Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Seasons 1-7
by LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Timothy Bond
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Actor: Gates McFadden, LeVar BurtonDirector: Gabrielle Beaumont, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Robert Becker, Timothy Bond
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Color
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 8079 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Seasons 1-7
DVD Review: The Next Step in the Star Trek Anthology and a Historic Event in Television.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Star Trek Collection is a worthy hobby and certainly the largest of the television series DVD Collections (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise). At around 1100 minutes per box (a few hours less than the TOS seasons) we are still looking at approx 30 boxes with 700 hours of viewing. That is 1 month of non-stop Star Trek. No DVD series comes remotely close to that. Get going collecting right now and build up on each succession over the years. By the end you will have a very serious anthology that defines the word awe. This is the kind of item that requires 1 hour a day of your time for the next few years. It is a cherished memory that served your fathers and will serve your children also. Our very planet, Earth, has advanced because of Gene Roddenberry's admirable concept. Roddenberry nailed the premise of the series when he said that he wanted to create a show with characters that we could look up too. `The Bridge' members are like our family. Watch what they do. Then go and spend your life striving for the same on Earth. What engineer, medic, scientist, teacher, worker can not say that Star Trek has not influenced them? The show is this significant in the development of our species. Even Christians respect and quote its authority and it is not hard to see why. The DVD case is not quite as fancy as the TOS (The Original Series) cases. The TNG case is supposed to resemble a TNG crew briefcase. The case opens to reveal the disc booklet inside a sleeve. Sliding the disc booklet out of the sleeve and flipping it open reveals a spread of 7 discs. There are 4 episodes per disc. However the last disc, disc 7, only has two episodes, for a grand total of 26 episodes (TOS has 8 Discs, 30 episodes). The rest of disc 7 is devoted to Star Trek interviews and trailers with the usual expected extras...and then some more. The episodes are ordered not in the sequence they where filmed, but in the sequence that they aired, however each episode has been numbered according to the order they where filmed in. This means on one disc you have shows 4, 2, 12 and 1, in that order. The sound has also been remastered to 5:1 Dolby Digital! Since the show was shot in full frame, these dimensions are retained.
Star Trek, The Next Generation (TNG), Season One, had an amazing impact when it was first broadcast. An instant hit and a milestone in television serials (it ran for 7 seasons unlike its predecessor that ran for 3), its characters and new look Enterprise had us glued to the TV with the first computer generated images of our solar system as Captain Picard utters the immortal words... `To baldly'... I mean... `To boldly go where no man'... I mean... `To boldly go where no one has gone before.' Viewing the episodes in the order they where filmed does not show a vision in the shaping as per the TOS series but is more of the same again (even remaking some TOS episodes), this time with more characters, more action and more special effects.
SEASON 1
All of the main characters in the TNG series are in episode one, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Tasha Yar, Lieutenant Worf, Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lt. Commander/Commander Deanna Troi, Lt. Commander Data and Ensign Wesley Crusher. Only Natasha Yar quits before the first season is finished. Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher is replaced by Doctor Katherine Pulaski for Season two. Ensign Wesley Crusher is only sometimes reoccurring after Season four. The Enterprise itself is beautifully rendered with additional areas such as the holodeck allowing for almost any environment at the users choosing, playing an important function in many episodes. The use of computer generated images (a ground-breaking television experience back in 1987!) allowed for inspirational subspace sequences, planets, backdrops, an improved bridge main viewer and windows! Advances in makeup effects brought new alien characters to life and allowed an actor to appear as if he where indeed an android. TNG Season One attempts to relate with TOS by reviving similar stories while at the same time adding on additional insights into new and fascinating sci-fi theory while retaining most of the character arcs that made TOS so interesting. The stories (also written by TOS's DC Fontana) are as fresh today as they where in the late 80s, early 90s, when TNG first aired. Season One of TNG is mostly about deities, infections, alien cultures, galactic politics, time travel, alien forces, mind control, family matters, computer malfunctions and Starfleet Academy. There are also the unforgettable episodes `Encounter at Farpoint' which introduces us to the crew of the Enterprise and the mysterious Q, `Where No One has Gone Before' a wonderful story about travelling the cosmos, `Datalore' which features two Data characters, `Heart of Glory' with some in-depth revelations about Klingons , `Skin of Evil' featuring some remarkable effects for its time with a very sad ending, and the classic `Conspiracy' (this episode is uncut, which features some violent scenes involving a head explosion edited from some daytime television showings [so parents be cautious]) about an invasion of the body snatchers type takeover of Starfleet. The bottom line for TNG: Season One is that it will bring back some enormously delightful memories for those who where awe inspired by it when it first came out. Although we can debate about which is the better series, TNG or TOS, we still absolutely adore both. We might miss Kirk rolling about the desert scrub with a seven foot man in a rubber reptile costume, but hearing Picard saying `make it so' just makes our day.
