An Alternate Trek

[Lindseyman]

Episode 3 of Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5635.2, we are investigating the surviving ship. There were only three survivors out of a crew of about 100. The life support system has stabilised but it cannot hold up for much longer. I have made the priority accessing the ship’s computer. We need information…”

Spock signals from the ship

“Yes Mr. Spock?” asks Hunter.

“Captain, I have managed to download much of the information stored on the computer system but I cannot access it. There are too many differences in protocols. Indeed I may well just have succeeded in downloading the duty rota rather than any historical records. I just don’t know!”

“What is the problem with accessing the data?”

Spock sighed

“Captain, it is as if a person from the late twentieth century tried to access a twenty third century computer. Technology and programming have moved on and we have no idea in which direction!”

“Understood, do your best Spock.”

Hunter thought for a moment and then signalled sickbay.

“Doc, how are your three patients?”

“One is fine, if a little confused. The other two I’m keeping under sedation. Their injuries need more time to heal.”

“Can I speak to the one who is comptis mentis?”

“Yes, it’ll get him out of my hair. It doesn’t help that we can only barely understand each other.”

“Send him to the conference room, with a guard!”

“Yes Captain”

Hunter goes to the conference room. He finds a man (George Takei) who appears to be of Japanese ancestry walking around it. Hunter sits down and signals to the man that he should do so. He does.

“I’m Captain James Hunter of the United Systems Ship Enterprise, who are you?”

The man replies but very little of what he says is understandable. After a while the translation programme begins to work and more and more of what is said is translated. Hunter is surprised at what the man is apparently saying it appears to be a children’s story! However once the man hears the computer repeating what he has said He brightens and says a short sentence. It is translated as

“I am Hachiro Nogura Second Officer of the Liberty”

Hunter repeats his original statement.

Nogura leaps out of his chair and salutes.

“Sit down Mr. Nogura.”

Nogura complies and asks

“Why do you claim to be a United Systems ship? The US hasn’t existed for over two hundred years!”

Hunter smiles

“It’s a long story involving a collapsing planet and an accident. We seem to have jumped 300 years into our future.”

“If it was not for the evidence of my own eyes and the way that you have treated me and my men, I would not believe you. However your uniforms do match records. Those few that we have left of that time anyway.”

“What happened?”

“It is a long story, the quick version is that the US was involved in a long war with the Tellurians when the Carnyate invaded. Both the Tellurians and US quickly collapsed and were conquered. The Carnyate leadership set up the Imperium and it now rules most of this part of the galaxy. There are just a few independent worlds and the Klingons maintain a precarious existence albeit at the Imperium’s discretion.”

“Perhaps you could help my First Officer access your computers?”

Nogura looks horrified

“You’ve tried to access the Liberty’s computers. Without using the correct prefix codes the computer sets the autodestruct on a silent countdown!”

Hunter rapidly signals the transporter room

“Get Spock and the others off that ship now!!”

A moment or two later Kutuzov on the bridge signals Hunter

“Captain the ship has just blown up!”

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 4 of Enterprise

“Captain’s log Mission date 5639.7. We managed to retrieve Mr Spock and the other crewmen just before the Liberty self-destructed. Spock, despite Doc wanting to keep him under observation has returned to duty, and is trying to decipher what he managed to download with the help of Mr Nogura."

“Captain”

“What is it?” asks Hunter of the Officer (Jaclyn Smith) that is at the communications station.

“We are being hailed from the Guardian’s Planet. Whoever it is, they are using the US High Priority Channel!”

“Put it on speakers”

The Officer complies

“To whom am I speaking and how do you know of this channel?” asks Hunter.

“Your predecessors referred to me as “The Guardian” when we met.”

Hunter gave a start

“You are just a myth from the Commonwealth!”

There was a dry chuckle

“It would appear not! I have been away for some time and the situation is not what I expected. We need to meet.”

Hunter ponders this

“Agreed, where and when?”

“No time like the present. I’ll be with you shortly.”

The transmission is ended. Almost immediately there is a security alarm from a shuttle bay. The security guard on duty signals the bridge.

“Captain a vessel just materialised in the shuttle bay!”

“Keep it under observation. I’m on my way.”

Hunter rapidly arrives at the shuttle bay and is met by Spock and some more security guards. They enter the bay and see a rather bemused guard watching over a blond haired man who is quite enthusiastically looking around.

“I’m sorry Captain but he just won’t keep still and he just took one look at my phaser and said that as I wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk using it in here he’d just ignore it!”

“Stand down, Mister” replies Hunter.

The blond man (David McCallum) notices Hunter and Spock and comes over.

“You’ve made some advances since last I visited one of your ships!”

“Pardon?”

The blond man ignores Hunter and looks at Spock.

“Greetings member of the House of S’Rak.”

“You have the advantage of me Sir. I do not believe that we have ever met.”

The blond man smiles.

“Look into your memories. I assume that Vulcanians still meld with their parents.”

Spock looks shocked

“How do you?”

Then he looks reflective

“You do not look like my ancestor’s memory!”

“Ah, well. I have been through some changes!”

Hunter interrupts

“What is he talking about Spock?”

“You are Spock as well!”

Spock nods

“I am the fourth of that name.”

“Good to hear that some traditions have continued.”

Hunter loses patience

“Just who are you and what do you want? More importantly what can you tell us about our situation?”

“Impatient, isn’t he?” says the blond man.

“Still he must have some qualities or he wouldn’t be Captain.”

He shakes his head

“I’d much prefer to be dealing with the Captains that I met before. But needs must.”

The blond man finally notices that Hunter is about to explode.

“My apologies Captain. This situation must be a strain. Is there somewhere more comfortable in which to discuss your predicament?”

They retire to a briefing room. The blond man looks at Hunter

“Some explanation seems to be in order.”

Hunter nods

“I am the last survivor of my race in this universe. I had several interactions with the Commonwealth including the final acts of a major conflict.

Spock interjects

“The so called Time War.”

“Yes, although how it ended I’m not sure. Something happened and time was slightly reset. However I have had little to do with this universe since then until a remote beacon sounded and alerted me to your presence.”

“Why?” asks Hunter

“You have been displaced in time, Captain and my people were very interested in time.”

“Can you return us?”

The blond man shakes his head

“Unfortunately not. Your disappearance has become a fixed point. It cannot be changed. However your being here may well act as a catalyst to correct a mistake.”

Hunter and Spock look quizzically at him.

“The Imperium should not exist Captain. The Commonwealth should by now be entering one of its greatest periods. Unified with both the Klingons and Tellurians and bringing peace and stability to this part of this universe. Instead of which..”

The blond man pauses and seems to have a debate with himself but comes to a decision.

“Many centuries ago a man and his peers came to power on Earth. Eventually they were defeated but some escaped on a ship called the Shiva. It ran out of power and drifted into a temporal anomaly and passed several centuries into its past. The Shiva was discovered by another race who tried to enslave the crew. That was a mistake. These humans had been genetically altered to be both mentally and physically superior to general humans. They rapidly engineered a rebellion and took over the Empire of their “rescuers” renaming it the Khanate which became corrupted to Carnyate. They established control of a large area of space and then met a ship of the Commonwealth. It took them some centuries to find out where the Commonwealth was to be found and when they did so they found an area embroiled in a war which should never have happened. They attacked in force and rapidly conquered what had been the Commonwealth (yes, your United Systems, Captain) and the Tellurian Empire.”

Hunter interrupts

“You said that the Commonwealth should be, not the United Systems.”

The blond man nodded

“Yes, whilst I have been distracted somebody has greatly disrupted this timeline. They haven’t been completely successful as the United Systems rose to take the role that should have still been the Commonwealth’s. However either way the Imperium should not be!”

“So our history is a mistake?”

“No, it is more complicated than that. Somebody has been manipulating time but why I do not know. They seem to want a more authoritarian and militaristic society. Think even your United Systems was more militaristic than the Commonwealth had been.”

“Yes but that was to deal with the situation. We were slowly changing back to be more like the Commonwealth.”

“Yes, and this somebody didn’t like that!”

Hunter growls

“All this is very interesting but it doesn’t answer why we are here and what we can do. One ship can’t change the Universe!”

“Actually one man in the right place and at the right time can, Captain! However your being here is an accident. I don’t think that this somebody planned for you. You can re-establish the ideals of the United Systems by your example. The Imperium is only meta-stable. All it needs is a push to collapse and a new United Systems can rise to take its place.”

