Part II, Chapter XXXIV: "The Changing Seasons"
“Season Six is where things really started to get dark. We tackled a lot of pretty ‘heavy’ subjects, not that we hadn’t before, but we started doing it more often here. It did continue a bit through the following two seasons, but I think most fans will agree with me when I say that it’s Deep Space Nine that got the brunt of our shift away from this completely utopian future.”
Ronald D. Moore speaking about his role as a writer on Season Six of
Star Trek: The Next Generation. [1]
The sixth season of
Star Trek: The Next Generation would see further success for the show. The final season to have the entirety of the “Golden Age cast”, as many fans would dub them, it saw the beginning of a shift away from Gene Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future, a trend that
Deep Space Nine and later series would continue.
The season opened with the conclusion to “Time’s Arrow”, and would finish with the first part of “All Good Things...”, which would see the character of Leslie Crusher written out. It would also be the final season featuring Christian Slater as part of the main cast, though it was decided that his character would not be written out until early in the following season, to allow for a more coherent narrative around his transfer to the station Deep Space Nine. [2]
The sixth season would be met with largely positive reviews, but certain stories such as “Rascals” would divide both critics and fans. Other stories like “Chain of Command” would, later in the show’s life, be considered “essential viewing” for new fans.
List of Episodes of Season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation: [3]
- Time’s Arrow (Part II)
- Realm of Fear
- Schisms
- Man of the People
- Relics
- The Death of Chivalry
- True Q
- A Fistful of Datas
- Rascals
- The Quality of Life
- Chain of Command (Part I)
- Chain of Command (Part II)
- Aquiel
- Ship in a Bottle
- The Face of the Enemy
- Tapestry
- Starship Mine
- Honor Among Thieves
- The Chase
- Lessons
- Suspicions
- Rightful Heir
- Second Chances
- Timescape
- Frame of Mind
- All Good Things… (Part I) [4]
Main Cast of Season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Captain Julien Picard – Patrick Stewart
- Commander William Riker – Jonathan Frakes
- Lt. Cmdr. Data – Brent Spiner
- Dr. Amelia Henderson – Stephanie Beacham
- Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge – LeVar Burton
- Counselor (Lt. Cmdr.) Deanna Troi – Marina Sirtis
- Lt. Worf – Michael Dorn
- Ensign Andrew Kelly – Christian Slater
- Ensign Leslie Crusher – Carla Gugino
While the sixth season was in production, the seventh and eighth seasons that the actors had in their contracts would be approved by Paramount. A tentative ninth season was also considered, to allow for more time before the
The Next Generation cast would take over the film franchise from the
Original Series cast. This season would, however, never be ordered, and
The Next Generation would set the “eight season” precedent for future shows in the franchise. [5]
[1] I talk about this a fair bit here, but I want to clarify something. TNG isn't going "dark for the sake of dark", it's going for more realism. Hints of DS9 are starting to be present. The message is less "Isn't the Federation great!" and more "We can work towards a better future despite our flaws."
[2] Hence why "Birthright" isn't in this season. It will be in next season, and involves Kelly's transfer to Deep Space Nine.
[3] You'll notice little change here apart from some oddities in the viewing order and the replacement of "Birthright". I had a real hard time coming up with stories that I'd replace from this season, but I'm sure I've left in some that you hate. Ah well, you can't win e'em all.
[4] In cast you didn't see my post clarifying this, this is NOT the "All Good Things..." we got in OTL, not even close. This was the planned closer for Season 6, which I quite like the idea of. Elements were recycled for the "All Good Things..." we got in OTL and Generations.
[5] Read into this what you will. As I've said before, TNG is largely the same as OTL, but once DS9 gets started, some big changes start happening. Think of this timeline as something close to "What I would have done if I had complete control over Star Trek in the timeframe".