Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4 Blu-ray Movie Review

Now with more seasons than the original series.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 28, 2013

What a cliffhanger, right? Star Trek: The Next Generation's fourth season begins with the ingenious resolution to the unsolvable problem that left Captain Picard a key ingredient in the Borg collective. Season three's finale was the episode that propelled TNG upwards and onwards towards history, that paved the way for a variety of season-ending cliffhangers to come (including this season's own Redemption), that divided fans and even "ruined summers" if one of Patrick Stewart's favorite fan anecdotes is to be believed. Not only did the writers, cast, and crew of TNG win over fans and craft incredible television, they followed it up with a tremendous season built around a variety of fantastic episodes that saw the growth of the crew even as one of its own departed, that saw further adventures with old friends in new settings, that saw friendly faces turned into devilish enemies, that even introduced a species that would play a vital role in shaping the complex political landscape of TNG's successor, Deep Space Nine. Indeed, season four had quite the unenviable task of making a great thing even better and paving the way towards not only the last three seasons of TNG but establishing Star Trek as a brand beyond a niche audience. In short, this is the season -- with a lot of help, admittedly, from the end of season three -- that took the franchise to a place no television show had been before.

Don't hover.

Following "The Best of Both Worlds," season four begins with episodes entitled "Family" and "Brothers," two names that get to the heart of what season four -- and The Next Generation as well as all of Star Trek -- is all about: togetherness, community, the strength of close bonds, and the very real sense of family that's only strengthened through the greatest trials, the most difficult hardships, the most challenging of moments, the hardest of decisions, the very real threat of loss, and the almost surreal relief when things return to the status quo. Season four explores in some detail its characters beyond their basic personalities, accomplishments, abilities, wants, needs, and relationships. There's a sense of growth throughout the season as a number of episodes explore the characters on a more intimate level. Even as one of the crew's own departs, the show introduces new faces or significantly expands roles for characters who were once little more than background pieces. Alexander Rozhenko has a tremendous impact on one of the show's most insightful, well designed, and endearing characters: his father Worf. The emergence of Chief O'Brien and his relationship with Keiko provides the show with a more homely, familiar feel that can be lost on board an otherwise sterile and procedural starship, even as one as diversely populated as the Enterprise. Yet all of season four's best is embodied in "Data's Day," a touching and highly agreeable glimpse into the title character's desire to better understand humans and appreciate the subtleties of the human condition, furthering Data's life ambition and encapsulating what Trek is all about. On the whole, the crew grows more closely knit and the adventures become more intimate and immediate. As character emotions, origins, and backgrounds are further developed, the show only gains a very real, very approachable, and very endearing sense of family that's more powerful than most television and more approachable than any other series.

That's really the season in a nutshell, that sense of togetherness and not simply working familiarity. Most television programs worth anything strive for it, but few really find it, embrace it, and continually elevate it quite like The Next Generation. Yet there's still plenty of the standard Star Trek flavor, with wonky "aliens of the week" and the inevitable crisis that must be resolved to prevent another. There's no shortage of moral quagmires ("Half a Life"), time travel ("Future Imperfect"), extraordinary feats beyond human ability ("The Nth Degree"), sprawling mystery ("Remember Me"), and opportunities to remove the characters from their comfort zone and into 24th century-silly costumes, usually reserved for Sherlock Holmes-inspired Holodeck adventures but here courtesy of Q and source material from old Earth lore ("Qpid"). Through all the standard Trek, which does include a number of forgettable episodes, comes a very real sense of the show expanding and exploring its universe in a way its predecessor never quite did and its successors never quite could, particularly the lamentably uninspired but nevertheless enjoyable and well constructed Voyager. It's incredible to witness such obvious growth from every corner of the series and propel it forward as the definitive Science Fiction program of all time, even beyond the greatness of the original series.

Season four highlight episodes include:

