Star Trek: The Next Generation-Season 2 (1989) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Star Trek |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Mission Overview Featurette-Selected Crew Analysis Featurette-Departmental Briefing: Production Featurette-Departmental Briefing: Memorable Missions Featurette-Starfleet Archives Booklet-Episode listing |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1989 | ||
Running Time | 1062:36 (Case: 957) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (6) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By |
Rob Bowman Winrich Kolbe Joseph L. Scanlam Cliff Bole |
Studio
Distributor |
Paramount Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Patrick Stewart Jonathan Frakes Levar Burton Michael Dorn Marina Sirtis Brent Spiner Wil Wheaton Diana Muldaur Whoopi Goldberg |
Case | Gatefold | ||
RPI | $229.95 | Music |
Dennis McCarthy Ron Jones |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | Yes | ||
Subtitles |
Danish German English Spanish French Italian Dutch Norwegian Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes, rare |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
This is the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. You'll find my review of Season One here.
The second season makes some important changes to the standard character list. Dr Crusher has been appointed head of Star Fleet Medical, so her place on the Enterprise has been taken by another highly skilled doctor, a Doctor Kate Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). Geordi La Forge has been promoted to Chief Engineer (good thing too - the first season we got through several Chief Engineers - this season we see a few assistants for Geordi, but that's OK). And the most important addition of all is an off-duty lounge / bar - positioned right at the front of the saucer section, called Ten Forward. The hostess of Ten Forward is Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg). All of these changes are hurled at us at warp speed in the first few minutes of the first episode of the season - I guess they didn't feel like waiting for us to stumble across the changes in a more leisurely fashion.
I find it amusing that Diana Muldaur is shown in the credits as "special appearance" - she appears in almost every episode of the season, and is a key character in several. One of the extras on the sixth disc reveals that she appeared in two episodes of the original Star Trek series (once as a brunette, once as a blonde); she was a little younger at the time...
Then again, Whoopi Goldberg is listed on the credits as a guest star. She is in almost as many episodes, but her role is smaller. I was mildly amused to note that she seems to do more counselling than the ship's Counsellor - Troi spends most of her time "feeling" things.
Another guest star (this season) is Colm Meaney, playing Transporter Chief O'Brien. He became so popular he was made part of the core crew on Deep Space Nine.
The episodes are almost in numerical order, and that numerical order matches the stardates. Once again, the lengths of the episodes are extremely consistent. The score is handled by just two composers, with Dennis McCarthy taking all the odd-numbered episodes, and Ron Jones taking all but one of the even-numbered episodes.
# | Title | Stardate | Director | Music | Time | |
127 | The Child | 42073.1 | Rob Bowman | Dennis McCarthy | 43:36 | Quick intro to new characters, and an immaculate conception |
128 | Where Silence Has Lease | 42193.6 | Winrich Kolbe | Ron Jones | 43:39 | The Enterprise is caught in a void, and studied |
129 | Elementary, Dear Data | 42286.3 | Rob Bowman | Dennis McCarthy | 43:35 | What kind of foe can challenge Data? |
130 | The Outrageous Okona | 42402.7 | Robert Becker | Ron Jones | 43:37 | Captain Okona is in heavy demand... |
132 | Loud as a Whisper | 42477.2 | Larry Shaw | Ron Jones | 43:31 | The best negotiator in the Federation can't listen to arguments |
131 | The Schizoid Man | 42437.5 | Les Landau | Dennis McCarthy | 43:37 | A brilliant, if egotistical, specialist in cybernetics in a dying body |
133 | Unnatural Selection | 42494.8 | Paul Lynch | Dennis McCarthy | 43:23 | The wisdom, or otherwise, of genetically engineering humans |
134 | A Matter of Honor | 42506.5 | Rob Bowman | Ron Jones | 43:35 | Riker on assignment to a Klingon ship |
135 | The Measure of a Man | 42523.7 | Robert Scheerer | Dennis McCarthy | 43:39 | Is Data man or machine - who owns him? |
136 | The Dauphin | 42568.8 | Rob Bowman | Dennis McCarthy | 43:37 | Wesley's first encounter with a girl - this one is unusual |
137 | Contagion | 42609.1 | Joseph L Scanlan | Dennis McCarthy | 43:39 | Are there "bugs" in the design of the Galaxy class starship? |
138 | The Royale | 42625.4 | Cliff Bole | Ron Jones | 43:35 | What's a 20th century casino/hotel doing on a poisonous planet? |
139 | Time Squared | 42679.2 | Joseph L Scanlan | Dennis McCarthy | 43:36 | Why would Captain Picard run from the destruction of the Enterprise? |
140 | The Icarus Factor | 42686.4 | Robert Iscove | Ron Jones | 43:36 | Riker's father charms everyone but his son |
141 | Pen Pals | 42695.3 | Winrich Kolba | Dennis McCarthy | 43:36 | The Prime Directive versus a young girl's life |
142 | Q Who? | 42761.3 | Rob Bowman | Ron Jones | 43:36 | First encounter with someone we'll get to know |
143 | Samaritan Snare | 42779.1 | Les Landau | Dennis McCarthy | 43:38 | The Pakleds are not bright, but they are avaricious |
144 | Up the Long Ladder | 42823.2 | Winrich Kolbe | Ron Jones | 43:38 | "Back to nature" confronts a society that's rejected nature |
145 | Manhunt | 42859.2 | Rob Bowman | Dennis McCarthy | 43:33 | Lwuxana Troi is back, and looking for a husband... |
146 | The Emissary | 42901.3 | Cliff Bole | Ron Jones | 43:38 | K'Ehleyr illuminates another side of Worf |
147 | Peak Performance | 42923.4 | Robert Scheerer | Dennis McCarthy | 43:37 | Master strategist Kolrami supervises war games |
148 | Shades of Gray | 42976.1 | Rob Bowman | Ron Jones | 43:35 | Riker fighting for his life, in his dreams |
They are still making slight changes to the uniforms in this season. Dr Pulaski wears a variant of the standard uniform, with a tunic over trousers - perhaps Diana Muldaur wanted to conceal a figure flaw? Deanna Troi's uniform is now closer in colour to the others (unlike the grey it was in the first season), but it continues to have a low neckline - if she were to wear standard insignia of rank they'd have to be fastened onto her collar bone. Picard's dress uniform in Manhunt is worn with tights, rather than trousers. The other change was one I missed until it was discussed in one of the extras - Worf's sash changes from fabric to metal.
I was pleased to see Q (John de Lancie) only appearing once, and in an episode that was far less offensive than usual. It was rather interesting to see the confrontation between Q and Guinan - the two have history, apparently.
There are some well-known bit players in this season. Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) appears as a catatonic alien in Manhunt. One of the extras mentions that John de Lancie's wife appears in the episode Loud as a Whisper (she's in the chorus) - her interview is amusing. Amanda McBroom appears as a JAG officer in The Measure of a Man. Riker's father is played by Mitchell Ryan in The Icarus Factor. Dietrich Bader from Drew Carey plays a tactical officer in The Emissary - he is perhaps the most distracting piece of casting (of course, The Drew Carey Show was made much later). Oh, and Armin Shimerman (who will later play Quark in Deep Space Nine, and Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays yet another Ferengi, this time called Bracter.
The infamous poker games start in this season - Data learns more about human nature at the poker table. I'm looking forward to a particular poker game, which features (I think) the only person ever to play himself in this show - do you know who that is? That game comes in a later season.
By the way, in The Icarus Factor two characters engage in a bout of anbojitsu, characterised as "the ultimate martial art" - excuse me while I choke on my breakfast (everyone knows that the ultimate martial art is Sinanju). Scriptwriters should know better than to use terms like "ultimate".
In this season, the show has found its feet, and is starting to tackle some big questions: "what is death?", "what defines a sentient being?", "where is the line between compassion and interference?". These are the sorts of questions that make Star Trek more than simple entertainment. This is a worthy addition to your collection.
The DVD is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and therefore is not 16x9 enhanced. That's what we expected.
The picture is acceptable, ranging from badly out of focus (see 8:26 in Peak Performance, 40:14 in Q Who?, 18:30 in The Royale, 26:21 in The Schizoid Man, 10:48 in Loud as a Whisper, and, worst of all, 39:59 in Elementary, Dear Data) to nice and clear on most close-ups - generally the picture is just a touch soft. Shadow detail is mostly acceptable, but some of the darker scenes drop off into black far too quickly (have a look at Holme's room in Elementary, Dear Data, for example). There are traces of low-level noise on occasion, but it's rarely annoying. There are moments of grain, but not too bad.
