Search - Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Seasons 1-7 on DVD

Great series, but presentation has flaws

Phil | 08/20/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a whole, I am pleased with purchasing this collection. It is my opinion that this series does an excellent job of keeping the spirit of the original series, while significantly raising the bar for science fiction of its time. Even in 2010, Star Trek: The Next Generation is easily able to compete with other series, whether one is considering science fiction or other genres. I found all to easy to watch entire discs in one sitting, yet only one questionable episode. ("Shades of Gray", apparently the first clip show in Star Trek) In terms of content, this DVD collection is nothing short of awesome.

However, there are some greivances with the way that this series is packaged. The most annoying "feature" of this particular collection is the casing it arrives in. For instance, the DVD casing is made of a cheap plastic which is flimsy and easily cracked. The design of the casing also makes it difficult to remove the DVDs safely. The grips that hold each DVD in place are difficult to release, and even if you are extremely careful, it is too easy to end up accidentally scratching the suface the disc you are trying to remove. Oddly enough, the tray that houses the bonus disc does not have this problem, and implements a simple release mechanism seen in modern DVD cases. While the issues associated with storing 49 discs are an important problem to overcome, I feel that low profile DVD cases would have been a better choice here.

Additionally, the DVDs themselves have a few user interface issues. There is either no "play all" option the disc's menu, or it is very well hidden. It is also worth mentioning that the chapters are not defined consistently: most of the time, the second chapter starts directly after the title clip; however, it will occasionally start well past this point, and will continue to do so for a few episodes. If you are like me and wish to watch the entire series sequentially, this can be annoying, as the title clip can eventually get old.

If you can live with these things, this collection is a steal at its current price. If you purchase this product, I strongly recommend that you move its discs into a safer container. Be extremely careful when you do this, as I cannot stress enough the ease at which the DVDs can be scratched. Try to avoid any lateral motion if you can; when the DVDs in my collection have been scratched, it has usually been because of this kind of accidental movement."

A Decent product for Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike

RClaussen | 09/03/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The following review covers the main areas in which I believe people ordering this product on-line consider important.

A. DELIVERY SCHEDULE
1. Importance to me = medium
2. Rating = 5/5
3. Comments: I ordered this product from archair_boogie, an Amazon Marketplace seller. The order was fulfilled promptly, and I received it within 5 days of placing the order, even though I did not request expedited delivery. I consider this excellent delivery service. However, keep in mind that other sellers may not be quite as prompt.

B. DELIVERY PACKAGING & CONDITION
1. Importance to me = high
2. Rating = 5/5
3. Comments: The boxed set was packed in a (USPS) cardboard box, which was then placed in the FedEx cardboard box with paper padding between the boxes to provide cushioning. The box arrived intact, and in good condition.

C. PRODUCT PACKAGING & CONDITION OF PACKAGING
1. Importance to me = medium
2. Rating = 1/5
3. Comments: The product came in a sealed plastic wrapping. The outer "shell" of the boxed set is reasonably attractive, and consists of "bookends" within which is a clear plastic "dome" that encases the DVD containers. Despite being stylish, this plastic case is not easy to put back on the containers. The DVDs are stored in twin-disk trays made of brittle green plastic, some of which had broken off. What was worse is that in some instances the clamping teeth for the disks were broken off, causing the disks to come loose upon opening the casing. The set is arranged into 3 sub-sets, each of which is held together by clear packing tape, allowing the disk trays to be opened like a book. Two of the three sub-sets in the boxed set that I received were encased in clear plastic sheaths, allowing them to be better held together. The third did not have this sheathing.

Judging by the cheap packaging I believed I was the victim of a bootleg scam. However, upon further research it turns out that people who bought this product from other (non-Amazon) vendors, such as Best Buy, also complained about this. I also found out that many people are discarding the original disk trays and replacing them with sturdier and more attractive DVD cases. One example, from a reputable manufacturer (Maxell) can be found at [...]:

[...]

D. PRODUCT CONDITION
1. Importance to me = high
2. Rating = 4.5/5
3. Comments: The DVDs were all undamaged and intact. However, I noticed a few scratches on the disk surfaces, and I wonder if those were originally present or occurred after I opened the box and the DVDs started slipping out because they were not secured in the trays. All the DVDs were included, but I did notice that a couple of them were not inserted in the correct order.

E. PRODUCT APPEARANCE
1. Importance to me = medium
2. Rating = 3.5/5
3. Comments: Each DVD has a label showing an image of a main character on the show, providing the season number and volume number within the season, and a listing of episodes by number and name. All of this is more than adequate; however, the print quality is somewhat low and the text can appear blurry.

