Star Trek The Next Generation – The Complete Seasons 1-7
Nov/095
Amazon.com
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
Leave a comment
No trackbacks yet.
8:36 pm on November 14th, 2009
I really enjoyed seeing the series over again and the tracing of the characters.
Rating: 5 / 5
9:51 pm on November 14th, 2009
My question for the Morons at Paramount is why do possibly glue the sticker seals the container with such strong stuff that you cannot avoid ruining the container when you remove it. May I remind that this a COLLETOR’S ITEM!!!!! Therefore if you damage it is WORTHLESS.
Rating: 1 / 5
11:36 pm on November 14th, 2009
For those who enjoyed the original series this set is the thing for you. Here like the original series it too takes you where no man has gone before except this is more into the future than the originals. But don’t worry a few oringinal characters make a guest appearance in a couple of episodes. My favorite guest characer appearance was Scotty in the episode “Relics” when he was talking to some crew members about some adventures on the old Enterprise as well as recreating the old bridge on the holodeck; this was like looking at my memories from the old series which I have seen dozens of times. In TNG some new characters along with new visitors take place on a new futuristic Enterprise, more advance than old one. My favorite visitor was Lwaxana Troi in her several episodes thoughout the series. Some other favorites that I included “Cause and Effect”, “A Fist Full of Datas”, and “Q-Who”. By watching this series I it just like taking a cruise to unknown worlds on a little vacation like I did. After all it was winter outside and there was nothing to do because of the cold and snow and was the perfect time to watch this.
The things that I did not like about the series is the seasonal finales at the end of several seasons. What has gone wrong the producers and writers? When it aired on the FOX network it was even worst. One episode “The Best of Both Worlds” started off very good and I kept wacthing it and watching it. The the captain was captured, they tried to rescue him but failed, and when Riker gave the order for Date to fire an energy weapon the picture goes dark followed by “To Be Continued”. I was furious and when I wanted to next part it nothing but reruns. This was ridiculous because they should ended the season with part II or begin the new season with part I. But anyway with this set I can see both parts togethor in one day not twelve weeks. Another thing I did not like about the set is the outragous prices costing hundreds of dollars compared to other series. Like before Paramont has done this to Trekies before such as forcing them spend amost ten dollars to go to a movie theater to see a TV show that is supposed to be on television. Meanwhile other TV movies such Perry Mason and Columbo played on television right where they belong. As for me I quit seeing Star Trek at the theatre after Star Trek VI. So therefore is up to you to make that choice yourself.
Rating: 5 / 5
11:49 pm on November 14th, 2009
While Star Trek is certainly among the brightest franchises yet to appear on the black hole that is television, a flawed premise underlies each series; namely, that our moral energy will keep pace with our technological prowess. This utopian naivete is most evident in The Next Generation series (even though it’s the best of the lot, particularly because of the extraordinary acting of Brent Spiner as Data and Lore). Each character is highly moral, humanity is portrayed as having evolved far beyond today’s barbarity, and of course there’s a therapist to keep everyone in touch with his feelings (the ubiquitous presence of this therapist is important: it’s one sign that though Star Trek is a vision of the future, its vision cannot be divorced from the present).
But is Star Trek’s chronological snobbery justified? Look at the chaos we’ve created throughout history, chaos of every kind reaching unprecedented levels in the last hundred years alone. Is it mere coincidence that this unprecedented chaos has occurred in tandem with the thorough absorption of “Enlightenment” values and the rise of “progressivism”? Has there proven to be a more pernicious idea than the false utopianism of the perfectibility of man? Do not mountains of corpses testify to its depravity? This is nihilism, and is an utter repudiation of moral energy. The word “progressive” as used today is fundamentally ironic, entirely Orwellian – hence perfectly in accord with the dismissal of truth under today’s dictatorship of relativism.
Yet Star Trek would have us believe that our moral energy will keep pace with our technological progress. And exactly what is the basis of the moral energy displayed in Star Trek? It certainly isn’t religion, in spite of the fact that, with all our faults, religion has been the engine of morality throughout history. Fashionably, the writers clearly believe that an enlightened galaxy is necessarily one without religion. Religion in Star Trek is so much dross to be tossed aside, or at most a token gesture; thus virtually every character leads a spiritually barren life, though some are portrayed as being “spiritual but not religious” (this currently fashionable mantra – “spiritual but not religious” – is itself, in fact, spiritually barren; it’s merely a cloak).
