Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Next Generation

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(64)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Superb. Seeing these twenty-six episodes together for the first time in fifteen years was truly a treat. The behind-the-scenes information is well done and worth the purchase, and the menus are well-organized. The preview (Episode Log) screen for each of the seven discs is excellent, with each disc providing four scenes from each episode set to the backdrop of the main theme for the series. One of the benefits of the package is that production order and air date order are taken into consideration, and this shows with regard to the order in which each title is furnished in the menus (e.g., 121, 120, 122, 123).

The first season has often been termed 'sterile' by some; this probably has some merit given that any new series doesn't necessarily have chemistry from the outset. However, some of the episodes are in the opinion of this writer among the best in the series--among these, "Code of Honor," "Where No One Has Gone Before," "Justice," "The Big Goodbye," "Datalore," "11001001," "Home Soil," "Coming of Age," "Heart of Glory," "The Arsenal of Freedom," the Stefano-written "Skin of Evil," "Conspiracy," and "The Neutral Zone"--the latter episode perhaps introducing us (albeit cryptically) to the Borg.

The segment on "Memorable Missions" was particularly poignant, especially the portion where Natasha Yar (Denise Crosby) reflects on her work on ST:TNG. The interviews with the Production (and other) Staff were also very interesting and informative; I found the excerpt with Michael Okuda intriguing and eye-opening. This DVD boxed set is a must for lovers of any of the five Star Trek series. I've already placed my order for ST:TNG Season Two. :)...

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

Disc 7 includes the following special features:

- The Beginning: focusing on the challenges of creating a new series and keeping to Gene Roddenberry's vision. Includes interviews with Roddenberry, Patrick Stewart, Robert Justman (former producer of the Original Series), Rick Berman (Co-Executive Producer at the time), Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby and other cast members.

- Selected Crew Analysis: features first-season cast members talking about their roles, their acting backgrounds prior to being cast and their impressions of the Star Trek legacy. Also features a comparison between the launch of the series in 1987 and the comments from the cast seven years later (1994), using archive interviews and b-roll to present a fascinating "before-and-after" look from the series cast members.

- The Making of a Legend: features commentary from the first-season production staff members - Michael Westmore (Make-up), Herman Zimmerman (Production Designer), Mike Okuda (Scenic Artist), Richard Stembach (Scenic Artist), Dan Curry (Visual Effects), Peter Lauritson (Co-Producer), Rick Berman and others - as they discuss the making of the new series. Uncovers information on how the beaming effect is achieved, Worf's make up process and how much time and effort goes into creating each episode.

- Memorable Missions: cast and crew discussions of specific episodes and events that occurred during the first season.

The DVD of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season One is presented in a full-frame version, and the audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The DVDs are subtitled in English and closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired.

The Season One box set carries no suggested retail price but is expected to be priced by retailers for their customers at under... It is not rated in the U.S. by the Motion Picture Association of America; it is, however, rated G in Canada. Each disc has a running time of approximately 176 minutes, with the exception of Disc 7, which has 88 minutes of features and approximately 60 minutes of special features. All seven discs are encoded with the Macrovision™ AntiCopy process. The above information pertains to the North American release only.

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" became a great television series, but it certainly was not that at the start. The first season was a concerted effort to use the original series as a launch pad and it was not until their first encounter with the Borg that we can really say the series kicked into high gear. Consequently, the chief joy of watching the first season again is to see how the bits and pieces start to fall into place. Since I have already reviewed all of the STNG episodes individually, I want to comment on the first season overall in regards to this DVD collection.

In retrospect it is clear the creators of STNG did an excellent job in shuffling around the key traits of the crew on the original series and providing some new twists centered around the notion that as soon as you looked at Jean-Luc Picard it was clear he was no James T. Kirk ("TV Guide" originally disparaged the series as "baldly going where one show has gone before"--later they declared Patrick Stewart the best actor on television for that decade). Picard gets to be the father-figure, Riker gets to be the stud, the ship's doctor is now a woman, the Vulcan on the bridge is replaced with a Klingon, and Spock's emotional detachment is transferred to an android, but with the twist that Data wants to have emotions. So there is a sense of familiarity without creating outright repetition.

