Customer Reviews

Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation improves on the first series by introducing occasionally stronger character based shows and situations. While Tasha Yar is missed, and to a lesser extent Doctor Crusher, we're introduced to 2 new characters. Dr. Pulaski and Guinan. Personally I always enjoyed Pulaski shows, she was one of the only characters that brought a bit of conflict into the programme. There was never enough coming and going of new blood into the Star Trek series (either in front or behind the camera). Guinan (and the new location for her "Ten Forward" - a great setting for comedy/social moments) added more life and mystery into the show. It was a shame she wasn't able to appear in more episodes in the later parts of the series (she does have a cameo role in Star Trek Nemesis).

The episodes themselves were extremely varied. Due to the writer's strike, the season was cut short to 22 episodes rather than the full 26 ending with the appalling "bottle show", 'Shades of Grey' (Plot summary: Riker in a coma and Deanna "looking worried" while Pulaski puts copious L.E.Ds on his forehead). "The Royale" was also truly terrible. There were some storming episodes though, the best being "Q Who." This episode had everything: Q, the introduction of the Borg, Guinan, great special effects and a superb score by Ron Jones. Other great episodes were "Contagion" and "Time Squared"

This box set has everything you could wish for (that's why I'm giving it 5 stars): remastered picture and Dolby Digital sound, one hour of new interviews and documentaries, and some really awesome DVD menus. Although seasons 1 and 2 aren't the best you can't really miss these, they are great foundation episodes with the DVD box sets given the care and attention they deserve.

Episode list:
The Child
Where Silence Has Lease
Elementary, Dear Data
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Unnatural Selection
A Matter of Honor
The Measure of a Man
The Dauphin
Contagion
The Royale
Time Squared
The Icarus Factor
Pen Pals
Q Who?
Samaritan Snare
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt
The Emissary
Peak Performance
Shades of Gray

This release of Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD contains all of the episodes of its second season. During the second season we see Dr. Crusher replaced with Dr. Pulaski and we are introduced to the Borg<...All 22 episodes are contained on 6 disks.

The Child - Dr. Pulaski pronounces Troi pregnant at the hands of a traveling alien. The child is born in two days and matures at a quick rate.

Where Silence Has Lease - An advanced alien traps the USS Enterprise in a mysterious black void, as part of some research. The aliens only have to sentence half the crew to die in its research.

Elementary, Dead Data - Data, Geordi, and Dr. Pulaski play out a Sherlock Holmes mystery in the holodeck. Geordi ask the computer to create an adversary capable of defeating Data, Professor Moriarty that takes over the ship.

The Outrageous Okona - The USS Enterprise grants asylum to Okona, a roguish captain pursued by the planets Atlek and Streleb.

Loud as a Whisper - The Enterprise seeks Riva, the deaf Great Mediator, to settle a dispute on Soleis Five. When Riva's Chorus of telepathic translators are killed, Troi assists Riva.

The Schizoid Man - Dr. Ira Graves transfers his consciousness into Data, and separating the two disparate personalities rests with Picard's ability to persuade Graves of his mistake.

Unnatural Selection - The crew of the USS Lantree die of old age. The Enterprise traces it to the Darwin Genetic Research Station, where Dr. Pulaski gets infected.

A Matter of Honor - A Starfleet exchange program brings a Benzite ensign on board the Enterprise and sends Riker to the Klingon vessel Pagh. The Klingon's captain attacks the Enterprise, suspecting Picard of sabotage.

The Measure of a Man - Captain Picard defends Data's rights and the prosecuting attorney is Commander Riker.

The Dauphin - The future ruler of Daled Four, falls for Wesley Crusher.

Contagion - A mysterious computer virus destroys the USS Yamato, and threatens the Enterprise.

The Royale - After finding wreckage from a NASA vessel around Theta Eight, Riker, Data, and Worf become trapped in the Hotel Royale, a reconstruction of an Earth novel.

Time Squared - The USS Enterprise stumbles upon one of its own shuttles carrying a duplicate of Captain Picard from six hours in the future. It is six hours in the future that the ship is destroyed.

The Icarus Factor - Riker has been promoted to command the USS Ares, but first he must deal with the problems between himself and his father.

Pen Pals - Data breaks the Prime Directive while communicating with a young girl on a distant planet, which is about to be destroyed by seismic disruptions.

Q Who - Q takes the Enterprise to another part of the galaxy to encounter the Borg.

Samaritan Snare - A Pakled vessel kidnaps Geordi and Picard's goes in for heart surgery.

Up the Long Ladder - While Picard is rescuing one colony in the Ficus Sector from solar flares, he learns of a second colony comprised of a dying race of clones.

Manhunt - Picard hides in the holodeck in the Dixon Hill scenario because Troi's mother shows up while undergoing "the Phase."

The Emissary - A group of suspended Klingons are revived and set on attacking the Federation. A special emissary K'Ehleyr is called in to mediate a special problem she was a former love of Worf's.

Peak Performance - The Enterprise is pitted against the USS Hathaway in war-games.

Shades of Gray - Riker's body is invaded by a mysterious parasite and Dr. Pulaski's only recourse seems to be the stimulation of his mind with memories.

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 although Season Two was aired fairly much according to the chronological produced 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.' Season Two, still carries on with repeating much of the stories in TOS, revamping them and then adding some new stuff of its own, boosting Data's screen time, bumping up the computer generated graphics to allow for things like shuttlecraft launching and manoeuvres, improved alien CGI and an enhancement in particle effects. They even attempt a type of morphing. Most of the main characters from Season One are here, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker (now with a beard), Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Worf (letting his hair grow), Commander Deanna Troi (complete with low-cut red starfleet costume), Lt. Commander Data and Ensign Wesley Crusher. However obviously Commander Lieutenant Tasha Yar is gone but so is Dr. Beverly Crusher (who was not bad-looking), replaced by Doctor Katherine Pulaski (who looks like your granny!) for Season Two because Dr. Crusher has been reassigned to Starfleet Medical as explained in episode one of Season Three (in reality the TNG writers where having difficulties in developing Crusher's character, would later reinstate her for Season Three, dropping Pulaski because they felt her character was not working). Colm Meaney as Miles Edward O'Brien, Navigation from Season One gets more screentime, while the new Whoopi Goldberg chatacter, Guinan, is the wise El Aurian bartender in 10 Forward, the new bar room where the Enterprise crew get to relax. Except for this extra area the Enterprise itself has not gone undergone much of a revamp and this season is far more Enterprise based than Season One, or all of TOS, meaning Season Two has less planetary exploration stories which is a bit of a drawback, but sets a new standards in the `hotel in space' feel that would produce the `Deep Space Nine' series. Season Two of TNG is mostly about alien impregnation, mystery space, AI, the holodeck, interplanetary relations, rapid aging, justice, shape-shifting, time travel, family, the prime directive, kidnapping, cloning, war games and infections. The big plus side to not having that much planetary exploration is that there are lots of stories with Klingons and the first encounter with the BORG! The unforgettable episodes are, `Elementary, Dear Data' where Data takes on his Sherlock Holmes persona and we are introduced to the Moriarty character. `Loud as a Whisper' is about a deaf and dumb peace negotiator. `A Matter of Honor' is where Riker serves on a Klingon battleship. `Q Who?' may well be the best episode here because it is the first time we meet the Borg. The last episode of Season Two `Shades of Gray' may be one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever, which uses Riker's memories from Seasons One and Two to make up an entire episode and even includes the uncut scenes for the Season One episode `Conspiracy' featuring the violent head explosion edited from some daytime television showings [so parents be cautious again]). The bottom line for TNG: Season Two is that for all it shortcomings because of lack of beaming down, we get the Borg and lots and lots of Klingons. At this stage in the saga we might still miss Kirk rolling about the desert scrub with a seven foot man in a rubber reptile costume, but how will Picard defeat those assimilating half-man, half-machine entities that are heading his way? He better "make it so" with Season Three.

Many people don't like Season 2 because it changed Doctor characters and it had its fill of "bottle shows", however there's still some really good episodes in Season 2.

For example, "Where Silence Has Lease" is a good one where the Enterprise gets hurled into a void when they're confronted by an alien in the void that puts the crew through a deadly experiment.

Another good episode is "Elementary Dear Data" where Data is involved in a Sherlock Holmes holodeck adventure and we see the debut of the Moriarty villian.

"Loud as a Whisper" isn't bad either when a deaf mediator tries to bring peace to a war-torn planet, but his interpreters are all killed in a ambush. Cool on-planet episode with aliens.

"A Matter of Honor" is probably one of the best episodes of Season 2 when Riker takes part in kind of an exchange program on a Klingon BoP and then is forced to attack the Enterprise to prove his honor.

