Creators/Executive Producers:
Gene Roddenberry (TOS, TNG), Rick Berman (TNG, DS9, Voyager), Michael Piller (TNG, DS9), Ira Steven Behr (DS9), Jeri Taylor (Voyager), Kenneth Biller (Voyager)
Cast:
The Original Series:
William Shatner ………. Captain James Tiberius Kirk
Leonard Nimoy ………. Lieutenant Commander Spock
DeForest Kelley ………. Doctor Leonard McCoy
James Doohan ………. Lietenant Commander Montgomery Scott
Walter Koenig ………. Ensign Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols ………. Lieutenant Uhara
George Takei ………. Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
The Next Generation:
Patrick Stewart ………. Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes ………. Commander William Thomas Riker
LeVar Burton ………. Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge
Michael Dorn ………. Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden ………. Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis ………. Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner ………. Lietenant Commander Data
Wil Wheaton ………. Ensign Wesley Crusher
Denise Crosby ………. Lieutenant Tasha Yar
Whoopi Goldberg ………. Guinan
Patti Yasutake ………. Nurse Alyssa Ogawa
Deep Space Nine:
Avery Brooks ………. Captain Benjamin Sisko
Rene Auberjonois ………. Constable Odo
Michael Dorn ………. Lieutenant-Commander Worf
Terry Farrell ………. Lieutenant-Commander Jadzia Dax
Colm Meaney ………. Chief Miles O’Brien
Armin Shimmerman ………. Quark
Alexander Siddig ………. Doctor Julian Bashir
Nana Visitor ………. Colonel Kira Nerys
Aron Eisenberg ………. Nog
Max Grodénchik ………. Rom
Voyager:
Kate Mulgrew ………. Captain Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran ………. Commander Chakotay
Roxann Biggs-Dawson ………. Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres
Robert Duncan McNeill ………. Lieutenant Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips ………. Neelix
Robert Picardo ………. The Doctor
Tim Russ ………. Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok
Jeri Ryan ………. Six of Nine
Garrett Wang ………. Ensign Harry Kim
Whew! The sad part of it is that I probably didn’t need to type all that in, since most of you are probably familiar with the casts and all.
The Show:
If there’s one thing you can say about Star Trek, it’s that they’ve got some seriously loyal fans. At least online ones, as this is the third collection of “favourite” shows that fans have voted on (the first two had themes of Q and the Borg).
Episodes:
Disc One:
‘Star Trek: The Original Series’, Tomorrow is Yesterday (Episode 021)
The first true Trek time travel story. A “black star” sends the Enterprise into the past – 1969 to be exact – and end up capturing a pilot from their distant past, which if this were a sitcom would probably result in what Scott Keith would call a “wacky stack”. But since this is a drama, I suppose that we can’t call it that.
‘Star Trek: The Original Series’, City on the Edge of Forever (Episode 028)
This would be the infamous episode written by Harlan Ellison. McCoy accidentally injects himself with a drug, which leads him to take a time machine and alter history. Kirk and Spock follow him to try and undo what he’s done.
‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, Yesterday’s Enterprise (Episode 163)
Guest Star Alert: Christopher “Shooter McGavin” MacDonald as Castillo
History is altered when the Enterprise C emerges from a rift in space, and only Guinan seems to sense that something’s amiss – although the presence of the ENTERPRISE FRICKING C should probably have given that away. Let’s face it – it’s not an everyday occurance.
‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, Cause and Effect (Episode 218)
Guest Star Alert: Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren and Kelsey Grammer as Captain Bateson
The Enterprise gets caught in a time warp that causes something similar to the “Groundhog Day Effect”, except that the ship keeps blowing up and the crew retains no memory of the events except for a lingering sensation of déjàvu.
Disc Two:
‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, Time’s Arrow (Episode 226-7)
Guest Star Alert: Marc “Gul Dukat” Alaimo as Frederick LaRouque
This episode was a season-ending cliffhanger that, in the grand TNG tradition, failed to give us a good payoff. Data finds his head in San Francisco, as it turns out he left it (but not his heart) there 500 years ago. Fun stuff having the crew dress in period clothing, but the flimsy plot and the deus ex ending leave a lot to be desired.
‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, All Good Things… (Episode 747)
Guest Star Alert: Steve Garvey (yes, the ballplayer) as an Ensign, Colm “Chief O’Brien” Meaney as Chief O’Brien and John de Lancie as Q
Some of you will probably be a bit annoyed that this is here since it was in the “Q” collection as well. This was the first-ever series finale in the Trek universe, as Picards past, present and future try to prevent the destruction of humanity – something that came about as a result of his own actions.
Disc Three:
‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, Little Green Men (Episode 480)
Deep Space Nine joins the time travel party as Ferengi Quark, Rom and Nog are on their way to Earth for Nog’s historic entry into Starfleet Academy, and end up in Roswell, New Mexico. 1947. Being Ferengi, they decide to take advantage of this to try to make a profit and rule the Earth.
‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, Trials and Tribble-ations (Episode 503)
And here we have what was considered one of the best Trek episodes, EVER, as Sisko and company have to head back in time to stop a Klingon from changing history. His target? The NCC-1701 – the U.S.S. Enterprise. From the use of footage from The Trouble With Tribbles to the attention to detail done for the sets to the fun use of comedy in parts (like Worf’s non-explanation of the Klingon forehead – something that wouldn’t get resolved until Enterprise), this was just awesome all around.
‘Star Trek: Voyager’, Year of Hell (Episodes 176-177)
Guest Star Alert: Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith as Annorax
These were probably the best episodes of Voyager during its entire run (yes, despite the Braga writing the episode), and since I didn’t collect the box sets, it’s nice to have the episodes here. A Krenim named Annorax has built a temporal ship that uses Chronoton torpedoes to change history and undo a mistake he made 50 years ago. The result is that the Voyager crew is in a fight to survive – and to return time back to normal.
Disc Four:
‘Star Trek: Voyager’, Endgame (Episode 828)
Guest Star Alert: Dwight “Mad Dog Murdock” Shultz as fan favourite Lieutenant-Commander Barclay and Alice Krige as the Borg Queen
This is the second set of episodes that were on a previous collection, as this was also included on the “Borg” collection. Anyway, this is the series finale, as Admiral Janeway jumps back 26 years into the past to bring Voyager home – by flying straight through the heart of Borg Country. Sounds like a good premise, but the execution is, unsurprisingly, lacking.
Score: 7/10
The DVD:
Video:
(Presented in Fullscreen format)
I think the shows are exactly the same as the transfers done for the season sets. It’s somewhat disappointing that the Voyager episodes weren’t shown in widescreen, as I believe they were filmed using widescreen lenses. So take out half a point for that.
Audio:
(English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English 2.0)
Same as the DVD sets.
Special Features:
Text Commentaries by Michael and Denise Okuda are available for three episodes: Tomorrow is Yesterday, Yesterday’s Enterprise and Little Green Men. The commentaries are similar to audio commentaries, but appear like pop-up video. There’s interesting background information, and little bits of trivia that you wouldn’t otherwise pick up as a not-entirely obsessed Trek fan. If you’re used to subtitles, you won’t find these very obtrusive.
Packaging:
Similar to the first two “Fan Collective” releases, we get a holofoil slipcase, but this time with Kirk on the front. The discs are stored in individual trays, held together similar to the Trek season sets from DS9 onward.
Score: 7.5/10
Links:
The Official Site – They’ve worked hard to make this site THE site for Trek fans to visit.
TrekWeb is my favourite site out of the unofficial websites. They’re slowly morphing into a general sci-fi site, following the careers of Trek alumni.
