Review of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2 (6 Disc Boxset)

Introduction

We must beam a huge nod of thanks in the general direction of the writers and producers and the big honchos at paramount who green-lit Star-Trek: The Motion Picture. Yes that`s right, and it`s duly deserved! If these people hadn`t put their shirts on this future big screen vision and had opted instead for a continuation of the tried and tested TV franchise then we probably wouldn`t have the new, dare I say it, next generation of planet hopping do-gooders we are about to discuss.

Back when the original Star-Trek first began to boldly go, it actually barely went. Stuck in a late night broadcasting limbo slot, it failed to garner any support and could easily have been banished to the outer quadrants of Ursulan 14. But some bright spark decided to franchised it to the numerous local TV stations. It was suddenly on at prime time, on repeat, all over the U.S. But many, who had never caught a glimpse of Kirk, Spock, McKoy and the rest of the U.S.S. Enterprise team the first time around, where Trek virgins. To them this was a brand new show at prime time, delivering storylines that were subtly political and topical with a sci-fi spin. The series was a sudden hit, just as it was ending and with fans around the globe begging for more Paramount knew they had a huge fan base and franchise possibility just waiting to be taken advantage of.

But which was the best direction to go? Another TV series with a bigger budget, more blinking lights and Whooshing doors or a mega budget movie spin-off. They plumped for the small screen and work began on new sets and additional crew. The Enterprise was in refit, it would be bigger and better than ever. Then the script came, the pilot for Star-Trek: Phase II. This script soon had the execs at loggerheads. It was deemed too expensive, too adult and too in-depth for TV. The original episodes had quality but the makers also knew their audience limitations. This story centered around a destructive alien entity named V-GER on a course for earth, sound familiar?. It was the stuff of big budget and big screen. They shelved the script and began a search for more TV friendly ideas, but this was proving hard. Gene Rodennbery`s interest in Trek had waned and he didn`t fancy being a stereotyped screenwriter. Others attempted to tap into the creator`s mindset but failed to deliver anything like a Rodenberryesque idea. At this point some turned back to the V-GER script, could it be toned down and stripped to its bare bones? But the easy answer was not to change this wonderful idea! All they had to do was change their ideas from TV to Film. They knew they had a possible winner and TV made way for big screen as their source for the next Trek installment.

You may think this review is going off on a tangent, but to Trek fans it`s history and the beginning of something fantastic. Let`s just say Star-Trek: Phase II had gone ahead on the small screen, would it have been a success? Your guess is as good as mine, but the big screen gave it a launch pad to something great. The team saw the possibility in advanced special effects technology and knew one day it would become cheaper and more readily available for TV production.

Now on hold, but in the back of their minds was the idea of a TV series. As soon as the technology was there we would be presented with a new Star Trek, a future vision, the next generation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation would be cutting edge TV. It would follow the same rules as the original series and give us a mixture of camouflaged topical storylines, everyday moral dilemmas with a futuristic twist. This show had to be new and have new ideas and soon the head honcho`s took the bold step and gave us a brand new Enterprise with a totally new crew. Rodenberry was back. Picard replaced Kirk. Geordie LaForge, the engineer, was blind. Children were given major roles and we had more intimate relationship based storylines. Like I said, this was a bold move with some payoffs and some dreams that were a bit too grandiose. These dreams included casting lead roles to such out-of-reach stars like Robin Williams and even the character of Geordie LaForge was offered to Sidney Poitier. With a cast of mainly unknowns and British born, RSC trained, actor Patrick Stewart up to take the Com. many fans thought this could be the death of their beloved Trek amongst the Stars.

The mix turned out to be a success with the characters gelling perfectly. The addition of special effects by uber magicians Industrial Light & Magic really propelled the series towards warp speed. To date, and before these new DVD releases, Star Trek: The Next Generation has made over $500,000,000 in syndication rights and merchandise. It is top of the "must watch" family TV listings around the world. STNG has a universal appeal that is unsurpassed by any other TV series and continues to boldly go with its other siblings: Voyager, Deep Space Nine and the new original Star-Trek prequel idea, Enterprise.

On to the much anticipated DVD releases. This is the second season batch of the seven season voyage and comparing this to season one really shows the growth of the idea. So what`s new for season 2? Well as usual the Enterprise gets a bit of a refit, with some additional rooms (for rooms read sets). Most notably is a brand spanking new state-of-the-art....lounge. Yes a lounge! Then we see the budget hiked even more to pull in more special guests. Whoopie Goldberg can now be seen giving the crew sagely advice as the ships....bartender. Yes, I said bartender! The rest of the old gang are still present with Wesley Crusher now an Academy dropout, but his mother`s off on another starship somewhere, and has been replaced by Dr. Kate Pulaski. Security officer, Tasha Y`ar has run down the curtain and joined the choir invisibule, she snuffed it in season one, And Geordie LaForge is promoted to chief engineer. Most have been given a few more personality role changes and it looks like Jean-Luke has had them all down at the Holo-Deck treading the boards, as the acting has improved greatly. This is probably just actors finding their feet!