SEASON 2
Season Two, still carries on with repeating much of the stories in TOS, revamping them and then adding some new stuff of its own, boosting Data's screen time, bumping up the computer generated graphics to allow for things like shuttlecraft launching and manoeuvres, improved alien CGI and an enhancement in particle effects. They even attempt a type of morphing. Most of the main characters from Season One are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker (now with a beard), Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf (letting his hair grow), Commander Deanna Troi (complete with low-cut red starfleet costume), Lt. Commander Data and Ensign Wesley Crusher. However obviously Commander Lieutenant Tasha Yar is gone but so is Dr. Beverly Crusher (who was not bad-looking), replaced by Doctor Katherine Pulaski (who looks like your granny!) for Season Two because Dr. Crusher has been reassigned to Starfleet Medical as explained in episode one of Season Three (in reality the TNG writers where having difficulties in developing Crusher's character, would later reinstate her for Season Three, dropping Pulaski because they felt her character was not working). Colm Meaney as Miles Edward O'Brien, Navigation from Season One gets more screentime, while the new Whoopi Goldberg chatacter, Guinan, is the wise El Aurian bartender in 10 Forward, the new bar room where the Enterprise crew get to relax. Except for this extra area the Enterprise itself has not gone undergone much of a revamp and this season is far more Enterprise based than Season One, or all of TOS, meaning Season Two has less planetary exploration stories which is a bit of a drawback, but sets a new standards in the `hotel in space' feel that would produce the `Deep Space Nine' series. Season Two of TNG is mostly about alien impregnation, mystery space, AI, the holodeck, interplanetary relations, rapid aging, justice, shape-shifting, time travel, family, the prime directive, kidnapping, cloning, war games and infections. The big plus side to not having that much planetary exploration is that there are lots of stories with Klingons and the first encounter with the BORG! The unforgettable episodes are, `Elementary, Dear Data' where Data takes on his Sherlock Holmes persona and we are introduced to the Moriarty character. `Loud as a Whisper' is about a deaf and dumb peace negotiator. `A Matter of Honor' is where Riker serves on a Klingon battleship. `Q Who?' may well be the best episode here because it is the first time we meet the Borg. The last episode of Season Two `Shades of Gray' may be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever, which uses Riker's memories from Seasons One and Two to make up an entire episode and even includes the uncut scenes for the Season One episode `Conspiracy' featuring the violent head explosion edited from some daytime television showings [so parents be cautious again]). The bottom line for TNG: Season Two is that for all it shortcomings because of lack of beaming down, we get the Borg and lots and lots of Klingons. At this stage in the saga we might still miss Kirk rolling about the desert scrub with a seven foot man in a rubber reptile costume, but how will Picard defeat those assimilating half-man, half-machine entities that are heading his way? He better "make it so" with Season Three.
