General:

Now that is out of the way, I wanted to go through the 7^th season with you. This most likely will become a slightly longer blog again but I will try to keep it as short as possible. Season 7 is a very uneven season I must say, there are some highpoints: “Inheritance”, “The Pegasus”, “Thine Own Self”; Preemptive Stike” and the series finale “All Good Things”. For me, these episodes where the best season 7 has to offer and the rest okay or (very) mediocre in terms of enjoying an episode. Only five episodes I graded an 8/10 or higher in the final season. Voyager’s season 7 is even stronger than The Next Generation’s season 7. Having said this, The Next Generation is a great show, which grows on me with every new rewatch and these characters, well, they are magnificent, I love them all! Season 6 is arguably the best season, although I also loved the 3^rd and 4^th season, but season 7 unfortunately was a bit stale most of the time. After seeing the new interviews on the season 7 Blu-ray set, it becomes clear to me that it had much to do with losing inspiration after 6 long seasons, writer’s had to work even more hours than the cast, trying to come-up with new stories every week, having been confined to Star Trek continuity.

So, in that respect, you perhaps can understand the weaker 7^th season. In a new special feature called The Sky's the Limit: The Eclipse of Star Trek: The Next Generation Part One: Umbra: at one point Ronald D. Moore actually suggests starting over with the original series, as Kurtzman now also is rooting for. This set me back a little bit, as I as telling in my recent blog post “My Thoughts of Star Trek Part 2”: if Ronald D. Moore was asked in 2017 for Discovery, things would have been more like shows from the 80’s and 90’s. It seems, at least at the time of this interview back in 2011 or 2012 or something, that he too would have gone back to the beginning also instead of continuing after Voyager because of continuity difficulties, which in part I do understand. Still, if he had done this, instead of Kurtzman, it would least been more in line with Star Trek from before than now. But I think that if you still continue after Voyager with a whole new crew, which I would be fine with, there wouldn’t be any problem regarding continuity at all, at least not in terms of history of the characters.

The Episodes:

I really wasn’t a huge fan of the two-parter “Decent”. I love Data and I reckon Brent Spiner really loves to play his evil brother Lore, but these episodes usually don’t grab me. Also the individual Borg drones are wasted on me. “Liaisons” I thought was a particular bland episode where on a diplomatic mission, Worf, Troi and the Captain deal with three aliens who explore foreign concepts with extreme, singular focus. The Geordie LaForge centered episode “Interface” was an okay episode in my opinion. Not awful, it was watchable but nothing more.  The two-parter “Gambit” was also not as exciting as earlier two-part episodes. Note - It does have a number of interesting guest stars: Robin Curtis, Richard Lynch, Julie Caitlyn Brown, Bruce Gray, Stephen Lee, Derek Webster and Sabrina Le Beauf. Best thing for me was argument between Worf and Data about how Worf should behave as a first officer.

“Phantasms” where Data deals with his new ability to experience nightmares was overall a bit of a strange and tedious episode. I wish though that Troi had looked like this from the pilot on! Radiantly beautiful! I liked “Dark Page” better than with previous rewatches, tearjerking at the end, great performances of Majel Barret & Marina Sirtis. “Attached” was a nice episode where Picard and Crusher have been captured by an alien race. Picard and Crusher can hear each other’s thoughts through a device connected to their brainstem. This makes them an open book to each other. Really liked these two characters together, clearly they are meant for each other and Beverly, so hands on, more active in the field rather than in sickbay, loved it. “Force of Nature” where two scientists from a nearby planet who claim that cumulative exposure to warp energy is weakening the fabric of space, is not what a sci-fi fan wants to see, wants to learn, that Warp speed is potentially harmful. This of course a reflection of the so called climate issues in the real world at that time. Best parts was Data with his cat and LaForge trying to outwit a colleague of an intrepid class starship, yes, the B and C stories. A weak A story.

“Inheritance” is one of my favorite episodes, especially because we learn more about Data’s past where he meets his mother, sort of. A truly beautiful episode, and what a hard choice Data has to make in the end, about her well being and him not being the only android. “Parallels” is an entertaining enough episode to me but I don’t grade as high as IMdB. Worf finds himself in shifting realities. Another time travel tale, I didn’t like Worf and Troi together, don’t know why the creators think up things like this. At one point Brent Spiner as Data did not wear his Data lenses, we saw him having blue eyes. Don’t know if this was consciously or a mistake. “The Pegasus” definitely is one of the best episodes this season. Riker finds out his former commander from the starship Pegasus, Admiral Eric Pressman, has orders that entail more than what is revealed to Picard, who thinks the Enterprise is underway to recover the lost ship. And Riker is ordered to secrecy. Note - When the moment comes, Riker comes clean which saves his career and his captain’s respect for him. Guest starring Terry O’Quinn as Admiral Eric Pressman.

