- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,776
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season Five
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1991-1992
Rated: NR
Feature Length: 1183 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame
Subtitles: English
Welcome to the 24th Century
October 10, 1986, seventeen years after the
cancellation of the original Star Trek series,
Paramount launched a new generation of Star
Trek with an all-new cast of characters. The
show went on to have an Emmy award-winning
seven-year run. It has become the best Star
Trek series of all time.
Paramount has just released the fifth season
set of Star Trek The Next Generation, on their
way to releasing all 7 seasons by year's end.
Thus far, the release of these sets has been a
rousing success for the studio, and they seem to
improve with each release. In fact, more than
any other studio television product, these sets
always offer something exciting and new with each
release -- from menu design to supplemental material.
Star Trek TNG Season Five arrives as
all previous seasons arrived, in a deluxe
boxed 7-pane gatefold package that opens up to
an impressive span, holding the entire fourth
season laid out across 7 DVDs placed in plastic
hub housing. A total of 26 episodes span this
series, with each of the 6 discs containing four
episodes each and the 7th disc containing two
episodes + supplements. Paramount has also
given the set its own unique appearance by giving
the packaging a predominantly blue color scheme so
that it can easily be differentiated from other
seasons.
On the flip side gatefold's end pocket sits a
small pamphlet that opens to a 17 1/2" 2-sided
fold-out. On the one side is a 4 page foldout that
contains an artist's rendering of the entire cast.
Flip the booklet over and you'll find a picture of
one of Gene Roddenberry, who had died during the
production of this season. There's a touching
tribute given to the man responsible for creating
the Star Trek universe. On the opposite pages,
Episodes are listed in alphabetical order, complete
with airdate, stardate, and what disc that episode
appears on.
Season Five was just as outstanding as the
seasons that came before it. Once again, we watch
the show's characters become more defined, such as
in the episodes concerning the Klingons. We also see
different sides of characters we never saw before.
Picard becomes less rigid, as we watch one of the
most memorable love stories of the series, The
Inner Light. Then, if you can believe it, we
watch the Federation's worst enemy become a little
more humanized in I, Borg.
To show you just how strong a season this truly
was, I sampled three of the best episodes from this
boxed set in order to get an idea of how good the
audio and video quality presentation is.
Unification, Part I & II
Captain Picard is disturbed to learn that
the legendary Vulcan, Mr. Spock, has gone on an
unauthorized mission to the planet Romulus. He
immediately travels to Vulcan to speak with Spock's
father Sarek, a close friend with whom he shared a
mind meld the year before. Picard beams down to
Vulcan and finds Sarek, wracked by emotional pain
and wasting away in his bed. The dying Vulcan
tells Picard that his son may be in touch with the
Romulan senator Pardek. He also asks Picard to convey
his love to his son. Upon his return to the
Enterprise, Picard summons the help of the Klingons
in hopes of receiving an undetectable ship to use to
travel to Romulus. Dressed as Romulans, Picard and
Data find Spock, who confesses he is aware of a
movement among the Romulan people towards Vulcan
philosophy, and he has come to foster it. It is his
hopes to provide the first step to the reunification
of the Vulcans and the Romulans! But can the Romulans
be trusted?
The Inner Light
This is one of my all-time favorite episodes! An
unsophisticated alien probe assumes a relative
position, holding steady with the U.S.S. Enterprise,
and releases a nucleonic particle stream that
penetrates the ship's shields. Focusing solely on
Picard, the beam knocks him unconscious. When he
wakes up, Picard finds himself in unfamiliar
surroundings, being cared for by an attractive woman.
As he lives the rest of his life caring for this
woman and bringing up a family he never had, the
crew of the Enterprise race against time to save
their captain from the beam that is holding him
captive.
I, Borg
Picard sends an Away Team to investigate the
wreckage of a small craft, where they find the
only survivor is an adolescent Borg. The Captain
initially shows no sign of wanting to help, however,
Dr. Beverly eventually persuades to beam the creature
aboard in spite of the fact that his presence on the
ship could alert the rest of his race. As the Borg
remains separated from the rest of his race, he
learns more about the human race, slowly feeling
a little more human himself.
How is the transfer?
The transfer quality of this set is on par with
the improvements seen in Seasons Three and Four.
Picture is clean and blemish free. There is very
little background noise to be seen anywhere in the
picture, and dark scenes are well detailed. My only
complaint is that picture is far more soft than
sharply detailed.
Most any unusual noise in the picture comes in the
expected areas during the opening and closing credits
as well as some rainbow color banding in a few of the
effects shots of spaceship flyovers. All of this is
very minor, and I blame it on source elements.
The 5.1 soundtrack is basically as good as it
has been with all the other sets. The hum of the
Enterprise's motors can always be heard in the
rear channels, supplemented by a little bit of bass
response through the LFE channel -- especially during
spaceship flyovers. Surround effects, as usual, are
never as distinct from channel to channel as a
theatrical movie would be, with most of the effects
remaining in the front channels instead of being
evenly distributed to the rears.
Special Features
The DVD begins exactly as all previous seasons
with an animated sequence that features the
planet Saturn, as character faces dissolve in
and out of the planet surface. With each new set,
Paramount has made some slight modifications to
the facial sequences used. The character faces
remain the same, but they are taken from separate
episodes.
Paramount has done some tinkering with the main
menu this time around, taking us into the holodeck
before presenting us with the ship's main computer
navigational menu.
Welcome to the Main Menu that has been replicated
to look like the ship's computer mainframe.
The initial menu lists all the episodes and
features appearing on that particular DVD.
You will notice that Paramount has modified
the menu structure to representing the ship's
holodeck.
Once you select the episode, you have several
options laid out before you. ENGAGE will
immediately start the episode. COMMUNICATIONS
lets you select either ENGLISH STEREO or ENGLISH
5.1 SURROUND. It is here that you can also turn
subtitles on, if you wish. CHAPTER LOG
breaks the episode down by scenes, with individual
picture stills allowing you to quickly access your
favorite points in the episode.
Disc 7 holds the DVD's extra content. Let's take
a look at it....
Stardate 45020.4 Welcome to Mission Logs: Year
Five. This is the place you'll find an interesting
blend of added material.
Mission Overview once again begins with
a triumphant overview of the fifth season featuring
a montage of the that season's very best moments.
What greater approval for the show's success than
an appearance from Spock himself! Our Mission
overview begins with an assortment of interviews
from Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes who talk
about the honor of having the legendary character
and actor who portrayed him amongst the new
Enterprise cast. Since the episode, Unification
was split into two segments, Producer/Writer
Jeri Taylor talks about what it was like to write
an entire first-part episode that was merely a
build-up to the second one. The cast acknowledges
that it was very important to have members of the
old cast (such as DeForest Kelly) appear on the
show, but it was more important that the show
establish its own separate identity first. From
hereon in, many of the show's most memorable episodes
are fondly remembered by the cast, including
Darmok, The Inner Light and I, Borg.
(length: approx. 18 minutes)
Departmental Briefing is divided into two
main categories. In Production we look
at some of the key episodes of the fifth season
as well as the writers, directors and production
team responsible for each. My favorite here is
being introduced to Supervising Producer Peter
Lauritson who recalls The Inner Light, one
of the finest episodes of the season. Make-up
Designer Micheal Westmore talks about how the
progression of age was introduced through make-up.
Visual Effects shows how far optical effects
had improved through the various seasons. The
toughest challenge for these effect artists was
doing big-budget effects week after week. In
fact, the show went from having 50 effects shots
a week to 80 to 100 and so on. This meant that more
people had to be brought aboard to deliver a quality
show each week. In fact, separate teams
alternated week by week on doing the enormous
effects work. We are treated to some effects test
footage that includes sizzling oatmeal that was
used to represent a shot of the sun. Every week
the effects team tried to better themselves from
the previous one. The hard work usually always paid
off, as Star Trek constantly was pushing the envelope
on some of the freshest effects of its time.
(length: approx. 16 minutes/18 minutes)
Memorable Missions has the cast and crew
reminiscing about their favorite episodes. In
one of those things you really didn't need to know
about, Mirina Sirtis talks about having to control
what she ate in order to fit into her costume week
after week. So how did she handle eating chocolate
ice cream in The Game? Well, I won't be the
person to tell that story. Producer David Livingston
fondly remembers Power Play, an episode
filled with action, shoot outs, and many optical
effects. Music Composer Jay Chattaway talks about
the Balinese gamelan instrument used in The
Perfect Mate.
(length: approx. 18 minutes)
Finally, a fitting Tribute to Gene Roddenberry
that is not to be missed! It begins with cast members
from the original and Next Generation series gathering
on the Paramount lot to attend a dedication of the
Gene Roddenberry building -- one that Gene never had
the pleasure of moving into. This piece is filled
with interviews from mostly the Next Generation cast
who tearfully remember the man that became a science
fiction television pioneer. Perhaps the most defining
moment of this tribute comes from Roddenberry's
surviving wife, Majel Barrett, who talks about Nasa
contacting her, offering to send Roddenberry's ashes
into space. Nothing can compare to the final tribute
that Patrick Stewart gives following the credits.
We love you, Gene!
(length: approx. 28 minutes)
Once again, Paramount goes where no other studio
has gone before by providing subtitles on all its
supplemental material. Bravo!
Bonus Disc
For the initial pressings of this season set,
Paramount has included a Star Trek Nemesis
3-inch CD-ROM that contains desktop wallpaper,
screen savers...and oh yes....the trailer for the
upcoming Star Trek Nemesis film.
Final Thoughts
Five down and two to go, and Paramount is still
going strong with these boxed sets that never cease
to reinvent themselves with each subsequential
release. Not only does this season contain some
of the finest episodes of the series, but the
tribute to Gene Roddenberry alone is worth the purchase.
Release Date: Now
