Star Trek The Next Generation Retrospective/Review - Star Trek Retrospective, Part 8

by the mid-1980s the star trek franchise was a pop culture phenomenon boasting a massive international fandom ever-popular re-running television series and a successful blockbuster movie franchise while the familiar trio of kirk spock and mccoy were embarking on continuing adventures on the big screen those at paramount began to consider a second installment for the franchise on the small screen but surely without the iconic characters known the world over no new star trek series could ever be successful could it in 1986 following the success of the fourth star trek film the longevity of the star trek franchise amazed paramount executives who regarded the property as their crown jewel chairman at the time frank machuso jr once stated the shelf life in this business is usually three days to flourish for 20 years is unheard of star trek is a priceless asset the potential of which must not be squandered while the harv bennett produced film series was a reliable money maker for the studio the budgets and salary demands of each new film had steadily increased along with the ages of the cast to ensure audiences could enjoy further star trek adventures for many years to come paramount executives decided to move forward with a new spin-off series following new characters played by lesser known actors and it was a big gamble star trek the original series had been airing successful reruns in dozens of countries for almost 20 years by this point despite full slates of new programming star trek was still paramount's most profitable series to date a staggering feat captain kirk mr spock and dr mccoy were pop culture icons recognized all over the world the intrepid crew of the enterprise battling villainous klingons while going where no one has gone before was what defined star trek to many people to ask those same people to accept a new crew and a new ship in stories potentially very different than what came before was thought to be outright impossible to help conceive of this brand new star trek series paramount decided they needed to enlist the help of the creator of the original star trek concept gene roddenberry despite having not been directly involved with any of the star trek movies following the motion picture gene roddenberry had become almost as big an icon as some of the characters he had created throughout the 80s roddenberry made frequent appearances on science fiction convention panels as well as various other public speaking engagements at universities all over america and europe he spoke frequently about his vision of a utopian future and the grand ideas which influenced his conception of the star trek premise he also told often embellished stories about his time working on the original show and the first movie these talks gradually built up a prestige around the man with many devoted trekkies coming to think of him as a great philosophical thinker and creative genius even to this day in online fan discourse this image of gene roddenberry is almost deified with the proverbial genes vision frequently being used as the ultimate yardstick for which to measure any and all new star trek stories in whatever medium the adoration from fans was so intense roddenberry even joked that just like l ron hubbard the science fiction author who founded the church of scientology he too could start his own religion if he wanted to in truth though roddenberry's career as a writer and producer had run into many roadblocks following his unceremonious ousting from the star trek franchise he had written numerous pilots for ambitious tv shows which usually failed to get off the ground because of this resentment toward paramount higher ups he initially refused their offer to help develop the new star trek television series however he later saw it as an opportunity to put right the wrongs he felt had been done to him he hired an infamous lawyer named leonard maslish who will come up later on this video and sought to ensure his position as a primary creative voice once again negotiations came down to the wire but eventually roddenberry signed on to develop the next installment of the star trek franchise just as before roddenberry went about assembling his team of writers and producers to create star trek the next generation he hired producer and writer rick berman who had been a program director at paramount since 1984. roddenberry believed his work on the pbs show the big blue marble and the miniseries space made him an ideal choice to help ensure his vision of a progressive and enlightened future came together on screen he also hired writer producer maurice hurley curiously enough hurley had no experience with science fiction with most of his credits being crime dramas like the equalizer and miami vice along with others roddenberry hired star trek veterans such as robert justman and dc fontana with his team contributing several ideas of their own roddenberry went about rewriting the series bible which was initially penned by another star trek veteran david gerald some of his initial ideas were quite radical one such idea was roddenberry speculating that a century after the original series the characters wouldn't even need to use a spaceship of any kind to travel through space however this was deemed too radical and difficult to film his original bible set the show in the 25th century 150 years after the original series and would follow the enterprise g but for whatever reason this was later pulled back to the 24th century and following the enterprise d another higher which roddenberry made the team was andrew probert a conceptual designer who was