"The Message of a Man" is an interesting courtroom drama where they have to prove that Data is a valuable asset to the crew instead of just a machine.

"Contagion" isn't all that bad either when a probe makes the Enterprise defenseless against a Romulan Warbird.

"Time Squared" is a memorable episode where Piccard's duplicate from the near future is in the present warning the Enterprise of its impending destruction against a blackhole-like anonomoly.

"The Icarus Factor" is a good one where Worf is challenged by the Klingon council and Riker's father shows up with some age ol' grudges.

"Q Who?" is another one of the classic episodes in which Q sends the Enterprise into the far reaches of space to make first contact with the Borg.

"The Emissary" was one of my old favorites when Worf meets his sole mate, a fiesty Klingon female who has an attitude. I'm alway impartial to the Klingon-heavy episodes.

"Peak Performance" is also one of the great episodes where Riker takes over an Constellation-class ship to battle the Enterprise in a wargame when the game is rudely interrupted by a Ferengi Marauder.

So in reality half of the episodes are pretty good. The other half are either filler or bottle shows that either may or may not be good. Some have to do with mysterious illnesses, holodeck problems, or Lwaxana Troi garbage. The pluses are that we finally get Guinnan and Ten-Forward in the series. Something sorely missing from the first season.

The second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was immediately troubled with the writers' strike in Hollywood, thus many of the episodes fall short of being the usual inspiring episodes fans have come to expect.

What is most interesting and significant about this season is the introduction/departure of certain characters and the development of already familiar faces. At the forefront, Gates McFadden was not invited to return for the second year (she'll be back) and thus Dr. Beverly Crusher was replaced with Dr. Katherine Pulaski played by the witty Diana Muldaur. Curiously, Muldaur chose to be listed not as a regular star but as a special guest star. Whoopi Goldberg joins the cast as the bartender Guinan in the newly shown Ten-Forward lounge of the Enterprise. As for character development, the whole crew rallies behind Data in the episode "Measure of a Man", we finally get a permanent chief engineer with LaForge, and they have decided that Wesley is not a member of the senior staff and does not have the right to be in on all the staff meetings (as he did throughout the first season).

Some excellent stand out episodes are: Contagion, Q Who, Pen Pals, Peak Performance, Time Squared, The Emissary, and The Measure of a Man. Some episodes that are still too painful to watch: The Outrageous Okona (the biggest stinker ST:TNG episode of all time!), The Royale (apparently they had a great idea but the budget was cut at the last minute), Shades of Gray, and Loud as a Whisper.

Although I am a die-hard fan of the Dr. Crusher character, I am saddened that the Dr. Pulaski character was never seen or heard from again. We have no idea what ever happened to her. After three (soon to be four) movies, three spinoff series, and lots of crossover episodes, there has never been a single mention of her. So, if you like Pulaski, buy this DVD set, since it is likely to be the only time you will ever see or hear of the character. And if Ms. Muldaur ever happens to read this: "Diana, despite all the criticisms of the Pulaski character, you did a great job. Thanks for the year you gave us!"

You know, it's just not fair. I plunked down just as many shekels for this NextGen box set as I did for the first one. Now that might not seem like much of a problem to most, but here's the messed-up part: this set contains only six DVDs, rather than its predecessor's total of seven . So why am I paying the same price for something that has less? Wouldn't it make more sense for me to pay six-sevenths as much? Of course, if that screenwriters' strike hadn't cut down NextGen's second-season eppie total, I wouldn't've had to worry about it in the first place...

...but enough griping, at least for the moment. Compared to the original series DVDs, the NextGen platters have more episodes per disc (four to Classic Trek's two), and the and the box set takes up about the same space as three standard-width snap cases. Which means the entire run of NextGen DVDs will take up about two-thirds as much space as the entire run of original series platters presently do. Of course, this makes me wonder why Paramount didn't give the classic show a similar treatment in the first place? After all, when it comes to collecting Star Trek on video, shelf space becomes an essential commodity. This is after all a franchise made up of five series, nine (soon to be ten) movies, and a cartoon show, with endless sequel & spin-off possibilities! With these facts staring a DVD-collecting UberTrekkie in the face, one can NEVER have too much shelf space, and... um... whoops, I did it again, didn't I? Sorry `bout that. Gimme a mome to get back on track, okay? Thanks...

