Writer: Star Trek TNG S2 Blu-ray To Include Extended “Measure of a Man”

In one month the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation will arrive on Blu-ray. Season 2 is due in the Holiday season. And it appears that one of the cool bonuses for set being considered is an extended version of the courtroom drama episode "Measure of a Man." This news was revealed by the original writer of the episode, Melinda Snodgrass. Details below.

 

Writer: Measure of a Man to get 20 extra minutes

A few days ago, screenwriter Melissa Snodgrass dropped this little nugget on Twitter. 

Apparently Snodgrass was talking about the new Blu-ray release (there are no new DVDs planned). As of now, CBS is not confirming details on the S2 set, so it is too early to say for certain if this extended version will end up in the final release.

If CBS is looking for Snodgrass’ cut (presumably on tape) they are likely considering trying to reconstruct an extended episode by trying to find all the additional scenes in the archives, which would then be remastered in HD. This would likely be a bit more complex than the (already complicated) process for the regular episodes.

Even though it was produced during a WGA strike, "Measure of a Man" is considered one of the best Star Trek: TNG episodes and it ended up getting nominated for a WGA award. What makes this even more surprising is that it was based on a spec script and was Snodgrass’ first television credit. Her experience as an attorney showed in the episode which put Data’s rights as a sentient person literally on trial.

TrekMovie reader Justin who sent in a tip on the tweet has taken a look at the original teleplay and noted there are a number of scenes that did not end up in the final cut, including a scene with Picard and Riker fencing. It is unknown what scenes were actually filmed though, but (fingers crossed) we will get to see them by the end of this year, in HD.

Here is a pivotal scene in "Measure of a Man" where Picard argues for Data’s sentience.

It’s also worth noting that the special TNG events on July 23rd (tickets available now FathomEvents.com) promise to also include an unseen sneak-peak of “Measure of a Man.”  


Peak of "Measure of a Man" part of July 23 screenings

REMINDER: Star Trek Season 1 Pre-order available now

The first Blu-ray season for Star Trek: The Next Generation comes out July 24th. The six-disc set includes HD remasters (in 1080p and 7.1 DTS audio) of all 26 episodes, plus brand new special features (see below for full details). The official retail price is $118.00 in the US (which is actually a little less than the MSRP for Star Trek: TOS Blu-ray Season 1).

You can pre-order the set at discounted prices. Walmart is selling it for $78.86. UPDATE: And Amazon has matched the Wal-mart price of $78.86.

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The set is also available for pre-order at Amazon sites around the world.

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Thanks also to Mike who sent in a tip on this.

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This is exactly what needs to happen. This is completely awesome.

To have brand new TNG content is absolutely amazing. This is way things should be done.

Hope to see way more extended and deleted scenes. Fantastic news.

Extended “Measure of a Man”??

Hey, you give a guy an inch and……..nah, it’s too easy! :>)

Aaaaahhhhh, one the best episodes in a longer cut… let’s hope it’s even better!

20 minutes of additional footage seems really long! Did they do that on other episodes as well? I always thought that only small trims are made and short scenes are removed, but 30% runtime is amazing!

One of the best episodes

One of the handful of episodes from those first two awkward seasons of the show that I really enjoyed….

Awesome! Now, I want “The Best of Both Worlds” recut into one, 2.5 hour movie with extended footage!!

Wow…common for movies, but really surprising for a T.V. episode to have shot that much extra footage. Here’s hoping for lost footage from other episodes…

On a tangent (speaking of lost footage…), it would be nice for CBS to pony up some $ for Frakes or someone from the TNG world to re-cut Nemesis. Restoring the original ending and replacing some of the tedious Shinzon scenes with more character moments with the crew would help the film immensely.

Will the episode be extended or will the scenes simply be presented in the supplements?

THAT IS BRILLIANT news!!
Agreeing with other posters, this is what needs to be happening with some more Blu ray tv show releases. It might even feel like watching a more complete episode. Wow!!

This could have made an excellent two parter…

I’m going to be the spelling Nazi for today:

> include an unseen sneak-peak of “Measure of a Man.”

> Peak of “Measure of a Man” part of July 23 screenings

Peak = mountaintop
Peek = glance, preview

2:

Careful, Harry. It’s not ‘Measure of my Manhood.’ You always confuse the two.