“Homeward” is also a weaker episode, where Worf’s foster brother violates the prime directive. Guest starring Penny Johnson and Paul Sorvino. “Sub Rosa”, a Dr. Crusher episode, although I thought it was not as bad as with previous viewings, it is still well below par. But I do have to say that Gates looks radiantly beautiful in this episode! Was a band-aid though. “Lower Decks” is a popular episode, loved by many. I thought it was entertaining but nothing more  than that. It has a 8.7/10 on IMdB, I graded it 7.5/10. A good episode, some strong and emotional moments and the ending is perhaps a bit surprising for Star Trek TNG but very strong. “Thine Own Self”, another strong Data episode where he arrives at a village with no memory whatsoever and carrying a case of radioactive material. Note - Troi promoted to commander after successfully doing the commander test. I say it again, Troi looks so much better in her Starfleet tunic outfit. Shame she was wearing that bodysuit all these seasons.

“Masks” is my least favorite episode of the season, perhaps of the series, but I think I can remember a few episodes which at least are as ghastly as this one. At least that is how I feel about it. Brent Spiner however, does a remarkable job, again! When you watch the interviews on the Blu-ray, you will be even more impressed with his acting! “The Eye of the Beholder” another mediocre episode in my opinion, perhaps I let my personal feelings towards the Troi-Worf relationship determine this for the most part, I really don’t like these two together. In this episode, it ends with that it was all in her head, but in follow-up episodes you this relationship develops further unfortunately. “Genesis” is also mediocre at best, but Barclay’s character becomes more fun in the beginning of his transformation. Again the insinuation of a relationship between Worf and Troi annoys me, not a good match.

In “Journey’s End” we say goodbye to Wesley Crusher, some interesting topics: Cardassians and the treaty, history repeating itself with relocation of the Indian people and the future of Wesley Crusher,  yet the episode itself was a bit bland. This Maquis business is the ground work for Deep Space Nine and Voyager and the native American storyline was the baseline for Commander Chakotay backstory. At that time, they were already in the early stages of creating Voyager. This relocation business, of a small group of people, also returns in Star Trek: Insurrection, a movie I love. “First Born”, a Worf and Alexander story. Worf wants to help Alexander accepts his Klingon heritage. Worf gets help from a very close relative, much closer than he thinks. I didn’t remember that K’Mtar (James Sloyan) was Alexander, nice twist. I also like that Worf will not push Alexander into something he doesn’t want to. Guest star: Armin Shimerman as Quark. An okay episode. “Bloodlines” where Picard supposedly has a son, an okay episode, but why couldn’t it be the case, why couldn’t he have a son? Always back to the status quo. “Emergence” was another forgetful episode, not really bad, but again, a bit bland.

“Preemptive Strike” is definitely also one of the strongest episodes this season. Ro Laren is back and Picard has a new mission for her, a mission which brings her awfully close to her earlier years in the Bajoran resistance. Note – Perhaps it was not wise to sent Ro Laren on that particular mission, given her history. She is not able to betray the Maquis. Strongest moment perhaps is Picard in the final scene, sad and angry that Ro betrayed him. The series finale “All Good Things” is a great finale, a large enough story where Picard bounces around 3 different time periods. Only things I wasn’t fond of was seeing the Q court again, didn’t like it in the pilot and don’t like in the finale. Other thing that STILL annoys me is the Worf-Troi thing, it obviously is not a fit. Final scene where Picard joins the card game with his fellow officers brings a tear to my eye!

Guinan:

What I did find curious is that Guinan has been absent the whole last season! I checked IMdB because I felt she was not in the last 10 episodes or so, but she has been missing the whole season! Especially in this last episode, it would have been interesting to have her there. Guinan has really grown on me, especially with this rewatch I love her character even more, shame she only is there for 28 episodes in total. But on the other hand, that could the reason for this character’s success.

The Next Generation on Blu-ray:

For those who only watch Star Trek via streaming, TV, DVD or even on VHS, you are really missing out on all these (new) special features that have been added when TNG was released on Blu-ray. Every season has loads of extra new special features and among them, on each season there are 2 to 3-part features of each 30 minutes, plus in season two there is a cast reunion called: Reunification: 25 Years After Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is over an hour. These and many more special features are a must have for any Star Trek fan, I can only recommend it, because besides these great new special features, TNG looks breathtaking on Blu-ray! Thank you Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay Jr. for these fantastic documentaries for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Enterprise. With every rewatch I also watch all new documentaries and am enjoying them immensely. I know you probably won’t ever read this but I am just grateful for these priceless documentaries to watch anytime I want to!

Final Word:

For most of you, The Next Generation will always be your favorite Trek. That is not the case for me, but I really had a good time watching it again. It had been seven years since I’d last seen it on Blu-ray. Because I am gifted with a poor memory, most episodes tend to surprise me, at least parts of the episodes. Yes, I say again, the quality of the stories varies a lot of over all seasons, but when TNG is good, it is really good, good SCI-FI and great characters.

Screencaps taken from TrekCore, Blog written with the help of IMdB