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The Borg MegaCube
Alien54 writes "Paramount Pictures this week revealed plans to release a DVD box set containing every single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Called the 'Borg Megacube', the box set will include all seven seasons of TNG across 48 discs, thus collecting all the individual DVD sets into one package. As the name implies, the set comes in the form of a Borg cube. Due out at the beginning of November..."
I wonder if it's region encoded.
The press release is full of foofoo crap ("By order of Starfleet Command...") and doesn't contain too many specs, like whether it's NTSC or PAL!
It makes me cringe to think about people dropping 450 #'s on this thing and then not opening it up for fear of it losing the precious MINT, NIB collector's status. Personally, I'd rather have a complete run of the series in a nice binder. (On DVD-R.)
From TrekToday:
"The Borg Megacube is currently scheduled to hit stories in Region 2 (Europe) on November 3, 2003. It is not known whether a Region 1 (North America) version will also be released, but only 1000 copies will be on sale worldwide."
http://www.trektoday.com/news/260903_01.shtml
"0101100101? It's just jibberish. *looks in mirror, gasps* 1010011010@!? AHHHHHH!!"
Paramount should market some 'Starfleet Lube' that fans can buy to ease the pain of merchandise-related anal rape. Berman personally tested it out on Brannon Braga.
The Borg MegaCube
The Complete Star Trek: Next Generation Seasons
1-7DVD Collection
Captain's Log 3rd November 2003
By order of Starfleet Command, The Borg MegaCube, a DVD Box Set Collection unlike any other is to be released to commemorate the legendary voyages of the Starship USS Enterprise-D.
The Borg MegaCube, the ultimate DVD collection, contains the Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation series 1- 7 across 48 discs and is strictly limited to just 1000 numbered copies worldwide. This collection is presented in the shape of a Borg Cube - both in recognition of the crew's struggles against one of mankind's greatest threats - The Borg - and in remembrance of the thousands of Starfleet lives lost at the battle of Wolf 359.
A collective intelligence, formed of organic beings with cybernetic enhancements, the Borg wander the galaxy, seeking out cultures to assimilate. The Enterprise Crew are first introduced to the Borg in the second season episode 'Q - Who' and the Cyborgs have since become the single greatest threat facing the Federation......
In 'The Best of Both Worlds', voted as the best ever TNG episode by the US public in a recent poll, the Borg arrive in Federation space to assimilate their people and technology. They capture Picard, turning him into 'Locutus of Borg' in an attempt to conquer the human race and set course for Earth. Acting Captain Riker must find a way to stop them before the Enterprise has to break off the pursuit.
In 'I-Borg', the Enterprise discovers a crashed Borg scout ship with an injured survivor. Dr Crusher insists on saving his life, despite the concerns of the others. She is shocked when she discovers that Picard intends to use him to spread a virus that would destroy the Borg completely.
'Descent' sees the Borg return to do battle with the Federation, boasting a new individuality. Things become complicated when they enable Data to feel his first emotion and an injured Borg starts to show individualistic tendencies.
This Star Trek Next Generation box set collection also includes an individually numbered certificate of purchase commissioned by Starfleet Command and holds a special limited edition Star Trek Next Generation Clock, specifically designed for this exclusive release.
The Borg MegaCube Box Set, with digitally re-mastered picture quality and Dolby surround sound, is available from Paramount Home Entertainment on 3rd November and costs 449.99 from major DVD retailers.
Live Long and Prosper
The Story of the Borg Ship
At the time of the filming of 'Q-Who', there were two visual supervisors: Dan Curry and Rob Legato. They each had their own specifications for the design of the Borg ship:
Rob Legato - The Borg ship should be a ball with a trench of detail around the middle.
Dan Curry - The Borg ship should be a cube that looked smooth at a distance. As you got closer and closer, more detail would be revealed. (Dan had hired Special Effects for this job).
The Rob Legato team experienced problems and the job of building the Borg Ship went to Special Effects. It took 14 modellers two weeks to finish the job. That is nothing short of amazing when you consider that while the specifications called for only one side finished, Special Effects supplied a Borg ship that was finished on all sides. In order to achieve that level of detail, F/X put everything in they could find, including R2-D2, toy soldiers, plastic model "rails", and the F/X logo.
Highlights of Next Generation Seasons
Season One includes the very first Next Generation episode, 'Encounter At Farpoint' which introduces us to the Crew of the Enterprise. Episode Guide - Q challenges the crew to prove the humanity of the human race through a series of tests on Farpoint - if they fail, they face certain death! When an unidentified ship begins firing on the old Bandi city, they learn that the people of Deneb IV have captured its mate and are holding it against its will. Will the crew of the Enterpris
With 48 discs I'm sure it would take the combined financial resources of the collective to purchase the set.
What a perfect story for those reading slashdot on a Saturday night instead of going out.
Err...
Excluding myself.
So, its making its appearance in Europe.. so that means it'll take what... 3? 4 hours for the bit-torrent links to start popping up to fresh encoded episodes in dvd quality with surround sound? They might be making a HUGE mistake not putting it out in more than one market. And you know they're gonna throw a fit when everone in the rest of the world gets pirate versions.
*There's Klingons on the starboard bow, scrape em off Jim!*
Good grief, look at the image of the packaging. It's awful. Rather than a binder-esque design, they've taken all seven of the horribly over-engineered boxes for the individual seasons that are an absolute pain to use or transport (my parents have the full set, naturally), and cramed them all into one over-sighed padded cardboard box.
Come on, people! I want the movie, not lots and lots of plastic and foam and "collector's edition" space wasting. JUST GIVE ME THE BLOODY DISK!!!
