The title pretty much speaks for itself. Here are four episodes of the sequel that surpassed its inspiration in television longevity. They are as follows: “Relics” (which sees Scotty revived in this brave new world, and finding himself redundant), “The Inner Light” (an amnesiac Picard lives out an entire lifetime on a strange planet), “Cause and Effect” (the Enterprise and crew wind up stuck in a time loop, and must struggle to escape their repeated collisions with another ship) and “Tapestry” (where Picard winds up in the afterlife, which is certainly more than Kirk could say). It’s a bit trickier yanking episodes of ST:TNG out of their season contexts than with the original show, given the former’s greater emphasis on continuity, but these stories here are all good standalone adventures.
Video
An odd thing is happening here. Because the original show has been so thoroughly remastered, ST:TNG is now the one that looks dated. The CGI is prone to aliasing and a lack of definition, and the image is rather soft. The colours are decent, but though I know there aren’t many opportunities to get a tan in space, the flesh tones are sometimes a bit too far on the pale side of things. All of this said, the transfer is still perfectly watchable. The aspect ratio is the original 1.33:1 — the show is still old enough that widescreen wasn’t the standard yet.
Audio
The sound is very good, and here ST:TNG has a 5.1 mix, just like the other series. The big feature as far as the track is concerned is the score, which is a big, epic, sweeping and majestic (insert your own adjectives as necessary) exercise, and is a reminder that this was the moment when TV SF seriously narrowed the gap between what it and its theatrical manifestation could accomplish. Nice stuff.
Special Features
None.
Final Thoughts
Obviously not for the hardcore fan, who would already have these episodes, but for the casual viewer, this is a solid mini-collection.