SEASON 3
It was the dawn of the 90s and since CGI had undergone some development, the improvements can be seen not only in the new opening sequence, but with better looking planets (complete with moving gaseous atmospheres) and major enhancements in particle effects. Towards the end it undergoes new model development, lighting and subspace effects of a movie budget look. The crew uniform has changed with a new type of collar. Most of the main characters from Season Two are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker (now with a bigger belly), Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf (letting his hair grow even more), Commander Deanna Troi (with more makeup, costume changes and even an aerobics outfit [that really isn't as good as it sounds]), Lieutenant Commander Data and Ensign Wesley Crusher (new hairdo). Dr. Beverly Crusher is back (initially with a terrible hairdo that gets better) and Doctor Katherine Pulaski has been dropped from the show never to reappear again. Pulaski's disappearance is not officially explained (in reality Diana Muldaur was told her character was not working and she was offered a role in L.A. Law instead. McFadden was asked to rejoin the series again) the crew do act like she has just left because her time was up with Dr. Crusher making reference to Pulaski's work in Episode four. Commander Lieutenant Tasha Yar makes a surprise guest appearance for one episode! Dwight Schultz (Murdoch from the A-Team) makes his first appearance as Lieutenant `Reg' Barkley, who would have a reoccurring role. Colm Meaney is here again as Miles Edward O'Brien, Navigation, doesn't have much of a role boost since Season Two, while the Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan character of the wise El Aurian, the bartender in 10 Forward, has her background further developed. Season Three of TNG is mostly about nanotechnology, colonization, super aliens, the prime directive, orphans, ancient space booby traps, Romulans, wormholes, peace negotiations, defectors, super humans, terrorism, Q, court inquisitions, parallel universes, AI, Klingon high councils, captivity experiments, time travellers, biological space crafts, morale, the first law of robotics, Vulcans, Sarek, evolutionary speciation, and the Borg. Unlike Season Two there is much more planetary exploration and lots of alien encounters. There are loads of unforgettable episodes in this Season, "Evolution" where nanotechnology takes over the Enterprise, "The Survivors" is a mystery about a single household that is the only structure to survive an alien invasion on a whole planet, "Who Watches The Watchers?" is about the prime directive failing when the Enterprise team are spotted and kidnapped, "Offspring" sees Data creating another sentient android, "Sins of the Father" has Worf return to his Klingon homeworld to defend his family honour, "Hollow Pursuits" has Lt. Barkley fantasizing about crew members in the Holodeck, "Sarek" is about the Vulcan of the same name from Star Trek: The Original Series, who is back for what looks like his final peace negotiation, and of course the pot-boiler end episode of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" (widely acclaimed as one of the best Star Trek episodes ever!) marks the grand entrance of Locutus of Borg onto the scene. The bottom line for TNG: Season Three is that it is often cited by fans as the best TNG Season and is probably the first of the Seasons to really be worth the price tag demanded of these very expensive box sets. In Season Three everyone seems to have matured, included the writers who are giving us exactly what we want and the series has a serious enough budget to make every episode look like a movie, especially towards the end. There is lots in this season to enjoy and of course not since J.R. Ewing had been shot did we get the kind of cliff-hanger episode that "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" would deliver on, meaning every Trekie (and who wasn't at this time) across the planet from LA to Hong Kong had to wait all summer to learn how Picard could be saved. There is no time to loose!!! Onto Season Four. .... wooosshhhh.
