Continuing a Saga : STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION 1987-1994

Everyone who knows me, knows I am a Star Trek fan from way back. I saw my first Star Trek episodes at the age of maybe 4 years old and so, naturally, we are speaking of the original series. But I can very well remember hearing in 1987 about a new series to be coming along soon, which worried me. How could anyone try this again? The original series caught lightning in a bottle and had created a phenomenon that was unique in the history of show business. Was it perhaps not a bit presumptuous to assume one could do it again?? I needn't have worried. Gene Roddenberry was a part of the whole process. And in 1987 we got a look at a Star Trek placed about 70 years after the original series. Starfleet would have been improved, the starships most certainly would be improved. And indeed, the new Enterprise, the NCC1701-D was a magnificent ship to behold.

There would also be some changes aboard ship. For one thing, there would be a Klingon aboard this Starfleet vessel and there would be families aboard this Galaxy Class Star ship. The Captain would no longer be able to easily go on away missions because his first officer would keep him out of danger and would take his place among the away missions. And to safeguard this all, a grand crew had to be assembled from all walks of life and even one artificial life form: an android, who was endeavoring to try and become a human being.

Front row: Commander William T. Riker, first officer, Deanna Troi, Ships Councellor, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Dr. Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer, back row : Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher, (Beverly Crusher's son), Tactical Officer Tasha Yar, Tactical Officer Lieutenant Worf, Commander Data and Commander Geordi LaForge.

Because of rather unique circumstances that were not in place in the country where I saw the show, the show became an instant hit in the USA. But it did have its share of casualties as the first two years were rather tumultuous, in front and behind the cameras. There was a very high turnover of writers and producers in the first two years and one character, Tasha Yar, did not make it thru the first year. Denise Crosby, the actress, had asked to be released from her contract and this was honored but her character Tasha Yar was killed in action in the episode Skin of Evil.

Tasha Yar's holographic memorial speech

Still the pilot, Encounter at Farpoint, was a definite highlight of the season, showcasing a lot of the talent and insights to come. Also on this show was a formidable opponent, Q, portrayed full of selfrighteousness and gall by John de Lancie. His promise to let the crew go on trekking also included the forethought that he might be back.

Another highlight of the first season was WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE, a show in which a Starfleet mathematician thinks he has solved the problem of going at normal warp speeds but it turns out he hasn't a clue about the truth of the issues the Enterprise gets to deal with. His assistant, a traveller, however sees in Wesley an as yet unlocked treasure of promise that he tells Captain Picard to nurture.This episode would later also have repercussions in a later season.

The second season began with a disadvantage of a writer's strike in Hollywood, but despite the fact that this season has only 22 episodes instead of the normal 26, one could notice a distinct improvement in the story material and the production values. However, producer Maurice Hurley had taken Dr. Crusher out of the show and substituted Dr Kate Pulaski in her place, played by Diana Muldaur, an actress who had done two guest appearances on the original show.

Commander Geordi LaForge was also promoted to Chief of Engineering and Worf was now the only Tactical Officer. Another addition to the ship was TEN FORWARD, the bar where you could go and have fun when off duty or when you would engage in a good conversation with GUINAN, played by Whoopi Goldberg. Guinan was of a race that could grow very old indeed (as it turns out later in the fifth and sixth season that she first met Captain Picard on Earth in the 19th Century).

 

In terms of the episodes there were real beauties like MEASURE OF A MAN, in which Picard defends Data's rights as an android but also as a new form of life.

But there was also the exquisite ELEMENTARY, DEAR DATA, the first of many episodes in which Data entered the holodeck as Sherlock Holmes, with Geordi LaForge at his side as Watson. 

There was also A MATTER OF HONOR, in which Riker takes the position of First Commander on a Klingon vessel, which was excellent, Pen Pals, in which Data communicates with a child of a species on a dying world, THE EMISSARY, in which an old love interest of Worf reappears but of course the most amazing and also terrifying episode of the second season, Q Who, in which the Enterprise gets a first look at a race they have not encountered before: the Borg.

The second season had to end with a bottle show for budgetary reasons but the third season brought us even better stories and brought us Dr. Crusher back (for which I was very glad because Dr. Pulaski did not really seem to click with the other crew members the way Dr. Crusher had).