originally part of the star trek phase 2 team and was famous at the time for designing these cylons in battlestar galactica ever since phase 2 probert had wanted a radical new look for the enterprise having never been fully happy with the look of the constitution class his design enlarged the saucer section into an ellipse shape and brought the warp nacelles further back and lower on the frame rather than the strict modular look of matt jefferies came up with probert wanted the shapes of the new enterprise to flow into one another for a more streamlined silhouette the only demand from the producers was to have the ship separate into two parts originally the battle section of the ship was a smaller vessel in the shape of a d which would detach however this was later revised to a saucer separation to create the visual effects for the show paramount approached dozens of companies across the industry some ambitious early tests used early cgi tools to create shots looking at it now obviously the shots are very dated but they're also startlingly impressive for the time ultimately though it was decided to go forward using the tried and true method of miniatures map paintings and opticals as the cgi tools simply weren't ready for the pilot episode paramount had the privilege of industrial light and magic lending their services to the project while not committing the same resources they would to a feature film having such an accomplished team working on the visual effects would ensure this new star trek could properly wow audiences with its visuals composer dennis mccarthy was brought on board to create the music for the show at first mccarthy created his own original theme for the series something in the spirit of a naval adventure story [Music] however it was later decided to combine the original alexander courage theme with the one jerry goldsmith i composed for the motion picture production was getting underway paramount went about looking for a distributor for the new star trek series at first they approached the fox network but they could only commit to 13 episodes nbc and abc would only agree to a pilot cbs proposed creating a mini-series which could then be spun off into a full show this lack of commitment from the major television networks was quite baffling to many paramount executives star trek was a proven success with a huge international fan base several hit movies and a tv show which was still profitable after two decades thus paramount decided on a radical distribution method first run syndication traditionally in american tv big television shows first aired on a primary network and after proving their success would go into syndication episodes would be sold to other networks and smaller stations for a larger profit this was the model star trek the original series was released with but for star trek the next generation paramount wanted to guarantee their creative control over the show and with the big three networks refusing to greenlight a full first season paramount decided to essentially skip airing the show on an original network and went straight to syndication the smaller local stations which had hosted the successful reruns of the original series had tripled in number by the 1980s paramount gave over syndication right to these smaller stations for free and the 12 minutes of commercial time was divided five minutes for the local station and the remaining seven for paramount by october of 1987 the show had been sold to over 200 stations covering 90 percent of the united states it was a highly unorthodox strategy but it guaranteed a full first season getting off the ground for the crew of this new enterprise roddenberry gerald and fontana created a large ensemble of diverse characters roddenberry knew from the outset he wanted a member of the crew to have some kind of disability and it was gerald who suggested blindness something which could be aided thanks to a visor which the character would wear over their eyes the name for the character was inspired by a disabled star trek fan named george t leforge who roddenberry encountered several times at conventions in the 1970s gerald then adjusted the name slightly to jordy laforge in the initial character breakdown though he wasn't a chief engineer helmsman or even a bridge officer he was simply listed as an away team regular who ran a children's school on board the ship among those considered for the role were wesley snipes and tim russ in fact russ was close to landing the part before producers ultimately settled on levar burton at the time burton was probably the most famous name in the cast having hosted and produced the pbs show reading rainbow and earning widespread acclaim for his performance as kunta kinte in the landmark miniseries roots the ship's operations science officer was to be an artificial life form an android this was inspired by wanting to replicate the logical presence of spock on the bridge but also by the android character questor from the questor tapes a tv movie roddenberry had made along with gene l kuhn the original backstory for data was quite different from what was later explained in the series in his original backstory data was created by a race of unseen aliens who stored the memories of a doomed human colony inside his brain his resulting personality was to be derived from these memories among the names considered for the part were robert englund kim miuri kevin peter jones and eric menyuk eventually brent spiner won the part at the time he was thought of as a comedic leaning character actor known for adopting various voices and playing big personalities such as the recurring role of bob wheeler in the sitcom night court spiner