The creators always felt the biggest mistake in the pilot was Troi's telepathic message to Riker and the use of the word Imzadi. While Peter David's STNG novel alone of that title justifies its inclusion in the Star Trek universe, this "error" actually speaks to a larger strength of the series, namely the backstories of the characters. Riker and Troi have a shared past but so do Picard and Crusher, both of which will be fruitfully explored in the future. Many of the best episodes of the original series had to do with the background of the characters ("Amok Time" and "Journey to Babel" immediately spring to mind), because ultimately it is the characters rather than the story lines that make a television series great and this will prove to be the same for STNG (e.g., "Datalore"). Mostly it was a matter of adjustment and finding the right roles for the characters. Consequently, in due time La Forge becomes the engineer, Worf the security chief, and Wesley the navigator. Tasha Yar suffers a meaningless death in "Skin of Evil," mainly because the producers have no idea of what to do with her character (Tasha is magnificently redeemed in "Yesterday's Enterprise" in Season 3, which only goes to prove my points about both the show's evolution and the importance of characters over plot).

Clearly the biggest flaw of the first season was the regurgitation of episodes and elements from the original series. "The Naked Now," the first episode after the two-part pilot, was a variation on "The Naked Time" and even allowed the crew to talk about Kirk's Enterprise. An episode where the characters are forced to reveal their true selves is certainly worthwhile, but not when it functions as exposition in the first regular episode (a similar complaint can be made against Riker's gift giving in "Hide and Q"). But it becomes hard to fully enjoy an episode like "The Arsenal of Freedom," when it is clearly a twist on "Shore Leave."

Finally, we get to add the holodeck to the Star Trek creative license list headed by the warp drive and transporter system. All of these technologies are scientific impossibilities but facilitate story telling (otherwise a five year mission ends up as traveling halfway to some star system). Little did we know that "The Big Good-Bye" would be the first of what would prove to be way too many "something is wrong with the holodeck and we are in danger" episodes. Still, the holodeck proves ideal for providing change of pace episodes (e.g., "11001001") and one of the strengths of STNG was its use of humor (e.g., "The Arsenal of Freedom," where Riker talks about being given command of a new ship, the Lollipop, which, he adds, "is a good ship"). I also think having families aboard the Enterprise is highly improbable to say the least. Yes, the saucer can detach and supposedly put the civilians out of harm's way, but not only do they rarely do that during the entire run of STNG, the Borg, Romulans or whoever the Enterprise faces in a fight probably would not have any compunctions about blasting the saucer into cosmic dust. But, again, the point is that the idea facilitates storytelling.

Clearly the first season on STNG is a time of discovery, which is not unusual in the evolution of a television (go back and look at the first season of "M*A*S*H" and count how many times you cringe at some of what they did). Fortunately, because they were in syndication the series was able to improve substantially. But I do not recall ever see an episode from the first season end up on anybody's list of Top 10 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes. Yes, "Encounter at Farpoint" introduces Q, but the payoff is just not as good as the setup; still, there are much better Q episodes to come. "Conspiracy" is almost laughable in terms of secret alien threat, but in "The Best of Both Worlds" the show would take many of these same elements and create the best episode(s) ever. The first season is just, as Captain Picard would say, a chance to see what is out there.

I have anxiously awaited this release on DVD. The VHS version seems like such a waste of good shelf space.

I've done a little digging, and found that Paramount plans to release each season of TNG as a boxed set, about every 2 months, to be followed by releases of each season of Deep Space 9 and Voyager, in the same timely manner.

The future is certainly looking brighter for those of us who love these shows.

Paramount seem to have listened, planned and are going about releasing quality DVD box sets with extras. One season is planned for release every 2 months

The great news is that the picture has been remastered and the sound remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. 4 new documentaries have been created for this release lasting for an hour. Presentationally the box sets form a neat library of 7 packs when placed alongside each other. A booklet is also included per box.

Season 1 of The Next Generation has only a few outstanding stories. The rest (looking like they are from the eighties) tend to spend too much time on supporting characters such as Wesley Crusher. Fortunately Patrick Stewart does such a superb job of leading the cast, the weaker stories can be forgiven for the most part.