Hunter stands up

“All of what you say may well be true. However we still need more information!”

“Yes, you do. I suggest that you let Nogura take you to his home planet.”

“Are you coming with us?”

“No, I need to find who has been manipulating time. We will meet again Captain.”
NOTES: A bit of a talky episode but there would have been some "historical" scenes in the TV episode to break things up. Also Paramount was really playing with fire in their casting of the Guardian!

 

[Lindseyman]

Some Reactions

Enterprise was being very well received. It was achieving much better viewing figures than Star Trek: USS Enterprise had ever done and so the green light was given for another season. However Paramount had not bargained for the BBC’s reaction to David McCallum being cast as the Guardian.

The BBC had managed to spike Patrick Troughton’s appearance as the Guardian in series one of the ITC Star Trek but here was another Doctor appearing as the Guardian! This just could not be countenanced as the two characters could not be seen as one and the same. However calmer heads prevailed as it was realised that any over-reaction on their part would just cement the relationship between the two in the public’s mind. They also remembered the furore about Sir Bernard in the revived Doctor Who. So although a few barbed letters flew between the BBC and Paramount’s hierarchies nothing much else was done. Certainly very few in the States thought much about it as Doctor Who still had not cracked the US market and so Paramount took the decision to just ignore the BBC.

Indeed when ITV finally broadcast Enterprise the situation was not even mentioned in the reviews as the critics had so much else at which to aim. (From this you can tell that although Enterprise was popular in the States it wasn’t in the UK (think of how much the general OTL British viewer knows of Andromeda!)).

However the short term result was that the BBC didn’t even bid for other Paramount television shows until the 1980s although it honoured its commitments for those that it had already purchased. Paramount shrugged its shoulders it was the BBC’s loss!

 

[Lindseyman]

This thread is NOT dead! However new posts are going to be very occasional for the next month. It is exam season and the students are churning out past papers which need to be marked and given back ASAP so they can learn from their mistakes (I hope!).

Anyway I’ll post when I can but it’ll be mid June before “normal” service is resumed.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Three Seasons of Enterprise

Season One shows the USS Enterprise after its accident at the end of Star Trek: USS Enterprise. They have suffered several fatalities and the crew is in shock at what they discover. They have moved roughly 300 years into the future. They have a run in with a very powerful ship from the Imperium and rescue a few members of another ship’s crew. Talking to the survivors and to an entity that calls himself the Guardian, Hunter and his crew discover that the United Systems and the Tellurian Empire have fallen to the Imperium. The Klingon Empire has survived but only exists on the sufferance of the Imperium. The Guardian also informs them that none of this should have happened and that he suspects that somebody is playing with the timeline to create an authoritarian Empire. He does not know why or who.

Subsequently the Enterprise makes its way to the survivor’s home planet and is made welcome. They have several adventures on the outskirts of Imperium controlled space including several run-ins with one ship and its captain Jochim (John Colicos) in particular. Hunter and Jochim form a grudging respect for each other. At the end of the season Hunter has only managed to create a patchy alliance between several unconquered worlds and the season ends with the Enterprise being captured by the apparent treachery of Spock.

Season Two opens with Hunter leading a jailbreak and recapturing the Enterprise from Spock who had been made its Captain by the Imperium’s leader Khan (Ricardo Montalban). The season concentrates on the Enterprise continually evading recapture by the Imperium and several close scrapes with both Jochim and Spock (who is now Commander of an Imperium ship). The season ends on a cliff-hanger as the Enterprise faces off against a fleet that is invading the Imperium and the Klingon Empire.

Season Three shows the aftermath of the invasion. The Imperium has collapsed although the remnants of its fleet fight on led by Jochim and Spock. The Guardian reappears and tells Hunter that he can correct everything but that he will have to trust him implicitly. Hunter agrees especially as Montgomery, his chief engineer, is only holding the Enterprise together with “sealing wax and string”. The Guardian manages to send the Enterprise with most of the crew left on the Guardian’s planet, back to the start of the Imperium’s invasion stating that the solution is obvious! Hunter, his ship on the verge of breaking up realises that he will have to self-destruct. This he does and the Imperium’s fleet is destroyed.

The last scene is the Guardian taking Hunter back to his ship as it appears 300 years in the future.

“Do not worry” is the Guardian’s final message to him.

NOTE:

1. I just cannot write another seventy odd episodes! So here is the outline that I had drawn up.

2. Obviously there are some things that would be explained more such as Spock’s treachery (or was it?).

3. Also what happens now is left completely open. The Enterprise is still sent to the future but what awaits them there now is unknown.

 

[Lindseyman]

Star Trek (The Next Endeavour)

Star Trek is a British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It was produced between 1974 and 1976 using a form of electronic marionette puppetry (dubbed "Supermarionation") combined with scale model special effects sequences. Two series were filmed, comprising a total of 42 episodes. Production ceased after Lew Grade, the Andersons' financial backer, failed in his efforts to sell the programme to American network television (as has happened with Thunderbirds).

Set roughly 20 years after the live action ITC Star Trek, Star Trek (The next Endeavour) is also a follow-up to the earlier Supermarionation productions Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds. It follows the exploits of the CSS Endeavour (named after the initial spaceship of the live action series: hence the subtitle for this programme) and its crew

Star Trek began its first run in the United Kingdom on the ITV network in 1975 and has since been broadcast in at least 60 other countries. Periodically repeated, it has had nearly as much influence as Thunderbirds and the live action Star Trek on various subsequent television programmes and films. Over the years it has inspired various merchandising campaigns especially in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Widely considered to be the Andersons' second most popular and commercially successful series, Star Trek has received particular praise for its effects and musical score. It is also well remembered for its title sequence, which opens with an often-quoted countdown by actor Shane Rimmer (who voiced the character of Captain Reynolds): "Space, the final Frontier, these are the voyages of the CSS Endeavour…”

Production

Star trek (the next Endeavour) was the fifth Supermarionation puppet TV series to be produced by APF, which was founded by the husband-and-wife duo of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (nee Thamm) with their business partners Arthur Provis, Reg Hill, and John Read. Pitched in late 1973, the series was commissioned by Lew Grade of ITC, APF's parent company, on the back of ITC’s increasing worry about the direction that Paramount was taking with its version of Star Trek, by now rebooted as Enterprise.

The series' title was a deliberate play on words as it was both about the next starship named Endeavour and also about what the Fleet and Commonwealth did next!

Filming

Star Trek was filmed at APF's studios on the Slough Trading Estate between 1974 and 1976. In preparation, the number of full-time crew was expanded to 180. Shooting began in August 1974 after eight months of pre-production. Due to the new series' technical complexity, especially the much more realistic puppets this was a period longer than for any of APF's earlier productions. To speed up the filming, episodes were shot in pairs, at a rate of two per month, on separate soundstages and by separate crews (designated "A" and "B"). By 1974, APF was again the UK's largest commercial user of colour film, consuming more than four million feet (760 miles or 1200 kilometres) of stock per year.

Alan Pattillo, a long time scriptwriter and director for APF, was re-appointed the company's script editor in late 1973. This move was aimed to reduce the burden on Gerry Anderson who, while reserving his producer's right to overall creative control, had grown weary of revising scripts himself. Direction of episodes was assigned in pairs: many of those who had directed Stingray and Thunderbirds willingly came back into harness (They had not been needed so much for the live action Star Trek and had found other jobs. As with Thunderbirds with the difficulties of setting up takes, progress was slow: even on a productive day, it was rare for the crew to complete more than two minutes of puppet footage. In a contemporary interview, Hill noted that Star Trek, like Thunderbirds, contained several times as many shots as a typical live-action series. He explained that rapid editing was necessary on account of the characters' lack of facial expression, which made it difficult to sustain the viewer's interest for more than a few seconds per shot.

Filming of Series One was completed in December 1975. A second series was also commissioned late that year and entered production in March 1976. The main puppet cast and vehicles were rebuilt; in addition, the art department expanded some of the standing sets, including the Endeavour Bridge and the engine room. To accommodate this, APF purchased two more buildings on the Slough Trading Estate and converted them into new stages. Filming of the TV series progressed at roughly twice the previous speed, four episodes per month being produced at one stage.

Production of Star Trek ended in October 1976 with the completion of the twenty second episode of Series Two. In March that year, it had been reported that Grade had been unable to sell the series in the United States due to disagreements over timeslots. In July, he cancelled Star Trek after failing in his second attempt to secure an American buyer. None of the three major US networks of the time – NBC, CBS and ABC – had bid for the series. NBC as they did not wish to deflect attention from their own version of Star Trek and the others as Star Trek in the USA was seen as a NBC property.

However by the time of its cancellation, Star Trek (the next Endeavour) had become widely popular in the UK and was being distributed extensively overseas. Grade, however, believed that without the financial boost of an American network sale, a full second series would fail to recover its production costs

Broadcast

Star Trek (the next Endeavour) premiered on British television on 30 September 1975 on the ITV franchises ATV Midlands, Westward and Channel. Other broadcasters, including Thames and Granada, started transmissions the following month. Despite Grade's decision to produce hour long episodes, Midlands and Granada broadcast each episode in two parts. In these areas, both 25-minute instalments aired on the same day, separated by the ITN Evening News. The conclusion opened with a narration by Shane Rimmer summarising the first part's action.

Granada transmitted Star Trek in its original, 50-minute format for the first time with the start of repeats in 1976. The availability of repeats during the 1960s and 1970s varied among regions. ATV Midlands screened the series regularly into the early 1980s; by contrast, Star Trek was entirely absent from Yorkshire Television between 1978 and 1986. The series was last transmitted on the ITV franchises in 1991.

The BBC acquired the rights to the TV episodes, which it broadcast simultaneously in all regions after showing the live action ITC Star Trek on BBC 2.

Since the end of the first network run, which achieved average viewing figures of more than six million, the BBC has repeated the series six times: between 2002 and 2003 (Series One only), 2004 and 2005 (Series Two only), and 2010 and 2011 (in remastered form), as well as in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Other channels that have shown repeats include UK Gold (2004–05), Bravo (2006-07) and Syfy (2009). In Scotland, the BBC screened a Gaelic dub, Star Trek: An Ath Endeavour ("The Next Endeavour") in the early 2000s.

The only country where this version of Star Trek was not sold was the USA. It took until Syfy broadcast it in 2009 for it to have been widely recognised although it had been available as a Region 1 DVD since the late 1990s.

EDIT: PROOF READ before posting!!!!

 

[Lindseyman]

The Wilderness Years

The mid-seventies to the mid-eighties were the wilderness years as far as Star Trek was concerned. With the ending of Enterprise after its third season there would be no Star Trek produced for television. So Star Trek slumbered in the States. Gene Roddenberry tried to float the idea of a film especially after the runaway success Of Star Wars but every attempt ended up in production hell. The torch was kept flickering by the novels written by people such as Vonda N McIntyre, Diane Duane and Dianne Carey. These were usually based in the Enterprise setting. However Barbara Hambly wrote a story “Ishmael” which happened during Star Trek: USS Enterprise which received both popular and critical success. American authors tended to leave the ITC Star Trek alone apart from James Blish who did write a novel about the aftermath of the Time War “Revelations” which did tie up a lot of loose ends.

In the UK there were multiple repeats of both the ITC Star Trek and the supermarionation production Star Trek (The Next Endeavour). Indeed one or the other could be found on British television every week up until the early nineties. So unlike in the States Star Trek never faded into virtual oblivion only remembered by a few (but very vocal) fans. Instead it achieved a cult status similar to, although with smaller numbers than, Doctor Who.

It was quite interesting that although in the US the ITC Star Trek was all but forgotten and the fandom (Prisers) remembered Enterprise in both its forms, in the UK it was the complete reverse. Here the fans (Trekkers) idolised the ITC Star Trek in all of its forms television, radio and comic but loathed (if they even remembered!) the US versions. As for the rest of the world; European countries tended to the UK position as did Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, however Canada had both sets of fans and Sci-Fi conventions could prove quite interesting! (The police had to be called in to break up fights between the two fandoms in Vancouver in 1979.)

Then rumours began to circulate about a reboot of Enterprise in the mid-eighties.

NOTE: This is NOT forgotten, just slumbering.

 

[Lindseyman]

Enterprise: The Next Generation

Background

Even in 1986, Enterprise was still getting respectable viewing figures in syndication, the franchise's longevity amazed Paramount Pictures executives. Chairman Frank Mancuso Sr. and others described it as one of the the studio's "crown jewels", a "priceless asset" that "must not be squandered". The series was the one of the most popular syndicated television program eleven years after cancellation. Also Battlestar Galactica (which had weathered the storms created by Twentieth Century Fox suing Universal for plagiarism) and Buck Rogers were still getting massive viewing figures which seemed to indicate that there was a demand and market for Sci-Fi. Paramount executives worried that a new show could hurt the demand for the original, but decided that it would increase their appeal on videocassette and cable, and that a show with unknown actors would be profitable. Roddenberry initially declined to be involved, but came on board as creator after being unhappy with early conceptual work. Enterprise: The Next Generation was announced on October 10, 1986 and its cast in May 1987.

Paramount executive Rick Berman was assigned to the show at Roddenberry's request. Roddenberry hired a number of Enterprise veterans, including Bob Justman, D. C. Fontana, Eddie Milkis, and David Gerrold. Early proposals for the series included one in which some of the original series cast might appear as "elder statesmen" and Roddenberry speculated as late as October 1986 that the new series might not even use a spaceship, as "people might travel by some [other] means". A more lasting change was his new belief that workplace interpersonal conflict would no longer exist in the future; thus, the new series did not have parallels to the frequent "crusty banter" between Hunter, Spock, and Piper.

The series' music theme was a modernised version of the originals with Jerry Goldsmith providing the inspiration for other music in the show.

There was some discussion as to the setting but to avoid complications that might ensue if the new series was a straight reboot it was decided that the series would be set roughly 100 years after the Enterprise was moved forward three hundred years the second time. This would allow sufficient wriggle room for any back story which might be developed if the new “Enterprise” was a success.

The ship would be called the USS Enterprise and would be the flagship of the New United Systems. The series would show the Enterprise exploring the Milky Way and re-establishing contact with systems lost after a long three sided war between the United Systems, the Klingon Empire and the Tellurian Empire. There would be no recurring “big bad” in the first season although the most common villains would be from the Ferenginar Trade Concillium which was loosely based on the British East India Company and Dutch VoC.

Casting

Captain Jean-Luc Picard Patrick Bauchau

Commander William Raleigh Michael O’Gorman

CMO Roberta Crusher Jenny Agutter

Chief of Operations Lieutenant Commander Data Brent Spiner

CEO Lieutenant Commander Matt Marshall Jonathan Frakes

Chief of Security Lieutenant Commander Sovak Jeffrey Combs

Helmsman Lieutenant Geordi La Forge Tim Russ

Tactical Officer Lieutenant M’ogh Michael Dorn

 

[PMN1]

What could really screw things up in the scifi world is casting as main charaters of Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas in Star Trek.

May be enough to break the universe.

 

[Lindseyman]

What could really screw things up in the scifi world is casting as main charaters of Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas in Star Trek.

May be enough to break the universe.

The only problem for B5 casting ITTL will be Andreas Katsulas, who will be in Enterprise albeit as a recurring character not a main one but there are ways round that!

 

[Lindseyman]

Broadcasting

Despite Enterprise's success in syndication, NBC and ABC only offered to consider pilot scripts for the new series, and CBS, remembering the less than expected success of Enterprise when first shown, offered to air a miniseries that could become a series if it did well. Paramount felt badly let down by the big three broadcasters in their reactions to the new Enterprise. Fox did want the show to help launch a new network, but wanted it by March 1987, and would only commit to 13 episodes instead of a full season. The protracted and eventually unsuccessful negotiations convinced the studio that it could only protect Star Trek with full control.

So Paramount chose instead to broadcast it in first-run syndication on independent stations (whose numbers had more than tripled since 1980) and Big Three network affiliates. The studio offered the show to local stations for free as barter syndication. The stations sold five minutes of commercial time to local advertisers and Paramount sold the remaining seven minutes to national advertisers. Stations had to commit to purchasing reruns in the future, and only those that aired the new show could purchase the increasingly popular reruns of the original series.

The studio's strategy succeeded. Most of the 150 stations airing reruns of the original Enterprise wanted to prevent a competitor from airing the new show; ultimately, 210 stations covering 90% of the United States became part of Paramount's informal nationwide network for Enterprise: The Next Generation. In early October 1987, more than 50 network affiliates pre-empted their own shows for the series pilot, "To Boldly Go”. One station predicted that "Enterprise: The Next Generation'' promises to be one of the most successful programs of the season, network or syndicated."

