Star Trek The Next Generation: Season 5

The picture quality is so-so. It looks sharper than VHS but is a little soft on many of the episodes. The extras are pretty skimpy with a interviews with various cast and production members about various episodes. It's not bad but it would have been far more inviting to have some actor/director/writer/producer commentaries. Still, the dual layer DVD's included in this set are the one of the fewStar Trek: TNG where I haven't had a some sort of flaw (the season three set had picture problems, dialog somehow out of synch, etc.). So Paramount has gotten the manufacturing difficulties out of the way.

The packaging is very nice all except the booklet. It would be nice to see some sort of overview on the season, comments, etc. Considering the amount of $ your paying I don't think this is too much to ask.

On the positive side--many of these episodes are among the best Trek produced. They also stand as some of the best science fiction, no, scratch that, drama produced for either television or the movies during the 90's. TNG was equaled (with some episodes and the story arcs that were developed they actually surpassed TNG) by the complex Deep Space Nine (which, by the way, is still not available on DVD thank you very much).

If you're a Trek fan, I'd recommend this set although I wish Paramount had included more extras. TNG surpassed The Original Series in terms of scope, writing, acting and optical effects.

With that, I present you with a full-scale review of all the episodes in this season. Evaluations range from 0 to 5 stars (*). Hope this helps.

Redemption, Part II (**) - The Enterprise tries to stop the Romulans from interfering in the Klingon Civil War. This is meandering and horribly written. The plot point about Tasha Yar's kid being a Romulan was never explained fully, leaving someone who wouldn't know better totally confused.

Darmok (*****) - Picard struggles with an alien, who seems to communicate in gibberish. Patrick Stewart is featured extensively, which is always a good thing. His scene where he explains the Gilgamesh story is priceless. Even better, this episode actually deals with metaphor and language in a fairly intelligent way. Well acted and well written. This season's gem.

Ensign Ro (***) - Introduces the character of Ensign Ro Laren, who tries to help the Enterprise with a dispute over the treatment of an oppressed people and their possible terrorist operations. There's probably a hidden message about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Decent political drama, but uneventful.

Silicon Avatar (**) - A scientist and the Enterprise try to thwart a large, deadly silicon being. Some pretty horrible special effects (which is atypical), plus the guest star can't act. Somewhere in here, there's a debate about science and ethics. But it's not worth bothering over.

Disaster (****) - The Enterprise is nearly destroyed, leaving the scattered crew to try and recover the ship. It's clichèd, but fairly entertaining as a disaster movie homage. Data's head comes off, Worf delivers a baby, and Picard sings Frère Jacques.

The Game (****) - Wesley Crusher and Ashley Judd attempt to save the crew from an addictive game. Plenty of action and effects, this episode ponders addiction, technology, and the combination thereof. Next time you're at a family gathering, see if your family's blank stare at the TV screen doesn't resemble Will Riker's anathetized look as he drools over The Game.

Unification, Parts I and II (**) - Something about Romulans and Vulcans. Spock shows up. Nothing outstanding as far as the show goes, although some people will go nuts over Leonard Nimoy's appearance.

A Matter of Time (***) - A historian from the future visits the Enterprise to do research, while Picard and crew are caught in an ethical dilemma. Not a horrible idea, and Picard solilquizes about ethical choices, but the denouement doesn't fit with the opening explanation. Further, it's obvious that the writers avoided any kind of questions about time-travel logic. Matt Frewer tries to be silly, which is always annoying.

New Ground (0 stars) - Worf gets a son. I'll pass.

Hero Worship (*) - A traumatized little boy is saved by Data, and then begins to imitate the android. The kid actor mimics Data fairly well, but other than that, this episode is pure space opera.

Violations (**) - Troi goes into a coma, while Geordi and Data play detective. A few annoying Nightmare on Elm Street sequences, and no good ideas.

The Masterpiece Society (***) - An isolated, genetically engineered society of humans is threatened with extinction. Star Trek tries to moralize about selective breeding and genetics. Picard utters several platitudes about "free-will" and "human rights." Thanks, Jean Luc, but you're an amateur philosopher, and the Federation is a socialistic, fascistic nightmare of a space government. Let these people live in peace, for God's sake.

Conundrum (****) - The crew loses their memories and are consequently suckered into believing that they are at war. Certainly watchable, though the guest star (yet again!) can't act. The premise is solid -- the characters have to figure out who they are, and this changes their relationships -- but the Riker love scenes are incredibly annoying and pointless.

Power Play (****) - Troi, Data, and O'Brien take over 10-Forward, holding hostages and shooting at anything that moves. This has a life-after-death theme. Entertaining, and probably the most action packed episode of the season. It's good to see Data sneer.

