TLIAD -- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-2002)

Do we really have to do the back-and-forth bold and regular text?

Yes. Yes we do.

Okay then. Now, onto more pressing matters: fifteen years of TNG? Are you nuts?

Oh, I think I can make it work with an appropriately early POD.

But I notice you're writing it in TLIAD form, which suggests some level of blurring the details. Are you really sure this is plausible?

Are you really sure you don't want to shut up?

Fine, your funeral. But wait -- it's five minutes to midnight and you've got stuff to do tomorrow. Do you really think you can finish writing this in a day?

Probably not. Maybe. We'll see.
 
Original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Patrick Stewart: Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard (Captain)
Jonathan Frakes: Cmdr. William T Riker (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. (j.g.) Geordi La Forge (Flight officer)
Denise Crosby: Lt. Deanna Troi (Counsellor)
Michael Dorn: Lt. (j.g.) Worf (Relief bridge officer)
Gates McFadden: Cmdr. Beverly Crusher (Chief medical officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Lt. Cmdr. Data (Ops officer)
Wil Wheaton: (Acting Ens.) Wesley Crusher (Civilian, later unofficial trainee)

Character notes on Lt. Luisa Hernandez

  • Blatantly based on the character of Vasquez (as played by Jenette Goldstein) from the movie Aliens. Goldstein was considered for the part until it was discovered that she was red-haired and pale-skinned in real life.
  • Was originally intended to be named "Macha Hernandez" until the show's creators discovered that "macha" was slang for "lesbian".
  • It was briefly considered to switch around the actors playing Hernandez and Troi, as Sirtis's "exotic good looks" were thought to suit the half-alien Troi, but ultimately this was not done.

Season 1 (1987-1988): Noteworthy developments

  • Deanna Troi (Denise Crosby) is killed off in the episode "Skin of Evil", being pointlessly murdered by the creature Armus. This was due to Crosby's dissatisfaction with the show and her feeling that it was holding back her career.
  • Worf (Michael Dorn) is also killed off in the season finale "Conspiracy", being killed while fighting the possessed Admiral Gregory Quinn. Dorn was similarly dissatisfied with the show and felt his character was severely under-utilised.
 
If I may come up with a few wishes:

- Have alt-TNG be more realistic, and less fluffy than it actually was. Something more along the lines of DS9 would be great.
- KILL DEANNA TROI.
- Don't kill Wesley Crusher, but have him be a bit less goofy.
 
Season 2 (1988-1989): Noteworthy developments

  • Shortened season due to the 1988 Writers' Strike, with only 22 episodes.
  • Incoming showrunner Maurice Hurley fired Gates McFadden for very shady reasons, not inviting her back for the second season. The character of Dr Crusher was dropped and a new doctor was introduced (Katherine "Kate" Pulaski, played by Diana Muldaur).
  • The characters' positions got a significant reshuffle. Data became the new chief engineer, as it was realised the position needed to be filled by a main cast member. Geordi shifted over to fill Data's place at Ops, and Wesley gained a permanent bridge position by replacing Geordi at Flight.
  • Whoopi Goldberg also began making regular special guest appearances as the bartender Guinan, in many ways filling the role that the late Deanna Troi was intended to have with the crew.
  • Future cast member Suzie Plakson made a guest appearance in "The Schizoid Man" as Dr Selar.

Season 2 cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation


Patrick Stewart: Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard (Captain)
Jonathan Frakes: Cmdr. William T Riker (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. Geordi La Forge (Ops officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Lt. Cmdr. Data (Chief engineer)
Wil Wheaton: Acting Ens. Wesley Crusher (Flight officer)
Diana Muldaur: Cmdr. Katherine Pulaski (Chief medical officer) [Special Guest Star credit]
 
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Season 3 (1989-1990): Noteworthy developments

  • Due to an unfavourable audience response to the character of Dr Pulaski, Diana Muldaur was not invited back. Attempts to rehire Gates McFadden were unsuccessful, both due to her being unavailable because of commitments to her choreography work and due to her memory of the show having soured since being fired.
  • The original idea to bring back Dr Selar as a main character went nowhere, as the character was invented by staff writer Tracy Torme. Instead a new chief medical officer was created: Dr Ellen Sykes, played by CCH Pounder.
  • Denise Crosby made a one-off guest appearance in the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", in which she played an alternate-timeline version of Deanna Troi (who in this timeline is the flight officer, not the counsellor).
  • Suzie Plakson made her first appearance as Cmdr. Paula Shelby in the season finale "The Best of Both Worlds", as a guest character. The finale also deliberately left it open for Patrick Stewart to leave the show, as it was known behind-the-scenes that he was considering it.
Season 3 cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Patrick Stewart: Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard (Captain)
Jonathan Frakes: Cmdr. William T Riker (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. Geordi La Forge (Ops officer)
CCH Pounder: Cmdr. Ellen Sykes (Chief medical officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Cmdr. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Lt. Cmdr. Data (Chief engineer)
Wil Wheaton: Acting Ens. / Ens. Wesley Crusher (Flight officer)
 
Following mainly for the tantalizing hint of TNG existing until 2002 and mention of the "original" cast, implying that there is going to be a lot of shuffling to keep the show on an additional 8 years! Wonder how this is going to affect the movie side of the franchise...or will we see linking movies in the theater like the first X-Files film?
 
