Season four revisited. I just watched the entire fourth season of TNG on BluRay. I found that I enjoyed season four more than the last time I saw the episodes. Season 4 was the last season TNG where Ron Jones scored the series, it was the season where Wesley departed, and it was the last year where Gene Rodenberry had any creative influence on the series.
The show had been getting more character oriented since season 2 and in the season 4 there is is a greater movement away from TNG's adventure roots and towards Star Trek Meets PBS Masterpiece theater, with episodes like "Family", "The Drumhead", "Half A Life", "The Host", and "In Theory". In seasons 1-3, like TOS, most of the episodes end on the bridge, as the Enterprise warps on to the next mission. That touch of TOS is abandoned in season four. Some random observations: Data seems more android like and less human in season 4 than he did in earlier seasons. Riker has almost a pompadour haircut in the later episodes of the season. There's at least 3 good Geordi episodes which is more than in any other year. There are several sequel episodes this year, such as "Reunion", which is a sequel to both "The Emissary" and "Sins of The Father", "Galaxy's Child", a followup to "Booby Trap" and "Q Pid", which follows up on "Deja Q" and "Captain's Holiday". Dennis McCarthy's music is not as memorable as his work in the previous seasons but it's still serviceable. The show feels a little softer and more antiseptic than the previous seasons yet it doesn't have feeling of malaise that the later seasons and other modern Trek series often do.
My favorite episodes were: "Best of Both Worlds Part II", "Brothers", "Future Imperfect", "Reunion", "Devil's Due", "Clues", "First Contact", "Identity Crisis", "The Nth Degree", "Half A Life", and "The Mind's Eye".
The opening 15 minutes of "Brothers" is sensational. Data sabotages the Enterprise and sets up a cascade force field to evade capture; Rob Bowman's direction and Ron Jones's music makes the action edge-of-your-seat fun.
There's a great scene in "Future Imperfect" where Riker realizes he's in an fantasy based on his own memories, he gets to tell Picard to shut up and Deanna to back off.
I enjoyed "Devil's Due" because it felt like an old Star Trek episode or a first season show. Kirk could have taken Picard's role in the episode to disprove Ardra's claim on the planet. When the tables turn and Picard discovers Ardra's power it's fun to see Picard use her power to prove her wrong. The Klingon monster costume is very well done and Ron Jones's music is excellent.
"Clues" was a quiet episode but an effective mystery. It was nice to see Picard so obsessed with unraveling Data's role in the situation, while Data had the fortitude to sacrifice his career rather than jeopardize the Enterprise.
"First Contact" was one of the more ambitious stories of the season. At times it seems slow and talky and I thought the Security minister was portrayed a little too one dimensional. He was ready to frame Riker and martyr himself to maintain "tradition". I liked the ending where Picard admitted that he made a mistake and Malcorian leader realized that the Malcorians were simply not ready for warp travel.
I found "Identity Crisis" a more suspenseful episode than I remember. Geordi's transformation into an instinctive alien species happens so fast that it's beyond his control to save himself. The design of the creatures was very cool.
"The Nth Degree" is enjoyable because its fun to see Barclay gain confidence and genius brainpower and take the Enterprise to edge of the Universe while there is nothing Picard or the crew can do about it. Ron Jones's music for this episode is one my favorite scores.
My least favorite episodes were "Family", "Suddenly Human", "The Host" and "In Theory".
"The Host" has an engaging premise but I find the soap opera elements of this episode excruciating. My favorite parts of this episode were the diplomatic and political wrangling between the two warring moons. It was also nice to see Riker step up and offer his body as the Trill Host.
"In Theory" is a boring drag, a plodding soap opera with an unexciting ship-in-jeopardy B plot that is just filler. Jay Chattaway, who took over from Ron Jones after he was fired, composed some insipid, dreary excuse for music for the Picard shuttlecraft scene, beginning a tradition of ruining edge-of-your-seat excitement on TNG. Also, the portrayal of Data in this episode bothers me. As someone else has stated, watching Data go through the motions for 45 minutes is not very entertaining. Data has handled more intimate emotional connections with others far better than he did in this episode, such as the way he interacted with his daughter in "The Offspring".
