"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Counselor Troi !
...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.
The cheesy effects (nothing ever looked gritty or believable) weren't as fun as the cheesy FX of the original. The music was trite, as opposed to the meaty dramatic scores of the original. It was like watching a lecture in space every week. The few good episodes went back to the values of the original--interesting (as opposed to merely clever and tricky) stories, exciting action, people in peril.
Farscape and even the somewhat overrated Firefly are far superior to TNG, with Firefly being more old-fashioned and having interesting characters, while Farscape was truly out there.
TNG never took chances, the characters were dull (a robot that wants to be human--yeah, ok, ok, we get it, we get it!), and I can't figure out its popularity.
Remmber how wooden and lifeless Picard and his crew were when TNG started? It took almost two seasons before they came to life on the screen. I almost couldn’t watch it. If it hadn’t been a continuation of Star Trek the show would probably not have made it. So many millions of fans wanted it to make it becuase of the need for more Star Trek.
Total baloney
To the Hollywood lefties of the 1980's, Kirk = Reagan and Picard = Dukakis/Mondale.
Although the original show was low budget and at times hokie, they at times used scripts from actual published science fiction writers. What the TNG hacks never understood was that conflict is the essence of drama. They had way too many characters that weren't half as entertaining as Kirk_Spock_McCoy. Compare:
Original Star Trek...
Spock: "Unidentified object approaching at warp 12, Captain"
Uhuru:"Not responding to any frequencies Captain."
Kirk:"Shields up, lock on photon torpedos Mr. Sulu"
Sulu:"Aye Sir"
Crash! Space weapon hits Enterprise.
McCoy:"What are you doing to my sick bay!"
Kirk:"Fire photon torpedos Mr.Sulu!"
bweebweebweebwee
Sulu:"A direct hit Sir!"
Star Trek TNG
Warf: "Unidentified object approaching at warp 12, Captain"
Data:"Not responding to any frequencies Captain."
Picard:"What do you make of this number one?"
Number One:"Hard to say. I advise caution"
Picard:"Counselor Troi?"
Counselor Troi:"I...I...Don't know...I'm picking up...conflict....great pain...confusion...I think we should wait before doing anything rash."
Crash! Space weapon hits Enterprise
Warf:"This entity may be hostile. I recomend we raise the sheilds"
Picard:"Make it so, number one. Place the order to raise the aft shields. I'll be in the holodeck if anyone needs me."
Etc, etc.
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... ;’)
Engage.