Star Trek : The Next Generation

strangely, not a Star Trek: TNG set - Jason Permenter

Star Trek : The Next Generation

This is the first and extremely successful remake of the original Star Trek TV show.

The Next Generation ran for seven seasons from 1987-94.

The captain of the new and beefed up United Federation of Planets starship Enterprise is played by the British character actor Patrick Stewart.

Many new characters and innovations such as a holodeck – where entire environments are created through light imaging – were added. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Klingons are no longer arch enemies of the Federation. In fact, Lt. Commander Worf, a Klingon, serves on the Enterprise.

And when the crew felt unhappy or estranged by its various space adventures, a psychological counselor, Deanna Troi, was now available.

Another memorable character is Lieutenant Commander Data, an android who, like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, wanted to know what it was like to be human. And then there was “Q,” played by actor John de Lancie, who was something akin to a classical Greek god in that he had powers and knowledge extending beyond our normal conception of space and time. Also like the Greek gods, he often abused these powers in childish ways and even challenged the authority of the Q Continuum (the ruling body of the Q, representing its status quo), resulting in his frequent punishment.

Perhaps the most formidable new enemy of the Federation was the Borg, a horrid collective of cyborgs who sucked the life and technological knowledge out of any living creature deemed worthy of its cold malice.

These and other innovations made TNG rival the original Star Trek series in terms of sheer creativity. This isn’t surprising because Gene Roddenberry, the producer of the original show, was directly involved in TNG.

TNG’s immense popularity attracted the film star Whoopi Goldberg, who played the super-intuitive bartender and wise advisor Guinan. Goldberg apparently approached the producers of Star Trek TNG, expressing her desire to be on the show.

Several films based directly on the TV series were released at theatres: Star Trek Generations (1994); Star Trek: First Contact (1996); Star Trek: Insurrection (1998); Star Trek Nemesis (2002).

» Abyss, Angels, Chakotay (Commander), Chekov (Pavol), Data (Commander), Dax, Jadzia, Dreamtime, Janeway (Captain Katherine), Kardasians, Kirk (James T.), Klingons, Odo, Prime Directive, Q, Relations of Production, Roberts (Jane), Roddenberry (Gene),Romulans, Sargon, Science Fiction, Seven of Nine, Sisko (Commander Benjamin), Siva, Spock, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager, Sulu, Tek War, Temporal Paradox, Third Eye, T’Pol, Trickster, Uhura (Lieutenant), Vulcan, Worf

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