Riker shot first
Tonight, I went to the "Star Trek: The Next Generation 25th Anniversary Event" (how frightening is it that it's been 25 years?), which was two restored season one episodes on the big screen, along with some behind the scenes commentary and footage. Sadly (?), there were only two people in costume in the theater, although the crowd did seem at least mildly geeky.
Let's preface this by saying that season one of ST: TNG was... not good. Also, the fully restored for Blu-ray season one comes out tomorrow, which they told us about 96 times throughout. It's nice to have paid $15 for a running commercial about how I can buy the first season in a format I don't have a player for, but anyway. After telling us about the Blu-ray, they had a piece about the restoration, which was marginally interesting. There were lots of interviews with Rodenberry's son, the Okudas, and of course Rick Berman (boo, hiss). I'm sorry, after seeing Voyager and especially Enterprise devolve under the helm of Berman and Braga, I don't feel charitable. Berman had some weird handblown glass hourglass collection next to him in his talking heads, which was annoying, but not as annoying as him talking about how they were staying true to Gene's vision. We heard nothing from Braga, which is probably for the best.
Anyway, apparently the original was filmed in a high resolution format, but because of the limitations of TV at the time, the post-editing pretty much negated that. So they went back to the original film to get what they could, and then digital artists re-created various effects "as they should have been." They attempted to placate those of us who are wary of such statements since George Lucas made his "as it should have been" travesties by saying they didn't change anything about the stories. From what I could tell, they basically cleaned up the green screen, ship models and things like planets, but that's about the extent of it. They showed some pretty great split-screens of restored footage of formerly rather cheesy moments. In fact, I suspect they chose "DataLore" mostly because they were in love with their restoration of the Crystalline Entity.
However, I'll just put it out there that honestly, when I'm watching a show like ST: TNG, I am not thinking, "Wow, look at the detailing on that planet as the Enterprise flies by!" Or, "Wow, those are some impressive reflections off that Crystalline Entity!" It's not that they didn't do those things well, and it's nice not to be distracted by the limitations of the day, but when they didn't do anything about sound stage #5 serving as a planet, complete with papier-mâché rocks and indeterminate magenta background, it's a bit odd. But really, the story is the important thing, and in season one, well...
So they then shot us into the first restored episode, "Where No One Has Gone Before." This is, of course, the episode where Wesley wears a truly horrible sweater while over-bonding with The Traveler and saving the ship. I'm sure they restored the "superwarp" sequence and the "edge of the universe," but mostly I was amazed by the outfits of the extras-- not just the puzzled dude in the miniskirt. There is some truly terrible acting in this episode (the guy who has imagined a fire being a standout), Riker is particularly smug and does a lot of his weird sitting and putting his leg up on things, as he does, and ignores Wesley to his peril, as everyone does, Beverly's hair is not good, Troi is wearing one of those awful pantsuits with the V pointing to the crotch and unhelpfully can sense nothing about The Traveler, Yar is Yar and has a flashback to wearing bondage gear in the sewers, and Worf doesn't do much but smile terrifyingly about the pet boar thing he once had. We learn that Wesley is very, very special, and clapping for Tinkerbell thinking good thoughts saves the ship.
Then there were probably about 12 more commercials about Blu-ray, and then there was a special about casting and whatnot, which was pretty good. They had footage of the original makeup and costume tests for some of the actors (Patrick Stewart looks really uncomfortable, and people keep fiddling with Johnathan Frakes' hair), and the actors talking about auditioning and whatnot. Apparently, originally, Denise Crosby was going to be Troi and Marina Sirtis was going to be Yar. That... wow. I realize they are actors, but Denise Crosby does not strike me as a particularly good one and I can't imagine anyone wanting to tell her their problems. Patrick Stewart told a story of being in an elevator with someone who was ecstatic to be in an elevator with "Dr. Spock from Star Wars!" LeVar Burton revealed that there was a scene that was cut where Data and Geordi sort of team up as "The Perceivers," since apparently Geordi's visor and Data's positronic net see things in a similar way. I can see how this could have gotten cheesy, but it might have given Geordi something to do besides engineering technobabble, pathetic love interests and being the most boring man in the universe. Lots of blah blah was in there about how no one knew if making a Star Trek sequel would work, and some bloopers, and some footage of Roddenberry.
The other episode was "DataLore," which is, of course, the one where Data finds his "brother," who is evil, tries to impersonate him, and wants to give everyone on the ship to a destructive entity. Fortunately, this is not one with Dr. Noonian Soong, so we only have Brent Spiner hamming it up as two characters instead of three and there's a lot less old age makeup. (Although apparently Michael Okuda almost was Dr. Soong, so we can weep for all the over the top moments we could have been spared.) Although Wesley is again right, even though no one listens to him, and he saves the ship again, it does have two "Shut up, Wesley!"s in quick succession, which the crowd enjoyed. Both of the episodes featured "Chief Engineer Argyle," which is just horrifying-- the poor guy was clearly directed to be Scotty-lite. This was in the period when Geordi was an Uhura-like helmsman, rather than in engineering. We demand O'Brien! The amazement at the restoration of the Entity was somewhat subdued by the twelve times they'd already show it to us.
There were some sneak peeks for the (wait for it) season two re-release in Blu-ray, and some chatter with the actors, which was sort of amusing. Unfortunately, Brent Spiner is on the edge of Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians, and Gates McFadden has gone somewhere deep into plastic surgery wind tunnel face. Marina Sirtis is actually looking pretty great. Michael Dorn seems to have shrunk, but his voice is still amazing. Patrick Stewart is unchanging, apparently, although Jonathan Frakes is not looking good. I'm not sure how to terms with everything Wil Wheaton really is, but he is trying. Denise Crosby should not have worn that shirt. LeVar Burton... was there.
I'd be interested to see this if they did it for some episodes later down the line (please, not season two with Pulaski). I don't think I'm rushing out to buy the Blu-ray, but it does look like they did a good job. It's too bad season one is so very clunky, and no amount of digital enhancement can change that. Also, HD of people's faces is scary-- there's a lot of makeup going on and I don't need to see it.