Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 Blu-ray Review
Season 4 elevates “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to new heights.
Coming off of the fantastic season 3, the 26 episode season 4 raised the bar even further by focus more on the entire cast of characters. Everyone gets their time in the spotlight here as we learn more about the characters and their families. In fact, family is a major theme of this season as viewers see stories about Picard’s family (his brother) and former flame (Vash), Lt. Worf’s parents, son (Alexander), ex-lover (K’Ehelyr) and brother (Kurn), Beverly’s husband (Wesley’s father) and a new love interest (Odan), Data’s creator (Noonien Soong), brother (Lore) and a romantic interest (Officer Jenna D’Sora), Miles O’Brien and his now wife Keiko O’Brien, Deanna Troi and her mother Lwaxana, and even Tasha Yar’s sister (Ishara) and daughter Sela (although that reveal is in season 5 technically). Of course, the entire season isn’t just about family as we see plots about a warp-field experiment gone awry, wormhole traveling gone awry, a future Riker, Wesley departing the Enterprise to attend Starfleet Academy, a first contact mission, bad dreams, an alien baby, Geordi falling for a Doctor, Barclay becoming uber intelligent, Q stirring up trouble (again), Romulans, the introduction of both Gowron and the Cardassians, and of course, the conclusion to “The Best of Both Worlds.”
Season 3 may have been the time period where “Star Trek: The Next Generation” found its footing, but season 4 is the season where character came first. Sure, there is still plenty of action involving alien threats and Starfleet, but this is very much a character centric season. In the past 3 seasons, characters like Worf, Geordi, and Troi were treated more as secondary characters as Picard, Riker, and Data dominated the screentime. Thankfully, season 4 changes all of that as Worf, Geordi, Troi and even other fan favorite characters like Barclay and Miles O’Brien get key character arcs. It was refreshing to see stories that explored Worf’s family as well as Data’s origins. It helped audiences connect with the characters even more and it also strengthened the series overall. It showed Trek fans that TNG was now its own show and that it was doing things that TOS never did.
Another huge component of season 4 was the development and introduction of alien species that would later become key elements to the Trek universe such as the Klingons, Cardassians (in the episode “The Wounded”) and Romulans. In particular, season 4 really established the Klingons as we have come to know them thanks to episodes like “Reunion” and “Redemption Part 1” where we learn about Klingon politics and traditions. The Romulans also get center stage in the episodes “Data’s Day,” “The Mind’s Eye,” and, as we later learn, “Redemption”.
Character and alien elements aside, there’s just a starshipload of great writing in this season as well. “Reunion” and “Redemption Part 1” are 2 of the best Klingon centric episodes, “Qpid” is a fun “Robin Hood” and Q themed romp, Riker shines in the smart “First Contact,” “Family” and “Brothers” offers up tons of fascinating character development, and there’s even a creepy (and highly underrated) episode with “Identity Crisis.”
Video/Audio:
New and improved f/x, beautiful new transfers, a striking amount of clarity- I don’t know how anyone can be disappointed by the restoration job. Note: The episodes are presented in 4:3 1080p.
Trek fans are absolutely spoiled by the 7.1 DTS-HD MA audio track (with multiple language options). The show has simply never sounded so good. All you have to do is listen to the opening credit theme song to realize that.
Extras:
* Episodic promos for all 26 episodes.
* “Archival Mission Logs: Mission Overview Year 4”- As the title suggests, this featurette covers the season’s stand-out episodes such as “The Best of Both Worlds” part 2 and “Qpid.”
* Commentary on “Brothers” by director Rob Bowman and Mike and Denise Okuda. Some interesting insight into Bowman’s views and experiences here.
* “Archival Mission Log: Selected Crew Analysis Year 4”- A featurette that covers character dynamics and characters such as Wesley Crusher, Vash, Picard, and Troi.
* Commentary on “Reunion” by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga and Mike and Denise Okuda. Braga talks about his first foray in writing a Trek episode and both he and Moore discuss the various stages of the script. Worth a listen.
* “Archival Mission Log: New Life And New Civilizations”- A featurette about creating new worlds via locations, paintings, cinematography and F/X.
* “Archival Mission Logs: Chronicles from the Final Frontier”- A featurette about the writers (such as Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga) talking about the focus on characters in season 4.
* “Archival Mission Log: Departmental Briefing Year 4: Production”- A look at Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart’s directorial jobs and makeup work.
* “Archival Mission Log: Select Historical Data”- A piece that covers alien and starship designs/models/f/x.
* “Archival Mission Log: Inside The Star Trek Archives”- A sort of misc. extra that covers everything from Emmy awards to Bebe Neuwirth’s guest appearance.
* Another amusing gag reel.
* Deleted scenes from “The Best Of Both Worlds Part 2,” “Family,” “Brothers,” “Final Mission,” “The Wounded,” “Galaxy’s Child,” “Qpid,” and “The Host.”
* “In Conversation: The Star Trek Art Department”- In this loving tribute to the art/production department crew members, Mike and Denise Okuda, Doug Drexler, Herman Zimmerman, Dan Curry, and Rick Sternbach chat about their friendships, CGI, models used in the series, technology, etc.
* “Relativity: The Family Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generations: Parts 1 and 2”- This comprehensive 2 part extra covers the show’s growing success, Gene Roddenberry, the characters, Wesley Crusher, the writing staff, character dynamics, and much more.
* Trailers for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” seasons 3 and 5, “The Best of Both Worlds,” and “Enterprise” season 2.”
Summary: If you love Trek, you cannot pass up this season 4 Blu-ray set. Buy it now.
August 11, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Cardassians, Data, Klingons, Picard, Riker, Ronald D. Moore, Star Trek Blu-rays, Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray Review, Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 Blu-ray Review, The Borg, Wil Wheaton
No comments yet.
About DVD Corner
DVDCorner.net’s blog contains reviews of the latest DVD, 4K and Blu-ray discs, disc news, as well as reviews of other media items such as graphic novels, books, board/card games, and more. DVDCorner has been around for nearly 17 years now and this is our latest evolution. We are not affiliated with any other website that contains DVDCorner in its title nor do we sell DVDs or Blu-rays. We only review titles sent to us from different studios. Thanks for dropping by from all of us at DVDCorner.net.
Share This Blog
Blogroll
Pages
Reviews
DVDCorner’s Archives
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
-
Join 374 other subscribers
Meta
- Academy Awards Action Movie Alfred Hitchcock Animated Film Animated Movie Animated Series animation Arrow Academy Arrow Video Batman Bill Corbett Bruce Willis Chewbacca Christmas Movie Classic Movie Comedy Comedy Movie Criterion Collection Darth Vader DC Comics Disney Doctor Who documentary Film Movement Film Noir Funimation Goku Han Solo Hayao Miyazaki HBO horror Horror Comedy Horror Film Horror Movie IDW IDW Comics IDW Publishing Joel Hodgson Jon Pertwee Kevin Murphy Marvel Matt Smith Mike Nelson musical Mystery Science Theater 3000 Netflix Nicolas Cage Obi-Wan Kenobi Oscars Pixar Rey Rifftrax Sci-fi Scream Factory Shout! Factory Star Trek Star Trek: Discovery Star Wars Star Wars- The Clone Wars Star Wars Book Star Wars Books Star Wars Comic Book Star Wars Rebels Stephen King Studio Ghibli Superman The Flash Tom Baker Viz Media Warner Archive western Western Film Western Movie Wonder Woman Zombies
Leave a Reply