Let’s see what’s out there… (Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1 (DVD))

Member Name: Brett Bligh

Product:	Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1 (DVD)
Date:	24/04/02 (521 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 25 episodes in one smart boxset, excellent quality sound, acceptable picture quality.

Disadvantages: Box is over-elaborate and the novelty soon wears thin, extras are downright paltry for a 7-disc boxset, quoted RRP is a bit steep.

‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ is THE television series of my youth. There was a time when I knew the names and synopses of all the episodes in order (and at the time, this was something of which I was proud — ye gods). As a teenager I edited a Star Trek fanzine (for a local fan club whose members were mostly adults, who gave me the job since I was about the only member they had with both computer literacy and spare time) and even wore a Starfleet uniform to pubs (in which I was underage).

Eventually, of course, the obsession wore off, probably due to a combination of growing up, getting a life, and how truly dire ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ was becoming at the time. Star Trek: The Next Generation (or TNG as the fans refer to it) still brings back fond memories, though, and I was more than happy to be able to own it on nice, shiny discs.

At this point it becomes necessary to state the obvious: the TNG season 1 boxset contains all of TNG season 1. More to the point, this means 25 full episodes, 1 of which is feature length, along with some special features — all of which added together result in a stated running time of 1131 minutes! For this reason I will include only a brief synopsis and opinion of each episodes individually, before going on to look at the series as a whole in slightly more depth. Other issues, such as the image and sound quality and the extra features, will be covered in a separate section after this.


THE EPISODES
 ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT is the feature length pilot episode. The apparently primitive Bandai people have constructed an outpost called Farpoint Station which they intend to market to the Federation. While en route to investigate, the USS Enterprise is halted by an entity known as Q and put on trial for the crimes of the human race. Q eventually decides to base the outcome of the trial on the Enterprise crew’s ability to solve the mystery of Farpoint Station.
This is a good, strong debut for the series even if it is a little clichéd by today’s standards. It is, however, marred by some notably godawful acting, especially from Marina Sirtis as Troi. [NB: the version presented here is the feature version, and not the abridged two-episode version sometimes transmitted].

 THE NAKED NOW is a loose sequel to the original series episode ‘The Naked Time’. A strange disease infects the crew of the Enterprise causing them to act irrationally, and in some cases dangerously. This is a good episode in hindsight, but I would question the decision to broadcast an episode in which the central people act ‘out-of-character’ when the contemporary audience would hardly have been aware of how the characters *normally* act just yet.

 CODE OF HONOR features Lieutenant Yar being kidnapped by a relatively primitive race, and forced to fight for her release (and for the prize of a vital drug needed to cure an epidemic on a nearby Federation colony). There is an effective matte painting of the hilltop fort here, but apart from this Code of Honor is execrable and certainly one of the weakest TNG episodes ever made.

 THE LAST OUTPOST sees the USS Enterprise and a Ferengi starship captured by a force emanating from a mysterious planet. The planet turns out to be a last remnant of the ages-defunct Tkon Empire, and the Enterprise away team and quarrelsome group of Ferengi must negotiate for their collective release as well as settling their own differences. Good solid stuff, most notable for the first appearance of the Ferengi race (much used since) in Star Trek.

 WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE sees phoney Starfleet ‘miracle’ engineer Kochinsky attempt to ‘upgrade’ the engines of the Enterprise. The real work, however, is done by ‘The Traveller’, a mysterious alien whom Kochinsky has enlisted as assistant and who accidental
ly sends the Enterprise hurtling out of the Galaxy (and through a couple of others) in a burst of power. Can the Enterprise get home?

 LONELY AMONG US features a non-corporeal entity which is detached from its nebula by the passage of the Enterprise and spends the episode disrupting computer systems and taking control of crewmembers’ minds in order to try to get home. A close shave for Picard at the end tops off an interesting if somewhat generic slice of the series.

 JUSTICE is a huge missed opportunity, as a group of generally hedonistic aliens wish to execute Wesley Crusher for trampling on some plants and smashing a coldframe … and unfortunately, Captain Picard does not bloody well let them. Why oh why not?

 THE BATTLE is a psychological trauma for Picard when Ferengi Daimon Bok returns the USS Stargazer (one of Picard’s ships, which was lost) to Starfleet with a mind-altering device hidden in one of Picard’s old seafarer’s chests. Bok is after revenge for Picard killing his son in battle, y’see. This is a largely predictable story but it is not without its merits.

 HIDE AND Q sees Q contact the Enterprise again in order to offer supernatural powers to Commander Riker. Riker is daft enough to accept (something he would never have done in a later season) but soon sees the error of his ways through the new attitudes of his crewmates. Memorable for the pig-faced beasts dressed up in Napoleonic uniform which constitute a part of Q’s game from which Riker must rescue his comrades.

 HAVEN is the episode which introduces us for the first time to Lwaxana Troi, mother of Deanna. Troi (Deanna, that is) is the subject of an arranged marriage. Her husband-to-be has had visions all his life of a strange woman he has never met — but unfortunately when he meets Deanna he concludes that it is not her. Cue the entrance of a plague ship carrying a l
oad of disease-ridden refugees, and you have a story-by-numbers, although Riker takes a good (which is not the same as large) role in this episode.

 THE BIG GOODBYE is the first of TNG’s “holodeck goes wrong” episodes, in which Picard, Data, Crusher and a metaphorical redshirt are trapped in a Dixon Hill pulp detective story with the safety mechanisms disabled and the armed hoodlums closing in. To make matters worse, Picard is scheduled to deliver a precise audio greeting to an alien race at a specific time, and he cannot afford to be late.

 DATALORE is the episode in which the Enterprise crew visit the planet on which Data was originally discovered, and find his brother, Lore* (*home assembly required). Unfortunately, Lore is not a very nice chap as it turns out, and is even partial to a spot of genocide in partnership with the ‘Crystalline Entity’. This is an episode which starts off intriguingly but then peters off at the end, with Lore pretending to be Data and (pass the bucket!) only Wesley can tell. Wesley thinks the rest of the crew do not listen to him because he is not an “adult officer”, whereas everyone else knows it’s because he is a pretentious little git.

 ANGEL ONE features the interesting premise of a planet dominated by females (sounds good to me). Unfortunately, a group of humans has crash landed on the planet and has upset the social status quo, leading to the government wishing to execute them. The predictable happens, but this is fun enough while it lasts.

 11001001 features, along with a great episode title, a race called the Bynars who steal the Enterprise in order that they can use its central computer to store their planet’s database which is about to be wiped by a solar flare. Memorable for the ‘Minuet’ holodeck program which Riker enjoys so much and the brilliantly executed effects scene of the Enterprise ap
proaching the starbase which was the best visual ever in TNG by a long, long, long way at this stage in the series.

 TOO SHORT A SEASON sees Admiral Mark Jameson sent to negotiate in a hostage situation. Decades before, Jameson had been responsible for dodgy dealings involving arms shipments to the planet in question, and now the Governor wants his revenge after winning a 40 year civil war. Jameson, however, seems to be getting younger…

 WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS sees the Enterprise children kidnapped in order that they can repopulate a planet whose population has gone sterile. Unfortunately the sterility is caused by radiation from the planet’s cloaking device so stealing little kids is not much of a step forward for the aliens. Also unfortunately, Picard lets another opportunity to get rid of Wesley Crusher go begging.

 HOME SOIL is an episode in which a group of terraformers fail to recognise a microscopic form of life on the planet’s surface until they come under attack from it. Picard transforms the lifeform on board, where it proceeds to declare war on the crew. This is an interesting episode even if the eventual solution is a little simplistic and obvious.

 COMING OF AGE features two storylines in parallel. The first sees Wesley Crusher take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam (I was wishing him good luck here, since if he passed he would have to leave the Enterprise to go to Starfleet Academy and we would not have to put up with him any more). The second storyline features the visit of Admiral Gregory Quinn to the Enterprise. Quinn forces the Enterprise crew to endure an intrusive evaluation of their (or, rather Captain Picard’s) past performances. Quinn’s motives are the most interesting part of this episode and the stage is set for a sequel which comes later this season.

