Part I, Chapter XI: "A New Generation"
“At the start, they hated us. Well, not so much that they stopped watching, but it was clear to the production team that serious changes needed to be made going forward. Many writers left after that first season, as well as Denise and Gates. Most of us had actually enjoyed working on the show, so we were worried that it would be cancelled after the second season.”
- Marina Sirtis, taken from
Where None Had Gone Before.
New
Star Trek was coming to television for the first time since 1974, and fans were excited. Less excited were the majority of the cast of what was now being coined “
The Original Series”. Many of them, Kelley and Shatner in particular, felt that the new show would draw attention away from their films.
In addition, the high profile exits of both McFadden and Crosby would cast some negative light on the season, and many fans would criticise how the death of Crosby’s character, Tasha Yar, was dealt with.
In general, fan reaction was lukewarm. Many commented on how it just seemed to be a rehash of
The Original Series, with seemingly few additions to the canon of the series. In fact, many of the scripts were recycled from the unsuccessful
Phase II project some ten years prior.
The new “big bad” race, the Ferengi, were widely mocked as being unintimidating, and nowhere near as threatening as the Klingons or other races had been in earlier instalments of the franchise. As a result of this, they were to be reduced to more of a comic relief role for future seasons, with new recurring enemies to be created. [1]
Many writers would depart over the course of the season, citing issues in working with Roddenberry. Notably, this would include
Star Trek veteran David Gerrold, who would soon find work in writing for the new season of
Doctor Who. Other writers would follow suit. [2]
Despite the lukewarm reception, the show would be renewed for another season, as it soon became the most popular program in syndication.
List of Episodes of Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation: [3]
- Encounter at Farpoint (Part 1)
- Encounter at Farpoint (Part 2)
- The Naked Now
- Code of Honor
- The Last Outpost
- Where No-One Has Gone Before
- Lonely Among Us
- Justice
- The Battle
- Hide and Q
- Haven
- The Big Goodbye
- Datalore
- Angel One
- 11001001
- Too Short a Season
- When the Bough Breaks
- Home Soil
- Coming of Age
- Heart of Glory
- The Arsenal of Freedom
- Symbiosis
- Skin of Evil
- We’ll Always Have Paris
- Conspiracy
- The Neutral Zone
Main Cast of Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Captain Julien Picard – Patrick Stewart
- Commander William Riker – Jonathan Frakes
- Lt. (j.g.) Geordi La Forge – LeVar Burton
- Lt. Tasha Yar – Denise Crosby
- Lt. (j.g.) Worf – Michael Dorn
- Dr. Beverly Crusher – Gates McFadden
- Counsellor (Lt. Cmdr.) Deanna Troi – Marina Sirtis
- Lt. Cmdr. Data – Brent Spiner
- Leslie Crusher – Carla Gugino [4][5]
Work soon began on the second season, and in finding a replacement for McFadden. At Roddenberry’s request, the character of Beverly Crusher was written out of the show, rather than killed off, to allow for a return in the future.
The future would hold many surprises for
Star Trek, and there were to be trials ahead… [6]
[1] Very little change from OTL here. From a writer's standpoint, it's just because I couldn't find much stuff to change without changing the series drastically. From an in universe standpoint, Roddenberry shoots down anything he doesn't think would happen in the 24th century he imagines.
[2] Is this a cliché? I feel like it is, though I don't think I've seen it done before. Regardless, I think it would be plausible.
[3] No changes to the episodes here, meaning the season is just as weak as OTL. For future seasons, there will be an update covering the release, and giving the episode title, and another supplemental one giving rough summaries of the plot of each epsiode. Haven't done that here as there are no changes.
[4] Wesley was originally going to be female, so I just stopped the change from happening here.
[5] She enters acting a year(?) earlier ITTL. Jack Crusher is shown to be of Italian descent in future stories.
[6] That's it for Trek in Part I now. Next update will cover the planning stages of Season 22 of Doctor Who.