I just bought Season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD, and I've greedily drunk in episode after episode. This show was simply one of the greatest shows in television history. Why it doesn't make every (or any) top ten list is beyond me.

The writing is first rate. Episodes move along with briskness and clarity, seamlessly combining action elements with difficult, cerebral plot points. The stinky screenwriters of "The Matrix: Reloaded" should take a look at how it's properly done. The special effects and production values were always cutting edge, and by Season 5, had reached a nice polished quality, even by today's CGI standards.

The acting is also worldclass. The obvious standout is Shakespeare-trained Patrick Stewart. But each of the crew, especially Levar Burton, Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn, turns in great performances. Only Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg seems wooden in her cameo appearances.

The space action and endless "science" jargon were necessary, but secondary to the ideas. Star Trek has always been a political commentary extolling liberalism, but a liberalism I can live with. Sure, in this future, there are no more nation states, there are plenty of accents to go around, multiculturalism is the norm, and capitalism has been abandoned for vague and dreamy explorationism (Who the heck pays for all this stuff?). Still, Starfleet is undeniably American. It's as though we're on track for this future, provided the United States wins the culture war and in the process gets heavily modified by globalism.

(There's an important exception. The old liberalism of Star Trek: measured and fair, would be a right-leaning corrective of the shrieking, totalitarian liberalism of America today. There is no government-mandated sensitivity training in space.)

Take, for example, one episode called "The Outcast." Our crew meets up with an androgonous (sp?) race. William Ryker, first officer, beloved Alaskan man's man, and the real descendent of Captain Kirk, works in close proximity with one of the sexless people, who after some time and plenty of "science" jargon, reveals that she is indeed one of the rare born females of her race. Having a sex is anathema in her culture, so she longs for Ryker in secret, fearing fierce reprisals and psychological "healing" treatments. She's found out and captured, then gives an impassioned plea that having a sex is not unnatural or sick. Despite Ryker's legal and then illegal efforts to rescue her, she's "fixed" and then spurns his love in a chilling and heartbreaking scene.

It is a naked commentary on gay America (and a clever flip of the issue), and it paints the issue in neater black and white stripes than reality. Star Trek's take is unabashedly liberal, but still, its preaching is thoughtful, touching, and balanced. Even the genderless race, though cruel in their pronouncements, is not portrayed as evil. And all throughout, the crew affirms that yes, even hundreds of years from now, men and women are vastly different. Well done!

Why does this show not get its "props"? It's relegated to SciFi Conventions and unofficial websites. It's a show for boy nerds, rightly, but it's so much more. I remember my mom watching with me once, absolutely absorbed because it was a Dr. Beverly Crusher-heavy episode (was it "Cause and Effect"?). My wife also watched with me once (the original series) and commented that she used to think it was a boring show, having never really watched it. These are two very feminine "girls."

So take a look at this show, the last good Star Trek and perhaps one of the last good shows, period.