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Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry. The first live-action television continuation of the original (1966–1969) series Star Trek, The Next Generation is set nearly a century later and features a new starship and a new crew. It is often referred to as ST:TNG or simply TNG. The series was conceived of and produced by original Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. It premiered the week of September 28, 1987 with the two-hour pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" and ran for seven seasons, ending with the final episode "All Good Things..." the week of May 23, 1994. The series was broadcast in first-run syndication, so airdates and airtimes varied 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 a line of spin-off or prequel television series that would continue without interruption until 2005. The series also formed the basis of the seventh through tenth movies of the Star Trek theatrical film series. The voiceover during each episode's opening credits was similar to that of the original series and was voiced by Patrick Stewart (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.
Plots The episodes follow the adventures of the crew of the USS ''Enterprise'', a ''Galaxy''-class starship. As the flagship of Starfleet, she is designed for both exploration and diplomacy but quite capable of battle when necessary. Her 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/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 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 Borg are the most powerful threat in this series, though they do not appear frequently until 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, kills 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. Themes The series greatly expands on a secondary theme of TOS: the idealism of humanity's dedication to improving itself. It also continues TOSs approach of using extraterrestrial species and science fiction elements as a means of exploring many real-world social, political, personal and spiritual issues. Most episodes have an intentional philosophical or moral message. The series attempts to depict Gene Roddenberry's 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). Also, unlike TOS, it seemed to focus less on development of individual characters, and leaned more toward depicting the characters in the context of the group, and through their interactions with each other. 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 or android is a member of the crew, and a lot of dialogue revolves around explaining human customs to the alien (trying to enlighten the human viewer in the process). Another re-occurring theme across the different series is the idea of a temporal paradox. Cast Main characters More so than with ''The Original Series'', the cast of The Next Generation was subject to some change, most notably in the later half of the first season following the death of the Enterprises 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 alternate timeline 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 essentially 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. Also, 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. Recurring characters 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 of the original series, "The Cage". She also did voiceovers for two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, making her the only actress involved in all five television series. Guest stars Notable guests have included: Alien races See List of Star Trek races 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 Menagerie" (also known as "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. Controversies within fandom 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. "Trekkie" versus "Trekker" By the time TNG was produced, the term "Trekkie" had come to imply a certain nerdy fanaticism among fans and was considered pejorative by some, despite it being coined by creator Gene Roddenberry himself with no such negative connotations. In response, some fans of the new series decided to call themselves "Trekkers". The terms have become interchangeable, though intense debate still rages over which term is the "correct" one to apply to a Star Trek fan. Homosexuality The show's homosexual fans complained that there were no gay characters represented in the future, something Roddenberry said he intended to address. A subsequent episode, "The Outcast," dealt with the issue of homophobia obliquely, by having Will Riker enter into a relationship with a J'naii, an androgynous alien. Fan reaction to this was mixed. Equally interesting is "The Host," in which Beverly Crusher has a relationship with Ambassador Odan, a Trill. The Trill's male host dies and is replaced first by Will Riker, and then a female. Odan, in the new female body, wishes to continue the relationship, but Crusher decides that while she still loves Odan, she can't keep up with the changes. 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 countless 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. DVD releases Trivia Notes See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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