 HEART OF GLORY sees three renegade Klingons rescued by the Enterprise who th
en proceed to cause havoc. This is the first TNG episode to much feature the Klingons (even Worf has not been much in the foreground thus far), and sees the first demonstration of the Klingon death howl. Amusingly, the Klingon homeworld is here referred to as ‘Kling’; this was wisely changed to Qo’NoS in future episodes.

 THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM is, despite its surface resemblance to an original series episode, one of my favourite episodes from the first season. The storyline revolves around the Enterprise discovering that a planet famed for selling armaments (sometimes to both sides in a war) has had its population wiped out. The away team is trapped on the planet, with the same weapon system that caused the extinction now chasing them, and with Doctor Crusher critically wounded in an underground cavern with only Picard for company — an interesting character situation for those who have been following the nuances of the crew relationships thus far.

 SYMBIOSIS is a moral dilemma which commences when the Enterprise rescues four people and a medical cargo from certain death and destruction. The group of people are comprised of two representatives from each planet in the solar system, and both lay claim to the cargo. And the cargo itself is not what it seems. Picard’s solution is harsh, but simple, elegant and justified.

 SKIN OF EVIL is the infamous episode in which (shock! horror!) the crewmember who gets killed when the away team beams down is not a red-shirted nobody but a member of the central cast. Worf is promoted to security chief to replace Natasha Yar, and the team must continue their mission to rescue Troi from the Evil Armus before an emotional farewell to their fallen comrade on the Holodeck. An effective script, although one of the least convincing ‘planetary’ backdrops ever used in the series.

 WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS sees Picard encounter a
n old flame who he walked out on many years ago at the start of his space-service career in Starfleet. Unfortunately, that is not the only problem; the wench is now married to a scientists whose experiments could destroy the entire space-time continuum. Tsk, tsk, there’s always *something* crops up to spoil the day…

 CONSPIRACY is a series highlight, and the sequel to the Quinn storyline from Coming of Age. The Enterprise travels back to Earth to investigate Picard’s qualms about strange goings on within Starfleet that have seen several top people killed and a mysterious pattern of re-assignments emerge. Features scenes of heads exploding (a la Cronenberg’s ‘Scanners’) and other gore usually cut from the BBC2 transmissions. The end of the episode sets us up for a sequel, but this was never to be, unfortunately.

 THE NEUTRAL ZONE is yet another good episode and the series finale. A group of Twentieth Century people are recovered from their cryogenic suspension aboard a derelict space probe, whilst simultaneously the Enterprise is sent to the Neutral Zone. Every outpost in the sector has been utterly, completely destroyed; the Romulans, who have not been encountered by the Federation for several decades, are suspected, and it is not long before the Enterprise encounters a Romulan Bird of Prey. Unbeknownst to most viewers (and probably to the writers at the time this episode was aired), this episode marks the first time the effects of the Borg are seen in Star Trek.


SERIES COMMENT
Star Trek: The Next Generation was definitely a series finding its feet during the first season, but already it showed signs of considerable promise. There were inevitable early hiccups, such as the inconsistent acting of Marina Sirtis, the unplanned killing off of security chief Tasha Yar when actress Denise Crosby decided she could not stand the job any longer, some dodgy special effects and some very se
t-bound ‘exteriors’, as well as a tendency to have Wesley Crusher unbelievably save the day, seemingly as often as on alternate weeks!

The Next Generation was also much more similar to the original series in terms of the type and range of stories told in the first season, probably as a result of Gene Roddenberry’s more direct control of the show at this stage. Another difference to later times was the level of tension on the ship — the characters do not trust each other implicitly at this stage, and justifiably so since they have only just met. Romantic tension between Riker and Troi, and rather differently between Crusher and Picard, are more prominent here even in stories which do not feature this as part of their essence. Yar is played as a physically tough and yet emotionally very vulnerable character who beds Data when under the influence of a mind-altering virus, but who seems to have a crush on the Captain on a couple of occasions. Data is here naïve to the point of annoyance, and the less said about damned Wesley the better.