The new show indeed performed well; the pilot's ratings were higher than those of many network programs, and ratings remained comparable to network shows by the end of the first season despite the handicap of each station airing the show on a different day and time, often outside prime time. By the end of the first season, Paramount reportedly received $1 million for advertising per episode, more than the roughly $800,000 fee that networks typically paid for a one-hour show; by 1992, when the budget for each episode had risen to almost $2 million, the studio earned $90 million from advertising annually from first-run episodes, with each 30-second commercial selling for $115,000 to $150,000. The show had a 40% return on investment for Paramount, with $30 to $60 million in annual upfront net profit for first-run episodes and another $70 million for stripping rights for each of the about 100 episodes then available, so did not need overseas sales to be successful.

However overseas sales were also impressive. Unlike the original Enterprise, Enterprise: The Next Generation was a major success in many of the markets that had preferred the original ITC Star Trek. The one exception was initially the UK where reception to the new series was initially exceptionally cool. It was not shown on British Television until 1990 when it was broadcast on BBC2 at 6pm from Wednesday September 26th when it received poor reviews and small viewing figures (1 million) but by the end of the first season it was getting 3.5 million viewers (which was considered a success for its timeslot). The viewing figures climbed from there as even the British warmed to this version of Star Trek.

NOTE: This closely mirrors what happened to STNG OTL (at least in the US).

 

[Lindseyman]

Season 1 of Enterprise: The Next Generation

Ratings

Enterprise: The Next Generation was released into broadcast syndication, meaning that it was hosted on multiple television stations without going through a broadcast network. At the time this was relatively unheard of, although Enterprise had become successful following release on syndication after an initial run on NBC. In advance of the first airing of the pilot, "To Boldly Go", the show had been sold in 171 markets. There were concerns at the time that such a method of broadcasting would negatively impact the ratings received by the series, with Bob Justman suggesting that the payoff would be worth it due to the lack of interference from a potential network.

"To Boldly Go" received Nielsen ratings of 16.5 percent, and it was granted a commitment for a further 24 one hour episodes following the broadcast. The pilot was the highest rated episode of the first season; the lowest rated episode of the first season was "The Last Outpost", the fourth episode broadcast, which received ratings of 9.3 percent. Three episodes later, "Justice" was broadcast, which received a rating of 14.7 percent, the highest for the season other than the pilot. As of the period between September 6 and January 3, the show was only outranked in the Nielsen Ratings by Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! for shows released directly into syndication, and it became the highest rated syndicated series by the end of the first season, which prompted several other series to be released directly into syndication.

Reviews

Although it was highly anticipated, when the series was initially broadcast, the response was variable from fans and reviewers. John J. O'Connor reviewed the first episode for The New York Times, and simply hoped that the action and pace would increase in the episodes aired after the pilot. Other critics of "To Boldly Go" were more positive; Don Merrill, writing for TV Guide said that the show was a "worthy successor to the original". Jill L. Lanford for The Herald Journal said that it was a resurrection of a "legend". She added that it was the "perfect vehicle to introduce the crew", and a "perfect start". There was also some initial criticism of the casting, with Tom Shales of The Washington Post calling Patrick Bauchau a "grim crank who would make a better villain", and saying that Michael O’Gorman “verges on namby-pamby".

While critics approved of certain elements of the show such as the design of the new Enterprise, the early episodes after the pilot were received negatively. "The Omega Connection", the second episode of the season, was based on the original series episode "The Omega Glory". This resulted in some fans, and former Star Trek writers, becoming concerned that the series would continue to "re-hash" old plots. "Code of Duty" has been seen in hindsight as being racist, with Bauchau later saying that the cast and crew were embarrassed by it. Mark A. Altman felt that The Next Generation during the first season was a missed opportunity to address issues relevant to modern life. He called some episodes "trite", and suggested that elements were straight rehashes of previous plots with only some names and scenarios changed. Jonathon Frakes remarked while promoting Star Trek: Reunion that in the beginning "they bloody hated us".


Reviewing the series as part of the DVD release in 2002, Marc Bernardin for Entertainment Weekly said of season one, that it was "almost hard to believe ... just how patchy much of it was". He thought that it "succeeded where it needed to: It introduced viewers to the characters who would carry the torch through six more seasons", and gave it a score of B+. Tor.com reviewer Keith DeCandido was less positive, feeling that it "earned" its reputation as the poorest of The Next Generation's seven seasons because "the episodes were uneven, poorly plotted, ineptly scripted, and acted by actors who were still trying to figure their characters out". He gave it a score of 6 out of 10

Accolades

Enterprise: The Next Generation received five nominations at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards. Chris Haire, Doug Davey, Jerry Clemans and Alan Bernard were nominated for "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series" for work on the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before". Edward R. Brown was nominated for "Outstanding Cinematography for a Series" for "The Big Goodbye".

The makeup teams on the show were nominated for two episodes for "Outstanding Achievement Makeup for a Series", for the episodes "Coming of Age" and "Conspiracy", winning the award for the latter episode. William Ware Theiss won the award "Outstanding Costume Design for a Series" for "The Big Goodbye", while the team working on "11001001" won the Emmy for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series".

"The Big Goodbye" also won a Peabody Award. The series' premier episode, "To Boldly Go" was nominated for "Best Dramatic Presentation" at the 1988 Hugo Awards.

Episodes

1 & 2 "To Boldly Go"

The new star ship Enterprise begins her maiden voyage by uncovering the mysteries of an advanced space station.

3 "The Omega Connection"

The crew of the Enterprise find a decrepit star ship orbiting an inhabited planet. Beaming down they become embroiled in a war between factions over the exact meaning of their holy words.

4 "Code of Duty"

Lt. M’ogh is abducted by the leader of a people who abide by a strict code of honour, which requires his participation in a fight to the death.

5 "The Last Outpost"

An unknown force immobilizes the Enterprise during the Federation's first encounter with a new alien threat—the Ferenginar Trade Concillium.

6 "Where No One Has Gone Before"

Warp efficiency tests send the Enterprise traveling far beyond known space, where the crew's imagination takes on real form. .

7 "Lonely Among Us"

An alien entity possesses Dr. Crusher, M’ogh, and Picard while the Enterprise is transporting delegates from two feuding planets.

8 "Justice"

Matt Marshall breaks an idyllic world's trivial law by accidentally stepping on flowers and faces the death sentence.

9 "The Battle"

A Tellurian captain returns the abandoned Stargazer to its former captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Picard, who experiences severe headaches, begins to relive the "Battle of Maxia" in which he lost the ship.

10 "Hide"

The Enterprise engages in a game of Cat and Mouse with a FTC vessel

11 "Haven"

The Enterprise encounters a “Plague Ship”

12 "The Big Goodbye"

A concussion makes Picard believe that he is a character in a detective story.

13 "Data"

The Enterprise responds to an emergency signal from the Omicron Theta colony—where Data was found—which was destroyed by a life form dubbed "the Crystalline Entity." The Crystalline Entity returns to threaten the Enterprise.

14 "Angel One"

The Enterprise visits a world dominated by women to rescue survivors of a downed freighter.

15 "11001001"

Bynars upgrade the Enterprise's computers in space dock. Riker and Picard become distracted by a surprisingly realistic hallucination.

16 "Too Short a Season"

The Enterprise transports a legendary geriatric admiral who must once again negotiate a hostage situation involving a man from decades earlier in his career. The admiral however, is mysteriously growing younger the farther along their mission progresses.

17 "When the Bough Breaks"

A planet formerly existing only in legend uncloaks and requests help from the Enterprise. The planet's inhabitants are sterile and want to use the Enterprise crew to produce a future generation

18 "Home Soil"

The crew of the Enterprise discovers a crystalline lifeform with murderous intelligence that has been killing the scientists on a terraforming project.

19 "Investigation"

The senior staff of the Enterprise are placed under investigation by Fleet Command.


20 "Heart of Glory"

Fugitive Klingons seeking battle attempt to hijack the Enterprise, and ask M’ogh to join them.

21 "The Arsenal of Freedom"

Trapped on the surface of an abandoned planet, an away team becomes unwitting participants in the demonstration of an advanced weapons system.

22 "Symbiosis"

Picard tries to mediate a trade dispute between two neighbouring planets, one of which is the sole supplier of a drug to treat the other's apparently fatal disease.

23 "The Guardian"

The Enterprise encounters the legendary Guardian

24 "We'll Always Have Paris"

Picard meets an old flame, whose husband has been affected by an accident involving a dimensional experiment.

