Star Trek Enterprise coming to Blu-ray on March 26, 2013

Less work needed than the other shows, just dump and run

I wish they would just release the whole series in a boxset since it's pretty much ready to go minus whatever extras they create just for the HD release. I think that would be better than a staggered release of seasons.

Yes! DS9 Blu-ray! (not official, don't care)

Maybe...

Show was shot in enough resolution and mastered, but the FX work on it was all rendered at DVD quality. Being all CGI, it would have to be redone ala TOS-R.

It was shown in HD in nearly every country

The vfx shots were rendered at 720p.

Thought so, the first run was in 720p

You have a source for this or are you trying to take years off my life? My credit card would be out for this now!

Eeeek, I'd better sell my Enterprise DVDs! I'd snap up a Blu version in a heartbeat.

Bring it! And bring DS9, too. Yeah, my credit card is going to hurt.

Could have sworn the earlier seasons were less than HD, but maybe I'm just thinking of VOY or mixing it up with Firefly. Did find this for those interested:

Going to have to disagree with Doug there. The right thing is to render it at the highest possible resolution and added filters/correction in post. Up-resing and relying on the soft resolution of blowing up the picture is cheap and lazy. Necessary for the time constraints and needs of the studio, sure, but it's not the right way to go about it to get the best image for a scene.

Hmm. I'd totally grab the third and fourth seasons, but the first two...my inner completist will get them, and maybe find some new appreciation for them...maybe.

Eh I'm just the opposite. I enjoyed the early seasons more than the later seasons. Saying that, this will be a maybe purchase for me. I can watch these anytime I want on Netflix and they don't look bad as it is. It isn't like the major improvement TOS or TNG got.

As generic and interchangeable as seasons 1 and 2 were, I've rewatched them recently and really enjoyed them. The characters aren't as insipid as the Voyager lot, and all the little nods to future Federation protocols were fun to spot. S3 throws a spanner in the works by introducing a - gasp - proper storyline, and S4 is kickass entertainment (shame it's bookended by such poor episodes though).

Definite buy for me, and I really hope that we get the whole lot in one go.

I've had correspondence with some of the VFX folks on Enterprise and basically when the series started the VFX were 480p and upscaled (as you said, like Firefly). As the series progressed the resolution gradually increased until it was around 1k (720p).

Very true. CG VFX in films these days are typically 2k-4k (6k-8k for stuff like The Dark Knight Rises) and nobody's saying it's "too sharp". The problem is rendering so it properly integrates into the non-FX elements, and that takes additional time and money.
Edited by PeterTHX - 10/18/12 at 7:41am

Regards! So that was the case, and some of the early VFX might need to be completely redone. Shouldn't be a huge issue, but is is more money.

Nice of CBS once again to get behind Trek. Hopefully DS9 is next! (They can keep their VOY)

I'm no expert, but Drexler's reasoning makes sense to me given the context, i.e. matching the dirty-ass look of the live action portions of BSG. It's all geared towards making a final product that wasn't intended for theatrical presentation in the first place, so demands for raw resolution are greatly reduced.

As you say Peter, it's all about taking the time and money to get that stuff to integrate properly with the live action, and it may have come down to 720 being quicker and easier to upscale than it was for 1080 to be downscaled and to reach the same comparative level of quality that they were aiming for. They were happy with the end result, and so am I - heck, I didn't even know that the CG was "only" 720 until I read Drexler's quote above!

Whoa that's quick. So I assume it's the complete set ala Stargate Atlantis?

Nevermind. One season at a time. $84! Not in this life time! Enterprise is, IMO, one they could just cram into one big pack and sell for a lower price. Launching alongside TNG S3 and "Best of Both Worlds Special Edition"? What is this?
Edited by nathanddrews - 1/9/13 at 4:17am

Yeah, $84 is a bit high! For me $45 would be the right amount, but my guess is that these will settle at the old $59-$69 rate, that you see for ST Next Generation.

Enterprise killed the TV franchise, thanks to the incompetent Brannon Braga and company. Except for the super-fetching Jolene Blalock, it was a bust of a show (um... er... pun intended, I guess) . Scott Bakula just doesn't have the acting range to pull off a Starfleet captain... he also seems too much like a "nice guy" (which was fine for Quantum Leap). Yes, even Shatner was better (ever see him as Denny Crane on Boston Legal? Brilliant!!).

Nope. Voyager killed TV Trek. Enterprise tried to give it one last shot in the arm while on life support, but UPN killed it by making it impossible to know when the damn show was on. The intro music didn't help.


ENT really does get a bad wrap, especially when every series but TOS S01/02 took a good 2-3 seasons to get going. ENT actually pulled off quite a more good and great shows its first few seasons than bad, and really started taking off 3-4 before the plug was pulled. Watching in order, on my own time, I was actually surprised how much better it was than I remembered it in first run.

I almost never comment on covers but the going the rounds is a joke, pretty sure their heads were pasted on.

Overall I agree with you, but when the show did the 'saving the human race' season it took a turn for the worse.

Behold:



It's remarkably...bleah, particularly in contrast to the previous choices fans were able to vote on.

As for the BDs...I guess I'm still in for these, though given a choice I'd probably prefer they had gone to DS9 before this. Ah, well.

I don't really "care" about such things... but I thought it interesting that I believe I read Enterprise will be coming in 5.1 audio... Odd, since they have remixed TOS and TNG into 7.1.

Again, I don't "care" per se... but wonder why they didn't do that. People who do care will notice and complain.

Probably because 5.1 was the original mix whereas all the others were stereo?

I did watch the first half (or so) of Enterprise when it was live back in the day- but IMO the season one early eps were pretty hard to watch- so I gave up on it.

A few years back, I watched the last episode of season 2 which was the setup episode for the 3rd season long story arc. I was hooked at that point, I was amazed at how much the show had improved since the early season one episodes I had seen. I enjoyed season 3 immensely, and enjoyed season 4 also. Enterprise found it's legs at the end of season 2 and hit it's stride in seasons 3 and 4. Was sorry to see it go at the end of season 4.

I'll skip season 1 and 2 Blu-ray sets- but I'm full in for season 3 and 4 sets!

It is a shame that they aren't doing something like Stargate Atlantis and releasing the whole series at once, and at a reasonable $. Welcome to the Trek Tax, again. I may go ahead and dive in; I haven't watched Enterprise since the DVDs were released years ago. I remember it getting better after season 1, and somewhat enjoyed how they merged into TOS style at the end.

I honestly think Enterprise should have been named something different and not taken place on the ship of the same name. To me they just went to the well one too many times. I appreciated the attempt at setting up what we all knew with how it got started but eh it just seemed a reach personally. Recycling TNG and DS9 actors was a bit tiresome too. Saying that, I actually enjoyed the early season episodes more than the later to be honest. The last two seasons felt too DS9-like. The constant war theme and overarching plots just got too tedious. That's what I enjoyed about TOS and TNG, the ability to keep continuity while maintaining a distinct identity for each show.

Of course I'll probably give the first season a shot here and if I like it on BD I'll probably get each season as I am a ST nerd and can't stand not owning every season of each show lol.