On the other hand, however, TNG season one certainly sets the stage for what is to come. These 25 episodes were effectively the springboard for not only the next generation, but all that was to follow in Star Trek (DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, etc.), and in the revitalised TV sf genre of the 1990s. In this regard, they are extremely influential pieces of television, and if some of the material now seems clichéd it may well be because it has been copied so many times since — the most sincere form of flattery, as they say.

Picard comes across here as a model leader, popular and willing to listen but also possessed of a backbone and willing to go against the flow when his instincts tell him to do so. The rest of the crew — what must now be one of the best-known casts in sf TV — is also well-drawn and generally amenable to sustained interest.

In some ways, TNG marked
the end of the old-style television sf of low-budgets and camp humour — even the venerable Doctor Who skulked off into television oblivion not long after TNG debuted on British television — and the start of the Nineties trend for bigger budgets and a trend for extrapolated morality plays. At the end of the season finale, Picard looks forward with a visionary glint in his eye and utters, “let’s see what’s out there”. And he would.


THE DISC

 Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment [PHE 8131].
Star Trek has traditionally been distributed on VHS by CIC Video in the UK; obviously Paramount have decided to take the bull by the horns and do the job themselves for the shiny new discs. More money to be made this way, obviously. Not a bad job they’ve made of it, though.

 Rating: PG.
The fact that this boxset, which contains the uncut version of Conspiracy, can gain a PG rating begs the question of why the BBC have been transmitting the cut version for so long. The rating here is sound, by the way — I fail to see anything here that could disturb or offend anyone. Of course, if some viewer made deranged by viewing Symbiosis were to spontaneously develop the ability to electrocute someone with just his hand … and used it, of course, on someone annoying them … then that viewpoint might have to be changed. Watch this space.

 Region: 2 (PAL encoding).
Region 2 is intended for Europe (including the UK) and Japan, whilst PAL is a system used by the UK and Australia, among others. Essentially, this disc will play on any region 2, multi-region or region-free player which is compatible with PAL playback — if you bought your player in the UK there should be no worries whatsoever.

 Type and case: 7 x DVD9 with custom case.
A DVD9 is a 12cm, single-sided but dual data-layered disc. Of the seven contained here, discs 2-6 each c
ontain 4 episodes. Disc 1 contains three episodes including the feature-length pilot. Disc 7 contains the last two episodes of the season along with the special features which I will cover below.

The packaging is an elaborate affair. Removing the car wraparound reveals a grey plastic case with a depressed purple area. This opens up as shown in the review picture, and within is another cardboard wraparound, silver this time, in which is the collection of 7 discs. The disc selection folds outwards from the centre, with three discs on the left and four on the right, resulting in a very long horizontal row of discs. The packaging has some novelty value, and thankfully Paramount are planning to release all 7 seasons in matching boxes, but I would have to say that getting a disc out of the box seems to become more and more a bug-bear as time passes. Also included is a little booklet which details the members of the crew and states which episodes are on which discs, as well as a flyer offering the reader the chance to win a 32” widescreen television if the can complete a questionnaire (which, annoyingly, includes one of those 20-word tie-breakers).

 Running time: 1131 minutes approx.
Given that an episode is approximately 43.5 minutes (uncut, but 4% less than original US broadcasts due to PAL transfer speedup), and that the pilot could be counted as 2 episodes, we have effectively 26 x 43.5 = 1131 minutes. The time stated on the packaging, therefore, does not seem to take into account the special features, which I shall cover below.

