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Star Trek Fan Collective - Borg
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
The Borg Fan Collection has the top ten most popular Borg episodes as picked by the fans! Witness all the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enterprise and Voyager as they defend their ships, galaxies, and their own kind. For thousands of years the Borg have been spreading throughout the galaxy, conquering, assimilating and thus destroying countless civilizations. Following every encounter, the Borg catalogue each new species with a numerical designation instead of a proper name. The goal of the Borg, in most cases, is to completely assimilate each species by incorporating their knowledge and technology into the unified Borg Collective. One by one, each living being is converted into Borg Drones. In many cases, all that remains of an assimilated civilization is the memory of its unique contributions that now resides only within the accumulated knowledge of the Borg. That and the numerical species designation. Often even the name is lost, forgotten or deleted as irrelevant. Conversely, the species designations give a sense of the long and terrible history of the Borg and the thousands of species they have encountered and absorbed.
Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Contradictions between the "captains" and the fans' opinions 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Both sides, the actors that played the captains and the fans that made them, will not agree on the choices on this compilation. In no way do the episodes on this disc set represent the best from each of the respective "Star Trek" series. On that point, the fans should concede and appreciate the installments on their own merit.
Of course, Next Generation's "Chain of Command" and "Darmok," DS9's "What You Leave Behind" and "Far Beyond the Stars," and a genuine classic from the original, "The City on the Edge of Forever," deservedly rate legendary status and their inclusion demonstrates how a television show can transcend the norm and create something incredibly memorable.
It's unfortunate that the Voyager or Enterprise episodes don't quite cut it, no fault of the actors or the fans; the stories just aren't as, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, "engaging."
Editorial Review:
The fans and captains have spoken! Not only have Star Trek fans voted online for their all-time favorite captain episodes from all five Star Trek series, but each show’s legendary leader Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula has carefully chosen their favorite episode, which resulted in Star Trek: Fan Collective Captain’s Log.
Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Seasons 1-7
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
After Star Wars and the successful big-screen Star Trek adventures, it's perhaps not so surprising that Gene Roddenberry managed to convince purse string-wielding studio heads in the 1980s that a Next Generation would be both possible and profitable. But the political climate had changed considerably since the 1960s, the Cold War had wound down, and we were now living in the Age of Greed. To be successful a second time, Star Trek had to change too.A writer's guide was composed with which to sell and define where the Trek universe was in the 24th Century. The United Federation of Planets was a more appealing ideology to an America keen to see where the Reagan/Gorbachev faceoff was taking them. Starfleet's meritocratic philosophy had always embraced all races and species. Now Earth's utopian history, featuring the abolishment of poverty, was brandished prominently and proudly. The new Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, was no longer a ship of war but an exploration vessel carrying families. The ethical and ethnical flagship also carried a former enemy (the Klingon Worf, played by Michael Dorn), and its Chief Engineer (Geordi LaForge) was blind and black. From every politically correct viewpoint, Paramount executives thought the future looked just swell!
Roddenberry's feminism now contrasted a pilot episode featuring ship's Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a mini-skirt with her ongoing inner strengths and also those of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the short-lived Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby). The arrival of Whoopi Goldberg in season 2 as mystic barkeep Guinan is a great example of the good the original Trek did for racial groups--Goldberg has stated that she was inspired to become an actress in large part through seeing Nichelle Nichols' Uhura. Her credibility as an actress helped enormously alongside the strong central performances of Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (First Officer Will Riker), and Brent Spiner (Data) in defining another wholly believable environment once again populated with well-defined characters. Star Trek, it turned out, did not depend for its success on any single group of actors.
Like its predecessor in the 1960s, TNG pioneered visual effects on TV, making it an increasingly jaw-dropping show to look at. And thanks also to the enduring success of the original show, phasers, tricorders, communicators and even phase inverters were already familiar to most viewers. But while technology was a useful tool in most crises, it now frequently seemed to be the cause of them too, as the show's writers continually warned about the dangers of over-reliance on technology (the Borg were the ultimate expression of this maxim). The word "technobabble" came to describe a weakness in many TNG scripts, which sacrificed the social and political allegories of the original and relied instead upon invented technological faults and their equally fictitious resolutions to provide drama within the Enterprise's self-contained society. (The holodeck's safety protocol override seemed to be next to the light switch given the number of times crew members were trapped within.) This emphasis on scientific jargon appealed strongly to an audience who were growing up for the first time in the late 1980s with the home computer--and gave rise to the clichéd image of the nerdy Trek fan.