Season 4 (1990-1991): Noteworthy developments

  • Patrick Stewart officially left the show between seasons. The character of Captain Picard survived the season premiere, "The Best of Both Worlds Part II", and took a leave of absence from Starfleet in the second episode "Family" -- both times, Stewart was credited as "Special Guest Star".
  • Jonathan Frakes became the new lead of the show, with Riker's field promotion to Captain of the Enterprise becoming permanent.
  • Suzie Plakson was promoted to the main cast, with Cmdr Shelby becoming the new executive officer.
  • Wil Wheaton left the show as of the season's ninth episode "One Last Mission" (the final episode of 1990), which concludes with Ensign Crusher leaving for Starfleet Academy. The position of flight officer was thereafter filled by various extras and guest characters.
  • Michael Dorn made a one-off guest appearance in the season's sixth episode "Legacy" (the show's 80th episode overall), as the late Lt Worf's long-lost brother.
  • Patrick Stewart would also make one more guest appearance as Picard in the episode "QPid", the conclusion of which involved Picard realising it was time to come back to Starfleet.
  • Denise Crosby made two uncredited guest appearances (the first one in shadows) as the half-Romulan villain Commander Sela.
Season 4 cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Jonathan Frakes: Cpt. William T Riker (Captain)
Suzie Plakson: Cmdr. Paula Shelby (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge (Ops officer)
CCH Pounder: Cmdr. Ellen Sykes (Chief medical officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Cmdr. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Lt. Cmdr. Data (Chief engineer)
Wil Wheaton: Ens. Wesley Crusher (Flight officer) [episodes 1-9 only]
 
With both McFadden and Stewart now off the show, is there any chance of a Crusher/Picard romance storyline ever developing?

Off-screen, maybe?
 
Oh man, no Worf or Picard? There goes Chain of Command, like half of the good Borg episodes and the Klingon Civil War arc. No Troi either? I'd think she'd get replaced. A ship of a thousand plus, with families and all sorts of species and cultures needs some emotional support.

But I see what you're doing. Keep shaking up the main cast so no one face becomes too associated with and thus essential to the show. Decent plan, could work, but I also worry about spin-offs. Hopefully DS9, if made ITTL, won't follow the same pattern.
 
Season 5 (1991-1992): Noteworthy developments

  • Due to the need for a new junior-ranked main cast member to fill the role of flight officer, the character of Ensign Ro Laren (played by Ashley Judd) was created.
  • The recurring villain Commander Sela, played by former cast member Denise Crosby, was properly introduced in the season premiere. Sela would become established as Captain Riker's nemesis, particularly due to her close resemblance to his late imzadi (as she is the daughter of the alternate-timeline Deanna Troi), and would make six guest appearances in total over the course of the season.
  • Patrick Stewart also made two guest appearances as Captain Picard. The first (the season premiere) established that Picard was now commanding officer of the USS Rutherford.
  • Picard's second guest appearance occurred in the same episode as Wil Wheaton's guest appearance as Cadet Wesley Crusher and Gates McFadden's guest appearance as Dr Beverly Crusher (reappearing on the show for the first time in almost four years).
  • Q appears in one episode this season, acting as a foil to someone other than Picard for the first time since "Hide and Q" in season 1.
Season 5 cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Jonathan Frakes: Cpt. William T Riker (Captain)
Suzie Plakson: Cmdr. Paula Shelby (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge (Ops officer)
Ashley Judd: Ens. Ro Laren (Flight officer)
CCH Pounder: Cmdr. Ellen Sykes (Chief medical officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Cmdr. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Cmdr. Data (Chief engineer)


Elsewhere in the franchise, 1991-1992:

  • The first ideas of a new spinoff Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were developed by Rick Berman and Michael Piller (intended to air in the 1992-93 broadcast season), with impetus provided by Paramount executive Brandon Tartikoff. Certain story developments important to the background of the new show were seeded into the fifth season of TNG -- including the Bajorans, the Cardassian occupation, and the recently-concluded Federation-Cardassian War. These also informed the character background of Ens. Ro.
  • The film series based on Star Trek: The Original Series appeared to conclude with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, released to coincide with the franchise's 25th anniversary in 1991.


...And this is a good time to stop for now. It's after 1AM.
 
Interesting. I wonder what the franchise will look like after 15 years of TNG? Maybe no Enterprise or Voyager? Who knows what happens with all the cast coming and going. I am deferentially going to keep up with this!
 
Oh man, no Worf or Picard? There goes Chain of Command, like half of the good Borg episodes and the Klingon Civil War arc. No Troi either? I'd think she'd get replaced. A ship of a thousand plus, with families and all sorts of species and cultures needs some emotional support.

