Star Trek: The Next Generation - Chain of Command [Blu-ray]

As usual, the Amazon Community is showing its idiotic side with its users reviewing products that they don't even own or, in this case, particularly understand. Because of that, I'm forced to write yet another review just to negate the reviews of people complaining about such nonsense as 'double dipping," which has zero bearing on the quality of the product.Since A. Hutch decided to pull his head out of his Dynasty DVDs and 3-ring binders that he mysoginistically reviewed and share his opinion of a Blu-ray title that he hasn't seen, doesn't own and has no intention of owning while lacing his review with clever expressions from the late 80s/early 90s (which in retrospect is kind of appropriate from a nostalgic perspective when doing a review of a TNG product), I thought it only fair that I respond to him personally and then write my own rebuttal review to straighten out any misconceptions surrounding these double-episode TNG Blu-ray releases.First, I'll address the misconceptions (by basically copying and pasting what I said to Mr. Hutch, and trimming it a bit).Although Mr. Hutch would argue otherwise, this isn't being released for the audio commentary track (I can't really comment as to whether or not the season six set has the same audio commentaries or not... as, like this title, it's not out yet and that information isn't available) or to take more money out of the pockets of Star Trek fans for no reason. It's being released for two reasons: 1.) Because it's a fan/critical favorite and it's a great teaser for fans sitting on the fence on whether to commit to TNG on BD or not. 2.) It's not the same presentation that's in the season six set. Like the Best of Both Worlds, Redemption and Unification BD releases before this, the two episodes have been combined seamlessly into one feature-length presentation, which, believe it or not, is actually of some value to some consumers, just as the individual episodes have value for the purists. They haven't done it for all of the two-part episodes and they aren't going to. They didn't do it for Time's Arrow, they won't do it for Birthright and it's incredibly unlikely that they'll do it for Descent or Gambit. You know why? No demand for them. That being said, the previous double-episode releases have all been incredibly successful so that should probably tell you something as far as consumer response to them.Despite what Mr. Hutch claims, NO ONE has paid "upwards of $90" for ANY of the single-season sets of TNG on BD. Every single season dropped to $59.97 on release day. Oh, and the single disc double-ep releases have all dropped to $14.99 on release day, as well. They are simply nice little cheap extras for collectors who want them. CBS is still including both individual episodes on the season six release so you aren't forced to buy them to complete your collection of Blu-ray episodes.Now, as for the quality of video/audio...Although, I haven't seen it yet, I don't really think I have to in order to accurately comment on it. Considering the well-documented 4K remastering for 1080p BD with all re-composited visual effects (and in some cases, re-done via CG) and the DTS-HD MA remix of the audio track on the prior five seasons (that's about 130 episodes for those keeping score), I think it's probably safe to say that the same attention to quality and detail present on the prior releases will also be present on this release.Episode(s) review:For myself, as far as the episodes go, Chain of Command, Part 2 is superior to Chain of Command Part 1. They are really like totally different episodes having not much to do with each other. I'm still a little perplexed as to why this was a two-parter and not just a two-part arc,and yes, there is a difference. Two part-episodes like Best of Both Worlds or Unification are simply two halves of the same story. Chain of Command has basically two different stories with a unifying arc to it. Part 1 is about Jellico taking command of the Enterprise for the Cardassian negotiations and Picard training for the secret mission and Part 2 is basically the "let's torture Picard" episode. Seriously, if you haven't seen it in a while, do you really remember what happened in Part 2 other than Picard getting tortured? It took me re-watching it again to remind myself.Why this is less of a two-parter than it is a two-episode arc is very simply this: In Part One, the "A" storyline revolved around Jellico and the Cardassian negotiations and the "B" storyline revolved around Picard and his secret assignment (which was a little ludicrous to begin with, but I digress). In Part 2, the Picard storyline became the "A" storyline and the Jellico storyline became the "B" storyline. Like I said, great for an arc, but it doesn't make for seamless feature-film type viewing, which is why this release is a little perplexing to me... other than the fact that it is very popular. Birthright does the same thing but that won't be released as a stand-alone so it's a moot discussion.Although I certainly recognize that Part 2 is the better of the two episodes, Part 1 probably would have been better remembered and better received had the story been in an arc instead of a two-parter and thusl, Part 1 has been constantly compared to Part 2. As brilliant as David Warner was as Picard's torturer, Gul Madred, people tend to forget how brilliant Ronny Cox was in BOTH episodes as the very un-Picard-like Captain Richard Jellico. He had that character down cold. It's unfortunate that his performance has been so incredibly overshadowed.So, at the end of the day my rating goes like this (use Metacritic as your reference for my ratings):Chain of Command, Part 1: 73/100Chain of Command Part 2: 95/100Overall: 88/100

'Chain of Command' is my favorite two-parter so I was excited this episode was chosen as the standalone to accompany Season Six. I know a lot of fans feel like CBS-D is double-dipping and gouging fans, but you have to remember:The budgets for the full-season sets are fixed. It's easy to say "these extra features could have been added to the full season set," but in reality that is not true. I don't really purchase the standalone discs for the episodes, I purchase them for the documentaries and the deleted scenes and whatever commentary is provided. Producing a standalone disc gives the team at CBS-D that produces the new bonus material an extra, albeit smaller, budget to work with.If you're a TNG fan who simply cares about the HD restoration - and you really don't care for the documentaries, deleted scenes, and commentary - I would say this release is not for you. You can still enjoy "Chain of Command" in two parts on the Season Six set. If you like all the added extras this is for you.

Ah, why didn't they shoot these later seasons in 16x9? Good transfer, well executed. Sound continues to be a hallmark for tv series.