Like in the original Trek, it was in the stories themselves that much of the show's success is to be found. That pesky Prime Directive kept moral dilemmas afloat ("Justice"/"Who Watches the Watchers?"/"First Contact"). More "what if" scenarios came out of time-travel episodes ("Cause and Effect"/"Time's Arrow"/"Yesterday's Enterprise"). And there were some episodes that touched on the political world, such as "The Arsenal of Freedom" questioning the supply of arms, "Chain of Command" decrying the torture of political prisoners and "The Defector", which was called "The Cuban Missile Crisis of The Neutral Zone" by its writer. The show ran for more than twice as many episodes as its progenitor and therefore had more time to explore wider ranging issues. But the choice of issues illustrates the change in the social climate that had occurred with the passing of a couple of decades. "Angel One" covered sexism; "The Outcast" was about homosexuality; "Symbiosis"--drug addiction; "The High Ground"--terrorism; "Ethics"--euthanasia; "Darmok"--language barriers; and "Journey's End"--displacement of Indians from their homeland. It would have been unthinkable for the original series to have tackled most of these.
TNG could so easily have been a failure, but it wasn't. It survived a writer's strike in its second year, the tragic death of Roddenberry just after Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991, and plenty of competition from would-be rival franchises. Yes, its maintenance of an optimistic future was appealing, but the strong stories and readily identifiable characters ensured the viewers' continuing loyalty. --Paul Tonks
Star Trek Fan Collective - Time Travel
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Well-chosen episodes, but why allow repeats? Where are the Enterprise Episodes? 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
These fan collectives are a brlliant addition to the Trek family of DVDs. Surely only the most rabid and rich fans (rich in money AND in time!) could afford the thousands of dollars required to gather and watch all 5 series of Trek. For those of us unblessed by such qualities, these fan collectives are most welcome. Because Trek fans are among the most knowledgable (and most opinionated!) fans as a group, their populist choices to appear in these groupings of shows will represent the best episodes of each series. It also allows the viewers to see many of the 2-part episodes together without having to buy separate seasons of the shows. The only drawback is that these sets have been left entirely to the audiences' whims, without any overarching control. Thus, "City on the Edge of Forever" is in the Captain's set too; "Endgame" is in the Borg Collective. Finally, I'm disappointed that this set does not include anything from Enterprise: much of the 3rd season involved battle with a species with temporal weapons - were none of these shows more worthy that "Little Green Men"? Or worth putting on instead of "Endgame" that was already on the Borg Collective? I'm also not sure about "Tomorrow is Yesterday" as the second ToS choice - I prefer "All Our Yesterdays" and even "Assignment: Earth" is about the same level.
This set includes:
Tomorrow is Yesterday (ToS) (3.5/5) - a damaged Enterprise accidentally travels to 1960s Earth. In defending themselves, they destroy an airforce fighter and capture its pilot, who has a critical role in history. How can the crew get home and restore the timeline?
City on the Edge of Forever (TOS) (5/5) - McCoy accidentally passes through the Guardian of Forever into 1930s Earth. The timeline is changed and Kirk and Spock must right the timeline. Guest-starring Joan Collins as an idealistic soup-kitchen missionary with whom Kirk falls in love.
Time's Arrow (TNG) (3.5/5) - In its original run, I remember being quite disappointed with this cliffhanger/premier combo. It's certainly not as compelling as "The Best of Both Worlds" or "Redemption". Archaeologists on Earth discover Data's head, which has been buried in a cave for 500 years. In the course of their investigation, they discover time-travelling alien soul-sucking vampires (?!) on Earth at the end of the 19th century.
Cause and Effect (TNG) (5/5) - The precursor to the feature film, "Groundhog Day" - the Enterprise experiences the same day over and over after being stuck in a time-loop following collision with another ship. Features the most compelling "teaser" segment of all Trek shows: the Enterprise is destroyed with all hands before the opening credits!
