it kinda ruins the idea of old movie..

it kinda supports the idea of a HD movie..

And I keep wondering whether this has anything at all to do with the higher spatial resolution that is implied by "High Definition". From what we see here, it looks like they have raised the all over contrast, and in particular the color contrast - you could do exactly the same without going to HD (part of it by turning the knobs on your TV set). Some hues are shifted to more "modern" hues; that doesn't requires HD either. I suspect that the increased crispness is partially (or only) a rise in the high frequency image contents - same as the "sharpen" function in image processing programs.

Sure, they *may* have done a new scanning of the original 35mm film original, in higher resolution than earlier, and then the result would most likely have higher spatial resolution (provided there are more details in the film frame than could be converted to the traditional SD format). But lots of the changes could very well be made even in the SD format without rescanning the film.

Some of these changes are pure marketing tricks. If the only difference from SD to HD was the spatial resolution, many people would say it isn't worth the cost of buying a new copy. So "artificial" changes are added, just to create a bigger difference between the old and the new version. People tend to believe that e.g. the changed hues are "more correct" because a more fancy format is used, while in fact they are just different. Same with contrast: Increasing the contrast makes the picture *look* sharper at first sight, while in fact it (may) cause some details to disappear in highlights or darkness.

Sure, you may like the updated version better. I might, too. But it doesn't hurt knowing which are the *real* improvements and which are no more than changes to make it stand out more from the old version.

nice analysis, above.

personally, it's hard for me to take the new mastering seriously because it's hard for me to take STTNG seriously. although the later episodes tend to be good, the series as a whole has not stood the test of time very well.

it's a lazy as it is greedy

I can understand fixing scratches in old film, but I agree that this is just for greed. This is the same as taking a flat film and making it 3D for extra profits. It doesn't make it better and in a lot of cases, makes it worse.