Product Description

Nearly two decades after the cancellation of the original STAR TREK television series creator Gene Roddenberry launched the first of what was to be four phenomenally successful spinoffs with STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Set in the 24th century (nearly 100 years after the stewardship of Captain Kirk) the series introduced an all-new cast of intergalactic travellers exploring the farthest reaches out of outer space on a mission to chart new planets and alien civilizations. Ship commander Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) anchored the crew of the Starship Enterprise-D with a sensitive reserve that marked a distinct contrast to his trigger-happy predecessor whose role was assumed by the Kirk-like second-in-command William Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Rounding out the cast were the Spock-like android Data (Brent Spiner); blind officer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton); Klingon officer Worf (Michael Dorn); ship doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden); her teenage son Wesley (Wil Wheaton); and psychic psychiatrist Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). THE NEXT GENERATION was considered one of the best STAR TREK spinoffs for its intelligent writing and superb sci-fi special effects. This collection presents the series in its entirety.System Requirements:TRT: 7722 mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361311746 Manufacturer No: 131174

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6983 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
• Released on: 2007-10-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 49
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 8085 minutes

Amazon.com
After Star Wars and the successful big-screen Star Trek adventures, it's perhaps not so surprising that Gene Roddenberry managed to convince purse string-wielding studio heads in the 1980s that a Next Generation would be both possible and profitable. But the political climate had changed considerably since the 1960s, the Cold War had wound down, and we were now living in the Age of Greed. To be successful a second time, Star Trek had to change too.

A writer's guide was composed with which to sell and define where the Trek universe was in the 24th Century. The United Federation of Planets was a more appealing ideology to an America keen to see where the Reagan/Gorbachev faceoff was taking them. Starfleet's meritocratic philosophy had always embraced all races and species. Now Earth's utopian history, featuring the abolishment of poverty, was brandished prominently and proudly. The new Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, was no longer a ship of war but an exploration vessel carrying families. The ethical and ethnical flagship also carried a former enemy (the Klingon Worf, played by Michael Dorn), and its Chief Engineer (Geordi LaForge) was blind and black. From every politically correct viewpoint, Paramount executives thought the future looked just swell!

Roddenberry's feminism now contrasted a pilot episode featuring ship's Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a mini-skirt with her ongoing inner strengths and also those of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the short-lived Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby). The arrival of Whoopi Goldberg in season 2 as mystic barkeep Guinan is a great example of the good the original Trek did for racial groups--Goldberg has stated that she was inspired to become an actress in large part through seeing Nichelle Nichols' Uhura. Her credibility as an actress helped enormously alongside the strong central performances of Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (First Officer Will Riker), and Brent Spiner (Data) in defining another wholly believable environment once again populated with well-defined characters. Star Trek, it turned out, did not depend for its success on any single group of actors.

Like its predecessor in the 1960s, TNG pioneered visual effects on TV, making it an increasingly jaw-dropping show to look at. And thanks also to the enduring success of the original show, phasers, tricorders, communicators and even phase inverters were already familiar to most viewers. But while technology was a useful tool in most crises, it now frequently seemed to be the cause of them too, as the show's writers continually warned about the dangers of over-reliance on technology (the Borg were the ultimate expression of this maxim). The word "technobabble" came to describe a weakness in many TNG scripts, which sacrificed the social and political allegories of the original and relied instead upon invented technological faults and their equally fictitious resolutions to provide drama within the Enterprise's self-contained society. (The holodeck's safety protocol override seemed to be next to the light switch given the number of times crew members were trapped within.) This emphasis on scientific jargon appealed strongly to an audience who were growing up for the first time in the late 1980s with the home computer--and gave rise to the clichéd image of the nerdy Trek fan.

Like in the original Trek, it was in the stories themselves that much of the show's success is to be found. That pesky Prime Directive kept moral dilemmas afloat ("Justice"/"Who Watches the Watchers?"/"First Contact"). More "what if" scenarios came out of time-travel episodes ("Cause and Effect"/"Time's Arrow"/"Yesterday's Enterprise"). And there were some episodes that touched on the political world, such as "The Arsenal of Freedom" questioning the supply of arms, "Chain of Command" decrying the torture of political prisoners and "The Defector", which was called "The Cuban Missile Crisis of The Neutral Zone" by its writer. The show ran for more than twice as many episodes as its progenitor and therefore had more time to explore wider ranging issues. But the choice of issues illustrates the change in the social climate that had occurred with the passing of a couple of decades. "Angel One" covered sexism; "The Outcast" was about homosexuality; "Symbiosis"--drug addiction; "The High Ground"--terrorism; "Ethics"--euthanasia; "Darmok"--language barriers; and "Journey's End"--displacement of Indians from their homeland. It would have been unthinkable for the original series to have tackled most of these.

TNG could so easily have been a failure, but it wasn't. It survived a writer's strike in its second year, the tragic death of Roddenberry just after Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991, and plenty of competition from would-be rival franchises. Yes, its maintenance of an optimistic future was appealing, but the strong stories and readily identifiable characters ensured the viewers' continuing loyalty. --Paul Tonks

Customer Reviews

Star Trek: The Next Generation
I've been a Star Trek fan since the original, back 100 years or so ago and when Next Generation came out on DVD I knew I had to have it. There's nothing better then being able to watch your favorites any time and thanks to Amazon and amazing bargains. I can. Thank you

Five stars for the content, one star for the packaging
Flashback to the summer of 1987: I'm paging through 'TV Guide' when I see a full-page black & white advertisement promoting television's newest science fiction adventure series, namely 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. Boy, was I skeptical!

Fast forward to 2008: I've just received the complete seven-seasons of TNG on DVD. Unlike many Trekkies, I missed seeing most of the series during it's original run... and so I'll be viewing many episodes for the first time. From what I've seen so far, the transfer to DVD was done beautifully. On the other hand, the packaging is HORRIBLE -- the DVD cases are made of a thin green plastic. (anybody remember plastic automobile trim from the 1970's and how fragile it got after years of exposure to sunlight?)

Recommended for those who wish to purchase the entire series at a decent price, and who don't mind the poor packaging.

Becareful what you buy...
This set you see here from Amazon is the Authentic Anniversary Collection set from Paramount. The set called the "Chosen Collection" is bootleg. I am bringing this up because someone posted the pictures of the "Chosen Collection" next to the authentic set. Be careful of fakes.

I am happy with the Authentic Anniversary Collection set from Paramount.I am glad I have the entire series.