This Week in History: Star Trek: The Next Generation Celebrates 20 Years

StarTrek.com ^

[Daffynition]

Twenty years ago, between September 28 and October 4, 1987, millions of people in the United States tuned in to a new show called Star Trek: The Next Generation. This event was eagerly welcomed by fans even though the show was treading on sacred ground as the first Star Trek spin-off. (This is partly why there were some skeptics out there too.) The new Star Trek was also a bold experiment on the part of Paramount in that it was an hour-long sci-fi drama airing in first-run syndication, not the perceived safe haven of network television. During this week in 1987, depending on where you lived, you would have seen the premiere on the Monday or any of the six days that followed. And even though some still refer to the premiere episode as the show's "pilot," it wasn't really. A pilot is normally produced for a major network to float the possibility of a show going into a full slate of production should it hit the required viewership. With TNG, this was never the case.

Almost four months to the day after filming commenced in May of 1987, the week of September 28 essentially marked a rebirth for the Star Trek franchise. The Next Generation was an immediate success, numbers-wise, during this debut week. In several major markets, the new Star Trek show beat the regular network programming. An impressive feat indeed! Creatively the show would have some growing pains, particularly in its first two seasons, but those got worked out and that's also part of the reason why we are celebrating today. It is due to the success of this show and its seven-year run that three other series followed, as well as four movies. Of course, no one at the time could have foreseen this. In 1987, the Original Series remained hugely popular, was still in syndication, and was enjoying its own successful run of films. The fourth movie was a smash the previous year, and the fifth would be released in less than two years. It could be argued that The Next Generation arrived at a perfect time to satisfy the audience's hunger for simply more Star Trek. After all, there were only 79 episodes of the original to watch and they were starting to show their age!

As we look back today, the first season of TNG also shows its age. The stagey sets, the pre-digital special effects, Deanna Troi's severe bun hairstyle, and even the original uniforms. But if you put it side by side with the Original Series, it's a huge creative leap. It's just that in the 20 years since '87, TV has undergone a renaissance of sorts with the introduction of computer-generated special effects, flashier editing, and more high-definition picture. No longer do we have the noticeable matte lines or the repeated fly-by shots of the Enterprise. Planets on TV now have their own size, color, texture, even cloud formations.

As far as popular culture events go, people today can still recall where they were and who they were with when they first laid eyes on the English-accented Frenchman, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and his crew, as well as the all-new and improved Enterprise-D. It was just one of those "must see" TV events before the now-hackneyed phrase was even coined. You could also soon tell the real fans from the part-timers: "The New Generation" anyone?!

There was a cultural and creative bottom line for The Next Generation: it proved that the successful Star Trek format, as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry and his original creative team, could work again. In fact, better and more successfully. To its credit, TNG opened up more complex storylines, drama and ensemble acting to go along with the better special effects ... Most of all, it opened up the audience.

If you are at home or work reading this, you are likely one of the millions who helped make this show a seminal success. You watched TNG and you liked it — you really, really liked it. For as great as the Original Series was, the lack of Neilsen-measured audience was the missing ingredient. Television, after all, is product. If it doesn't sell, it's removed from the shelves and discontinued. The legacy of The Next Generation, besides being one of the best shows ever produced, is that it extended the shelf life of Star Trek and for that we are all eternally grateful.

Thanks for watching!

[KevinDavis]

I agree.. I also think that it was Voyager that killed the Star Trek franchise (and the powers that be) not Enterprise. I'm watching Enterprise again on the SciFi channel and it was not a bad show at all.

I think that:
a: People like me was disgusted with Voyager stopped watching Trek regularly.
b: Dweebs like Berman and Braga killed the franchise even more.
c: They should have stopped showing a trek after Voyager for a few years to give the franchise a rest.
d: There are more sci-fi shows on. When the TNG came out, Star Trek was the only Sci-Fi show on the block.. Not anymore.

[nuke rocketeer]

Enterprise got a little too anti-military and socialist too. That is what killed it, and the fact they violated a lot of the pre-TOS history alluded to in TOS and TNG. The Earth Romulan war would have been a fitting end to Enterprise, I think the peaceniks refused to do that one.

[Daffynition]

[beef]

I watched the watched the first few TNG episodes and then skipped a few seasons. Kids in space? C’mon. It got better later on. I liked Enterprise. T’Pol was one hot Vulcan. She should be in Playboy with nothing on but those ears.

[Yorlik803]

DS9 Rocked......What about Enterprise? Loved that show, even though they gave it a junked up ending.

[KevinDavis]

You can blame it on Berman and Braga for that direction...

[KevinDavis]

I don’t want t talk about the Enterprise ending..

[Yorlik803]

lol.....

[JamesP81]

...none of which could alter the fact that STTNG was incredibly boring, politically naive, and with the exception of the lead had a leaden bunch of actors. It turned the original show--which was nothing but a fun adventure story, with likable characters and colorful adventures--into a dull-looking UN in space. The racism of the original show was still present--all Klingons warlike, all Vulcans logical, etc.--but the underlying message was nauseatingly liberal.

Note the bolded portion. This is a problem that has plagued the Star Trek franchise since the end of the original series (even Voyager is overbearingly leftwing if definitely a cut above TNG). And it's also why, IMO, Deep Space 9 was by far the best of the different series, excepting the original. In DS9 there was less pie in sky idealism; the lead character lived in a truly God awful world and it was mainly a story about how he had to deal with it as best as an imperfect human can. Not to mention the whole Bajor vs Cardassia thing had an Islam vs Jews flavor to it where the religious people (the Bajorans, or the Jews if you will) were actually the goodguys.

In general, the original series was good guys vs badguys; the newer material is liberals in space (with the notable exception of DS9). This paradigm even applies to the movies. The original cast movies were much more grounded in reality as opposed to the TNG cast movies. Just think about the flavor of movies like Generations, First Contact, and Insurrection. Compare those to Star Trek VI. ST VI was definitely the best of all the ST movies with ST II being a very close second. Why? ST VI described a political situation that was utterly believable. When I watched it the first time, I realized it was a great movie because it's exactly the sort of thing that would really happen. The very best scifi is not scifi that has interesting technologies, strange new worlds, odd environments, or the coolest rayguns. The best scifi is about people and how they deal with the very different world they live in. It's also about the great longings of the human heart. For example, I really enjoyed the movie IRobot. People will tell you that IRobot was about the future and robots, but nothing could be further than the truth. Future technology and robots were only the backdrop; that movie was about the burning desire in the heart of every person for freedom.

These reasons are why the original Star Trek series, the original cast Star Trek movies, Stargate, Babylon 5, Firefly, Serenity, IRobot, and anything Heinlein wrote is outstanding science fiction, and STTNG is only average science fiction.

[JamesP81]

Also, this may be an unpopular opinion among trekkies, but I always really liked DS9.

With the exception of TOS, I always thought it was the best one. It depicted Starfleet as being more of a space fleet than 'liberals on exploration ships'.

[JamesP81]

That mock script isn’t as far off as you might think. I remember an absolutely ridiculous episode of Enterprise that the writers should’ve been tarred and feathered for. Enterprise happens upon a world where the Andorians and the Vulcans are having a really bad shootout on the ground. And the captain wants to find a ‘diplomatic’ solution. What morons. That would be like jumping in between the Marines and Al Qaeda while they were fighting and trying to find a peaceful solution. It was so extraordinarily naive as to be physically offensive, not to mention completely unrealistic.

[HungarianGypsy]

I would say it depends on what generation you’re from, but I’m sure another Gen Xer will prove me wrong by saying how much they love TOS. Perhaps it’s just how much of a sci-fi geek you really are. I could not sit through an episode of TOS as a kid. It just plain bored me (FOR SHAME, YOU EVIL WOMAN!!). TNG was a show I actually became addicted to. I watched it every week for a while. I still enjoy it in reruns.

[HungarianGypsy]

I was all gung-ho for Enterprise until the end of the first season. Of course, that might just be because I always had a crush on Scott Bakula. And still do.

[Thudd]

To be sure, you really have to pick your episodes with TOS. Some of the episodes were like "We have to have a script on the set in 20 minuits! Think of something! Anything!" Others were written by top drawer sci-fi writers like Theodore Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison.

I was in high school when TOS first came out, and there wasn't anything like it at the time. Even if the storyline was abominable, there was usually a green skined slave girl or an android sex babe to distract the mind of a 16 year old guy from any plot deficiencies or inadequate character development.

With my two older daughters, the 16 year old generally likes the OS re-runs, and the 15 year old thinks they are "retarded". But then, 15 likes Led Zeppelin and Hendrix and 16 more quiet folky stuff. Go figure.

[Thudd]

TOS was thought of as quite liberal for its day, with an inter-racial crew (presumably on the basis of merit). Shows how far political perspectives have shifted since then. Also, the first televised inter-racial kiss! (Kirk kissed Uhuru, although with a gun to his head. I remember thinking I wouldn’t have needed the gun.)

[Darkwolf377]

That is a great post. As a writer of science fiction (sometimes--the last story I sold was a post-apocalypse story) I try to write the kind of SF you describe--the kind that relates to humanity, not the stuff that supposedly predicts the future (which it can't) but the stuff relating to NOW.

I just got into Firefly recently--I finished watching the shows today, have yet to see the movie--and it is so much better than the newer ST incarnations. I am sure the folks involved are just as liberal as anyone in Hollywood, but the show told stories that, while exotic, related to people just trying to get along in the world/galaxy.

Again, great post!

[SunkenCiv]

IMHO, the show took a hit when Denise Crosby’s character was bumped off, particularly how it was done so cavalierly (particularly in light of the fact that three cryo-frozen dead people from the 21st century were brought back to life in “The Neutral Zone”); another hit when Diana Muldaur was brought in during season two; but then Gates was brought back and Muldaur dumped for seasons three through seven (plus the movies), and when the Wesley Crusher character was dumped at last, I cheered. BTW, I’ve got the entire series on Columbia House videos (VHS), if anyone is interested... ;’)

[Daffynition]

Not to fret ...there will be remakes. Be patient.

BTW, I need a 14" cast iron skillet ... you don't happen to have one of those lying around, do you? ;-D

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve met people who would watch an old-cast ST movie if it consisted of Kirk and Spock face to face for two hours playing 3d chess... ;’) While I way prefer the old-cast movies, TNG was by and large a better series. But of course, there were real clinkers, like the one where Dr Crusher innoculated someone while the Cap’n and Data were away, and the whole crew on the Enterprise turned into primitive life forms. That was really dopey.

[rmlew]

I agree. However, I did find the liberalism annoying. I made the mistake of pointing this out to an occasional writer for them, my physics teacher.