As the budget went up the effects got a little better. The original Enterprise fly-bys and warp speed jumps were now just reused stock footage of the pilots shows ILM trickery. A new in-house team monikered "Special F/X" polishes the "F/X" work due to ILM`s big screen demand. They make leaps and bounds producing amazing model work, not CGI, for the new season`s 22 episodes. Stand out work includes the first appearance of the Borg Ship in "Q Who". Originally intended as a spherical ship with a Death Star styled trench, budget and time restraints turned it into a cube and the F/X team made an amazing, highly detailed model in days using, wait for it, toy R2-D2s, Toy Soldiers, model railways lines and a hidden "F/X" logo. They even redo the Enterprise model making a new four-foot version, ILMs was eight-foot and hard to maneuver.

Like all the STNG seasons we get some great and some grotty episodes. Some are gems that could stand on their own as big screen adaptations. Others are down right cheesy and too sentimental, giving us the trademark moral storylines of bygone Star-Trek. As I mentioned earlier the season two set contains all 22 episodes on 6 discs, there are:

1: "The Child" - While preparing to transport a deadly plague to a research lab, the crew is stunned by the announcement of Counselor Troi`s pregnancy.

2: "Where Silence Has Lease" - The crew is held hostage in a mysterious void by a being who wishes to observe the many ways in which humans die.

3: "Elementary, Dear Data" - Pretending to be Sherlock Holmes, Data uses the holodeck to solve a mystery that threatens Dr. Pulaski`s life.

4: "The Outrageous Okona" - While the Enterprise crew play host to a witty renegade captain, Data struggles to acquire a sense of humor.

5: "Loud As A Whisper" - The future of a warring planet depends on a deaf mediator, who suddenly loses his ability to communicate.

6: "The Schizoid Man" - A brilliant but terminally ill scientist seeks eternal life by transferring his mind into Data`s body.

7: "Unnatural Selection" - The crew grapples with a mysterious disease which accelerates the aging process, causing humans to die of old age within a matter of days.

8: "A Matter Of Honor" - Riker`s loyalties are put to the test when he is assigned to a Klingon vessel which plans to attack the Enterprise.

9: "The Measure Of A Man" - When Data refuses to be disassembled for research purposes, Picard is enlisted to defend his rights in court.

10: "The Dauphin" - Wesley finds romance with the beautiful young ruler of Daled Four whose secret power could destroy the Enterprise and her crew.

11: "Contagion" - The Enterprise`s computer system falls prey to a mysterious electronic "virus" which programs the ship to self destruct.

12: "The Royale" - Investigating the discovery of a piece of metal bearing a United States Air Force insignia, the Away Team finds itself trapped in the world of "The Hotel Royale", a novel come to life.

13: "Time Squared" - The U.S.S. Enterprise discovers a Federation shuttle containing an exact double of Captain Picard from six hours in the future.

14: "The Icarus Factor" - Riker`s long-lost father reappears on the eve of his departure to become captain on a new starship.

15: "Pen Pals" - Data races against time to save the life a little alien girl on a planet doomed for destruction.

16: "Q Who" - The crew is hurled into the future by the malevolent Q, who sets them up for destruction by a race of half-human, half-robot aliens known as the Borg.

17: "Samaritan Snare" - While Picard fights for his life in surgery, Geordi is held hostage by the leaders of an alien race.

18: "Up The Long Ladder" - The crew`s rescue of a missing earth colony leads to the discovery of a civilization composed entirely of clones.

19: "Manhunt" - In her search for the perfect mate, Troi`s mother beams aboard the Enterprise-and sets her sights on Captain Picard.

20: "The Emissary" - An official mission becomes a personal matter when Worf`s former love is sent to the Enterprise to mediate a dispute between Klingons and the Federation.

21: "Peak Performance" - A simulated war game turns deadly when the crew is ambushed by a Ferengi battleship.

22: "Shades of Gray" - Commander Riker is struck down by a deadly microbe which invades his central nervous system and attacks his brain.

Yes there are only 22 episodes in the season two set. This was due to a writer`s strike in 1988.

Video

This is late 80`s TV and is not going to be top notch. The Next Generation series was shot on 35mm Panavision film, then transferred to video for post production special effects work. It`s made for 80`s TV and framed for it, in standard 4:3 ratio, those with widescreen TVs curse now! The picture is slightly better than the broadcast quality at the time, remember this was pre-digital TV and they do suffer from heavy grain. The picture is reasonably sharp but has a slight soft focus look to the whole season`s, with fine detail not very coherent. Scenes with post-production effects suffer the most and are easily distinguishable to non-effects enhanced scenes. Shadows look overly grey but macro blocking is pleasingly absent. The quality of picture should improve with each season box-set release, so don`t worry!

