Star Trek Q Fan Collective
Paramount Home Video
Cast: Patrick Stewart, John de Lancie
Extras: Text Commentary
Rating:
Space – The final frontier… these are the – well, you know the rest. Ah, "Star Trek" – what can be said about that seminal TV series from the 60s that hasn't already been said?
It's spawned several movies and various television spin-offs. And with the advent of DVD, along with its penchant for what is known as the "double dip," I'm certain we will see numerous incarnations of "Star Trek" on DVD pop up for many years to come.
The latest version of "Star Trek" on DVD is a compilation of sorts from various series such as, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" – all featuring one of the series' most enigmatic character creations – "Q."
Step right up to, "Star Trek: Q – Fan Collective." A DVD set featuring some of "Qs" more popular appearances from various of the show's episodes.
Paramount Home Entertainment offers up this "Fan Collective" in a 4-disc, 12-episode DVD set. How did a DVD set featuring nothing but "Q" episodes come about? Well, apparently, if we believe the hype machine, "Star Trek" fans voted online for their favorite "Q" episodes, and the result was this set of discs. Note: Since I was only a casual viewer of the newer "Star Trek" shows, I have no idea if this set contains every single Star Trek episode "Q" guest starred in.
The one thing I do know, is the charactor of "Q" (played wonderfully by Jon de Lancie) is an important part of the Star Trek universe – always seeming to pop up at the most inopportune times, to either test Captain Picard and crew, or just to play a prank or two – even saving them once in awhile – albeit, thanks to "Qs" meddling which got them into trouble in the first place!
The character of "Q" was described as one of many God-like beings from a part of the Universe known as, "the Q Continuum." The "Q" are immortal and can do just about anything – from changing their physical appearance, to turning back time – and even moving others forward in time as demonstrated in one episode where "Q" sends the Enterprise two years forward into the future where they encounter the galaxy's arch nemesis, the Borg.
As mentioned earlier, this is a 4 disc DVD set. The break down for the episodes are as follows. (each disc lists the original airdate and episode name) These episodes range in date from 1987, 1989 – 94, 1996, and 2001.
Disc 1: (Contains 3 episodes)
Encounter At Far Point
Hide and Q
Q Who
Disc 2: (Contains 4 episodes)
Deja Q
QPid
True Q
Q Less (From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Disc 3: (Contains 3 episodes)
Tapestry
All Good Things
Death Wish (From Star Trek: Voyager)
Disc 4: (Contains 2 episodes)
Q and the Grey & Q2, both from, Star Trek: Voyager
All of the episodes are presented in a 1.33:1 full screen format. As I stated eariler, I wasn't much of a Star Trek watcher when it came to the various incarnations, and do not know if these are cropped or as originally filmed. Images for all episodes are about the same as broadcast quality. I noticed many instances of compression issues along with some minor edge enhancement. Colors were bold and rich, while blacks produced an acceptable level of richness. Flesh tones appeared natural. No dirt or dust was noticed.
Audio on the release comes via a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround mix, and while most of the time the rears were silent, the front speakers emanated a nice range of field. Dialogue was clean and distinct.
The special features section contains a text commentary for the episodes, "Deja Q," "Q less," and "Death Wish." The commentary provided an insightful and interesting backstory on those particular episodes. Too bad there wasn't any commentary for "Encounter at Far Point," "All Good Things," and "Tapestry," as those were three of the more popular "Q" episodes.
If you're a fan of "Q" and "Star Trek" in particular for that matter, and need a "Q-fix" without having to purchase every Star Trek series on dvd in order to see the impish prankster, then this "Fan Collective" may be worth looking into.
