"Actor: Majel Barrett"

• Star Trek - The Animated Series | DVD | (23/03/2009) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-2.84 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.15

  This is the further adventures of the Star Trek series in a half-hour animated form. This show continues the adventures of the original series but takes advantage of the unlimited special effects provided by animation to introduce more alien crewmen (the felinoid M'Ress and the tripedal Arex) as well as introduce more elaborate adventures like an underwater adventure the miniaturisation of the crew to 1 cm. and the appearance of a giant fire-breathing two-headed dragon. The animated series includes the beloved characters in new adventures...with all characters voiced by their original actors. Features all 22 episodes pristinely remastered.

• Westworld | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.29   |  Saving you £6.70 (106.52%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) are two businessmen enjoying the ultimate frontier excursion. But when a programming error causes the town's ""residents"" to turn deadly the two must square off against a strong-willed steely-eyed automated gunslinger (Yul Brynner) who's determined to bring their vacation to a murderous conclusion...

• Star Trek: I-X | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £49.99   |  Saving you £-20.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Experience the Star Trek Universe like never before! The first original 10 films remastered plus over 8 hours of special features. For the first time in Star Trek history nearly every frame of the final frontier is brought together in one brilliantly re-mastered motion picture DVD box set. Discover the Star Trek Universe and experience every unforgettable moment from Kirk's triumphant return to the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture to Picard Data and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E's final battle for control of the universe in Star Trek Nemesis. The spirit of the Enterprise lives in the heart-stopping action and unforgettable characters of this one-of-a-kind collection. Special Features: The Original Series Star Trek: The Motion Picture Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Daren Dochterman Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Deleted Scenes Trailers TV Spots BD -Live - Star Trek I.Q Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Commentary by director Nicholas Meyer Commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and Manny Coto Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Theatrical Trailer BD-Live - Star Trek I.Q. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Commentary by director Lenoard Nimoy writer and producer Harve Bennett director of photography Charles Correll and Robin Curtis Commentary by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Theatrical Trailer Easter Egg: That Darn Klingon Dog BD-Live - Star Trek I.Q. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Commentary by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Commentary by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Visual Effects Original Interviews Tributes Theatrical Trailer BD-Live - Star Trek I.Q. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Commentary by William Shatner and Liz Shatner Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Daren Dochterman Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailers TV Spots Easter Egg the Gag reel BD-Live - Star Trek I.Q. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and screenwriter Denny Martin Flinn Commentary by Larry Nemecek and Ira Steven Behr Library Computer The Perils of Peacemaking Stories from Star Trek VI The Star Trek Universe Original Interviews Farewell Promotional Material BD-Live - Star Trek I.Q. The Next Generation Star Trek: Generations Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore Library Computer Production Visual Effects Scene Deconstruction The Star Trek Universe Deleted Scenes Archives: Storyboards Production Gallery Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Star Trek I.Q. (BD-Live) Star Trek: First Contact Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale Library Computer Production Scene Deconstruction The Star Trek Universe The Borg Collective Archives: Storyboards Photo Gallery Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Star Trek I.Q. (BD-Live) Easter Eggs Star Trek: Insurrection Commentary Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe Creating The Illusion Deleted Scenes Archives: Storyboards Production Gallery Advertising Star Trek I.Q. (BD-Live) Easter Eggs Star Trek: Nemesis Commentary by director Stuart Baird Commentary by producer Rick Berman Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda Library Computer Production The Star Trek Universe The Romulan Empire Deleted Scenes Archives: Storyboards Production Galleries Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Star Trek I.Q. (BD-Live) Easter Eggs Bonus Discs: Star Trek Summit Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 The Evolution of the Enterprise Villians of Star Trek I Love the Star Trek Movies Farewell to Star Trek: The Experience Klingon Encounter Borg Invasion 4D Charting the Final Frontier

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Complete Seasons 1-7 | Blu Ray | (15/12/2014) from £91.98   |  Saving you £-25.20 (N/A%)   |  RRP £64.79