drew from a variety of inspirations for his portrayal including pinocchio roy batty from blade runner and stan laurel of laurel and hardy to better appeal to a younger audience gene roddenberry created the character of wesley crusher a 15 year old boy with a brilliant mind who the audience would follow as they grew into a capable starfleet officer during development of the character bob justman suggested changing the character to a teenage girl named leslie crusher his reasoning was that television and film was already full of stories depicting the male adolescent experience but very few followed the female experience for quite some time the character of leslie crusher existed in the show's bible and first few scripts however gene roddenberry later changed his mind switching the character back to a boy named wesley crusher fifteen-year-old will wheaton known best at the time for the stephen king coming of age adaptation stand by me landed the part the character of beverly crusher was originally set up as a school teacher it seems in early development a regular character would be a civilian teacher abort ship however this never came to pass beverly crusher was changed to the ship's doctor thanks to david gerald he recalled a lunch meeting where he said we don't have a ship's doctor yet why don't we have beverly crusher be the ship's doctor i wish i'd recorded this conversation because everybody said nah that doesn't work and then they started discussing it eddie milk has said you know that saves us a character if beverly crusher is the ship's doctor then we don't have to create a ship's doctor then bob justin said no that makes it harder for the captain to have this relationship with beverly crusher that we want to have on the other hand the fact that it's harder to have this relationship puts more tension you know gene that's not a bad idea and then gene started discussing it by lunch beverly crusher was the ship's doctor cheryl gates mcfadden was cast in the part mcfadden had a years-long career with the jim henson company working as a dance choreographer on labyrinth and the muppets take manhattan in this role she chose to be credited as cheryl mcfadden but for her acting work she used her middle name gates barring a brief appearance in the hunt for at october opposite alec baldwin she was mostly known as a comedic actor after landing the part she was quite surprised how much more serious the character was on paper however the character of beverly crusher was very vaguely defined the characters created her as a mother to wesley and as a love interest for picard but beyond that not much of her personality was defined for the ship's security chief role bob justman was heavily inspired by the character of vasquez from james cameron's aliens for the enterprise he and gene roddenberry created the character of mata hernandez actors considered for the role included julian nixon and rosalind chow however an early front runner was marina certis meanwhile the character of diana troy was also being cast david gerald and bob justman first conceived of a character aboard ship who could be a wise emotional healer of sorts roddenberry suggested this character be the ship's counselor as he believed in the future mental health would be regarded as just as important as physical health she was meant to be the brains of the crew with many likening the character's intelligence to spock in the show's bible troy was described as a woman with icelandic blonde hair and at one point three breasts dc fontana objected to this feature later saying i felt women have enough trouble with two and how are you going to line them up vertically horizontally or what i was like please don't go there among those who auditioned for the role was susan gibney but it was denise crosby who emerged as the favorite but as auditions continued jaden roddenberry decided certais and crosby were better suited for each other's parts and so they were switched crosby was an up-and-coming actress at the time having appeared in the thriller 48 hours and had a small role in trail of the pink panther and its sequel curse of the pink panther the granddaughter of legendary singer songwriter bing crosby she had been involved in the performing arts from an early age and was excited to play a tough non-typical role like matcha hernandez although after she was cast the character's name was changed to natasha yar certis was born in hackney london and had landed a number of roles in british television shows such as up the elephant and round the castle and the return of sherlock holmes after relocating to the usa she appeared in a handful of canon produced b movies before landing her part on star trek a notable new character on the enterprise would be a klingon crew member gene roddenberry reasoned that between the 23rd and 24th centuries relations between the united federation of planets and the klingon empire would have changed worf was originally conceived of as a klingon marine serving on the ship before being changed to a fully fledged starfleet officer his original backstory was that he was aboard a klingon ship as a child during one of the last battles between the federation and klingons during the battle he was rescued from the wreckage of his ship by a starfleet officer worf was also not conceived of as a main character but instead as a recurring role he would have appeared in only seven episodes of the first season michael doran recalled his audition i did not wear makeup but i took on these psychological guys of a klingon i walked into paramount in character no jokes no laughing with the other actors i sat by myself waiting for my interview when my turn came i