TNG@20 – Promoting The Next Generation August 24, 2007
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: TNG , trackbackExactly 20 years ago today Paramount sent out print, TV and radio spots promoting their new Star Trek The Next Generation series, premiering in September 1987. Take a look at this promo video included on the 1987 VHS release of Star Trek IV (the 1986 hit movie that helped convince Paramount to bring Trek back to TV).
Plus TrekCore has some great rare promo and behind the scenes photos from the beginnings of TNG
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this is great, to see it before it began….i still have the original vhs of Star Trek IV with this promo on it…glad to see it in better quality
I actually have the old VHS version of The Voyage Home with that promo on it.
Even though TOS ended 7 years before I was born, I grew up watching the reruns and was resentful of the new show when it began. I mean, a bald Captain? Some old geezer who needed a rocking chair for a captains seat ( I didn’t know at the time Stewart was only around 46-47).
And Data, and android, Hah! He’s no Spock! And the design of the ship, I thought then, and still do, was inferior to the 80’s movie version.
However, in time I came to appreciate these whippersnappers and their version of the vision.
The last season of the show was extremely well done, and if memory serves was nominated for an Emmy for best dramatic series along side ER and NYPD Blue!
Funny thing is, as much as I respected the later seasons back then. Now , in retrospect, I almost think the first few seasons were better in that they more closely resembled the Trek world.
And I suspected back then, and still do, that it was Gene Roddenberry’s original intent to phase out Picard from the show around season three or four, and put Riker in command. I think his original idea was to show how a Kirk type (Riker) would have been mentored by an older, wiser captain. Sort of an Obi-wan to Kirks Luke.
Which we may in fact get in the new film.
Anyway, it really is hard to believe it’s been twenty years since TNG!
yeah i remember when this came out i still have the vh copy of trek 4 and i only watched it a few days ago oh my its not a great trailer to be fair even then it was not still a trip down memeory
i remember being at a Star Trek convention in Birmingham (MidCon?) in the UK the year TNG premiered. it was 10 days before the very first episode aired in the USA, and Richard Arnold (Start Trek Archivist at Paramount at the time) was one of the guests along with Walter Konieg and his wife. We all were hoping that Richard had brought along some footage of the new series… but to out amazement he had the entire pilot episode on VHS!
The convention audience (about 700) went bananas when he announced that Paramount had given permission to show it to us. I think it was shown over 5 times that weekend.
Each group of us crammed into a small room with a rear projector TV system and when TMP music revamped came on the hairs on the back of my neck rose up, it was amazing and also surreal to see the start of “lightning in bottle” again. Ok the acting was a touch wooden and clinical for the first season or so, but to see Star Trek back on TV with so many fans was something ill never forget. I hope that i get that feeling when the new film is released.
My God… it’s been 20 years already…
TNG was, is and will be the best TV show in the world.
You know,
I feel bad for fans of this series and those raised on these adventures with no knowledge of the original Trek, if Trek had been handled more elegantly and gracefully, fans of this series should be getting a 20th anniversary big screen adventure. But alas, the corporate whores saw fit their cash cow was suckled bone dry without bothering to wipe the excess milk from their deviant chins.
Let this be a lesson to one and all…..
If you ever create something prominent and popular, protect it like a child and sign off on any and every exploitation of it. Don’t overexpose it and certainly don’t pimp your treasured thing out. Lucas is the perfect example of what NOT to do. Not a thing is done in his universe without his express sign off on it. Oh sure you can argue about the merits of some of the choices he has made, but make no mistake, Star Wars is his baby and he treats it as such. If Lucas had wanted to exploit his creation the way Roddenberrys was exploited, we would probably be hearing about the 12th or 13th film in the series by now, and multiple television ventures like “Dookus saber follies”, “Jango gets his groove on” and “Solo: the lone pirate space smuggler – journey to the magic Wookie cave.” Thank God Lucas has exercised a MODICUM of creative and commercial restraint.
i hate wesley
oh and FIRST!
Oh, and I remember this promo. It played slightly differently in the UK ( i think the voiceover was different), but I remember it well.
Good times.
“fans of this series should be getting a 20th anniversary big screen adventure.”
-Josh T. ( The undiscovered voyage of spock wrath ) Kirk Esquire – August 24, 2007
I think the problem is that TNG dug itself into a whole early on by having an “elderly” captain who, strangely enough, became MORE action oriented the older he got. A middle aged first officer serving as #1 till his pension. And casting a 38 year old to play an android. I mean that pancake makeup just kept getting thicker and thicker each year!!
And unlike TOS which aimed towards cinematic “Epic”, TNG was more than happy exploiting the TV format to develop multiple characters. And whereas this made for a quality TV show, they were never able to move that format into the cinematic field with great success, First Contact not withstanding.
Like I said before I think Roddenberry probably intended to slowly phase Picard out, and then around season 3, turn the show over to Riker. But as the show found it’s legs and gained an audience, he(Gene), as well as network execs were afraid to upset the apple cart.
Then that age thing. Shatner , Nimoy and the other TOS cast were around 54-60 (Kelly and Doohan were 70) when they did Undiscovered County, the -25th- anniversary film, and it seemed like they were ancient.
Today, just 20 years after TNG began, Patrick Stewart is 67
Johnathen Frakes is 55
Brent Spinner is 58
Gates Mcfadden is 58
Marina Sirtis is 52
Michael Dorn is 54
Levar Burton is the “youngest” at 50!
As the man once said, “Time is the fire in which we burn”.
Or as another man once said, “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young”
Its cool that Trek IV was the movie that convinced Paramount to finally bring Trek back to TV after all those years later.
11. trektacular
Except, they gave the show to an ailing Gene Roddenberry, who hadn’t a had a single success since TOS ended and had had no major involvement with the Trek films since TMP.
They should’ve turned running the show over to Bennet, Nimoy and Meyer. The channel’s decision to give Roddenberry the gig was a bit like ignoring the winner of a race and giving the first prize to the guy who fired the starting pistol!
My introduction to TNG here in the UK was finding issue three of the DC comicbook. I thought I was buying a Star Trek comic with a story called ‘The Next Generation.’ I remember how it dawned on me that I was reading a comic based on a new TV show. Wow! I did my best, subsequently to track down videos of the new shows, since Patrick Stewart said in an interview on the chatshow Wogan that TNG wouldn’t be seen in this country for three years.
For a long time it was only really possible to get Encounter at Farpoint on video. I liked it at the time. I thought the FX were a bit video (even aged 13 in 1988 I was heading for a TV career!!!) but I loved McCoy’s appearance and Q reminded me of the Squire of Gothos.
It wasn’t until 1990 that the show began airing regularly. The main criticism at the start was that it felt very ‘tired and mid-eighties.’ Had the show continued on weekly terrestrial transmission, I think it would’ve died a death. Fortunately, the recently-started Sky television network got the rights and began running episodes five days a week and I picked up some of the interesting-looking later episodes on tape (The Best of Both Worlds, Chain of Command, Unification.)
While, down the years, my patience with TNG and its successors has worn thin, I did look forward to watching it every day on its major run on Sky.
I don’t find it terribly re-watchable though. While I can watch a TOS episode or movie anytime, TNG doesn’t bear deeper analysis very well. There’s something about its 80s California therapy-speak and its politics that make me a little uncomfortable, like the whole show is really a propaganda exercise made by a totalitarian Federation and the crew aren’t really the bland, nice people we see in each episode.
If nothing else, in 1987, Trek ‘canon’ and history was a lot less convoluted!! ;)
But, my God! Twenty years. Where does the time go? Happy birthday TNG!
And Josh T I feel sorry for you. So mired in the past, so rigidly clinging to the original series that your mind never opened to the possibilities that TNG represented. You missed a lot. When Riker ordered Worf to fire in the sequence which ended the third season, we saw not only the best of Trek but the best of television.
I loved TOS and still do. I did not expect to like TNG but I gave it a chance. 20 years later I am very glad I did,
So for the time being, as we celebrate TNG@20, I suggest you turn off your computer, settle back in your easy chair and watch repeats of Spock’s Brain and The Way to Eden while we who embrace TNG enjoy our memories. In other words–give your hailing frequencies a rest.
Re 13:
That cliffhanger at the end of BOBW Part 1 is _the_ most memorable moment of television for me, ever. At the time I wasn’t even sure it was the season finale, but when I eventually realized I would have to wait for the start of the next season, it was almost unbearable!
Even now, when I see a particularly great episode of TV, I ask myself, did it blow you away as much as BOBW did? The answer’s never better than “almost”, at best!
BOBW really shook up what I thought of the series up to that point. After having watched two seasons of episodes like “Shades of Grey,” I’d started to think TNG wasn’t really going to reach the heights I’d hoped it would.
BOBW, Part 1 served as notice that that was all about to change. :)
I think TOS was the best but enjoyed TNG. Of course the first eason of TNG really sucked, the second was better but still I thought it would be cancelled. The BORG saved this series.
The only thing that drove me crazy was all the techno babble. I find it very boring.
20 years went by way, way , way to fast.
# 13
What the hell are you talking about? I was actually being diplomatic moron and stating I feel bad TNG fans aren’t getting a 20th anniversary film, and you twist that into an attack on me? Why don’t you try learning how to read and RE-read my post?
close-minded indeed.
Anthony are you going to tolerate that or is this going to be another example of hypocrisy and a double standard. Geez Louise Ive never seen anything like this site.
I still remember watching this promo on the VHS tape when we first brought it home to see the movie!
Plus, it also brings back memories of the night the show aired: I was in my junior year of high school, and that night I had to go to a tutoring club meeting. So, apart from setting the home VCR, I took my little Sony Watchman to see the beginning in the car while my parents drove me.
I still remember that chill up my spine when the new beginning sequence started, to hear the classic fanfare and the “Space, the final frontier…” line on a brand-new series was just so cool!
Happy Birthday, TNG!
All this clip does is stir up is feelings of dissappointment. Me and my friends even threw a “welcome back Trek” viewing party back in the day. We had access to the early feed at a local TV station and we were excited and really wanted this show to kick ass. Needless to say, for us, the celebration was short-lived. What had been a friend had morphed into a complete stranger. Apples and oranges indeed.
I have little love for TNG, but to those that like the show, congrats and happy anniversary.
