June 8, 2012

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three



Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three, 1989-1990. A giant space ship flies around the galaxy, ostensibly exploring but usually running errands.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Cliff Bole (5 episodes), Les Landau (4), Winrich Kolbe (3), Robert Scheerer (3), Gabrielle Beaumont (2), David Carson (2), Timothy Bond (2), Robert Wiemer (1), Jonathan Frakes (1), Chip Chalmers (1), Robert Legato (1) & Tom Benko (1). Written by Michael Piller (4 episodes), Ronald D. Moore (4), Michael Wagner (3), Richard Manning (3), Hans Beimler (3), Melinda M. Snodgrass (2), Richard Danus (2), Ira Steven Behr (2), RenĂ© Echevarria (2), Ron Roman (1), David Kemper (1), Hannah Louise Shearer (1), Sam Rolfe (1), Robin Bernheim (1), Ed Zuckerman (1), Trent Christopher Ganino (1), Eric A. Stillwell (1), W. Reed Moran (1), Drew Deighan (1), Dennis Putman Bailey (1), David Bischoff (1), Sally Caves (1), Shari Goodhartz (1), Peter S. Beagle (1), Marc Cushman (1), Jake Jacobs (1), Fred Bronson (1) & Susan Sackett (1). Starring Patrick Stewart & Jonathan Frakes.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good). There's lots of terrible writing, but this season the worst offenses are mostly confined to dialog. And there are a handful of great stories.
Characters: 3/4 (Good). Data in particular is handled well this season - more subtle (relatively).
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). Even the great episodes have mediocre dialog at best. The bad episodes sound like they're after school specials.
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad). The effects are fine. The design - especially costumes - occasionally pushes the limits of awful.
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Sometimes great, often bad, usually pretty good.
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). About a fifth of the episodes are great - among the best Star Trek episodes ever. About a quarter are good. The rest are crap, and would be difficult to watch if it weren't for my blind love of Star Trek. Even when it's terrible, I still love watching this show. Nostalgia maybe? Or maybe it's the balance of seriousness and humor: it takes itself seriously enough that you can care about the characters, but it's light enough that it never looses its sense of fun (sometimes in spite of the writers).
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

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