Product Details

• Actors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden
• Directors: LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: August 4, 1998
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792146972
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,718 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Trek trickster Q (John DeLancie) puts a spin on It's a Wonderful Life when he gives Captain Picard a chance to replay the follies of his youth. Picard lies dying on the operating table after a freak energy discharge damages his artificial heart when Q shows up like a devilish Clarence the Angel, offering him a do-over of his destiny and save his heart. Suddenly the older, wiser captain finds himself a young ensign of 21 (still played by Patrick Stewart, though his twentysomething comrades seem not to notice), fresh from the Academy and ready to take on the world. Picard is determined not to make the same mistakes again on that fateful day at the Academy, but immediately feels the repercussions of his decision when he slingshots back to the present a changed man, careful and cautious and no longer the sum of youthful mistakes. Stewart carries through with his usual dignity and confidence, but the episode really comes alive when he embraces his inner rascal and lets the impulsive ensign out with a smile and a mean right hook. The impish Q really only came into his own in later seasons, when his devious tests revealed an odd, usually well-hidden benevolence, and this is one of his more thoughtful outings. --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover

After being mortally wounded in a Lenarian attack, Picard (Patrick Stewart) meets the nefarious Q (John de Lancie) in the afterlife. Q offers him the opportunity to relive his life and correct his past mistakes - the worst of which resulted in Picard receiving an artifical heart which ultimately led to his demise.

Picard agrees and resumes his life as a 21-year-old ensign, fresh out of the Academy. This time he's able to avoid the violent confrontation with the Nausicaan which resulted in the loss of his heart. Q congratulates Picard for changing his destiny an returns him to the Enterprise, alive and well. Only now, he's a junior-grade Lieutenant... and that is a fate worse than death!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100% Compliments! by Elliott Lewis UK, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 141: Tapestry [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I am no major fan of Star Treck, however I watch it when I can, and thank the lord I did! This was by far the best episode of Star Treck Gen. to ever be showen. The story line is complex and gripping and it realy ilustrates an important fact of life... You have to take chances. In this particular episode "Q" gives the Captain a chance to re-live a part of his life, which indirectly lead to his death, but also helped him become the captain of the Star Ship Enterprise. This was a truly fantasic episode and strangley ironic. SO RECOMENDED!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Episode With A "Dead" Captain Picard!, April 21, 2000

By 

Emir (Las Vegas, NV, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 141: Tapestry [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I must comment on this wonderful episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It involves my favorite , and probably most other Star Trek fans' favorite character, the abominable "Q". In this episode, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard faces death for the first time (and the last time) in my favorite Star Trek series. He perishes on the sick-bay table from a fighting accident and goes to heaven to meet.....who else than God himself, Q! Q welcomes him with open arms (actually, an open handshake) into his eternal world and Capt. Picard is surprised to see him, and does not believe the heavens is run by HIM! But, it is, and Q gives him a chance to make changes and right the "wrongs" that he did as a younger man.....a cadet fresh out of the Academy. This is to relieve Capt. Picard of any regrets that he had when he was alive, so Q doesn't have to hear him...."whining and complaining through time!" "How much time?" says Capt. Picard. "Eternity", replies Q! Q is humorous and witty as usual in this episode and transports him back in time to his Academy days. It is at the point in time just before he got stabbed through the heart by a Nausican where he was transported back to....to his dormitory room. If he can manage NOT to get stabbed through the heart, Q would bring him back to the present day. All of this is REAL, not an illusion that Q made up for his amusement. After many a disillusionment and losing his former friends from the Academy, he DOES manage not to get stabbed through the heart by that Nausican, and is brought back to the present day. But it's not the present day that HE remembered! In his NEW "afterlife", he is just an ordinary crewman serving under Capt. Thomas Halloway as an astrophysics officer! He doesn't like this one bit, and asks Comm. Riker and Counselor Troi if he can be more.....like captain of the ship. Comm. Riker replies, "....We'll see"!. Funny. Capt. Picard mumbles to himself my favorite line that he gives in this episode, "All right Q, you made your point. Having a good laugh now?" He then goes into the turbolift to give his assignment to Lieut. La Forge and is brought back to heaven by Q. He and Q have a one on one confrontation with Q giving him a verbal war of how good he has it now...."with a real heart beating in your chest!" Capt. Picard admits it was a mistake, and that now...."I would rather die on that bed than live the life I just saw!" Q grants him his request and Capt. Picard is revived on his sick-bay bed chuckling at his experience! Was it a dream, or was it a real after-death experience?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best episode of the next generation, February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 141: Tapestry [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have seen every episode of every Star Trek series ever made and I think the message and the lesson of Tapestry is the best of the best. The entire Star Trek saga is filled with great human stories and lesson of value, but the main theme of Tapestry is that we have all made mistakes and we have all left people, places, and unfinished business behind us. But when it is all said and done--they are as much a part of who we are as anything we can claim as an accomplishment. I might add that one of the greatest things about the Next Generation Series is the interaction between Q and Picard. Every episode with them together is a classic, and Tapestry is that interaction at its best.