CDN$ 58.18
Warping into syndication in 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation successfully launched its seven-season “continuing mission” of the starship Enterprise, and this classy DVD boxed set gathers the show’s inaugural season in crisp picture clarity and dazzling 5.1-channel sound. A ratings leader with a sharp ensemble cast, this revamped Trek honored series creator Gene Roddenberry’s original Trek concept, nurtured by returning veterans like producer Robert H. Justman and writers D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold. Several first-season episodes have original-series counterparts, and while the season was awkwardly inconsistent for all involved (including Roddenberry’s heir apparent, producer Rick Berman), in retrospect the series began on remarkably solid footing.
Patrick Stewart was perfect as Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard, while Marina Sirtis struggled with a wretched hair bun and an ill-defined character, eventually blessing Counselor Troi with delicate nuance. Denise Crosby made a strong but underutilized impression as Security Chief Tasha Yar, and left the series before season’s end, allowing writers to develop Klingon Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) into a fan favorite. Brent Spiner transcended Spock comparisons with his triumphant portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data; and while Jonathan Frakes was accepted as First Officer Will Riker, fans ultimately rejected Wil Wheaton as ensign Wesley Crusher, the teenaged son of the ship’s doctor (Gates McFadden). Still, these 25 episodes laid a firm foundation for subsequent seasons, and highlights include the Raymond Chandleresque “holo- novel” of “The Big Goodbye,” Data’s backstory in “Datalore,” the Klingon rituals of “Heart of Glory,” and a Romulan encounter in “The Neutral Zone.” The DVD supplements (all on the seventh disc) are good enough to make anyone wish for more: four featurettes recall myriad first-season challenges, filled with insider perspective and enough NextGen trivia to satiate all but the most obsessive Trekkers back on Earth. Looking back, it’s easy to see why NextGen lived long and prospered. –Jeff Shannon
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I own the other six years of the series, but not this one. Most of the acting is painful and awkward, the pacing too slow, Troi’s costumes are embarrassing, Worf looks silly and Tasha Yar hands down is the worst actress imaginable – how did she ever get the part?
Rating: 2 / 5
Two Words: WESLEY CRUSHER. If you want to watch good Star Trek get Deep Space Nine or wait for Voyager. Or forget Star Trek all together and watch Farscape.
Rating: 1 / 5
Having watched Babylon 5 over and over, and studied the character development, nuances and documentaries on that series, most other science fiction stories and television series seem to pale in comparison … including Star Trek: The Next Generation. I like the idea of a storyline that is developed from start to finish before it is put onto the small screen. I find that the isolated, individual episodes of ST:TNG are not as compelling. The odd story arcs come along, and they may be interesting, like the conflicts between Q and Picard, but they start at Point “A” and end at Point “A,” they do not go onto another compelling sources of conflict or develop further. However, I have to stand back from Babylon 5 and keep an open mind that ST:TNG is a legitimate television and science fiction storyline as well. I enjoyed ST:TNG when it was on television, and it does pretty well as a DVD set with a couple of notable exceptions. First, why didn’t Paramount give this series the widescreen treatment? Second, while the DVDs have the Dolby 5.1 Surround capability, they do not fully exploit the richness of that acoustic level. Maybe Paramount didn’t want to spend a lot of money to update ST:TNG for the DVD format, but considering the price of each set, these features should have been there. As for the extras, they are interesting, especially Gene Roddenberry’s insights, but there is hardly any new/original material. These qualms aside, and despite my favourtism for Babylon 5, I feel that ST:TNG is still a worthy science fiction series and it should be part of your DVD collection.
Rating: 4 / 5
Each season of TNG will be presented in a highly collectable box set, with seven discs and a pull-out booklet of episode information and a panoramic montage of the crew (Season 2 will have only six discs due to the abbreviated season of 22 episodes versus 26). The seven box sets will create an attractive library of the entire series.
“Star Trek is one of our most popular and enduring video franchises,” said Eric Doctorow, president, Paramount Home Entertainment Worldwide. “We are very excited to be releasing Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD because we are now offering consumers the ultimate home viewing experience for this immensely popular show.”
The contents of the Season One box set are as follows:
Disc 1: Encounter at Farpoint Parts 1 & 2 (episodes 101, 102), The Naked Now (103), Code of Honor (104)
Disc 2: The Last Outpost (107), Where No One Has Gone Before (106), Lonely Among Us (108), Justice (109)
Disc 3: The Battle (110), Hide and Q (111), Haven (105), The Big Goodbye (113)
Disc 4: DataLore (114), Angel One (115), 11001001 (116), Too Short a Season (112)
Disc 5: When the Bough Breaks (118), Home Soil (117), Coming of Age (119), Heart of Glory (120)
Disc 6: The Arsenal of Freedom (121), Symbiosis (123), Skin of Evil (122), We’ll Always Have Paris (124)
Disc 7: Conspiracy (125), The Neutral Zone (126), Special Features
This has many other special featues on the 7th disc. If you do not like this season as some other people don’t I’m sure other people will mind if you sell it on ebay because you could make money on this product.
Rating: 5 / 5
All the trekies out there, this is the season to see. I think it is one of the best because it’s the one that started it all. It made the whole story of the serious a legend to come. It gave all the characters a behind story of who they are. A lot of trekies think it is the virgin of the serious, I agree but I think the start of every saga is the best. One of the best missions that I’ve enjoyed the most was “Where No One Has Gone Before” because it gave a very interesting theory on what is beyond space. And also episodes like “Justice, Skin of Evil, The Neutrol Zone and the first episode Encounter at Farpoint”, which was the longest episode. I think Yatasha Yar did very well in the serious, but it was to bad she had to leave so soon. Of course Jean Luke Pichard is the best character in my opinion because he is the Captain of the ship and has a lot of talent and also William Riker the first officier of the ship was good too. But actor wise I think they are all talented equally. I also liked season 2 next to this season. I’ve always liked the beggining part to the serious the most. This is the best season to choose if you were going to choose only one season. But for myself I’m getting them all!
Rating: 5 / 5