TV Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

After a long pause I've continued watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (TNG for short). My last review was in April last year. This week I've watched the whole second season. I enjoyed the first season, but this season is even better. Let me point out all the changes that I can think of.

Several members of the crew have been replaced or reassigned. It's not always clear why.

Lieutenant Geordi La Forge was a navigator in the first season, but in this season he's become chief engineer. This is an understandable promotion. Chief O'Brien, who worked in engineering in the first season, has now been demoted to operating the transporter. What happened to him? Was he punished because he was drunk on duty?

After the death of Lieutenant Tasha Yar in the first season, Lieutenant Worf has now become the security officer. While this is undoubtably a good position for a Klingon, it's a strange change because he was communications officer in the first season. Maybe Star Fleet likes to rotate their personnel?

Doctor Pulaski takes over as ship's doctor in this season. I groaned in her first two episodes because she seemed too much of a clone of Doctor McCoy in the original series (TOS) in her dealings with Data. Luckily this was dropped in the following episodes.

The enigmatic alien Guinan has become the bartender in the previously unshown bar called Ten Forward. Whoopi Goldberg plays this role. Evidently she rang up the series producers and begged for a role. At first they said No, because they didn't have anything appropriate for a star of her fame. She said that she would do anything to be on the show, even if she were only sweeping the floor in the background. And so they created the role of bartender for her, which was perfect because she wasn't needed every week and could fit her appearances around her film schedules.

Then there are the cosmetic changes. In the first season the uniforms had been a mixture. Some women had short uniforms, as in TOS, although most had uniforms that covered their legs. Now all the women have long uniforms. That's a shame. I loved the female uniforms in TOS. On the other hand, the first season of TNG also had a few men walking around in short uniforms. To avoid claims of sexism? Now they too all wear long uniforms.

First Officer William Riker has grown a beard. No comment!

In this season Worf is used more. In the first season he'd been a background character, but now we're seeing more of what makes him tick. However, the two main characters of the series are still Riker and Data, with Captain Jean-Luc Picard coming a close third.

Incidentally... the complete DVD box set of TNG only costs £75.50 in England. What a bargain! Click the picture above for a link to buy it. On the other hand, in America it costs $311. That's almost three times as much as the price in England! I've commented before on the overpricing of DVD's in the USA. I'm just glad I live in England.