Yesterday's Enterprise (TNG) (5/5) - during the battle that destroys her, the Enterprise C is thrown into the timeline of the Enterprise D, altering the future so that the Klingons and Federation are at war, Tasha Yar is still alive (and obviously Worf is not a member of the Enterprise D's crew). Only Guinan can sense the original timeline, and she must convince Picard to allow the Enterprise C to return to the battle (and sure destruction) to repair the timeline. This episode is supurb, but sets the stage for the very unfortunate subplot of the half-human/half-Romulan Sela who plagues future Romulan-based episodes.
All Good Things (TNG) (4.5/5) - The series finale of Next Generation. Q teleports Picard between three timelines - the "present" (season 7 of TNG), the past (Encounter at Farpoint, i.e. the beginning of Season 1), and the future, where Admiral Riker is in command of the Enterprise, the Klingons and Federation are no longer allies, and Picard is suffering from an Alzheimer-like disease. Picard is set a puzzle to solve that will save humanity if he succeeds, but destroy the entire race if he fails. A very interesting idea, but the solution is somewhat contrived, and the episode suffers on repeated viewings.
Little Green Men (DS9) (2/5) - the weakest show in the set. Nog, Quark, and Rom become the Roswell aliens after an accident with their warp drive sends them to 1950s Earth.
Trials and Tibbleations (DS9) (5/5) - taking a page from "Forrest Gump", the crew of the Defiant chase a Klingon agent back in time. The agent is trying to kill Kirk for interfering with Klingon plans during the TOS episode "Trouble with Tribbles". One extremely clever and seamless special effect has Kirk questioning Chief O'Brien about his involvement in a fight on the space station.
Year of Hell (Voy) (3.5/5) - a species tries using a time-travelling weapon to wipe out its enemies and make itself all-powerful in its region of space. Unfortunately, its "incursions" in space-time always have unintended consequences. The Voyager is caught in the middle by virtue of its temporal shielding, and attempts to find and destroy the temporal weapon while simultaneously taking on different iterations of the enemy species' conventional warships.
Endgame (Voy) 4/5 - The season finale of Voyager. Admiral Janeway, 30 years in the future, returns to "present time" Voyager with technology and a plan to get the Voyager home 25 years early, thus saving the lives of those she knows will die (or, in Tuvok's case, go insane) before Voyager makes it to Earth in the normal way. The plan involves a risky confrontation with Janeway's old nemesis, the Borg Queen, who is guarding a Borg-controlled wormhole-infested region of space.
As usual, this collective is bare-bones - text commentaries on "Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Yesterday's Enterprise", and "Little Green Men" are the only extras. But for those not wishing to purchase many Trek shows/seasons, this is a great "primer" full of worthy episodes.
Editorial Review:
The STAR TREK: FAN COLLECTIVE – TIME TRAVEL has the top ten most popular Time Travel episodes as picked by the fans! Join the adventure with all of the characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager as they are transported back into time, discover mystery ships from the past and take courageous action to change history.
Star Trek The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Jean Luc Picard Collection 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Its really great, but I would have chosen Attached over Drumhead as one of the episodes along with Darmok and Inner Lightwhich are fantastic. I think it would have assured a 5 star rating to the collection. Nevertheless, it's well worth the buy.
Excellent Episode Choices but Where is BoBW? 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
I think Jean Luc Picard is one of the best characters ever developed for television. I, personally, feel he's the best of all Trek Captains (Kirk fans, please set phasers to stun, I like him too, but Picard to me is the better of the two). This set picks some excellent episodes that highlight the outstanding acting of Mister Patrick Stewart. However - where is the excellent "Best of Both Worlds (parts 1 and 2)". A Picards set without them, that doesn't seem right.
Arguable choices. Still a very good collection. 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Clearly a Picard-focused retrospective should include some Borg action. Given that a special collection of Borg episodes was envisioned, I understand the decision to stick with no Borg content on this DVD. Even so, a switch of some content for the masterful "Best of Both Worlds" would have made this a five-star collection for me. At least Q made an appearance.
Not all of the episodes resonate with me. It's a diverse set, from straight bottle shows ("Drumhead") to alien worlds ("Darmok") to the holodeck ("Big Goodbye") and even Earth ("Family").