An excellent release with the entire 7 seasons on the way. Fingers crossed for Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise releases soon!

...The first season made it seem like this series was going to be a bad joke. I remember excitedly waiting for the pilot episode to air (I was in 9th grade), then after viewing it thinking "What the $&!* was that garbage?!".
What really happened is it took about a season and a half for the actors, the crew, and the WRITERS to find their stride. Growing pains were clearly evident in the first two seasons. Seasons 3 and 4 were absolutely INCREDIBLE, featuring outstanding scripts, perfect performances, and everything that made this series a TV legend. Seasons 5-7 were excellent as well. Taken on a whole, Next Generation is one of the best TV series of all time, and FAR eclipsed its predecessor, Star Trek (which itself was outstanding for its time). However, the first season was atrocious. I know a lot of hardcore Trekkies will be peeved that I dare to say such a sacreligious thing, but here are some of the reasons that this season was a debacle:
1) The writing and acting- The scripts in this season were terrible. Of course, the writers were trying to 'find' the characters, which takes time. However, if you compare they way the characters act in later seasons to the way they act in the first season, its almost as if they are different characters! Picard is nationalistic (France), prone to outbursts, and displays none of the quiet, conflicted self-assurance that would make the character famous. Geordi is almost completely one-dimensional, and Riker is prone to extreme overreactions at odd times (Jonathan Frakes would later get a handle on this). Troi is annoying to say the least, and Data's dialogue is more aimed at establishing his character than working within the stories. Wesley is portrayed so sickenly wide-eyed and innocent (with the whole life journey just starting out schtick) that it ruined the character for most Star Trek fans (and Westley is still the most hated Star Trek character of all time). In addition, many of the worst episodes of the entire series are found right here in season 1. Very juvenile and underdeveloped storylines, utterly terrible dialogue, and the infamous 'planet of the joggers' and 'Yar's pointless death' episodes makes for a pretty bad season. Who would have guessed this series would rapidly improve to perfection?
2) The Ferengi- Need I say more? THESE are the big new villians to rival the Klingons and the Romulans?! Thankfully, the mistake was recognized fairly quickly, and the Ferengi were relegated to their rightful place as comic relief.
3) The costumes and the bridge- OK, this might just be a personal grudge of mine, but I HATED the jumpsuits of the first two seasons. Men do not look good wearing jumpsuits, they just look stupid. Why it took two whole seasons for the wardrobe department to figure this out is beyond me. Once the separate shirts started being used, the uniforms looked GREAT, but the jumpsuits were god-awful looking. And what's with the chaise-lounge bridge chairs? If they reclined any further, they would be beds! A pretty stupid idea, thankfully the bridge was redesigned later.
4) The lighting- Has anyone else noticed how badly lit the first season was? Picard's chrome-dome shines, Geordi's skin shines, the bridge lighting looks extremely harsh, and the soundstage 'outdoor' sets are obviously lit with artificial lighting. These problems would be corrected in season 2, with the series eventually being a model for how to light a set PERFECTLY.

All in all, Next Generation is a FANTASTIC series, one of my all-time favorites. However, season 1 is far and away the worst season, bordering on embarrassing. Season 2 fared better, and every season after was at the very least EXCELLENT. For completists, this season may be a must-buy, but for casual Star Trek fans, avoid the first season and start with season two.

Star Trek The Next Generation-Season 1 is the season that started it all for TNG fans. It's jam packed with 25 episodes that tell entertaing stories and is what inroduced us to the 24 century.

Patrick Stewart was great as Captian Picard. I can't think of anybody else that could have pulled off what he did. I think he's just as good as Kirk and Stewart carried the dramatics so much better than Shatner.

This is the season in which Deanna Troi wears the cheerleader uniform and has the big 80's hair. It's always nice to see someone's beginnings. She wasn't all that hot then, but I love what they have turned her into.

Brent Spiner plays Data so well. He was suppose to be TNG equivalent to Spock. He does a good job as the android who wants to be human. That isn't always an easy role to play, because the character is baby like and raw. I love Data's beginnings.

