Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1636 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-22
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, German, Italian, Catalan, English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 998 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
To the delight of Star Trek fans everywhere, the stellar second season of The Next Generation (1988-89) belonged to Lieutenant Commander Data. As the Enterprise-D's resident android, Data (in the Emmy-worthy hands of Brent Spiner) would gain legal sentience in the season highlight "The Measure of a Man," and his increasingly "human" personality would refine itself in such diverse episodes as "Elementary, Dear Data" (Data as Sherlock Holmes), "The Outrageous Okona" (a misfire, but worthy from the Data perspective), and "Pen Pals." While Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) took a sabbatical of then-unknown duration (gracefully replaced by original Trek guest star Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski), the remaining bridge crew would match Data's vitality: Riker grew a handsome beard and proved his command potential; Worf became richly nuanced in "The Icarus Factor," and met his match (and mate) in guest Suzie Plakson's fiercely Klingon sexpot K'Ehleyr; Wesley matured admirably, despite continuing fan disapproval; Betazed culture emerged as Troi locked horns with her eccentric mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett, in a recurring role); and La Forge made good on his promotion to chief engineer while Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) flawlessly rode on Geordi's coattails.

In a crucial series development, Guinan (special guest Whoopi Goldberg) revealed a connection to Q in her helpful capacity as Ten-Forward's enigmatic host, while Q himself (John DeLancie) precipitated the Enterprise's first, fateful encounter with the Borg (in the suspenseful "Q Who?"). Through it all, Patrick Stewart brilliantly intensified all of Picard's renaissance qualities (especially in the dazzling "Time Squared"), exploring the captain's facets with equal measures of curiosity, fascination, amusement, courage, and philosophical insight. Despite its lame finale with the money-saving clip-show "Shades of Gray," season 2 charted a warp-nine course to the even better season 3. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Picking up decades after Gene Roddenberry's legendary original Star Trek, The Next Generation follows the intergalactic adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew aboard an all-new USS Enterprise. This phenomenally successful follow-up, also created by Roddenberry, began airing in 1987 and ran until 1994. This collector's edition box set contains five discs featuring all 22 episodes from season two, along with a wealth of special features contained on the sixth disc. Episodes include 'The Child', 'Loud as a Whisper', 'The Schizoid Man', 'Unnatural Selection', 'Contagion', 'The Icarus Factor', 'Q Who', 'Manhunt', 'Peak Performance', and many more.

Customer Reviews

A steady Warp 5
Whilst this is a superior series to the first, you may still find yourself wincing through some of the cliches and ridiculous lines the actors deliver. TNG didn't really begin to fly until it's third series but here you can see flashes of brilliance with some stand out episodes such as 'Q-Who' which introduced the Borg. Unfortunately there are some real clangers here as well including the dreadful 'Up The Long Ladder' and the truly awful episode where the Counsellor falls for a deaf and mute mediator - the producers clearly trying to make a point about overcoming diversity. The premise of strange new worlds and finding common ground amongst all species is still an admirable one, but it is executed far better in TNG's later series. Worth a look, but don't expect your warp engines to be engaged.

Getting Better
After Star Trek: The Next Generation's mixed debut season, things seemed bleak for this second season since the writers strike of the late 1980's was in full force.

While some stories may be bottom of the barrel, such as "The Outrageous Okona", "The Royale" and trek's first and only clip show "Shades of Grey", there was also a big turnaround with more ambitious stories such as "The Measure of a Man", which questions Data's existance as a sentient lifeform, and "Q Who?", which introduces us to one of trek's greatest enemies - the Borg.

Other changes to consider include the replacement of Dr Crusher with Dr Pulaski, who seems to be a female incarnation of Dr McCoy, and the introduction of Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg after she requested a role on the series. As a child, she was inspired by Nichelle Nichols who played Uhuru in the original series as a black person in a position of authority.

As many fans may know, The Next Generation came into it's own from the third season onwards. However, this second season shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, and these new and cheaper slimline sets are worth the price if only to see the series as it evolves into the popular show it would become.

Cherished!
This I will always watch over and over again. Will leave it to my kids in my will!