A fantastic moment in the third season is YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE, in which Tasha Yar is again seen. I hear you thinking "Wasn't she dead?" Well, yes, but in this episode something happens that affects the flow of history and all of a sudden we are in a different time stream and the only one to notice this is Guinan. YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE is one of the best episodes ever made of Star Trek, no matter which series we are talking about.

Who could forget episodes like THE OFFSPRING, SINS OF THE FATHER, CAPTAIN'S HOLIDAY MENAGE A TROI, SAREK and the most ominous, dramatically highpoint of the whole series at this point: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS in which the Enterprise takes on the Borg full on. Captain Picard is taken by the Borg and assimilated into the Borg as Locutus of Borg.

It was a big question whether Jean-Luc Picard would be written out of the show at the end of the third season. I remember that there was indeed talk of promoting Riker to Captain and having Patrick Stewart make a dramatic exit but in THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS part 2, we saw an interesting, if slightly underwhelming solution to the Borg problem. Nevertheless a lot of possibilities remained still with the Borg, which would now and then indeed be utilized. The fourth season however also saw Ensign Wesley Crusher exit the ship to go to Starfleet Academy and gave us much more of Klingon culture in episodes like REUNION and REDEMPTION parts 1 and 2, which also served as the cliffhanger. (Would Worf be back on the Enterprise next year?)

Damn right he would !!

The fifth season saw wonderful moments such as ENSIGN RO, in which the basis was laid for all of the Bajoran issues that would later feature on so many episodes of DEEP SPACE NICE. Michelle Forbes was formidable as Ro.

The hightlight of the fifth season was an incredibly succesful two-parter, UNIFICATION, in which Ambassador Spock, Leonard Nimoy himself, tries to be the catalist for a reunification of his Vulcan and Romulan species. It fails, of course. But the presence of CLASSIC STAR TREK Actor LEONARD NIMOY brought prestige and recognition galore to a show that had already been on the air for longer than that original show so many years ago.

The only drawback in UNIFICATION is that Spock is used in a political function, which is not what he originally was in his years on the Enterprise. That was a shame, but seeing his SPOCK interact with Picard and Data, that was fantastic. The season however ended no less impressive with I, BORG and THE INNER LIGHT, two episodes that are regularly mentioned in lists of the best ever Star Trek episodes.

In the sixth season James Doohan himself got the chance to appear as Scotty in the episode RELICS.

 As an episode, this was even better than UNIFICATION because Scotty got a chance to be an engineer again! A fine example of a great episode. This was quickly followed by TRUE Q, RASCALS and A FISTFUL OF DATAS, which were going for a more humorous tone. In STARSHIP MINE, Captain Picard finds himself to be like John McClane in a building under siege as this episode is a very enjoyable riff on DIEHARD in Space. And in the episode TAPESTRY, Q shows himself in one of his finest hours, revealing to Captain Picard what might have been.

Personally I was not too intrigued with the two-parter DESCENT, in which Data's brother Lore uses the Borg for his own purposes. And later we even get a bizarre episode like MASKS, in which Data is possessed by many ancient spirits from an ancient culture.

Fortunately this same year we also had the wonderfully dramatic DARK PAGE, in which Troi finds out from her mother that she was not her firstborn, and THE PEGASUS, in which Riker is haunted by a secret from the past with great political repercussions. And again, Q reappeared in the finale, ALL GOOD THINGS... in which Captain Picard seems to be shifting from one time zone to another and it is Q who is behind all of this. 

It is also Q who voices an interesting criticism generally heaved at these seven years of exploration: instead of going for the really big questions, all these people on this ship seem to do is to quibble over missed opportunities, personal fulfillment, an android wanting to be human. And yes, one could say, there could have been more galactic episodes among them but basically, STAR TREK is best when it reflects upon ourselves, when it shows us as much about ourselves as of those out there. Intergalactic battles? Leave that to the Star Wars people. That's what they are good at. Star Trek is about The Human Condition. About our drive to improve our species. To learn about ourselves as much as about others and to improve both of us. And this brings us back to the beliefs of Gene Roddenberry. Gene Roddenberry said in an interview before he passed away in 1991, that he envisaged a positive future for mankind. "That it wasn't all going to be over in a flash and a bang." Thank you, Gene for your wonderful ideas, your positive attitude and for your kind human heart!

 Gene Roddenberry 1921-1991