SEASON 4
Not since J.R. Ewing had been shot did we get the kind of cliff-hanger episode that "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" would deliver on at the end of Season III, meaning every Trekie (and who wasn't at this time) across the planet from LA to Hong Kong had to wait all summer to learn how Picard could be saved. There was no time to lose!!! Onto Season Four. .... wooosshhhh... so here we are. With Season Three it was the dawn of the 90s and CGI had undergone some development and improvements (better looking planets with moving gaseous atmospheres, particle effects, lighting and subspace effects). With Season Three things started to have more of a movie budget look. Season Four tries to maintain that class. Most of the main characters from Season Two are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf (who keeps growing that hair), Commander Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data, Dr. Beverly Crusher and Ensign Wesley Crusher (now a Starfleet officer with full uniform, also departs from TNG half way through this Season, and has a recurring role instead of a main character in the remaining three seasons). Colm Meaney is here again as Miles Edward O'Brien and Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan. Lots of characters who had small episode roles are back for Season Four such as Worf's lover K'Ehleyr, the Traveller, K'Mpec the Klingon leader, Duras whose dishonesty caused Worf's discommendation and the Romulan Tomalak. There is also a surprise character at the end of this season. Season Four of TNG is mostly about the Borg, family, Dr. Soong and the AI emotion chip, adoption, the space-time continuum, hostage rescue, the Klingon High Council, Romulans, alternative universes, holographic projection, survival, loosing special abilities, renegade captains, the devil, amnesia, first contact, love, nightmares, mutations, super intelligence, Robin Hood, witch hunt trials, euthanasia, host life forms, mind control and honour. Like Season Three most the episodes in Season Four have great stories, combining both planetary exploration and the life of the crew instead of dealing with either one or the other as the initial seasons did. It is a well balanced season overall and a good deal more exciting than maybe its three previous seasons now that things are firmly established. Apart from containing Part II of `The Best of Both Worlds', the introduction of the Cardassians, who would become major players in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine franchise, makes it even more valuable. There are loads of unforgettable episodes in this Season, `The Best of Both Worlds, Part II' concludes the cliff-hanger from Season Three with some great battle special effects, `Family' has Picard going home to see his brother and family, `Brothers' features Dr. Soong who is Data's creator, `Reunion' returns to the story of Worf and his Klingon dishonour, `The Wounded' features the Cardassians for the first time, `Clues' has Data disobeying Picard, `First Contact' sees Riker exposed as an alien on a planet he is monitoring, the `The Nth Degree' has Barclay taking control of the Enterprise with his new special powers of intelligence, `QPid' for its historical recreation of Robin Hood and of course `Redemption, Part I' which deals with Worf's dishonour. The bottom line for TNG: Season Four is that it keeps up the pace of Season Three, and is worth the price tag demanded of these very expensive box sets. Everyone has matured and the writers are giving us exactly what we want. Although not quite the cliff-hanger end episode that "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" was, `Redemption, Part I' still concerns the loss of a main character to the other side and introduces the surprise return of a person we know. We are left asking ourselves, if the `hard man' is really gone and why does `she' look like a Romulian! As Picard would say "I can live with a mystery" but we just can't! Onto Season Five as quick as we can...
SEASON 5
Season 5 has a remarkable improvement in visual effects. The display panels on the enterprise are more interactive. The camera can now pan as special effects take place. Deep space battles seem more intense. We also get a new Star Trek title graphic in the opening sequence. The cliff-hanger conclusion of "Redemption, Part II" is a great episode although slightly lacking in the promise of a civil war battle between Klingons, Romulans and the Federation, turns out to be more of a character episode than the big epic battler we thought we would get. None-the-less, it is still a good episode that reveals some things about the family of Tasha Yar. Most of the main characters from Season Two are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (with a new red suede coat and grey uniform), Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge (who sports a new beard in one episode), Lieutenant Commander Worf (who left the Enterprise in Season Four), Commander Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data and Dr. Beverly Crusher. Ensign Wesley Crusher (who departed from Season Four half way and has a recurring role instead of a main character in the remaining three seasons) returns for some episodes but is mainly replaced by the new Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran. Colm Meaney is here again as Miles Edward O'Brien as is Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan. Alexander Rozhenko as Worf's son now has a reoccurring role since Season Four. Keiko O'Brien, (Miles O'Brien's wife) is firmly established as a reoccurring character. Watch out for the special appearances of Ashley Judd as Ensign Robin Lefler and Leonard Nimoy as Spock! Whoot! Whoot! Strangely enough this is the only season where Q, of the omnipotent Q Continuum, does not make an appearance. Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, engineer is also absent from this Season. Season Four of TNG is mostly about the Klingon High Council, Romulans, communication, Bajora, crystalline entities, disasters, addiction, reunification, time travel, parenting, telekinesis, eugenics, amnesia, possession, euthanasia, sexual repression, time warps, children, cover-ups, sexual attraction, imaginary friends, Borg, invisibility, alternative lives and phase shifting. Like Season Four most the episodes in Season Five have great stories, a perfect balance of planetary exploration and the life of the crew. It much more of the same as in Season Four with the better episodes being `Redemption, Part II', `Darmok' an interesting episode about language, the introduction of the Bajora and Ensign Ro, the Silicon Avatar makes a return, `Unification', Part I and II (both here) with Spock may be one of the most popular double episodes in the whole TNG franchise, certainly more popular than `Time's Arrow', Part I which ends this season with the possibility of something strange happening to Data on Earth. `The Masterpiece Society' shows what happens when a special genetically engineered race has contact from the outside world. Huge of Borg also makes his first appearance in `I, Borg'. Apart from the `Unification' double episode, the instalments `Ethics', about Worf undergoing a major controversial surgical operation and `The Game', when entertainment becomes mind control, have both achieved cult status as some of the best TNG episodes ever aired. Season Five unfortunately has some dull episodes too, many of which occur in the second half of the season, so the best stuff is within the first four discs. It doesn't really create much drive to push for a quick follow up with Season Six, but no doubt because Six is as good as Five was, then we are there for it. As a note: "Redemption part II" - this episode received as 12 age rating in the UK, because it contains Klingon ritual head butting. `Violations' also has sexually violent content (psychic rape). Parents may want to be cautious and view those two episodes before showing it to children. If you are going to move onto Season Six then you will probably want to know that during Season Six the crew make contact with Deep Space Nine. So if you get Deep Space Nice: Season One you can sync up the star dates and watch both franchises in chronological order. If you are in for Six you may also be in for Season One of DS9!
SEASON 6
Season 6 is generally considered the pinnacle of the series for the wind down to the Season 7 conclusion and of course the wake of popularity that Star Trek, Deep Space Nine: Season 1 whipped up while Season 6 was running. 1993 was TV Sci-Fi heaven with fans getting a double dose of ST for the year. This means for the folks who have been watching TOS and TNG, now is the time to do a special chronological order of star dates alternating between TNG Season 6 and DS9 Season 1. You can find the order if you search the new for it. TNG has really good stories while DS9 gets the effects. We are no longer happy to see a new interactive flat panel as the driving force of a story. Season 6 answers with substance to characters and stories with some surprises (Picard acting like a Russian is hysterical. Would you sacrifice his authority role for that quality humour from him from time to time? Maybe yes!). The conclusion of "Time's Arrow" is not the best cliff-hanger but sufficient. Most of the main characters from Season Two are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Commander Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data and Dr. Beverly Crusher. Ensign Wesley Crusher (who departed from Season Four half way and has a recurring role instead of a main character in the remaining seasons) returns for some episodes but is mainly replaced by the new Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran. Colm Meaney is here again as Miles Edward O'Brien but will be transferred to DS9 (his absence is not mentioned). Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan is back along with Alexander Rozhenko. Keiko O'Brien, (Miles O'Brien's wife) will also leave for DS9. Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, engineer is back after being absent from Season 5. Season 6 of TNG is mostly about transporter psychosis, empaths, Scotty!, alien abductions, Q, age regression, android dreams, artificial life, Cardassians, Prof. Moriarty, love, Romulan defection, destiny, Klingon birthrights, thieves, command ethics, origins of life, insanity, murder, faith, doubles, time travel and the Borg. Like Season 5 most the episodes in Season 6 have above average sci-fi stories, combing planetary exploration and the life of the crew. Memorable episodes include, A Fistful of Datas, The Quality of Life, Ship in a Bottle, Face of the Enemy, Birthright and lessons. There are three very good episodes which really make the season worth. Tapestry sees Picard given the opportunity to relive his youth without the night he fought with a gang who stabbed him through the heart. Suspicion is a great whodunit episode (of which there are a few) with one of the coolest Star Trek aliens ever (should have made him a main character). Descent Part I is a very nice slight of hand trick. You will keep thinking Hugh right up until the last second.
