Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre Science fiction
Creator(s) Gene Roddenberry
Starring Patrick Stewart
Jonathan Frakes
Brent Spiner
LeVar Burton
Michael Dorn
Gates McFadden
Marina Sirtis
Wil Wheaton
Denise Crosby
Opening theme Alexander Courage
Jerry Goldsmith
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 178
Production
Running time approx. 45 min.
Broadcast
Original channel Syndication
Picture format NTSC 480i
Audio format Dolby SR
Original run September 28, 1987 –
May 23, 1994
Chronology
Preceded by Star Trek: The Animated Series
Followed by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG, TNG) is a science fiction television series, part of the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry. Set in the 24th century, about 80 years after the original Star Trek, The Next Generation features a new crew and a new starship Enterprise.

ST:TNG premiered the week of September 28, 1987 with the two-hour pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" and ran for 178 episodes in seven seasons, ending with the final episode "All Good Things..." the week of May 23, 1994. The series was broadcast in first-run syndication, with dates and times varying among individual television stations.

The show gained a considerable following during its run and, like its predecessor, remains popular in syndicated reruns. Its popularity led to the creation of a number of new Star Trek television series that would continue without interruption until 2005. Star Trek: The Next Generation is the only syndicated television show ever to be nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series. It was nominated for its seventh and final season in 1994. The series also formed the basis of the seventh through tenth movies of the Star Trek theatrical film series.

The voice over during each episode's opening credits was patterned after that of the original series—but its message was gender-neutral (coined in the story by James T. Kirk's alteration of Zefram Cochrane's original saying, at the end of Star Trek VI)—and was voiced by Patrick Stewart who portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise:

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

After the box-office success of the Harve Bennett-produced Star Trek movies, Paramount decided, in 1986, to create a new Star Trek series. Roddenberry, 65 that year, initially declined to be involved, but after being unhappy with early conceptual work, came on board as creator. The creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation was announced to the world on October 10, 1986. The show was, unusually, to be in first-run syndication rather than running on a major network, with Paramount and the local stations splitting advertising time between them.[2]

Roddenberry hired a number of Star Trek veterans, including Bob Justman, D. C. Fontana, Eddie Milkis, and David Gerrold. Rick Berman, a Paramount executive, was assigned to the show at Roddenberry's request.

The first season was marked by a "revolving door" of writers, with Gerrold and Fontana quitting after disputes with Roddenberry. For season two, Maurice Hurley took the script writer/head writer role; the character of Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) was dropped, to be replaced by Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). Crusher's son, Wesley (Wil Wheaton) remained on board. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), who had been the navigation officer in season one, became the Chief Engineer (a role which had been filled by various characters in the first season), and Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), a series regular, was killed off towards the end of the first season. The first season introduced the Ferengi, intended as recurring antagonists for the Enterprise crew.[3]

The start of season two was delayed by an industry-wide writers' strike, and the opening episode "The Child" was based on a script originally written for Star Trek: Phase II, a prior attempt at creating a revived weekly Star Trek series. The second season produced standout episodes such as "A Matter of Honor" and "The Measure of a Man" and introduced the Borg in "Q Who?".

In the third season Michael Piller became head writer, and Gene Roddenberry took less of an active role, with Piller and Berman becoming the executive producers. The character of Beverly Crusher returned to the show and Pulaski was dropped. The third season found the show becoming more confident. Ronald D. Moore joined the show after submitting a spec script which became the episode "The Bonding"; he would become the series’ Klingon guru. The third season also saw an episode about the original series character, Sarek, the father of Spock, the second significant appearance of a character from the original series, after the appearance of Dr. McCoy in the pilot.

Brannon Braga and Jeri Taylor joined the show in its fourth season, which saw Wesley Crusher leave the cast in "Final Mission", the introduction of a new recurring antagonist race, the Cardassians, and the start of an ongoing plot thread regarding the machinations of Klingon politics.

In the fifth season, seeds were placed for a spin-off series, to be Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with the introduction of the Bajorans, a race oppressed by the Cardassians. The later seasons included more character development for the two female regulars: Crusher takes command of the ship in "Descent", and Troi earns a promotion to Commander in "Thine Own Self".

