Posts Tagged ‘ Next Generation ’

Here it is. The moment you’ve all been waiting for! My review of the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation! I know, I know, you guys can hardly contain yourselves. You just love reading my reviews of television shows that ended over 15 years ago (yes, you are that old). So what did I think? Well, I went in with lowered expectations since I heard a lot of not so great things about the final season. But I have to say, it was a pretty solid season overall. Probably not as high as seasons five and six, which were already a bit lower on the scale of awesomeness than three and four, but still a solid season. Perhaps my lowered expectations helped a bit. Yes, there were a few more clunkers than usual (every season has them), but overall I thought the final season was a fitting end to the series.

Standout episodes included: Phantasms, where Data begins to experience odd dreams (Deanna Troi as a human cake) leading to the crew to discover strange creatures infesting the ship; Dark Page, where Lwaxana Troi goes into a coma and Counselor Troi discovers some long buried family secrets showed a great emotional side from Lwaxana that we never really saw and was a very touching episode; Attached was one of my favorites of the season, where Picard and Dr. Crusher are taken hostage and telepathically connected, which forces them to acknowledge their deep feelings for each other; Parallels, where Worf finds himself traveling between multiple universes and timelines was another amazing episode; The Pegasus, where Riker’s old commanding officer needs the Enterprise to find their old ship and its buried secrets; Lower Decks, where we see a dangerous mission from the point of view of the low level officers was another one of my favorites, with an emotional impact I wasn’t anticipating, especially for characters we didn’t really know; and of course the series finale All Good Things was an incredible end to the series with the conclusion of Q’s trial bookending it superbly.

Like I said, overall I thought it was another great season. I, like the rest of humanity, could have done without the Troi/Worf romance, but thankfully, it had been built up in my mind as such a wretched idea that I was actually pleasantly surprised that it was only touched upon in a couple of episodes. Although it is a disappointment for the series to end with them remaining a couple, her relationship with Riker is thankfully resolved (in the best way possible) in the movies. I was pleased with the conclusion of the Wesley storyline. It would have been better if I thought of Wesley as a Mozart-like child all along rather than an annoying nuisance, but I can appreciate the point they were trying to convey. I was a bit disappointed with the conclusion of Ro Laren’s storyline though. I enjoyed her character in previous seasons and it was disappointing to see her only back for a single episode, just to wrap up her storyline so poorly, especially given that her episode was the second to last ever, and they should have been focusing on the entire crew, and not just someone we haven’t seen all season. Oh, and it was also disappointing not getting a Guinan episode this season, though she has a sizable part in Generations to make up for it.

Speaking of the movies (which I’m watching this week and will give you a final review of when I’m finished) it’s interesting how I feel about them now having seen the entire series. I obviously knew about the series, and had seen bits and pieces of it when my brothers and cousins watched it growing up, but I was really a fan of the movies and it wasn’t until now that I’ve sat down and watched the entire series as a whole. And before, I would have considered the movies to be the most vital aspect of The Next Generation, they are really just a bonus. I love the movies of course, and I’ve love picking up little nods to the series now that I’m seeing them again, but now I almost view them similar to the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The main event is the television series, and that is what is capable of standing on it’s own as a testament to great science fiction. In a way, I feel the opposite is true for the original Star Trek. Yes, the show is great for what it is, but it’s almost as if the television series is a footnote to the wonderful series of movies that came after it, though I may feel differently after seeing the original series from beginning to end of course.

There we have it. I have finally seen the entire series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and what a wonderful voyage it has been.

Okay, so I finished the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m sure you’re all relieved and dying to know what I thought. I only hope the edges of your seat aren’t worn out from all the sitting on them you guys have been doing. So what did I think? I’d say this season was about even with the fifth, still not quite up there with the fourth, but still a solid season of Trek.

Standout episodes include: Relics, where Scotty from the original Enterprise is found alive. It was such an emotional episode, not only seeing an original crew member, but having them try to help around the new Enterprise and telling loads of old stories and being completely disregarded. Thankfully the old dog still had a few new tricks up his sleeve and everything worked out in the end. A Fistful of Datas, where Worf and Alexander are in the holodeck acting out a wild west story (what could possibly go wrong?) and Data begins popping up everywhere. Besides all the iterations of Data, I also loved Troi in that episode where she was able to let loose and be a gunslinger.

The Chain of Command two-parter where Picard is taken hostage by Cardassians was also quite good. Though I have to say that the Babylon 5 episode Intersections in Real Time did the interrogation thing much better, but this was still a solid effort. Ship in a Bottle, where Moriarty is awoken and devises a way to get off the holodeck was a lot of fun. Tapestry, where Picard is killed and Q allows him to go back and change some of his past “mistakes” which has some interesting consequences. That was a fantastic Q episode with all the fun and humor we expect from Q, and made up for the lackluster Q episode True Q from earlier in the season. Starship Mine was an awesome Die Hard-esque episode where Picard has to singlehandedly protect the Enterprise from terrorists.

Lessons, where Picard falls in love with the new head of Stellar Cartography and the pair literally make beautiful music together was a particularly touching episode. I wish the relationship between Picard and Commander Daren were allowed to blossom over a few episodes, but it was still a beautiful episode. Though the Seinfeld-esque coincidences aren’t lost on me.

::Picard falls in love with a Stellar Cartographer::

Distressed Planet: Is anyone here a marine biologist stellar cartographer?!

::DIES::

Okay, she didn’t really die, but almost! And naturally they had to break up before the episode was over. Like I said, I wish that relationship could have lasted a few episodes. But this is Star Trek and unfortunately the writers like to stay away from continuing storylines, which has its benefits and consequences. Second Chances was another good one where Riker finds a double of himself and we get to deal with the Riker/Troi romance which makes me all tingly. I’m not looking forward to the Worf/Troi romance I’ve heard about in the seventh season, but I just gotta keep in mind that everything works out in the end. And of course the season finale two-parter Descent where a community of Borg acting individually under the control of Lore was fantastic.

I’m in the home stretch! I’ve heard lots of mixed things about the final season, but I’m looking forward to finally seeing the finale All Good Things, which I’ve managed to stay spoiler free from all these years.