Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5
| Star Trek: The Next Generation | |
|---|---|
| Season 5 | |
 Region A/1 Blu-ray cover art | |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Broadcast syndication |
| Original release | September 23, 1991 – June 15, 1992 |
| Season chronology | |
The fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast syndication in the United States on September 23, 1991, and concluded on June 15, 1992, after airing 26 episodes. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starfleet starship Enterprise-D. This season is notable among Star Trek fans as the season when Gene Roddenberry died of cardiac arrest on October 24, 1991. Production on the episode Template:StEpLink, directed by Patrick Stewart, was halted when news reached the set.
The premiere episode resolves the cliffhanger from the previous season, revealing the mysterious Romulan commander to be the daughter of the Lt. Tasha Yar from the alternate universe created in the third season episode "Yesterday's Enterprise".
This season sees Picard have some of the more memorable experiences of the series, such as learning to communicate with the heretofore unintelligible Tamarians (Template:StEpLink), overcoming his dislike of children when he is trapped along with three children after the Enterprise-D is struck by a quantum filament (Template:StEpLink), and meeting with Ambassador Spock on Romulus in Template:StEpLink. Most notably, in Template:StEpLink, he experiences 40 or so years of life as an iron weaver on an extinct alien world after an encounter with a probe launched before the destruction of that world.
Michelle Forbes joined the cast as Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran officer who was initially conceived to be one of the main characters in the upcoming spin-off Deep Space Nine. Wesley also makes a few appearances in this season when he saves the Enterprise from an alien game which was actually a mind-control device (Template:StEpLink), and later at Starfleet Academy when he participates in a coverup of the circumstances surrounding the death of one of his classmates (Template:StEpLink).
The season ends with the discovery of Data's head in a cave under San Francisco which had been sealed for 500 years, and eventually with Data, Picard, La Forge, Troi, Riker, and Doctor Crusher trapped in 19th century Earth (Template:StEpLink).
The logo as seen in the opening credits has a minor change this season only, as it has rear shadows.
Cast
- Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
- Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker
- Brent Spiner as Lt. Cmdr. Data
- Gates McFadden as Dr. (Cmdr.) Beverly Crusher
- LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
- Marina Sirtis as Counselor (Lt. Cmdr.) Deanna Troi
- Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf
Recurring characters
- Majel Barrett – Computer voice (7 episodes)/Lwaxana Troi (1 episode)
- Michelle Forbes – Ensign Ro Laren (6 episodes)
- Patti Yasutake – Ensign Alyssa Ogawa (5 episodes)
- Colm Meaney – Transporter Chief (Lt.) Miles O'Brien (4 episodes)
- Sheila Franklin – Felton (4 episodes)
- Brian Bonsall – Alexander Rozhenko (4 episodes)
- Whoopi Goldberg – Guinan (4 episodes)
- Rosalind Chao – Keiko O'Brien (3 episodes)
- Denise Crosby – Commander Sela (2 episodes)
- Wil Wheaton – Wesley Crusher (2 episodes)
- Ashley Judd – Ensign Robin Lefler (2 episodes)
- Leonard Nimoy – Ambassador Spock (2 episodes)