Audio

A remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 track makes some headway in compensation for the average picture quality. The show was originally recorded in Dolby Stereo with later seasons adding Surround for the new Pro-Logic home cinema format. The future now catches up with the old and these new remixes are well worth a listen. The Enterprise bridge scenes have a room filling but subtle ambience with a deep dedicated bass hum. The opening title scene and magnificent music, cribbed from The Motion Picture, are pure system setup and show-off material. The now split surrounds offer greater ambient effects with the fly-bys and the odd photon torpedo taking you by surprise every so often. Dialogue on the discs is very clear and strident with no sign of distortion. If you do want to reminisce about the good old days you can try out the Dolby Stereo 2.0 track, also included. But that`s like using the car when they`ve invented teleportation.

Features

Looking around the web the Americans are raving about the packaging of these discs in Region One. I`m American born and feel sorry for my fellow countrymen and their heavy duty cardboard cases. Over here in Region 2 land, where we can`t stop moaning about how badly done to we are in respect of DVD content, extras and packaging, we have come up trumps. Our sets are in smart plastic, future styled cases. It looks like something Dr. Krusher would love to carry her medical bits in. It has a smooth silver finish, embossed Starfleet logo and brief content detail. Get all seven seasons lined up, like it pictures in the accompanying booklet, and you`ll be the envy of all your mates...you`ll also be stoney-broke, but you`ll be the envy of all your mates! The colour coded box sides continue to the inside where the discs are housed in a silver embossed sleeve that covers a multi-gate-fold six disc holder. You also get a little booklet of liner notes and episode synopsis. The whole presentation for this set is remarkable and just cries out Star-Trek. For once Region 2 is the must buy set!

This set contains six disc with all 22 episodes spread across the set. There are eight chapter stops on each episode, with disc six containing the special supplements. The running time is around 957 minutes for the whole season and supplements. Due to this length, and to get this review out before Christmas 2004, I have watched one episode of each disc and all of the supplements. I have seen all these episodes on Sky and BBC reruns on many occasions and assume all should have the same standard of encoding. There are five featurettes on this set which is an eclectic mix of old and new interviews. We get the usual cast, crew and main production staff waxing lyrical with plenty of anecdotes and intriguing information. Most of this is taken from promo press-kit material but some bits were filmed last year on the set of the latest, and yet to be released, "Star-Trek - Nemesis". Many fans will have seen most of this before, but will be glad to see it here and presented nicely in full frame 4:3 ratio with Dolby Stereo 2.0 sound and optional English subtitles.

The Featurettes are as follows:

Mission Overview:
This fifteen minute feature looks into the alterations made to season two. They didn`t want to push it too far and make it unrecognisable to the loyal fan-base and opted instead to maintain a steady stream of budget enhancements. More rooms on the Enterprise and more crew to make the ship look busier, plus the addition of improved special effects sequences and special guest actors.

Select Crew Analysis:
A fourteen minute look at some of the main players who have had increased character development changes in season 2. Whoopie Golberg, a Trek fan, tells us how she became involved in the first place. Mariana Sirtis seems weary of the, in-at-the-deep-end, first episode to the a new season. She also tells of the production problems of season one and the possibility of not returning for this second run.

Departmental Briefings: Production and Memorable Missions:
Running at around seventeen minutes these offer insights into the backstage, hard-slog that goes into producing every episode. This includes set decoration, costume design, continuity and the award-winning makeup department. This is a kind of virtual tour that I found the most interesting of all the supplementary features.

Inside Starfleet Archives:
An eighteen minute in-depth look at the whole Star-Trek empire with the highlight being a look at the props department and its growing collection of old and new artifacts. We get to see everything from original tribbles to a giant model of Chekov`s ear from The Wrath of Khan movie.

It`s good that these are split and you can choose to view them independently. They offer great but mainly trivial info for both novices and die-hard fans alike. All in all a good hours worth of material that will please all fans.

Conclusion

If you`ve got the cash and your a Trek nut then this whole series is a an absolute must! Others may want to buy the odd season here and there. Collecting the full seven season set is prohibitive due to cost. But if you are looking to complete a set do shop around as many shops and on-line sites are offering great reduction over the £80 recommended retail price.

The set has been really polished. From packaging and supplements to remixed sound it`s hard to fault this set.
My only complaint, and it`s minor, is the lack of a widescreen format. That said I have watched this series since season one in the 4:3 format, it`s just that it now looks naff on my nice widescreen TV with black borders either side.

Buy this set at a good price and it`s great value for money. I can`t wait to sit down and watch the rest of this set and will be waiting with bated breath for the rest of the seasons.