While not particularly exceptional, NextGen's second year was a fair improvement over the first in many respects. It displayed a potential that would eventually make it a worthy successor to its 23rd-century forebear. The follicular abilities of Riker & Picard went in opposite directions as our beloved overly-dramatic-pose-prone executive officer sprouted facial hair. Worf & LaForge receive new uniforms and new duties. Also noted here is Ten-Forward and the first poker games between the members of the bridge crew. Then there was THE big shake-up: Dr. Crusher was temporarily replaced by a somewhat McCoy-ish woman who wasn't too keen on the notion that Data might actually be more than a mere machine. Sadly, Dr. Crusher neglected to take her son Wussley-- whoops, I mean Wesley with her, much to the chagrin of most NextGen trekkies outside of the adolescent female demographic.

A few of the show's high points in Year Two:

Being a big fan of the Borg, I consider `Q-Who' to be the best moment of the second season. In this show, Q introduces our star-hopping protagonists to the Borg-- and the rest is history. `The Measure of a Man' is probably one of the best Data-showcase eppies ever made. In fact, a good portion of the second season was dedicated to the further character development of Starfleet's most valuable android: There's `Elementary Dear Data', as he plays the part of Sherlock Holmes tracking down a self-aware holodeck creation of Prof. Moriarty. I found it to be a better-than average entry in the show's run of `Holodeck Malfunction' eppies. In `The Schizoid Man', Data's taken over by the consciousness of a dying cyberneticist. `Pen Pals' has our beloved android making covert contact with an alien child on a dying world. Riker also gets some development in `A Matter of Honor' and `The Icarus Factor', both of which have a bit more action than the average NextGen eppie.

Then of course there's the shows I'll likely skip past when I host my next NextGen marathon:
Being a Wesley Crusher anti-fan (as any self-respecting NextGen Trekkie should be), viewing his first crush with a young lady who can morph into a weird furry wookiee-thing in `The Dauphin' was almost unbearable. And although `The Royale' is kinda fun to watch in a cheeseball way, it's definitely not one of the series' more able entries. To top things off, they saved the worst for last: the season finale `Shades of Grey'. I prefer to call it `Riker's Greatest Hits', since about half of the footage for this show was culled from the first two seasons, all of it featuring our beloved Number One's greatest moments of both blissful pleasure and hellish torture from the show's first two years.

As I expected, the sound quality of each episode is really good, far better than their preceding VHS presentations. The subtle background sounds are more perceptible. The picture quality, however, is not as consistently good as that of the First Season set. There are a few parts here and there that look a bit grainy. Of course, this may be due more to the quality of the source film than the digital transfer, but I couldn't tell you for sure one way or the other.

The extra features include several documentary featurettes, which cover pretty much what you'd expect from TV docs: behind-the-scenes looks, memories of the show's second year from both cast and crew, and other info. If nothing else, these featurettes are a good way to prep you for that trivia contest they'll be holding at the next convention that blows into town! I found the doc about the Star Trek archives- a vast collection of props, models, backdrops, and set pieces from all the shows and films- to be the most interesting of the lot.

And now, my biggest gripe about this set: Paramount decided to make the foldout disc holder out of cardboard, which means you'd better expect this storage unit to disintegrate faster than a Romulan hit by a full-power phaser beam after several NextGen marathons. Well, unless you have some duct tape ready that is.

`Late

"Star Trek: The Next Generation's" second season begins with Riker's new beard, Geordi's promotion, a new (but not better) doctor, and Wesley the weasel deciding to stay aboard. Sounds like a mixed bag to me. The season premiere "The Child" doesn't have much in the way of excitement, and Marina Sirtis wasn't quite as good yet to carry the episode, but it looks great with some neat looking exterior shots and an introduction of Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan the bartender. The from there the season continued with a few gems ("Elementary Dear Data," "Q Who?") and a few more missteps ("The Outrageous Okona," "Pen Pals," "Shades of Gray).

We meet the Borg in a great episode with Q, played by the always-dependable John DeLancie, Data butts heads with a holodek version of Moriarty, Riker finally comes to terms with his father, and Wesley is given his first command. With a writer's strike hindering the production of the episodes, many of them feel rushed. A few potentially cool ideas like "Contagion" and "Peak Performance" feel lacking in suspense or direction.