 Picture format: 4:3 full frame.
The picture on TNG season 1 has never been very good; although shot on film, all editing was done on video and transfers are taken from masters which are on 1 inch 1980s videotape. To be fair, a fair amount of cleaning up and remastering has obviously gone on for this release, and the level of picture detail is better than ever before. Compared to modern p
rogrammes, however, there are still noticeable deficiencies, especially with the occasionally downright terrible representation of fleshtones. Other colours can also appear a little washed out, although shadow and pure blacks seem to be well achieved. Probably the best shape these episodes have ever been in.

 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), mono (French, German, Italian, Spanish).
The English-language soundtrack is simply excellent. This programme was (I think) originally recorded in mono, but the 5.1 remix on display here is extremely well executed with audio channels very well used for a TV series and the clarity of sound in general very high. Top marks. The other language tracks are simple mono and I have obviously listened to them less — there is, however, a strange fascination with me in watching German-language TNG when slightly drunk.

 Subtitles: English HOH, English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish.
The subtitles are removable, well positioned and clearly presented in a suitable typeface. A certain amount of summarisation occurs, but no more than is reasonable. What is also notable is that the subtitle spellings for the English version are actually British English — unfortunately rare.

 Extras: ‘The Beginning’, ‘Selected Crew Analysis’, ‘The Making of a Legend’, ‘Memorable Missions’.

The Beginning is an 18-minute piece which looks at how TNG was conceived and originally set up and cast. Much of the interview footage is contemporary with the season (i.e. 1986-7) with image quality to match, but the interviewees are refreshingly frank — on the basis, of course, that they obviously had no inclination at this point of what a success the series was going to be.

Selected Crew Analysis lasts quarter of an hour and sees the main cast explain how they got their respective roles and what
the function of their characters is within the structure of the series as a whole. Patrick Stewart seems most able to provide an in-depth exploration of his character’s function within the show template, but most of the cast offer some insight and this is yet another amiable talking heads piece.

The Making of a Legend concentrates more on the crew behind the series and especially the visual effects people. Another similar piece, lasting another quarter of an hour.

Memorable Missions is more of a retrospective, featuring more recent interviews with the cast about their memories of the first season of TNG. DS9’s Armin Shimmerman, in costume as Quark, reminisces about his guest role as a Ferengi in The Last Outpost, Riker recalls having to crawl into the black slime in Skin of Evil, etc., etc. in a 17 minute compilation.

 Menus: the disc menus arrive with the faces of the central cast superimposed in succession over the image of a planet, accompanied by the series theme music. The menus then take on the appearance of a computer terminal from the series, the main menus animated whilst the sub-menus are not. In general, this is an aesthetically pleasing, relevant and practical design.


CONCLUSION
In general I would have to admit that this is a good first release for television Star Trek on Region 2 DVD. To get 25 episodes in one box set is the kind of value for money that Star Trek fans have rarely been offered before, and saves space immensely over the CIC versions on VHS. As I mentioned, the picture quality is not absolutely perfect but is certainly more than acceptable given the source material, and the sound quality is well above expectations.

Perhaps the downside, however, is in the extras. The publicity poster for this box set in MVC boasted “more than 1 hour of special features!”. Frankly, this provoked nothing but giggles from everyone who saw it while I was in the store since mo
st single DVDs would boast this level of features — Final Fantasy, a two-disc release of a film, boasts more than 6 hours of features — and for a seven-disc boxset 1 hour of features is actually very low. The strange thing about this is that it is easy to imagine the sort of thing the fans would have like to have seen included: one of the cast members could have provided an audio commentary for each episode, and we could have been presented with the original contemporary TV trailers that US tv always makes use of for television of this sort.

There is also no inherent reason why the four documentaries that are included are separate. While reviewing them it became apparent that they were each simply a collection of talking head clips, taken from the same sources in nearly every case. It would have been much more honest, surely, to have simply compiled one documentary of one-hour duration from this material, and this would have saved the viewer having to bother with the intervening menus when they, inevitably, sit through each segment in order on the one occasion they bother to watch these features at all.

So, good in general for the episodes, but a star gets knocked off for the features. And by the way: some places are stating an RRP of nearly £90 for this boxset — don’t bother paying more than seventy (if you look, you’ll find it!).

Summary: