On September 28, 1987, the TV show “Star Trek: The Next Generation” made its debut, set about a century after the original Star Trek series. The show was broadcast in the U.S.A. in syndication.

The unexpected success of “Star Trek” reruns after its cancellation led to the growth of its fandom and in 1979 the first of a series of movies that continued the saga was released. However, the original project of Gene Roddenberry – Star Trek creator – was to produce a new television series called “Star Trek: Phase II”. The movies were successful as well but the actors from the original series weren’t getting any younger and asked for more and more money so Paramount decided to try to produce a new television series with a new cast.

Various ideas were considered but eventually, it was decided that “Star Trek: The Next Generation” would be the direct evolution of the original series, with a new ship called Enterprise. Its mission still was to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before but it also had to be engaged in scientific and diplomatic missions.

The original series was centered on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy while for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” it was decided to have a larger main cast, including a captain more suitable for a diplomatic role.

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” cast consists of:

• Patrick Stewart (photo ©Peabody Awards) as Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as William Riker
• Brent Spiner as Data
• LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Worf
• Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher (seasons 1, 3-7)
• Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
• Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher (seasons 1-4)
• Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar (season 1)
• Diana Muldaur as Katherine Pulaski (season 2)

The first “Star Trek: The Next Generation” season was very experimental in an attempt to reinvent the myth of Star Trek. Inevitably, there were ups and downs. You could see its potential from the beginning but several episodes had plots simply not good enough. The protagonists were still generally interesting although Wesley Crusher was immediately hated by many. 😉 The little genius inevitably arouses envy in some of the watchers but it’s also true that too often in the stories where he was important, he either saved the Enterprise or threatened to destroy it because some of his experiments went wrong.

In the second “Star Trek: The Next Generation” season the quality went up but the number of episodes had to be reduced from 26 to 22 due to a writers’ strike and the season finale was a “clip show”. It was also the season with Katherine Pulaski as Chief Medical Officer, in my opinion, an attempt to somehow reproduce McCoy failed because the character showed some roughness but without the bond “Bones” had especially with Kirk and Spock.

Gene Roddenberry was formally the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” executive producer until his death but after the start of the series his role had essentially a publicity purpose. Paradoxically, the show fulfilled Star Trek ideals after its creator stepped back, reaching a total of seven successful seasons. In some episodes, characters from the original series returned: after McCoy’s cameo appearance in the pilot, there were more substantial ones for Scott, Spock, and on several occasions his father Sarek.

Paramount’s decision to close the show came only for economic reasons because the salaries of the cast would rise. In the end it was the right decision, even if for the wrong reasons. Maybe “Star Trek: The Next Generation” had said everything it had to say, by continuing its quality would’ve probably dropped. In 1993, began the show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” started and it developed the Star Trek saga in an entirely new direction.

After the end of the series, the crew of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” starred in four movies: “Star Trek: Generations” in 1994, “Star Trek: First Contact” in 1996,” Star Trek: Insurrection” in 1998 and “Star Trek: Nemesis” in 2002.

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” reintroduced some races from the classic series such as Klingons and Romulans but it also introduced some new ones that became important such as the Ferengi and the Cardassians. Other fundamental innovations were Q and the Borg. At a time when TV shows had generally self-contained episodes, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” started having some stories developed over time such as the Worf and the Borg ones.

Both the TV show and the movie have long been published in DVD and recently the publication of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” on Blu-Ray started after a major work that produced an extraordinary picture quality. Now you can watch at its best even from a visual standpoint a show that made history.