25 "Conspiracy"

The strange behaviour of high-ranking officers—which earlier prompted the investigation of the crew (in "Investigation")—leads Picard to uncover a conspiracy within Fleet Command.

26 "The Runaways"

A derelict satellite is found containing humans from the 23rd century held in transporter stasis as the Enterprise is sent to investigate the destruction of outposts near FTC space.

NOTE: This is rather adjacent to OTL STNG Season One

 

[Lindseyman]

Season 2

The second season of Enterprise: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast syndication in the United States on November 21, 1988, and concluded on July 17, 1989, after airing 22 episodes.

There had been significant changes backstage to the writing team. Maurice Hurley became head writer, and following extensive re-writes to "The Royale" and "Manhunt", Tracy Tormé left the writing team. Other departing writers included Leonard Mlodinow and Scott Rubenstein, while Melinda M. Snodgrass, Hans Beimler and Richard Manning joined the team. At the end of the season, Hurley also left the team. Production designer Herman F. Zimmerman left the show to work on the film Battlestar Galactica III and was replaced by Richard James, who remained with the show for the rest of the series.

The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike caused the season to be shortened to 22 episodes, and was later blamed for the lack of quality of the first few episodes. The strike also resulted in the writing team using ideas from the original Enterprise, and from Star Trek: USS Enterprise to open the season. Budgetary changes allowed for individual episode funding to be carried between episodes, but this resulted in a lack of funding towards the end of the season which the crew attempted to solve by creating a clip show.

"The Child" opened to 10.9 million viewers, and ratings peaked with both "A Matter of Honor" and "The Measure of a Man", which were watched by 11.3 million. Although a decrease in viewers saw the lowest number of viewers for a first-run episode in the series in "Manhunt", the show became the third most-watched series in its timeslot. Critics praised the episodes "The Measure of a Man" and "Tellus", but found "Shades of Grey" to be one of the worst episodes of the entire Star Trek franchise. The season was first released on DVD on May 7, 2002 on Region 1, and was subsequently released on Regions 2 and 3. The region-free Blu-ray releases came in December 2012.

Writing

The second season saw Maurice Hurley being promoted to head writer after the departure of Robert Lewin. Hurley had been brought on board during the first season. His prior experience had been with shows such as The Equalizer and Miami Vice, and he later explained that he took the position because it challenged him. The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike had caused problems at the end of the first season, and these continued as the development of season two started, resulting in a shortened season. Executive producer Rick Berman blamed a decrease in quality at the start of season two on the lack of time available for proper development due to the writer's strike. Hurley felt that the writing on the show managed to get into a rhythm during the second half of the first season, and that the strike stopped that and resulted in his eventually leaving the series. He also criticised the lack of character arcs in the series, saying that "I did some good, some bad, some mediocre, but it's not a show that I could continue to do. It's not where I come from."


Hurley had objected to the violent and gory scenes seen in the first-season episode "Conspiracy", written by Tracy Tormé, and Tormé continued to feel alienated by Hurley. Tormé stepped down from his role as co-executive story editor, taking credit instead as a creative consultant. Following Hurley's modifications to Tormé's scripts for "The Royale" and "Manhunt", Tormé elected to be credited under a pseudonym only. At one point, Roddenberry had thought that Tormé would become eventual showrunner, but the writer left due to the re-writes required under Hurley's tenure. Hannah Louise Shearer also left the team between seasons, due to differences with Hurley, but contributed stories in later seasons.[2] Other writers joined the team during the second season, including The Tears of the Singers author Melinda M. Snodgrass, who sold the script for "The Measure of a Man". Hans Beimler and Richard Manning were hired in the newly created positions of executive script consultants. They had both been story editors for the final eight episodes of the first season. Snodgrass later explained that, "Once I came on board there suddenly seemed to be this climate of discussion among the writers about what we wanted to do with the show. My impression was that this was a new phenomenon. We were a little bit more on the same wavelength." She was hired as a story editor following the submission of her first episode, alongside Leonard Mlodinow and Scott Rubenstein. The other two editors left after four more episodes, with Snodgrass remaining as the sole story editor for the rest of the season.

Development

The bluegills were re-introduced in the episode "Tellus", modified from the insectoid race that Hurley had intended to introduce in a longer version of the season one finale "The Neutral Zone". They returned sporadically throughout the following seasons, appearing in ten further episodes. A further change seen in season two, which increased later in the season, was an increased focus on the trio of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Raleigh and Lt Cmdr. Data, reminiscent of Captain Hunter, Dr. Piper and Spock in Star Trek: USS Enterprise and the first season of Enterprise. This relegated the other cast members to background roles for the majority of episodes.

Paramount changed the way that individual episodes were funded, with overspending on some episode budgets allowed on the proviso that it would be recouped by a reduction in others.] Due to the effects of the writer's strike, the writing staff searched the scripts, both used and unused, from Star Trek: USS Enterprise. From those scripts, several were identified with potential for season two.

Budgetary reasons resulted in the season ending with the episode "Shades of Grey", a clip show consisting mostly of footage of earlier episodes. That episode was filmed over three days instead of the usual seven, and was agreed by the production staff to be one of the worst episodes of any Star Trek series.


Ratings

By the end of season one, The Next Generation had become the highest-rated first-run hour-long syndicated series, and the third highest-rated syndicated show overall, behind only Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. The first episode of season two, "The Child", aired on November 21, 1988 to Nielsen ratings of 10.9 million. After an initial slight decrease in viewers over the next five episodes, the season broke the 11 million mark with "Unnatural Selection" and then peaked as the next two episodes, "A Matter of Honor" and "The Measure of a Man", were both watched by 11.3 million viewers. After this, the ratings decreased gradually until "Manhunt", watched by 8.9 million and receiving the lowest ratings for a first-run broadcast of a Next Generation episode. "Shades of Grey" closed the season on July 17, 1989, watched by 9.8 million viewers. Despite the higher ratings seen in the earlier part of the season, it was only from "Tellus" onwards that The Next Generation rose to become the third most-viewed series in its timeslot.


Reviews

Keith DeCandido for Tor.com said that second season was the one on which the rest of the series was based, with characters taking long-term roles such as Tim Russ as Chief Helmsman and M’ogh at the Tactical station. He gave "Tellus" ten out of ten, while he gave "Shades of Grey" a zero. It was the first time he awarded the top score to an episode; none of the first season had qualified. He gave the season an overall mark of seven out of ten and said that "Far too many people say that TNG didn't come into its own until the third season, and frankly, I think that that estimation comes a year too late."

Jamahl Epsicokhan at his website "Jammer's Reviews" gave full marks of four out of four to both "The Measure of a Man" and "Tellus". His highlight of the former was the performance of Patrick Bauchau as Picard in the courtroom setting, while of the latter, he said that it was the "most absolutely necessary episode of TNG's second season". Like DeCandido, Epsicokhan gave "Shades of Grey" a score of zero and described it as "the most pointless episode of TNG ever made".

IGN's Scott Collura thought that season two was an improvement over the roughness of season one and was the first time that the show stepped out from the shadow of The Original Series. He stated that several of the more memorable elements of Star Trek were introduced in this season, such as the Bluegills. He said that "The Measure of a Man" was the highlight of the season, while he described "Shades of Grey" as "Picard's Cheap-Ass Trip Down Memory Lane".


Accolades

Episodes in season two of The Next Generation were nominated for eight Emmy Awards. "Tellus" was nominated in three categories, winning two: Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series. These were the only Emmy Awards won by the show.

Episodes

1 "The Child"

Whilst Lt Cmdr Marshall prepares the Enterprise to transport dangerous plague specimens; NUS Ambassador Beverly (Gates McFadden) spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child.

2 "Where Silence Has Lease"

The Enterprise becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon. Here they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being unlike any they have encountered before.

3 "Organia"

The Enterprise encounters a Tellurian ship captained by an old foe of Picard’s, Richter (Andreas Katsulas). They clash over a seemingly helpless planet. However all is not as it seems.

4 "The Outrageous Okona"

The Enterprise is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while Data explores humor.

5 "Operation: Annihilate"

The Enterprise rescues a newly rediscovered human planet from a virulent threat.

6 "The Schizoid Man"

Scientist Dr. Ira Graves (W. Morgan Sheppard) cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into Lt Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner).

7 "Unnatural Selection"

The Enterprise receives a distress call from the USS Lantree, discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate.