walked in didn't smile did the reading thanked them and walked right out he landed the part soon afterwards before star trek dorne had extensive theater experience and was none of the time for his character jedediah turner on the tv show chips a departure from the original series was the choice to have a first officer who didn't take on other duties like science officer as mr spock had done this was to address the criticism that captain kirk often put himself in unnecessary danger while on away missions it was also more realistic to have a dedicated executive officer as is the case on real-life navy ships therefore commander william riker was to be the more action-oriented role with heavy inspiration taken from james t kirk among those who were considered for the role were william o'campbell james horan vaughn armstrong christopher mcdonald and even jeffrey combs who we'll be talking about more in a later video michael o'gorman was originally cast as commander riker but executive producer john pike felt he wasn't a good fit saying i wouldn't follow this guy into battle thus they cast their second choice jonathan fricks frix began his career working for marvel comics appearing as captain america on the convention circuit for a time he played the part of tom carroll on the nbc soap opera the doctors after that he made numerous guest appearances in other shows including the 1980s reboot of the twilight zone as well as fantasy island where he acted opposite ricardo montelban the most crucial character of this new star trek cast would be the captain of the enterprise from the very beginning this captain would be an older man more of an administrator than the action hero of captain kirk originally named jacques picard but later changed to julian picard it proved to be one of the most difficult parts to cast for dozens upon dozens of names were considered for the part john saxon james earl jones yafit koto avery brooks louis gossett jr kier dulia and many many more dc fontana heavily favoured actor stephen mack for the role but not many of the production team were happy with that choice at the time bob justman and his wife were taking an extension course at ucla on writing humor as part of the course jasmine and his wife attended a dramatic reading from two actors one of which was then 46 year old patrick stewart justman later reflected patrick sat down pushed up his sleeves and commenced reading he spoke a few sentences and i was thunderstruck i turned to my wife jackie and i said i think i found our new captain the day after justman hunted down stewart's agent and arranged a meeting between himself the actor and gene roddenberry patrick came in his rental car and we sat around for 30 40 minutes and then he made his goodbyes and left to fly back to england after he drove away gene closed the door and turn to me and i will quote him exactly he said i won't have him apparently a sticking point with roddenberry was the actor's evident baldness roddenberry reasoned that by the 24th century baldness would have been cured roddenberry remained vehemently against stewart's casting from then on despite the rest of the production staff championing him for the role rick berman constantly nagged roddenberry proclaiming that stewart was clearly the perfect choice stewart eventually auditioned for roddenberry adjustment again this time joined by executive john pike among others for that specific audition though stewart was asked to wear a hairpiece pike was impressed by the audition but knew stuart was in fact bald so stewart was asked to audition yet again this time without the hairpiece pipe concurred with the others patrick stewart was clearly the best of the bunch finally roddenberry relented and patrick stewart secured the role of captain julian picard later changed to jean-luc picard stewart was truly an unknown at the time in the united states he had a distinguished career with the royal shakespeare company for over 15 years and made several appearances on british tv in roles such as sedginus in the bbc production of i claudius across the pond he landed a minor role as guernie halleck in david lynch's dune as well as the part of dr armstrong in the canon produced space vampire movie yes really life force stewart was completely unaware of star trek's cultural presence and outside of fond memories reading dan dare comics as a child he had no real interest in science fiction in fact he was often baffled as to why many of his colleagues would want to appear in britain's doctor who which was running at the time after consulting with his agent and many other hollywood industry veterans they all concluded this new star trek show was destined for failure take the job because you know why it's not gonna work it's not gonna work everybody including my agent said the same thing you cannot revive an iconic series you cannot you're going to be captain kirk well okay they give you a different name it's not so you know come over here make some money for the first time in your life get us on time go home despite the confidence paramount had in its new show there were many fans industry insiders and even other star trek cast members who didn't believe tng could work this sentiment was most strongly expressed by a vocal portion of the fan base who often proclaimed if it isn't kirk spock and mccoy it isn't star trek conventions magazines and newspapers were replete with angry fans already despising the show before they had seen a single frame of an episode what amuses me about reading this kind of stuff is that it so strongly resembles the kind of absurd discourse which you can see today in internet forums and comment sections fans holding the