesn’t justly service these notions. Like the people in  The Village , the Ba’ku are too simple and primitive to be interesting while the Son’a are too cartoonish to be menacing or threatening. After the thrilling pulse-pounding First Contact , this film feels like it chugged down a Valium with a whiskey chaser and settled in for the night.  2/5

Star Trek: Nemesis:

All good things must come to an end, and we can only hope they end gracefully and fitfully. No one likes to see their heroes depart, but we can hope they’re able to go out strong. I don’t think Star Trek: Nemesis was intended to be the final cinematic voyage of Picard and his crew, but it sadly ended up that way after a dismal box office performance. As what has been a common theme for this round of films, Nemesis was a victim of competing ideals for a franchise with an identity crisis. One of my production professors at the time put it succinctly, “It’s a movie trying to hold onto the television series while also trying to be Star Wars .” 3/5

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection gathers up the four films of Picard's crew in one big eight-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Box set. Each film has a BD-66 for the 4K version with a Region Free BD-50 disc for the remastered 1080p presentation. The discs are housed in an 8-Disc case with indentical slipcover artwork and each disc gets its own tray to rest on without being stacked. The Digigital Copy slip has individual codes for each film, but this being a Paramount release it is not Movies Anywhere compatable and will port only to a single streaming platform like Vudu or iTunes. Each disc loads to a static image main menu with standard navigation options.

Video Review

Star Trek: Generations:

After a waxy edge-enhanced mess of a 1080p Blu-ray, Paramount continues their winning work on Trek by affording Generations an excellent 2160p Dolby Vision (and HDR10) transfer. From the clearly improved detail levels to the naturally cinematic film grain, this is an immediately clear upgrade. Makeup effects, details in the Enterprise D model, and Malcolm McDowell’s scar are all great enhancements to look out for. I was especially impressed with the practical effects model work of the saucer separation crash landing sequence. This film was in the sweet spot era where practical effects and models still were dominant over CGI and that sense of visual weight and volume is made all the more real in this excellent transfer.

HDR grade is right on point without overpowering contrast, blacks, or supping up the colors to unnatural levels. Black levels are deep with impressive shadow gradience to give the image a nice sense of three-dimensional depth. Whites are crisp and clean without blooming - most evidenced by Kirk’s bold white shirt under his uniform vest. Colors are bold with natural primary saturation with healthy skin tones. That said, it’s quite obvious that certain cast members had some tanning work done. All around, start to finish, this is another excellent Trek transfer.

As the best film of the Next Generation franchise it shouldn’t be any surprise that Star Trek: First Contact is the star 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. The film had an okay first Blu-ray outing but left a lot to be desired. Thankfully this wait for a new transfer was worth it. Enjoying a robust 2160p Dolby Vision transfer, the film simply looks better than ever with an impressive range of clean details, bold colors, deep inky blacks, and a naturally cinematic film grain presence - all of which were missing on that last Blu-ray. From the first shots of the Borg cube to the Borg Queen and her mindless minions to the people at the Montana missile complex, fine details are terrific. Facial features, hair styling, and makeup all look incredible. I really enjoyed seeing the Oscar-nominated Borg makeup and the little imperfections in the skin and the various cybernetic implants in full 4K glory. Some of the early CGI work - especially around a particular substance in the final act - can look a little dated and dodgy, but a lot of it still holds up well, including Alice Krige’s iconic entrance.

With HDR (both Dolby Vision and HDR10), the film’s color scheme looks much healthier than the past disc. From the color designations for the crew’s uniforms to the lighting accents of the Enterprise-E’s helm, primaries are lovely enjoying a full range of shades while keeping skin tones healthy… for humans at least. Black levels are also greatly improved here with the Borg-held deck levels showing nice deep inky shades with some creepy shadows giving the image a terrific feel of three-dimensional depth. After some dodgy Paramount catalog releases over the years, it’s nice to see that with recent outings like Dragonslayer and the previous Trek discs they can deliver a great 4K disc. First Contact is easily the highlight of the Next Generation films.

With the want for a lighter cheerier adventure, Star Trek: Insurrection manages to deliver an often beautiful 2160p HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10) transfer. Much of this film is brightly lit with lovely exterior locations and it’s quite often stunning to look at. Details for the Ba’ku homes and village, the Son’a’s stretched faces, and your average human, android, or Klingon look terrific. Fine film grain is apparent throughout and looks appropriately cinematic without appearing smoothed over or modulated like some other Paramount catalog titles. 

