My Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation
SEASON SEVEN

Reviewed by Matt Brown
December 31st, 2002

Let's talk about the end, "a generation's final journey." It ain't in Star Trek: Nemesis. No, the TNG feature films failed, for the most part, to ever get off the ground (and in most cases, to ever be more than TV movies), which means that The Next Generation reached its conclusion right here, in Season Seven.

Surprisingly, and sadly, Season Seven is far and away the weakest of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's a little odd to think so, because it contains one of the series' best episodes, "Lower Decks," and the actual top of the heap, the best episode ever, "All Good Things." If the writers were capable of these heights, why is almost everything else in the season so vague, lacklustre and unconvincing?

The conclusion of the "Descent" cliffhanger doesn't prove any more effective than Part I had been, although the unique choice of leaving Dr. Crusher in command of the ship (she has that Commander rank for a reason) is certainly the most interesting aspect of the episode. It is, of course, nice to see some closure to the Lore storyline, although the business still seems somewhat unsettled by the end of the episode. Is Lore still out there, in some pile of crates, waiting to be reassembled? Would Data hang on to his brother's body, to toil away, attempting to repair his twin's deviant nature? The issue is never satisfactorily resolved.

"Lower Decks," as mentioned above, is one of Trek's finest episodes, a full hour of standard TNG adventuring, told through the eyes of four junior officers, only one of whom (the ever-wonderful Patty Yasutake as Nurse Ogawa) is familiar from past episodes. The fate of Ensign Sito, a throwaway part in "The First Duty" that gets special mileage here, is still shocking, and for quite a while fans were wondering if she would pop up on Deep Space Nine to continue the storyline.

Besides "All Good Things," the season offers only two other standout episodes. One is "The Pegasus," a slick thriller featuring Terry O'Quinn as Riker's former commanding officer, on an obsessive hunt for a weapon with the potential to rewrite galactic politics. It's stylish stuff with good menace from both the Romulans and the corrupt Starfleet admiral.

Gates McFadden makes her directorial debut with "Genesis," which I've always enjoyed a great deal. There is a keen visual sense and some nice character work which softens the blow of some very wonky science fiction. And admittedly, it's spooky as hell, the most successful attempt to achieve an Alien-like atmosphere on the Enterprise.

The seventh season is the golden age for Dr. Crusher, my favourite character. She begins the season in the captain's seat in "Descent, Part II" and continues to be the most vibrant character in an otherwise moribund season. She is even given a beauty of a role in the various timelines of "All Good Things," rounding out the series with the last time Crusher would be prevalent in anything. Her line count for the four Next Gen feature films hovers under the two-dozen mark.

As far as average episodes go, I'm fond of "Thine Own Self," a Data amnesia story, which is augmented by some nice location work and character moments. And although it is far, far from perfect, I can't help but feel forgiving when it comes to "Attached," the inevitable exploration of Picard's feelings for Dr. Crusher. "Preemptive Strike," too, has some nice moments, and brings Ensign Ro's story to a close.

But before you think I'm describing a season with overall quality, check out these facts and figures:

"Liaisons," where Picard is trapped on a rocky planet with a berserker wannabe love slave;

"Interface," where Geordi searches through virtual reality for the ghost of his mother;

"Phantasms," where Data becomes clincially neurotic and begins dreaming of eating Counselor Troi (in convenient cake form);

"Force of Nature," where the Federation realizes that high-warp travel has been destroying the fabric of space (a limitation conveniently forgotten by the following season on Deep Space Nine);

"Inheritance," where Data meets his mother;

"Sub Rosa," where Beverly has a destructive romance with a Scottish ghost;

"Eye of the Beholder," where Troi goes bonkers and thinks she's in love with Worf, who is cheating on her;

"Parallels," where Worf goes bonkers and thinks he's in love with Troi, who is married to him;

"Journey's End," where Wesley decides it's time to go the whole hog and actually become a god;

and the grand shebang of all time, "Emergence," where the Enterprise has a baby. Really.

Thankfully - and for this, I really do thank the Maker - all this crap merely clears the way for the series' best episode, which also happens to be its last.

How intensely, perversely upsetting it would have been if, at SkyDome all those years ago, the 2-hour finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation had been a gigantic dud. Instead, it was one of the great viewing experiences of my life.... boosted helpfully by 10,000 screaming fans.

"All Good Things..." is a fabulous summation of everything that The Next Generation has been for seven years. It's a truly inspired concoction, blending three timelines in the lives of the crew - the beginning of the mission, the present day, and the distant future - in an ongoing attempt by Picard to undo a great wrong, and solve the puzzle of Q once and for all by proving that humanity isn't a "grievously savage child-race." And the solution, believe it or not, is as brilliant as it needs to be: a genuine quantum leap in human thought, a paradox that requires dimensional thinking beyond anything the series has presented thus far. And it works.

As a two-hour television event, "All Good Things" works better than all four of the Next Gen movies have. It's a slick, rollicking adventure that gives all seven principal characters good stead and some nice closure.

Of course, an enormous amount is left up to the imagination - how does Troi die? how does a single kiss lead to a marriage, and a divorce, for Picard and Crusher? At the time, we all figured that that's what movies are for. And if the movies never bothered to follow up on any of those leads, I don't really mind, because I still get to be left with the same sense of wonder I had when the final cards were dealt, the whole crew sat around the table, and the Enterprise drifted off into the night sky.

"My Generation" was my ongoing review of all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The complete series is now available on DVD. You can access each season's review on the left.