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| Making it so...STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Season Four, now on Blu-ray. All images: PARAMOUNT. |
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION – SEASON FOUR (Blu-ray set)
Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner
Created by Gene Roddenberry
Available now on Blu-ray, PARAMOUNT HOME MEDIA UK
Reviewed by Scott Weller
Back in 1990, the agonizing, stressful three-month wait for the conclusion to the epic Season Three STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION cliff-hanger, The Best of Both Worlds, was almost too much to bear for worldwide fans. Now, relive that excitement all over again-this time in stunning high definition picture and sound- as this remarkable series game-changer, amidst the entire 26 episode Season Four run, finally arrive on Blu-ray.
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| Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) - target of the Borg! |
Not thinking he was going to be around the STAR TREK lot anymore to sort out the epic cliffhanger he wrought at the end of 1989, series producer/head writer Michael Piller has to find a way of bringing satisfying and exciting story resolution to the fans and general audiences. For the most part, he succeeds. Beyond the Borg and into the rest of the series, the creative dividends continue, as he and his now solidified writing team delivers a strong set of stories that build on the success and critical acclaim of their efforts the previous year. No longer on a rocky road, this is a necessary and stable period for the show, which week by week was finding new fans and acclaim.
New hands signing up to pen tales of sci-fi drama include genre newcomer, but experienced TV series veteran, Jeri Taylor, and high concepts man Joe Menosky, all working inside the mantra set down by Roddenberry, but also getting the chance to experiment and push the series envelope where they can. On the negative side, the writers reliance on technobabble starts to subtly gain prominence, often ad nauseum, from this season onwards.
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| The Fourth Season crew assemble for a colourful publicity photograph. |
Early rumours that British series star Patrick Stewart, as the commanding presence of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, would not be coming back to the series with the cliff-hanger thankfully proved unfounded, and a relief to the actor. Though, after all the great work by the production team in getting Patrick Stewart more central of the action in Season Three, he doesn’t quite have as much to do in later Season Four episodes as I’d have liked- a lot more Enterprisebridge bound than before.
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| Data (Brent Spiner), Troi and Dr. Crusher make contact with the Borg-ified Picard in The Best of Both Worlds Part Two. |
A season bookended by high drama and outer space action, not just with the epic climax to the incredible Borg invasion/capture of Picard storyline of The Best of Both Worlds (as the Enterpriseproves the only solitary vessel capable of taking on the Borg, what with the majority of the Starfleet laid waste)- there’s also the emerging threat of a Klingon civil war, egged on in behind the scenes manipulation by their greatest enemy, the Romulans.
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| Political intrigue on the Klingon home planet in Redemption. |
As well as action and adventure, the new season’s first half very much has a family feel to it, building on the shows now considerable internal continuity and history, and showing itself as a separate series now going beyond the original series 79 episode run. THE NEXT GENERATION now has the legs to enter TV history on its own, but not without a nice little tribute to the incredible spark from whose life it originally spawned (check out the opening to the aptly titled episode Legacy).
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| Future versions of Picard and Troi (Marina Sirtis)? It's Future Imperfect. |
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| Riker (Jonathan Frakes) joins with a Trill in The Host. |
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| A witch-hunt begins in The Drumhead. |
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| A wedding for Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) in Data's Day. |
There’s also the development of some of the series support characters, most notably on and off the series Colm Meaney as fan popular transporter officer Chief O’Brien, and seeds are sown for his role in a future new TREK spin-off a couple of years down the line.
Patti Yusataki makes her first appearance in the series as Dr. Crusher’s trusty Nurse Ogawa.