• The Best of Both Worlds, Part II: See this page for more information.
• Family: The Enterprise is docked above Earth, undergoing repair and receiving upgrades after the nearly disastrous run-in with the Borg. It's the perfect time for the crew to escape the confines of the ship, take a rest, and reunite with old friends and family. Worf (Michael Dorn) is not so pleased to receive his adoptive human parents, Sergei and Helena Rozhenkho (Theodore Bikel and Georgia Brown), as guests on board the ship. Meanwhile, the outwardly recovered but inwardly struggling Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) travels to Earth's surface to his old hometown of La Barre, France where he meets his nephew René (David Tristan Birkin), his older bother Robert (Jeremy Kemp), and Robert's wife Marie (Samantha Eggar), rekindling an old sibling rivalry. Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) receives an old keepsake chest once belonging to her deceased husband Jack, inside of which is a recording for her son Wesley (Wil Wheaton).
• Brothers: The Enterprise is en route to an emergency rendezvous with a Starfleet medical star base. A young boy's prank on is brother has resulted in a time-critical and life-threatening injury for which the ship is not equipped to remedy. Unfortunately, the speedy journey is interrupted when Data (Brent Spiner) suddenly loses control of his functions and his overtaken by a singular focus to commandeer the ship and steer it towards a mystery destination. He manages to clear the bridge, lock out the crew, and override any functions normally accessible from elsewhere in the ship, including warp control, starship separation, transporters, force fields, and even the captain's own verbal command interface with the computer. Now, with a life hanging in the balance, Data forces the Enterprise towards an unknown location to reunite with an old acquaintance.
• Remember Me: Dr. Crusher is meeting her mentor, Dr. Quaice (Bill Erwin), at a crew rotation stop. He's to gain passage to his destination on board the Enterprise. Soon after his arrival, he disappears. He's nowhere to be found on the ship; neither a digital scan nor a deck-by-deck crew search yield signs of the elderly doctor. More, Starfleet databanks are empty of any records of a Dr. Quaice, either in Starfleet or within the larger Federation population. Later, members of Crusher's medical staff vanish without a trace, too. Wesley has run an experiment in engineering that he believes may be connected to the disappearances, though he and Geordi (LeVar Burton) ultimately rule it a non-factor. The alternative: Dr. Crusher has lost her mind. But when the ship's compliment continues to dwindle, and the remaining members have no memory of the missing souls, only Dr. Crusher can discover what's happened to her shipmates.
• Reunion: A Klingon cruiser de-cloaks and carries the Klingon ambassador K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson). Worf fears his dishonor may offend the ambassador but is scolded by Picard for his fear of duty as a Starfleet officer. When she beams aboard, she brings with her a young Klingon boy: Alexander (Jon Paul Steuer), Worf's son. During a meeting with the Enterprise senior staff, she warns that the Klingon empire is on the brink of Civil War, and she believes the war will spread to the Federation, sooner or later. To complicate matters, Klingon Chancellor K'mpec (Charles Cooper) requests Picard serve as an "Arbiter of Succession," in essence choosing the next leader of the Empire. The Captain is also tasked with discovering who may be behind the Chancellor's poisoning.
• Future Imperfect: The Enterprise is patrolling the Neutral Zone to uneventful result. On the way to Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) birthday party, Picard and Data are informed of strange readings from a planet that may reveal the location of a hidden Romulan base. On the surface, Riker and his away team become engulfed in methane gas, and the transporters cannot secure a firm lock on their position. After collapsing, Riker awakens in sick bay, is addressed as "Captain," and wears -- with the rest of the crew -- a new communicator insignia. He remembers nothing past his mission, which he is told took place 16 years ago. He also learns that a virus that infected him on the surface has only now become active. Riker is further informed that he is a key piece in delicate negotiations with the Romulans, negotiations he feels unable to complete. To complicate matters further, Riker discovers he's no longer the only person with the name of "Riker" on board the ship.
• Data's Day: Data is logging his daily operations routine by writing to a peculiar pen pal: Commander Bruce Maddux, the man who once charged Data with an absence of sentience and fought for his disassembly for scientific study as Starfleet property. Data speaks on his difficulty in forming true bonds with humans, due largely to his failure to grasp the subtleties of human emotional response. He finds himself dealing with the possibility of a canceled wedding between Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Keiko (Rosalind Chao). He attempts to read people's irony, partake in friendly insults, learn to dance, care for a pet, and read into the subtleties of command decisions when a Vulcan ambassador arrives on the Enterprise during a tense standoff with the Romulans along the Neutral Zone.
• The Wounded: The Enterprise is en route to rendezvous with a Cardassian scout ship under the pretense of a ceasefire between the combatants. Suddenly, the ship falls under attack from the Cardassian vessel. After a brief confrontation, Picard is informed that a Federation vessel has broken the treaty and attacked a Cardassian outpost. Ben Maxwell, Captain of the U.S.S. Phoenix, is confirmed to have conducted the attack. The Phoenix has broken off communications with Starfleet command and gone rogue. The Enterprise is assigned with tracking Maxwell down and doing whatever it takes to hold the fragile peace together. Meanwhile, Chief O'Brien is forced to come to terms with his deep-seeded hatred of the Cardassians.