franchise to a completely arbitrary set of standards for what is and isn't quote unquote real star trek looking back now it seems ridiculous to imagine star trek not being able to survive without the original cast members while many of these angry fans had already set their hearts on disliking this new incarnation before even seeing it for the more open-minded fan casual viewer and critic the first impression of this new star trek was of paramount importance for the all-important pilot episode gene roddenberry assigned the task to dc fontana her version of the pilot was titled meeting at farpoint now because this first stab was written well before all the characters and casting was finalized it has many differences to the episode which ended up being made the episode opens with the enterprise d commanded by captain julian picard having just completed a successful mission they journey to farpoint station where picard's first officer kyle summers is set to take his first command the uss starseeker while at the station the enterprise takes on new crew members including william riker and data who are close friends as well as dr beverly crusher and her daughter leslie soon after an alien ship appears and attacks destroying the starseeker and killing kyle summers an away team encounters the inhabitants of this enemy vessel on the planet's surface known as the annoy troy eventually uses her telepathic abilities to discover their ship is in fact a life form which has been enslaved by the annoy with the help of leslie crusher the enterprise crew were able to defeat the annoy and liberate the captured life form with riker appointed as new first officer the intrepid crew of this new enterprise once again goes boldly where no one has gone before while fontana was writing her draft roddenberry and pike were clashing fiercely behind the scenes over the length of the episode in pike's mind this new star trek show had to make a big splash with a feature-length first episode and coupled with the preceding 30 minute special the show would establish itself as event television for whatever reason roddenberry was vehemently against this at one point pike even threatened to ban gene roddenberry from the paramount law altogether if he didn't get a feature-length episode written at the last moment roddenberry relented and agreed to the two-hour premiere after the two-hour pilot was agreed upon gene roddenberry rewrote fontana's version of the episode adding an additional 30 minutes of runtime and introducing the character of q an omnipotent alien lifeform with godlike powers who puts the enterprise crew on trial for alleged savagery after he made these additions many of the production staff thought the concept for the character of q was eerily reminiscent of trelane from the original series episode the squire of gothos which is one of my personal favorites david gerald remembered we're looking at each other saying it's trelane all over again we all hated it and very gently suggested to gene it wasn't very good of course this fell on deaf ears he said trust me the way i'll do it the fans will love it john de lancie who was cast in the role also saw similarities between the two characters he was fond of the series although not a die-hard fan and he worried the next generation would become bogged down in trying to recreate what came before conflict arose between roddenberry and fontana after roddenberry attempted to take full credit for writing the pilot's script this dispute went to arbitration with the writers guild of america who eventually ruled in fontana's favor earning the two writers equal credit this dispute however severely damaged fontana's working relationship with roddenberry for the rest of their time on the show after the script was finalized the team had five weeks to complete the full episode which included filming and post-production a breakneck pace production designer herman zimmerman supervised the design and construction of sets while working under production manager david livingston during this process michael okuda joined the team to design the l-cars menu system for the new console displays among other contributions such as jordy laforge's visor most of the sets debuting in the episode were original creations but some sets and elements were repurposed from the feature films the corridors for example used pieces from the kirk era enterprise corridor sets although even these were originally created for the cancelled star trek phase 2 and the far point marketplace reused many pieces from kirk's apartment in the wrath of khan after a fast-paced and grueling shoot ilm contributed to the visual effects of the pilot in collaboration with paramount television's in-house team made up of peter laritzen robert legato ron moore and gary hudson bob is there watching me and last shot of the main title sequence enterprise comes into frame and if you look in the window tiny in the window you can see these little people walking around my jaw hit the floor and i went oh my god there's people there and of course there's bob jasmine who's laughing his butt off he knew that i'll get i would get so excited about it it was a pencil animation that was in there it it was so amazingly crude but when you shrink it down and diffuse it and and backlight it that's that's what people would look like extensive use of motion controlled miniatures optical compositing map painting and other effects were created for the episode when production was finally finished paramount held an internal screening for the debut episode while executive john pike admitted he had no idea what the episode was even about the high production values and lavish visuals