Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Marina Spirtis
Number of discs: 6
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Run Time: 1180 minutes
Season Four: 5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 4 out of 5 stars
Who doesn’t love the cliffhanger for “The Best of Both Worlds”? Captain Picard turned into a Borg…NOOOOOO!!!! It is the best in the franchise no question and left many fans screaming (including myself). Season four starts off with the conclusion episode and really kicks off the season with a bang. Due to the success and fan’s response to that cliffhanger formula it was reused throughout the rest of the series, including this season’s finale “Redemption”. Season four also marked the historic 100th episode of the show and the series passing the original series, which only had three seasons. The season some classic moments including a funny Robin Hood spoof with Q, Wesley Crusher leaving and the return of Denise Crosby as her own half-Romulan daughter! Season three really set the stands for this one and season four really takes the show into a great direction. If you are a fan of the show, do not miss this release.
Like the past three seasons, Paramount has continued to deliver fantastic releases for this show. “Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Four” delivers the show in glorious 1080p transfers of each episodes. These episodes look stunning, especially for being over 20 years old. Top that with a flawless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track for each episode and Trek fans will be nothing but thrilled. Alternate audio tracks also include an English Stereo Surround, French Mono, Italian Mono, Castilian Mono, German Mono and Japanese Mono tracks. These episodes have been through a fantastic restoration which involved returning to the original film elements and it was worth every single second of effort because this release is great.
Paramount not only delivers a wonderful audio and video presentation, they also knock your socks off with great special features. The first five discs include a few extras where disc six is jam-packed. There are two audio commentary tracks including Rob Bowman and Mike and Denise Okuda on “Brothers” and Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Mike and Denise on for “Reunion”. There are six “Archival Mission Log” featurettes, including “Mission Overview Year Four”, “Selected Crew Analysis Year Four”, “New Life and New Civilizations”, “Chronicles from the Final Frontier”, “Departmental Briefing Year Four: Production”, “Select Historical Data” and “Inside the Star Trek Archives”. These are Mission Logs are very informative and really cover all aspects from the show’s production and legacy.
Disc six from us a bunch of great high def extras. “In Conversation: The Star Trek Art Department” is a 68 minute discussion with Special Makeup Effects Artis Doug Drexler, Production Designer Herman Zimmerman, Scenic Art Supervisor Mike Okuda, Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Curry, Technical Consultant Rick Sternbach, and Deep Space Nine Scenic Artist Denise Okuda. Great new feature and a must-see for any fan of the show. ”Relativity: The Family Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation Part 1: Homecoming and Part 2: Posterity” features cast and crew focusing on all aspects of the from the stories to the fandom and together they run to about an hour of great content. Lastly there is a nearly four minute Gag Reel and a collection eight deleted scenes.
