Home :: DVD :: Television :: Star Trek  

A&E Home Video
BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek

TV Series
WGBH Boston
Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season

Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season

List Price: $139.99
Your Price: $104.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A weak season, but not too bad...
Review: "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" second season begins with Riker's new beard, Geordi's promotion, a new (but not better) doctor, and Wesley the weasel deciding to stay aboard. Sounds like a mixed bag to me. The season premiere "The Child" doesn't have much in the way of excitement, and Marina Sirtis wasn't quite as good yet to carry the episode, but it looks great with some neat looking exterior shots and an introduction of Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan the bartender. The from there the season continued with a few gems ("Elementary Dear Data," "Q Who?") and a few more missteps ("The Outrageous Okona," "Pen Pals," "Shades of Gray).

We meet the Borg in a great episode with Q, played by the always-dependable John DeLancie, Data butts heads with a holodek version of Moriarty, Riker finally comes to terms with his father, and Wesley is given his first command. With a writer's strike hindering the production of the episodes, many of them feel rushed. A few potentially cool ideas like "Contagion" and "Peak Performance" feel lacking in suspense or direction.

Ah, but the cast is perfect and carries out each episode wonderfully. Even the terrible stock-footage show "Shades of Gray" is handled well by the cast. However, the season lacks two major characters from season one: Tasha Yar and Dr. Crusher. While Yar can't come back (she died late in season one), the good doctor does return in season three and she's welcome. Diana Mulduar is a talented actress, but Dr. Pulaski just isn't compatable with the other characters.

My recommendation is to get season two only if you're trying to collect them all. It's not the perfect season and there's much better ones out there.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A weak season, but not too bad...
Review: "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" second season begins with Riker's new beard, Geordi's promotion, a new (but not better) doctor, and Wesley the weasel deciding to stay aboard. Sounds like a mixed bag to me. The season premiere "The Child" doesn't have much in the way of excitement, and Marina Sirtis wasn't quite as good yet to carry the episode, but it looks great with some neat looking exterior shots and an introduction of Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan the bartender. The from there the season continued with a few gems ("Elementary Dear Data," "Q Who?") and a few more missteps ("The Outrageous Okona," "Pen Pals," "Shades of Gray).

We meet the Borg in a great episode with Q, played by the always-dependable John DeLancie, Data butts heads with a holodek version of Moriarty, Riker finally comes to terms with his father, and Wesley is given his first command. With a writer's strike hindering the production of the episodes, many of them feel rushed. A few potentially cool ideas like "Contagion" and "Peak Performance" feel lacking in suspense or direction.

Ah, but the cast is perfect and carries out each episode wonderfully. Even the terrible stock-footage show "Shades of Gray" is handled well by the cast. However, the season lacks two major characters from season one: Tasha Yar and Dr. Crusher. While Yar can't come back (she died late in season one), the good doctor does return in season three and she's welcome. Diana Mulduar is a talented actress, but Dr. Pulaski just isn't compatable with the other characters.

My recommendation is to get season two only if you're trying to collect them all. It's not the perfect season and there's much better ones out there.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: TNG'S Sophomore season hits a few bumps
Review: After a so-so shakedown season, Star Trek:Tng season 2 premiered in the autumn of 1988. It was soon apparent that year 2 would not be the best this show would offer. A few episodes such as: WHERE SILENCE HAS LEASE, A MATTER OF HONOR, CONTAIGION,and Q-WHO were actually very good, but the rest of the season was poorly written. Buy these dvds only because they belong in your star trek library but remember the best for this show is still a few seasons away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: After watching the first season and reading the reviews I expected more of the tentative and corny plots of season 1...

Well, some of the episodes may still be a bit corny by later seasons' standards, but the variety of the plots and the freshness of the characters more than made up for it. I mean, who knew that Worff had a sense of humor, and could even smile?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Shakey writing and characters, but a taste of things to come
Review: Although better than the first season of Star Trek TNG, season 2 was extremely hot and cold. A few great episodes, such as 'Contagion', 'A Measure of a Man', and 'The Emissary' (as well as a few more) make this season worth having. Overall, I found Worf, Data and Picard to be fairly steady characters throughout this season, but the others seemed to waver quite a bit (I think the actors did a great job - it's as if the writers kept changing the characters on them!).