Dolby Vision aids this film’s visual appeal allowing for a better range of colors, better black levels, with bright bold whites. The outdoor scenes generally look the best with a great sense of depth to the image. Night sequences look better this outing than past discs with nice inky black levels and much-improved shadows - especially when Picard is leading the Ba'ku through the caves. Whites are nice and crisp without blooming issues. This film had a bit more CGI effects to it but there are still plenty of practical effects working to give the bigger action sequences some weight. A couple of the effects shots can look a bit dated, Data pealing off his Invisibility Cloak early in the film is an example, but for the most part, there aren’t any serious offenders. All around another worthwhile upgrade.

After the bright and cheery-looking Insurrection , Nemesis went dark… literally. This is a very dark-looking film as a key character is adverse to bright lights, so it's often steeped in pitch black with dynamic ominous shadows - and it looks great in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR. I heard it joked this lighting scheme was done so Paramount didn’t have to pay to paint the sets. True or not, when the lights are on, the film looks terrific with impressive details in facial features, costumes, and the slick makeup and creature effects for the Remans. CGI work is also a little stronger here than past films. Some of the CGI ship models can look a little weightless, but a lof of the effects hold up beautifully. Fine film grain is present throughout and there isn’t any signs of troublesome modulation or smoothing. 

Dolby Vision (and HDR10) work well for this outing, especially because of the film’s deep black levels and frequent shadowed imagery. The blacks are deep, ominous, and inky but offer some excellent shadow separation and depth. Even in the darkest scenes, it feels like there’s more to the background than past releases. Colors are bold with beautiful primaries with healthy natural skin shades. Whites are crisp and clear without issue. Once again this is another excellent Trek transfer for 4K leaving the film looking better than ever on disc.

Audio Review

As has been the case with previous Trek outings on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Generations utilizes an impressive Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio mix offering a notable upgrade over the TrueHD 5.1 track from the old Blu-ray (the included remastered Blu-ray also enjoys this 7.1 track). I know some lament the lack of a more expansive object-based track like an Atmos mix but this track is still aggressive and engaging throughout with plenty of heft for the bigger action sequences while letting quieter conversational moments register. Levels are spot on, so no worries about adjusting as you go along. With a constantly active soundscape to work with, your front/center and surround channels feel appropriately immersive. Again, the more exciting and action-packed the sequence is the more active the surround stage, but even in quiet scenes within the Nexus, there’s a welcome feel for atmosphere and imaging. Dialog is clean and clear without issue and Jerry Goldsmith’s score is another excellent piece of work for the franchise.

Continuing the trend, Star Trek: Insurrection beams down with an active and often impressive Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track. While not as active as First Contact , there’s plenty of surround immersion to enjoy. The last half of the film picks up offering a nice soundstage to play in with plenty of front/center, side, and rear activity. The assault on the Ba’ku with the teleporting drones and laser blasts is a solid sequence giving the mix a full range to play with while rumbling the low end. Given the number of quiet conversational moments, there’s not a lot of big explosive material to highlight, but even the simple activity of the Ba’ku village is enough to keep the channels working. Dialog is clean and clear without issue. Once again Goldsmith’s score gets ample opportunity to shine with another all-around solid audio mix. Maybe not the best of these latest Trek releases, but certainly an improvement over the old TrueHD 5.1 tracks

Star Trek: Nemesis also enjoys a full-throated active and engaging Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track. As silly as that dune buggy blaster battle race was, it sounds fantastic! Much like First Contact , a little more action goes a long way with this mix. The soundscape feels wide and expansive for those big open sequences in the desert or in Shinzon’s main hall but then can tighten up and feel claustrophobic for the battle on the Scimitar. Blaster fire and explosions and the hum of warp engines add some fun rumble into the subs. Dialog is clean and clear throughout without issue - Tom Hardy doesn’t do a goofy voice in this film. As the final completed score from Jerry Goldsmith before he passed away, it’s a great piece of work and sounds teriffic in this mix. There are quiet conversational moments that keep things relatively front/center focused, but there’s enough small activity in the sides and music in the rears to keep your channels engaged throughout. (The remastered Blu-ray enjoys this same excellent new 7.1 track as well).

