Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3)

The first two seasons of Gene Roddenberry's updated Star Trek series were great entertainment but this was when the show became ground-breaking. The quality of writing jumps up a level, starting with Ronald D. Moore's episode The Bonding and continues all the way to the best cliffhanger in Star Trek history (okay, that might not be correct but it’s the best I've seen so far in my revisit of this show). You can tell that the actors are more comfortable with their characters and they must have loved their writers for refusing to make them caricatures. Most welcome is the return of Dr. Beverly Crusher, a character that was missed from last season. A mistake repaired it seems from fan complains. PulaskiYar (which was awesome) and gives us a completely believable alternate reality. "The Offspring" is one of the best Data centered episodes, when he surprises the crew by building another android, a daughter. Sins of the Father expands on Warf and the Klingon empire, helping develop an alien race into more than barbaric warriors. Then their is "Sarak", the brilliant episode which should have helped Patrick Stewart when and Emmy. Really all the episodes are fantastic. If I had to single out any low points they would be "Captain's Holiday" (where Picard becomes Indiana Jones) and "The Price" (where Diana Troy falls in love with another mind reader). Overall this is a masterful collection of episodes and proof that Star Trek was more than just a fun show or science fictin geeks. Grade: A