Bitchy Rants

You know, it sure ain't easy taking care of our kids these days. Everywhere you turn there's a Russian mobster trying to kill you, or another dirtbag throwing a terrorist party. And guess who's always around when it's time to open up the presents? That's right. It's me. At least the kid has decided to get into the family business: Killing Scumbags. Being a father means having to give up your vacation once in a while. Yippee Ki Yah, Happy Father's Day from John McClane.

We reported a couple weeks ago that Warner Bros Home Entertainment was going Blu-Ray exclusive once their contract with the HD-DVD collation was up. Despite Warner’s move HD-DVD is far from dead. Though HD-DVD is precariously on the edge of “losing” the HD disc format war. Even if one format wins out we should ask the questions: “Will the HD market go physical or broadband? If HD-DVD wins, will the lower priced players and uniform spec make the market successful? Can Blu-ray make the market better? Or are the IPTV technologies too attractive to keep HD discs strong?

Despite losing Warner HD-DVD still has Universal and Paramount. While both studios have declared their ongoing support since Warner’s announcement, Universal and Paramount have also neglected to state that they will remain exclusive to the format. Despite the situation with the studios HD-DVD is still the most affordable HD format currently available and has benefitted from a finished spec. Having all players work basically the same and have similar components has allowed HD-DVDs to have a much more unique and fulfilling home experience. Having a finished format with quality titles should be a great formula for calling in the SD-DVD format hold outs. The only hitch is the growing problem of selection. HD-DVD as of this article’s publishing has 366 titles available(39% of those being from Universal alone). The catalog of titles varies from classics like The Shining to sci-fi cult favorites like Serenity. The majority of HD-DVD’s selection seems hand picked titles chosen to garner the most in sales. Despite this, Blu-ray has been leading in sales both in hardware and in software.

Today I ask the question, “Is remastering in HD worth the trouble?” As many a Trekkie knows, season 1 of Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) is coming out on HD-DVD Nov. 20th. This dual format release is pretty groundbreaking. Over the summer, Paramount has been syndicating these remastered Star Trek episodes. Each one meticulously color-corrected, rescanned for 1080P and edited with newly created CG models. There are obviously some skeptics out there but the truth is the episodes do look better, and the new CG and score are still cheesy enough for the 70’s, but now have enough detail and depth so you don’t get taken out of the plot. Each episode has supposedly had a million-dollar budget for these remasters. Now, with the HD-DVD release coming, paramount is looking to cash in on the new HD standard. The set is retailing for $194.99(129.99 via amazon), that’s about $4.50- 6.70 per episode. Keep in mind, you also get a SD version of each episode on the opposite side of the disc(whether you wanted one or not).

This is all well and good for TOS, which is only 3 seasons long. But what about the gargantuan TNG (The Next Generation), which clocks in at 7 seasons? Well, read on and I’ll discuss it…