The seventh season was to be The Next Generation's last. Elements were seeded in the episodes "Journey's End" and "Preemptive Strike" for the next two series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. The final episode of The Next Generation, "All Good Things..." was a double-length episode aired May 19, 1994, revisiting the events of the pilot and providing a bookend to the series.

[edit] Plots

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The episodes follow the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise, a Galaxy-class starship. As the flagship of Starfleet, the Enterprise is designed for both exploration and diplomacy but quite capable of battle when necessary. The captain is the seasoned and charismatic Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who is more intellectual and philosophical than many typical protagonists in popular science fiction.

The crew of the Enterprise-D contact and discover many races and species with whom they interact as a means for exploring the "human" condition. Dramatic devices such as time travel or temporal loops, natural disasters, and other plotlines often occur without alien encounters, though these, too, are used to explore current and topical issues of humanity. In contrast to the original series, in which the ship was exploring unknown areas of the galaxy, the Enterprise-D serves primarily as a vessel for diplomacy, defense, and humanitarian aid. TNG's crew seems to have a greater dedication to peaceful resolution to conflicts, and takes a more rigid approach to following Starfleet's Prime Directive established in the original series. The ship is frequently threatened by unexpected phenomena, but as the Enterprise-D is much more powerful than the previous ship, the stories are often able to focus more on moral implications rather than the immediate need for survival.

Another noticeable difference between The Original Series (TOS) and TNG is the continuity of general story arcs across episodes — though the show is still episodic and not serialized, events in one episode might influence events in a later episode. For example, a major recurring character, Q, bookends the series, appearing as the first major antagonist in "Encounter at Farpoint" and closing the series in the final episode "All Good Things...". Characters also deal with evolving interpersonal relationships, as well as ongoing political stories, such as power struggles within the Klingon government.

Previously established alien races appear in TNG.

  • The United Federation of Planets (Federation) is now at peace with the Klingons, their former enemies, though vast cultural differences remain.
  • A "cold war" with the Romulans, similar to that in the Original Series, continues in TNG.
  • Three new major recurring races are introduced into the mythology:
    • the aggressively capitalist Ferengi,
    • the merciless cybernetic hybrids known as the Borg, and
    • the imperial Cardassians (loosely modeled after early 20th century Fascists and contemporary Communist China).

The Ferengi, introduced as villainous characters, were soon downgraded to comic relief and as such thrived on the TNG spin-off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The Borg are the most powerful threat in this series, though they do not appear frequently until latter seasons of the spin-off series Star Trek: Voyager. In the episode "The Best of Both Worlds", a single Borg Cube is initially challenged (ineffectually) by the Enterprise, abducts and assimilates Captain Picard, destroys thirty-nine Starfleet vessels along with an unknown number of Klingon vessels, killing over 11,000 people at the Battle of Wolf 359, and continues to Earth, where it is stopped by the last-ditch efforts of the Enterprise crew.

[edit] Themes

Enterprise (NCC 1701-D) in orbit above a planet.
Enterprise (NCC 1701-D) in orbit above a planet.

The series greatly expands on a secondary theme of TOS: the idealism of humanity's dedication to improving itself. It also continues TOS's approach of using extraterrestrial species and science fiction elements as a means of exploring many real-world social, political, personal and spiritual issues. Many episodes have an intentional philosophical or moral message. The series attempts to depict Gene Roddenberry's optimistic and unwavering vision of a future in which the human race has done away with racism, sexism, prejudice, religion, greed, and poverty, and dedicated itself almost entirely to peaceful scientific pursuits.

TNG has been praised for being more in the spirit of "traditional" idea-based science fiction than other action/adventure franchises which became more common between 1970 and 2000. However, it has also been criticized for shying away from conflict and character drama and too often having the crew solve its challenges through the discovery or invention of hitherto-unknown technology (known as Treknobabble).

Gene Roddenberry continued to be credited as executive producer of TNG though his influence lessened due to his declining health as the series progressed, with responsibility for the show gradually shifting to producer Rick Berman. When Roddenberry died in 1991, Berman officially took over and under his guidance, some feel the series came to rely more on action and conflict.

The series also contains many story elements that are found in all the Star Trek series. For instance, an alien (Spock) or android (Data) is a member of the crew, and a lot of dialogue revolves around explaining human customs to the alien or android (trying to enlighten the human viewer in the process). Another recurring theme across the different series is the idea of a temporal paradox.