To make sure that Original Trek would be taken seriously Roddenberry deliberately avoided kids and robots. Always baffled me why he went down that road with TNG.
I wasn’t a big fan, but happy birthday, TNG.
The promo should be retrofitted with a tag: Dear fans, please ignore most of Seaon 1. It gets better.
I love TNG. I cringe thru certain Roddenberry-isms in it. (Skirts for men, lengthy angst-filled briefing sessions, third grade science lessons, sophomoric attitutudes on sex.) But, I know it’s a worthy torch-carrier for Trek. No, they could not have done more of TOS at that point, even though we now think the original cast was still young. TOS was out of steam as a series. TNG had some fresh ideas.
I look forward to JJ’s new ideas!!
Happy 20 TNG!
I wanted nothing to do with TNG when it first aired. In fact it took me about 4 years to accept the show. I was at a convention in Denver in 1989 and Shatner was there to promote The Final Frontier. I remember looking at all the TNG fans and thought they were all traitors!! It’s funny how much I loved TOS and thought it was the ONLY series that should be acknowledged as “Real” Trek. Anyways, soon after that convention I slowly became a huge fan of TNG and love it to this day.
Sigh. Josh T.: I did not attack you personally, just recorded my reactions to your opinions. Your follow-up post provided the only personal attacks and then you went after Anthony. I feel sorry for you in many ways You strike me as an extremely unhappy individual who cannot elevate his own status or bolser his own positions so he must resort to tearing down others.
Anthony, he’s all yours. I am ending my portion of this ridiculous character debate and popping in an episode of TNG.
I have looked at ST:TNG as I have every spinoff series since the original… can’t have the original show and crew, so this will have to do as the next best thing.
About a month before the release of ST IV on video, the studio sent out a longer, slightly rougher version of this to all the stations that would be running the series – also including all of the run-up advertising campaign, which was pretty cool too. I remember driving forty miles to meet up with a guy who’d gotten a copy from a friend at his local station, making a Betamax copy and then distributing it to my friends.
Bootlegging was a lot more work back before bittorrent. :LOL:
The arrogance of some TOS-Onlies is amazing – starting with the assumption that people who like TNG are somehow ignorant of the original series or don’t appreciate it; this assumption is itself ignorant. I’ve been a Trek fan since NBC first premiered the damned thing, and I love TNG. Frankly, it became better the less the “people who created Trek” had to do with it.
I have to be honest–I expected to hate it. Such was my mania for TOS. That plus the fact I was not a huge Roddenberry fan. As Farpoint unfolded, I found myself amused at Data’s first speech with Picard about the word snoop. And of course the effects were tremendous and the concept of the holodeck was intriguing (to coin a phrase).
However I was not impressed by Q, seemed like a cross between Trelane and the Joker. I hated Troi who looked like a space pom pom girl and was always about to cry and bored by the innocuous Klingon, yada….
I was losing interest, about to embrace my preconceptions, when a reference was made to an admiral who did not like the transporter. When De Kelley appeared on the screen, a shot of adrenaline went through me. I decided to be more open to this new venture.
Though I did not care for the Wesley Crusher character and grew to really dislike him as the series went on, I fell in love with TNG. And with Best of Both Worlds I admitted to myself that TNG was now my favorite. Though I was and remain very passionate about TOS, TNG is closest to my heart, partly because we got to know all the principals through the years, partly because the money was spent to make it look great and partly because I am a geek who loves technobabble!
Happy Birthday, TNG! Twenty years…..I was young then!
I used to post on and engage (no pun intended) in this website much more when Mr. Pascale began his endeavor. It was and continues to be a terrific new source of information about TOS-R, the upcoming new movie and all things Trek (albeit, with very loosely connected threads at times ;). And kudos to him for his commitment and vision in it’s construction and execution.
However, nowadays I tend to read the story or review, look at the pictures or video, read a few postings of the more salient and thoughtful posters and move on… Largely because of the continued banter about which Trek is better and what Trek is supposed to be and what it isn’t supposed to be. And to be clear, it isn’t the banter, per say, that bothers me… it is the acrimonious, vehement mean-spiritedness tone of some posters or the “hit & run” tactics of bashing (a.k.a. as flaming, I think?) that leaves me scratching my head in confusion and incredulity.
At the end of the day, Star Trek, in all it’s incarnations was meant to be entertainment. Most times it succeeded in telling a good story about the human condition with resonance and insight and value past the notion of selling whatever the attached sponsors hoped we’d buy or how many times we’d put our butts in the seats of a movie theater. But let’s not kid ourselves… bended knee and a “tip of the hat” to the artists in all their forms and functions involved, notwithstanding… Star Trek, like all popular entertainment, was/is created to generate revenue.
If you do not generate a revenue stream that is acceptable to those collecting the gold down river you don’t get to play in the sandbox anymore (apologies for the mixed metaphors but more accurately and as an example, see TNG’s last two feature entries and Enterprise.) So, by and large, Star Trek et al., for the most part, was very successful.
If the yardstick used for judgement is on the basis of Star Trek as art… well, that is a quagmire. Art by it’s very nature is soooooo subjective. Certainly, there are particular parameters or conventional constructs that define any of the mediums Star Trek has appeared in but still the best and the worst that Star Trek has offered over the years is delivered for entertainment. If you enjoyed them all… terrific!. If you didn’t… I’m sorry you feel cheated out of your time and money.