8 "A Matter of Honor"

The Enterprise discovers a Tellurian ship (previously met in “Organia”) rapidly “decomposing”. It renders aid although it too starts to decompose. Marshall eventually finds a solution.

9 "The Measure of a Man"

After Lt Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) refuses an order from Starfleet to be dismantled for research purposes, a hearing is convened to determine if he is a legal citizen or property of the Federation.

10 "The Iotian Connection II"

The Enterprise investigates signals from the Iotian system and has a surprise!

11 "Contagion"

A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after causing the destruction of her sister ship, the USS Yamato.

12 "The Royale"

Raleigh (Michael O’Gorman), M’ogh (Michael Dorn), and Data investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they leave, they are prevented from doing so, and are forced to stay.

13 "Time Squared"

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Bauchau) encounters his future self when the Enterprise becomes caught in a time loop.

14 "The Icarus Factor"

Mitchell's estranged father, Charles (Mitchell Ryan), visits to brief him on the new ship he's been offered, and M’ogh's friends discover he is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage.

15 "Pen Pals"

The Prime Directive is threatened when Data befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity.

16 "Tellus"

Picard is contacted by Richter to help solve a problem on Tellus. The alien species from Conspiracy have returned.

17 "Samaritan Snare"

A group of seemingly dim-witted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Mitchell to "make their ship go".

18 "Up the Long Ladder"

Captain Picard must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures.

19 "Manhunt"

Ambassador Beverly is in the market for a new husband, and she has set her sights on Captain Picard.

20 "The Emissary"

M’ogh's former lover comes aboard Enterprise to help deal with a ship full of Klingon sleeper agents unaware they are no longer at war.

21 "Peak Performance"

Picard and Richter join forces again to finally defeat the “Bluegills” in the Tellurian Empire.

22 "Shades of Gray"

Picard is concussed into a coma in which he relives various moments of his service aboard the Enterprise.

NOTE: Again quite adjacent to OTL STNG Season 2, but no Q and no Borg

 

[Lindseyman]

Season 3 of Enterprise: The Next Generation

The third season of Enterprise: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast syndication in the United States on September 25, 1989 and concluded on June 18, 1990 after airing 26 episodes.

Further changes occurred to the writing staff, with Michael Piller brought on board as executive producer after Michael I. Wagner held the position for three weeks. Ronald D. Moore also joined the staff following the submission of a script for "The Bonding". Hans Beimler, Richard Manning, Melinda M. Snodgrass and Ira Steven Behr all left the staff at the end of the season. Other changes included a modification to the opening sequence, and changes to the Starfleet uniforms on the show, which resulted in the creation of Patrick Bauchau's "Picard Manoeuvre".

The season opened with Nielsen ratings of 10.8 for "Evolution" with the highest rated episode being "Yesterday's Enterprise" which scored 11.9. This was the highest rating received since the sixth episode of the first season. The lowest rating of the season was received by the 24th episode, "Kidnapped", which was given a score of 9.1. After a couple of initial ranking decreases, the episodes in the second half of the season rose back to third place in its timeslot. The season was well received by critics, who called it one of the best of the series. Particular praise was given to several episodes including "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "Sins of the Father".

Writing

Senior writer Maurice Hurley left at the end of season two, and Michael I. Wagner was brought onto the show by executive producer Rick Berman. Wagner's tenure was brief, lasting three weeks, and he recommended Michael Piller to replace him. Wagner and Piller had previously worked together on the 1988 American television series Probe. Piller's agent had advised him not to join Star Trek as he would be "pigeon-holed as a freelance writer", but he ignored the advice. He would also look at leaving at the end of the season, but stayed after Berman and show creator Gene Roddenberry convinced him. Piller wrote the episode that opened the season, "Evolution" and took over as executive producer from "The Bonding" onwards. He explained to the writing staff that there was two requirements for every episode, saying that "every episode is going to be about a character's growth. And every episode has to be about something."

The season also saw internal promotions to the existing writing staff. Both Hans Beimler and Richard Manning became co-producers, while Melinda M. Snodgrass became an executive script consultant. Following "The Vengeance Factor", Ira Steven Behr joined the crew as a writing producer. All four writers left the series at the end of the season. Richard Danus also acted as executive story editor between "Booby Trap" through to "Yesterday's Enterprise". Because of the open door policy on spec scripts Piller employed, the season saw the first script for Ronald D. Moore with "The Bonding". Because of his success with that script, he was subsequently hired as executive story editor from "Sins of the Father" onwards.

Ratings

By the end of season two, The Next Generation had risen to become the third most viewed series in its timeslot. "Evolution" opened the third season with Nielsen ratings 10.8 according to Nielsen Media Research. These were among the second lowest ratings of the season, with only the 23rd episode scoring lower with 9.1. Although other episodes received higher Nielsen ratings, they were ranked lower in comparison to other series in the same timeslot. "The Bonding" was ranked 6th, while "The Vengeance Factor" was ranked 5th. Following the latter, the series rose back to 3rd with only occasional drops to 4th place. "Yesterday's Enterprise" was the highest rated with Nielsen ratings of 11.9. It was the highest rated episode since the eighth episode of the first season, "Justice" which was broadcast on November 8, 1987.


Reviews

Keith DeCandido for Tor.com thought that the third season was where the series "really came into its own". He praised the changes to the show, such as the modification to the uniforms, and especially the new writing staff that joined the crew during the third season. He said that some of the episodes were highlights of the franchise, not just The Next Generation. Those episodes praised were "Sins of the Father" and "Yesterday's Enterprise". He particularly thought that the season finale had never been matched in the entire franchise. He summed up the season by saying that it had "solidified TNG as a show that had finally outgrown the shadow of its predecessor and could stand on its own as a truly fine television show."


Michael Simpson in his review of the Blu-ray release for SciFiNow magazine said that season three was where the series "found its feet". He thought that the increase in quality was due to the changes in writing staff, such as the addition of Piller, Echevarria and Moore. He also said that it was the most consistent and memorable season of the series, and several episodes were an "object lesson in clever, suspenseful plotting". Richard Edwards in his review for SFX magazine, said that it was in the third season that the "chemistry really clicked" between the main cast. He compared it to The Original Series, saying that in this season the show started "to vie with Kirk and co for the mantle of Trek's definitive incarnation". He too praised "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "Sins of the Father”. In Jeremy Conrad's review of season three for IGN, he said that "Yesterday's Enterprise” lifted the season and "define[d] it as the best of all seven years".


Accolades

"Yesterday's Enterprise" was nominated in three categories at the 1990 Emmy Awards, winning one for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. "Deja Q" was also nominated in two categories, but was not successful in either. In total, the series was nominated for nine awards, with the only other win coming in the category of Outstanding Art Direction for a Series for "Sins of the Father". "Allegiance", "Tin Man" and "Hollow Pursuits" were the other episodes nominated

Episodes

1 "Evolution"

Nanites escape a lab in Engineering and form a collective intelligence, threatening the Enterprise.

2 "The Ensigns of Command"

Data (Brent Spiner) must persuade a stubborn colony to evacuate their homeland under threat of a powerful and mysterious race.

3 "The Survivors"

The Enterprise investigates the last two survivors of an annihilated world, as the entire surface has been transformed to dust except their one little house and garden.

4 "Who Watches the Watchers"

Commander William Raleigh (Michael O’Gorman) must rectify the damage done when two primitives from Mintaka III catch a glimpse of a Federation observation team and eventually conclude that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Bauchau) is a god.

5 "The Bonding"

A mysterious entity seeks to comfort a boy who has lost his mother in an accident on its planet.

6 "Booby Trap"

The Enterprise falls victim to an ancient booby trap set to snare starships. While in an effort to find an escape, Lt. Cmdr. Matt Marshall (Jonathon Frakes) finds himself falling for visiting engineer Dr. Leah Brahms (Susan Gibney).

7 "The Enemy"

Matt Marshall is trapped on a harsh planet with a hostile Tellurian named Hummel (John Snyder) but the two must work together to survive.

8 "The Price"

Dr Crusher (Jenny Agutter) falls in love with a charismatic negotiator who vies for rights to a wormhole. But several different groups, including the Ferengi, are after the wormhole as it may be the only known stable wormhole in existence.

9 "The Vengeance Factor"

William Raleigh exposes an assassin bent on carrying out an ancient blood feud in the midst of critical peace talks with a band of nomadic marauders.