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
Mmmhmmm...
There's 168 star trek: TNG episodes total.
Each episode is about 45 - 50 minutes long, IIRC.
A "well encoded" DVD will fit not much more than 2 hours per layer. Since a layer change would be acceptable, but not a side change, during an episode, that's no more than about 5 episodes a side, or about 10 episodes a disc.
That leaves us with a 17 disc _minimum_ requirement, which doesn't leave much room for enhacements. I agree, 48 is a bit much, but perhaps they want art on each disc for readability purposes? That leaves only 14 "extra" discs.
Either way, since a pressed DVD costs less than $5 CDN to produce (evidenced by WalMart crap movies sales) even at 48 discs, that's a hefty premium for an already paid-up show.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Someone should buy one, set it on a metal plate or in a trash can, set it on fire, tape it while it burns, and put it on the Internet so Trekkies can feel the horror people who like good sci-fi feel when they watch Star Trek, specially Next Generation.
Sony and Pioneer Player can made codefree with a new firmware. The codefree Sony firmware also disables User Prohibitions, so you can skip to the next chapter whenever you want and you can always change subtitels, audio etc.
Many recent Pioneer Players also can be made codefree with a code entered with the remote control. Sony and Pioneer are both manufacturing really nice dvd players and many retailers here(Germany) are offering them preloaded with a codefree firmware, so there is really no reason to avoid these players. You can get almost every player in a codefree version here, no matter which brand.
Jan
Actually, not having a label would make the disk -less- prone to damage. The label side is the one that, if damaged, causes a loss of information. If you look at a CD/DVD, you'll notice that the 'shiney side' is a fairly thick slab of clear plastic; the reflective surface is just a thin foil layer on the label side, which is poorly protected (you may notice that video rental places have been putting thick stickers over the labels for extra protection).
Scratches to the media side can often be buffed/polished out without losing anything; scrathes through the label are uncorrectable, as the material carying the data is lost.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Could you please enlighten the curious: Given that you already own copies of all seven seasons, what possible add-ons could they stuff in this cube that would make it worth $500-$1000 to you? How many hours of "never-before-heard commentaries"--that you'll never listen to--add up to $1000 in value? How many hours of "never-before-seen-deleted-scenes"--which were too crappy to make the first batch of "never-before-seen-deleted-scenes"--will satisfy your lust for Trek arcana? How many hours of blooper footage--mostly consisting of "Dr. Crusher flubbing her lines and everyone laughing" and "Worf running into the door that should have opened"--can you have before another hour of same adds no value?
Unless you are really rich and plan on giving your old collection away as Christmas gifts, or are expecting that one of the "add-ons" is a coupon for sexual favors from the crew members of your choice, then I'm saddened that you would consider buying it under any circumstances.
I don't mean to be blasting you in particular. It's your money, not mine. It's just that I see this as the as-yet-most-absurd example of the already absurd "special edition DVD" craze. It reminds me of the re-release of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". At the beginning, the director stands up in front of an audience to explain how wonderful it is to have all these deleted scenes back in. One audience member shoots back, "If they were so wonderful, why did you delete them in the first place?"
My brother managed to snag "The Fellowship of the Ring" for $10 the first day the DVD was available. Nevertheless, when the "full six-DVD collection" came out, with its hours upon hours of deleted scenes and other goodies, he went out and bought it again. To this day, he's only watched about an hour's worth of all those "goodies," which makes for damned expensive entertainment.
It's all a ploy to get the maximum amount of money from fans with a minimum of actual effort. I'd bet good money that, when George Lucas finally allows Episodes 4-6 out on DVD, there will be a "Special Edition" release (they never start with just a "regular edition"), then a "Director's Cut" edition, then throw in a "Directors Cut Gold," and so on up to "Director's Cut Gold Alpha Turbo Xtreme Edition" ($109.95, and includes deleted extended sequences and cameos by Jar-Jar).
All these releases and re-releases don't add anything of value to the economy. It's all plastic and cardboard. At least with normal DVDs, you're paying for the content, but with re-releases, they've found a way to turn worthless behind-the-scenes footage into gold by using it as an excuse to sell us the same thing over again.
In the end, it's up to the individual to decide whether or not the re-release adds enough value to warrant a separate purchase. But please think about the game they're asking you to play before you get roped into playing it.
Note: The dude who was talking about putting seven seasons on four discs probably meant using some sort of DivX encoding.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Actually, not having a label would make the disk -less- prone to damage. The label side is the one that, if damaged, causes a loss of information. If you look at a CD/DVD, you'll notice that the 'shiney side' is a fairly thick slab of clear plastic; the reflective surface is just a thin foil layer on the label side, which is poorly protected (you may notice that video rental places have been putting thick stickers over the labels for extra protection).
This is true for CDs, but not for DVDs. DVDs have the data layer sandwiched between two clear polycarbonate layers. Here's a few links on the subject.
In other words, having a label or not having a label does not truly affect the "safety" of your data layer, when it comes to DVDs. Apparently, all it affects is your overall capacity.
Your empirical evidence is bogus.
;)
I'm staring at a Star Trek The Next Generation DVD in my hand now. It contains 4 episodes, with each one being ripped to the hard drive producing 1.8 GIG files in size.
The very first DVD contains Encounter at Farpoint (both parts), making it one of the exceptions. Each season ends with 3 episodes, and a "features" video. There are 48 DVD's in total, spread across the series so that there are on average 4 episodes on each (roughly, some have 3 and a feature).
One more thing. Each episode on the DVD has approximately 42 minutes running time, since there are no commercials, and that's what the show's airtime was given.
Just thought you might like to know some facts.
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