Now we’re talking. No way I’m paying for the same old episodes on Blu-Ray, no matter how much clearer the image is. But additional scenes, I’m there. “Measure of a Man” was TNG’s first hint of greatness, even if the actress playing Louvois should have stuck to songwriting (she wrote Bette Midler’s “The Rose”.)

I could swear there are other episodes which were longer on TV than they are on DVD. “The Chase” is one. I distinctly remember a longer conversation between Picard and the Romulan commander at the end.

The fencing scene was filmed.

All TV shows should restore footage cut for time when released on home video. There is not time slot limit on home video.

I still hope that when they (presumably) get to DS9, we can get a longer cut of “To The Death” with all the battle added back.

Now that would be a great gift to us crazy Trek Fan’s. An Extra 20 minutes would almost be like a new Ep of Tng. Please. Make it so!

# 2. Harry~

LOL!

As Scotty would said in I, Mudd, “Harry Ballz! Oh, you bogus frat, ya!”

;-D

Meh it really isn’t worth getting excited over it’s only TNG after all. IF it was DS9 then they should do extended scenes for all the episodes.

They should release these on DVD as well since the current DVD’s use codecs that can hold up to 30 gb’s on a DVD..

Brian Brophy the prosecuting lawyer Cmdr. Bruce Maddox in the blue uniform was my acting coach in college. He said, between takes Sir Patrick Stewart was perturbed by the guy’s acting style and exclaimed, “Does he have to breath like that!” To try to one up Stewart, my acting coach decided to employ a breathing technique that was meant to reassert himself – it was a “power struggle” he wanted to introduce into the scene. Guess it worked since it ticked off Stewart. Hahaha.

#21

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to watch for the breathing technique next time I see the episode.

I thought Brophy did a good job as Maddox.

@12. Cap’n Calhoun

May I respectfully object? Not to your correction of errant spelling, but to the continued use of the term “Nazi” to describe behaviors that trivialize the actual horrors which have been committed in that name.

That alone would be enough to get me to buy it, IF i wasn’t already planning on it.

Don’t know if anybody goes back this far, but when David Gerrold was still on TNG, he had a STARLOG column about TNG and he suggested something in it almost exactly like what Snodgrass wrote, concerning the legality of Data as a lifeform. It startled me and kind of bothered me when I first saw the ep, because I thought Gerrold should have gotten some kind of screen credit (feel the same way about Moore’s DEFECTOR, which seems to owe a lot to Diane Duane’s novel MY ENEMY MY ALLY), but over the years, MEASURE has ascended & is definitely one of my fave TNG eps (and there ain’t that many, believe me … TOS and DS9 are close to being all the Trek that I can bear to watch.)

Also … that twitter feed says send “BACK to CBS” … that suggests they had it already and sent it to her for review. Or am I reading it wrong?

Perhaps they won’t reconstruct this into HD and will just include this longer cut in SD as a bonus feature.

Pretty excited about this, hope it works out.

Interesting! I would assume all of the film of the extra scenes is in the vault.. Because the show was originally edited on video, no film would have been lost on the cutting room floor because the film was never in the cutting room!

It’s not clear if Snodgrass is referring to a new cut she was recently sent to give notes on, or if she’s referring to a personal copy of the longer cut of the show that she’s had all these years, to enjoy as fuller production of her overtime teleplay. Perhaps she has the only known copy of the uncut show, and CBS needs to see it to reconstruct that version of the episode from all the film they have.

As to why the show could have been so hugely over long, under the post-stike time pressure to get scripts, which is how this unsolicited spec script got discovered, they may have decided to shoot now and edit later. Snodgrass has sole credit. Nobody in-house did a credited rewrite.

I wonder how many episodes were cut for time like this and may also be expanded? Longer isn’t always better so hopefully there will be seamless branching employed to see the original version or the expanded version.

Any idea if deleted scenes were common among TNG episodes?

THIS is what I call VERY COOL news!!! I had no idea extra scenes were even shot and to think that these scenes will make it onto the DVD is just an AMAZING thing!!! LOVE IT!!! CAN’T WAIT!!!! WTG, Paramount!!!

This is AMAZING news!