Of course, any reasonable person knows and acknowledges the foregoing. What astounds me is the continued and constant assault of those that have a very specific view of what Star Trek should be and how some other iteration of the franchise should be taken to task ad infinitum ad nauseam. Or, that those involved “behind the scenes” and, occasionally, in front are horrible, dastardly, reprehensible men and women for creating something that ultimately some found unsatisfying.
That’s really what it comes down to… you didn’t like that episode… or that series… or that movie. And ultimately, that’s what it is… just an episode… or a series… or a movie. You didn’t work on it… you didn’t NOT get paid… your life was not put in peril… at the end of the day all you lost, if you didn’t like it, was either your time or the money you spent for the prospect of being entertained.
Does that really deserve the harsh and sometimes vitriolic comments that are posted? And those posts are oft times aimed at, not only the creators of the entertainment you didn’t like but it is aimed at those that DID enjoy it.
Admittedly, a little friction is fun to read… a little heat with good humor is appetizing… a funny turn of a contrary phrase… or a zingy rejoinder… all make for entertainment. However, whether one enjoys all of Star Trek or just a small piece of the Universe, a request to those that feel the need to chastise… or insult… or admonish… or bash… or raise themselves by stepping on others. Give it a rest!
Sorry for being off-topic. To wit… Happy 20th B-day TNG!
it wasnt until the after the 3rd season that the diehard tos fans really accepted tng
thats was thanks to eps like ’sarek,’ ‘ yesterdays enterprise’ (which is really the best tng ep), and bobw 1
its funny – its been 20 years but i still think of tng as the ‘new’ star trek lol
# 28 Herbert:
As Jack Soo used to say on Barney Miller, “Very well put!” You have earned a voucher redeemable for six bars of gold-pressed latinum. It’s in the mail!
Pretty much disliked much of TNG, but watched anyway. It got way better as the seasons progressed. The films are much more watchable than the series(No dramatic pauses for commercials).
The tech gap between TOS and its films and TNG and its films are large because film technology progressed rapidly in those years(1969 – 1978). Also what could be done on TV during TNG was closing fast on feature film quality, so that by Generations it was only a matter of money and scope. Look at Firefly/Serenity. Had TOS went strait to feature films in 1970, it would have looked much TOS but with a bigger budget.
For those who were there: remember, in the months leading up to the premiere, how indignant so many fans were at the very concept of a Klingon on the bridge? Looking back at that, and how Worf (and, indeed, the Klingons as a whole) developed into such a beloved character, makes me lol. Just goes to show that, perhaps, fans don’t always know best and should sometimes go along for the ride.
Myself, I watched Season 1, but started to lose faith in Season 2 after Tasha. I actually drifted away from the show for a bit until someone yanked me back and sat my butt down to watch “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. It was all good from there.
for trolling and flaming yet again Josh T is now banned…this is the last time he will tell off fans of other series how misguided they are for liking them.
no more need to talk about his attempts to derail this celebration of TNG
comments (if you must) regarding this to the feedback thread
http://trekmovie.com/about/feedback/
Hey, wait a minute. Is it just me or did those phasers actually suspend that guy in mid air? I had no idea they could do that!
I literally grew up watching the VHS for STIV and can quote that whole promo.
Although the fact of having a new ST show was exciting, it got tough slogging through that first season. I remember seeing “DataLore” as a breakthrough episode because of the drama and action, with good music. But it didn’t really get good until the second season, and then better from there on out.
The less Roddenberry was involved, the better it bacame. I never thought it would be that way, but he had lost his edge and early TNG was like tapioca.
#17-
My, my. I find it quite surprising that, after all the time you’ve been here that you’ve only just noticed that?
You’re learning.
George Orwell once stated, (and I herein paraphrase), quote, “People may indeed be created equal. But some are more equal than others,” unquote.
As I’ve stated before, I’m well aware of the internal politics around here and other places, basically groups of hardcore, entrenched apparatchiks who treat these places like internet watering holes and their own personal social clubs with little or no tolerance for outsiders, or views which don’t fall into a very narrowly defined philosophy.
I’m not intimidated or daunted in the least, nor do I particularly care whether or not my views, or I myself are particularly in vogue here, or that I might or might not be someone folks hereabouts might want to sit down and have a Rom Ale with or discuss the finer points of their last trip to Vegas or [FILL IN THE BLANK].
I post here because it’s a public forum highlighting [to a certain degree] something I enjoy, not because I’m here to be anyone’s bosom buddy, chum, or lifelong pal, or to curry favor or to kiss the sterns of any celebrity who might drop by ocassionally. I know a lot of them and have many friends therein, and I don’t try it with them. If you ever saw a Who’s Who of Who’s Who List on my MySpace Profile, you’d agree I don’t have to come here to schmooze or conduct business with the so-called high and mighty, great and near great. They come to my page and writing forums all the time, and I to theirs and it saves us all a lot of trouble in terms of networking and Frequent Flyer Miles. End of story.
Trekmovie’s a nice little board. But there are far too many cooks in the kitchen and not enough customers here, so to speak to make it truly palatable to to most people. Not my call. It ain’t my board. If I can post, fine. If not, hey…I lay it down, as they say, and let it ride.