Michael Dorn has a good job as Worf. He was always my favorite character in the show because of all the agression he always showed. His character is a little minor in this season because of Tasha Yar.

I wasn't that big of a fan of Yar, and I'm glad they took her off. It let them do so much more with Worf.

I loved Geordi La Forge. Levar Burton did such a good job with him. It's the best character he ever played. Geordi's one of the coolest nerds I've ever seen.

I love this show and I'm glad to say I own this season. It shows the shows humble beginnigs. I don't think anybody thought this show would become one of the highest syndicated and grossing shows like it did. It's a must for Trekkies and anybody who liked Star Trek The Next Generation.

The Star Trek Collection is a worthy hobby and certainly the largest of the television series DVD Collections (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise). At around 1100 minutes per box (a few hours less than the TOS seasons) we are still looking at approx 30 boxes with 700 hours of viewing. That is 1 month of non-stop Star Trek. No DVD series comes remotely close to that. Get going collecting right now and build up on each succession over the years. By the end you will have a very serious anthology that defines the word awe. This is the kind of item that requires 1 hour a day of your time for the next few years. It is a cherished memory that served your fathers and will serve your children also. Our very planet, Earth, has advanced because of Gene Roddenberry's admirable concept. Roddenberry nailed the premise of the series when he said that he wanted to create a show with characters that we could look up too. `The Bridge' members are like our family. Watch what they do. Then go and spend your life striving for the same on Earth. What engineer, medic, scientist, teacher, worker can not say that Star Trek has not influenced them? The show is this significant in the development of our species. Even Christians respect and quote its authority and it is not hard to see why. The DVD case is not quite as fancy as the TOS (The Original Series) cases. The TNG case is supposed to resemble a TNG crew briefcase. The case opens to reveal the disc booklet inside a sleeve. Sliding the disc booklet out of the sleeve and flipping it open reveals a spread of 7 discs. There are 4 episodes per disc. However the last disc, disc 7, only has two episodes, for a grand total of 26 episodes (TOS has 8 Discs, 30 episodes). The rest of disc 7 is devoted to Star Trek interviews and trailers with the usual expected extras...and then some more. The episodes are ordered not in the sequence they where filmed, but in the sequence that they aired, however each episode has been numbered according to the order they where filmed in. This means on one disc you have shows 4, 2, 12 and 1, in that order. The sound has also been remastered to 5:1 Dolby Digital! Since the show was shot in full frame, these dimensions are retained.

Star Trek, The Next Generation (TNG), Season One, had an amazing impact when it was first broadcast. An instant hit and a milestone in television serials (it ran for 7 seasons unlike its predecessor that ran for 3), its characters and new look Enterprise had us glued to the TV with the first computer generated images of our solar system as Captain Picard utters the immortal words... `To baldly'... I mean... `To boldly go where no man'... I mean... `To boldly go where no one has gone before.' Viewing the episodes in the order they where filmed does not show a vision in the shaping as per the TOS series but is more of the same again (even remaking some TOS episodes), this time with more characters, more action and more special effects. All of the main characters in the TNG series are in episode one, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Tasha Yar, Lieutenant Worf, Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lt. Commander/Commander Deanna Troi, Lt. Commander Data and Ensign Wesley Crusher. Only Natasha Yar quits before the first season is finished. Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher is replaced by Doctor Katherine Pulaski for Season two. Ensign Wesley Crusher is only sometimes reoccurring after Season four. The Enterprise itself is beautifully rendered with additional areas such as the holodeck allowing for almost any environment at the users choosing, playing an important function in many episodes. The use of computer generated images (a ground-breaking television experience back in 1987!) allowed for inspirational subspace sequences, planets, backdrops, an improved bridge main viewer and windows! Advances in makeup effects brought new alien characters to life and allowed an actor to appear as if he where indeed an android. TNG Season One attempts to relate with TOS by reviving similar stories while at the same time adding on additional insights into new and fascinating sci-fi theory while retaining most of the character arcs that made TOS so interesting. The stories (also written by TOS's DC Fontana) are as fresh today as they where in the late 80s, early 90s, when TNG first aired. Season One of TNG is mostly about deities, infections, alien cultures, galactic politics, time travel, alien forces, mind control, family matters, computer malfunctions and Starfleet Academy. There are also the unforgettable episodes `Encounter at Farpoint' which introduces us to the crew of the Enterprise and the mysterious Q, `Where No One has Gone Before' a wonderful story about travelling the cosmos, `Datalore' which features two Data characters, `Heart of Glory' with some in-depth revelations about Klingons , `Skin of Evil' featuring some remarkable effects for its time with a very sad ending, and the classic `Conspiracy' (this episode is uncut, which features some violent scenes involving a head explosion edited from some daytime television showings [so parents be cautious]) about an invasion of the body snatchers type takeover of Starfleet. The bottom line for TNG: Season One is that it will bring back some enormously delightful memories for those who where awe inspired by it when it first came out. Although we can debate about which is the better series, TNG or TOS, we still absolutely adore both. We might miss Kirk rolling about the desert scrub with a seven foot man in a rubber reptile costume, but hearing Picard saying `make it so' just makes our day.