  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

• Westworld - 40th Anniversary Edition | Blu Ray | (27/10/2014) from £15.74   |  Saving you £2.25 (14.29%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Welcome to Delos, the high-tech Disneyland for adults that Michael Crichton created for Westworld, a nifty science fiction thriller from 1973 that also marked the popular novelist's feature-film directorial debut. The movie is so named because the vacationing buddies who travel to Delos (James Brolin, Richard Benjamin) choose Westworld as their destination (the other choices being Roman World and Medieval World), where they are free to indulge their movie-inspired fantasies of the Wild West). The place is populated by perfectly humanlike robots programmed and monitored to cater to every guest's fancy, from brothel beauties to black-hatted gunslingers (such as the villain played by Yul Brynner). But fun turns into abject horror when the robots--particularly Brynner's villain--begin to malfunction and Delos turns into an amusement park that's anything but amusing. Westworld has moments of camp and the look of a low-budget back-lot production, but two decades before Crichton revamped his idea to create Jurassic Park, this movie made the most of its interesting and exciting premise. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Star Trek - The Original Series - Series 3 - Complete | DVD | (27/04/2009) from £19.98   |  Saving you £4.29 (23.85%)   |  RRP £22.28

  Captain Kirk and the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise set sail for their final season of mind-blowing small screen adventures. The final mission of the original Starship Enterprise is one no science fiction fan can afford to be without. Episodes comprise: 1. Spock's Brain 2. The Enterprise Incident 3. The Paradise Syndrome 4. And the Children Shall Lead 5. Is There In Truth No Beauty? 6. Spectre Of The Gun 7. Day Of The Dove 8. For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky 9. The Tholian Web 10. Plato's Stepchildren 11. Wink Of An Eye 12. The Empath 13. Elaan Of Troyius 14. Whom Gods Destroy 15. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield 16. The Mark Of Gideon 17. That Which Survives 18. The Lights Of Zetar 19. Requiem For Methuselah 20. The Way To Eden 21. The Cloudminders 22. The Savage Curtain 23. All Our Yesterdays 24. Turnabout Intruder

• Star Trek 1: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £5.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (167.84%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It was an event that every fan had waited a decade for: the first Star Trek movie. But after its cinema release in 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture was quickly dubbed "The Slow-Motion Picture". In the opinion of general audiences, fans and critics alike, the snail-like pace of the film was a crippling flaw. It bothered one person even more, though: but Robert Wise finally got to scratch that itch when preparing this Director's Edition. In an unprecedented display of confidence from a movie studio, Wise has been allowed to re-edit the film and commission new visual effects sequences that were planned but unrealised for the original release. The result is frankly mind-boggling. Finally we are now able to see how Vulcan was supposed to amaze and alienate us, how integral the B-crew's role was to the mission, and just how spectacular the V'ger ship was imagined to be. Is the pace problem addressed? Undoubtedly it is. Scenes are trimmed and a new "busier" effects soundtrack helps considerably. Does it look better? Definitely. The shades of beige and puce have never seemed more crisply defined. Does it sound better? Jerry Goldsmith's music score (arguably one of the best ever written) is as majestically represented as the Enterprise herself. On the DVD: Star Trek: The Motion Picture two-disc set has oodles of extra features, including a complete library of all scenes deleted from both the original and new versions. The picture quality varies throughout, but it's worth putting up with for the (Wise-ly) excised material such as the unfinished effects work. An audio commentary from Wise, special effects director John Dykstra, composer Jerry Goldsmith and Commander Decker himself (Stephen Collins) provides an appraisal for movie aficionados more than Trek fans: the latter will be far more interested in a text commentary from Trek author and scholar Mike Okuda, who points out endless amounts of in-trivia. Better even than all these are three new documentaries that chronicle the film's history from then to now. Each is brightly put together (they don't drag), informative without being overly technical, and exude a pride without bragging. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1 | DVD | (01/04/2002) from £24.99   |  Saving you £60.00 (240.10%)   |  RRP £84.99

