Let's See What's Out There...

The first season of most long-running shows will end up looking a little naïve and discordant in hindsight, and the freshman year of Star Trek's first television sequel offends more than most in this regard. The new series would take roughly three years to become fully embraced by fans of the original series, and watching these first twenty-six episodes it's fairly obvious why. Gene Roddenberry's vision of the 24th century is noble and exciting, and sets the scene perfectly for infinite exploration of the human and alien condition, yet this opportunity is somehow wasted almost entirely.

The series is set in the tranquil political climate of the mid-24th century (okay, 2364 if you want the specifics. No point pretending I don't know these things). The Federation, which still seems to consist primarily of humans as it did in the Original Series despite the series' claims otherwise, is engaged in a period of galactic exploration and diplomacy that will all too soon be shattered as new and old alien forces threaten its safety over the course of the next seven long years. Old enemies the Klingons are now content to sit behind their borders thanks to a peace treaty, and the new Enterprise under command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) even has a Klingon serving on its bridge. Picard's crew fits the bill for a late-80s TV show, led by white American actors with a couple of notable exceptions. Owing to the sensibilities of the time, the Captain is now accompanied by his psychiatrist on the bridge, and the security officer is - wait for it - a woman!

This DVD set, released several years ago, collects the entire first season in its original grainy late-80s print, with an extra disc of passable special features, mainly interviews recorded in 1987, 1988 and 2001. The packaging is unusual and quite interesting, and seems to be modelled on some aspect of 24th century technology, perhaps a storage case of some kind. Whatever it is, it fits in perfectly with the look of the series, even if the weak plastic case is in constant danger of snapping. Each DVD contains four episodes, which come with subtitles, audio options and the customary scene selections. Beginning with 'Encounter at Farpoint,' the feature length (90 minute) series opener, we are introduced to the cast, to a new on-off enemy, and to the rushed writing that would pervade the series as a whole, as it's obvious even before being informed on the special features that this was a 45-minute story that had to be padded out to two parts.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was a staple of 1987-1994 TV, and remained prominent for some time after, amidst the ever-growing spin-off series it spawned and inspired. The first season presents the show at its very worst, and even by its very average conclusion hasn't managed to drag itself into a truly distinctive style. The characters are inconsistent and frankly pretty boring, and many wouldn't be treated with any depth for years later (some never at all). This series is enjoyable to watch partly from a purely nostalgic viewpoint, as the naïve presentation of technology and designs that change every week before becoming standardised forever after is quite a fun thing to spot. It's also interesting to watch Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), the security officer who was eventually fired from the series twenty episodes in after old Playboy photos came to light. Yar was one of the most interesting characters in the few scenes she was given to truly shine, and though her meaningless death is quite cool and bold, it represents a loss for the series. The only benefit is that her position can then be taken over by the Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn), whose character was a last-minute addition to the show and therefore seemed to just hang around the corners of the bridge without any obvious task to perform.