Greatest Sci-Fi series of its time
People that watch science fiction seem to forget that Star Trek: The Next
Generation was filmed from 1987 to 1994, and that it accomplished the
breakthrough technical wizardry we now see in other sci-fi movies and
television shows.<br><br>It was Star Trek: The Next Generation (STTNG) that accomplished the
"orange
screen", reducing by 2/3 the cost of shooting space sequences. It was
STTNG
that finally allowed for a very advanced and yet BELIEVABLE "evolved"
human
behavior involved in space travel.<br><br>I admired Captain Jean-Luc Picard for his reserved Brit style, and the
tension between him and Dr. Beverly Crusher. Who did not like watching
Lieutenant Commander Data and Lieutenant Geordi LaForge spar over human
behavior? What about the short brilliant life of Lieutenant Natasha Yar?
Who didn't tune in to see that? Commander William Riker was amazing to
watch, as he grew a beard and a conscience -- while still being able to
keep
up with the great Lieutenant Worf, the only Klingon (as yet) in Star
Fleet!?<br><br>Those of you out there trying still to wage the Star Wars - Star Trek
battle
for supremacy -- grow up! They are both inspiring stories in different
universes.
the Next Generation Complete SeriesWhether you liked the original Trek or not, 'The Next Generation is a true Trek across space.
Being a child of the late 20th century, I never had the chance to ‘grow up'
with the original Captain Kirk and gang; However, lucky me I had Captain
Picard to idolize. <br><br>While Captain James Tiberius Kirk was the trigger happy, love crazed gigolo,
Captain Jean-Luc Picard was (and still is) the gentle, sensitive diplomat.
Realizing that you cannot simply compare Kirk's crew to Picard's crew, you
must evaluate ‘The Next Generation on it's own merits.<br><br>It's a show that had very well written stories, and each week there was a
different hero from the no named ensign, to the captain himself. Several of
the stories developed into true sagas and much of the plots involved many of
the original cast. Bringing Spock into ‘The Next Generation was a true
piece of art.<br><br>You must keep in mind that the budget for ‘The Next Generation was a great
deal larger than that of the original show. With that in mind, the special
effects were superb, not only for a television show, but for movies as well.
The Next Generation brought some very cool gadgets into our lives including
tricorders, androids, and, of course, the most dreamed about invention the
Holodeck! What a great thing that would be!<br><br>While I would never doubt that the original Star Trek series is a classic,
after all, they did name a Space Shuttle after the Enterprise, ‘The Next
Generation brought the 21st century into our homes each and every Saturday
night, and helped us to believe that we can `Boldly go where no man have
gone before!'
Star Trek The Next Generation Complete SeriesTrek in the 24th Century...
When the TNG series premiered in 1987, it wasn't greeted well by many
of the old-time Trek fans, including myself. It didn't help matters
that one of the earliest episodes, "The Naked Now" was a superficial
retread of the classic "The Naked Time" from '66. The new episode
should have served as a way of spotlighting several of the new crew,
but all it did was show them all in heat. I wasn't too impressed. What
did work was keeping the central theme of exploration (something lost
in the offshoots, DS9 & Voyager). The new Enterprise was twice as large
as the original, with about a thousand personnel aboard. Capt. Picard
(Stewart) was a more cerebral, diplomatic version of the ultimate
explorer we had known as Capt. Kirk. Again, Picard wasn't too
impressive in the first two awkward seasons, as some may mistake his
caution for weakness. The Kirk-like first officer Riker (Frakes) was
controlled by Picard, so the entire crew of Enterprise-D came across as
a bit too civilized, too complacent for their own good. It's
interesting that this complacency was fractured by the most memorable
episode of the first two years, "Q Who?" which introduced The Borg. All
of a sudden, exploration was not a routine venture.<br><br>Other memorable episodes of the first 2 years: the double-length pilot,
introducing Q; "Conspiracy"-an early invasion thriller; "Where No One
Has Gone Before"-an ultimate attempt to define the exploring theme;
"The Big Goodbye"-the first lengthy exploration of the new holodeck
concept; "Datalore"-intro of Data's evil twin; "Skin of Evil"-death of
Tasha Yar; "11001001"-perhaps the best holodeck story; and "The Measure
of a Man"-placing an android on trial. Except for "Q Who" the 2nd year
was even more of a letdown from the first. Space started to percolate
in the 3rd season. I liked "The Survivors"-introducing an entity
resembling Q in a depressed mood, and "Deja Q" with both Q & Guinan
squaring off, as well as other alien beings. A remaining drawback was
the 'techno-babble' hindering many scripts, an aspect which made them
less exciting than the stories of the original series. As Roddenberry
himself believed, when characters spoke this way, it did not come
across as naturalistic, except maybe when it was Data (Spiner), the
android. The engineer La Forge (Burton), for example, was usually
saddled with long, dull explanatory dialog for the audience.<br><br>In the 3rd year, truly innovative concepts such as the far-out
parallel-universe adventure "Yesterday's Enterprise" began to take
hold, topped by the season-ender "The Best of Both Worlds,part 1" in
which The Borg returned in their first try at assimilating Earth. After
this and the 2nd part, the TNG show was off and running, at full warp
speed. There are too many great episodes from the next 4 seasons to
list here, but I tended to appreciate the wild, cosmic concept stories
best: "Parallels"(s7); "Cause and Effect"(s5); "Timescape"(s6);
"Tapestry"(s6); and the scary "Frame of Mind", "Schisms" and "Genesis."
There's also the mind-blowing "Inner Light"(s5), "Conundrum" and "Ship
in a Bottle"(s6), "Second Chances." The intense 2-parter "Chain of
Command" was almost like a film, and the great return of Scotty in
"Relics" was very entertaining, though it showed you can't go home
again. The show also continued to tackle uneasy social issues, as in
"The Host", "The Outcast", "First Contact" and "The Drumhead" as well
as political:"Darmok", "Rightful Heir", "Face of the Enemy" and "The
Pegasus." The series ended on a strong note, "All Good Things..." a
double-length spectacular with nearly the budget of a feature film. But
it wasn't really the end. A few months later, an actual feature film
was released "Star Trek Generations"(94). It's rather ironic that the
TNG films couldn't match the innovation and creativity of the last 4
seasons of the series. "Star Trek Insurrection"(98) for example, is a
lesser effort than any of the episodes mentioned above.
the Next Generation Complete Series