  In 1987, some 20 years after the original series had ended, Star Trek: the Next Generation was launched into a decade renowned for its materialistic greed, but also for its hesitant steps towards a more unified world order. Creator Gene Roddenberry revised his vision of humanity's future accordingly, shifting the Trek timeline 80 years on and reinventing the new Starship Enterprise as an Ark-like exploration vessel full of families, schools, soothing recreational facilities and a maternally pacifying computer voice (Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett). The Next Generation crew were not soldiers, but scientists and diplomats. Unlike the fiercely individualistic Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart's patrician Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a model team leader: no matter how desperate the crisis, he ensured that everyone got to sit round the conference room table and talk it over. And in a true late-1980s touch, a key member of the Bridge crew was psychoanalyst Counsellor Troi, always on hand to discuss everyone's feelings. Even the slogan change to "Where no one has gone before" acknowledged that there's no "one" in a team. But for all its earnest political correctness and an over-reliance on "technobabble", good stories played by an appealing ensemble cast were at the heart of the show's success. --Paul Tonks On the DVD: Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to DVD in a distinctively packaged seven-disc set. This is reproduced for all seven series, thus forming a handsome collection. The outer gunmetal grey case is plastic, and the discs themselves are held in a rather flimsy cardboard fold-out sleeve. Each disc has nicely done animated menus and audio/subtitle options for each episode--though no "play all" facility. Disc 7 also includes bonus features in the shape of informative cast and crew interviews (both new and from the launch of Season 1), subdivided into four chapters: "The Beginning", "Selected Crew Analysis", "The Making of a Legend" and "Memorable Missions". Picture is adequate 4:3 with good Dolby 5.1 showing off the innovative sound effects. --Mark Walker

• Star Trek: the Next Generation-Complete... | Blu Ray | (02/03/2017) from £92.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2 | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Although the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-9) was curtailed by a writers’ strike, its 22 episodes nevertheless saw some refreshing new developments. Tasha Yar was gone, giving Worf more room to flex his muscles as Chief Security Officer; Geordi was promoted to Head of Engineering; Whoopi Goldberg’s mysterious Guinan presided benevolently over the crew’s rest area, Ten Forward; Dr. Crusher was replaced by the far more acerbic McCoy-like Dr. Pulaski; and mischievous super-entity Q returned to introduce Picard and the Enterprise crew to their greatest nemesis, The Borg. By the end of a transitional season the show had settled down enough to be acknowledged by all as a worthy successor to the 1960s original. On the DVD: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2 comes packaged exactly like Season 1 in a solid metallic-style plastic outer case with a fold-out cardboard inner, although because of the fewer episodes this time there are only six discs not seven. Sound throughout is vivid Dolby Digital 5.1, with a full frame (1.33:1) picture that occasionally shows its age. Once again the menus neatly imitate the Enterprise’s own computer interfaces. Disc 6 contains the extra features: the "Mission Overview--Year 2" introduces the new characters and has producer Rick Berman revealing "We were all filled with piss and vinegar" at the success of the show; the "Selected Crew Analysis" continues the same thread interviewing Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis and Diana Muldaur; the "Departmental Briefing" gives some background on special effects, writing, costumes, props and music; "Memorable Missions" highlights specific episodes and guest stars; finally, and best of all, is "Inside Starfleet Archives", a guided tour with Penny Juday around Paramount’s warehouses stuffed full of Star Trek props and memorabilia.--Mark Walker

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise", remarks a steely Picard in "Yesterday's Enterprise", one of the highlights of Star Trek: The Next Generation's remarkable third season. Not a chance, Captain. Thanks to new uniforms, a new look and strong new writing, this was the Next Gen's breakthrough year. Cast changes solidified the team, with the return of Dr Crusher and LaForge now promoted to Chief Engineer. Worf got a meaty story arc all of his own ("The Sins of the Father") and Data made himself a daughter ("The Offspring"). Picard had a romantic vacation in "Captain's Holiday", and semi-regular crewmember Reg Barclay showed us that not everyone in Starfleet was perfect ("Hollow Pursuits"). By the time it reached its breathtaking Borg cliffhanger "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1", there was no longer any doubt that this show really was going where none had gone before. On the DVD Star Trek: The Next Generation's third season on disc comes packaged in the now-familiar solid grey outer casing containing a seven-disc fold-out. The extra features follow the same pattern as before, with a "Mission Overview" for Year 3 and "Selected Crew Analysis", in which the new, old and returning cast members talk about this season in then and now interviews. The "Departmental Briefing" looks behind the scenes at the Production, with comments from, among many others, executive producer Michael Piller, visual effects supervisor Dan Curry, technical advisor Mike Okuda, and new composer Jay Chattaway. The "Memorable Missions" looks at the many season highs. The 1.33:1 picture quality is better than ever before, as is the vivid Dolby 5.1 surround. --Mark Walker

• Star Trek Next Generation Series 5 | DVD | (22/05/2006) from £14.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (57.20%)   |  RRP £34.99

  ""Space... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out new life; new civilisations... To boldly go where no one has gone before!"" - Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) The complete fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation one of the finest sci-fi shows of all-time. Episodes Comprise: 1. Redemption (Part 2) 2. Darmok 3. Ensign Ro 4. Silicon Avatar 5. Disaster

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6 | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £29.86   |  Saving you £55.13 (184.63%)   |  RRP £84.99

  As the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation went into production, everyone knew that attentions would soon be permanently divided by the debut of Deep Space Nine. Sure enough that meant crossovers ("Birthright"), guest stars and references back and forth. The sense of baton-passing drew the TNG family closer, however. Directorial debuts begun in Season 5 allowed for repeat group-huddle ownership of several shows. Jonathan Frakes bettered "The Quality of Life" by "The Chase", which finally offered an explanation why most races in the Trek universe are humanoid with knobbly foreheads. Patrick Stewart crowbarred a Western into the franchise in "A Fistful of Datas". LeVar Burton introduced the far more exciting Riker clone Thomas in "Second Chances". But here we still find that inability to follow through a good idea, since it was intended for Tom to replace Will. Barclay outstayed his welcome with a lacklustre "Ship in a Bottle" (despite a hammy cameo from Stephanie Beacham) after he'd injected creepiness into "Realm of Fear". The same happened with Q and the painfully weak "True Q" contrasted by the philosophically challenging "Tapestry", where Picard faced the decisions of his youth. Yet ultimately the year provided more memorable moments than either year 5 did or year 7 would. There was the fun of a pint-sized Starfleet in "Rascals", the shocking comment on political torture in "Chain of Command", the endless Matrix-like guessing game of reality in "Frame of Mind", and even a jokey genre nod often called "Die Hard Picard" instead of "Starship Mine". The two biggest attention-drawing moments came via stellar cameos. There was the bittersweet sight of James Doohan revisiting the original Enterprise Bridge on "Relics", then a quick contribution by Stephen Hawking in the cliff-hanger "Descent". Both were attempts at keeping TNG the connoisseur's Trek incarnation of choice. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £69.99

  Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its' five year mission: to explore strange new worlds to seek out new life and new civilisations to boldly go where no man has gone before! Episodes Comprise: 1. The Man Trap 2. Charlie X 3. Where No Man Has Gone Before 4. The Naked Time 5. The Enemy Within 6. Mudd's Women 7. What Are Little Girls Made Of? 8. Miri 9. Dagger Of The Mind 10. The Corbomite Maneuver 11. The Menagerie (Part 1) 12. The Me

• Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £35.90   |  Saving you £34.09 (94.96%)   |  RRP £69.99

  Episodes comprise: 1. Amok Time 2. Who Mourns For Adonais? 3. The Changeling 4. Mirror Mirror 5. The Apple 6. The Doomsday Machine 7. Catspaw 8. I Mudd 9. Metamorphosis 10. Journey To Babel 11. Friday's Child 12. The Deadly Years 13. Obsession 14. Wolf In The Fold 15. The Trouble With Tribbles 16. The Gamesters Of Triskelion 17. A Piece Of The Action 18. The Immunity Syndrome 19. A Private Little War 20. Return To Tomorrow 21. Patterns Of Force 22. By Any Other Name 23. The O

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 5 | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £20.09   |  Saving you £64.90 (323.05%)   |  RRP £84.99