I had Seasons 4-7 for a couple of years and I finally broke down and bought season 1. It was really great to see how "green" the crew was and the opening with Picard's dialog. A lot of people, like myself, have overlooked the first three seasons as a settling in period for the characters. But when I looked at season one I was glad I had purchased it. What thrilling time to see this crew pull together. It was like seeing old friends for the first time in years. The newness and freshness of the characters survives the years in this first season DVD.
I plan on getting seasons 2 & 3.

Well here we are at the start of a long awaited journey the release of "Star Trek" on DVD. Season 1 of "The Next Generation" . Now, I don't intend to review the episodes in the series in details, fans will know that during season 1 the cast and crew where very much finding their feet and that the ethos was very much that of Gene Roddenberry. The crew of NCC 1701 D where more serious than they where in later seasons although poor Marina Sirtishad to endure a season dressed like a cosmic cheerleader.

For the most part the episodes where firmly rooted in Science Fiction although some exploration of morals is evident with episodes such as "Code of Honor", "Angel One" or "The Arsenal of freedom". Although the season takes a dip in the middle with episodes like "Home Soil" and "Coming of Age" there are plenty of fine episodes such as "Heart of Glory" (that introduces the new Klingons in more detail) and "11001001" (whose title must have caused Radio Times typesetters problems). Certainly the series peaks towards the end with "Conspiracy" and "The Neutral Zone" and indeed shows that it is not afraid to do away with conventional TV rules by killing off a major character before the end of the season. Season 1 of Star Trek sets lays the groundwork of what is to come in later seasons, introducing the characters, technology and ethos of the series. I should point out that "Encounter at Farpoint" is the complete double episode season opener and not the two part version.
Season 1 of "The Next Generation" has an awkward history in terms of picture. If I understand things correctly it was shot on film and then transferred to video for editing. At some point it was transferred to 1 inch video tape for storage and this is the only original format that the series exists in. Now 1 inch video tapes of the 1980's where not as good a quality as we are used to now by any means and so the video that we are left with is not the standard we are used to. Flesh tones in particular are not well represented and the dynamic range is not as great as modern video.

One of the most difficult sequences in "The Next Generation" is the trail scene of "Encounter at Farpoint", on video this has always been a murky affair and it wasn't much better on Laserdisk. The dynamic range of this DVD transfer is much better in this scene, there is much more detail in the shadows. Colour noise too was a problem before but this seems to have disappeared for this transfer. However colour representation is still a bit of a problem (due to the source material) with skin tomes and general colours having a washed out look. Detail in the picture is superb, you'll be able to spot stars twinkling in the blackness of space like never before. I'll have to take a long hard look and see just how much detail I can spot later, is the crewman walking past the rear window of the enterprise during the title sequence in series one ?

Paramount have treated "The Next Generation" to a full DD 5.1 remix. This is an extremely enveloping experience with the thrum of the enterprise filling the soundstage. I'm convinced a shiver ran up my spine when I first heard the sound of the transporter in 5.1, beautiful ! Dialog is crystal clear and well represented while the music soundtrack is rich and dynamic.