For over 40 years, the Star Trek franchise has witnessed several TV show and film adaptations, each boldly taking its respective fanbase where no one had gone before.  Each property within the Star Trek universe embodied its own thematic elements and messages as influenced by visionary creator Gene Roddenberry, always staying true to his hopeful vision that the future would be one without thought of gender or race. 

In what may have arguably been the most popular adaptation of the franchise (and also the last to involve Roddenberry’s direct contributions), Star Trek: The Next Generation often examined and tested the creator’s vision of humanity, commenting both on the then-current state of the world and the exploration of the human condition as it may one day be.  For seven seasons, TNG grew in popularity by leaps and bounds, boasting an outstandingly talented cast and thought-provoking content that garnered an Emmy nomination for Best Dramatic Series.  In celebration of the show’s 25th anniversary (in 2012), CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution completely re-mastered the original 35 mm film negatives of the show from nearly 25,000 reels of original film stock and released the first two seasons in stunning Blu-ray collections. With the Season 3 Blu-ray to be released on April 30th, anyone contemplating the purchase of these re-mastered episodes should do only one thing: make it so!

The Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 1 and Season 2 Blu-ray collections may very well be the must-have items for TNG fans. From the very moment that you see the opening credits of Episode 1, you will not be able to deny the night-and-day difference in the visual quality of the episodes, and it truly does make a difference. The quality is so phenomenal that the show looks as though Patrick Stewart filmed it yesterday! Not only was the footage enhanced, but the effects were recomposed from their large-format negatives specifically for each episode, accompanied by 7.1 DTS Master Audio. The staff behind the entire re-mastering process deserves high praise, as I can only imagine that this was no small undertaking. In addition, both the Season 1 and Season 2 Blu-rays contain hours of bonus footage, cast and crew interviews, “Making It So: Continuing The Next Generation (Multi-part documentary),” blooper reels, deleted scenes, and other juicy tidbits that fans will not want to miss. Of the greatest note for me was the 25th Anniversary Cast Reunion, which truly gave viewers a more intimate look into the creative process behind the show.  

The teams at CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution have truly outdone themselves, and fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation would do themselves well to pick up copies of the Season 1 and Season 2 Blu-rays in order to prepare for the Season 3 release on April 30th.  Make it so!  (I just wanted to say it one more time . . . )