  After the confidence of the previous two years, the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation too often disappointed by not seeing a good idea through to the end. Denise Crosby was swept back under the carpet in the Klingon soap opener ("Redemption Part II"). No one could make the prospect of Deep Space 9 attractive enough to Michelle Forbes, so her fantastic performance as "Ensign Ro" seems wasted in retrospect. And no one could re-schedule for Robin Williams to guest star, so we had Matt Frewer instead ("A Matter of Time"). Of all stories to use Leonard Nimoy in, "Unification" wallowed in Romulan politics instead of anything emotionally engaging. Gene Roddenberry wanted to introduce a gay character, but mere months after his death all we got was the trite "The Outcast". This was inarguably where the rot set in, without The Great Bird overseeing what was going on. Worst of all, his hard-as-nails bad guys The Borg were given a touchy-feely side ("I, Borg"). But scattered in-between were some of the very best of all 178 shows. "Darmok" had the feel of a Classic Trek episode, dealing with language as metaphor. "The First Duty" challenged Wesley Crusher's loyalties. Best of all was the painfully melancholy "The Inner Light", in which Picard experiences an alternate lifetime. There were great guest stars: Paul Winfield, Ashley Judd, Kelsey Grammar, Famke Janssen, and Jerry Hardin. As always there were contributions from Q, Lwaxana and Barclay too. Fans and critics now appreciate that behind-the-scenes focus had shifted from The Next Generation to the next spin-off, and it would never fully return. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 4 | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Season 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation seemed like the year of the family. After quickly resolving the breathtaking cliffhanger of "The Best of Both Worlds", the show took pains to show some of what the Federation was fighting for. We meet Picard's brother, Data's father, Tasha's sister and Worf's adoptive human parents, plus an old flame with a surprise son in tow. The Klingon heritage sub-plot that begins here and builds to the cliffhanger finale ("Redemption") would continue to the show's end and through into Worf' reappearance in Deep Space Nine. The year also explored the implications of Data, Lwaxana Troi, Geordi and Dr Crusher being in love, while Miles O'Brien (given a first name at last) married Keiko. There were old friends revisited: the ubiquitous Q in a hilarious Robin Hood romp ("Qpid"), perennial screw-up Reg Barclay ("Nth Degree") and even the mysterious Traveller from Season One's "Where No One Has Gone Before" (played by the actor who was nearly cast as Data). There were new races introduced who would have an important bearing on Trek's destiny: the Cardassians and the Trill. Most of all, though, there were the one-off stories that impressed: "Clues", with its memory-loss mystery; "Night Terrors", with some genuine frights; and "Identity Crisis", with possibly the only time Trek technology really helped Geordi solve a puzzle. Then right at the end, reinforcing the year's familial theme, Denise Crosby returned as her own half-Romulan daughter. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 7 | DVD | (23/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  The seventh and final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation will always remain a curiosity in TV SF history. Despite the end being definite, despite Deep Space Nine taking over, despite knowing there'd be a movie six months after the series' end, and despite Babylon 5 starting that year with its pre-determined story arc, there is nothing here to suggest things were coming to a close. Wesley finally gets dispatched ("Journey's End"), but everyone was waiting for that anyway. Some continuity was attempted, such as a sequel to Season 1's "The Battle" ("Bloodlines"), Alexander following the Klingon soap saga through ("Firstborn"), the Maquis and the Cardassians being mentioned several times and final instalments being provided for Lwaxana Troi, Barclay, Lore, Guinan and Ro Laren. None of this brings any form of resolution, however. The one-off storylines seem to throw out ideas that beg for development. "Force of Nature" suggests frequent high-warp travel is damaging the very fabric of space-time. "Parallels" has Worf experiencing multiple realities including one where The Borg won at Wolf 359. "Lower Decks" finally introduces some secondary crew from the more than a thousand supposedly supporting Picard and co. There are even hints at some romance at long last between Dr Crusher and Picard as well as Worf and Troi. In the long run, even after terrific guest spots from Trek alumni Armin Shimerman and Robin Curtis, or from Paul Sorvino and Kirsten Dunst, there's one thing for which the final year is remembered: "All Good Things..." is a near-perfect denouement for the show. With terrific production values and FX, not to mention standout performances from all concerned, it was an amazing surprise to have Q suggest there'd been a story arc right from the get-go. If only this final script had been fully conceived earlier on, The Next Generation might not have been overshadowed by the glut of TV SF that followed in its wake. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek - The Animated Series | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This is the further adventures of the Star Trek series in a half-hour animated form. This show continues the adventures of the original series but takes advantage of the unlimited special effects provided by animation to introduce more alien crewmen (the felinoid M'Ress and the tripedal Arex) as well as introduce more elaborate adventures like an underwater adventure the miniaturisation of the crew to 1 cm. and the appearance of a giant fire-breathing two-headed dragon. The animated series includes the beloved characters in new adventures...with all characters voiced by their original actors. Features all 22 episodes pristinely remastered

• Star Trek: Voyager - Season 4 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  The fourth season of Star Trek adventures with the crew of Voyager. Episodes comprise: 1. Scorpion (Part 2) 2. The Gift 3. Day Of Honour 4. Nemesis 5. Revulsion 6. The Raven 7. Scientific Method 8. Year Of Hell (Part 1) 9. Year Of Hell (Part 2) 10. Random Thoughts 11. Concerning Flight 12. Mortal Coil 13. Waking Moments 14. Message In A Bottle 15. Hunters 16. Prey 17. Retrospect 18. The Killing Game (Part 1) 19. The Killing Game (Part 2) 20. Vis A Vis 21. The Omega Directive 22. Un