Let
me say right up front, I am a huge STAR TREK fan. Starting in my
childhood, I was glued to the television set everyday watching reruns
of the original series. I also went to see all the movies and have watched
and continue to watch all the new Star Trek television series that come
our way. When it comes to STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, I am
the first to admit that I loved the series- because it brought STAR
TREK back to television. Now as a fan, I also have to admit that Season
One of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was the weakest in terms
of stories and characterizations. However, the show was in the process
of finding its voice during that first season, and it did produce a number
of very fine episodes that really shine in comparison to those that I’ll
deem as somewhat weaker.
Despite
the weaker episodes in that appear in the first season, I have to say
that I was absolutely ecstatic to be holding the STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION SEASON ONE ($150) DVD Box Set in my hot little hands. Season
by season box sets are the only way to collect television programming
on DVD and I am so glad that Paramount is doing it right with STAR
TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Heck, they are not only doing it right,
they are doing it fantastically well with a release schedule that will
bring all seven seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION to DVD
before the end of 2002. Inside the very cool packaging that simulates
a brushed metal box, one will find a foldout inner sleeve that contains
the seven DVDs that contain the twenty-six episodes that comprise season
one, as well as the set’s supplemental materials. The DVDs are arranged
four episodes to a disc, except for disc seven, which offers only two
episodes, as well as the supplements.
Disc
one contains the episodes Encounter at Farpoint, The
Naked Now and Code of Honor. Encounter at
Farpoint served as the series pilot, and was shown originally
shown as a two hour movie, but was broken up into two separate episodes
for repeats in syndication. Encounter at Farpoint takes
place roughly eighty years after the exploits of the Classic Trek characters
and introduces the crew of a new Federation Starship Enterprise NCC-1701D,
commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). The ship’s first
officer is Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the android Lt.
Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) is second officer, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
serves as ship’s counselor, Commander Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden)
is the chief medical officer, Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) is in charge
of security, Lt. Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) is the ship’s "blind"
pilot, Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) is the only Klingon in Starfleet and Wesley
Crusher (Wil Wheaton) is the doctor’s hyper intelligent son (and chief
annoyance to many a STAR TREK fan). Encounter at Farpoint
also introduces the reoccurring character of Q (John de Lancie), an omnipotent
alien that places the crew of the Enterprise on trial for the past aggression
of the human race. The Naked Now revisits the premise of
an episode from the original series; one that has the crew of the Enterprise
fighting off a contagion that causes them to act in an irrational and
potentially deadly fashion. Code of Honor finds Tasha Yar
caught in a domestic and political conflict, when she is chosen to replace
the wife of a planetary chief.
Disc
two contains the episodes The Last Outpost, Where
No One Has Gone Before, Lonely Among Us and Justice.
The Last Outpost introduces the money grubbing alien race
known as the Ferengi, in a story of the Enterprise and a Ferengi vessel
becoming disabled near a mysterious planet. Where No One Has Gone
Before catapults the Enterprise outside the known universe, when
a warp engine experiment goes horribly awry. Lonely Among Us
finds Captain Picard becoming merged with an alien entity after passing
through an energy cloud. Justice is almost laughable as
an episode because of its premise of Wesley Crusher facing a death sentence
on an alien world for the equivalent of disobeying a "keep of the
grass" sign.
Disc
three contains the episodes The Battle, Hide and Q,
Haven and The Big Goodbye. In The Battle,
the Ferengi make Picard a gift of his former ship The Stargazer, which
was lost in battle with the Ferengi. Hide and Q marks the
return of the omnipotent alien entity, who offers Riker the opportunity
to share in his godlike powers. Haven introduces the reoccurring
character Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry), Deanna’s madcap mother,
who arrives on the Enterprise to inform the ship’s counselor that the
time has come for her prearranged wedding. In The Big Goodbye,
Captain Picard seeks a little R&R on the holodeck- losing himself
in the world of 1940’s gumshoe Dixon Hill, until a computer malfunction
turns the fantasy program deadly.
Disc
four contains the episodes DataLore, Angel One,
11001001, Too Short a Season. DataLore
is certainly one of season one’s highlights and commences with the discovery
of a second android named Lore, who is seemingly identical to Lt. Cmdr.
