- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,785
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
Link Removed
Star Trek : The Next Generation
Season Four
[/b]
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1990
Rated: NR
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame
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.
On September 3rd, Paramount will release
the fourth 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.
Star Trek TNG Season Four 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 green 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 Star Trek's most famous villains, Q. On the
opposite pages, Episodes are listed in alphabetical
order, complete with airdate, stardate, and what
disc that episode appears on.
Season Four showed a complete maturing of
the cast as the episodes started dealing more with
family themes. Data and Picard are reunited with
their brothers, Worf meets the son he never knew he
had, and Data has a relationship with a human
crew member. The season concentrates more on
Picard and Worf, fleshing out their characters.
You can also see that the cast members seem much
more relaxed, having more fun with their roles.
Paramount has also done a little tinkering with
this set by touching up the opening sequence and
revising the menus. More on that in a moment.
I watched three complete episodes from this boxed
set in order to get an idea of how good the
audio and video quality presentation is. I picked
perhaps the three best episodes of that season....
The Best of both Worlds Part II is perhaps
the most anticipated return from a cliffhanger ever
in sci-fi TV history. At the close of last season,
Captain Picard had been captured. As the new season
begins, his captors have mutilated him into a half-Borg,
half-human called Locutus, and have been manipulating
him to gain insight into human behavior to aid their
plan to conquer Earth and enslave humanity. As the
Borg move closer to Earth, Riker, Data and the rest
of the Enterprise crew race to find a vulnerable spot
in the Borg that will enable them to defeat this enemy.
Reunion introduces us to K'Ehleyr, a
half-human, half-Klingon ambassador who requests
permission to come aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to
speak with Picard. Worf is noticeably agitated when
the woman, his former mate, materializes accompanied
by a young Klingon boy. K'Ehleyr tells Worf that the
boy, Alexander, is their son. Meanwhile, Picard
boards the Klingon ship, and K'Mpec requests his
help in arbitrating the power struggle between his
two potential successors. One of the contestants
has been secretly poisoning him, and Picard must
determine who is the murderer and prevent him
from assuming K'Mpec's post.
Redemption follows up the Reunion
episode with another great series cliffhanger.
The U.S.S. Enterprise travels to the Klingon Empire
where Picard is to attend the installation of Gowron,
the new Leader of the High Council. En route, the
starship is intercepted by a Klingon ship bearing
Gowron, who informs Picard that the Duras family
is amassing a rebel faction and plotting civil war
against the Empire. Duras, the slain challenger
for leadership of the High Council, was responsible
for Worf's discommendation and was also found guilty
of conspiring with the Romulans. Worf begs Picard
to intervene in the Klingon disputes, but Picard
stands by his commitment to stay out of Klingon
internal affairs. Picard then orders Worf to return
to the U.S.S. Enterprise, leaving a torn Worf to
ponder whether he will remain with Starfleet or
return to his people.
How is the transfer?
With there being several weeks placed between
each review of these season sets, it's often hard
to remember how good the preceding season set
looked. However, by all accounts, each season
seems to be looking better and better. Perhaps
some of this is attributed to improved production
value, but I notice that the overall transfers seem
to be improving as well (as if there was really a
need for improvement).
Picture is clean and blemish free. What I
specifically noticed about the transfer was the
lack of video noise that you would expect to show
up on such things like the dark panels inside
Picard's office. There is absolutely no noise.
In Reunion, you notice that the scenes
inside the Klingon ship are primarily lit with
intense red and blue lighting that don't come
across as smeared or oversaturated. Even the
deep reds of Worf's quarters come off without
a hint of any noise.
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. Surround effects
are never as distinct from channel to channel as
a theatrical movie would be, but I remind myself
about the television production value. There is
a real nice sequence in The Best Of Both Worlds
Part II inside the engine room, as the LFE
channel awakens with pulsating beats of power that
you can actually feel.
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.