10 "Peace in our Time"

Richter (Andreas Katsulus) escorts a Tellurian Ambassador (Peter Jurasik) to formalise a treaty with the New United Systems. Picard (Patrick Bauchau) has to deal with elements of Fleet Command that try to derail the signing.

11 "The Hunted"

A genetically modified soldier reveals the social problems of an old Commonwealth world hoping to join the New United Systems.

12 "The High Ground"

Dr. Crusher is kidnapped by terrorists who need medical assistance as the technology employed in their attacks is detrimental to their own health.

13 "Time and the Guardian"

The Guardian (Burgess Meredith) asks for help when he receives a message from another of his race.

14 "A Matter of Perspective"

Commander Raleigh is accused of murder and the crew investigate uncovering a plot against the Enterprise.

15 "Yesterday's Enterprise"

The previous USS Enterprise arrives from the past causing a shift in reality.

16 "The Rememberers"

The Enterprise discovers a planet of Data like Androids with repercussions for Data.

17 "Sins of the Father"

Lt. M’ogh (Michael Dorn) goes on trial to prove his father's innocence after the Klingon High Council declares that M’oghs father is a traitor and had worked with the Tellurians all along.

18 "Allegiance"

Aliens kidnap Captain Picard and replace him with a duplicate who sends the Enterprise to a pulsar. Meanwhile, the real Picard and three other captives try to escape from their prison.

19 " Holiday"

Captain Picard is convinced to take some much needed shore leave on Risa but gets wrapped up in a woman's treasure hunt.

20 "Tin Man"

The Enterprise tries to establish first contact with an unknown vessel near an unstable star before the FTC do.

21 "Hollow Pursuits"

The Enterprise suffers from mysterious and random malfunctions.

22 "Collector"

Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek), an obsessed collector, is determined to add Data to his private collection of unique items.

23 "Spock"

The Enterprise is plagued by an outbreak of violence when it is visited by the renowned Vulcanian ambassador, Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Discovering that Spock is suffering from an insidious disease, which requires years of treatment, Captain Picard must allow a mind-meld with him so that the ambassador can complete a last vital negotiation between the Federation and the Tellurians.

24 "Kidnapped"

The FTC kidnap Dr Crusher, Ambassador Beverly, and Commander William Raleigh.

25 "Transfigurations"

The Enterprise rescues a humanoid with amnesia and incredible healing powers.

26 "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I"

Captain Picard is kidnapped by the Bluegills as they try a more direct method of subjugating the New United Systems.

NOTE: Again adjacent to the equivalent season of STNG.

 

[Some Bloke]

Any chance of threadmarks? Great TL though.

 

[Lindseyman]

Any chance of threadmarks? Great TL though.

Threadmarks done up to the end of Series 4 of the ITC Star Trek.
Oh, and thank you
EDIT Now done up to the start of Star Trek: USS Enterprise
EDIT 2 Now finished threadmarks

 

[Lindseyman]

Season 4 of Enterprise: The Next Generation

The fourth season of Enterprise: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast syndication in the United States on September 24, 1990 and concluded on June 17, 1991 after airing 26 episodes.

This season saw a change in cast Patrick Bauchau and Michael O’Gorman left the show .They were replaced by Avery Brooks as Captain Joseph Sisko and Elizabeth Dennehy as Lieutenant Commander Isabel Shelby as the new Chief of Security. Jeffrey Combs’ character Sovak was promoted to Commander and First Officer. Much was initially made of an African-American commanding a star ship until Brooks himself, rather caustically, pointed out that the original ITC Star Trek had got there twenty years earlier!

The show embracing the notion of serialized storylines. A recurring theme throughout the season is Sovak’s unease at being made First Officer instead of Data. A second recurring storyline in the season is the growth of Matt Marshall as a character. His middle name is revealed and he gets married. By the end of season 4 Marshall occupies much the same role as Scotty in earlier versions.

While a standalone syndicated series, the series was paired with other shows for the two night syndicated programming block Hollywood Premiere Network from Chris-Craft TV and MCA TV.

This season marked the 80th episode, "Doubts", passing the 79 episodes run of Enterprise: The Original Series. It also marked the 100th episode of The Next Generation with the episode "Redemption". Gene Roddenberry and the cast and crew celebrated this event with a cake and were interviewed by Entertainment Tonight.

Writing

Veteran television writer Lee Sheldon was a producer for the first eight episodes of this season. He also wrote the episode "Remember Me".

Following the departure of Richard Manning and Hans Beimler as co-producers, Jeri Taylor joined the crew as supervising producer and also wrote several episodes. She was asked to join the staff after rewriting the episode "Suddenly Human". Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore worked together as executive story editors and Brannon Braga worked as writing staff intern, although uncredited. Andy Neskoromny also joined the staff as assistant art director and chief lighting technician Buddy Bowles was replaced by William Peets after the first four episodes. Following Vivian McAteer's departure, Yolanda Toussieng was hired as hair designer and sound editor Mace Matiosian was replaced by Dan Yale.

Michael Piller explained the change to a more emotional storyline and the decision to have more episodes feature the familial connections with "You cannot kill the regulars and the audience knows it. But you can wound them."

The episode "Family" is the only episode of The Next Generation not having any scenes on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Ratings

"Best of Both Worlds" opened the fourth season with Nielsen ratings 12.3 according to Nielsen Media Research. These were the second highest ratings of the season, with only the “The Host” episode scoring higher with 12.8. Although other episodes received high Nielsen ratings, they were ranked lower in comparison to other series in the same timeslot. "The Reunion" was ranked 7th, while "Second Contact" was ranked 5th. Following the latter, the series rose back to 3rd with only occasional drops to 4th place.

Reviews

Keith DeCandido for Tor.com thought “Not the best season, but far from the worst. One can view each season like a car: each year shifting into the next gear, but by the time you hit fourth gear, you’re coasting down the highway.”

Michael Simpson writing for Sci Fi now in 2017 thought “The Next Generation's fourth season is a solid sci-fi experience that suffers in comparison to the season before only because that was such a big step up from what the series had previously produced.”

Jeremy Conrad writing for IGN review also in 2017 wrote “This year the show finally solidified into the TNG we all remember. It's the year where the writers began to focus on the characters more and their relationships with each other.”

Episodes

1 "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"

Picard (Patrick Bauchau) is rescued from the Bluegills, at the cost of Raleigh’s (Michael O’Gorman) life, as the Enterprise races to save Earth. Data (Brent Spiner) and Sovak (Jeffrey Combs) manage to find a way to destroy the ship containing the Bluegill Queen freeing the other ships from her influence.

2 "Family"

While the Enterprise is undergoing repairs at Earth, Captain Picard undergoes surgery to remove the bluegill, but resigns as Captain of the Enterprise accepting a senior teaching position at the Academy. Marshall (Johnathan Frakes) visits his family and rekindles an old romance.

3 "Brothers"

Joseph Sisko (Avery Brooks) assumes command of the Enterprise. Data is summoned by the Rememberer Androids and given disturbing news about a future threat.

4 "Suddenly Human"

Sisko must help a human boy, raised by aliens, to decide his fate.

5 "Remember Me"

After an apparent failure of a warp-field experiment, people begin to disappear from the Enterprise with only Dr. Crusher (Jenny Agutter) remembering that they ever existed.

6 "Doubts"

Sovak is racked by guilt at becoming First Officer instead of Data. Sisko and Data help him come to terms with the appointment

7 "Reunion"

Marshall's former lover returns. Sisko and M’ogh (Michael Dorn) defuse a cause of tension with the Klingons.

8 "Future Imperfect"

Sovak finds himself sixteen years in the future. His memory of the interim is erased by a dormant virus.

9 "Resolution"

Sovak and Data become stranded on a desert planet. They finally put Sovak’s guilt to rest before being rescued.

10 "Emotions"

An unknown force captures the Enterprise and causes Data to malfunction.

11 "Data's Day"

Data gets dancing lessons from Dr. Crusher in preparation of Marshall's wedding as the Enterprise brings an Ambassador (Peter Jurasik) to the Tellurians for more negotiations.

12 "The Wounded"

A rogue Starfleet Captain jeopardizes the Tellurian peace treaty. Sisko encounters Richter (Andreas Katsulas) for the first time.

13 "Devil's Due"

A powerful mythic figure from a millennium ago returns to enslave a planet in accordance with a contract. However, Sisko is convinced she is an opportunistic charlatan.

14 "Clues"

The crew, with the exception of Data, is rendered unconscious for 30 seconds after going through a localized wormhole. However, various clues suggest they were unconscious for an entire day.

15 "Second Contact"

The Enterprise encounters an unknown ship. Its automated defence kicks in but they discover unsettling information.

16 "Galaxy's Child"

The Enterprise accidentally kills a space creature, and the crew rush to save its unborn offspring. Meanwhile, Marshall is finding it hard to balance his life.

17 "Night Terrors"

The Enterprise is trapped in a rift, the crew succumbs to REM sleep deprivation, and Dr. Crusher has a recurring nightmare.

18 "Identity Crisis"

Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy) transforms into an alien creature with a strong instinct to return to its planet of origin.

19 "The Nth Degree"

After an encounter with an alien probe, an engineering ensign (Wil Wheaton) experiences great leaps in confidence and intelligence.

20 "Diminishing Returns"

The Enterprise encounters a FTC ship whose mission has gone spectacularly pear shaped.

21 "The Drumhead"

A witch-hunt ensues for suspected Bluegills aboard the Enterprise.

22 "Half a Life"

Ambassador Beverly (Gates McFadden) finally finds love but discovers her man must undergo a ritualistic suicide.

23 "The Host"

The Enterprise encounters a remorseful Marquis of Gallia (John Vernon)

24 "The Mind's Eye"

The FTC brainwash La Forge (Tim Russ) to carry out a covert mission.

25 "In Theory"

Data participates in a romantic relationship with a fellow crew member.

26 "Redemption"

Picard re-joins the Enterprise on a secret mission.

 

[Lindseyman]

Season 5 of Enterprise: The Next Generation

The fifth season of Enterprise: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast syndication in the United States on September 23, 1991 and concluded on June 15, 1992 after airing 26 episodes.

This season sees Sisko come into his own as Captain of the Enterprise with him having some of the more memorable experiences of the series, such as learning to communicate with the heretofore unintelligible Tamarians ("Darmok") and meeting with Ambassador Spock in "Negotiations". Most notably, in "The Inner Light", he experiences 40 or so years of life as an ironweaver on an extinct alien world after an encounter with a probe launched before the destruction of that world.

Salma Hayek joined the cast as Lieutenant Marcia Hernandez, an officer who was initially conceived to be one the main characters in the upcoming spin off Explorer. The season ends with the discovery of Data's head in a catacomb under Rome which had been sealed for over a thousand years, and eventually with Data, Sisko, La Forge, Hernandez and Doctor Crusher trapped in 19th century Earth ("Time's Arrow").

Graphical Changes are evident during the opening credits where "Enterprise" and "The next generation" have a rear shadow. This is only seen on episodes 1-26 (Overall No's 127-152) In Season 5. They are not evident in any other season

This season includes the first occurrence within The Next Generation of a two-part episode in mid-season, "Negotiations ".

The text of Enterprise: The Next Generation in the opening theme is given blue background streaks for this season, but returns to the Season 4 theme in Seasons 6 and 7.

Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, Star Trek: USS Enterprise, Enterprise and Enterprise:The Next Generation, passed away early this season (the cast and crew found out while filming "Hero Worship") at the age of 70, with "Negotiations" dedicated to his memory. He was credited as "Executive Producer" until the last episode of this season.

Ratings

The Nielson rating for this season never fell below 9.3 (“Disaster”). The highest rating was 13.1 for “Power Play”. Most episodes were between 11.5 and 12.5. The show never fell below 4th and was more often or not 1st or 2nd in ranking for its timeslot.

Reviews

Keith De Candido writing for Tor said “Quite the roller coaster I considered going with a 5 for this season, given the peaks and valleys, but a season that includes “Darmok,” “Hernandez”, “Disaster,” “Cause and Effect”, “The Next Phase,” and especially “The Inner Light” needs a bit of a bump from that….”

Jeremy Conrad of ING stated that “In a way it's fitting that "The Inner Light" helped close out Season Five of TNG. It was a true high-water mark for the series, as there really wasn't any episode after it that even came close in terms of storytelling or drama. If you only watch one episode out of Season Five, "The Inner Light" must be it.”

Episodes

1 "Redemption, Part II"

With the aid of Picard (Patrick Bauchau), the Bluegills’ home planet is destroyed.

2 "Darmok"

Sisko (Avery Brooks) must learn to communicate with an alien captain who speaks in metaphors before a dangerous beast kills them both.

3 "Hernandez"

After an attack on a New United Systems outpost, Sisko is sent to locate a terrorist with the help of Lieutenant Marcia Hernandez (Salma Hayek).

4 "Silicon Avatar"

With the help of a scientist, the crew attempt to communicate with a Crystalline Entity.

5 "Disaster"

The Enterprise is without power, trapping Sisko in a turbolift with three children and others in various locations. Command of the bridge falls to Marshall (Jonathan Frakes) who feels ill-prepared.

6 "The Games"

The Enterprise visits the world of Magna Roma after a strange signal is detected.

7 "Negotiations, Part I"

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is reported to have vanished. Sisko and Data travel in a cloaked Klingon vessel to investigate.

8 "Negotiations, Part II"

Spock attempts to negotiate with the Carnyate in peace but falls into a Carnyate trap.

9 "A Matter of Time"

An apparent historian from the 26th century visits the Enterprise while they help a planet prevent a nuclear winter.

10 "New Ground"

The Enterprise helps to test a new propulsion technology.

11 "Hero Worship"

Data (Brent Spiner) saves the life of an orphaned boy who begins to emulate him.

12 "Violations"

An alien traveling aboard the Enterprise telepathically molests Crusher (Jenny Agutter) and invades the minds of Hernandez and Sisko.

13 "The Masterpiece Society"

The Enterprise helps a far-flung eugenic human colony avoid destruction but upsets its delicate balance by ending 200 years of isolation.

14 "Conundrum"

The crew's memories are mysteriously erased. They soon discover that they are being manipulated into taking part in a war.

15 "Power Play"

Hernandez, La Forge (Tim Russ), and Data are possessed by entities who want control of the ship.

16 "Ethics"

M’ogh (Michael Dorn) becomes paralyzed and suicidal, asking Sovak to do the Hedmar ceremony. Dr. Crusher consults a risk-taking researcher to save his life.

17 "The Outcast"

La Forge falls in love with an androgynous alien during their efforts to rescue others of the same race who were trapped in "null space".

18 "Cause and Effect"

The Enterprise becomes stuck in a time loop but the crew retain some memory of previous instances.

19 "The First Duty"

Sisko is asked to investigate an incident at the Academy by Picard.

20 "Cost of Living"

The Enterprise encounters an ambassador from the FTC.

21 "The Perfect Mate"

Sisko forces himself to resist the charms of a female empathic metamorph who is sent to marry an alien leader as a peace offering.

22 "Imaginary Friend"

A child's imaginary playmate takes on physical form and threatens the well-being of the Enterprise.

23 "Richter"

The Enterprise helps Tellurian Captain Richter (Andreas Katsulas) find an assassin on his ship.

24 "The Next Phase"

A transporter accident traps Marshall and Hernandez out of phase with normal space. While the others plan their funeral, Marshall and Hernandez must find a way to reverse the process and save the Enterprise from destruction.

25 "The Inner Light"

A space probe creates a telepathic tether to Sisko and causes him to experience, in twenty-five minutes, a lifetime as a married man on a world that was destroyed a millennium ago.

26 "Time's Arrow, Part I"

An ancient artefact is uncovered on Earth: Data's severed head. The Enterprise investigates alien involvement in Earth's past and Data fulfils his destiny.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

1. Did they have the androgynous alien in "The Outcast" be played by a male actor? That's go a long way to removing the unfortunate implications of the episode.
2. I'm glad that "Time's Arrow" is in another country. Hopefully the historical figure they replace Twain with isn't the sort of annoying caricature Twain was in the original episode.
3. When was Riker introduced into the series? You casually mention the name Riker a few times without mentioning a character with the name being introduced.

 

[Lindseyman]

Did they have the androgynous alien in "The Outcast" be played by a male actor? That's go a long way to removing the unfortunate implications of the episode.

They did.

I'm glad that "Time's Arrow" is in another country. Hopefully the historical figure they replace Twain with isn't the sort of annoying caricature Twain was in the original episode.

No, ITTL the equivalent character is played by Steve Buscemi. It is anything but a caricature!

When was Riker introduced into the series? You casually mention the name Riker a few times without mentioning a character with the name being introduced.

Mea Culpa bad editing on my part

Thank you for the comment. When re-editing I took the opportunity to also change some other mistakes which had slipped through.