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| Dr. Soongh (Brent Spiner) inspects his child in Brothers. |
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| Dangerous Q (John de Lancie) has trouble in store in Qpid. |
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| The Traveler (Eric Menyuk) returns to help Wesley (Wil Wheaton) in Remember Me. |
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| Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) discovers he has a son, Alexander (Jon Paul Steuer), in Reunion. |
Second lead Jonathan Frakes continues to direct memorable episodes and is now joined for the first time in this field by Patrick Stewart, later in the series, as its proud mixture of story telling continues. There’s comedy (Qpid, in which Picard and co. become Robin Hood’s merry men), morality plays (Suddenly Human’s child abuse, the horrors of war in The Wounded, and Half A Life’sfuturistic euthanasia), thrillers (Geordi under the control of Romulans in The Mind’s Eye) and hard sci-fi concepts (Riker’s undercover mission within an alien society goes badly wrong in First Contact). Plus several weird and wonderful TWILIGHT ZONE-esque tales (like Beverley Crusher’s Remember Me, where the Enterprise crew begin to disappear in front of her, Future Imperfect - where an amnesiac Riker wakes up on an Enterprise twenty years into the future, and Identity Crisis - where Geordi turns into a blue veined alien!). Plus an unused story from the aborted mid-seventies STAR TREK II series getting a NEXT GEN re-vamp (Devil’s Due, starring TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY’s Marta Dubois) and even some light drama/comedy (Data gets the lions shares of these with his day in the life story, Data’s Day, and finding romance with ALIEN NATION’s cute Michelle Scarabelli, in In Theory).
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| The new "Merry Men" gather in Qpid. |
Despite small screen TV budgets, the series effects geniuses provide some terrific model shots that look even better in the high definition upscaling, like the destroyed Star Fleet armada at Wolf 359 in The Best of Both Worlds Part II, and the whale-like alien creatures travelling through the universe of Galaxy’s Child.
Blu-ray extras
Robert Meyer Burnett’s feature-length series of two part documentaries continues with Family, looking behind the scenes of Season Four with cast (particularly Michael Dorn) and crew, full of fun anecdotes, plus In Conversation: The STAR TREK Art Department, where modern series behind the scenes legends Mike and Denise Okuda, Production Designer Herman Zimmerman, artist Doug Drexler and other effects colleagues talk about their excellent wide-ranging work across THE NEXT GENERATION and beyond, with some terrific anecdotes and information from all the TREK series.
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| The First Ladies of Modern TREK: Troi, Guinan and Doctor Crusher! |
There are two detailed but accessible episodic audio commentaries, an all-too brief gag reel, deleted scenes from a batch of episodes (notable highlights being an important moment between Riker and Troi in The Best of Both Worlds Part Two, Wesley seeing Jack Crusher's hologram in Family, and more of Ben Maxwell from The Wounded), warmly nostalgic episodic trailers (with some seriously hyperbolic narration!), and other behind the scenes featurettes from the DVD release (“Archival Mission Logs”), which are great for completism.
Come with us as KOOL TV explores STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Season Four’s most memorable episodes…
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| Can Captain Picard be rescued from the Borg? The Best of Both Worlds Part Two. |
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS - PART TWO (Season Four opener)
Their deflector shield weapon ineffective, and Starfleet’s armada now destroyed, the newly promoted Captain Riker and his brave crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise must “throw the book away” on their friendship and dedication to their former Captain, the now Borg-ified Jean-Luc Picard, and, as well as rescuing him from cyborg control, stop the technology assimilating creatures from destroying the Earth- the heart of the Federation!
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| Data and Worf take action within the Borg vessel. |
Jonathan Frakes admirably holds his own as main lead of the series opening episode, working well with Elizabeth Dennehy’s ambitious portrayal of Lt. Shelby- they'd have made a good command pairing if there had been another TREK spin-off at that time. The first two thirds of Best’s second part are well thought out and executed (alongside some great incidental music from Ron Jones- his last season), but the final act, with the rather workman-like direction of Chris Bole, proves slightly underwhelming and lacking pacy excitement.
Nonetheless, the overall sum is greater than its parts, and it’s a quality start to the season.
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| Picard receives a gift from his brother Robert (Jeremy Kemp) in Family. |
FAMILY
A personal resolution of sorts to the Borg attack on Earth, as our now liberated Picard spends some quality time with his older, resentful brother, Robert (an excellent Jeremy Kemp) and his family in France, though, shaken up by his almost life-shattering experience, our Captain possibly considers a life beyond Star fleet. At the same time, Klingon Lt. Worf has a positive reunion with his concerned adopted parents (nice guest work from Georgia Brown and Theodore Bikel), whilst Ensign Wesley Crusher discovers more about his late father, Jack, via a newly discovered hologram message- a touching little scene for actor Wil Wheaton to make the most of.