SEASON 7
Star Trek: Season 7 is of course winding down to a conclusion, making way for some Star Trek films, but in reality it is Deep Space Nine: Season 2 (DS9: Season 1 starts in star date chronological order with TNG: Season 6) that is the new trek. Fans of Star Trek got their twofold measure of these series through 1993 and 1994 making it an exceptional SF TV era. The conclusion of "Descent, Part II" has the finale of Lore. Most of the main characters from Season Two are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Commander Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data and Dr. Beverly Crusher. Ensign Wesley Crusher (who departed from Season Four half way and has a recurring role instead of a main character in the remaining seasons) returns for one episode. While Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran, was supposed to replace him, she only appears in one episode in Season 7, although the episode is a major one focused on her. Colm Meaney shows up again as Miles Edward O'Brien for the last episode. Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan is gone without explanation (see the movie "Star Trek: Nemesis" on her). Alexander Rozhenko is back. Keiko O'Brien, (Miles O'Brien's wife) is not here either (after leaving for DS9). Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, engineer, is back again. Season 6 of TNG is mostly about Lore, emotional studies, interfaces, mercenaries, nightmares, psychic trauma, Beverly and Picard, warp travel environmental damage, data's mother, alternate realities, the Pegasus, Worf's human brother, incubus, top secret missions, radiation sickness, deities, Troi and Worf, reverse evolution, Wesley and the Traveller, Klingon right of ascension, Picard's son, abiogenesis, Ro Laren and time travel. While there are some hit and miss episodes and a really terrible one ("Masks" for example is one of the worst of the entire franchise) most are well above average and some are incredible. Memorable episodes include, Gambit, Forces of Nature, Inheritance, Lower Decks, Thine Own Self, Journey's end and Bloodlines. The Pegasus is probably the best episode of the Season, but the finale "All good things..." is really where it is at with some good aging effects, a possible future with an older looking cast and an futuristic Enterprise to die for. The series ends very warmly and with a nicer note about the possibilities of looking within instead of charting stars and galaxies for a newer greater trek. In short there is nothing like ST:TNG. It evolved TV serials into mega media and ran for a full span of 7 years. It set a new benchmark and placed the bar as high as the stars.
Description of Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Seasons 1-7
After Star Wars and the successful big-screen Star Trek adventures, it's perhaps not so surprising that Gene Roddenberry managed to convince purse string-wielding studio heads in the 1980s that a Next Generation would be both possible and profitable. But the political climate had changed considerably since the 1960s, the Cold War had wound down, and we were now living in the Age of Greed. To be successful a second time, Star Trek had to change too.A writer's guide was composed with which to sell and define where the Trek universe was in the 24th Century. The United Federation of Planets was a more appealing ideology to an America keen to see where the Reagan/Gorbachev faceoff was taking them. Starfleet's meritocratic philosophy had always embraced all races and species. Now Earth's utopian history, featuring the abolishment of poverty, was brandished prominently and proudly. The new Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, was no longer a ship of war but an exploration vessel carrying families. The ethical and ethnical flagship also carried a former enemy (the Klingon Worf, played by Michael Dorn), and its Chief Engineer (Geordi LaForge) was blind and black. From every politically correct viewpoint, Paramount executives thought the future looked just swell!
