o relive season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation is to relive a series in the midst of its prime. Which is not to say that this season was perfect, but when it was on, the series produced some of the most unforgettable episodes in its run. The show was far enough along to reflect the cast's unique rhythm and the production's increasingly high production values—and yet the writers didn't have to stretch to find original stories, many of which reflect Star Trek's classic social and moral tenets.
Every series has its hits or misses in a season, and this one is no exception. "The Outcast," which tried to be a statement on sexuality and failed miserably (more because of the acting and writing than its message), and "Violations," in which Troi (Sirtis) is mentally raped, come to mind here as the dregs of this season, though a few others don't merit repeat watching, either. (Anyone remember "The Masterpiece Society?" Thought not.)
But those dingers are few and far between: Season five's strengths clearly outnumber its weaknesses. This was the year of "The Inner Light," an emotion-driven acting tour de force for Patrick Stewart, whose Picard gets to live 45 years of life in a nurturing environment as far from his life in the Federation as imaginable. The list of commendable episodes from season five is too long to enumerate. There was "Disaster," a thrilling, non-stop action piece with four parallel stories, each following the Enterprise's crew as they contend with the aftermath of an unexpected space anomaly that disables the ship; "Cause and Effect," a well-directed story that holds the viewer's attention, even as the Enterprise crew goes through a causality loop; "Darmok," a stunning treatise in communication; and "I, Borg," in which the Enterprise rescues a Borg separated from the Collective and helps him to understand he has an identity as one.
While the season opener—"Redemption Part II"—is a strong conclusion to the Klingon-Romulan storyline introduced in season four, the season finale—"Time's Arrow"—feels more trite. Somewhere in between is the two-part episode "Unification," in which Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as Spock; the story plods along at points, but offers an interesting view of Romulus, and how one ambassador is driven to bridge the gap between two societies that were once more similar than dissimilar.
Other noteworthy casting points: Ashley Judd guest stars in the Wesley-saves-the-ship romp "The Game," and Michelle Forbes is introduced as recurring character Ensign Ro, a Bajoran Starfleet renegade given a second chance by Picard. Ro pops up throughout the season, and episodes like "The Next Phase," in which Ro and Geordi are presumed dead but really exist out of phase with the Enterprise, showcase the instant chemistry guest star Forbes had with the rest of the cast.
Paramount's box set of seven DVDs follows in the footsteps of its predecessors: There are four featurettes, including the "Mission Overview" and "Memorable Missions" for the fifth season, differentiated slightly by the fact that the first represents a conglomeration of reflections on the season's most important episodes, and the latter represents the cast and crew's reflections on their favorites. There are also sections on production and visual effects and a tribute to Gene Roddenberry, who passed on early in the fifth season.
Solid supplements support a stellar series
Unlike other series, there are no deleted scenes or audio commentaries among the set's supplementary material. However, the included collection of four featurettes does a good job of intermingling snippets of interviews from both the distant and recent past (spanning 1994 to 2002). One gripe with the organization of these 15-to-17-minute featurettes is the same as in past months: You have to skim through the entire featurette to find the pieces relevant to a specific episode. For example, to learn more about "The Inner Light," you have to watch parts of "Mission Overview" and "Year Five Production." An index, like that found on New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring extended-edition DVD, would be appreciated to provide quick access to specific episodes. Furthermore, some of the featurettes tend to stray from season-specific discussions—a disappointment considering the rich material offered by this season.
The Mission Overview is an interesting diversion that covers little new ground (though we do learn that the episode "Darmok" had languished for several years before the writers figured out a way to make it work), but features reminiscences by Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Denise Crosby and Jonathan Del Arco; producer David Livingston; and producers Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor. The episodes discussed are the season's most significant ones, albeit for different reasons. "Unification" because Nimoy returns as Spock; "The Inner Light" and "Darmok," two of the best-written episodes of the series; "I, Borg" for providing a humanist take on the Federation's dreaded enemy.
The "Departmental Briefing" is divided into two sections, one each for production and visual effects. The production briefing offers insights into the directing, makeup and music behind "The Inner Light"; Jonathan Frakes' approach to directing the repetitious "Cause and Effect"; and the writers' battles about how Wesley Crusher should respond in "The First Duty."
Although the production briefing is clearly keyed to season five, the special-effects section is, oddly, not tethered to the season at hand. Rather, this scattershot mini-documentary talks about visual effects in the series as a whole, with generic discussion peppered by references to episodes from across all seven seasons of the show—from the pilot to the finale, "All Good Things." Although this approach is disappointing, the insights offered by supervising producer Peter Lauritson, artist Michael Okuda, visual effects supervisors Dan Curry and Robert Legato and others are interesting; they just don't necessarily belong on this disc.
The "Memorable Missions" segment is better connected to the series, but the recollections suffer from feeling like afterthoughts, since several of the episodes have already been discussed elsewhere, or the content would have been equally appropriate, or more so, in the production or visual effects sections as opposed to a "memorable" section. The best segment here is a look at the effects in "Disaster."
The marathon 28-minute tribute to Gene Roddenberry is an amalgamation of footage from the dedication of the building that bears his name on the Paramount lot (part of the 25th anniversary celebration for Trek) and interviews with Roddenberry (from 1988, at the start of season two of Next Generation) and scores of cast and crew—virtually the entire cast is represented—who reflect on the impact Roddenberry had. Most touching are Sirtis' tearful reflections, Wil Wheaton's fond memories of hanging out in Roddenberry's office and the priceless Broadway-esque song and dance tribute to Roddenberry by Stewart (the origin of this bit is unknown, but it was clearly filmed during the series' run).