PARAMOUNT and series creator Gene Roddenberry were originally unhappy at the prospect of a storyline continuation from The Best of Both Worlds, in case it damaged their series syndication sales, but writer Michael Piller and Producer Rick Berman persevered to get Ronald D. Moore’s script to the screen, of which viewers ultimately responded most positively to this excellent character themed episode.
Nicely directed with some lovely location filming by Les Landau, and working well when seen with Best of Both Worlds Part Two, Family is a well-deserved, emotionally rewarding “breather” episode before our heroes go back into deep space, and also quite a serious drama, featuring a terrific performance from Patrick Stewart, and a chance to deepen further the character of Picard, now physically and emotionally scarred by his experiences with the aliens.
Note: This is one of the few series episodes not to feature Mister Data (Brent Spiner presumable getting ready for the filming bravura of his episode Brothers).
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| Brent Spiner dons some impressive Michael Westmore created make-up to play Dr. Soongh in Brothers. |
BROTHERS
Family matters!
Interrupted by a mysterious signal, Data hi-jacks the Enterpriseand sends it to a remote planet. There he encounters his father/creator, the previously presumed dead Doctor Noonien Soongh, as well as his evil brother, Soongh’s first Positronic child, Lore.
An acting tour de force from Brent Spiner, who plays three characters in this episode: Data, Lore and the father creator, Soongh, accompanied by some clever camera work and energetic chutzpah from director Rob Bowman
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| The return of Data's evil twin, Lore. |
An acting tour de force from Brent Spiner, who plays three characters in this episode: Data, Lore and the father creator, Soongh, accompanied by some clever camera work and energetic chutzpah from director Rob Bowman
Note: The Blu-ray features an audio commentary for this episode from Mike and Denise Okuda, and director Rob Bowman.
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| Friend or foe? Ishara Yar (Beth Toussaint) helps the Enterprise crew in Legacy. |
LEGACY
On a mission to rescue two kidnapped spacers from warring cadres deep within the troubled underground cities of Turkana IV, the Enterprisecrew is aided in their efforts by the mysterious Ishara Year, sister of their late security chief comrade, Tasha. But, beyond her heroic nature, which soon wins a sympathetic ear and support from Picard and co., is there more to Ishara’s helpful attitude than meets the eye?
A solid script from newcomer Joe Menosky cleverly plays on the Enterprise crews feelings and heart-strings for their late friend, especially Data, whilst intriguingly placing the story within the dark confines of her once home planet (with Production Designer Richard James making clever budget saving re-use of his previous Borg sets for the underworld city corridors).
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| Riker comes to the aid of an injured Ishara. |
Guest star Beth Toussaint gives an impressive, form-fitting performance as Tasha Yar’s sister, and has some nice interplay with Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner.
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| Not quite the loving Reunion for Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) and K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson). |
REUNION
In a worthy sequel to Season Three’s Sins of the Fathers, Picard and Worf re-encounter the traitorous Klingon, Duras, on the verge of being leader of the warrior empire following the death, through poisoning, of their previous power-maker, Kempec (Charles Cooper). As Worf’s former lover, Ambassador K’Ehleyr, discovers the truth about his discommendation, a shocking series of events sends our honourable hero into a final life or death confrontation with his blood enemy.
The opening salvo to the Klingon civil war plot to come by season’s end, Reunion is an episode well suited to director Jonathan Frakes - his second for the series, with some additional depthful cinematography from Marvin Rush that makes the most of the Klingon ships gloomy yet colourful interiors, looking superb on remastered Blu ray. It’s the type of picture quality that make you wonder how we all could ever have previously watched this series for years in such relatively poor VHS and DVD quality!
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| Worf takes on Duras (Patrick Massett)! |
The star of the episode is Michael Dorn, who has lots at stake as Worf, as Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga’s incident packed script mixes, thrills, drama, intrigue and continuity. The death of Suzie Plakson’s strong-willed K’Ehleyr proves an important catalyst of events (leading to our noble Klingon security officer, in a crowd pleasing moment, finally dispatching the traitorous Duras!), but there was still so much more story potential to be mined from the character, which is a bit of a shame-no wonder the fans were so upset at the time: the writers suffering their critical ire for years to come!
Note: This is the series first appearance from Robert O’Reilly as the big-eyed, Klingon warrior Gowron, and for Worf’s son, cute little Alexander (for one episode played by Jon Paul Steuer), towered over in his scenes by “Pa”!