Ah, but the cast is perfect and carries out each episode wonderfully. Even the terrible stock-footage show "Shades of Gray" is handled well by the cast. However, the season lacks two major characters from season one: Tasha Yar and Dr. Crusher. While Yar can't come back (she died late in season one), the good doctor does return in season three and she's welcome. Diana Mulduar is a talented actress, but Dr. Pulaski just isn't compatable with the other characters.

My recommendation is to get season two only if you're trying to collect them all. It's not the perfect season and there's much better ones out there.

There were moments during the second season when Star Trek: The Next Generation was as good as it ever got, and a few moments when it was worse than it ever was before or after.

Three standout episodes elevate this season, any one of them on par with the best episode of the next two years.

The first was "Matter of Honor." Cmdr. Riker is assigned to serve as an exchange officer on a Klingon ship. The dynamics of Riker with the ship's crew elevate this episode well above the rest. Only a cheesy Wesley-centric subplot spoils the fun.

The second is "Measure of a Man," the one episode where the series hit one out of the park in the first two years. Cmdr. Data's legal status is in question: Sentient being or toaster, to be disassembled at Starfleet's whim. Hits some pretty heavy subjects without preaching or taking the easy way out. This also introduced the poker game that ran through the rest of the series.

The third standout is "Q Who." The pesky god-like entity Q re-appears, asking to join the Enterprise crew. They need him, he claims. Rejected, he attempts to prove his worth by flinging the 1701-D into a far corner of the galaxy and an encounter with the Borg, a nasty and implacable enemy. Exciting and dark, this was great Star Trek of any generation. Unfortunately, this was the swan song for Q as a sinister presence. After this episode, he's not much more than a mildly annoying comic foil for Picard.

The low points for season two are "The Child" and "Shades of Gray". The season opener "The Child" was a desperate attempt to cope with a writers' strike by dusting off a script from the aborted mid-seventies revival of Star Trek with the original cast. The shotgun marriage of generations is dull, plodding and ridiculous.

"Shade of Gray" finished out the second season in even weaker fashion. Little more than a clip show hung around a weak premise about Riker nearly getting killed by an alien plant and needing his memories "stimulated" to save his life, this was another casuality of the 1988 WGA strike.

There were a few more episodes that make the second season worthwhile. "Elementary, Dear Data" is probably the best of the "Holodeck malfunction" episodes that would later become one Star Trek's most annoying cliches.

"Up The Long Ladder" is a mostly light comic episode that also deals intelligently with the serious issues of abortion and cloning.

"The Emissary" introduced fan-favorite Keylahr (sp), Work's ex-girlfriend. A good episode by itself, it would be followed up two years later by one of the fourth season's best. Unfortunately, it also led to the introduction of Alexander, Worf's son and one of the least necessary characters in Star Trek history.

The extras are well done, mostly new interviews with Rick Berman and old interviews with some of the cast and crew, including the late Gene Roddenberry. One thing that kind of hit me was the fact that the new Berman interview was tape less than a week before 9/11. How I envy that man on my TV right now because he's still living in the world that existed before that day.

The only quibble I have is the price. This set is one less disk than the others in the series but it's the same price. Far be it for Paramount to be fair with its DVD pricing.

Like the first season, the second round of Star Trek: The Next Generation is short of fantastic. There's still a healthy dose of cheese interspersed with the good stuff, but right from the get-go it's clear that there has been a significant improvement. Also notable about season 2 is the fact that the writers went on strike toward the beginning of the season, causing old scripts for a cancelled 70s Trek show to be unearthed and filmed.

The greatness here is truly great, however. Season 2 contains the single best episode of the series, The Measure of a Man. This is a bold episode in every sense - it takes on massive ideas (no less than the very meaning of life) and comes out pretty well. It also sparkles with witty writing and a thrilling courtroom scene. All told, this is the best of what Trek does best. The flops are also spectacular, like The Outrageous Okona, an episode about humor that isn't even remotely funny. This is Trek at its most shrill and stuffy, and should be avoided at almost any cost. Also pathetic is Shades of Gray, a clip show. Consider how weak clip shows are even in fluffy sitcoms that have run for years, and you get the idea about how lame this one is.

The characters have developed into good niches, however. Data takes an especially cool arc this season, as he learns that there's more to poker than just the odds. No longer is he the most demonstrative emotionless robot ever made. Riker also evolves from Picard Jr. into TNG's answer to Captain Kirk from the original show. Dr. Crusher is also replaced for this season with Dr. Pulaski, a McCoy type. Worf is no longer an idiotic berserker, but a fully developed and far more interesting character.

