Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection in 4K Ultra High-Definition
Star Trek fans can now have a complete collection of classic Star Trek movies on their shelves thanks to the new Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection. This package bundles the four TNG movies (Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis) and boatloads of legacy special features.
Most importantly, the 4K transfer of these films is sublime to watch compared to their previous home media releases.
The Presentation
The real seller of getting these movies on 4K/HDR Blu-ray is the visual upgrade, and boy is it great. Even if you’ve seen these movies from the Blu-ray release of more than a decade ago, which brought these films into 1080p high definition, the bump here to 4K is striking. Pop in First Contact, for example, and you’ll see what we mean. Every pore on Patrick Stewart’s face is crisper, making the Borg needle plunge into his eye that much more visceral. The opening shot of the beautiful Enterprise-E model shows more surface texture detail than ever, and the high dynamic range highlights really bring to bear the ship’s glowing warp nacelles and lit windows against the blackness of space and the colorful background nebula. The first thing we wanted to see in this release was how the Sovereign class looked, and we weren’t disappointed.
Of course, every TNG film gets the 4K/HDR treatment, and it’s a uniformly great presentation. Watching the Enterprise and Scimitar slug it out in Nemesis is even better thanks to HDR highlights on torpedoes and explosions, even if the 4K transfer means CGI models don’t hold up as well next to their practical brethren. The beautiful pastoral nature of Ba’ku in Insurrection is brought home thanks to more environmental detail and HDR balancing. And of course, who wouldn’t want to see Captain Kirk harassed on the bridge of the Enterprise-B in more detail… and then see a more detailed bridge on the captain later. Simply put, if you have an eye for visual acuity in your movies, 4K/HDR is the way to go. But you probably already knew that.
The Packaging
As far as packaging goes, you know what to expect if you checked out The Original Series Six-Movie Collection last year (and we certainly recommend you do). Aesthetically, the TNG and TOS movie releases share the same art style, which will be welcome news to collectors. Inside the packaging is eight discs, four of which contain each feature film in 4K/HDR with some special features, and the other four contain each in 1080p with the bulk of the legacy bonuses. The packaging also includes the voucher for redeeming these movies digitally through Apple TV, Vudu and Movies Anywhere.
It’s important to note that there are no new special features in this collection. All special features here were either created for the films’ DVD releases or 2009 Blu-ray releases. We weren’t expecting any new features in this collection, as there weren’t any for the TOS movie collection (except for the then-new remaster of The Motion Picture), but we think Paramount missed a neat opportunity to promote Star Trek: Picard season three. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have some creative minds from Picard discuss the cast’s movies and influences for TNG’s final outing? Wouldn’t it be cool to have Jonathan Frakes discuss directing a feature film like First Contact or Insurrection compared to directing Picard (which, for all intents and purposes, feels like we are watching a movie)?
Bonus Content
Alas, fans will have to get by with the dozens of extras available, including:
Star Trek: Generations
- 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
- Production
- 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 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
- Archives
- Trailers
Star Trek: First Contact
- 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
- Making First Contact
- The Art of First Contact
- The Story
- The Missile Silo
- The Deflector Dish
- From “A” to “E”
- Scene Deconstruction
- Borg Queen Assembly
- Escape Pod Launch
- Borg Queen’s Demise
- The Star Trek Universe
- 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
- The Borg Collective
- Unimatrix One
- The Queen
- Design Matrix
- Archives
- Trailers
Star Trek: Insurrection
- Commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis
- Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
- Library Computer
- Production
- It Takes a Village
- Location, Location, Location
- The Art of Insurrection
- Anatomy of a Stunt
- The Story
- Making Star Trek: Insurrection
- Director’s Notebook
- The Star Trek Universe
- 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
- Drones
- Duck Blind
- Deleted Scenes
- Archives
- Advertising
Star Trek: Nemesis
- Commentary by director Stuart Baird
- Commentary by producer Rick Berman
- Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
- Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
- Library Computer
- Production
- 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
- The Star Trek Universe
- 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
- Romulan Lore
- Shinzon & the Viceroy
- Romulan Design
- The Romulan Senate
- The Scimitar
- Deleted Scenes
- Archives
- Trailers
Taken together, the Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection is everything we were expecting from this release since it was announced in February. Seeing the TNG film adventures in the highest home media resolution available is a treat; with a high-quality 4K/HDR TV, accompanying Blu-ray player, and these discs, you’ll be lost for hours. While the special features are nothing new, which seems like a missed opportunity, so much time has passed since they were first released that there are likely plenty of new fans who will appreciate going back through these archives and gleaning lots of neat information.
You can buy Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection on Amazon here. You can buy these movies individually on 4K/HDR here: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis.
Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and more.