The first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation ranged (in quality) from dreadful to uneven. There were some good stories being told and the characters were progressing somewhat, but nowhere near on a consistent basis. Fortunately, this Third Season is where Next Generation establishes itself as a very quality product.
Perhaps the biggest difference in this season is that there is a noticeable decrease in "clunker" episodes, as there really aren't any eps that are truly atrocious (a fairly common occurrence in the previous campaigns). Clearly, the writing was improved.
Another thing I liked about this season was that the stories were so varied. From single-arc mysteries to Data (Brent Spiner) creating offspring to over-arcing Roman plots, Season Three had a little bit of everything in a very nice mix. Of course, the return of the Borg at the end of the season may be the highlight, as Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) faces his greatest challenge yet. Basically, some great diverse storytelling and pacing.
I'm not going to summarize or review specific episodes here, but suffice it to say that Season Three is when Next Generation really makes the leap from "not sure this is ever going to come around" to "this is quality television". I hate to point fingers or cast aspersions, but the common rhetoric for this change is that Gene Roddenberry was less involved in the scripts by this time. While Roddenberry was a great world-builder (not unlike George Lucas of Star Wars fame), his week-to-week scripts or ideas tended to be rather pompous or high-minded. They either really worked or crashed-and-burned magnificently. So, while the decline of Roddenberry was obviously something that no one in the Trek universe wanted to see happen, it may have unintentionally allowed the show's writers to "loosen the bonds" a bit, working out for the better.
Bottom Line: If you can hold out until this Third Season, you'll become hooked on Next Generation, as this is when the character development and stories finally entertain on an almost every-episode basis. My exact star rating would be 4.5.
Perhaps the biggest difference in this season is that there is a noticeable decrease in "clunker" episodes, as there really aren't any eps that are truly atrocious (a fairly common occurrence in the previous campaigns). Clearly, the writing was improved.
Another thing I liked about this season was that the stories were so varied. From single-arc mysteries to Data (Brent Spiner) creating offspring to over-arcing Roman plots, Season Three had a little bit of everything in a very nice mix. Of course, the return of the Borg at the end of the season may be the highlight, as Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) faces his greatest challenge yet. Basically, some great diverse storytelling and pacing.
I'm not going to summarize or review specific episodes here, but suffice it to say that Season Three is when Next Generation really makes the leap from "not sure this is ever going to come around" to "this is quality television". I hate to point fingers or cast aspersions, but the common rhetoric for this change is that Gene Roddenberry was less involved in the scripts by this time. While Roddenberry was a great world-builder (not unlike George Lucas of Star Wars fame), his week-to-week scripts or ideas tended to be rather pompous or high-minded. They either really worked or crashed-and-burned magnificently. So, while the decline of Roddenberry was obviously something that no one in the Trek universe wanted to see happen, it may have unintentionally allowed the show's writers to "loosen the bonds" a bit, working out for the better.
Bottom Line: If you can hold out until this Third Season, you'll become hooked on Next Generation, as this is when the character development and stories finally entertain on an almost every-episode basis. My exact star rating would be 4.5.