Blu-ray note: This episode features an audio commentary from writers Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga and Denise Okuda.
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| Dirgo (Nick Tate), Picard and Wesley face a dangerous situation in Final Mission. |
FINAL MISSION
On the eve of finally making it to Starfleet academy, Wesley Crusher’s last mission for the Enterprise sees him and a critically injured Picard inadvertently crash-landing on a hostile desert planet whose only source of water is guarded by a seemingly malevolent energy entity.
Feeling that his character was having very little to do, the departing Wheaton ends his full-time career in TREK on a memorable high within Kacey Arnold- Ince and Jeri Taylor’s character driven script (which includes a welcome guest star appearance from another sci-fi series veteran: SPACE:1999’s Nick Tate as a greedy Miner/shuttle captain), alongside some notable studio and location filming from veteran director Corey Allen (who helmed THE NEXT GEN’s original pilot launch).
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| Data enjoys the dancing company of Keiko (Rosalind Chao) in Data's Day. |
DATA’S DAY
Light-hearted, clever story getting the series off the Beaton Path, and another spotlight episode for Brent Spiner, as Data outlines a normal day in the life of the starship Enterprise to scientist Bruce Maddox at Starfleet Command, but soon discovers that this particular 24 hours ahead will be more than noteworthy, what with the on and off, and on again, wedding of Chief O’Brien to botanist Keiko (Rosalind Chao – her first series appearance), and the arrival of a Vulcan Ambassador on an important mission into the Romulan Neutral Zone.
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| Data gets some dance lessons from Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden). |
Intrigue and humour are nicely paired in a delightful episode written by Harold Apter and Ronald D. Moore, which also shows us a bit more of the daily routine of life on a galaxy-class starship. Data’s fiery little Ginger Tom, Spot the cat, makes his first appearance (played by the soon aptly named “Monster”!), whilst actor/dancer Gates McFadden enjoys a tap dancing routine with Spiner. Director Robert Wiemer gives proceedings a fresh-faced feeling that’s highly enjoyable to watch, making the episode a further example of the series coming into its own, removed from the Original Series weighty legacy…
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| The evil Cardassians make their first appearance in The Wounded. |
THE WOUNDED
The Federation’s war against the big-necked alien warriors, the Cardassians, may finally be over, but hostilities seem on the verge of renewal when a rogue and embittered Federation starship captain, Ben Maxwell, goes AWOL in order to prove that his old enemies are rearming for planned new hostilities. Soon Picard is sent by his superiors on a mission to seek out, and if necessary destroy, Maxwell and his vessel.
Guest star Bob Gunton makes the most of the spotlight in this strong script from Jeri Taylor, which also continues to develop the amiable “everyman” character of Miles O’Brien-one of Maxwell’s former shipmates and a key to stopping the escalating threat of war. Another first for the series comes with the introduction of the hostile Cardassians, nicely created by make-up expert Michael Westmore, soon to become regular villains in the modern TREK series, primarily on spin-off DEEP SPACE NINE, and especially when so well-played by Marc Alaimo.
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| Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) and Picard enjoy the Holodeck in Clues. |
CLUES
On their way to explore an unusual M-Class planet, the Enterprisecrew, with the vital exception of Data, are rendered unconscious for thirty seconds after travelling through a wormhole. But did far more happen in that period of “thirty seconds” than Data is letting on? Has the Enterprise officer, one of Starfleet’s finest, betrayed the trust and loyalty of his friends?
Clever mystery thriller from Bruce D. Arthurs and Joe Menosky, giving rise to some tense character drama as the crew begin to mistrust Data, alongside solid direction from regular Les Landau.
Leading into the overall nature of the story, the episode starts with a nice little Dixon Hll/Holodeck noir incident, with the return of Stewart as the fictional private detective, with Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan as “Gloria…from Cleveland!”
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| Geordi (LeVar Burton) undergoes a strange transformation in Identity Crisis. |
IDENTITY CRISIS
An away team crew, having previously investigated the mysterious disappearance of a colony from five years previously, are now, one by one, starting to disappear, and Geordi, now returned to the world of Tarchannen III, is next on the list…
Brannon Braga’s story of subtle creeps and spooky build-up has its detractors, but I’m rather fond of this tale, and the unsettling atmosphere that’s nicely generated by TREK veteran Winrich Kolbe. There are excellent performances from Levar Burton and guest star Maryann Plunkett as his nervy friend and fellow away team member, Susanna Lijtenn.