made it a smash at the highest levels whether the star trek fanbase or pop culture at large was ready or not the very first episode of star trek the next generation debuted on the 28th of september 1987. beam aboard for star trek the next generation right here weekends on channel encounter at farpoint is an episode which i fondly remember watching as a child but viewing it today it feels like a bit of a mess it undoubtedly has terrific production values enhanced thanks to today's high definition remastering but its pacing plotting in characters seem very jumbled as the newly commissioned enterprise d sets off to solve the mystery of farpoint station they are intercepted by the god-like alien q who puts them on trial for being a grievously savage race captain picard then demands a test to see if humanity truly is as q believes it to be thus q lets them continue to farpoint station letting their originally planned mission serve as the test itself easily one of the strongest elements of the episode is john de lancie as cue much like trelane he embodies the archetype of the trickster character comparable to superman's mr mixes pidlik although in this episode delancey is very charismatic he is much more threatening in this first episode than he comes across in later appearances what brings the episode down as a whole is the pacing the viewer can really tell this was originally meant to be a one-hour episode which has been extended to 90 minutes with a lot of padding it kicks things off well with a high octane chase between the enterprise and q a showstopper of a saucer separation sequence and then a battle of wits between picard and q only for the episode to suddenly slam on the brakes immediately after by the time we're introduced to riker jordy and the crushers it's as if the episode is starting all over again we follow riker almost as an audience pov character through him we are introduced to all the new crew members the new enterprise and its amazing new technologies and the new captain again picard especially comes off as very cold and unapproachable during his scenes with riker it feels odd considering we just had 30 minutes of picard clearly demonstrating a deep concern for his crew one of whom leaps to his defense to proclaim his great morality for the most part the middle section of encounter at farpoint feels very slow and awkward with a lot of scenes slotted in purely for padding for example while it is wonderful to see leonard mccoy make an appearance having him show up in the middle rather than at the end of the episode is an odd choice the pacing problems plagued the episode right until its climax when the characters seemingly take forever to figure out what the audience has already deduced quite some time ago as a concept it is quintessentially star trek but in execution it's quite the jumble that being said the visuals and production values are indeed top notch dennis mccarthy's music and the strong visual effects put it head and shoulders above what was possible for a sci-fi show in the 80s it feels like it could have been released in cinemas as a demonstration of what was to come from star trek the next generation i'm not sure it really succeeds while there are some nice moments between this new crew they don't feel fully established as people and it isn't clear what the dynamic between the cast will be it seems there was a conflict in deciding if picard was to be the protagonist or if it's meant to be riker riker is muddled heavily on kirk after all and so it would make sense to have him take on the action role while picard serves as a wise mentor of sorts but the episode somehow does both and yet neither at the same time there's plenty of stuff for others to do in the plot of the episode but not much to do story-wise it all feels like quite thin material encounter at farpoint would certainly benefit from being shorter in length but as it is i think the problem is the lack of a unified creative vision it has its moments and it is entertaining enough for me to have gone back and watched it several times but as the next generation's debut episode it doesn't make the best first impression for the show critical and audience reception was similarly divided criticisms were raised with many of the characters with others calling it disappointingly boring the rabid fans who had already condemned the show before release naturally felt their skepticism was justified upon viewing marina certais later reflected on the reception of the episode saying they bloody hated us and jonathan frakes has also recalled the extremely vocal negative backlash that she'll continue to receive after its debut all that being said however encounter at farpoint was a ratings smash over 27 million viewers tuned in to watch the premiere making it the most watched syndicated drama series of the year although the overall reception was highly mixed paramount was already committed to a full season and hopes the show could hold on to its audience for the following [Music] episodes [Music] unfortunately season one of star trek the next generation is pretty poor overall the lack of good character development and regrettable creative decisions result in some truly terrible outings for the star trek franchise such as code of honor and angel one the episodes are heavily plot driven with the enterprise crew really only serving as devices for exposition most of the time a lot of this was due to the often chaotic situation behind the scenes season one of the next generation effectively had no showrunner during the original series this function was jointly filled by gene roddenberry genell kuhn and dc fontana considering roddenberry had been out of