Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV series)

"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

Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series that aired in syndication for seven seasons from September of 1987 to May of 1994. Created by the late Gene Roddenberry, it is the second spin-off series of the original 1966 Star Trek following the Star Trek animated series. The show was produced by Paramount Television, a division of Paramount Pictures, and developed by Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Michael I. Wagner and Maurice "Mo" Hurley.

New crew
The series takes place some seventy years after the adventures of the crew of the original USS Enterprise and introduces a brand new cast of characters as well as a new flagship, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Commanding the Enterprise is seasoned captain Jean-Luc Picard. His support staff consists of his first officer William T. Riker, the android helmsman Data, tactical officer Tasha Yar, chief engineer Geordi LaForge, medical officer Beverly Crusher, ship's counselor Deanna Troi and Starfleet's first Klingon officer, Lieutenant Worf. Tasha Yar only appeared in season one and the character was killed off in the episode "Skin of Evil". Wil Wheaton’s character, Wesley Crusher, was a regular cast member in seasons 1-4, but left the series, though he did return for several follow-up episodes as well as playing a parallel universe counterpart to himself. The rest of the cast remained on the series for all seven seasons.

New races
The series resurrected several familiar alien races from the previous shows and films, including the Klingons, the Vulcans, the Romulans and the Andorians, but also expanded the Star Trek universe with a bevy of new and often threatening alien beings. Chief among them were the Q, a race of all-powerful cosmic entities that had been guiding the course of humanity for eons. The Q (generally taking the form of actor John de Lancie) placed the crew of the Enterprise through numerous trials to see whether the human race had the potential to evolve beyond their current social and cultural norms. De Lancie's Q proved to be an extremely pivotal character and played an important part in both the pilot and series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Q's popularity was matched only by that of the Borg, a cybernetic hive-mind race who assimilated human beings into their collective. The Borg appeared in several episodes of the series and their presence had dire consequences for the ship's captain Jean-Luc Picard. The Borg were also the central antagonists in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact.

Star Trek: The Next Generation also introduced the Cardassians, the Bajorans and the Ferengi. The Ferengi were an interstellar race whose entire culture was based on commerce and the proliferation of free enterprise. Though not an aggressive species, their collective greed has put them on the crosshairs of the Federation on several occasions. The Cardassians however, were a ruthless war-like race who waged an eternal struggle against the Bajorans, a humanoid race who became key players in intergalactic affairs due to their claim over the Bajoran wormhole. Though all three races were featured only minimally in Star Trek: The Next Generation, they became major figures in the third spin-off series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Two-part episodes

 * Encounter at Farpoint
 * The Best of Both Worlds
 * Redemption
 * Unification
 * Time's Arrow
 * Chain of Command
 * Birthright
 * Descent
 * Gambit

Notes & Trivia

 * All episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation have been made available on VHS and DVD.


 * The series has also been referred to as TNG and NextGen by the fan community.


 * Actors DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy, who played the roles of Leonard McCoy, Montgomery Scott and Spock in the original Star Trek, have all made cameo appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Kelley appeared in the series pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint". James Doohan appeared in "Relics" and Leonard Nimoy appeared in "Unification" (Part 1) and part 2.

Collections

 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Series
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete First Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Second Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Third Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Fourth Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Fifth Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Sixth Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Seventh Season
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Motion Picture Collection
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Series Seasons 1-7
 * The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Volume 1
 * The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Volume 2
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation: Jean-Luc Picard Collection

Fan Collectives

 * Star Trek Fan Collective: Borg
 * Star Trek Fan Collective: Captain's Log
 * Star Trek Fan Collective: Klingon
 * Star Trek Fan Collective: Q
 * Star Trek Fan Collective: Time Travel