Episodes
In the following table, episodes are listed by the order in which they aired.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | 1 | "Redemption, Part II" | David Carson | Ronald D. Moore | September 23, 1991 | N/A[1] |
| 102 | 2 | "Darmok" | Winrich Kolbe | S : Philip LaZebnik S/T : Joe Menosky | September 30, 1991 | N/A[1] |
| 103 | 3 | "Ensign Ro" | Les Landau | S : Rick Berman S/T : Michael Piller | October 7, 1991 | 11.6[1] |
| 104 | 4 | "Silicon Avatar" | Cliff Bole | S : Lawrence V. Conley T : Jeri Taylor | October 14, 1991 | 12.0[1] |
| 105 | 5 | "Disaster" | Gabrielle Beaumont | S : Ron Jarvis & Philip A. Scorza T : Ronald D. Moore | October 21, 1991 | 12.3[1] |
| 106 | 6 | "The Game" | Corey Allen | S : Susan Sackett & Fred Bronson S/T : Brannon Braga | October 28, 1991 | 13.4[1] |
| 107 | 7 | "Unification, Part I" | Les Landau | S : Rick Berman and Michael Piller T : Jeri Taylor | November 4, 1991 | 15.4[1] |
| 108 | 8 | "Unification, Part II" | Cliff Bole | S : Rick Berman S/T : Michael Piller | November 11, 1991 | 15.4[1] |
| 109 | 9 | "A Matter of Time" | Paul Lynch | Rick Berman | November 18, 1991 | 13.9[1] |
| 110 | 10 | "New Ground" | Robert Scheerer | S : Sara Charno and Stuart Charno T : Grant Rosenberg | January 6, 1992 | 11.9[1] |
| 111 | 11 | "Hero Worship" | Patrick Stewart | S : Hilary J. Bader T : Joe Menosky | January 27, 1992 | 12.7[1] |
| 112 | 12 | "Violations" | Robert Wiemer | S : Shari Goodhartz and T. Michael T : Jeri Taylor S/T : Pamela Gray | February 3, 1992 | 12.1[1] |
| 113 | 13 | "The Masterpiece Society" | Winrich Kolbe | S : James Kahn T : Michael Piller S/T : Adam Belanoff | February 10, 1992 | 12.0[1] |
| 114 | 14 | "Conundrum" | Les Landau | S : Paul Schiffer T : Barry Schkolnick | February 17, 1992 | 12.2[1] |
| 115 | 15 | "Power Play" | David Livingston | S : Paul Ruben and Maurice Hurley T : René Balcer and Herbert Wright & Brannon Braga | February 24, 1992 | 13.2[1] |
| 116 | 16 | "Ethics" | Chip Chalmers | S : Sara Charno & Stuart Charno T : Ronald D. Moore | March 2, 1992 | 12.6[1] |
| 117 | 17 | "The Outcast" | Robert Scheerer | Jeri Taylor | March 16, 1992 | 12.3[1] |
| 118 | 18 | "Cause and Effect" | Jonathan Frakes | Brannon Braga | March 23, 1992 | 13.0[1] |
| 119 | 19 | "The First Duty" | Paul Lynch | Ronald D. Moore & Naren Shankar | March 30, 1992 | 12.1[1] |
| 120 | 20 | "Cost of Living" | Winrich Kolbe | Peter Allan Fields | April 20, 1992 | 11.7[1] |
| 121 | 21 | "The Perfect Mate" | Cliff Bole | S : René Echevarria T : Michael Piller S/T : Gary Perconte | April 27, 1992 | 10.8[1] |
| 122 | 22 | "Imaginary Friend" | Gabrielle Beaumont | S : Jean Louise Matthias & Ronald Wilkerson and Richard Fliegel T : Edithe Swensen and Brannon Braga | May 4, 1992 | 12.1[1] |
| 123 | 23 | "I, Borg" | Robert Lederman | René Echevarria | May 11, 1992 | 12.8[1] |
| 124 | 24 | "The Next Phase" | David Carson | Ronald D. Moore | May 18, 1992 | 11.7[1] |
| 125 | 25 | "The Inner Light" | Peter Lauritson | T : Peter Allan Fields S/T : Morgan Gendel | June 1, 1992 | 11.1[1] |
| 126 | 26 | "Time's Arrow, Part I" | Les Landau | T : Michael Piller S/T : Joe Menosky | June 15, 1992 | 11.8[1] |
Reception
In 2019, CBR rated Season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation as the 3rd best season of all Star Trek seasons up to that time, and the most highly ranked season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.[2]
Footnotes
External links
- Episode guide at Star Trek.com