Special Features

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary by David Carson and Manny Coto 
• Audio Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore 

Blu-ray Disc 

• Audio Commentary by David Carson and Manny Coto
• Audio Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Library Computer Viewing Mode
• Scene Deconstruction
• A Tribute to Matt Jeffries
• Creating 24th Century Weapons
• Brent Spiner: Data and Beyond – Part One
• Orbital Skydiving
• Walking the Plank
• Christmas with the Picards
• Alternate Ending
• Storyboards: Enterprise-B
• Storyboards: Worf’s Promotion
• Storyboards: Two Captains
• Production Gallery

4K UHD Disc 

• Audio Commentary by Jonathan Frakes 
• Audio Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale 

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale  
• Library Computer Viewing Mode 
• Production 
• Making First Contact 
• The Art of First Contact 
• The Story 
• The Missile Silo
• The Deflector Dish 
• From “A” to “E” 
• Borg Queen Assembly 
• Escape Pod Launch 
• Borg Queen’s Demise 
• Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute 
• The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane
• First Contact: The Possibilities 
• Industrial Light & Magic – The Next Generation 
• Greetings from the International Space Station 
• SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight 
• Brent Spiner: Data and Beyond – Part Two 
• Trek Roundtable: First Contact
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex
• The Borg Collective 
• Unimatrix One 
• The Queen 
• Design Matrix
• Archives 
• Storyboards: 1930s Nightclub  
• Storyboards: Hull Battle
• Storyboards: Hull Battle – Alternate Shots
• Storyboards: Worf vs. the Borg – Alternate Shots
• Photo Gallery
• Alternate Titles (Easter Egg)
• Ethan Phillips Cameo/Interview (Easter Egg)
• Queen’s Demise (Easter Egg)
• Audio Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis
• Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda 
• Location, Location, Location 
• Anatomy of a Stunt 
• Director’s Notebook 
• Westmore’s Legacy 
• Marina Sirtis: The Counselor Is In 
• Brent Spiner: Data and Beyond – Part Three
• Trek Roundtable: Insurrection 
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 009: The Origins of the Ba’ku and Son’a Conflict 
• Shuttle Chase 
• Drones 
• Peter Lauritson Introduction
• Ru’afo’s Facelift
• Working Lunch
• Flirting 
• Status: Precarious 
• Disabling the Injector
• Storyboards: Secondary Protocols 
• Worf and Troi (Easter Egg)
• Tom Morello (Easter Egg)
• Marina/Craft Services (Easter Egg)
• Original Promo Featurette
• Audio Commentary by Stuart Baird
• Audio Commentary by Rick Berman
• Audio Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• New Frontiers: Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis 
• Storyboarding the Action 
• Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis 
• Build and Rebuild 
• Four-Wheeling in the Final Frontier 
• A Star Trek Family’s Final Journey 
• A Bold Vision of The Final Frontier 
• The Enterprise-E 
• Reunion with the Rikers 
• Today’s Tech Tomorrow’s Data 
• Robot Hall of Fame 
• Brent Spiner: Data and Beyond – Part Four 
• Trek Roundtable: Nemesis 
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 010: Thalaron Radiation 
• Romulan Lore 
• Shinzon & the Viceroy 
• Romulan Design 
• The Romulan Senate 
• The Scimitar 
• Rick Berman Intro 
• Wesley’s New Mission 
• Chateau Picard, 2267 
• The Time of Conquest 
• Data and B-4 
• Federation Protocols 
• The Chance for Peace 
• A Loss of Self 
• Remember Him? 
• Turbolift Violation 
• Sickbay Prepares for Battle 
• Cleaning out Data’s Quarters 
• Crusher at Starfleet Medical 
• Advice for the New First Officer 
• Storyboards: Scorpion Escape
• Storyboards: The Jefferies Tube
• Storyboards: Collision 
• Storyboards: Data’s Jump 
• Galleries: Production 
• Galleries: Props
• Bryan Singer (Easter Egg)
• Riker and the Beast (Easter Egg)
• Terry Frazee  (Easter Egg)

Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection brings the last four Star Trek films to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Generations , First Contact , Insurrection , and Nemesis round out the cinematic missions for Patrick Stewart’s tenure as captain of the Enterprise. The films range from good to amazing to pretty bad to just mediocre. Thankfully the latest season of Picard is delivering a suitable cast reunion. It’s a shame their big-screen adventures couldn’t have been as grand. But as far as 4K discs go, these films each earn high marks. If you’re after all of the films, this four-film eight-disc box set is the most convenient way to add them to the collection. Each film earns an excellent Dolby Vision transfer with Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track to match complete with hours of bonus features. But since only one or two are really worth revisiting on a regular basis, the mileage of this set over picking up the individual single-title editions may vary for film fans. Recommended

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