Monday, September 30, 2013

Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Remastered) (2010)

Star Trek VIII: First ContactThis two Disk DVD Set is extraordinary. The Picture and Sound quality are so very good that you feel as though you are watching it in a theater. Because it's a widescreen picture the closed captioning doesn't interfere with the picture. It's jam packed with all sorts of extra bonus special features. Everything you ever wanted to know about First Contact and weren't afraid to be told. Let's not forget what a wonderful job Jonathan Frakes did directing. He truly proved himself a more than qualified director for feature films. We all know what a great job he did behind the cameras on the T.V. show. My boyfriend and I watched it together and he was really impressed. He asked me how much it cost. When I told him how inexpensive it was he bought two copies. One for a gift to another Treky fan. I highly recommend this two disk set and suggest you buy it right away before they run out. If you're not satisfied with it, I'll pay you for it. That's how much confidence I have that you'll absolutely LOVE it. Believe me when I tell you this is one purchase that you will never regret. ORDER NOW!!! In response to your comment first of all thank you for reading my review and please feel free to check them all out. You are correct I didn't leave enough information on my personal feelings. I thought the film was terrific. It lived up to the quality that we are used to getting when we see anything that starts out with the heading Star Trek. The storyline was very entertaining, it was as usual well acted, written, directed, great effects. I agree I could have done a better job on the body of the review itself. I'm busy writing another review as we speak. Thank you for taking the time to read my comments and I will strive to do better in the future!

I'm not going to review the movie itself as it's clearly been out long enough I'm just going to give a quick review for those curious as to the bluray transfer. I picked up the disc yesterday and watched it last night. The quality of this bluray disc is stunning! The clarity is top quality and the color vibrance is amazing, without looking fake or hyped. I didn't notice any unusual artifacts like edge enhancement nor any noise reduction I watched it on my 52" Samsung LCD but didn't get right up at the screen to examine for these things. But from where I was sitting it looked flawless. The sound is also fanstic and what I noticed the most is that the movie doesn't suffer from the irritating dramatic volume changes. Yes, during action scenes things get louder as they normally should but it wasn't so much that I had to ride the volume control, which is hugely irritating and becoming more common in today's new releases. If you still don't get what I mean I'm referring to the dialog being much lower in volume to the tremendously loud action scenes. Anyhow, this disc doesn't suffer from that, yet there is still a good amount of bass to put you into the feel of the action scenes.

I highly recommend this disc!

*EDIT forgot to mention there are several extras listed on the back of the box and all of them are listed as being in HD as well. Being that I don't have the case in front of me though I can't list the extra's titles.

Buy Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Remastered) (2010) Now

Even though Star Trek: Generations was a good first entry in The Next Generation era of feature films, it wasn't until Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga wrote Star Trek: First Contact's story and screenplay that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew proved that they could carry a Trek film without help from The Original Series' cast.

It also helped that the film was more action-oriented than Star Trek VII. Sure, the last battle of the NCC-1701 D was impressive and the brief meeting of Captains James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard did provide Trek fans with some exciting and moving moments, but what fans really wanted was a muscular...action movie with a mission (and antagonists) worthy of the Next Generation crew and the new, top-of-the line Enterprise E.

Star Trek: First Contact brings back the Borg, a race of half-organic, half cybernetic beings whose goal is to destroy other races by assimilating their technology and transforming the survivors by injecting microscopic nanoprobes that turn humans, Vulcans, El-Aurians -anyone, really -into unfeeling, relentless drones. As fans of the 1987-1994 syndicated series know, Capt. Picard was once captured by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, a Borg strategist/spokesdrone whose intimate knowledge of Starfleet technology,its tactics and its officers nearly spelled certain defeat for the Federation at the Battle of Wolf 359.

Now, several years later, the Borg are back and meaner than ever. Having been thwarted more than once in the 24th Century by Picard and his crew, the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) leads a single-cubeship invasion force into Federation space, hoping to defeat the Federation by either conquering Earth in a battle against Starfleet...or tinkering with the timeline and going back to the 21st Century to prevent humanity's first contact with another spacefaring race.