A computer seemingly loads the episode retrieval log....
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 ever so slightly to give it
a more sleeker look.
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 44001.4 Welcome to Mission Logs:
Year Four. This is the place you'll find
an interesting blend of added material.
Mission Overview begins with a triumphant
overview of the fourth season featuring a montage
of the season's very best moments. We originally
met Executive Producer Michael Piller in the third
season supplements. He was about to leave the
series at the end of the third season, only to be
brought back at Roddenberry's request for The
Best Of Both Worlds. In an interview from
this past January, Piller talks about the frustrations
involved in concluding last season's cliffhanger.
In fact, he had no idea how it was all going to
be resolved until the actors received their scripts.
In an interview from 2001, Patrick Stewart talks
about how coincidental it is that favorite episodes
of the cast in general often become the most
remembered of the season. Michael Piller talks
about how this season broke Star Trek barriers by
making the stories more serialized, often taking
many episodes to tell a complete story. These
stories proved to be successful as viewers watched
their characters grow as relationships were tested
from episode to episode. The best example of this
can be found in episodes like Reunion
and Redemption. The featurette turns to
the popularity of the villain Q, as Jonathan
Frakes (in a 2001 interview) describes how
creatively the character was used in the series
as if he was a member of the family. Cast
members talk about the Qpid episode where
they all got to dress in costumes for a fun
recreation of Robin Hood. This featurette closes
on a high note where on the set of the Enterprise
bridge, a thankful Gene Roddenberry is presented
with a cake celebrating the 100th episode. Truly
a moment for the history books.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
Selected Crew Analysis begins with a
1991 interview with Wil Wheaton who talks about
his decision to leave the show after the fourth
season. In another interview from this year,
Wheaton talks about how much he enjoyed working
with Patrick Stewart. Patrick helped Will develop
his innermost acting talents. Patrick Stewart
talks about how much he admired the young actor,
particularly his eagerness in becoming a better
actor. There is much reflection on their biggest
episode together, Final Mission, where
Wesley Crusher's character greatly matures. Through
clips, some of the finer moments involving Wes and
Picard are shown, alongside an interesting story on
how the writers skillfully enhanced their relationship.
Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi) talks about her
feelings of not being featured as much as other
characters in all the season episodes. She talks
very proudly about her character. Jennifer
Hetrick (Vash) talks about the strong persona of
her character and her attitude towards Captain
Picard. She tells a very funny story about her
tricorder light that suddenly fizzles out and her
remarks about it needing new batteries. Jonathan
Frakes (Riker) talks about doing his own stunts.
He recalls a very funny story about his the fight
scenes from Qpid where he ends up in a
hospital emergency room. Not funny? Wait till you
hear what happened.
(length: approx. 16.5 minutes)
Departmental Briefing: Production begins
with Patrick Steward talking about Jonathan Frakes
uncanny style of Directing and comparing it to
his own desires of directing (which he did with
In Theory). There are some nice behind-the-
camera shots of Steward directing his fellow actors
on the set. Jonathan Frakes talks about the
responsibilities of being a director, most notably
being able to prepare for sudden change. There's
a wonderfully warm story of how Frakes was able to
direct a child actor (who was later recast).
Director David Livingston talks about his shaky first
experience as a director of The Mind's Eye,
which took him on to bigger and better things.