Keep On Trekking.
Actually (SPOILER for twenty-year-old TV episode ahead)…
…They’re using their phasers to try to free the character from the thing suspending him.
A number of the effects shots in this preview are somewhat different from the final versions as seen in the episode.
And em….talking about bootleggin….
As i am Glasgow in the UK we didnt get TNG for a year or so, but I had a friend in Birmingham England; who had a friend in london; who had a relative in New York – who would VHS tape the episodes until he had 4 then ship the tape every 4 weeks to the UK via the friend in london; via the friend in Birmigham then he would do multiple copies for only the postage and send them out to over 200 fans! We did this right up to the last season of DS9!!!!! (and he kept all the ads in which was fun for us brits!
By the time the 3rd last episode was shown of TNG SKY TV here was only 2 weks or so behind the USA!
Thank god for…em…the www
Im sure I still have all the tapes in my loft!
And yeah waiting for Season 3 was murder after BOBW part 1
I can still remember the summer of 87 and how excited I was that Trek was coming back to TV. I was a big fan of TOS (which I didnt discover until reruns in the 70s as a child) and the especially the TOS movies and Star Trek was really big back then. I had no idea that it would get even bigger in the 90s with multiple shows and more movies, etc. I really hope the new movie sparks a sequel and the revitalization sparks a new TV show as the II,III,IV trilogy did in the 80s. It seems to me that the success of STIV in the winter of 86 through the success of the launch of TNG in the fall of 87 was really a major pivot point in the franchise, but 20 years ago I was just psyched to see new Trek coming.
Same here Anthony..that buzz… i even remember my usa frend sending me over a cherrios box and a small model of the Enterprise-D – 2 inches in size witht the poster of the Enterprise-D on Picards ready room! istill have it framed in my office :-)
And i was 28 in 1987! LOL!
yea its weird i am only 20 myself, and i have been watching TNG, for as long as i can remember , i mean i grew up knowing that i not was old school like the people whatched the orignal series when it was first on or in the 70s when the first movie came out , but now i have seen the orignal run of tng , ds9, vog , ent , as well as seeing 5 movies in the cinema, i suddenly feel kinda well old , hopefulling in 20 years time , when theres new series and movie , i can gladly say i was there for the 2nd wave of star trek to all the young fans lol.
I still have my VHS copy of STIV with this promo on it. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years already!
A couple of things I find interesting about this teaser in retrospect:
1) Troi is refered to as “The telepathic Troi” giving us an indication of how late the decision was made to make her empathic instead of telepathic.
2) Worf is the VERY LAST crewman introduced, indicating that his character was more or less an afterthought. In fact, if I remember correctly, Michael Dorn might not have even been signed on for every episode in the first season! Rather ironic considering how prominent his character became later on (so much so that he went on to be a regular on DS9).
3) Wesley is the FOURTH character introduced – even before Data! HA!
Very interesting… The blue phasers were.. ahem.. interesting. Glad they refined that. But I actually really liked the warp away effect they used at the end there. I think it looks much better than the more rubber-band like one used in the series opening credits instead. I wonder why they didn’t go with that instead.
Thanks for sharing!
While I prefer TOS and DS9, I’ll always have a soft spot for TNG.
Yes it’s true it got kinda preachy at times, and the writing wasn’t always the most sophisticated, but what still holds up are the characters, the great chemistry between the cast, some great dialogue, and the humor.
People seem to forget sometimes how many great, classic episodes TNG had during it’s run. Not just the “big” ones like BOBW, but eps like Data’s Day, Tapestry, The Drumhead, Lower Decks, The Defector, Measure of a Man, and a whole host of others.
TNG may not have been as consistent as TOS, but when it got it right, it was JUST as damn good.
#6
George Lucas has NEVER exercised restraint in any form. If he had, we wouldn’t have things like ‘Battle for Endor’ or the 3 prequels.
Oh, man…just image if they tucked away the story for ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ and saved it for the first Next Gen film…of course involving Kirk and crew on the ‘A’.
What if TUC and Generations was a two part story with TUC ending with the supposed destruction of 1701-A and the loss of all hands as Enterprise ducked into the time distortion as Chang fired a huge final volley at her. The Federation President is therefore assassinated and all hell breaks loose.
Then Generations opens with Picard and Co. encountering Kirk and Co. and the badly damaged Enterprise A in the war-torn alternate time line…dang, that would’ve rocked!
I too have always thought ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ could have been the best Star Trek movie of them all. Too bad it was wasted on a mere television episode! Ah well, guess we should count ourselves lucky that we got to see ANY version of it at all!!
I remember how promising TNG was when it first came on, but my wife & I found ourselves absolutely hating Picard. He seemed to go out of his way to be mean-spirited & he was always so by-the-book. There was none of the love & compasion that Kirk had for his crew. Each week we hoped he’d be killed so Ryker could take over. It’s funny, but before the first season was over we came to love him. I still have no idea what particular thing he did that made us change our minds. Perhaps they merely improved the writing, I don’t know. Great moments: The few minutes of screen time between Spock & Data were priceless; Scotty’s frustration that LaForge is truthful with the Captain over how long repairs actually take, Sarek, Admiral McCoy, the oldest living officer in Starfleet, the Borg, Q and on & on. It may have been from a movie, but one of my favorite lines came from Worf, “”IF YOU WEREN’T WHO YOU ARE I’D KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!”
