Popping this 4K remaster into my player was like stepping onto the Enterprise bridge for the first time - that crisp LCARS display clarity had me grinning like Geordi spotting a warp core breach.
The Borg scenes hit differently in HDR - those sickly green assimilation tubules now look so unnervingly textured, I caught myself leaning away from the screen during Picard's flashback sequence. The Queen's biomechanical 'skin' reveals creepy new details that standard Blu-ray just couldn't capture.
Sunday movie night turned into a full franchise marathon when my non-Trekker roommate got hooked after the Phoenix launch scene - the 4K upgrade makes Cochrane's sweat-streaked face and Montana daylight feel startlingly present. We ended up debating Zefram's character flaws over pizza, which never happened with the streaming version.
The Dolby Atmos track had my apartment walls vibrating during the Battle of Sector 001. When the Borg cube explodes, my neighbor actually knocked to ask if I was 'doing construction' - that's how visceral the low-end frequencies are in this mix.
Pro tip: The included Blu-ray's special features are worth keeping - the Borg Collective commentary track reveals wild production stories, like how Alice Krige's contact lenses were actually vacuum-formed dental molds. Perfect for when you want to nerd out between rewatches.