This featurette wraps up with a really cool piece
on MAKEUP, where we meet Make-up designer
Michael Westmore who describes the process of
applying makeup to Brent Spiner (Data). At the
early hour of 4am, we watch Brent go through the
various stages of makeup with layers of prosthetics
added. There is also a look at the makeup process
involving Patrick Stewart as he evolves into a
half-human Borg.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
New Life and New Civilizations looks at
the challenges of finding outdoor locations that
reflect upon the 24th century rather than the
20th century. Director David Livingston takes
us through Japanese gardens and water treatment
plants that were used as Starfleet Academy and
other futuristic locales. The crew thoroughly
enjoyed the outdoor locations, treating it as a
sort of field day. We watch how Matte Paintings
were integrated into these 20th century locations
to make them feel more futuristic. In fact, most
of this featurette concentrates on how the magic
of Hollywood turned modern locales into futuristic
ones. Next we visit a post production facility
where all the visual and sonic information is put
together for each episode. We see some nice stills
of the many models that were built (and later blown
up). It's interesting to learn about the devastated
ships that were seen in Best of Both Worlds Part
II as most of them were recycled models pulled
from past TV shows and features. This featurette
ends with a really cool, in-depth look at how the
Borg ship was built and ultimately exploded.
(length: approx. 13 minutes)
Chronicles From The Final Frontier begins
with writers Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga and
Jeri Taylor talking about the new direction that
Michael Piller wanted to take the show. That
direction, of course, was to make the series more
character orientated, de-emphasizing the alien of
the week concept. Michael Piller talks about his
relationship and trust with his writers, feeling
confident that they can continue upholding the
series long after he is gone. This is the story
of the writers who sought to change the direction
of the series, but first had to learn the history
of the original series. It's interesting to learn
how heated the writers would get with one another
over their story ideas, only to break for lunch and
leave it all behind. The writers reflect upon some
of their favorite episodes and why they were so
special to them. There's also an interesting
interview with Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha/Sela) who
talks about coming back to the show in the episode
Redemption. The writers talk about the
challenge of writing the Klingon storyline, as
Worf's character continued to evolve in episode
after episode.
(length: approx. 17.5 minutes)
Final Thoughts
What more is there to say? As I watch this
fourth season of Star Trek The Next Generation,
I can't help but marvel over how mature this
show has become with its exploration into character
relationships that only solidify the fact that
this is one of the finest science fiction shows
of its time.
Paramount continues to release season sets that
are geared specifically for the fan base, never
forgetting the reason why the show has stood the
test of time.
Release Date: September 3, 2002
Star Trek : The Next Generation
Season Four
[/b]
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1990
Rated: NR
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame
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.
On September 3rd, Paramount will release
the fourth 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.
Star Trek TNG Season Four 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 green 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 Star Trek's most famous villains, Q. On the
opposite pages, Episodes are listed in alphabetical
order, complete with airdate, stardate, and what
disc that episode appears on.
Season Four showed a complete maturing of
the cast as the episodes started dealing more with
family themes. Data and Picard are reunited with
their brothers, Worf meets the son he never knew he
had, and Data has a relationship with a human
crew member. The season concentrates more on
Picard and Worf, fleshing out their characters.
You can also see that the cast members seem much
more relaxed, having more fun with their roles.
Paramount has also done a little tinkering with
this set by touching up the opening sequence and
revising the menus. More on that in a moment.
I watched three complete episodes from this boxed
set in order to get an idea of how good the
audio and video quality presentation is. I picked
perhaps the three best episodes of that season....
The Best of both Worlds Part II is perhaps
the most anticipated return from a cliffhanger ever
in sci-fi TV history. At the close of last season,
Captain Picard had been captured. As the new season
begins, his captors have mutilated him into a half-Borg,
half-human called Locutus, and have been manipulating
him to gain insight into human behavior to aid their
plan to conquer Earth and enslave humanity. As the
Borg move closer to Earth, Riker, Data and the rest
of the Enterprise crew race to find a vulnerable spot
in the Borg that will enable them to defeat this enemy.
Reunion introduces us to K'Ehleyr, a
half-human, half-Klingon ambassador who requests
permission to come aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to
speak with Picard. Worf is noticeably agitated when
the woman, his former mate, materializes accompanied
by a young Klingon boy. K'Ehleyr tells Worf that the
boy, Alexander, is their son. Meanwhile, Picard
boards the Klingon ship, and K'Mpec requests his
help in arbitrating the power struggle between his
two potential successors. One of the contestants
has been secretly poisoning him, and Picard must
determine who is the murderer and prevent him
from assuming K'Mpec's post.
