Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection 4K review

Apr 02, 2023- Permalink

Paramount has now released the Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection on 4K and I had the opportunity to check it out. The collection brings together the four TNG films: 1994’s Star Trek: Generations, 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact, 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection and 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. The movies included are also available individually.

Star Trek: Generations unites Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew with three crew members from the original series, James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig). Picard and Kirk join forces to stop Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) from destroying a star system.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a beautiful transfer with excellent detail from the faces and textiles, to the sets and other scenic elements. Grain is natural and hasn’t been digitally smoothed like in some Paramount releases. The colour palette is pleasing and the HDR gives extra oomph to the ship’s displays and specular highlights. There’s no sign of digital noise or compression artifacts. Black levels are deep and there is no loss of detail in shadows or darker scenes.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as a German Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track and Spanish, French and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish. It’s a great soundscape that plants you in the action with the surrounds providing both ambient sounds and action effects while the subwoofer adds extra power to the sounds of engines and explosions. Dialogue is centred and clear.

The movie is presented on both 4K and Blu-ray and a digital code is included. While the audio commentary and isolated score is present on the 4K, all the extra (from previous releases) are on the Blu-ray disc. There is a nice number of production, effects and Star Trek Universe featurettes as well as deleted scenes and trailers.

Star Trek: First Contact sees the Federation trying to prevent the Borg from reaching Earth. When the Borg head back in time, Picard and the crew must follow to ensure that Earth’s present isn’t changed by the meddling of the Borg in the past.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Everything I said about the first film goes for this one. It’s an excellent video presentation.

On the audio side of things, your ears have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as a German Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Again, it’s a great soundtrack, immersing you in the action so much that you’ll expect to get a salary from the Federation. Ambient sounds make excellent use of the surrounds, while action effects move seamlessly through the soundscape. Music is powerful and dynamic and the subwoofer adds extra heft to explosions and other assorted rumbles. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The movie is presented on both 4K and Blu-ray discs and there’s a digital code. There are multiple audio commentaries (available on both discs), while the plethora of bonus items are only on the Blu-ray. These include multiple featurettes on the production and Star Trek Universe, as well as trailers.

Star Trek: Insurrection is a more light-hearted entry in the franchise that features roles played by with F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe. This time around, the Enterprise heads to rescue Data, who has been on a secret mission to observe the people of Ba’ku. The planet has energies that rejuvenate and the crew uncovers a plot to aid Federation allies the Son’a, a decrepit race dependent on plastic surgery and medicines to ward off aging and death. The rejuvenating particles of Ba’ku has some unintended and humourous effects on the Enterprise crew.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Again, like the previous two, this is an amazing transfer. The film grain is natural and not smoothed digitally, detail is impeccable and the colour palette ranges from popping primaries to the sun-drenched colours of the planet Ba’ku. Black levels are deep and there is no loss of detail in shadows or darker scenes.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as a German Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Like the other discs, it’s an immersive soundscape with good use of the subwoofer and clear and centred dialogue.

The movie is presented on both 4K and Blu-ray discs and there’s a digital code. There are multiple audio commentaries (available on both discs), while the special features are only on the Blu-ray. The featurettes range from pieces on the production and effects, to looks at the Star Trek Universe, deleted scenes and trailers.

The final title in the collection is Star Trek: Nemesis. A slave rebellion puts Shinzon (Tom Hardy) in charge of the Romulan Empire and he makes overtures of peace towards the Federation. The plot involves clones, both human and android, betrayal and sacrifice in this final voyage for the TNG crew.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Once again, this final film in the set delivers an excellent video presentation with excellent detail in all the usual suspects (faces, textiles and locations), a great colour palette, and pleasing film grain. This film is quite dark but there’s no loss of detail in those scenes.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as a German Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. As with the previous films, it’s an excellent audio presentation that fills the surround soundscape with action and ambient sounds. The score is powerful and the dialogue is clear and centred.

The movie is presented on both 4K and Blu-ray discs and there’s a digital code. There are multiple audio commentaries (available on both discs), while the special features are only on the Blu-ray. The featurettes range from pieces on the production and effects, to looks at the Star Trek Universe, deleted scenes and trailers.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection 4K set combines excellent audio and video with a universe of extra features. While fans of the franchise can debate the merits of the individual films (some are loved, some are tolerated), there’s no debate that the presentation is amazing. For people that want the full set of TNG films, this is the set to get. As mentioned, the films are also available as individual 4Ks.