The character of Dr. Pulaski - although the actress herself did a great job - was simply repulsive and inconsistent to me. She seemed extremely bigoted one minute, and then suddenly would become this selfless person rushing to someone's aid. Then in another episode she would be portrayed as incredibly stubborn. Writers, make up your minds! The way she acted made me question why or how she would become the chief medical doctor on a starship, especially the Enterprise where she truly did not fit in. The character of Dr. Crusher, re-introduced in season 3, was far better and more consistent, while also interacting more believably with the crew. Once again, I emphasize that the acting was actually quite good - the writing was inconsistent.

On the other hand, there is some good character development throughout this season for most of the bridge crew, with the exception of Riker who was also portrayed inconsistently. I must also admit that Wesley Crusher tends to get on my nerves - needing a young teenager to get the federation flagship out of trouble multiple times does not make any sense. However, there was some decent development between him and Picard.

If you have not seen any of this series yet, I would strongly recommend not starting with this season. But, for all you out there who have seen and enjoyed it, there are some great episodes in here.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Compilation
Review: Although I don't like the style of the box too much, and I'd rather have had the box be a more durable material than cardboard, overall a great buy!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: TNG's Second improved season
Review: Aside fom the drastic changes that happened between seasons,The second season of TNG was a big improvement over the first.Yet it was still far from the great show it would later become.
The intrduction of Guinan(as well as Ten-Forward)and the temporary residence of Dr Kathrine Pulaski in The Child,added a new dimension to the show.The best episodes include The Measure Of A Man,The Emissary,A Matter Of honor,and of course Q Who,which not only brought back Q,but introduced The Borg.
The second season was a strong indication of the great things to come.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ST:TNG takes off in its second season.
Review: Aside from a few clunkers at the beginning of the season, and one or two others later on in the set, it's amazing how quickly "Star Trek: The Next Generation" found its feet in its second season, delivering consistently entertaining, mature science fiction entertainment virtually every episode. The characters are more relaxed together (especially while interacting in the new "Ten Forward" bar/lounge set) and there are a minimum of those too-often used boilerplate Trek plots involving superior aliens who think humans are too savage to be in space. Instead, the aliens are evil for once, as we get to enjoy the introduction of the cold, clinical but no less savage Borg! The documentary materials are better organized this time out, too. While we still get a variety of interviews with the cast and crew taken from all over the map (when the shows were in production, years later as they looked back, etc.), this time we're provided with the dates of the interviews and the context in which they were conducted, which really helps to orient the viewer and keeps the materials from becoming a confusing mish-mash. This boxed set is a great way to catch up on these episodes again, or experience them for the first time if you weren't a fan when they were first broadcast.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome!!!!
Review: come on guys aren't you trekkies? I guess not, all these episodes are awesome, I mean yeah you might have a couple of poorly written episodes in there, but they are still worth watching over and over again! I mean this all comes from some of the greatest minds!...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Much better than Season 1 and a hint of things to come
Review: For some reason, unknown to at least me, the networks in Australia showed Series 2 of ST:TNG when it debuted out here. And to be honest I'm glad they did as I doubt I would have become so impressed with the show had I seen the first series initially. The cast really do come together very well, Picard is more likable(for want of a better word or phrase)and far less uptight, the relationship between Riker and Troi starts to come into it's own right from the first episode plus Geordi and Worf seem much more comfortable in their new positions as engineer and security chief. Also the relationship between Dr Pulaski(who I have always liked) and Data is quite good, if not a little bit like the relationship between McCoy and Spock.

I'm only giving it four stars because although there were excellent shows, there were also some less than memorable ones. The best would have to include "Elementary, Dear Data", "A Matter of Honour" and "The Measure of a Man". Others that are also good are "Loud as a Whisper" and "Unnatural Selection" plus one of my personal favourites "Manhunt" as I love Lwaxana Troi! And while I agree that "Shades of Grey" is weak, I would hardly call it the worst. That honour has to go to "The Royale". Truely horrendous. At least as far as clip shows go "Shades of Grey" is tolerable, well that's my opinion!

All in all though, considering that production was hampered off stage by writter's strikes, writter's coming and going and big budget cuts to episodes, Season 2 is very good and sends the programme off onto bigger and better things very, very nicely.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates