On the back of the wildly successful J.J. Abrams reboot, which seems to have been met with almost universal acclaim from audiences and critics alike, Paramount is releasing “Best of” DVD’s for all five franchises, attempting to reap a fresh crop of youngsters who view Trek as something their dad likes. While this single disk comprising four episodes confidently declares itself to be The Best of The Next Generation it would be more aptly titled “A Broad Cross-Section of The Next Generation."
For as any avid series viewer would know, there were really only three kinds of Next Generation episodes. First, those that informed the overall story arc, which typically arrived once per season in the form of a two-parter. Second, science fiction oriented episodes, whereby a technological or astrological phenomenon would throw up a problem to be solved. Third, there was the ethical/metaphysical dilemma of the week episode. These were probably the most common and typically featured a member or members of the crew undergoing a test of character that serves as an allegory for some geo-political issue at hand.
Now, here’s the thing about Star Trek: The Next Generation – it’s simply just not as good as you remember it to be. Placed alongside such series as Battlestar Galactica, which covered the same ground with action and jokes, Space: Above and Beyond, or hell even Babylon 5, there is something oddly quaint about TNG’s singular brand of neatly wrapped up episodic preaching.
This four episodes sampler is comprised of "The Best of Both Worlds Parts I & II", which depict the series’ darkest hour as Captain Picard is captured and assimilated by the Borg. It’s an episode that spawned one of the show's few ongoing storylines that bled over into, amongst other things, Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: First Contact. "Yesterday’s Enterprise" serves as both a time travel story and a chance for further hand wringing over the needs of the many; when a starship from the past escapes destruction to arrive in the present, the incident alters the timeline and causes a war. Finally there is "The Measure of a Man" which is pure TNG grandstanding, where a scientist looking to experiment on Data kick stars the debate about universal respect for all life.
While the series had high-minded idealism in spades, in hindsight it’s crippled by a lack of depth and self-awareness. Jetting through the galaxy at warp speed while dispensing left and right the best qualities humanity has to offer is all well and good, but what a series like Galactica did was dare to pose the question of whether or not humanity had any qualities worth preserving, let alone passing on to other species. That series painted us as a quarrelsome race, self-destructive and self-righteous. Now, we realize that Trek is supposed to depict a future where we have thankfully rid ourselves of such frailty, but the sad result is characters so hamstrung by virtue and writing so sealed in its own piety that the series renders itself nigh irrelevant.
TNG worked at the time for a couple of very simple reasons: Picard was simply that good, Data was simply that good, and, to a lesser extent, Worf was simply that good. Everyone else in the show isn’t even a character. Rather they are avatars for some quality of humanity the producers deem to be important: Riker – zest for life; Geordie – ingenuity; Troi – empathy; Crusher – compassion. Beyond these one-dimensional behavior traits they offer nothing (we watched Geordie for eight seasons – what did we learn about him other than he is good at fixing shit?)
In the end it’s not even as good a series as Deep Space 9 which, with the introduction of a pulsating, world-at-war storyline, allowed enough continuity for each and every character to stumble and falter (as people invariably do). Despite offering a thousand and one examples as to why Patrick Stewart is one of the finest actors to ever grace either stage or screen, TNG never did anything as meaningful as Deep Space 9.
DVD Bonus Features
The disc contains an extensive preview of the Star Trek: The Original Series Blu-ray package that’s currently in the works. Paramount shouts from the rooftops about the vast array of features and extras that will accompany it, and in the process sadly highlights what a bare bones package (there isn’t even a scene selection option) this disc truly is.
"The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation" is on sale May 12, 2009 and is rated NR. Television. Directed by Cliff Bole, David Carson, Robert Scheerer. Written by Various. Starring Brent Spiner, Denise Crosby, Gates McFadden, Johnathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Patrick Stewart.