This single disc Special Edition Mini Blu-Ray T.V movie from Star Trek The Next Generation Season Six, arrived on time and intact, with no damage to either the disc or the case and outer slipcover, which the disc came in. Picture, sound and features playback is superb. A very well written and very well acted episode from the Next Generation series, which looks deeply in to all aspects of human confinement and torture, with its various dark twists and turns with both Patrick Steward (Captain Picard) and David Warner (Cardassian Jailer/Protaganist), putting in first class performances, throughout this complete two part episode feature. I would highly recommend this complete two part story episode, season six episode from Star Trek The Next Generation on Blu-Ray, to anyone who purchases it online from amazon.com.

I really like these two-part episodes being condensed down into single-disk movies. This episode is darker than most TNG stories, because it tries to deal with the subject of torture of prisoners. The script is a little forced, because of all the people in Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard has to be selected for this mission, and what should take months had to be compressed into 45 minutes. But I really like the interplay between Picard and his Cardassian captor. "There are FOUR lights!" The Blu-Ray quality seems good to me.

This video contains the episode from season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which Captain Picard is abducted and held captive by the Cardassians and tortured. There is a commentary on the episode from Ronny Cox, Jonathan West and Mike & Denise Okuda as well as deleted scenes, making of featurette and promos for each episode. This is a good video to add to collection of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Not that great of a story line. Sound and picture needs improvement. The picture seems slightly cloudy. It's just a tad soft. Could be intentional. But who knows. Nice extras, and commentaries...One major gripe is the obvious places where commercials would go. I don't see why the two episodes are not edited better to get rid of these "breaks". Also the picture quality is different throughout.. Decent surround. But not totally engulfing...If you have the box set then stick with it. Otherwise this more than suffices.

This is, yet again, a Star Trek, Next Gen two-part episode that the wizards making the Blu-Ray product have created. The transition from one episode to the next is totally seamless. This is for the true collector. You don't gen any additional material over that which is in the regular season six set. But, it doesn't cost a lot either.

Diese Doppel-Folge "Chain of Command" bietet gleich zwei Top Guest Acts, David Warner und Ronny Cox. Mit für Star Trek-Verhältnissen drastischen Mitteln wird zum einen Folter und seine Zwecklosigkeit thematisiert, zum anderen geht es um Rangfolgen und Befehlsketten und deren Problematik. Die Story ist gut geschrieben und besonders das kammerspielhafte Duell zwischen David Warner als Gul Madred und Patrick Steward ist hervorragend. Obwohl das Thema Folter immer wieder in US-Medien und auch in Star Trek (Archer, Janeway) als notwendiges Übel zu finden ist, wird hier unmissverständlich klar gemacht, dass Folter abgesehen von moralischen Standards nur sehr unzuverlässig als Mittel zur Gewinnung von Information dient. Diese Lektion wurde offensichtlich nach 9/11 in Guantanamo und anderen Einrichtungen ignoriert. Die BD bietet neu in HD eingescannte Film-Qualität in beeindruckender Qualität, die beiden Episoden wurden nahtlos miteinander verbunden und der englische Original-Ton liegt in 7.1 DTS HD vor. Neben Audiokommentar und Making of gibt es noch 2 Promos und Deleted Scenes. Dazu kommt noch für diese Ausgabe ein aufwändig gestaltetes Cover mit Klapp-Deckel.

This has to be one of the better 2 part specials.After best of both worlds more surprisingly it has deletedScenes. Of course many say that the 2nd part was betterBecause of Picard interrogation(ok torture) scenes or couldHave been David Warner's excellent acting. Being welsh I wonder if any body else noticed is Ronnie Cox s Role as captain Edward jellico May have been a nod toAdmiral jellico commander of the British royal navy fleet atThe battle of jutland .rikers attitude seems to be of a child havingHis toys taken away from him when not being given the enterpriseCommand and seemed to sulk for 90 minutes.it would have been morelogical to give t.he enterprise to jellico for negotiations and commandOf the mission and rikers commanded the ship in Picard absence.

星１つは、商品の表記の誤りに対するものです。言葉の問題は大きいので、こうしたことは商品説明であってはいけないことです。アマゾンさんには、すぐに訂正をしていただきたいと思いますし、返品を希望される方にはただちに返品すべきだと思います。　内容に関しては特典映像に関してのみ書きます。残念だったのは、おそらく高齢のためだと思いますが、カーデシア人を演じたデイビッド・ワーナーのインタビューが皆無だということです。しかし、ジェリコ艦長代理の俳優や、ピカード艦長ことパトリック・スチュワート、ナチェフ提督を演じたナタリア・ノグリッチ、それに監督のインタビューは楽しく聞けます。また、この作品の創作に至った動機が製作者から語られるのも興味深く、社会性のあるエピソードであることを再認識できます。英語字幕で見るという面倒なことをしなければいけませんが、それでもメイキングに興味があるという方にはお薦めです。

Strong performances by Patrick Stewart and David Warner, Ronny Cox as the love-him or hate-him Jellico, and a better sense of the Cardassians (prior to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Special Features are good but could be a little better - Cox features heavily (which is OK) but new or archive interviews with Warner and on-set footage would be great. The audio commentary is fine but personally Mike & Denise Okuda (who have done more AC than anyone on the TNG releases) are somewhat dry for my taste - not nearly enough juicy anecdotes! And if anyone at CBS is reading this how about "Gambit" - an entertaining story that, with a proper 'script to screen' documentary and lively AC, would make an excellent addition to these single disc Blu Ray releases.

Über den Inhalt muss hier wohl nichts mehr geschrieben werden?! HD-Scan vom Original mehr als gelungen. Ein Muss für die TNG-BlueRaySammlung!