Amazon.com Star Trek: The Next Generation's third year was an important development in syndicated television. After two shaky years, Paramount nonetheless decided the franchise still had plenty to do. Their confidence was bolstered by two significant factors. First, cast uncertainties were finally settled: Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) was back for good; Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) regretted her first-year departure, and so contrived a return in the Emmy Award-winning "Yesterday's Enterprise"; and Whoopi Goldberg happily continued her actor's-scale contributions.
Second, after the show had survived the previous year's writers' strike, new writing blood revitalized both characters and ideas: Data experienced fatherhood ("The Offspring"), Worf's Klingon heritage kick-started a huge story arc ("Sins of the Father"), and Picard got a saucy vacation ("Captain's Holiday"). There were memorable star cameos: John de Lancie played more mischief alongside Corbin Bernsen ("Déjà Q"); Dwight Schultz played truant in a gentle warning about addiction ("Hollow Pursuits"); and pleasing fans even more was Mark Lenard as Spock's dad ("Sarek"). The strongest evidence that TNG would continue for some time was the trend-setting cliffhanger finale. Fans and critics still agree that "The Best of Both Worlds" (properly introducing the Borg) was one of the greatest tricks ever pulled on TV to make audiences come back for more. --Paul Tonks
So so first half, excellent second halfAugust 20, 2010 M. Rebus(NJ, USA) The era of Star Trek The Next Generation that its fan base remembers so fondly began around midway through the third season. The first half of the season was remarkably uneven, with some decent episodes, but many were unbearably slow, like The Defector. Yesterday's Enterprise is the episode that is commonly cited as the show's turning point, but I would like to give some credit to the episode that preceded it, Q Who. The god like alien Q is stripped of his powers, leaving him a vulnerable human being. Q is actually developed for the first time since we met him in Encounter at Farpoint. This was not the writer's intention, but I believe Q's dependence on his powers is analogous to our dependence on technology. We see Q's selfless side for the first time, as well as some good Data moments. Data laughing is one of my favorite scenes ever.
The season concluded with The Best of Both Worlds, one of the best cliffhangers in television history and arguably the best episode in the series. Overall, I think the fourth season is superior because of the third season's weak first half, but this is still the season to start with if you want quality TNG.
Star Trek: TNG Season 3March 22, 2010 J. Moore(Utah) The 3rd season of the Next Generation Star Trek series marked the beginning of the best of the episodes the series ever had. It also introduced the Borg, brought back Gates McFadden, and continued the growth of the strong inter-personal relationships between the crew. Definately a good season, all the way through.
The great years of TNG begin hereFebruary 19, 2010 Up North Season 3 is when TNG really started to gel. The characters feel more or less developed, and Gates McFadden returns to play Dr. Crusher. At this point in the series the writers began moving away from a lot of the dated, campy material of Season 1 (and parts of Season 2)and began focusing more upon creating episodes of substance and dramatic weight. Highlights include the exciting, multidimensional "problem" episode "The Booby Trap", a fine time-travel themed episode called "Yesterday's Enterprise", and of course the first part of the popular "The Best of Both Worlds". This is for me the season that got the ball rolling and initiated the transition of TNG from a good sci-fi program to a cultural phenomenon.
This is the season where TNG really hit it's stride!January 21, 2010 Obiturized(New Hampshire) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Let's face it folks, season 1 stunk, then in season 2, we saw some improvement, then we get to this, season 3, and what a season it is, this is where the show really made it's mark, the writers, the actors were comfortable in their roles now, and from here on out, this series is just AMAZING, from the character development, to the writing of the stories, to the acting, everything falls into place on this season.
First and foremost, Beverly Crusher is back!, while I didn't mind pulowski at all, she was quite cool, but let's face it, Beverly is an excellent character, and this show needed her presence, her relationship with Data is much better than Pulowski's was, as well as her relationship with Picard.
Secondly, the uniforms have been changed, AND FOR THE BETTER, they look SO much better in these than the previous ones, much more fitting.
Third, a bit of the intro sequence has changed, for the better as well, where it was changed was all the space phenomena before Picard has his speech, and it looks so beautiful.
I cannot express in words the excellence of this season (and the series from here on out), it's just so well done, genuine, and original, whereas most of the first season plots seemed like a bad rip-off of TOS, (and don't think I am putting TOS down, because I certainly am not, thats what got me into Star Trek), but enough of the 1st season, this season is where someone should start if they want to check out this series, although season 2 is pretty good as well, but it doesn't hold a candle to this season.
Standout episodes for me.
Evolution, Booby Trap, The Survivors, Who Watches The Watchers, The Defector, The Hunted, The High Ground, Deja Q, A Matter of Perspective, Yesterday's Enterprise (of course), The Offspring, Sins of the Father, Tin Man, Hollow Pursuits, and Sarek.
The only sub-par episodes for me were 'The Bonding' although it would get interesting near the end, and 'Captain's Holiday' had much potential, with the story, but I don't think it worked, at least it didn't for me.
But hey, that's 2 episodes out of 26, what are the odds!
And if you end up loving this season as I did, I highly recommend season 4, season 5, season 6 and 7.
Skip straight to this seasonJanuary 1, 2010 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
********************SPOILER WARNING*********************This season is when the show starts becoming more awesome. They FINALLY got the good uniforms, instead of those gross jumpsuits. Riker has his beard (yay) and Dr. Crusher comes back!!! Good bye to RUDE Pulaski. The highlights of this series are "Hollow Pursuits" (I am the goddess of empathy), "Who Watches the Watchers?" (sorry, can't remember a line), "The Enemy" (still can't remember), "Menage a Troi" (awesomely funny, but can't remember a line. Watch for Ethan "Neelix" Phillips), "The Offspring" (it's good, but it's sad at the end when Lal dies), "Deja Q" (I'm immortal again, I'm omnipotent again!!!) and that's about it. The worst episode would have to be "The Vengance Factor". Overall, this is an awesome season!
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