Actually, I\’ve been looking thru some of the other clips offered by Youtube alonf with the embedded one above. The Dallas spoof version of the TNG opening sequence is superb. I like it better than the real one!!!
The end of The Best of Both Worlds 1 remains one of my favourite cliffhangers in any ever. Sadly, I don\’t think part two lived up to its predecessor\’s promise. But the likes of Yesterday\’s Enterprise, BOBW and Gambit remain some of my favourite Trek moments of any incarnation.
Just a shame about the opening moments of BOBW 2 killing the cliffhanger with a dull, drawn out cliffhanger and a tinsel laser beam!
‘along’ and ‘in any TV show,’ even!!
Whoa…the show looks so….80’s! The first few seasons, from what I’ve seen of them, were almost unbearably bad, in my opinion, mainly due to the lack of a decent writing staff. I have to say, if I was a Star Trek fan back then, I’d be extremely worried. But TNG more than made up for it’s shaky early days from the 3rd season on, becoming what it should have been all along; a more intellectual, adult version of Star Trek, embellishing and improving upon the legacy of the original. And it’s success is largely due to the efforts of one man, Michael Piller, who gave the show direction, and put together a team of writers who would mature to become some of the best in the business, and go on to shepherd Star Trek in the years to come. So it’s success was gradually used up by ill-handling; it doesn’t take away from what the TNG team accomplished.
Happy birthday!
I remember being “on the road”…travelling on my first job, the week TNG premiered. Hunkered down in the hotel that night only to discover it didn’t run on the local station. Argh! Well, the VHS tape was ready for me, recorded and waiting when I got home. In the meantime I’d bought Gerrold’s novelization of “Encounter at Farpoint” and read it, therefore creating my own spoiler warning.
Hey, here’s a question I’ve always wondered about, for those of you who have read that same first TNG novel. i don’t have it here so I can’t quote it verbatim, but there’s a description in the very beginning as Picard is being shuttled to the Enterprise and he observes (again, my paraphrasing)
“…starships were always traditionally ‘female,’ and Picard noticed the private joke of the Enterprise’s designer and smiled.”
What the heck was Gerrold talking about there? Closest thing I can figure out is that the rear view of the saucer section, with its red lights, looks like a woman’s lipsticked face if you have enough imagination, but otherwise I don’t get it. Or was it something more sexual?
#49
Yeah Picard was pretty cold and stern in that first season. Thankfully the writers gave him a bit more warmth and a sense of humor as time went on.
38. Dennis Bailey
I know. I’ve seen the episode. When they freed him it was a quick burst from the phasers that didn’t last a second. You can see that their phasers emit a blue beam that appears to be supporting Zorn’s fall.
There’s nothing quite like Counselor Troi’s 1st season hair and uniform…
I remember watching the premiere of TNG in my little studio Apt. on a 13 inch color TV with my face about a foot from the screen. Those were great times though!
Myself and at least one other asked (dreamed) about a TV movie for Sulu and the Excelsior on another thread…. I’m now thinking that a TV movie for TNG’s 20th would be awesome. Would the cast look down their noses at doing a TV movie? Hopefully not. It would be awesome.
Both would make $$$ for Paramount.
Yeah, Kirk: The Jack Bauer Of Space (56.) Deanna looked like some kinda bondage queen in season one. I definitely preferred the revised crew uniforms from season three onwards, although I think the DS9 uniforms would have looked better in TNG from the start. In seasons one and two, the uniforms looked like a weird hybrid of the TOS and TMP designs.
Indeed, both seasons one and two of TNG could be said to be fighting a war between TOS and TMP aesthetics on every level. It’s funny how, right from the opening of TNG season three, where the show really struck out on its own, there was a confidence exuded by the series that just hadn’t been there before. Guess we should thank Michael Piller for that!
Actually, just got round to watching the Enterprise episode ‘In a Mirror Darkly Part 1′ in a late night showing on the UK channel Sky Two about an hour ago. Really liked it.
They should’ve kept those Mirror Universe uniforms and hairstyles for the regular show!!! And as for Linda Park . . . whoa! I’d do anything she said! They should cast her in the new movie as one of Hoshi’s descendants! Don’t understand why she’s still wearing a bra in bed after making love to Archer, though! Are Berman Trek types that inhibited? ;)
Got a question, since we’re going down memory lane. Why did Thomas Riker (pretending to be Will Riker) have a go at Chief O’Brien in the DS9 episode ‘Defiant?’
I seem to remember Riker saying to O’Brien something like ‘I have nothing to say to you Mr O’Brien, I think you know why!’ Also, when Picard beamed O’Brien off the Enterprise in ‘Emissary’ O’Brien was very cold towards the captain. Did I miss some kind of scandal?
Seeing ‘In a Mirror Darkly’ makes me want to see the rest of Enterprise season 4 (I only caught the maligned ‘These Are the Voyages . . .)
Re: #53 Bully
“…starships were always traditionally ‘female,’ and Picard noticed the private joke of the Enterprise’s designer and smiled.”