Since I just purchased the BluRay set, I'm going to revisit season seven, TNG's final year, next. Once I watch every season seven episode(and a few of the early first season shows) I will have seen every episode of Next Generation.
The show had been getting more character oriented since season 2 and in the season 4 there is is a greater movement away from TNG's adventure roots and towards Star Trek Meets PBS Masterpiece theater, with episodes like "Family", "The Drumhead", "Half A Life", "The Host", and "In Theory". In seasons 1-3, like TOS, most of the episodes end on the bridge, as the Enterprise warps on to the next mission. That touch of TOS is abandoned in season four. Some random observations: Data seems more android like and less human in season 4 than he did in earlier seasons. Riker has almost a pompadour haircut in the later episodes of the season. There's at least 3 good Geordi episodes which is more than in any other year. There are several sequel episodes this year, such as "Reunion", which is a sequel to both "The Emissary" and "Sins of The Father", "Galaxy's Child", a followup to "Booby Trap" and "Q Pid", which follows up on "Deja Q" and "Captain's Holiday". Dennis McCarthy's music is not as memorable as his work in the previous seasons but it's still serviceable. The show feels a little softer and more antiseptic than the previous seasons yet it doesn't have feeling of malaise that the later seasons and other modern Trek series often do.
My favorite episodes were: "Best of Both Worlds Part II", "Brothers", "Future Imperfect", "Reunion", "Devil's Due", "Clues", "First Contact", "Identity Crisis", "The Nth Degree", "Half A Life", and "The Mind's Eye".
The opening 15 minutes of "Brothers" is sensational. Data sabotages the Enterprise and sets up a cascade force field to evade capture; Rob Bowman's direction and Ron Jones's music makes the action edge-of-your-seat fun.
There's a great scene in "Future Imperfect" where Riker realizes he's in an fantasy based on his own memories, he gets to tell Picard to shut up and Deanna to back off.
I enjoyed "Devil's Due" because it felt like an old Star Trek episode or a first season show. Kirk could have taken Picard's role in the episode to disprove Ardra's claim on the planet. When the tables turn and Picard discovers Ardra's power it's fun to see Picard use her power to prove her wrong. The Klingon monster costume is very well done and Ron Jones's music is excellent.
"Clues" was a quiet episode but an effective mystery. It was nice to see Picard so obsessed with unraveling Data's role in the situation, while Data had the fortitude to sacrifice his career rather than jeopardize the Enterprise.
"First Contact" was one of the more ambitious stories of the season. At times it seems slow and talky and I thought the Security minister was portrayed a little too one dimensional. He was ready to frame Riker and martyr himself to maintain "tradition". I liked the ending where Picard admitted that he made a mistake and Malcorian leader realized that the Malcorians were simply not ready for warp travel.
I found "Identity Crisis" a more suspenseful episode than I remember. Geordi's transformation into an instinctive alien species happens so fast that it's beyond his control to save himself. The design of the creatures was very cool.
"The Nth Degree" is enjoyable because its fun to see Barclay gain confidence and genius brainpower and take the Enterprise to edge of the Universe while there is nothing Picard or the crew can do about it. Ron Jones's music for this episode is one my favorite scores.
My least favorite episodes were "Family", "Suddenly Human", "The Host" and "In Theory".
"The Host" has an engaging premise but I find the soap opera elements of this episode excruciating. My favorite parts of this episode were the diplomatic and political wrangling between the two warring moons. It was also nice to see Riker step up and offer his body as the Trill Host.
"In Theory" is a boring drag, a plodding soap opera with an unexciting ship-in-jeopardy B plot that is just filler. Jay Chattaway, who took over from Ron Jones after he was fired, composed some insipid, dreary excuse for music for the Picard shuttlecraft scene, beginning a tradition of ruining edge-of-your-seat excitement on TNG. Also, the portrayal of Data in this episode bothers me. As someone else has stated, watching Data go through the motions for 45 minutes is not very entertaining. Data has handled more intimate emotional connections with others far better than he did in this episode, such as the way he interacted with his daughter in "The Offspring".
Since I just purchased the BluRay set, I'm going to revisit season seven, TNG's final year, next. Once I watch every season seven episode(and a few of the early first season shows) I will have seen every episode of Next Generation.