[edit] Recurring elements

One recurring element is the android Data's who attempts to understand humanity. Another recurring element is seen at the end of certain episodes when captain Jean-Luc Picard or some other character looks out of a window into space while seeming to engage in deep thought.

[edit] Cast

(left to right) LaForge, Troi, Data, Picard, Worf, Crusher, Riker
(left to right) LaForge, Troi, Data, Picard, Worf, Crusher, Riker

[edit] Main characters

More so than with The Original Series, the cast of The Next Generation was subject to some change, most notably in the latter half of the first season following the death of the Enterprise's security chief and tactical officer, Lieutenant Tasha Yar, after actress Denise Crosby chose to leave the series. The scripts were quickly adapted, with the character of Worf – originally a junior officer – promoted to serve as Yar's replacement as security chief and tactical officer. Crosby returned to portray Tasha Yar in the acclaimed alternate time line episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" and as part of a trip back in time to Picard's first days on the Enterprise-D in the series finale "All Good Things..."

Wesley Crusher was also written out of the show in order to join Starfleet Academy after a few years of serving as helmsman under the rank of Acting Ensign and then as an ensign (after the result of a field promotion) (actor Wil Wheaton has revealed on his website that he left the show because he was frustrated by having to fit other roles around his Trek schedule, when he had increasingly little to do on the series). Actress Gates McFadden was fired after one season, and was replaced by Diana Muldaur, who had earlier been featured as a guest star in two episodes of The Original Series ("Return to Tomorrow" and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?", playing different characters). Muldaur's character, Dr. Pulaski, proved unpopular with viewers and was dropped at the end of the second season without explanation. Following Muldaur's departure for the NBC series LA Law (where her character would suffer similar fan dislike), Gates McFadden reprised her role as Dr. Crusher in subsequent seasons.

Not all of the main characters had a place on the bridge, the ship's command center. After being promoted from helmsman, Geordi La Forge, the Chief Engineer, spent most of his time in engineering, while Dr. Crusher, although holding privileges as a bridge officer, primarily resided in sickbay. The show did not have a regular Chief Engineer character for the first season, although various engineers appeared.

Picture Character Rank Actor Position Species
Jean-Luc Picard Captain Patrick Stewart Commanding Officer Human
William Thomas Riker Commander Jonathan Frakes First Officer Human
Data Lt. Commander Brent Spiner Second officer, chief operations officer, science officer Android
Deanna Troi Lt. Commander (1–6), Commander (7) Marina Sirtis Ship's counselor Half Betazoid (mother), half Human (father)
Geordi La Forge Lt. Junior Grade (1), Lieutenant (2), Lt. Commander (3–7) LeVar Burton Conn Officer and Ops, Chief Engineering Officer Human
Worf Lt. Junior Grade (1), Lieutenant (2–7), Michael Dorn Tactical and Conn officer (season 1), Chief security/tactical officer after Yar's death (seasons 2-7) Klingon
Beverly Crusher, M. D. Commander Gates McFadden Chief medical officer (seasons 1, 3–7; season 2, absent while Chief of Starfleet Medical); bridge officer Human
Natasha "Tasha" Yar Lieutenant Denise Crosby Chief of Security (season 1, recurring otherwise) Human
Wesley Crusher Acting Ensign (1–3), Ensign (3–4), Cadet (Recurring) Wil Wheaton Dr. Crusher's son, Conn Officer (seasons 1–4, recurring otherwise) Human

