Okay, this is a tiny, tiny nit to pick, but as I was putting the DVD away just now, I noticed something odd. There wasn't as much color as there should have been around Picard's rank pips. For the image label on the DVD itself, Picard's wearing his old TV-era uniform -- they used an old promo photo from ten years ago!
Now, knowing how graphics design works sometimes, it's possible that they just didn't have any suitable material to cut-n-paste Picard's photo using the updated uniform. And seeing as how the DVD was certainly put together months after the production of the movie was over, the wouldn't've bothered calling Patrick Stewart back in for one lousy photo for the lousy DVD label.
However... one could also argue that it's just one more indication of the worry at Paramount over the increasing age of the TNG crew. Not that I think it's a problem, myself -- box office issues aside, I think they could've kept going with the story.
I can't be certain, but comparing the DVD label with the box's cover (which was definitely the promotional images for the theatrical release), I'm pretty sure that they're the same image, just with the one on the cover shaded in more so Picard's face is darker. This would negate my first thought that they just did that DVD cover after the fact -- they used an old photo of Picard all along! Is Patrick Stewart REALLY so old that they have to use a ten-year-old photo of him to promote a new movie?
I don't consider this a really important issue on its own... but I'm just wondering about the opinions that this little discrepancy seems to indicate. Thoughts?
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
I noticed that, too. And let's face it, there were several times when Patrick Stewart just didn't come off as a wise but vibrant captain. But, a lot of that had to do with the crap lighting in the film, as much as anything else. (Compare to the lighting of First Contact, which could've made Jack Palance look like a smooth pimp.)
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I would say, of all the cast, Stewart is the one they least need to worry about looking old. He already looked old to begin with. I would be more concerned with the fact that Brent Spiner was playing an andorid who somehow managed to gain weight and develop wrinkles over the years.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
It could've been alomst anything. From the execs at Paramount ordering the use of a younger photo to the designer having a stack of photos to use and not knowing anythign about Star Trek.
Now, I've never worked on anything that big before, but I've worked on things I don't know anything about before. This project probably went through alot more scrutiny than anything I've done, and while I don't imagine there was anything in that DVD package that didn't get pondered over by people at Paramount, it could've started in any number of ways.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
According the Cinefex article on Nemesis, they used CGI to smooth out some of the rough edges that have developed on the faces of cast members.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: I would say, of all the cast, Stewart is the one they least need to worry about looking old. He already looked old to begin with. I would be more concerned with the fact that Brent Spiner was playing an andorid who somehow managed to gain weight and develop wrinkles over the years.
True. In fact, considering that Nemesis was a decade and a half after Farpoint, Stewart barely seems to have aged at all.
And as Tim says, it's okay for his character. It's not like Kirk, who was young and dashing and sexy but then got old and bald. Picard was always old and bald, so it still worked.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
It's quite funny because Patrick Stewart has looked like that for many a year... even back in I, Claudius or Excalibur...
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Speaking of which, everytime I watch Excalibur now, I always think it could be one of Q's scenarios for our good captain, seeing Patrick Stewart like that in a costume other than a Trek uniform. His X-Men attire not withstanding, of course.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Actually, I think Stewart was very noticably older in Nemesis.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I agree: I just saw a Conan O'brien interview with him and he looked not just old, but frail. He's lost a LOT of weight.
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Hmm, so much that it could be the effect of some dangerous illness??
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Hope not!
He looked like he'd stopped working out, aged ten more years since Nemesis and grew a beard! A Beard.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Well, the guy is. . . *checks* 63, you know. Two years older than my dad. And in fact he's doing the Christmas commercial here for department store Marks & Spencer - in voice-over, but you see him at the end - and he doesn't look too bad. Plus, a couple of months ago he was on motoring show Top Gear, as part of which he did what all their guests do, race a saloon car around a track, and he managed quite a respectable time. So, getting old? Yes. But carrying it well.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I'm confused by that Marks & Spencer ad though. I mean, I know he's not Hollywoof A-list, but surely he's not that desperate for money that he needs to do department store adverts. Unless he's a real fan of M&S.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Hollywoof?!? Is this the new equal opportunities thing for dog-stars?
At least you didn't mistype M&S... Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
British actors seem to like working constantly, instead of taking time off between major projects. Or at least I seem to recall hearing that. Maybe he took the job for lack of a reason not to.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I'd like to see this ad. Is it print or is it a TV commercial? Where may I view it?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Last year's celebrity-themed M&S ad was quite popular. . . Maybe he just wants to up his profile in the UK a bit, what with him doing more theatre over here, and appearing on motoring programmes.
. . . Best I can do. The mediacentre does have an images section, but you need to register as being from a publication to access them. And there may not even be any stills form this ad there.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)