I think what Gerrold meant was, if you look directly at the underside of the ship with the tail pointing up, the curvy secondary hull and pylons look like a uterus with the nacelles taking the position of ovaries (That’s my perspective!). But we have no idea if that’s what designer Andy Probert actually intended.
I remember being excited that a new star trek was being made. and I remember think No, no no. They have it all wrong. The saucer section is far to big. The the Saucer sep happened and I though well thats more like it! THe original never did THAT!!
I still think TNG year one had a nice quality to it. Its more like the original is feel than the rest of it, the Roddenberry/Justman/Fontana/Gerrold feel.
Great!
“I seem to remember Riker saying to O’Brien something like ‘I have nothing to say to you Mr O’Brien, I think you know why!’ Also, when Picard beamed O’Brien off the Enterprise in ‘Emissary’ O’Brien was very cold towards the captain. Did I miss some kind of scandal”
I’m pretty sure this was just a convenient way of getting rid of O’Brien so Thomas could go on with his dastardly plan. O’Brien was quite friendly to him, and looked quite puzzled by Thomas’s behavior. As for the Emissary thing, I don’t remember any particular ‘coldness’ there. Am I missing something?
#53
– “…starships were always traditionally ‘female,’ and Picard noticed the private joke of the Enterprise’s designer and smiled.”
What the heck was Gerrold talking about there? Closest thing I can figure out is that the rear view of the saucer section, with its red lights, looks like a woman’s lipsticked face if you have enough imagination, but otherwise I don’t get it. Or was it something more sexual? –
#58
– Re: #53 Bully
“…starships were always traditionally ‘female,’ and Picard noticed the private joke of the Enterprise’s designer and smiled.”
I think what Gerrold meant was, if you look directly at the underside of the ship with the tail pointing up, the curvy secondary hull and pylons look like a uterus with the nacelles taking the position of ovaries (That’s my perspective!). But we have no idea if that’s what designer Andy Probert actually intended. –
I think it’s quite obvious that the D’s photon torpedo bay (which was where TOS’s Enterprise deflector dish was originally located and which was the round blue-lighted generator on the TOS movies’ Enterprise(s) ) looks like a vagina.
By the way, I remember promos that aired well before Summer 1987 and before the release of the STIV:TVH videotape that were simply quick cuts of space scenes from the movies: the Genesis effect, the battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant, etc.
A quick addendum on the Enterprise D being “female”:
The photon torpedo bay is also red.
Funny, I know Randy Yeoman commented and I responded and I had another post as well… what happened?
Xai, did you and Randy have your own vagina monologue going,regarding the shape of the ship, and maybe got censored for it?
To me, The Inner Light episode is what set TNG apart. All the things that hindered TNG on the the Big Screen, are the things that allowed it to flourish on the small screen and find it’s own particular groove.
And I think The Inner Light episode is one of the finest moments in all of Science Fiction media.
It exemplified how Sci-fi can make a profoundly haunting concept find full realization in a fantasy world production, while being fully grounded in real world thought and emotion. To me, the end of that episode is one of the most moving and haunting moments in TV history.
That one stuck with me for a few days…
re 65:
Inner Light was a tremendous episode, Fireoftime! I remember watching it at an age when I was more interested in shoot-em-ups and gore than soft, “emotional” fare. Yet after watching that episode, me and my friends agreed that it was powerful and moving.
It probably is the single best episode of TNG. I just wish some of what had been in that episode had made it into movies like “Insurrection.” Sigh…
I love most of Next Gen, I think the series started to get lame when the spin offs started to happen (which divided the focus of the show) and of course that affected the movies as well and the later spin offs IMO
I think it’s kinda funny how they only referred to Worf as “the Klingon officer” – because in the first season, it’s not really clear what his actual job was apart from “Stand at the back of the bridge, replace others at their stations when they leave, and get shouted at by Picard occasionally”.
I’m sorry if this will upset people but TNG was just a better show than TOS, although most of the TNG movies would seem to contradict that
trektacular (69) that’s a silly, inflammatory remark!! What was the point in saying something just to pee people off? This is supposed to be a celebration/discussion of TNG, not a zone for people who like one or another series to throw brickbats at one another! I like Voyager better than TNG, but I don’t run around abusing TNG fans because people seem to hate Voyager!
Chill out and be nice. Think of this as a party you’ve been invited to. Your remark is the equivalent of loudly declaiming a substantial portion of the guests in order to start a fist fight!!!
Okay, group hug, everybody!!
#70
Woah there partner! You might need some valium. It’s not like he said TOS was a POS! :)
woah calm down folks. Trektacular didn’t flame anyone. That being said these tng20 threads are not the time for the usual ‘my trek is better’ stuff
TNG should never have the left the air, Trek was never the same (ratings wise) after it left
74: “TNG should never have the left the air, ”
You’re probably right. They could have done a film in 94, but continued the series just as X-files did.
They could have let the show run until 97 (which would have given it a 10 year run) then released a second film that summer.
It would have been nice to have seen the characters evolve more naturally, rather than keeping them all together on Enterprise till old age ( I mean, even Sulu got his own ship at some point). It would have been cool to see Riker and Data in charge of their own ships. Worf or Jordi becoming #1 on Enterprise, and Troi and Dr. Crusher given a little more screen time.