[edit] Recurring characters

Character Actor Appearances
Chief Miles O'Brien Colm Meaney Seasons 1–7
Q John de Lancie Seasons 1–4 and 6–7
Guinan Whoopi Goldberg Seasons 2–6
Ensign/Lieutenant Ro Laren Michelle Forbes Seasons 5–7
Dr. Katherine Pulaski Diana Muldaur Season 2
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay Dwight Schultz Seasons 3, 4, 6 and 7
Keiko O'Brien Rosalind Chao Seasons 4–6
Lwaxana Troi Majel Barrett Seasons 1–5 and 7
Alexander Rozhenko Brian Bonsall Seasons 4–7
Nurse Alyssa Ogawa Patti Yasutake Seasons 3–7
Lore Brent Spiner Seasons 1, 4, 6 and 7 (four episodes)
Sela Denise Crosby Seasons 4 and 5 (three episodes)
Commander Tomalak Andreas Katsulas Seasons 3, 4, and 7 (four episodes)
Hugh (or Three of Five) Jonathan del Arco Seasons 5 and 7 (two episodes)
Kurn Tony Todd Seasons 3, 4 and 5 (three episodes)
Ambassador Sarek Mark Lenard Seasons 3 and 5 (two episodes)
The Traveler Eric Menyuk Seasons 1, 4 and 7 (three episodes)
Mr. Homn Carel Struycken Seasons 1-5 (five episodes)
Helena Rozhenko Georgia Brown Seasons 4 and 5 (two episodes)
K'Ehleyr Suzie Plakson Seasons 2 and 4 (two episodes)
Professor Moriarty Daniel Davis Seasons 2 and 6 (two episodes)
Dr. Leah Brahms Susan Gibney Seasons 3 and 4 (two episodes)
Vash Jennifer Hetrick Seasons 3 and 4 (two episodes)
Mot Ken Thorley Seasons 5 and 6 (two episodes)
Ensign Robin Lefler Ashley Judd Season 5 (two episodes)
Ensign Sito Jaxa Shannon Fill Seasons 5 and 7 (two episodes)
Ensign Sonya Gomez Lycia Naff Season 2 (two episodes)
Admiral Gregory Quinn Ward Costello Season 1 (three episodes)
Lt. Cmdr. Dexter Remmick Robert Schenkkan Season 1 (two episodes)

Majel Barrett (wife of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry) has also been the voice of the ship's computer in most Trek incarnations, and played Nurse Chapel in the original series, as well as the First Officer in the first pilot for the original series, "The Cage". She also did voiceovers for two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, making her the only actor involved in all six (including Star Trek: The Animated Series) television series.

Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) and Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series. Brent Spiner (Lieutenant Commander Data) comes close, only missing one episode (the fourth season's "Family").

LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and Patrick Stewart all tried their hand in directing for the show. Burton also directed for Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Frakes also directed for Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and two Trek films, First Contact and Insurrection. Michael Dorn directed for Deep Space Nine and Enterprise.

[edit] Guest stars

Main article: List of Star Trek: The Next Generation actors

Notable guests have included:


[edit] Alien races

See List of Star Trek races

[edit] Episodes

See List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes

[edit] Best Episodes

According to Entertainment Weekly (Special Edition Jan. 18, 1995), the 10 best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation are:

[edit] Influences from previous incarnations of Star Trek

While the series was, of course, influenced by the original Star Trek series, it perhaps was more influenced by the original series' pilot, "The Cage". The pilot presented more of an ensemble crew (once it was officially picked up, the series would focus almost exclusively on the dynamic of Kirk, Spock and McCoy) and featured Captain Christopher Pike gathering his crew together to make consensus decisions very much in the Picard style. Pike also referred to his female first officer as "Number One", the term Picard would use for his own executive officer. The tone of this pilot was also relatively cerebral (indeed, the network ordered reshoots for just that reason) and Roddenberry deliberately sought this more thoughtful quality on TNG.

Although the animated Trek series is not always considered canon, TNG did borrow from it in some ways, including the use of the Holodeck. TNG was also particularly influenced by Star Trek: The Motion Picture; indeed, ST:TMP was itself spun from an aborted '70s Trek series that was to be called Star Trek: Phase II. The series would have featured Kirk working alongside the dashing young officer Willard Decker and the exotic alien Ilia, characters that were included in the film and later reworked as Will Riker and Deanna Troi in TNG. The Phase II character Xon (a Vulcan) also may have influenced the character of Data. One episode of TNG, featuring Troi becoming pregnant with a mysterious alien child, was a script from Phase II that was hastily reworked during the writers strike of 1988, as was the courtroom drama "Devil's Due". Certain sets from ST:TMP were also reused for TNG, and the show followed the film's one-piece style of uniforms, which, according to the film Trekkies, gave some of the cast back problems. The uniforms were later changed to a two-piece style beginning with the series' third season.

