Star Trek: The Next Generation (Series) - TV Tropes

The crew of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D.note Left to right: William T. Riker, Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly Crusher, Tasha Yar, Geordi La Forge, Data, Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, Worf."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!"— Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the series' legendary opening credits

Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction show created by Gene Roddenberry, the first Spin-Off of the Star Trek franchise. Set in the 24th century, about ninety years after the original series, it features a new crew, new antagonists, a new status quo for The Federation and a new Enterprise (Galaxy-class starship, registration NCC-1701-D).

The Enterprise-D is commanded by veteran officer Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) with his stalwart Number One Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes). His staff includes android operations officer Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Chief of Security Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), the telepathic ship counsellor Lt. Commander Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) who brings along her teenage son Wesley (Wil Wheaton), with junior bridge officers Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), who uses an eyesight prosthesis called a VISOR, and Worf (Michael Dorn), the first Klingon in Starfleet. Geordi and Worf would be promoted to Lieutenant over the course of the show, Geordi becoming Chief Engineer while Worf becomes Chief of Security, and even Wesley would get a Field Promotion to Ensign under Picard's discretion.

After a troubled start, it exploded into one of the most well-respected television shows of its time. At seven seasons and 176 episodes in length, it set a standard for all of Star Trek following it and won many awards for everything from visual effects to writing. The show ran from 1987 to 1994 in First-Run Syndication, and proved to be one of the most popular syndicated shows ever made as well as one of the most acclaimed.

Although much of the show shared the premise of The Original Series, the series benefited from a massively increased budget the original could only dream of, and there were also well-paced Story Arcs reflecting more modern TV programming: the omnipotent trickster character of Q would show up to put Humanity on Trial (becoming a Bookend storyline epitomizing the series) or to amuse himself at the expense of others, the Klingons were redefined as being Proud Warrior Race Guys instead of the original "black hats" in addition to plenty of development for the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Cardassians and the Ferengi. . Perhaps most notable is the introduction of the hive-mind, cybernetic Borg as a threat to all of humanity (creating what is regarded as the pinnacle episode for the series and even the franchise, "The Best of Both Worlds"). While the Original Series focused primarily on Kirk, Spock and McCoy, TNG was very much an Ensemble Cast where each character could take over as the lead of an episode, and some minor characters would also become vital to the broader franchise.

After getting the show off the ground, Roddenberry had ongoing health problems and only got worse over time, leading to Rick Berman and Michael Piller being unambiguous showrunners by season three, and Roddenberry would pass away in season four. The show managed to rebound after the first two seasons to create compelling and thought-provoking episodes. Even boilerplate stories such as "clueless foreigner offends alien culture" or "Aliens took my Bridge Bunny" are handled in a similar manner to TOS, with Picard and company carefully explicating and deliberating over each problem. With the Federation existing in a relative state of calm and "cowboy diplomacy" no longer a viable option, the challenge is remaining true to Starfleet ideals without resorting to quick and dirty solutions… and also trying to realize when it's time to get "dirty". It also sought to change and improve upon some questionable earlier decisions, not just giving Klingons more depth but also giving Wesley more development. Although firmly a genre show that aired during an era when the Sci-Fi Ghetto was in full effect, Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of the most acclaimed television shows of its day. The episode "The Big Goodbye" won the show a Peabody Award in 1987, the only one ever received by a Star Trek show or episode. In 1994, for its final season, TNG was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, making it the only syndicated program ever to be nominated for that prize (lost to Picket Fences).

The series went into production following the success of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and would air concurrent with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. TNG would later form the basis of the seventh through tenth Star Trek films: Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Insurrection (1998), and Nemesis (2002). The success of the series led to an expansion of the franchise and is single-handedly responsible for the creation of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Collectively they are often called the "Next Generation Era" in discussions regarding the franchise as a whole, especially impressive given an uninterrupted 18-year runnote Enterprise, being a prequel, is obviously not considered part of the in-universe timespan of the other shows, but did carry over many of the same production team.

The impact of the show remained even as the franchise eventually returned to television / streaming. Star Trek: Picard is a Distant Sequel to The Next Generation, with Patrick Stewart reprising his role of Picard, and other TNG and Voyager characters appearing in supporting roles. The third and final season would also serve as a Grand Finale for TNG reuniting the crew to face down one final dire threat to the Federation. Star Trek: Lower Decks is set just after the events of Nemesis and in overall tone attempts to replicate TNG closely (being a light Affectionate Parody, the franchise as a whole gets targeted as well).

Like its predecessor, the series has proved wildly popular in Syndication, despite having broadcast its final episode in 1994. To date, in the U.S. alone, it has been broadcast on no fewer than five different cable/satellite networks: G4, Spike TV, Syfy, WGN America, and BBC America. Two of these networks, SyFy and BBC America, still regularly air episodes of the program, sometimes against each other in primetime. It also remained for a long time a near-pillar of Netflix, and was also available on several other streaming services, prior to CBS consolidating streaming of Star Trek programming to its Paramount+ service in 2022.

CBS commissioned Mike Okuda (who designed several visual elements of the show including the main bridge design and the LCARS system used by the Federation) to oversee high quality Blu-ray transfers of the entire series from the original film stock to replace the standard definition DVD versions of the series. More information can be found at the Trek Core website, among other places. The general consensus is that the 1080p, 7.1 surround sound mixes breathe new life into the show, with the special effects work by Industrial Light & Magic looking especially stunning. The remastering of TNG has proven to be far less controversial with purists than the extensive (many argued overdone) HD revisions done to the original series.

In 1998, Paramount Rides and Hilton Hotels opened Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas; the centerpiece was a Simulator Ride based on The Next Generation, beaming visitors aboard the bridge of the Enterprise-D and starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and LeVar Burton.

See also the Star Trek: The Next Generation Relaunch, a series of novels that follow the characters after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, as well as setting the direction for the Star Trek Expanded Universe in terms of the original continuity (as opposed to the latest series of films, which take place in an Alternate Timeline).

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