Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27329 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-12-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 7
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 7

Amazon.co.uk Review
As the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation went into production, everyone knew that attentions would soon be permanently divided by the debut of Deep Space Nine. Sure enough that meant crossovers ("Birthright"), guest stars and references back and forth. The sense of baton-passing drew the TNG family closer, however. Directorial debuts begun in Season 5 allowed for repeat group-huddle ownership of several shows. Jonathan Frakes bettered "The Quality of Life" by "The Chase", which finally offered an explanation why most races in the Trek universe are humanoid with knobbly foreheads. Patrick Stewart crowbarred a Western into the franchise in "A Fistful of Datas". LeVar Burton introduced the far more exciting Riker clone Thomas in "Second Chances". But here we still find that inability to follow through a good idea, since it was intended for Tom to replace Will. Barclay outstayed his welcome with a lacklustre "Ship in a Bottle" (despite a hammy cameo from Stephanie Beacham) after he'd injected creepiness into "Realm of Fear". The same happened with Q and the painfully weak "True Q" contrasted by the philosophically challenging "Tapestry", where Picard faced the decisions of his youth.

Yet ultimately the year provided more memorable moments than either year 5 did or year 7 would. There was the fun of a pint-sized Starfleet in "Rascals", the shocking comment on political torture in "Chain of Command", the endless Matrix-like guessing game of reality in "Frame of Mind", and even a jokey genre nod often called "Die Hard Picard" instead of "Starship Mine". The two biggest attention-drawing moments came via stellar cameos. There was the bittersweet sight of James Doohan revisiting the original Enterprise Bridge on "Relics", then a quick contribution by Stephen Hawking in the cliff-hanger "Descent". Both were attempts at keeping TNG the connoisseur's Trek incarnation of choice. --Paul Tonks

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
The interplanetary adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his USS Enterprise continue in this collection, which presents the entire sixth season on seven DVDs that feature every episode, along with a wealth of extras contained on the seventh disc. Episodes include "Realm of Fear," "Relics," "True Q," "A Fistful of Datas," "Tapestry," and many more. Guest stars during this season include James Doohan, David Warner, and John Neville.

Customer Reviews

6th Season holds up well
Although it wasn't the strongest season for Trek, the sixth season did feature a number of outstanding episodes and performances worth noting. The most notable episode is the two part The Chain of Command. Picard, Worf and Crusher are sent on an covert operation to discover if the Cardassians are creating biological weapons. The Enterprise is given a new commander (no, not Riker)which creates quite a bit of tension in the ranks. Picard is captured and tortured by a Cardassian interrogater (played with relish by the marvelous David Warner). It's a great example of what Trek:TNG did best--deal with complex issues and areas of gray morality.

Ship in a Bottle returns the AI endowed Moriarty from season two. He returns when a glitch in the holodeck Holmes program is being repaired by Barclay. It's a marvelous episode that, again, does what Trek always did best. The idea (unlike some of the sixth season episodes)is well developed and directed well. The performances are all outstanding. The conclusion may be a bit pat but it's quite imaginative and concludes a brief but interesting story telling arc.

The transfers are beautiful although the image is occasionally soft on a couple of episodes. There aren't any noticable analog artifacts nor are there some of the compression problems apparent on some of the earlier sets. The early CGI imagery is more apparent due to the high quality DVD transfer (and particularly on a big screen television). It's not a problem but it does date the series a bit. Nevertheless, the effects work is, on the whole, outstanding.

The remixed 5.1 dolby digital sound is terrific. There's considerable improvement over the previous stereo surround version that appeared on the video cassettes. The extras are quite nice as well. There's an indepth look at Data's character and discussion of Patrick Stewart's terrific performance in Chain of Command. Also, some of the more challenging optical effects and character developments that occurred during the season are explored indepth.

Although the sixth season doesn't have quite the bite or power of seasons four and five, it more than holds it's own. While it's clear that Deep Space Nine had an impact on the Trek creative team, there were enough fresh performances and innovative scripts to keep the series in good shape. The only disappointment is that the episode featuring Q is fairly weak although the two part conclusion during season seven more than makes up for that problem.

From Time Travel to the Borg, it's got 'em all
The Sixth Season of TNG starts out (like seasons 4 and 5 before it) by wrapping up the cliffhangar from the previous season. In "Time's Arrow, Part II" the crew are stranded in 19th Century San Fransisco, trying to stop a group of aliens from "harvesting" energy from humans. The season continues with 2 appearances from Mr Barclay (and the return of Moriarty), 2 visits from Q, Counselor Troi disguised as a Romulan, a Wild west adventure for Worf, Four crewmembers turning into children and trying to re-take the ship from the Ferengi, a duplicate Riker, the reappearance of a Klingon God, the Enterprise and a Romulan Warbird being frozen in time, a crossover episode with DS9 (featuring Dr Bashir), and the return of Data's brother Lore (and his Rogue Borg Soldiers) in the Season finale, "Descent". But the two best things about season six are: 1) "Relics" - the fantastic episode which featured the return of Scotty and 2) This is the only season WITHOUT Wesley Crusher. Enjoy.

A STRONG SIXTH YEAR
Kicking off with the second part of the enjoyable 2-parter TIMES ARROW, The Next Generation's sixth season is in my opinion one of the series best (if not the best). It strikes the right balance between light-hearted whimsy (A FISTFUL OF DATAS), psychological thriller (FRAME OF MIND - boasting an acting tour de force from Frakes), solid science fiction (Timescape), action (STARSHIP MINE) and finally possibly TNG's darkest work CHAIN OF COMMAND 1 & 2 (which is a wonderful 2 parter because largely of Stewarts stunning performance and also because of the interesting effect of the Enterprise captain being replaced by Jellico - a man just a little short on charm).