• The Nth Degree: Lieutenant Barclay (Dwight Schultz) is still rehabilitating and becoming a part of the crew. He's embraced the performing arts, a sort of therapy to alleviate his escapes into the fantasy world of the Holodeck. Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) sees it differently; in the Holodeck, he isolated himself. In theatre, he is "interacting" with his crew mates. Meanwhile, the ship arrives at the Argus Array, a station that has mysteriously stopped all transmissions to the Federation. Geordi and Barclay travel via shuttlecraft to analyze a foreign object nearby. On the mission, Barclay is zapped by a force that leaves him temporally out of commission. He awakens a changed man with tremendous knowledge and understanding of ship's operations and advanced foresight beyond anything conceivable by human standards.
• The Drumhead: A Klingon botanist working on board the Enterprise as part of an exchange program may have sabotaged the vessel's warp drive. Computer logs reveal that he's behind the incident, and also traitorously transferring sensitive information to the Romulans. The saboteur tells Worf of the extent of his disgrace on the Klingon home world and asks for his help to escape in return for his honor restored. A retired Admiral, Satie (Jean Simmons), beams aboard to investigate the incident, and the investigation spreads further than the Enterprise crew could have foreseen.
• Half a Life: Counselor Troi's mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett), is on board the Enterprise. She smothers a practically fearful Picard -- she's the one person in the universe, it seems, who can make the captain shake at the knees -- who cannot escape even to conduct formal ship's operations. With Lwaxana at his side, he greets a Dr. Timicin (David Ogden Stiers) who has arrived to work with the Enterprise crew to save his dying world. He is himself immediately smothered by Lwaxana. But his reaction to her is different; rather than being put off be her ways, he embraces them and the two grow quickly and closely together. But when he reveals that his culture partakes in a ritual known as "The Resolution," which is in essence forced suicide at age 60, Lwaxana rebels against the idea and struggles to convince Timicin to reject his world's ways.
• The Mind's Eye: Geordi is en route to the vacation world of Risa to attend a seminar, but has departed early for relaxation. He's suddenly ambushed by a Romulan warbird. He's transported off the shuttle, replaced by a double, and tortured, ultimately succumbing to a form of mind control through which the Romulans hope to create an assassin. Back on the Enterprise, a special Klingon emissary named Krell (Larry Dobkin) has arrived to aid in an investigation of a rebellion that is supposedly being supported, clandestinely, by the Federation.
• Redemption, Part 1: See this page for more information.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Season four looks quite good, generally. There are some troubling warts that aren't always present but seem to linger with some regularity throughout the season, chiefly in the form of excess noise and occasionally crushed blacks. Grain is also somewhat inconsistent, spiking in places and leaving the image looking rather smooth (but not scrubbed) in others. Like the noise and blacks, however, this is more of an infrequent observation rather than a constant shift. On the plus side is the usual visual excellence associated with these TNG restorations. Detail is again absolutely stunning. The image is amazingly crisp and well defined, revealing fine makeup detail on Data as well as Klingons, Romulans, and other aliens. Close-ups showcase the finest textures on uniforms, right down to minor frays and inconsistencies in the stitching and fabric. Unevenness in the carpeting, the creases on the leather seats found the bridge, and LCARS readouts show the most intimate bits. Even carpet-looking accents on the walls of the turbo lifts show a little wear and small imperfections the set designers probably thought would never be noticed in standard definition but are revealed, painfully but also comically and charmingly so, on Blu-ray. The best part of the upped detailing are those ship exteriors which still amaze even after four seasons; to see such stunning and intricate detail on the Enterprise is a real treat that will have fans pausing and admiring from every angle. Colors are excellent, too. The red, blue, and mustard uniforms look fantastic, as do Romulan and Klingon green, the blue glow on the warp nacelles, and green vegetation on planet surfaces. Skin tones are accurate, and blacks are usually fine, save for those aforementioned instances of crush. This is a spectacular transfer that will leave fans thrilled and experiencing their favorite episodes like never before.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the previous seasons, TNG's fourth features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack, and like those tracks from the same previous seasons, this presentation excels. The sound is consistently engaging, with plenty of well designed surround usage both in terms of aggressive music and effects and more subtle but environmentally critical ambience. Music swells during the opening titles, playing with an incredibly big, rich, invigorating sort of structure. Clarity is fantastic, even at the aggressive volume at reference levels. The voiceover plays with deep authority, and the sound of the ship swooping from speaker to speaker comes seamlessly. The soundtrack also displays some excellent action elements, too. Phaser fire bursts into the stage with tremendous presence, and other big elements flow through the stage with uncanny precision and aggression both. The track is really at its best, however, in its sonic conveyance of daily ship background noise. The heavy pulse of the warp core in engineering, the hum of the engines heard elsewhere, and all the little bleeps and bloops help define a very real-sounding world without which the show would most certainly lose much of its luster. Dialogue plays with perfect clarity and evenness from the center. This is a continuously exciting and exacting presentation that will absolutely delight Star Trek fans.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As usual, season four contains a wide array of supplements -- both new and archival -- many of which again heavily deal with the role of the writers on the show but also delve deeply into the sense of family both in the show and on the set. All episodes include the option to view with nostalgic "Episodic Promos." Other supplements are detailed below.