CBS if you are reading this, PLEASE let this happen! I am sure there are ways to branch it so the purists can see the original version in HD, but exclusive extended cuts of Star Trek episodes is exactly what will get me (and many others) to seal the deal and buy the Blu Ray sets in their initial run. Plus all those Germans willl buy them too! Thank you for being open enough to consider this.

Also for DS9; if there would be a way to get an extended version of that series in HD, I would pre order all of it. I know the limits of broadcast tv running called for specific time constraints, but imagine the possible “sprucing up” of the other series’ like Voyager and Enterprise…I’d buy those too in Blu Ray if they offered extended cuts. I Promise!

Sounds interesting. Even if they can’t locate the archival film footage, it would be cool to include an upconverted version of the episode, since it wasn’t very FX laden.
Season 2 is going to be short anyway, so any extras at all will be welcome.

I am squeeling with glee!

COOOOOL.

IF they do this, I will pay for the Season 2 Blu Rays. Seeing new scenes on DVD that add to the story makes the price of the disks acceptable. I suppose they could make the new scenes optional for “the purists” like they did for the special effects in the TOS Blu Rays.

Absolutely fantastic if they do it. Measure of a Man is one of the few Trek episodes, heck one of the few anythings, that brings a little tear to me eye – the scene where Guinan points Picard in the direction of where things are really going. It’s right up there with other mega-powerful but also nuanced moments, the only other two in Trek I can think of are when we first meet Cardassians and Troy double-takes O’Brien, and then the DS9 episode “Cardassians”. Basically any of the hints that humanity hasn’t evolved past denial … at least Kirk openly acknowledged some of his more banal instincts!

@23. Captain Dunsel

My bad. I hear the term thrown around so much that I tend to do the same, but you’re absolutely right. No offense intended.

As far as I know it actually happened pretty often on TNG that they had more scenes filmed then they could use. I read that somewhere. Mostly B-Plot stuff I think.

Thank goodness they are extending the measure of a man. Viagra can only go so far, you know.

40. MJ “Viagra can only go so far”

And that’s the long and short of it!

Q: what does a man with a 12-inch penis have for breakfast?

A: well, let’s see, this morning I had bacon, eggs, coffee…….

:>)

#39 – If that’s the case it would be amazing if they did it on more episodes.

I’d rented the “TNG TV-Film” set a few years ago, which were essentially all the two-parters edited into 85 minutes ‘features,’ and watching them in that format some of those episodes felt really rushed. Makes sense now if additional scenes were shot but cut out for a broadcast timeslot – think how cool it would be if those ‘TV films’ were drawn out to even longer length features! *drool*

To make the episode even more boring?

37- It’s the only jewel in a crop of lackluster S2 episodes. Wasn’t their fault so much due to the strike, but it was nice they cranked out one exceptional episode.
41- It would be interesting, but one has to wonder how many of the elements still exist in any form suitable for 4K conversion. I picked up the BluRay restoration of The Godfather Trilogy and it had a new documentary about how difficult it was to restore The Godfather Part 1 in particular due to the degradation of the negative due to having so many unanticipated prints run off of it. They really had to tap dance to get that job done. Wouldn’t it have been great if the restoration people for this project had located extra footage, since most TV shows even today must trim series scenes to fit the timeslot?
I have always thought that could be a good source of untapped revenue…

Given how terrible the pacing of TNG often was (how many times did we complain about steady-paced episodes with rushed endings?) there’s probably plenty of avenue to do this to several shows.

I wonder if stuff like ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ will see the special edition treatment . . .

Wow. The extended cut alone is a perfectly good reason for me to buy the box.

Measure of a Man, Longer, Bigger, Uncut… Fully Functional.

Yep, I’m 8.

Twenty extra minutes of unused footage seems awfully long for a one hour drama that’s really only 43 minutes before commercials back in 1987-88, and that even includes the opening credits. It almost seems that with some expansion rewrites of the original script, they could have almost made the episode two hours just by adding twenty plus more minutes to what was already filmed, and viola, Measure of a Man, Part I and Part II.

=A=

Great episode. However, I don’t know if I can afford the new Blus just for one extended episode…

http://cornersofchaos.blogspot.com/

Outstanding clip. I really miss this kind of intelligent Star Trek.