Featured TV on DVD Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation: All Good Things

December 26, 2014

Star Trek: The Next Generation: All Good Things - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray

Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to an end with All Good Things..., the two-hour series finale. Each of the past four seasons had a two-part storyarc that was released as a separate Blu-ray to the full-season Blu-ray. It makes sense to give this show's series finale a proper Blu-ray of its own, assuming the series ended on a high note. Is that the case? If so, does the Blu-ray do it justice?

The Show

The episode begins with Jean-Luc Picard walking up to Counselor Troi in a panic asking her what the stardate is. He tells her he has been moving backwards and forwards in time. Unfortunately, he is not able to articulate to Troi where and when he has been traveling or what he was doing in those timeframes. It sounds like he is describing a dream. In a moment, he's in the future in his family's vineyard and he is visited by Geordi. Picard has Irumodic Syndrome and Geordi has come to visit him. They get to talking, but soon Picard has a vision of people yelling at him before he finds himself on a shuttlecraft to visit the Enterprise for the first time. The shuttlecraft pilot is Tasha Yar. As soon as he sees the Enterprise, he's back to "present day" with Troi.

Jean-Luc Picard is checked out by Dr. Beverly Crusher who finds no evidence that he was traveling through time or has left the ship. However, she does find a small defect in his brain that could eventually lead to Irumodic Syndrome. While in this time period, he learns of a spatial anomaly that appeared in the Devron system and the Romulans have reacted by sending a number of ships to the border of the Neutral Zone. This, of course, causes the Federation to react sending a number of ships there as well, including the Enterprise. Picard can't do much, because he finds himself in the future with Geordi. Picard thinks Data will believe what's happening to him and get to the bottom of it. Data does consider it possible that Picard is bouncing around time, but before he can help, he returns to the past to when he first met most of the crew of the Enterprise. He is alerted to a spatial anomaly in the Devron system and is told to cancel his mission to Farpoint Station and to check out this anomaly. However, Picard cancels that order and intends to get to Farpoint Station. His actions confuse the crew, as they have never met him before and don't know what he's capable of. And since what he's asking them to do sounds crazy, he's in danger of losing the confidence of the crew.

What he's trying to do in the past is re-encounter Q, because Jean-Luc Picard thinks Q is responsible for what is going on. He's right in some ways, but wrong in others. What I mean by that is well beyond spoiler territory.

All Good Things... is, in my opinion, the very best series finale out of the entire Star Trek franchise. The Original Series was canceled before its time so it didn't get a real finale. I previously reviewed the final season of Enterprise and its finale was, well, poop. Voyager was fine, compared to the series as a whole, but it missed the point of the show. (More on that when I review that series.) Deep Space Nine is the only one close to All Good Things... in terms of quality.

After spending seven years with the crew of the Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, All Good Things... does everything a finale should do, including showing us a glimpse of what the future holds for these characters, as well as showing us some of the previous characters that left the show. This is an example of excellent character drama that should be emulated for all series finales. Additionally, the Sci-fi elements are among the best of the show's run with a very interesting time travel paradox story. It also manages to be both a great close to the series while still leaving viewers wanting more. Again, the best series finale in Star Trek history.

The Extras

Extras include an audio commentary track Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. There is also a 26-minute long making of featurette, as well as 8 minutes of deleted scenes.

The technical presentation is the same as it is on the full-season set and you can read that review here.

The Verdict

Star Trek: The Next Generation: All Good Things is either an overpriced two-episode TV on DVD release, or an excellent TV on DVD Blu-ray release. If you have the previous such releases, then buying this Blu-ray is a no-brainer. It is a great way to say goodbye to the show, there are more than enough extras to add replay value, and the technical presentation is top-notch.


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Filed under: Video Review, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby, John de Lancie, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga