Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation (often abbreviated to TNG) is the second live-action Star Trek television series, set in the 24th century. Like its predecessor, it was created by Gene Roddenberry. Produced at Paramount Pictures, it aired in first-run syndication (by in the US) from  to. The series led to two spin-offs in the TNG era: (which it ran alongside during its final two seasons) and.


 * (arranged by Dennis McCarthy, composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage)

Summary
Star Trek: The Next Generation moved the universe forward roughly a century past the days of James T. Kirk and Spock. The series depicted a new age in which the Klingons were allies of the Federation, though the Romulans remained adversaries. New threats included the Ferengi (although they were later used more for comic relief), the Cardassians, and the Borg. While was clearly made in the 1960s, the first two seasons of The Next Generation show all the markings of a 1980s product, complete with  uniforms.

As with the original Star Trek, TNG was still very much about exploration, "boldly going where no one has gone before". Similarly, the plots captured the adventures of the crew of a starship, namely the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). Despite the apparent similarities with the original series, the creators of TNG were adamant about creating a bold, independent vision of the future. The public did not widely accept the show on its own terms until the airing of, which marked a shift towards higher drama, serious plot lines, and a less episodic nature. This helped pave the way for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and its two-year-long Dominion War arc and preceding build-up, as well as the third and fourth seasons of. Star Trek: Voyager capitalized on the heightened crew relationships and familial bonds first seen on The Next Generation. DS9, on the other hand, balanced political intrigue, character development, and series-long plot threads with a rerun-friendly format.

As with the original Star Trek, TNG's special effects utilized miniatures, but due to great advancements in computerized effects and opticals, the show leaped ahead of its predecessor in terms of quality effects. This series marked the greatest surge in Star Trek's mainstream popularity, and paved the way for the four later televised Trek shows.

Four of the Star Trek motion pictures continued the adventures of the TNG cast after the end of the series in 1994. served to "pass the torch" from the Original Series cast, who had been the subject of the first six motion pictures, by including crossover appearances from William Shatner, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig; it also featured the destruction of the USS Enterprise-D. , released two, was the first of the motion pictures to solely feature the TNG cast, transferred aboard the new USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) and engaging with one of their deadliest enemies from the television series, the Borg. followed in, continuing certain character arcs from the series. In, brought some of these character arcs and plot threads to a seemingly definite conclusion, although some cast members expressed hope that future movies would yet pick up the story. Regardless, a new generation of actors appeared in 's, which created an alternate reality and returned the focus to and.

Starring

 * Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
 * Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker

Also starring

 * LeVar Burton as Lt. j.g./Lt./Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
 * Denise Crosby as Lt. Tasha Yar (-)
 * Michael Dorn as Lt. j.g./Lt. Worf
 * Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher (-; -)
 * Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
 * Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
 * Wil Wheaton as Ensign Wesley Crusher (-)

Season 1
TNG Season 1, 25 episodes:

Season 2
TNG Season 2, 22 episodes:

Season 3
TNG Season 3, 26 episodes:

Season 4
TNG Season 4, 26 episodes:

Season 5
TNG Season 5, 26 episodes:

Season 6
TNG Season 6, 26 episodes:

Season 7
TNG Season 7, 25 episodes:

Behind the scenes
Star Trek: The Next Generation was originally pitched to the then-fledgling. However, they couldn't guarantee an initial order greater than thirteen episodes, not enough to make the enormous start-up costs of the series worth the expense. It was then decided to sell the series to the first-run syndication market. The show's syndicated launch was overseen by Paramount Television president Mel Harris, a pioneer in the syndicated television market. Many of the stations that carried The Next Generation had also run The Original Series for a long time.

According to issues of Star Trek: The Official Fan Club Magazine from early 1987, TNG was originally planned to be set in the 25th century, 150 years after the original series, and the Enterprise would have been the Enterprise NCC-1701-G. Gene Roddenberry ultimately changed the timeline to mid-24th century, set on board the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, as an Enterprise-G would have been the eighth starship to bear the name and that was too many for the relatively short time period that was to have passed.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was billed initially as being set 78 years after the days of the original USS Enterprise. (p. 16) However, after the series' first season was established as being set in the year 2364, this reference became obsolete as dates were then able to be set for the original series and the four previous films. When this happened, it was established that the events of the original series were about a hundred years before the events of TNG. With TNG's first season being set in 2364, 78 years prior would have been 2286. partly takes place during this year along with the shakedown cruise of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A).