[edit] Controversies within fandom

[edit] Backlash from Original Series fans

The prospect of a new live-action Star Trek series after 18 years was much anticipated by the Star Trek fan community, but for some, anticipation turned to outrage when Gene Roddenberry announced that the new series would feature a brand-new cast and be set in a time long after the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew, making even guest appearances by the original cast unlikely. Before production even began on the series, factions of Star Trek fandom were at work circulating petitions and organizing protests against the new series.

Although it is not known what, if any, impact these protests had on the producers, it is known that as early as the first season efforts were underway to arrange for an appearance by Leonard Nimoy as Spock (the event would not happen until the fifth season episode "Unification"), and a script was reportedly written to feature the character of Harry Mudd, a recurring minor criminal from TOS. The episode was cancelled when actor Roger C. Carmel died. DeForest Kelley made a cameo appearance in the first episode as Admiral Leonard McCoy, and James Doohan was a central character in the sixth-season episode "Relics", reprising his role as Captain Montgomery Scott. William Shatner did not get a guest appearance until the first TNG movie, Star Trek Generations, in late 1994 (filming of which began immediately after TNG ended production in the spring of 1994).

[edit] Legacy

Four feature films have been made featuring the series' characters:

TNG paved the way for three other TV series:

The series has also inspired numerous novels, analytical books, web-sites, and works of fan fiction.

Toronto's SkyDome played host to a massive CITY-TV sponsored event for the series finale on May 25, 1994. Thousands of people packed the stadium to watch the final episode on the stadium's Jumbotron.

The design of the ship's computer interfaces, called LCARS, has become popular among many Star Trek fan sites. Variants of the design are used on all Federation starships in subsequent series.

Recently, the original model of the USS Enterprise-D used on the show sold at a Christie's auction for USD $576,000, which was the highest selling item at the event.

[edit] DVD releases

Main article: Star Trek The Next Generation DVD
Season Region 1 Region 2
1 March 26, 2002 April 1, 2002
2 May 7, 2002 June 10, 2002
3 July 2, 2002 July 22, 2002
4 September 3, 2002 October 7, 2002
5 November 5, 2002 November 18, 2002
6 December 3, 2002 December 2, 2002
7 December 31, 2002 December 23, 2002

[edit] Production details

In almost every episode from Season 3 onward, various crewmembers can be seen pulling down their shirts due to a costume malfunction, especially Picard. Because this action was popularized by Picard, it informally became known as the "Picard maneuver," a reference to a famous action taken by Picard during an encounter with the Ferengi while serving as captain of the USS Stargazer.[4]

The series established the five number stardate, with the second digit indicating the season, (41000 for season one etc...) and the last three numbers rose throughout the season, the following two spin-offs followed, with DS9 starting with 46379 and Voyager starting with 48315 (essentially it would have run in sync with a TNG 8th season). However this system was not concrete until season two as evidenced by the fact that Tasha Yar dies on stardate 41601.3, and yet appears in episodes broadcast featuring later stardates ("The Big Goodbye", "The Battle", "Angel One", and "The Arsenal of Freedom").

The show's theme tune combines part of Jerry Goldsmith's theme tune for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and part of an earlier theme tune by Dennis McCarthy, which was deemed to be "too bland" by Gene Roddenberry and rejected.

Both the "Red Alert" (klaxon/siren) and "All hands..." (bosun's whistle) sound effects were reused from the original series.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The original opening said "...where no man has gone before"; "man" was replaced by "one". This is discussed in The Space Review, "Boldly Going: Star Trek and spaceflight" by Dwayne A. Day, 28 November 2005.
  2. ^ Alexander, David (1994). Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Roc. ISBN 0-451-45440-5. 
  3. ^ Nemeck, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5798-6. 
  4. ^ Okuda, Michael & Denise and Mirek, Debbie. The Star Trek Encyclopedia

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Star Trek television series and feature films
Television series The Original Series (Eps)· The Animated Series (Eps)· The Next Generation (Eps) · Deep Space Nine (Eps)· Voyager (Eps) · Enterprise (Eps)
TOS-era Feature films The Motion Picture · The Wrath of Khan · The Search for Spock · The Voyage Home · The Final Frontier · The Undiscovered Country · Star Trek (planned release 2008)
TNG-era Feature films Generations · First Contact · Insurrection · Nemesis
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