Roddenberry's feminism now contrasted a pilot episode featuring ship's Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a mini-skirt with her ongoing inner strengths and also those of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the short-lived Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby). The arrival of Whoopi Goldberg in season 2 as mystic barkeep Guinan is a great example of the good the original Trek did for racial groups--Goldberg has stated that she was inspired to become an actress in large part through seeing Nichelle Nichols' Uhura. Her credibility as an actress helped enormously alongside the strong central performances of Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (First Officer Will Riker), and Brent Spiner (Data) in defining another wholly believable environment once again populated with well-defined characters. Star Trek, it turned out, did not depend for its success on any single group of actors.
Like its predecessor in the 1960s, TNG pioneered visual effects on TV, making it an increasingly jaw-dropping show to look at. And thanks also to the enduring success of the original show, phasers, tricorders, communicators and even phase inverters were already familiar to most viewers. But while technology was a useful tool in most crises, it now frequently seemed to be the cause of them too, as the show's writers continually warned about the dangers of over-reliance on technology (the Borg were the ultimate expression of this maxim). The word "technobabble" came to describe a weakness in many TNG scripts, which sacrificed the social and political allegories of the original and relied instead upon invented technological faults and their equally fictitious resolutions to provide drama within the Enterprise's self-contained society. (The holodeck's safety protocol override seemed to be next to the light switch given the number of times crew members were trapped within.) This emphasis on scientific jargon appealed strongly to an audience who were growing up for the first time in the late 1980s with the home computer--and gave rise to the clichéd image of the nerdy Trek fan.
Like in the original Trek, it was in the stories themselves that much of the show's success is to be found. That pesky Prime Directive kept moral dilemmas afloat ("Justice"/"Who Watches the Watchers?"/"First Contact"). More "what if" scenarios came out of time-travel episodes ("Cause and Effect"/"Time's Arrow"/"Yesterday's Enterprise"). And there were some episodes that touched on the political world, such as "The Arsenal of Freedom" questioning the supply of arms, "Chain of Command" decrying the torture of political prisoners and "The Defector", which was called "The Cuban Missile Crisis of The Neutral Zone" by its writer. The show ran for more than twice as many episodes as its progenitor and therefore had more time to explore wider ranging issues. But the choice of issues illustrates the change in the social climate that had occurred with the passing of a couple of decades. "Angel One" covered sexism; "The Outcast" was about homosexuality; "Symbiosis"--drug addiction; "The High Ground"--terrorism; "Ethics"--euthanasia; "Darmok"--language barriers; and "Journey's End"--displacement of Indians from their homeland. It would have been unthinkable for the original series to have tackled most of these.
TNG could so easily have been a failure, but it wasn't. It survived a writer's strike in its second year, the tragic death of Roddenberry just after Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991, and plenty of competition from would-be rival franchises. Yes, its maintenance of an optimistic future was appealing, but the strong stories and readily identifiable characters ensured the viewers' continuing loyalty. --Paul Tonks
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Star Trek The Animated Series - The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star TrekPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $28.76
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Star Trek: Enterprise: The Complete SeriesParamount; Release date: 2005-11-01; DVD
Best price: $170.52
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Star Trek Voyager: Seasons 1-7Paramount; Release date: 2004-12-21; DVD
Best price: $214.00
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete SeriesParamount; Release date: 2004-10-26; DVD
Best price: $275.00
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Star Trek: The Original Series - The Complete Series (Seasons 1-3 Bundle)Paramount; Release date: 2008-11-18; DVD
Best price: $189.27
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Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (The Motion Picture / The Wrath of Khan / The Search for Spock / The Voyage Home / The Final Frontier / The Undiscovered Country + The Captain's Summit Bonus Disc)Par; Release date: 2009-09-22; DVD
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection (First Contact / Generations / Insurrection / Nemesis)Paramount; Release date: 2009-09-22; DVD
Best price: $25.92
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