On the special The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation To The Next, Gene Roddenberry commented, "On the original Star Trek, I practically lost my family from working so many twelve-hour days, fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, and I told them, 'You can't pay me enough to do that.' But then they said, 'Hey, but suppose we do it in a way in which' they call syndication, 'in which we don't have a network and we don't have all those people up there?' And Paramount was saying to me, 'And we guarantee that you will be in charge of the show.'"

Andrew Probert was first hired by Roddenberry in. However, not until, when Roddenberry was preparing to launch a new show, entitled Star Trek: The Next Generation, did he call upon Probert to take a lead design role. Everything had to be rethought, imagined, planned and redesigned. As the vision evolved in the designers' minds, the evolution was charted in successive sketches and paintings.

Among Probert's creations, in addition to the new Enterprise starship and many of its interiors including the main bridge, are many other featured spacecraft. The Ferengi cruiser, and even the Ferengi species, are Probert designs.

Roddenberry originally insisted on doing a one-hour pilot and assigned D.C. Fontana to write the episode, first titled Meeting at Farpoint. However, the studio was keen on having a two-hour pilot, mainly because they wanted something big and spectacular to launch the series, especially considering first-run syndication. Roddenberry himself volunteered to extend Fontana's script to two hours, eventually adding the Q storyline to it.

Ronald D. Moore commented, "Gene did not want conflict between the regular characters on TNG. This began to hamstring the series and led to many, many problems. To put it bluntly, this wasn't a very good idea. But rather than jettison it completely, we tried to remain true to the spirit of a better future where the conflicts between our characters did not show them to be petty or selfish or simply an extension of 20th century mores."

Roddenberry tried to recruit many production staff members from The Original Series to work on the new series. These included producers Robert Justman and Edward K. Milkis, writers D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold (who served as the main creative force behind the formation of the series), costume designer William Ware Theiss, assistant director Charles Washburn, composer Fred Steiner, set decorator John M. Dwyer, and writer John D.F. Black. Roddenberry also tried to bring back cinematographer Jerry Finnerman, but he declined the offer, being busy working on Moonlighting at the time. However, all of the above people finished working on the series after or during the first season.

Unit Production Manager David Livingston was responsible for hiring Michael Westmore for the pilot episode. (ENT Season 3 Blu-ray, audio commentary)

Remastering

 * See the main article.

After several months of speculation and partial confirmation, StarTrek.com announced on (the 24th anniversary of the series premiere) that The Next Generation would be remastered in 1080p high-definition for release on Blu-ray Disc and eventual syndication, starting in. The seventh and final season was released on Blu-ray in.

Cast and crew
The following people worked on The Next Generation; it is unknown during which season or on which episodes.

Performers

 * – recurring background actor: Ten Forward waiter
 * – background actor
 * Charles Bazaldua – voice actor
 * Terrence Beasor – voice actor (17 episodes, including the voice of the Borg)
 * Libby Bideau – featured actress
 * Brian Ciari – background actor: Cardassian (TNG Season 6 or 7)
 * Amber Connally – background actress: child
 * Phil Crowley – voice actor
 * Vincent DeMaio – background actor: Enterprise-D operations division officer
 * David Dewitt – background actor
 * Gregory Fletcher – background actor Borg
 * Dan Horton – background actor
 * Ellen Humphreys – background actress: Enterprise-D science division officer
 * Carlyle King – voice actress
 * Mark Laing – featured actor
 * Daryl F. Mallett – background actor
 * Tina Morlock – background actress
 * Jean Marie Novak – background actress: Enterprise-D operations division officer
 * Rick H. Olavarria – background actor (1988)
 * Jennifer Ott – background actress: Enterprise-D command division officer
 * Richard Penn – voice actor
 * Judie Pimitera – background actress: Ten Forward waitress
 * Paige Pollack – voice actress
 * Jeff Rector – background actor: Enterprise-D command division officer
 * Gary Schwartz – voice actor/ADR voice
 * Beth Scott – background actress
 * Steve Sekely – background actor
 * Andrea Silver – background actress: Enterprise-D sciences division officer
 * Oliver Theess – recurring background actor (around 1990)
 * Margie Thomas – background actress: Enterprise-D command division officer
 * Richard Walker – background actor
 * Harry Williams, Jr. – background actor
 * Bruce Winant – supporting actor
 * Stephen Woodworth – background actor

Stunt performers

 * Laura Albert – stunts
 * John Lendale Bennett – stunts
 * Richard L. Blackwell – stunts
 * Bob Brown – stunts
 * John Cade – stunts
 * Chuck Courtney – Assistant Stunt Coordinator
 * Terry James – stunts
 * Gary Jensen – Assistant Stunt Coordinator
 * Lane Leavitt – stunts
 * Pat Romano – stunts

Production staff

 * Joseph Andolino – Additional Composer
 * David Atherton – Makeup Artist
 * Gregory Benford – Scientific Consultant
 * Steven R. Bernstein – Additional Music Composer/Orchestrator
 * Les Bernstien – Motion Control Operator
 * R. Christopher Biggs – Special Makeup Effects Artist
 * Howard Block – Second Unit Director of Photography
 * Stephen Buchsbaum – Colorist: Unitel Video (Four Seasons)
 * Alan Chudnow – Assistant Editor
 * Marty Church – Foley Mixer
 * Scott Cochran – Scoring Mixer: Advertising Music
 * Robert Cole – Special Effects Artist
 * Sharon Davis – Graphics Assistant
 * David Dittmar – Prosthetic Makeup Artist
 * Dragon Dronet – Prop Maker: Weapons, Specialty Props and Miniatures
 * Jim Dultz – Assistant Art Director
 * Shannon Dunn – Extras Casting: Cenex Casting
 * Chris W. Fallin – Motion Control Operator
 * Edward J. Franklin – Special Effects Artist
 * Lisa Gizara – Assistant to Gates McFadden
 * John Goodwin – Makeup Artist
 * Simon Holden – Digital Compositor (between 1989 and 1994)
 * Kent Allen Jones – Sculptor: Bob Jean Productions
 * Michael R. Jones – Makeup Artist (early 1990s)
 * Jason Kaufman – Prop and Model Maker: Greg Jein, Inc.
 * Nina Kent – Makeup Artist
 * David Kervinen – Visual Effects Illustrator: Composite Image Systems (4 Seasons)
 * Andy Krieger – Extras Casting: Central Casting
 * Tim Landry – Visual Effects Artist
 * Lisa Logan – Cutter/Fitter
 * Jon Macht – Post Production Vendor
 * Gray Marshall – Motion Control Camera Operator: Image "G"
 * Karl J. Martin – Digital Compositor
 * Belinda Merritt – VFX Accountant: The Post Group
 * John Palmer – Special Effects Coordinator: WonderWorks Inc.
 * Frank Popovich – Mold and Prop Assistant
 * Chris Schnitzer – Motion Control Technician/Rigger: Image "G"
 * Steven J. Scott – Digital Compositor
 * Bruce Sears – DGA Trainee
 * Casey Simpson – Gaffer
 * Ken Stranahan – Visual Effects Artist
 * Rick Stratton – Makeup Artist
 * Greg Stuhl – Miniatures: Greg Jein, Inc.
 * Tim Tommasino – Assistant Editor
 * Peter Webb – Digital Compositor
 * Gregory A. Weimerskirch – Assistant Art Director
 * Bill Witthans – Dolly Grip

Companies

 * Bob Jean Productions
 * Movie Movers
 * Newkirk Special Effects
 * Rex Post
 * WonderWorks Inc.

Related topics

 * TNG performers
 * TNG recurring characters
 * Main character crossover appearances
 * TNG directors
 * Undeveloped TNG episodes