y the time Star Trek: The Next Generation entered its sixth season, the series was in its prime. Call it Next Gen's comfort zone: The stories still felt fresh, the writing and production staff had stabilized, the ambitious production values were higher than ever and the crew of the Enterprise had irrevocably endeared themselves to viewers.
Another strong point of season six: the characters. Characters were given the opportunity to grow and evolve, and they reflected the subtle nuances that each of the actors had infused their characters with.
Considering how strong this season was overall, the season got off to a mediocre start with the time-travel romp (and conclusion to season five's cliffhanger) "Time's Arrow." The resolution of this story was better than its start, but it still felt vaguely unsatisfying—no matter how much fun it was to see Data, Picard and the gang in 19th-century San Francisco.
The two follow-on episodes, the Lt. Barclay (Dwight Schultz) episode "Realm of Fear" and "Man of the People," were rather pedestrian, too. And then came "Relics," which had its weaknesses, but is a fan favorite nonetheless for one reason, and one reason only: The episode guest stars James Doohan as everyone's favorite (former) chief engineer.
After that, the season shifts into high gear, with three memorable episodes in a row: "True-Q" (Olivia d'Abo guest stars as a human teen who discovers she's actually a Q), "Rascals" (LaForge, Ensign Ro and Guinan are turned into children due to a transporter accident) and "A Fistful of Datas" (the classic Worf-centric western episode directed by Patrick Stewart).
And the strong episodes just kept on coming; while not all episodes in the ensuing stretch were bona fide home runs, there were more solid episodes in rapid succession than in recent Trekmemory. The surprising two-parter "Chain of Command" offered a distinct commentary on human rights—and a showcase for Stewart to shine. Less intense is "Ship in a Bottle," which gives Picard a chance to outwit some clever thieves; "Face of the Enemy," which has Troi dealing with her very real transformation into a Romulan; the two-part Klingon piece "Birthright"; the wonderful tale of "The Chase," exploring the genetic connection between humans, Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians; "Tapestry," in which Picard is a given a second chance at his life by Q; and "Timescape," when the Enterprise is caught in a disturbance in the space-time continuum.
The seven-disc DVD set is largely consistent in presentation and content with previous installments in the Next Gen DVD series. A series of three mission logs run about 15 to 20 minutes in length and delve into the production and effects of key episodes throughout the season.
Elegant extras add to the excitement
Season six's interviews feel the freshest of all the ones we've heard thus far. That might be due, in part, to the fact that several of the talent actually say things we may not have heard a thousand times before (such as Stewart's reflections on directing "A Fistful of Datas").
This time out, the menu design is cleaner, and the content is deeper for specific episodes. The price is high, though: We go behind the scenes of fewer episodes. "The Mission Logs: Year Six" are more appropriately titled—although it's still a problem that comments on specific episodes are all muddled together among these different sections. There's the 18-minute "Mission Overview," which covers aspects of "Time's Arrow," "Relics," "Chain of Command" and "Descent, Part I" with a good mix of historical and current interviews. The inclusion of info on the debut of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine feels out of place, though—this would have been better grouped on its own, as a lead-in to the preview trailer included on the disc for the first season of DS9 on DVD.
The second featurette focuses primarily on the directors of specific episodes, although it's not immediately clear from its title that that's the intent—"Bold New Directions" could just as easily be about Trek spinoff Deep Space Nine as it was about the directors behind season six. Likewise, the content is disorganized, too. For example, the great conversation with director Stewart is intercut with reflections by Marina Sirtis talking about something related to the episode, but not to Stewart's direction. Burton discusses directing two Commander Rikers in "Second Chances."
The "Departmental Briefing" is divided into two sections: one a potpourri of various aspects of production (makeup, production design, writing etc.), the other being a lengthy profile of effects maestro Dan Curry.
A welcome addition to the usual set of featurettes is a character profile of Data. This 20-minute segment is packed with historical clips and images, and interviews with Spiner and his colleagues behind and in front of the camera. The profile is so enjoyable that it makes us wish the Trek DVD producers had folded these into the bonus content a season or two earlier.
