For most of us, it was a once in a lifetime event. Not only to see Star Trek: The Next Generation on the big screen, but to see it in all its high definition glory – the way it was meant to be when it was originally shot on 35mm film in 1987.
The USS Loma Prieta had an excellent turn out for our away mission. Our huge away team consisted of 14 crew members, and nearly everyone was in uniform! We actually weren’t the only ones in costume either, and spotted plenty of Trek themed t-shirts and even a tastefully done season one uniform skirt. The theater was sold out and packed to the gills, but the Loma Prieta away team managed to secure seats for our entire crew to sit together. There’s nothing like the sight of an entire movie theater row of Trekkies in uniform!
We were first greeted by a TNG trivia quiz on screen, which was laughably easy for any card carrying Trekkie. But when the lights dimmed, the projection started, and the familiar planetary bodies of the TNG opening credits came into view, the experience was breathtaking and other worldly. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen the Enterprise-D roll on screen or heard Patrick Stewart recite those famous lines – NOTHING compares to seeing it on the big screen!
Before and between episodes, the crowd was entertained by some never before seen behind the scenes footage, a documentary about the impressive undertaking required to remaster a show like TNG, and best of all some hilarious and revealing casting footage from the pre-production of TNG. If you haven’t seen the ‘Geordi jheri curl’ picture yet, Google it asap – it’s breathtakingly awesome.
The TNG Remastered screening was possibly my favorite movie screening experience to date (I still have the bad taste in my mouth from the Star Wars prequel premieres ), and proved to be an excellent recruitment tool for our chapter. Since then, we’ve added 5 new STARFLEET registered crew members! Why can’t they screen TNG episodes like this every week??
~Capt. Zach Perkins
Commanding Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4
Away Team Crew Manifest:
CAPT Zach Perkins
CMDR Jon Sung
LT CMDR Tom Hesser
CAPT Erik Roberts
LT JG Ben Roodman
LT JG Jesse MacKinnon
CPO Tria Connell
EN Andy Smith
EN Amy Sloan
EN Chef Spencer Scott
EN Tiffany Bukowski
EN Shawn Alpay
EN Nick Leonard
Crewman Robert Barton
EN Eden Sherry (not pictured)