Star Trek: TNG Season 1 on DVD is worth the price for fans of the show. Review by Violet Kane

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One DVD set will give fans of the show a dose of nostalgia along with its futuristic speculation.

Star Trek: TNG began production in 1987 with more than one note of uncertainty. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, made the strategic and historic decision to produce the show for syndication, rather than cater to the demands of network executives. The show's producers also faced the possibility of rejection from fans, who were initially disappointed that the new Star Trek would not have the original cast. But the anxieties of Roddenberry and the producers turned out to be for naught as the show went on to run seven seasons. Season One includes such historic episodes as Encounter at Farpoint, the TNG two hour movie-length premiere; Skin of Evil where noveau Trek legend Tasha Yar meets her demise; Hide and Q which explores Trek super villain Q, and confirms his persistent presence; and Conspiracy where intellectually advanced centipede-like aliens threaten to take over the Federation by invading the bodies of its leaders.

This DVD set is worth the steep price tag for Star Trek: TNG fans. But Star Trek sets are among the most expense TV on DVD collections, and casual DVD collectors may not feel that they get enough for their money. Star Trek: TNG was also one of the first television shows to be produced and mass-marketed on DVD, and so you will find current DVD standards, such as commentary tracks, absent from this set. The quality of digital remastering is good, but the high resolution of the DVD will reveal some of the out-dated sets and effects, but the first season of this show still stands as a marvel of special effects wizardry when you consider that it was produced before the wealth of digital effects that exist today. This set also includes four featurettes with interviews from cast, crew and Roddenberry. Fans will delight in the reminiscing of cast and crew, but will find the featurettes hurried by current (e.g. LOTR) standards. They cover a breadth of information, but do not dwell on any one topic for very long. All four featurettes run in total, end-to-end, about an hour.

The only thing, truly, to detract from the appeal of this DVD set is the price tag. Star Trek fans who are willing to wait for their piggybank to fill up will treasure these DVDs.

Violet "Violanthe" Kane is the Webmaster and Founder of ARWZ.com. She is an editor of ARWZ Literary Zine and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Medieval studies.

Alternative Reality Web Zine: ISSN# 1559-3037

All materials on these pages (including fiction, poetry, essays, articles, interviews and opinion pieces) are copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission.

View Page Stats