Disc One:

• Audio Commentary: Rob Bowman and Mike and Denise Okuda for "Brothers."
• Archival Mission Log: Mission Overview Year Four (SD, 16:41): A look at resolving the "Best of Both Worlds" cliffhanger, the aftermath of that episode in "Family," character growth throughout the season, Q's popularity, the cast's enjoyment of the "Robin Hood" episode, and celebrating the show's 100th episode.

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentary: Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Mike and Denise Okuda for "Reunion."
• Archival Mission Log: Selected Crew Analysis Year Four (SD, 17:04): A closer look at Wil Wheaton's departure, his special relationship with Patrick Stewart, and the Wesley Crusher and Captain Picard relationship. The supplement also highlights Marina Sirtis' work, the Vash character, sword fighting in the season, and more.

Disc Three:

• Archival Mission Log: New Life and New Civilizations (SD, 13:45): Discovering proper shooting locations for the 24th century in a 20th century world, crafting matte paintings, the award-nominated cinematography in "Family," visual effects-heavy episodes versus "Bottle" episodes, and building the destroyed starship shots in "Best of Both Worlds."

Disc Four:

• Archival Mission Logs: Chronicles from the Final Frontier (SD, 18:12): A focus on the role of the writing staff, with emphasis on shifting the series to a stronger character-oriented program, the role of the head writer and executive producer, writer backgrounds and qualities, specific episode themes, Denise Crosby's return in select episodes, and writing for Worf and the emergence of continuing story lines.

Disc Five:

• Archival Mission Log: Departmental Briefing Year Four: Production (SD, 16:46): An examination of the cast's work as episode directors and their influences. This supplement also examines season-specific makeup.
• Archival Mission Log: Select Historical Data (SD, 10:25): Designing the aliens in "Galaxy's Child" and miscellaneous starship design.
• Archival Mission Log: Inside the Star Trek Archives (SD, 11:14): Memories from the episode "First Contact," masking Gates McFadden's pregnancy, Emmy Award wins and nominations, remembering the Dixon Hill alter ego, and Vash's departure with Q.

Disc Six:

• In Conversation: The Star Trek Art Department (HD, 1:07:29): A living room Star Trek discussion with Special Makeup Effects Artis Doug Drexler, Production Designer Herman Zimmerman, Scenic Art Supervisor Mike Okuda, Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Curry, Technical Consultant Rick Sternbach, and Deep Space Nine Scenic Artist Denise Okuda. Discussions include their personal friendships and work history, their individual tasks on the show, the evolution of visual effects and details behind the show's (and Star Trek's) effects construction and implementation, learning experiences, making the technology accessible to the audience and both usable for the actors and believable in the universe, the show's greater history, set design, model making, and plenty more. The discussion drifts towards Deep Space Nine, at times, with discussions of station interior and exterior design. It's enough for its own feature; one must wonder if it might be included on some (maybe) future DS9 Blu-ray.
• Relativity: The Family Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation Part 1: Homecoming (HD, 29:05): A wide range of cast and crew cover the the show's momentum after "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1;" the show's solidification as a legitimate Trek; Gene Roddenberry's vision and how it was reflected in the show; season four stability, particularly in the writer's room; varying themes and character-focused stories across episodes and the loose continuity that works into the series arc; the theme of family relations in the season; Wil Wheaton's departure; more tales from the writers and the sense of family and camaraderie in the writer's room; attending conventions; and more.
• Relativity: The Family Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation Part 2: Posterity (HD, 27:45): Cast and crew interviews that explore Brent Spiner's performance of Dr. Noonian Soong, the Riker-Troi relationship, Worf character development, a Crusher episode that hints at homosexuality, Wil Wheaton's performance in the shadow of Patrick Stewart, Cardassian development, Wil Wheaton's departure from the show, and Patrick Stewart's pride in the show.
• Gag Reel (HD, 3:34).
• Deleted Scenes (HD): A collection of excised scenes from The Best of Both Worlds, Part II (3:06), Family (1:44), Brothers (3:48), Final Mission (3:11), The Wounded (6:35), Galaxy's Child (0:50), Qpid (1:40), and The Host (2:36). All scenes begin with a helpful card that identifies the episode, the specific scene in question, the location, and a brief summary. Several episodes contain more than one scene. Picture and sound quality varies from the uncut portions.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

No surprise this is an excellent set, with revealing video, fantastic audio, and plenty of great supplemental content, both newly recorded and vintage. Fans can expect about the same as with previous TNG season sets (and no doubt the same from future installments) and buy with confidence. These TNG releases are some of the finest Blu-ray sets on the market, and adding this one to the collection is a no-brainer. Very highly recommended.