Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Complete Sixth Season

Season Six of Star Trek The Next Generation stands out as the cast and crews most comfortable ever. They had grown into their roles and routines so well and had become so familiar with this universe that in their sixth year they were given permission to be both silly and severe.

Running the gambit from shows like Rascals where several crew members revert to the age of 12 and cleverly manage to retake a conquered Enterprise from some dastardly Ferengi to the Chain of Command episodes where Patrick Stewart gives his most impressive and powerful performance as a Cardassian prisoner of war, this year had it all.

Chain of Command was the first time we see the Cardassians as the established race that we would later see on Deep Space Nine. Prior to these episodes their uniforms, technology and even make up effects were slightly different. In the episodes The Wounded and Ensign Ro they were still figuring out exactly who these people were and what they were supposed to look like. At first they all wore space helmets"¦ yeah; those were wisely the first things to go in the redesign of the species. Slowly they evolved into the post World War I Germany / Nazi style regime that we have come to know them as.

Chain of Command finds Captain Picard, Dr. Crusher and Lt. Worf reassigned to special operations on a Cardassian planet called Celtris III. Their mission was to destroy an outlawed metagenic bio weapon that the Cardies were supposedly developing. Picard is captured after realizing that it was all an elaborate rouse to lure him to the planet and hold him prisoner. Back on the Enterprise the crew is having their own problems adapting to a new rigid Commanding officer in Captain Edward Jellico wonderfully played by guest star Ronny Cox (Total Recall). Jonathan Frakes shares one of his best scenes in the entire 7 year run of the show opposite him as he challenges his decision to abandon Captain Picard as a negotiation tactic. The loyalty and friendship he feels for his Captain is never more apparent than it is in this scene.

To this day people still marvel at how Patrick's performance here did not garner any award nominations, most notably the Emmy he so rightly deserved. His scenes opposite Trek veteran David Warner as his Cardassian captor are chilling. The inner strength that Picard shows that enables him to not only deal with the physical torture he is enduring but to turn the tables mentally and emotionally to a final moral victory is mind blowing.

On the flip side, later in the season Lessons gives us one of the best hour long romances ever. Normally when people come together and fall in love in the span of the shows sixty minute run it seems

forced and artificial. When Picard falls in love with the musically gifted stellar cartographer Nella Darren (Wendy Hughes) it is completely believable. Drawing on his experience in the previous season's episode, The Inner Light, the idea of Picard sharing his music with someone is so moving that you know he truly cares for her and you understand why. And the music they play together is nothing short of beautiful. This is an episode that should have immediately released a soundtrack as well.

Picard isn't the only one out for a little love this season. The often romantically challenged Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) gives it a go in Aquiel. Sadly, the romance doesn't work out and the episode itself falls a little flat for me. In Man of the People Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) inadvertently falls into a sick love affair with a diplomat who has learned how to pass off all of his negative emotions on to one person. This was a fantastic episode that I'm certain Marina enjoyed, except for the old age make up effects toward the end. There aren't too many women out there that would enjoy that I'd imagine.

Speaking of falling in love, fans absolutely adored the triumphant and brilliant return of James Doohan as the miracle worker himself, 'Scotty' in the episode Relics. Some generational crossovers can seem a bit contrived or even just plain unnecessary, but that was absolutely NOT the case here. Everything from the way they way they brought him into their present to the fish out of water syndrome he ultimately experiences and overcomes was wonderful. Relics was a fitting tribute to a true legend.

And what is a TNG season without a return from the Machiavellian Q? (Too short a season it would be.) Luckily, in Season Six we get a double helping of John de Lancie's deliciously decadent Q in True-Q and Tapestry. The former is a nice enough episode that tells the story of a young girl (Olivia d'Abo) who slowly begins to realize her enormous powers of the Q surfacing. The latter was a killer episode that finds Picard, well, killed in the opening scene and Q welcoming him into the after life. From there Picard relives his fight with three Nausicaans when he was an Ensign in an attempt to change his past and save his life. Loved, loved, loved this show!

