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"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of
the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has
gone before!"
TNG: PRODUCTION NOTES
Gene Roddenberry also created the second Star Trek television series, The Next Generation (TNG). The series ran a full seven seasons, from 1987 to 1994, yielding
177 episodes -->
in total. When Gene Roddenberry passed away in 1991, Executive Producer Rick Berman took over the directional helm of the Star Trek franchise.
CAST -- STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION
| ACTOR |
CHARACTER |
ROLE |
| Patrick Stewart |
Jean-Luc Picard |
Captain |
| Jonathan Frakes |
Lt. Cmdr. William Thomas Riker |
First Officer |
| Brent Spiner |
Cmdr. Data (Android) |
Operations Manager |
| Cheryl Gates McFadden |
Beverly Crusher |
Chief Medical Officer |
| LeVar Burton |
Geordi LaForge |
Chief Engineer |
| Marina Sirtis |
Deanna Troi (Betazoid) |
Ship Counselor |
| Michael Dorn |
Lt. Worf (Klingon) |
Chief of Security |
| Wil Wheaton |
Wesley Crusher |
Dr. Beverly Crusher's son; Ensign |
Other Recurring Characters:
Majel Barrett - Lwaxana Troi (Betazoid)
Brian Bonsall - Alexander Rozhenko (Klingon; Worf's son)
Denise Crosby - Natasha Yar
John DeLancie - "Q"
Michelle Forbes -->
- Ro Laren (Bajoran)
Whoppie Goldberg - Guinan
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TNG: SETTING
In TNG, the mission of the original Enterprise continues, with further exploration of our galaxy introducing us to new races, new wonders, and new nemeses. It is set about 80 years into the future of The Original Series with an entirely new crew on board a newer model starship,
Enterprise NCC-1701D -->.
TNG: ALIENS
While the Klingons and Romulans still play a significant role
in TNG, other alien races emerge as the Federation explores further into
the galaxy. The Borg, featured in the 1996 movie Star Trek: Final
Conflict, make their debut appearance in The Next Generation episode
Q Who, and caused trouble for the Enterprise crew in four of the series'
plots. "Q", played by John DeLancie, is another popular character appearing
in several TNG episodes. Some would label him a cosmic nuisance, while others
would say he's a benign demi-god. Cardassians, Bajorans, and Ferengi also make
inroads in TNG, though they really come to fore in the following
series, Deep Space 9.
TNG: UNIVERSE
The Klingons, introduced in The Original Series, are no longer
adversarial to The Federation, having been forced by dire circumstances into an alliance with The Federation. But much of the Federation's geo-political maneuvering still involves significant Klingon interaction and cooperation. The Romulans are still their crafty, untrusting selves, and the Vulcans still pop their logic-twists into the space scene from time to time.
The TNG crew eventually encounter the Cardassian Empire, with incidents and treaties ensuing.
The boundaries of explored space are pushed to about 20-degrees off galactic center by the series' end.
TNG: TECHNOLOGY
Holography takes a prominent place in both the life
of the starship, and in the construction of episode plots. The Holodeck is
a huge, warehouse sized room aboard the Enterprise, that can be programmed
to project solid and animated holographs. These are used for the crew's
recreation, as well as to help in problem solving.
Replicators demonstrate a new Trek technology in which material objects,
whose molecular structures have been programmed into the computer, can be
materialized upon demand. Frequently, Captain Picard uses his replicator
to "create" a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea.
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