DBWI: Star Trek: The Next Generation Is Renewed for a Second Season

[John Farrier]

Younger folks might not know this, but there used to be a popular science fiction franchise called Star Trek. It began with a TV series that aired from 1966-1969 on NBC. It was about the mostly human crew of a spaceship going on adventures in space two hundred years into the future.

Although it was cancelled due to low ratings, it developed a cult following and thrived in syndication. There were abortive efforts to revive the series during the 1970s, the most successful of which was an animated series that ran from 1973-1974. This was followed a series of big budget box office movies--a total of four released in 1979, 1982, 1984, and 1986. There were also many novels, merchandise items, and even fan conventions with a Star Trek theme. "Trekkies", as devoted fans called themselves, had a thriving subculture.

In 1987, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the franchise, and Paramount released a TV series that they hoped would reestablish the franchise. It was titled Star Trek: The Next Generation. The show was, unfortunately, a flop and cancelled after a single season. Some people attribute the failure of the show to disputes within its leadership. Personally, I think that the casting choice for the captain was so bizarre that it crippled the story from the outset.

One can still find Star Trek fans online. There are various message boards where aging Trekkies talk about the old days and rewatch the television series and movies together. But the vitality of the franchise is fully spent.

I wonder if, had Star Trek: The Next Generation been handled correctly, might the franchise be vigorous even today? I know that a 55-year old science fiction franchise seems like a contradiction in terms, but please bear with me during this thought experiment.

 

[dsp19]

I think there would be two more spin-off series in the 1990s, set in the same time period as The Next Generation. One of them could even launch a television network for Paramount.

The Next Generation cast could make movies just like the original Star Trek cast, but for some reason, they were not as successful despite TNG being the highest rated of all the Trek television series in terms of people watching the show

 

[Lindseyman]

Star Trek was a product of its time and the 80's just weren't the right time for such a series (various reasons many of which stray into the politics of the times). However casting an Englishman as a Frenchman who then acts as if he's English!!!!!!
Mind you Sir Patrick returned to the stage and prospered, he probably wouldn't have got his knighthood if he had stayed in a successful Star Trek series instead of becoming the outstanding Shakespearian actor of his generation..

 

[steamboy]

I've seen the Video's of this show and remember watching it, you'd think that with the Trek movies they'd be able to make lighting strike twice with TNG, but it just didn't. Perhaps it was a sign of the times, I mean I loved the look of the ship and all that but it was painfully idealistic in places and in the late 80's early 90s, I think there was a bit of a demand for something a bit darker.
I think Sir Patrick was a good Captain but if the rumors about the struggles behind the scenes with the writers being at war with each other and a now very much aging Rodenberry constantly changing things...yeah, I can see why it was canned.

 

[Tom_B]

That initial season was pretty awful. Star Trek went downhill after its first season so I shudder to think what a second season of The Next Generation would be like.

 

[GSpectre]

You would need to replace Roddenberry, his utopian idealism and bloodless 60s tv aesthetic were just so out of touch with the times. There might have been more mileage left in the franchise but it desperately needed an update or it was always doomed to fail and Gene just couldn't do it. Perhaps if the execs had given the property to Straczynski? His space show certainly got the ratings which were being looked for, though if that happened we might lose the incomparable Babylon project, which was a much more mature series.

 

[John Farrier]

Star Trek was a product of its time and the 80's just weren't the right time for such a series (various reasons many of which stray into the politics of the times). However casting an Englishman as a Frenchman who then acts as if he's English!!!!!!
Mind you Sir Patrick returned to the stage and prospered, he probably wouldn't have got his knighthood if he had stayed in a successful Star Trek series instead of becoming the outstanding Shakespearian actor of his generation..

Yeah, if the captain was going to be an Englishman who plays a Frenchman, then perhaps it would have been better to go with Rick Berman's idea of casting the stage actor Ian McKellen as Captain Picard.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

That initial season was pretty awful. Star Trek went downhill after its first season so I shudder to think what a second season of The Next Generation would be like.

I was going to say, I think the writing would have had to improve for The Next Generation to have a lasting impact. The *concept* behind the Star Trek universe is strong, but on a week-to-week basis the episodes just weren't up to par. I still remember one particularly dumb episode where that kid who was always hanging around the bridge visits an alien planet and gets sentenced to death for stepping into a flower garden or something. A second season without better writing probably just means more of the same frustrating mediocrity that we already saw, certainly not the sort of thing to inspire even more movies and spin-offs. I don't know, maybe they could have done something with the thread from the very last episode where both the Federation and the Romulans discover that someone's destroying their outposts (IIRC)?

I disagree about Patrick Stewart, though. Yes, casting a British actor as a Frenchman was kind of odd, but his character was often one of the bright spots in otherwise ho-hum episodes.