Data, except for his more humanlike personality, facial tick and several
other "quirks." Angel One brings the Enterprise
to a planet in search of survivors of a federation freighter that went
missing seven years prior, but instead find a society where larger females
dominate the smaller males. In 11001001, the Enterprise
is being upgraded by a race known as the Bynars, whose computer dependency
causes them to hijack the Starship, while Picard and Riker are otherwise
engaged by a very special and very beautiful holodeck program. Too
Short a Season requires an elderly admiral to negotiate a hostage
situation on the same world he negotiated a peace treaty forty years earlier.
Unwilling to let age or infirmity stand in his way the admiral overdoses
on a youth drug, which has amazing results.
Disc
five contains the episodes When the Bough Breaks, Home
Soil, Coming of Age and Heart of Glory.
In When the Bough Breaks children from the Enterprise are
kidnapped by a sterile race, as a means of perpetuating their society.
Home Soil finds the Enterprise visiting a terraforming station,
which is in the process of transforming a seemingly lifeless world into
a habitable planet, that is, until the planet’s indigenous life form begins
rebelling. In Coming of Age Wesley Crusher takes the Starfleet
Academy entrance exam, while an old friend of Picard’s makes the captain
aware of his suspicions that a dangerous conspiracy growing within Starfleet.
Heart of Glory tests Worf’s loyalties as he torn between
commitment to Starfleet and his birthright, after several other Klingons
are transported onboard the Enterprise.
Disc
six contains the episodes The Arsenal of Freedom, Symbiosis,
Skin of Evil and We’ll Always Have Paris.
In The Arsenal of Freedom, the Enterprise goes in search
for a missing Starship on a world that was once home to a race arm’s merchants,
but instead finds the planet booby-trapped and the crew fighting for their
survival. Symbiosis finds one alien race profiteering from
the suffering of another, when the crew of the Enterprise discovers the
drug used to cure a plague is also highly addictive. Skin of Evil
was the first season swan song for Lt. Tasha Yar, since actress Denise
Crosby was dissatisfied with the character’s development. During a rescue
mission, Tasha Yar is killed by a malevolent being named Armus, who turns
out to be comprised of evil tendencies of an entire alien race. We’ll
Always Have Paris reunites Picard with an old flame, who is now
married to a scientist that is conducting experiments that threaten to
rip apart the very fabric of time and space.
Disc
seven contains the episodes Conspiracy and The Neutral
Zone. Continuing a storyline first presented in Coming of
Age, Conspiracy offers a paranoid tale of a potential
Starfleet takeover from within. Concluding with the goriest climax of
any STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION installment, this suspenseful
and well though out chapter of the series is not only one of the very
best episodes from the first season, it is one of the best very best episodes
period. Closing out season one is The Neutral Zone, an episode
that combines a tale of reviving three cryogenically frozen humans from
the twentieth century, with the reemergence of the Romulans, the Federation
adversaries who haven’t been heard from in over fifty years.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all of the episodes from STAR TREK: THE
NEXT GENERATION SEASON ONE available on DVD in their proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original broadcasts. The DVD presentation is an
improvement over broadcast and even the Laserdisc releases, but some problems
do remain. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was shot on film, but
the series special effects were completed in the video realm, which is
the cause analog video artifacts that appear from time to time. Some individual
episodes do look better than others, with the quality getting better as
the season progresses. Additionally, individual sequences within all of
episodes can look very good or just adequate, depending on how the particular
sequence was completed in postproduction. Video noise, grain and shimmer
can manifest in individual shots, during the course of any given episode,
but considering how the episodes were produced, this is as good as they
can look short of having all of the postproduction work on the episodes
redone in high definition.
Generally,
the presentation is pretty darn good, offering an image that is far more
pleasing than any syndication broadcast. The image can be quite sharp
and nicely defined. Colors can be rather striking, or a bit subdued depending
on how individual sequences were lit and shot. Flesh tones appear reasonably
natural, although the lighting sometimes causes them to appear a bit too
red. Blacks are accurately rendered and contrast is generally good, however
the picture has the same flatness that one usually associates with television
productions that are shot on film. Smart dual layer authoring precludes
noticeable digital compression artifacts, even with four forty-six minute
episodes per DVD.