"The Inner Light" easily stands above the rest as one of the finest shows of any Star Trek series.
As a Q fan, I enjoyed "Tapestry", with Q as guardian angel Clarence to Picard's George Bailey. Not exactly, of course, since it was the alternate path not taken vs. never been born.
Jimmy Stewart appeared again in "Drumhead", where Picard sounded like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" with his passionate remarks and standing up for rights. This show is decent, if a bit heavy-handed.
Count me in the minority for not praising "Darmok" as highly as others. This one could have been expanded into a fine two-part episode that developed the interesting core idea more. As it was, the story seemed rushed and a bit derivative, even though the two never came to blows "Arena"-style.
"The Big Goodbye" was TNG's "Piece of the Action". What a difference between Kirk and Picard in those two shows! I also liked the inkling of a potential relationship between Picard and Beverly here, from early in the series. Very stylish costumes, too.
"Sarek" nicely brings Spock's father around for another turn, with a good take on what might happen to an aging Vulcan's mind, particularly when it involves the loss of control.
"Family" doesn't stand that well out of context and was rather predictable. I may have trimmed the Worf thread and spent more minutes on Picard and his brother.
I would gladly have traded the bonus documentary, which has nothing really to do with Picard or TNG other than Stewart narrates, for another episode.
Kudos to Paramount for making a solid collection at an affordable price.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/03/2004 Rating: Nr
Star Trek Fan Collective - Q
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The All Omnipotent Q 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Q has always been my favorite character in Star Trek, not counting the regular cast of the various shows. This collection offers a chance to see him interact with the crew of the Enterprise, the crew of DS9, and also the crew of Voyager. It is also nice to have both the series premier and the series finale of Star Trek: TNG in one collection. I would absolutely recommend this collection to anyone who is at all a fan of the omnipotent, the whimsical, and the often troublesome character, Q.
For the Frugal Trekkie 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
I would love to own any of the Star Trek series, but I simply cannot afford the $70 that Paramount has decided to charge for each season. Until the price goes down, I'm happy to make do with the Fan Collectives.
Q has always been my favorite character and this set offers every episode that he's appeared in: 8 TNG episodes (2 that are two-parters), 1 DS9 episode and the 3 Voyager episodes. Since there are tons of reviews already that go into the specific episodes, I see no point in doing the same.
While it's great to have all the Q episodes, I personally would have liked a few more special features with the set. Aside for subtitle commentary by the producers (which was only done for a few episodes), there were no new or special features. Picky of me, I know, especially considering the price, but a featurette or even a blooper reel would have been fun to watch. The case that holds the discs is nice and compact. I takes the same amount of space as a single disc cover, yet keeps all the discs separate and scratch-free.
I've been enjoying the release of the Fan Collectives and hope that Paramount plans to continue with the series!
Editorial Review:
4-DVD set collects the favorite episodes featuring the popular character "Q."
Star Trek Fan Collective - Klingon
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Regarding "Barge of the Dead" 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.
I see plenty of unfortunate hostility toward the inclusion of "Barge of the Dead" on this collection, and I have to vehemently disagree. It has to be the most thoughtful, introspective, and insightful episodes of "Voyager", if not one of the most in the total Star Trek franchise. B'Elanna Torres was an intriguing and dynamic character that received as much attention and development as a show like "Voyager" would ever allow. I empathize with the disappointment toward "Voyager", a series that boasted all sorts of potential and very little follow-through. But ultimately "Barge" was one of that show's few bright spots.
A "Klingon" collection without the SNG episode "Ethics" is incomplete 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
The episode "Ethics" is one of the best Star Trek episodes, hands down. It is also a classic prompter for anyone in healthcare studying decision analysis. It presents another side of Klingon/Worf's character that is missing from the other episodes. This box is sorely deficient for leaving the episode "ethics" out.
Editorial Review:
Star Trek Fans voted online for their favorite Klingon episodes form the Star Trek television series, which resulted in Star Trek: Fan Collective - Klingon. Get ready for brilliant battles, thrilling adventure and pulse-pounding action when the federation encounters its arch nemesis - the Klingon.