Highlight episodes include Where Silence Has Lease, a brain-bender featuring a great climactic gambit by Picard. The aforementioned The Measure of a Man is also stunning, as mentioned before. Contagion is suspenseful and action-heavy, Time Squared is a good thriller, Q Who introduces the show's most feared villains, and Peak Performance offers an exciting duel of wits between Picard and Riker, punctuated by a real crisis.

All told, Season 2 does everything bigger (but not always better) than Season 1. It is relatively disposable, but some of its best episodes are as good as they come. The next season will truly inaugurate the golden period of The Next Generation. Recommended for completists.

The DVDs themselves are of good quality; I've rented many seasons' worth and reminded myself which stories throughout the run were good and which were not...

$50 per season is on par and is a good price. (So what's coming soon that's compelling people to buy these current sets?)

Wish I could afford it; thanks to the prices of necessities gone up so much (food, shelter, and distilled petroleum products being slightly more important than Captain Picard standing around as if he hasn't spent a penny in decades...), $50 is still an effective $100 out of my pocket in the end.

Don't get me wrong, the entire series IS fun and seasons 1 and 2 have their appreciable values as well; season 1 boasting a wealth of good ideas that just had an awkward production feel to them:

The Child: Resurrected from an aborted Kirk series of the late-70s, this one is competent in all ways. Nice talk re: abortion too. Pulaski makes a great intro and despite being lambasted as a McCoy ripoff (for which the TNG spinoffs never get too many of), Pulaski was a great replacement for Crusher.

Where Silence Has Lease: Half trite, but the creepiness/horror factor kept it interesting. All in all underrated.

Elementary, Dear Data: Ah! The stuff that REAL sci-fi is made out of. A+++ Daniel Davis as Holmes is inspired casting to boot.

The Outrageous Okona: Rejected Season 1 script? best left ignored...

Loud as a Whisper: An interesting take on mediation; things naturally go awry. of course...

The Schizoid Man: Not the best, but very underrated and the creepy factor is also well done.

Unnatural Selection: Ripoff of every "let's age 'em quickly" plot ever made. Pulaski is fun to watch, but that's about it...

A Matteer of Honor: Great Klingon story. A bit pedestrian in its presentation (a frequent season 1 complaint), but I love it to pieces anyway.

The Measure of a Man: The first and by far BEST story regarding Data's status as a sentient being.

The Dauphin: Bland entry.

Contagion: Another AWESOME story. Great use of ideas and is the first "computer virus" story. Nice solution too.

The Royale: Don't bother. It's filler.

Time Squared: Yowza. Another story that goes where nobody has gone before; the first and best story regarding being caught in a time loop...

The Icarus Factor: I never cared for this type of story. Too soapy. Nice set pieces, but not ideal as a whole story.

Pen Pals: Lovely in thought, but breaks Federation rules all over the place. Not to mention Data being grossly out of character.

Q Who?: Q is reminiscent of the 7th Doctor as he meddles with Picard and introduced them to the Cyber... whoops, the Borg. Don't get my sarky comments wrong, this story is well defined, well acted, and is a total CLASSIC. I could care less about the "Borg Nursery", but it's logical they'd have one...

Samaritan Snare: A bizarre story, and watchable in its own mind, it is a bit disconcerting to watch...

Up the Long Ladder: Nice comedy piece that turns to horror as two branches of the same race ultimately have to learn to live together; one similar to 1800s Earth, the other that bleached its gene pool thanks to excessive cloning. It is a noble story, but Riker - as usual - gets it on with the alien chick of the week...

Manhunt: Another comedy piece; it depends if you like Lwaxana or not.

The Emissary: Worf's background is explored. So is K'Elhyr. Pity she gets killed off. :(

Peak Performance: A clever entry; simulating war games and in come the Ferengi in a performance on par to "The Battle".

Shades of Gray: A clip show?! Little faith in the series (half-understandable) or behind-the-scenes strike and other issues preventing a proper story from being made?

Season 2 is a big improvement; using directorial styles invented in other series. But it's as much original as it is derivative thanks to exploring usually decent sci-fi ideas and making them work within the sphere of Trekdom. Sadly, later series would ditch the cool sci-fi element and make the show drivel-preachy-drama of the week, with the Enteprise-D used (yet again) as a mere cargo ship...