All
of the season one episodes of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION have
been upgraded for their release on DVD to great sounding Dolby Digital
5.1 channel mixes. In 5.1 the soundtracks have more breathing room and
a better acoustics than they did in standard surround. The forward soundstage
tends to dominate, as it did in television broadcasts and on Laserdisc,
but the separation in the forward channels is cleaner and better defined.
Surround usage can be a bit reserved by motion picture standards, but
the ambient sounds, active effects and engine noises are generally well
deployed and really enhance the episodes. Dialogue is very crisply rendered
with excellent intelligibility. For the most part, music has a nice lively
quality, although for some reason it sounds somewhat compressed and flat
during the opening credits- the pilot episode does not exhibit this minor
quirk. The bass channel is quite punchy; giving the Enterprise’s engines
a nice deep rumble, as well as kicking in to enhance other sound effects
and even the music. For maximum enjoyment of the 5.1 channel soundtracks,
I recommend turning up the volume until the sound launches you into outer
space. English Dolby Surround soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVDs,
as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to individual episodes, as well
as scene selection and set up features. Disc seven’s menus also provide
access to the supplementary materials. Under the title of Mission
Logs, one will find the following programs: The Beginning,
Selected Crew Analysis, The Making of a Legend
and Memorable Missions. The Beginning runs
roughly eighteen minutes and through archival footage and interviews,
it offers a look back at the creation of the TV series, sets, special
effects and the casting process. Running a little over fifteen minutes,
Selected Crew Analysis features interviews that show how
the creators, writers and the actors developed the show’s characters across
the first season. The Making of a Legend runs another fifteen
minutes and offers a more detailed look at production design, including
creating the sets, plus a look at the special effects, makeup designs
and music. Clocking in at a bit over seventeen minutes, Memorable
Missions allows the cast and crew to reflect back on their favorite
moments from season one.
As
a fan, I can say I can honestly say that I am absolutely delighted to
have STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION on DVD. Paramount has done
a fine job with the release, giving the fans exactly what they wanted-
namely season-by-season collections. The DVD presentations look and sound
pretty darn good, making the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION SEASON
ONE DVD Box Set something that fans will definitely want to own. I
am looking forward to future seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION,
as well as DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER, ENTERPRISE and
hopefully a revisit of the original series in season-by-season collections.
Let
me say right up front, I am a huge STAR TREK fan. Starting in my
childhood, I was glued to the television set everyday watching reruns
of the original series. I also went to see all the movies and have watched
and continue to watch all the new Star Trek television series that come
our way. When it comes to STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, I am
the first to admit that I loved the series- because it brought STAR
TREK back to television. Now as a fan, I also have to admit that Season
One of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was the weakest in terms
of stories and characterizations. However, the show was in the process
of finding its voice during that first season, and it did produce a number
of very fine episodes that really shine in comparison to those that I’ll
deem as somewhat weaker.
Despite
the weaker episodes in that appear in the first season, I have to say
that I was absolutely ecstatic to be holding the STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION SEASON ONE ($150) DVD Box Set in my hot little hands. Season
by season box sets are the only way to collect television programming
on DVD and I am so glad that Paramount is doing it right with STAR
TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Heck, they are not only doing it right,
they are doing it fantastically well with a release schedule that will
bring all seven seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION to DVD
before the end of 2002. Inside the very cool packaging that simulates
a brushed metal box, one will find a foldout inner sleeve that contains
the seven DVDs that contain the twenty-six episodes that comprise season
one, as well as the set’s supplemental materials. The DVDs are arranged
four episodes to a disc, except for disc seven, which offers only two
episodes, as well as the supplements.
Disc
one contains the episodes Encounter at Farpoint, The
Naked Now and Code of Honor. Encounter at
Farpoint served as the series pilot, and was shown originally
shown as a two hour movie, but was broken up into two separate episodes
for repeats in syndication. Encounter at Farpoint takes
place roughly eighty years after the exploits of the Classic Trek characters
and introduces the crew of a new Federation Starship Enterprise NCC-1701D,
commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). The ship’s first
officer is Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the android Lt.
Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) is second officer, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
serves as ship’s counselor, Commander Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden)
is the chief medical officer, Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) is in charge
of security, Lt. Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) is the ship’s "blind"
pilot, Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) is the only Klingon in Starfleet and Wesley
Crusher (Wil Wheaton) is the doctor’s hyper intelligent son (and chief
annoyance to many a STAR TREK fan). Encounter at Farpoint
also introduces the reoccurring character of Q (John de Lancie), an omnipotent
alien that places the crew of the Enterprise on trial for the past aggression
of the human race. The Naked Now revisits the premise of
an episode from the original series; one that has the crew of the Enterprise
fighting off a contagion that causes them to act in an irrational and
potentially deadly fashion. Code of Honor finds Tasha Yar
caught in a domestic and political conflict, when she is chosen to replace
the wife of a planetary chief.
Disc
two contains the episodes The Last Outpost, Where
No One Has Gone Before, Lonely Among Us and Justice.
The Last Outpost introduces the money grubbing alien race
known as the Ferengi, in a story of the Enterprise and a Ferengi vessel
becoming disabled near a mysterious planet. Where No One Has Gone
Before catapults the Enterprise outside the known universe, when
a warp engine experiment goes horribly awry. Lonely Among Us
finds Captain Picard becoming merged with an alien entity after passing
through an energy cloud. Justice is almost laughable as
an episode because of its premise of Wesley Crusher facing a death sentence
on an alien world for the equivalent of disobeying a "keep of the
grass" sign.
Disc
three contains the episodes The Battle, Hide and Q,
Haven and The Big Goodbye. In The Battle,
the Ferengi make Picard a gift of his former ship The Stargazer, which
was lost in battle with the Ferengi. Hide and Q marks the
return of the omnipotent alien entity, who offers Riker the opportunity
to share in his godlike powers. Haven introduces the reoccurring
character Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry), Deanna’s madcap mother,
who arrives on the Enterprise to inform the ship’s counselor that the
time has come for her prearranged wedding. In The Big Goodbye,
Captain Picard seeks a little R&R on the holodeck- losing himself
in the world of 1940’s gumshoe Dixon Hill, until a computer malfunction
turns the fantasy program deadly.
Disc
four contains the episodes DataLore, Angel One,
11001001, Too Short a Season. DataLore
is certainly one of season one’s highlights and commences with the discovery
of a second android named Lore, who is seemingly identical to Lt. Cmdr.
Data, except for his more humanlike personality, facial tick and several
other "quirks." Angel One brings the Enterprise
to a planet in search of survivors of a federation freighter that went
missing seven years prior, but instead find a society where larger females
dominate the smaller males. In 11001001, the Enterprise
is being upgraded by a race known as the Bynars, whose computer dependency
causes them to hijack the Starship, while Picard and Riker are otherwise
engaged by a very special and very beautiful holodeck program. Too
Short a Season requires an elderly admiral to negotiate a hostage
situation on the same world he negotiated a peace treaty forty years earlier.
Unwilling to let age or infirmity stand in his way the admiral overdoses
on a youth drug, which has amazing results.
Disc
five contains the episodes When the Bough Breaks, Home
Soil, Coming of Age and Heart of Glory.
In When the Bough Breaks children from the Enterprise are
kidnapped by a sterile race, as a means of perpetuating their society.
Home Soil finds the Enterprise visiting a terraforming station,
which is in the process of transforming a seemingly lifeless world into
a habitable planet, that is, until the planet’s indigenous life form begins
rebelling. In Coming of Age Wesley Crusher takes the Starfleet
Academy entrance exam, while an old friend of Picard’s makes the captain
aware of his suspicions that a dangerous conspiracy growing within Starfleet.
Heart of Glory tests Worf’s loyalties as he torn between
commitment to Starfleet and his birthright, after several other Klingons
are transported onboard the Enterprise.
Disc
six contains the episodes The Arsenal of Freedom, Symbiosis,
Skin of Evil and We’ll Always Have Paris.
In The Arsenal of Freedom, the Enterprise goes in search
for a missing Starship on a world that was once home to a race arm’s merchants,
but instead finds the planet booby-trapped and the crew fighting for their
survival. Symbiosis finds one alien race profiteering from
the suffering of another, when the crew of the Enterprise discovers the
drug used to cure a plague is also highly addictive. Skin of Evil
was the first season swan song for Lt. Tasha Yar, since actress Denise
Crosby was dissatisfied with the character’s development. During a rescue
mission, Tasha Yar is killed by a malevolent being named Armus, who turns
out to be comprised of evil tendencies of an entire alien race. We’ll
Always Have Paris reunites Picard with an old flame, who is now
married to a scientist that is conducting experiments that threaten to
rip apart the very fabric of time and space.