F. ADDITIONAL CONTENT INCLUDED WITH PRODUCT
1. Importance to me = medium
2. Rating = 0/5
3. Comments: Pretty much the only content within the outer plastic covering of this boxed set are the DVDs themselves. Ordinarily, with a boxed set is included a catalog of the contents - a booklet that, at the very least, lists the episodes. To top things off, the disk trays have no labels - not even to indicate the season and episode number. Unless you keep your trays in the proper order at all times (and good luck with that, given the flimsy packing tape holding the sub-sets together) you may have to open several disk trays to find the disk you're looking for.

G. PRODUCT QUALITY
1. Importance to me = high
2. Rating = 4/5
3. Comments: I am a fairly dedicated Star Trek fan, and I've put my money where my mouth is by purchasing the entire movie line-up in the franchise, and have all of them in DVD format; for the earlier movies I also have them in VHS format. I have purchased the DVD boxed set of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (which, in my opinion, rivals ST: TNG for drama and surpasses it in production value). I have some other merchandise. And so on. Therefore, I will most likely be biased if I talk about the show itself. Moreover, most people buying this product probably already enjoyed the show during its 7-year run, or at least are sold enough on it to be willing to buy the entire 7 seasons. So I'll focus instead on the 3 key elements of a DVD production - video, audio, features.

The video quality is reasonable, but not high quality. I am watching it on a 60" LCD display at 780p and for the most part the images are crisp. There is the occasional "ghosting" when there is movement under low lighting conditions, but that's par for the course when talking about something that was produced more than 20 years ago and reproduced in the compressed format of DVD. However, I wonder if Paramount could not have spent a little more time cleaning up the video.

[EDIT: Upon watching the set further, I have the following observations:
1. There is occasional but momentary pixellation of the image. This is not really a serious issue for me.
2. There are occasional "glitches", where there is pixellation and momentary freezing of images. These mostly simply disappear as the disk continues to turn. I have found that "rewinding" or "fast-forwarding" past these points will eliminate them upon playing back those portions again. If these are too frequent, I have found that ejecting the disk and cleaning it seems to help. This is an inconvenience.
3. On at least one disk (Season 1, Disk 3, Episode named "The Big Goodbye") the disk freezes, and no amount of rewinding or fast-forwarding will unstick the disk. This happens around 38:00 on the time clock, and it happens on both my DVD players. This is a serious quality issue.]

The 5:1 audio is much like it was when the show was being broadcast. With a decent sound system you can hear a lot of the ambient sounds, and surround effects are occasionally put to good use.

This set is somewhat modest in the features category. Yes, the menu looks & sounds cool. However, there is no (obligatory, for DVD releases) commentary, and there are no language options. On the plus side, there is a bonus disk that contains features that have not been previously released, but this is something that would likely appeal to Trekkies rather than the general public. [But then, for that matter the entire boxed set is probably targeted at the Trekkie market.] In addition, the last disk for each season has "Mission Logs", which provide insights into the respective season and the Star Trek universe at large.

H. OVERALL VALUE
1. Importance to me = high
2. Rating = 4/5
3. Comments: This is a rather pricy item, and the customer has a right to expect a lot out of it. However, the first impression most people will get is the cheapness and throw-away quality of the product. But for those that look past the shoddy packaging and poor organization of the disks, this is undoubtedly a collector's item. I obtained the boxed set at a discounted price, so I'm willing to overlook the outward examples of lousy craftsmanship and focus, instead, on the show itself. And there, good readers, it shines."

Star Trek TNG 20th Anniversary

David A. Stout | 09/10/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The discs are labeled poorly, the text being tiny, almost unreadable. Also, there are errors on a select few discs where the show titles are wrong. For instance, there are two "Cause and Effects" on separate discs. Obviously a factory screwup.

The quality is somewhat grainy. Quite noticable on a larger screen.

The plastic disc containers are cheap and mine were even broken.

All in all, a very nice set. But you're paying for the discs only. The disc holders are pathetic and the poor labeling make the set an overall disappointing package.

I paid $280 for my set and in my opinion, it wasn't worth that much to me."

Half of all discs came scratched!

Christopher MacMillan | Florida | 09/13/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It is insulting what PARAMOUNT has done in regards to the cases the discs come in. They put the 5 dollar dvd's at gas stations in better quality cases then these (LITERALLY 100%) I feel so ripped off because half my Next Generation episodes cannot be watched due to poor quality casing. The discs came with scratches and fall out every time you try to flip through them. Some were all ready out of place when opened for the first time!; Im just amazed at how terrible Paramount is with quality...... Im pissed off dont by the complete series, they might not even play when you pop em in the DVD player and you will experience extreme frustration thinking about all the money you just waisted. Paramount - TREAT YOUR BUYERS WITH SOME RESPECT!"