All the excitement this season wasn't just for the boys mind you. In fact one could clearly see the voice of a female co-producer coming into the show. Jeri Taylor did an amazing job of making her creative presence known. The women's roles got more diverse and more powerful than they had ever been before this year. In the episode Starship Mine the leader of a mercenary group that attempts to steal a volatile chemical from the Enterprise to sell to

the highest bidder is a no non sense woman that gives Picard a real run for his money. (Not to mention a busted lip) In Aquiel, the titular character is accused of killing her male supervisor on a relay station and then covering up the crime. Now, the whole season wasn't women being strong by being bad, our two leading ladies came to power on the side of good many times as well.

After seasons of being the ships resident I-need-to-find-a-hobby-to-have-something-to-do person Gates McFadden finally gets to really sink her teeth into two different shows this year! In Suspicions she stops at nothing to uncover the truth behind the death of a colleague that pits her mono-a-mono with a pissed off Klingon and a homicidal Takarian aboard a shuttle heading for the surface of a star. Then, after masterfully handling that situation she winds up in the Captains Chair by the end of the Season finale Descent part I about to go toe to toe with the Borg! This was definitely a great season for Gates.

Our sixth year also brought some welcomed changes for the far more vocal Miss Marina Sirtis as well; most notably, her space suit. Thanks to the dickishness, I mean"¦ formality of Captain Jellico in Chain of Command, Troi began appearing in an actual Starfleet uniform with pips and everything; which Marina has always said made her feel much more like a proper member of the crew. She also shows up as the mysterious stranger in a western story in A Fistful of Datas to help save Worf and Alexander from yet another malfunctioning Holodeck experience. And finally in probably her best episode in the series run, she impersonates a Romulan Tal Shiar officer aboard a Warbird to help save three high ranking defecting members of the Imperial Senate. Later, in Timescape she draws on that experience to explain how the engines of a Romulan ship work to Geordi and Data. Hmmm"¦"¦ yeah, this didn't make sense to her either, but it was empowering!

The season ends with some angry disconnected Borg led by Data's evil twin brother Lore on a mission to destroy the Federation. It was interesting to see a change in the behavior of the Borg and it was certainly worth pursuing after the brilliance of last seasons, I, Borg. Unfortunately, it didn't really work. The thing that made the Borg so terrifying and such an original amazing villain was their collective consciousness and group mind. Once they became individuals with different agendas and different goals, they just became another alien race bent on killing humans. I was so glad to see them return to their text book behavior in First Contact and later in Voyager. Kudos to Brent though on reviving Lore and giving Data even more layers in the process.

If all of this wasn't enough to sell you

on this season of TNG, let me end with telling you that the special features in this box set are probably the best of the lot. There are countless interviews with the actors and very little from the technical side, which for me, as I always say, gets boring. Patrick talks about his first directing assignment on A Fistful of Datas, LeVar talks about his initial fore ray into the directors chair with Second Chances and an in depth profile of Brent gives us multitudes of goodies, including a look inside the recording studio for his album, Old Yellow Eyes Is Back which is frankly priceless.

There are two featurettes regarding production and make up effects that are decent but that we could have done with that. Watching how they first recreated the original series bridge for Relics was pretty interesting, but after watching it and realizing that they only rebuilt a small section of the bridge and not the entire thing, you'll never watch that episode the same way again. You'll always be thinking, ohhh that's not what it actually is, Patrick has nothing behind him but the inside of the stage.

Features also include a decent trailer for the release of DS9 on DVD (I could have cut a better one, but for some reason Paramount didn't ask) As well as a trailer for Star Trek: Nemesis.

I can't say enough good things about this season. So I'll simply end with, "Buy It!"

Season Grade: A-

DVD Features Grade: A

Overall Grade: A-