Disc
seven contains the episodes Conspiracy and The Neutral
Zone. Continuing a storyline first presented in Coming of
Age, Conspiracy offers a paranoid tale of a potential
Starfleet takeover from within. Concluding with the goriest climax of
any STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION installment, this suspenseful
and well though out chapter of the series is not only one of the very
best episodes from the first season, it is one of the best very best episodes
period. Closing out season one is The Neutral Zone, an episode
that combines a tale of reviving three cryogenically frozen humans from
the twentieth century, with the reemergence of the Romulans, the Federation
adversaries who haven’t been heard from in over fifty years.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all of the episodes from STAR TREK: THE
NEXT GENERATION SEASON ONE available on DVD in their proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original broadcasts. The DVD presentation is an
improvement over broadcast and even the Laserdisc releases, but some problems
do remain. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was shot on film, but
the series special effects were completed in the video realm, which is
the cause analog video artifacts that appear from time to time. Some individual
episodes do look better than others, with the quality getting better as
the season progresses. Additionally, individual sequences within all of
episodes can look very good or just adequate, depending on how the particular
sequence was completed in postproduction. Video noise, grain and shimmer
can manifest in individual shots, during the course of any given episode,
but considering how the episodes were produced, this is as good as they
can look short of having all of the postproduction work on the episodes
redone in high definition.
Generally,
the presentation is pretty darn good, offering an image that is far more
pleasing than any syndication broadcast. The image can be quite sharp
and nicely defined. Colors can be rather striking, or a bit subdued depending
on how individual sequences were lit and shot. Flesh tones appear reasonably
natural, although the lighting sometimes causes them to appear a bit too
red. Blacks are accurately rendered and contrast is generally good, however
the picture has the same flatness that one usually associates with television
productions that are shot on film. Smart dual layer authoring precludes
noticeable digital compression artifacts, even with four forty-six minute
episodes per DVD.
All
of the season one episodes of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION have
been upgraded for their release on DVD to great sounding Dolby Digital
5.1 channel mixes. In 5.1 the soundtracks have more breathing room and
a better acoustics than they did in standard surround. The forward soundstage
tends to dominate, as it did in television broadcasts and on Laserdisc,
but the separation in the forward channels is cleaner and better defined.
Surround usage can be a bit reserved by motion picture standards, but
the ambient sounds, active effects and engine noises are generally well
deployed and really enhance the episodes. Dialogue is very crisply rendered
with excellent intelligibility. For the most part, music has a nice lively
quality, although for some reason it sounds somewhat compressed and flat
during the opening credits- the pilot episode does not exhibit this minor
quirk. The bass channel is quite punchy; giving the Enterprise’s engines
a nice deep rumble, as well as kicking in to enhance other sound effects
and even the music. For maximum enjoyment of the 5.1 channel soundtracks,
I recommend turning up the volume until the sound launches you into outer
space. English Dolby Surround soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVDs,
as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to individual episodes, as well
as scene selection and set up features. Disc seven’s menus also provide
access to the supplementary materials. Under the title of Mission
Logs, one will find the following programs: The Beginning,
Selected Crew Analysis, The Making of a Legend
and Memorable Missions. The Beginning runs
roughly eighteen minutes and through archival footage and interviews,
it offers a look back at the creation of the TV series, sets, special
effects and the casting process. Running a little over fifteen minutes,
Selected Crew Analysis features interviews that show how
the creators, writers and the actors developed the show’s characters across
the first season. The Making of a Legend runs another fifteen
minutes and offers a more detailed look at production design, including
creating the sets, plus a look at the special effects, makeup designs
and music. Clocking in at a bit over seventeen minutes, Memorable
Missions allows the cast and crew to reflect back on their favorite
moments from season one.
As
a fan, I can say I can honestly say that I am absolutely delighted to
have STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION on DVD. Paramount has done
a fine job with the release, giving the fans exactly what they wanted-
namely season-by-season collections. The DVD presentations look and sound
pretty darn good, making the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION SEASON
ONE DVD Box Set something that fans will definitely want to own. I
am looking forward to future seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION,
as well as DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER, ENTERPRISE and
hopefully a revisit of the original series in season-by-season collections. 
