Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)

Set decades after Captain James T. Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers in a new Enterprise set off on their own mission to go where no one has gone before.

Creator:

Gene Roddenberry

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Won 18 Primetime Emmys. Another 12 wins & 54 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data (176 episodes, 1987-1994)
Gates McFadden	...	Doctor Beverly Crusher (154 episodes, 1987-1994)
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher (86 episodes, 1987-1994)

Storyline

Set in the 24th century and decades after the adventures of the original crew of the starship Enterprise, this new series is the long-awaited successor to the original Star Trek. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the all new Enterprise NCC 1701-D travels out to distant planets to seek out new life and to boldly go where no one has gone before.

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Plot Keywords:

captain | 24th century | starbase | investigation | alien species | 

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Taglines:

New Stars. New Stories. New Worlds To Explore.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

G4 Star Trek: The Next Generation at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki

Country:

USA

Language:

English Klingon French

Also Known As:

Star Trek: TNG

Filming Locations:

Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant - 6100 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min 45 min (176 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anne Twomey and Jenny Agutter auditioned for the role of Dr. Beverly Crusher.

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Goofs

It is claimed that Data can't use contractions (Can't, Isn't, Don't, etc) yet there are several instances throughout the series where he does. One such example is heard in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint, where Data uses the word "Can't" while the Enterprise is being chased by Q's "ship".

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Quotes

[Repeated line]
Capt. Picard: Make it so.

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Crazy Credits

The model of the Enterprise used in the opening credits is so detailed, a tiny figure can be seen walking past a window just before the vessel jumps to warp speed.

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Connections

Featured in Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)

User Reviews

Perhaps the best sci-fi TV series of all-time.

The occasional campiness of the 1960's Star Trek series was not at all evident in Star Trek: The Next Generation, arguably the best science fiction television series to ever be aired. It's funny TNG wound up so brilliant, considering the first two seasons were a bit iffy in terms of quality. The show ended up the ultimate representation of Star Trek, with an immensely engaging crew with a great sense of camaraderie, intelligent and intriguing stories, and special effects that were excellent by television standards.

With the exception of Wil Wheaton, the cast was uniformly superb. Patrick Stewart had a lot to live up to as a successor to William Shatner's Kirk. With his magnetic presence and wonderful acting chops, he's crafted a very different individual from Kirk, and probably my favorite Trek character, period. Jonathan Frakes made for a likeable, intriguing Commander Riker, who's occasional rowdiness reminded me a bit of good old Kirk. Brent Spiner is simply terrific as the android, Data, who aspires to be more human. I can't imagine anyone else in the role, which is probably the highest praise you could give to an acting performance. Michael Dorn excelled as the tough Klingon Worf, Levar Burton was immensely likeable as chief engineer Laforge, and rounding out the cast were the series' two sexy and smart women, Marina Sirtis as Counselor Troi and Gates Mcfadden as Dr. Crusher (the latter of whom looks even more beautiful now than she did in her first season on TNG).

The series has had a barrage of standout episodes, whether it was with suspenseful ventures into the unknown (the first appearance of the Borg) to the ultimate cliffhanger in The Best of Both Worlds, The Next Generation was an exercise in masterful storytelling and vivid characterization. Since then, three shows have spawned from Trek lore: Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. I have only seen one episode of Enterprise (and clearly, it didn't make much of an impression on me), but I had sporadically watched DS9 and Voyager, enough to know neither of them were overall quite as compelling as TNG (the only aspect they definitely had over TNG were in the sets and visual effects). For me, that's rather odd, since I often have a preference for a TV series that follows through a central storyline, as both DS9 and Voyager have, but it simply goes to show how each stand-alone episode of TNG made an impression.