Well, it does sound as though Guinan has an expanded role, since she fills some of the Counselor's duties. So, my hunch is that she's on a few more shows per season and has the good points of Troi's character without the corniest parts - so no parodist showing her on the bridge saying, "Captain, i sense...a presence" as 8-foot aliens are invading the bridge.:) Instead, "ship's counselor would be established as not a bridge officer position.
 

jahenders

Banned
I think one way to have it survive longer would be to essentially make the Enterprise be Voyager. So, after 7-8 years in OUR universe, it encounters some spatial anomaly or warp drive malfunction and winds up where Voyager wound up. The show proceeds with the regular STNG crew, but does the things the writers were thinking for Voyager (hopefully excluding the stupid episode that would have Picard and Riker turn into giant newts only to be saved by the ever-convenient presence of their proper DNA in the transporter pattern buffer).

Basically, they get a renewed premise and a bunch of new friends and enemies.

Hey, it's got to be better than the Voyager IOTL.

Interesting. I wonder what the franchise will look like after 15 years of TNG? Maybe no Enterprise or Voyager? Who knows what happens with all the cast coming and going. I am deferentially going to keep up with this!
 
Wasn't Ensign Ro originally intended to be the Bajoran liaison on DS9, instead of Kira?

I believe so, but I think Michelle Forbes didn't want a regular series role? I might be misremembering...I think we were better off with Kira as an outsider than Ro as a Starfleet officer, however disgruntled she might have been...
 
I think one way to have it survive longer would be to essentially make the Enterprise be Voyager. So, after 7-8 years in OUR universe, it encounters some spatial anomaly or warp drive malfunction and winds up where Voyager wound up. The show proceeds with the regular STNG crew, but does the things the writers were thinking for Voyager (hopefully excluding the stupid episode that would have Picard and Riker turn into giant newts only to be saved by the ever-convenient presence of their proper DNA in the transporter pattern buffer).

Basically, they get a renewed premise and a bunch of new friends and enemies.

Hey, it's got to be better than the Voyager IOTL.

That's what I'm thinking. I expect that Riker will stick around until season six, but Frakes could be there to the end as Tom Riker in the Tom Paris role. You could even have Shelby become the captain taking up the Janeway sized hole. Though that's probably going to keep too much stability in the cast for the show to keep going as long as intended.
 
Well, it does sound as though Guinan has an expanded role, since she fills some of the Counselor's duties. So, my hunch is that she's on a few more shows per season and has the good points of Troi's character without the corniest parts - so no parodist showing her on the bridge saying, "Captain, i sense...a presence" as 8-foot aliens are invading the bridge.:) Instead, "ship's counselor would be established as not a bridge officer position.

Informally, that works. I might be the only person who liked Troi...

I believe so, but I think Michelle Forbes didn't want a regular series role? I might be misremembering...I think we were better off with Kira as an outsider than Ro as a Starfleet officer, however disgruntled she might have been...

Yes, you have a good point there.
 
Season 6 (1992-1993): Noteworthy developments

  • This was the first season in the show's entire run in which there were no major cast changes.
  • Denise Crosby made guest appearances in four episodes as Commander Sela.
  • The eleventh episode of the season (the last to be broadcast in 1992) concluded with a farewell scene for recurring character Lt Miles O'Brien (played by Colm Meaney), who was to become a main character on the new spinoff show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • The sixteenth episode of the season was the second part of a crossover two-parter with DS9, concluding a story that began in Deep Space Nine's ninth episode (broadcast two days prior). The episode also featured the Enterprise-D visiting the station and interacting with characters Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir.
Season 6 cast for Star Trek: The Next Generation

Jonathan Frakes: Cpt. William T Riker (Captain)
Suzie Plakson: Cmdr. Paula Shelby (Executive officer)
LeVar Burton: Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge (Ops officer)
Ashley Judd: Ens / Lt. (j.g.) Ro Laren (Flight officer)
CCH Pounder: Cmdr. Ellen Sykes (Chief medical officer)
Marina Sirtis: Lt. Cmdr. Luisa Hernandez (Security chief)
Brent Spiner: Cmdr. Data (Chief engineer)

Elsewhere in the franchise, 1992-1993:

  • Spinoff series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine began broadcasting in January 1993 in first-run syndication. The DS9 main cast included Colm Meaney as Lt Miles O'Brien, chief of operations for the station. The idea to also transfer over the character of Ens Ro Laren to fill the role of Bajoran liaison officer were soon dismissed: the character was concluded to be a better fit for TNG and too junior to act as executive officer for the station. There were also concerns that Judd was likely to leave within a season or two to focus on developing a film career, which was something TNG was considered better able to weather.
  • Paramount Pictures executives tentatively began talks with producers on developing a Star Trek: The Next Generation movie -- a step that would necessitate cancelling the series. However, Paramount were nevertheless uncertain about the viability of a TNG movie, as they were doubtful that the cast "could carry a film" (the high level of cast rotation only exacerbated this). Treatments for two possible film stories (one incorporating the cast of TOS, one not) were written and presented to Paramount, and ideas were also put together for a new Star Trek spinoff to take TNG's place on TV. Unsatisfied, Paramount rejected the work and put the idea of a TNG movie on hiatus.
 
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