Star Trek - First Contact
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 312
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Even-numbered Star Trek movies tend to be better, and First Contact (#8 in the popular movie series) is no exception--an intelligently handled plot involving the galaxy-conquering Borg and their attempt to invade Earth's past, alter history, and "assimilate" the entire human race. Time travel, a dazzling new Enterprise, and capable direction by Next Generation alumnus Jonathan Frakes makes this one rank with the best of the bunch. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his able crew travel back in time to Earth in the year 2063, where they hope to ensure that the inventor of warp drive (played by James Cromwell) will successfully carry out his pioneering warp-drive flight and precipitate Earth's "first contact" with an alien race. A seductive Borg queen (Alice Krige) holds Lt. Data (Brent Spiner) hostage in an effort to sabotage the Federation's preservation of history, and the captive android finds himself tempted by the queen's tantalizing sins of the flesh! Sharply conceived to fit snugly into the burgeoning Star Trek chronology, First Contact leads to a surprise revelation that marks an important historical chapter in the ongoing mission "to boldly go where no one has gone before." --Jeff Shannon
Star Trek: Generations
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 222
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
There were only two ways for "classic Trek" cast members to appear in a movie with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: either Capt. Kirk and his contemporaries would have to be very, very old, or there would be some time travel involved in the plot. Since geriatric heroes aren't very exciting (despite a welcomed cameo appearance by the aged Dr. McCoy), Star Trek: Generations unites Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a time-jumping race to stop a madman's quest for heavenly contentment. When a mysterious energy coil called the Nexus nearly destroys the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise-B, the just-retired Capt. Kirk is lost and presumed dead. But he's actually been happily trapped in the timeless purgatory of the Nexus--an idyllic state of being described by the mystical Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) as "pure joy." Picard must convince Kirk to leave this artificial comfort zone and confront Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), the madman who will threaten billions of lives to be reunited with the addictive pleasure of the Nexus. With subplots involving the android Data's unpredictable "emotion chip" and the spectacular crash-landing of the starship Enterprise, this crossover movie not only satisfied Trek fans, but it also gave them something they'd never had to confront before: the heroic and truly final death of a beloved Star Trek character. Passing the torch to the Next Generation with dignity and entertaining adventure, the movie isn't going to please everyone with its somewhat hokey plot, but it still ranks as a worthy big-screen launch for Picard and his stalwart crew. --Jeff Shannon
Star Trek - Insurrection
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 456
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Star Trek fans were decidedly mixed in their reactions to this, the ninth big-screen feature in Paramount's lucrative Trek franchise, but die-hard loyalists will appreciate the way this Next Generation adventure rekindles the spirit of the original Trek TV series while combining a tolerable dose of New-Agey philosophy with a lighthearted plot for the TNG cast. This time out, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his executive crew must transport to a Shangri-la-like planet to see why their android crewmate Data (Brent Spiner) has run amuck in a village full of peaceful Ba'ku artisans who--thanks to their planet's "metaphasic radiation"--haven't aged in 309 years.It turns out there's a conspiracy afoot, masterminded by the devious, gruesomely aged Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham, hamming it up under makeup resembling a cosmetic surgeon's worst nightmare), who's in cahoots with a renegade Starfleet admiral (Anthony Zerbe, in one of his final screen roles). They covet the fountain-of-youth power of the Ba'ku planet, but because their takeover plan violates Starfleet's Prime Directive of noninterference, it's up to Picard and crew to stop the scheme. Along the way, they all benefit from the metaphasic effect, which manifests itself as Worf's puberty (visible as a conspicuous case of Klingon acne), Picard's youthful romance with a Ba'ku woman (the lovely Donna Murphy), the touching though temporary return of Geordi's natural eyesight, and a moment when Troi asks Dr. Crusher if she's noticed that her "boobs are firming up."
Some fans scoffed at these humorous asides, but they're what make this Trek film as entertaining as it is slightly disappointing. Without the laughs (including Data's rousing excerpt from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore), this is a pretty routine entry in the franchise, with no real surprises, a number of plot holes, and the overall appearance of a big-budget TV episode. As costar and director, Jonathan Frakes proves a capable carrier of the Star Trek flame--and it's nice to see women in their 40s portrayed as smart and sexy--but while this is surely an adequate Trek adventure, it doesn't quite rank with the best in the series. --Jeff Shannon