Actor Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. Will Riker) makes his feature film directing debut in this eighth installment of the Star Trek movie series, and although he would only direct the weaker Star Trek: Insurrection, he does a great job at helming a very high-octane action flick that involves time travel, space battles, a strong Picard/Data storyline and elements from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the then-still new Voyager.

Guest stars James Cromwell (The Sum of All Fears, Babe) and Alfre Woodward join the cast of TNG as warp-drive inventor Zefram Cochrane and his friend and assistant Lily, who add a certain mixture of edginess and wit to the film. Cromwell fares particularly well as Cochrane, a character first seen in The Original Series episode Metamorphosis. While Cromwell doesn't remotely look like the then-30 or 40-something Glen Corbett, he portrays the legendary "father of warp drive" as a very human and flawed genius -he is cranky, cynical and drinks way too much -who is bemused by the hero-worship he receives from the Enterprise crew. He also gets some of the best lines. (My favorite: "You're astronauts...on some kind of star trek?")

Also contributing to the excitement is Jerry Goldsmith's score, a mixture of a lovely new main theme and such familiar touchstones as Alexander Courage's fanfare for the Original Series theme and Goldsmith's own "Main Theme" for Star Trek's first feature film (and later adapted as The Next Generation's main title).

Although First Contact does require some familiarity with the Star Trek universe and its history, it's clearly among the best of the 10 in the series.

Read Best Reviews of Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Remastered) (2010) Here

While "Star Trek: First Contact" rewrites too much of the original TV series' history--a debilitating addiction the current production people can't seem to shake--it delivers a rollicking adventure that is more in keeping with Captain Kirk's episodes than any other "TNG" film. That's really good because on TV, talky Captain Picard and crew often seemed better suited for Monday morning board meetings than the intergalactic perils of space opera. In this one, a race of cybernauts called the Borg decide to revise Earth history by stopping the first human excursion with warp drive. Picard and crew follow the aliens back in time, meeting with a cynical, drunken inventor (a laconic James Cromwell) who revises their assessment of his place in history. Unlike the other TNG films, this one's plotted more like a film than a TV show, meaning that the pace is less likely to put you to sleep, even if Star Trek still can't quite escape cornball humor or pure cheese. (How many times does Data have to discover his humanity or Worf be told he's a warrior worthy of respect? Why do characters rely so often on a pregnant pause and one last line before exiting? Just how much technobabble can we really take?) The regular cast is as good as it's always been--which is to say, adequate--but Alice Krige stands out as the creepily sexy Borg queen and though she's frequently bug-eyed with excitement, Alfre Woodard deserves more screen time as Picard's potential love interest. The real stars here, though, are Jonathan Frakes as director, who seems to actually understand and respect the material he's working with, and Jerry Goldsmith, whose score is among the better in the series. When the humans meet up with a surprise alien race at the end, the moment might actually give you goosebumps.

Want Star Trek VIII: First Contact (Remastered) (2010) Discount?

The only reason why I'm giving the DVD 4 stars is because Paramount did not go the extra mile for die-hard fans by putting in some of the interactive content and added bonuses that DVDs were made for... "The Matrix" is a prime example of how a DVD should be presented. The DVD widescreen format is sweet and the DVD does include 2 theatrical trailers, but that's it. :-)

Now that I'm off my soap box, I must say that this is the best Star Trek movie made to date. Sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie watching experience.

The Borg are back and now they're out to destroy Earth. Former assimilated Borg himself, Jean-Luc Picard is off to the rescue in this extremely entertaining sci-fi adventure. What could be more romantic that the captain of the best ship in the fleet off to rescue mother earth from the most evil force in the Galaxy!

Alfre Woodard really adds a lot to this film and to the development of Picard's character. You don't have to be a Star Trek fanatic or even a regular watcher of the film to enjoy it... a lot is explained to the ST neophyte in the opening sequences... but this movie will be most enjoyed by fans of the tv series.

The best ST captain yet vs. the worst enemy the Federation has ever met... an enemy with no soul like a virus, they just spread and consume and do it without mercy. I had this movie on VHS but I watched it so many times, the tape broke, so I got it on DVD. Just a great flick emotionally thrilling and lots of eye candy and SFX thrills.

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