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| Reg Barclay (Dwight Schultz) enters cyberspace in The Nth Degree. |
Former THE A-TEAM star Dwight Schultz makes a memorable second appearance in THE NEXT GEN as the uneasy engineer Lt. Reg Barclay in Joe Menosky’s clever, funny story. Having reasonably conquered his shyness and previous self-addicted retreat into the artificial realms of the holodeck, Reg now finds himself suddenly blessed with the powers of super-confidence, along with an even bigger supercharged brain, after an accidental encounter with an alien probe. Gaining greater power and control with each passing moment, the situation soon makes him a dangerous threat to the now less sophisticated Enterprise crew and their environs.
Special effects series veteran Rob Legato makes the most of the story’s many story and effects challenges (some lovely work involving the renegade alien probe chasing the Enterprise is amongst the standouts), and humour (Reg shares calculations with a holodeck version of Albert Einstein (Jim Norton)), whilst it’s final scenes and revelation capture the true exploratory spirit of STAR TREK.
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| Admiral Norah Satie (Jean Simmons) makes for a chilling opponent in The Drumhead. |
THE DRUMHEAD
When a Klingon saboteur is discovered on the Enterprise, the legendary Admiral Norah Satie comes out of retirement to investigate. But her bitter presence soon brings heightened paranoia across the ship, as well as a witch-hunt show trial, against Picard and his crew.
What would normally be a money-saving “bottle show” turns out to be one of the season, and the series, ultimately best episodes. A layered, thought-provoking script from Jeri Taylor is given further weight from Jonathan Frakes, coaxing subtle but powerful drama and emotion from his main cast, alongside a fabulous performance from guest star, legendary film actress and wife of Kirk Douglas’s SPARTACUS, Jean Simmons- a big TNG fan- as the deranged and spiteful Satie. Her scenes with Patrick Stewart show true static charge!
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| Geordi is brainwashed by the Romulans in The Mind's Eye. |
THE MIND’S EYE
Captured by the Romulans, Geordi is brainwashed into becoming their latest assassin, sent out to kill an important Klingon official and ultimately blame the Federation. STAR TREK meets the edgy terrors of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE in a memorable script courtesy of Rene Echevarria, whilst producer David Livingston’s directorial debut proves a spectacular one, full of ingenious clever angles and building atmosphere. LeVar Burton is terrific as the controlled Geordi, and there’s great support from a dangerous John Fleck, playing his torturer and controlling Romulan plotter/overseer behind it all. Special note, too, to actor/director Larry Dobkin, as a top Klingon aide to Picard.
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| Klingon leader Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) needs Worf's help in Redemption. |
REDEMPTION (Season Four finale)
With the brewing tensions created by The Mind’s Eye, the Romulans plan to disrupt the peace treaty between the Klingons and the Federation continue, under the scheming of a dangerous, but familiar new female commander, covertly aiding the bitter, revenge-fuelled, power-mad Duras sisters in their fight for control of the empire against the newly elected Klingon leader, mad-eyed Gowron (always excellent Robert O’ Reilly-becoming a legend across the series). Picard senses third party influences but is unable to intervene, whilst Worf finally has an opportunity to restore his blackened family name and honour- though it’s a decision that means his leaving Starfleet and life on the Enterprise…
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| The Duras sisters (Gwynth Walsh and Barbara March) make their mark in Redemption. |
The true start of the epic Klingon civil war, in a story from the series resident Klingon expert, Ronald D. Moore. As always, Dorn is terrific working with Moore’s material, as the series promises lots more intrigue and drama to come as it sails past its landmark 100th episode. Plus, there’s the introduction of the physically alluring Duras sisters (Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh)- memorable villains, and a fine addition to the series.
The episode’s excellent final scenes give Worf a restrained but subtly emotional send-off from his ship-bound “family”, whilst also exciting fans of Season Three’s Yesterday’s Enterprise, with it’s shocking, yet puzzling, final reveal...
To be continued...
Get hold of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON FOUR on Blu-ray, here:
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