Ethics (*) - Worf breaks his back and then ponders suicide. This episode tries to be your Philosophy 101 class, but it's really just boring, textbookish space opera. Worf shoulda done it and ended my misery.

The Outcast (0 stars) - Riker falls in love with an androgyne. Boring, disgusting, a lot of pontificating about gender roles and society. Still, you'll get a few laughs out of lines like "The null space must be negating the anular confinement beam."

Cause and Effect (****) - The Enterprise gets stuck in a time loop, which ends with the ship blowing up four times. Another episode with a technobabble ending, but it's a good mystery, and the director gets to be intriguingly cute for a TV show (watch those changing camera angles each time the story repeats).

The First Duty (*) - Boring twaddle about Wesley Crusher's accident at Starfleet Academy. A throwaway episode, for sure, pretentious in its presentation of moral dilemmas. Plus, there are several guest stars who can't act (I'm sensing a theme).

Cost of Living (0 stars) - Troi's mom comes aboard the ship. I hit the fast-forward button.

The Perfect Mate (****) - A beautiful woman seduces Picard and crew. One of the few space-opera episodes that has a convincing pathos, particularly because Patrick Stewart does such a great job. It plays with the ideas of woman-as-sex-object and woman-as-seductress, and handles them well. Pretty good sci-fi drama.

Imaginary Friend (**) - A little girl's imaginary friend becomes all too real and threatens the Enterprise. Other reviewers seem to think this one is terrible. It's not that bad, but won't be in your top ten for this season.

I, Borg (***) - The Enterprise rescues a member of the Borg. Good pathos - the individual borg begins to show signs of a personality - but please, would his life be any better in Starfleet? He'd be going from one type of humanistic socialism to another. Repeat after me: they all think alike in the Federation. No religion, no yearning for independent state- or planethood, a desire to expand the empire, plenty of assimilated ethnic groups. Sounds like the Borg to me.

The Next Phase (***) - Geordi and Ro Laren "die" in a transporter accident, only to awaken on the Enterprise where they can't be seen or heard. This is the second episode of this season to flirt with life-after-death themes. However, this one relies heavily on its techno-babble solution.

The Inner Light (*****) - The Enterprise encounters a strange vessel, and Picard lives a second life. Probably the best Trek episode I've seen. While I can't stand the space opera aspect of the show, in this episode it works extremely well. Picard's experience always strikes me as analogous to what happens when we read books. Excellent writing, and, of course by featuring Patrick Stewart, excellent acting. I want a pennywhistle.

Time's Arrow, Part I (0 stars) - Data's head appears underneath San Francisco, so the crew ends up traveling back in time. Putting this episode in this DVD collection is entirely useless, since there's no Part II to watch. And Paramount expects me to fork over $120 just to see the second part? No thanks. But if you send me a copy, I'll review it, and the rest of Season 6, for free.

The fifth season stars out with REDEMPTION: PART II. The fourth and last part of the rough quadrilogy involving Worf is by far the best of them all. It starts with a spaceship fight and never lets up. 10 times better than the first part.

What made this season so great was that it had many guest stars and character-based episodes:

1) In THE GAME and DARMOK, Ashley Judd guest stars.

2) Leonard Nimoy returns as Spock in UNIFICATION, PART II. There is a priceless conversation between Data and Spock in that episode.
3) Kelsey Grammer makes a brief apperance in CAUSE AND EFFECT.
4) Famke Janssen appears in THE PERFECT MATE. (She would later star with Patrick Stewart in X-MEN)
5) Ray Walston makes a memorable appearance in THE FIRST DUTY. Will Wheaton is in that episode as well and delivers a great performance.
6) In THE NEXT PHASE, La Forge and Ro get some time to deliver some good performances
7) ETHICS is a great Worf episode.

Also in this season were many funny and intersting episodes:

1) In DISASTER, Data's head is removed, Worf helps to deliver a baby, and Troi must run the bridge. Good stuff.
2) In POWER PLAY, Data, Troi, and O'Brien go renegade and take over Ten-Forward. Very cool.
3) I, BORG was a great episode. Very intersting. And watch for Hugh to come back late in the 6rth season...

Unfortunately, there were some bad episodes as well. IMAGINARY FRIEND and COST OF LIVING were horrible. Watch for yourself. (LWAXANA taking a MUD BATH?!?!?!?! Please, no!!!!!!!)

And last, the season's last episode, TIME'S ARROW. Unfortunately, it's not that great. Data accidentally goes back in time and meets Jack London, Mark Twain, and others while trying to stop aliens (again). Some of it is funny, but you're gonna have to wait until the end of the 6th season for a REALLY GREAT SEASON FINALE.

All in all, a great and crucial season.

1991-1992; all episodes are rated PG for mild sci-fi violence and breif language.