Redemption follows up the Reunion
episode with another great series cliffhanger.
The U.S.S. Enterprise travels to the Klingon Empire
where Picard is to attend the installation of Gowron,
the new Leader of the High Council. En route, the
starship is intercepted by a Klingon ship bearing
Gowron, who informs Picard that the Duras family
is amassing a rebel faction and plotting civil war
against the Empire. Duras, the slain challenger
for leadership of the High Council, was responsible
for Worf's discommendation and was also found guilty
of conspiring with the Romulans. Worf begs Picard
to intervene in the Klingon disputes, but Picard
stands by his commitment to stay out of Klingon
internal affairs. Picard then orders Worf to return
to the U.S.S. Enterprise, leaving a torn Worf to
ponder whether he will remain with Starfleet or
return to his people.
How is the transfer?
With there being several weeks placed between
each review of these season sets, it's often hard
to remember how good the preceding season set
looked. However, by all accounts, each season
seems to be looking better and better. Perhaps
some of this is attributed to improved production
value, but I notice that the overall transfers seem
to be improving as well (as if there was really a
need for improvement).
Picture is clean and blemish free. What I
specifically noticed about the transfer was the
lack of video noise that you would expect to show
up on such things like the dark panels inside
Picard's office. There is absolutely no noise.
In Reunion, you notice that the scenes
inside the Klingon ship are primarily lit with
intense red and blue lighting that don't come
across as smeared or oversaturated. Even the
deep reds of Worf's quarters come off without
a hint of any noise.
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. Surround effects
are never as distinct from channel to channel as
a theatrical movie would be, but I remind myself
about the television production value. There is
a real nice sequence in The Best Of Both Worlds
Part II inside the engine room, as the LFE
channel awakens with pulsating beats of power that
you can actually feel.
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.
A computer seemingly loads the episode retrieval log....
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 ever so slightly to give it
a more sleeker look.
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 44001.4 Welcome to Mission Logs:
Year Four. This is the place you'll find
an interesting blend of added material.
Mission Overview begins with a triumphant
overview of the fourth season featuring a montage
of the season's very best moments. We originally
met Executive Producer Michael Piller in the third
season supplements. He was about to leave the
series at the end of the third season, only to be
brought back at Roddenberry's request for The
Best Of Both Worlds. In an interview from
this past January, Piller talks about the frustrations
involved in concluding last season's cliffhanger.
In fact, he had no idea how it was all going to
be resolved until the actors received their scripts.
In an interview from 2001, Patrick Stewart talks
about how coincidental it is that favorite episodes
of the cast in general often become the most
remembered of the season. Michael Piller talks
about how this season broke Star Trek barriers by
making the stories more serialized, often taking
many episodes to tell a complete story. These
stories proved to be successful as viewers watched
their characters grow as relationships were tested
from episode to episode. The best example of this
can be found in episodes like Reunion
and Redemption. The featurette turns to
the popularity of the villain Q, as Jonathan
Frakes (in a 2001 interview) describes how
creatively the character was used in the series
as if he was a member of the family. Cast
members talk about the Qpid episode where
they all got to dress in costumes for a fun
recreation of Robin Hood. This featurette closes
on a high note where on the set of the Enterprise
bridge, a thankful Gene Roddenberry is presented
with a cake celebrating the 100th episode. Truly
a moment for the history books.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
Selected Crew Analysis begins with a
1991 interview with Wil Wheaton who talks about
his decision to leave the show after the fourth
season. In another interview from this year,
Wheaton talks about how much he enjoyed working
with Patrick Stewart. Patrick helped Will develop
his innermost acting talents. Patrick Stewart
talks about how much he admired the young actor,
particularly his eagerness in becoming a better
actor. There is much reflection on their biggest
episode together, Final Mission, where
Wesley Crusher's character greatly matures. Through
clips, some of the finer moments involving Wes and
Picard are shown, alongside an interesting story on
how the writers skillfully enhanced their relationship.
Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi) talks about her
feelings of not being featured as much as other
characters in all the season episodes. She talks
very proudly about her character. Jennifer
Hetrick (Vash) talks about the strong persona of
her character and her attitude towards Captain
Picard. She tells a very funny story about her
tricorder light that suddenly fizzles out and her
remarks about it needing new batteries. Jonathan
Frakes (Riker) talks about doing his own stunts.
He recalls a very funny story about his the fight
scenes from Qpid where he ends up in a
hospital emergency room. Not funny? Wait till you
hear what happened.
(length: approx. 16.5 minutes)
Departmental Briefing: Production begins
with Patrick Steward talking about Jonathan Frakes
uncanny style of Directing and comparing it to
his own desires of directing (which he did with
In Theory). There are some nice behind-the-
camera shots of Steward directing his fellow actors
on the set. Jonathan Frakes talks about the
responsibilities of being a director, most notably
being able to prepare for sudden change. There's
a wonderfully warm story of how Frakes was able to
direct a child actor (who was later recast).
Director David Livingston talks about his shaky first
experience as a director of The Mind's Eye,
which took him on to bigger and better things.
This featurette wraps up with a really cool piece
on MAKEUP, where we meet Make-up designer
Michael Westmore who describes the process of
applying makeup to Brent Spiner (Data). At the
early hour of 4am, we watch Brent go through the
various stages of makeup with layers of prosthetics
added. There is also a look at the makeup process
involving Patrick Stewart as he evolves into a
half-human Borg.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
New Life and New Civilizations looks at
the challenges of finding outdoor locations that
reflect upon the 24th century rather than the
20th century. Director David Livingston takes
us through Japanese gardens and water treatment
plants that were used as Starfleet Academy and
other futuristic locales. The crew thoroughly
enjoyed the outdoor locations, treating it as a
sort of field day. We watch how Matte Paintings
were integrated into these 20th century locations
to make them feel more futuristic. In fact, most
of this featurette concentrates on how the magic
of Hollywood turned modern locales into futuristic
ones. Next we visit a post production facility
where all the visual and sonic information is put
together for each episode. We see some nice stills
of the many models that were built (and later blown
up). It's interesting to learn about the devastated
ships that were seen in Best of Both Worlds Part
II as most of them were recycled models pulled
from past TV shows and features. This featurette
ends with a really cool, in-depth look at how the
Borg ship was built and ultimately exploded.
(length: approx. 13 minutes)
Chronicles From The Final Frontier begins
with writers Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga and
Jeri Taylor talking about the new direction that
Michael Piller wanted to take the show. That
direction, of course, was to make the series more
character orientated, de-emphasizing the alien of
the week concept. Michael Piller talks about his
relationship and trust with his writers, feeling
confident that they can continue upholding the
series long after he is gone. This is the story
of the writers who sought to change the direction
of the series, but first had to learn the history
of the original series. It's interesting to learn
how heated the writers would get with one another
over their story ideas, only to break for lunch and
leave it all behind. The writers reflect upon some
of their favorite episodes and why they were so
special to them. There's also an interesting
interview with Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha/Sela) who
talks about coming back to the show in the episode
Redemption. The writers talk about the
challenge of writing the Klingon storyline, as
Worf's character continued to evolve in episode
after episode.
(length: approx. 17.5 minutes)
Final Thoughts
What more is there to say? As I watch this
fourth season of Star Trek The Next Generation,
I can't help but marvel over how mature this
show has become with its exploration into character
relationships that only solidify the fact that
this is one of the finest science fiction shows
of its time.
Paramount continues to release season sets that
are geared specifically for the fan base, never
forgetting the reason why the show has stood the
test of time.
Release Date: September 3, 2002