I always thought it would have been neat to introduce a new alien species from outside our galaxy who are more advanced and vicious than anything herein. A species who are attacking and destroying everything in their path, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Borg, you name it….. then we could have a BIG galactic war wherein these various groups would have to form a (on very thin ice) temporary alliance to survive.
Oh well, so many possibilities of what could have been…
“…misty, water-colored…”
(I think I’m repeating an anecdote that I recounted months ago, but, what the hell…)
I can’t remember many days from 1987, but, I remember the TNG premiere.
I was 13, and, while I was more of a Star Wars fan, at that time, than a Trek fan, I’d seen all of the TOS films up through IV, and, I was excited enough to tune in for this new show.
Encounter at Farpoint was an awful disappointment for me. That uptight, bald Captain…(I actually never minded Wesley too much, funnily enough)…that guy wearing the make-up, who was supposed to be some kind of robot or something….and, that annoying woman who was melodramatically “feeling” every, God-damned thing….ugh…
I watched the first half-hour, or, so, intently, and, then did my homework during the rest of the episode.
“Well, that was a bust,” I thought.
And, I didn’t bother with that show again for 4 years.
Then, one day, my high school Lit teacher, of all people, showed us the episode “The First Duty” as a supplement to some novel we were analyzing. And, I love it.
I caught the next episode, at my friend’s house, and, from then on, I was hooked. I tuned in every week (Sundays, if memory serves) without fail, for the duration of the series.
A friend had all of the episodes, up to that point, on VHS, and, I excitedly got up to speed. A lot of Season 1 annoyed me, but, pretty much from Season 2 onward was a blast.
That show meant more to me than I can put into words here. It helped me through some tough times during my late teens and early twenties, expanded my mind, gave me a sense of hope, and, was damned exciting.
When I was in college, there were only a few TV’s on campus that would receive the channel that TNG was on. We Trek fans would literally congregate in front of one of those TV’s each Sunday.
I remember the look of panic on the face of one particular fellow (an older student, in his 30’s) one Sunday, when our regular TV wasn’t working. He looked like a helpless child, as he queried, “No Trek?!” It was quite the juxtaposition of personæ within that one man, being that his outward appearance was that of a Harley enthusiast.
20 years….where do they go.
Here’s wallowing in love lost, and, hoping for the best in the new film!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TNG!!!
TNG has even more of a resonance for me since it was basically the Phase II series reincarnated with (mostly) new characters, and I always wanted to see that show
#50
After your mention, I went and looked. Holy Moly. This one is totally deserving of a look from everyone who stops by. If you ever watched Dallas, you’ll get a good laugh from it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QktVh64BYx4
It’s really pretty funny.
Anyhow, I grew up on TNG. I actually lived in Zambia, Africa at the time, in the early 90’s the show made it over there and they played it in the early afternoon on Sundays along with all the kids shows. I guess someone at the country’s state run (and only) tv station thought it was a kid’s show. We only got the first two seasons in Zambia, but my entire family got hooked and we started begging family back in the States to tape it for us. Some might say it was the lack of decent entertainment, but I say it simply was a fun show. Of course, the first two seasons weren’t the best and TNG came into it’s own after season 2, but I loved it and still do despite the fact that I think TNG’s plots tend not to age quite as well as TOS’s have.
As for the series bashing, well, some series are worse than others. We can all admit that Voyager had serious problems, as did Enterprise. But both shows had fans and good spots that made them very watchable at times. Heck, I loved to hate Voyager. I’ve seen every episode. I don’t allow my dislike of certain elements of that show tarnish my like for Star trek or just enjoying the show despite it’s quirks. And of course, we all know that TOS had its pimples too.
People who bash each other about liking or disliking one show more than another are plain out silly. If you didn’t like the show for whatever reason, fine… but don’t act like your opinion is the only one that matters or give someone a hard time for theirs. We all have different tastes. And for God’s sake, it really IS only a TV show!
47 – yes I’ve often stated my anguish at not having had Yesterdays Enterprise as the 1st TNG movie with the ent A instead of the C… that’s a great storyline u thought of there with the end of VI leading on into TNGs 1st film…I always thought it would have made sense to have done Yes Ent as the TNG movie just after the events of VI due to the Klingon story and have kirk and Co encounter the rift as they are travelling home – with the Ent A having to restore the peace they had just fought for – but ur idea is better – have them encounter the rift during the end battle (as The Ent C did) cue cliffhanger end leading to Star Trek VII/TNG The Motion Picture…
It is a shame that used it for an ep but then again that ep was instrumental in TNGs success as a tv show in the 3rd season….i guess it was too good for them to just hold on to for a possible movie..a movie that wouldn’t be made unless the tv show was a big success…
Alternatively I guess they could have just done what TMP did – used elements of the episode for the film – not doing it verbatum but similar (TMP – with Doomsday Machine and The Nomad ep)
Oh and I remember thinking after watching ‘Encounter’ that Riker and Troi were basically just Decker and Ilia
#79 — IIRC, Riker and Troi were based off of the Decker and Ilia characters (who were originally intended for Phase II)..
btw heres the original unused TNG theme…
sounds like something from a superman tv show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCjuOhTiEmY&mode=related&search=
no wonder they reused TMPs