BTW, I heard a rumor once that Paramount considered a fifth movie with Shatner directing and the crew searching for the Vulcan God. Anybody know if that's true?

 

[Admiral Bloonbeard]

Maybe George Lucas might have released a prequel series to Star Wars. These days, Star Trek and Star Wars is something of a nostalgia for baby boomers. Sci Fi is largely a fad these days and is usually associated with the digital fascination of the 70s and 80s. I think Bungie's Halo might have been about Master Chief fighting genocidal aliens in space instead of OTL's Master Chief being a soldier in Operation Desert Storm (Halo blew gamer's minds away by featuring modern day warfare while most shooters were either World War 2, sci fi, or fantasy). Would Halo even reach the same amount of popularity that spawned a trilogy OTL? Would Microsoft even been interested in purchasing Bungie?

 

[THeaven]

Well the three main actresses didn't like working on the show so if it got a second season they would need to replace those roles on the ship I mean they did get the Klingon to replace Dense Crosby's role as Security chief, which was cool but they would still need to replace the roles of Ships Doctor and Counselor. Also they probably should have had a Chief Engineer as part of the main cast. Maybe Brett Spinner's robot character could have been promoted to that role or something

 

[Lindseyman]

I disagree about Patrick Stewart, though. Yes, casting a British actor as a Frenchman was kind of odd, but his character was often one of the bright spots in otherwise ho-hum episodes.

Indeed he acted the others off the set but if casting an English actor make the Captain English!
John Luke Pickard from Huddersfield perhaps?
Though it would probably have to be Leeds as Americans might have heard of there (sorry).

 

[Sam R.]

I mean he was great in George Smileys telemovies if silent and also the minor role in Robert Graves. He just couldn’t be evil enough to make the role work.

 

[John Farrier]

I was going to say, I think the writing would have had to improve for The Next Generation to have a lasting impact. The *concept* behind the Star Trek universe is strong, but on a week-to-week basis the episodes just weren't up to par. I still remember one particularly dumb episode where that kid who was always hanging around the bridge visits an alien planet and gets sentenced to death for stepping into a flower garden or something. A second season without better writing probably just means more of the same frustrating mediocrity that we already saw, certainly not the sort of thing to inspire even more movies and spin-offs. I don't know, maybe they could have done something with the thread from the very last episode where both the Federation and the Romulans discover that someone's destroying their outposts (IIRC)?

Perhaps it would have been better to give Star Trek a serial, rather than episodic basis. The five seasons in Will Meugniot and Jeff Segal's Exosquad series showed that there was a strong market for long, complex, science fiction stories.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

Perhaps it would have been better to give Star Trek a serial, rather than episodic basis. The five seasons in Will Meugniot and Jeff Segal's Exosquad series showed that there was a strong market for long, complex, science fiction stories.

You might be onto something there. (Though I'd argue that the original Star Trek worked as an episodic series for at least the first two seasons.) Maybe they could have done a storyline about the Federation and the Romulans becoming reluctant allies against whoever was attacking their outposts?

Meanwhile, I did some poking around on Wikipedia and found the following about the tentative plot for a fifth Star Trek movie:

Kirk is overwhelmed by Zar's superior numbers of followers and Spock, McCoy and the rest of the Enterprise crew come to believe in Zar's divinity. Kirk feigns acceptance of Zar's beliefs to travel with him to the God planet, which would be a desolate, fiery waste. When Kirk confronts "God", the image of the being transforms into that of Satan, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy split up in their escape. Kirk eludes capture but goes back to save his friends from being carried away to Hell.

Which...yeah. Can't say I'm too disappointed that never made it to the screen.

(On the other hand, perhaps an earlier failed attempt at "evil force tries to drag space explorers to Hell" would have spared us all from Event Horizon ever getting green-lighted.)

 

[John Farrier]

Meanwhile, I did some poking around on Wikipedia and found the following about the tentative plot for a fifth Star Trek movie:

Perhaps it's for the best that there was no Star Trek V for that reason, too. I doubt if Congressman Takei's career would ever have gotten off the ground if he had kept at acting in a failing franchise.

 

[steamboy]

Perhaps it would have been better to give Star Trek a serial, rather than episodic basis. The five seasons in Will Meugniot and Jeff Segal's Exosquad series showed that there was a strong market for long, complex, science fiction stories.

Aye, thats what Babylon 5 did and that was a show that took off and shows that there was a real market for longer stories instead of episode to episode alien of the week ones. We got what, 5 long seasons of that, as well as several spin off shows, and quite a few movies, and now they're doing the Dilgar War series as a kind of prequel series to tell the history of how Earth rose to power.