Again proving that its vision is fundamentally rooted in the present, the supreme values of Star Trek are these: relativism, tolerance, and multiculturalism. Of course. This secular trinity is the fount of all morality for the Federation, and from them shall spring eternal peace throughout the universe.
Is somebody kidding?
Rating: 3 / 5
11:54 pm on November 14th, 2009
This will be not so much of a review of this specific DVD set as a general review of the actual TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” itself. Keep that in mind as you read further. I say that because for potential buyers, DVD extras might influence one to spend the rather hefty bucks being asked to own the whole show, even though a lot of episodes in the final years are really not that good, in my view.
The first 3 years of this 7 year long series are undoubtedly the best in my opinion, though there still WERE a few great episodes scattered among the final four years. All things considered, this was undoubtedly one of the best sci-fi shows ever, period, but in general, the longer it ran, the worse it got.
This decades in coming spinoff to the original Kirk-Spock version truly holds its own, and in many ways, exceeds the late 60’s series, if only in that in a seven year run, there were simply more GOOD episodes than were seen in its genesis. Still, there are many, many BAD ST:TNG episodes, or poor/below average, and it all came down to the writing. The technical attributes (special effects/sets/production values) and achievements of the show were far beyond the original Star Trek series however, and remained consistently excellent throughout its entire run. A minor carp in this was the seeming “video to film” nature of the SFX, but still, most of it was done excellently.
Still, one has to wonder if the original Star Trek series had 7 years, instead of 3, whether the original would’ve been better than ST:TNG. And there were the first four excellent feature films based upon the original, which might even things out in general when comparing the two versions overall.
ST:TNG, as was the original series, was best when it stuck to the opening credits, “…To seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldy go where nobody has gone before…” In other words, episodes dealing with the “unknown” out there deep in space, were always high points for this series.
Sadly, great and original and mind-blowing sci-fi ideas were confined to only a small portion of the ST: TNG series as a whole, especially in the last four years. As with the awful (imho) followup series “Deep Space Nine” and “Enterprise,” too often, Star Trek: The Next Generation sunk into meaningless, boring, and trivial stories about Troi’s mother or Worf’s son. Such became merely sci-fi soap opera and did NOT live up to the potential of this series shown during the early years. There were also completely silly and boring, waste of time episodes involving android Mr. Data (ironically, the most interesting and compelling character on the show) playing Sherlock Holmes or other members of the cast in similar “Holodeck” created, mundane and indulgent, unimaginative “period” stories, most of which were dull and uninspiring.
Again, the best moments of this particular series dealt with the WRITING and with IDEAS. Some were quite mindblowing and deserving of much thinking and afterthought, like “Tin Man,” and “Remember Me.” Others, which again dealt with long, silly episodes involving Troi’s mother or Worf’s son, or many of the Klingon dominated shows full of ridiculous and long-winded Klingon traditions and “culture,” were and still are, rather lame.
Overall, I would break this series down as follows:
10 percent Excellent shows
20 percent Very good shows
40 percent Acceptable shows
20 percent Poor shows
10 percent Very poor shows
When the writing was true to Gene Roddenberry’s original vision, and when he was still alive and basically in control of the show, ST:TNG was the golden age of anything and everything STAR TREK. Though spinoffs “Deep Space” and “Enterprise” were and always will remain comparatively bad to me, “Star Trek: Voyager” for awhile was pretty good and the reason again was because it stuck to the theme of “strange new worlds” and “exploration” of the unknown. This has always been true of any good sci-fi, and when this show stuck to that idea, it was great. When it sunk into sci-fi soap opera instead however, it was pretty much a waste of time. Unfortunately, in the last few years, this was the case more often than not.
All in all, because in general, MOST supposed “sci-fi” TV series efforts have been pretty awful, with some noted exceptions like “Twilight Zone” and “Outer Limits,” while I’d like to give this ENTIRE series overall a 3 rating, I’ll be generous here and give it a 4. This is simply because the truly great, original and thought-provoking episodes of ST:TNG more than make up for the too numerous Troi’s mother/Worf’s son type episodes, the ones in other words, where the writers and producers were obviously just “phoning it in.”
Rating: 4 / 5