Colour is quite good. There's still some variation between episodes, but it is nowhere near as bad as in the first season - it is noticeable that the command uniforms are distinctly maroon in some episodes, and rather more red in others. There are still moments of striation on the maroon uniforms (look at 16:51 in The Child, for example), but quite a bit less than in the first season. The blue glow of the warp nacelles looks like oversaturation, but it is meant to look like that.
There are numerous film artefacts, but they are mostly quite small. There's a watermark at 36:44 in The Schizoid Man. There are numerous flecks, such as the white spot at 38:48 in Unnatural Selection, or 18:59 in The Icarus Factor.
The worst artefacts, however, are the aliasing effects, particularly on external shots of the starship. The edges of the ship ripple quite badly on some shots, as does the star field at 9:01 in Q Who?. The details of the warp nacelles alias quite often. I fear this is all the result of conversion from NTSC to PAL - I'd be interested to hear if the R1 displays this problem as badly.
There's some edge enhancement on a few occasions, but the only objectionable example I noted was at 15:29 in Up the Long Ladder.
Again, this is not a fabulous transfer, but it is not dreadful, and it is probably the best quality we'll ever see for these episodes.
There are ten subtitle tracks, including both English and English for the Hearing Impaired. I watched a lot of the English subtitles, and they are mostly very good - well-timed, accurate, and very easy to read. There are errors, but they're not troubling.
The six (note: one fewer than Season One, because there are only 22 episodes, not 25) discs are single-sided and dual layered. There are no layer changes in episodes, because there are four episodes per disc, with two on each layer.
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The soundtrack is presented in five languages - I only listened to the English. It is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but it makes little use of the 5.1 layout.
The dialogue is clear and comprehensible. I noticed one audio sync issue - an ADR slip around 29:20 in The Measure of a Man, but it's only noticeable if you're looking hard.
The score is the work of two composers; Dennis McCarthy and Ron Jones. They take alternate episodes, and manage to produce consistent scores which get the job done. One of the extras mentions that they used orchestral music (complete with six French horns) because electronic/synthesized music tended to blend in too much with the ambient noises.
The surrounds don't do much - they mostly echo the score from the front channels. There are minor touches of ambient noise, but it's negligible. The subwoofer kicks in occasionally, especially when we're outside the ship, hearing the oh-so-realistic sound of ships' engines. Basically this is a mostly frontal mix, centre-focussed, with occasional bursts of noticeable stereo. That's OK - it still sounds better than it did when broadcast - there's quite a bit more bass than you might expect.
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There is an opening transition (same on every disc, but different to the Season One transition), plus animation and sound within every menu. The menus are styled after ST: TNG (LCARS) control panels - they are simple to operate, as well as attractive. We get music behind the episode selection menu, but Star Trek ambience behind the rest (thank goodness - the music starts to wear thin after a while!).
A discussion of the changes between the first and second seasons - quite interesting, especially given that it has been assembled from interviews shot at different times from 1988 through to 2001. It's rather fun to see Diana Muldaur in scenes from the original Star Trek series.
I expected this to be mostly about the new characters. It's not (that's in the previous featurette) - this is more about the changes some of the characters are going through, and how they are adapting. There's a little overlap with the previous documentary, but not enough to really annoy..
Some interesting insights into the production of the show, including some discussion of the music. The costume designer on ST:TNG has more problems than a normal wardrobe person....
Interviews with crew members about seven of the twenty two missions. One of the more interesting revelations is that computer graphic morphing was undeveloped back in 1988, so the morphs in The Dauphin were done by animators - they were painted. That explains the quality....
A lengthy interview (shot some time back) with a woman who collects and collates materials from the show. It's fun to see some of the miniatures used for things like Starbases.
This is little more than an attractive listing of the episodes to be found in this set.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This box-set is already released in Region 1, and it seems that the features are the same as ours. The two differences are that the R1 is NTSC (which might be an advantage, given the effects were created in NTSC), and it comes in a cardboard box (our plastic box continues for the R2 and R4). I'll let you work out which one you want.
The next step for the TV series, on six fairly good DVDs.
The video quality is quite variable, however it is good more than it's bad.
The audio quality is good..
The extras are at least as good as the first season's.
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Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-S733A, using Component output |
Display | Sony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
Speakers | Front Left, Centre, Right: Krix Euphonix; Rears: Krix KDX-M; Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5 |