the tv production landscape for so long it's possible he was not accustomed to spearheading the creative direction of a show in the way the 1980s demanded there was a writer's room but no lead writer several executive producers but no lead producer roddenberry himself was often in poor health during much of the production which severely affected his ability to oversee the series something which also frustrated many writers was roddenberry's insistence that the next generation's characters were not allowed to have any conflict with each other his reasoning was that by the 24th century human beings had become so evolved that workplace conflict no longer existed this edict left many writers adrift when it came to penning scripts after all the driving force of great drama is more often than not conflict even veteran startup writers found this to be a difficult thing to implement as this was certainly not something depicted in the original series kirk spock and mccoy argued with each other often and the banter between the three is what arguably helped cement them as pop culture icons tempers were also heavily frayed between the writers and producers thanks to the involvement of leonard maislich gene roddenberry's lawyer because of roddenberry's poor health maizlish often served as roddenberry's proxy but the lawyer allegedly used this position to give his own notes and make his own rewrites to scripts something strictly prohibited by the hollywood unions and frankly is just appalling behavior in its first year star trek the next generation had a turnover of 30. that means there were 30 staff members who were hired and later either quit or were fired that's almost three times the average amount for a major tv show at the time while the behind the scenes chaos had an undeniably detrimental effect on the resulting episodes that's not to say the first season is a total loss once again as with part 1 of this video series i've chosen to highlight episodes based more on personal preference rather than universal acclaim the first episode i've chosen to highlight is the aptly titled where no one has gone before the enterprise brings aboard an apparently brilliant warp drive specialist named kaczynski and his assistant to upgrade the enterprise's engines while kozinski's equations seem like gibberish to the crew the first test sends the enterprise hurtling across space to another galaxy at impossible speeds after a repeat of this first test the enterprise then arrives at some kind of ethereal realm where the thoughts of the crew are rendered real eventually it's discovered kozinski's assistant is responsible a mysterious being from an unknown region of space known only as the traveler while it's a simple premise and the characters remain pretty two-dimensional for the most part the concept is star trek to a t literally going boldly where no one has gone before exploring strange new worlds and encountering strange new life it's visually spectacular fast-paced and thrilling much like star trek the motion picture while it isn't very emotionally impactful it trades in some big ideas which stay with the viewer long after it's finished the idea that the universe has some higher dimensions presently hidden away but we are on the cusp of one day exploring is fascinating and eric menik is a traveler gives a subtle but intriguing performance making what could have been dull exposition sound truly profound it's no wonder he originally auditioned for the role of data it's far from one of the most important episodes of the next generation but it's one of the early entries which manages to be fun while also being thematically rich as shooting for the first season went on many of the actors felt just as frustrated as the writers when it came to characterization most felt they weren't being given much in the way of real drama to sink their teeth into and felt their characters were being wasted one particular cast member who felt very strongly about this was denise crosby and so toward the end of the season the decision was made to write crosby out of the show and kill off tasha yar in the episode skin of evil while it is true tasha yar wasn't a particularly layered character crosby still managed to imbue the part with a lot of charisma and screen presence looking back it's interesting to wonder how the show would have evolved had crosby chosen to remain part of the cast yar and wharf made a badass duo and her intimate encounter with data certainly could have built into something interesting between the two unfortunately her send-off isn't one of star trek's finest hours while attempting to rescue troy from a crashed shuttle the crew encounter an oil-like life-form capable of intense cruelty and possessing immense power tasha yar is offhandedly killed when she tries to get around it it's such a sudden out of nowhere death which doesn't really feel earned what is handled better however is the funeral seen at the end of the episode it's one of the rare times early tng manages to actually elicit real emotion from the viewer the performances dialogue music and staging are all fantastic it's just a shame it comes at the end of such a weak plot much later in the season is an episode i've chosen to highlight which i think is somewhat of a hidden gem among early tng we'll always have paris the enterprise starts encountering strange temporal anomalies which seem to originate from an outpost run by a dr paul manheim whose experiments have ripped a hole in the very fabric of space-time what i appreciate about the episode is that it's one of the few in season one to successfully tie its concept and themes to a character specifically captain picard in this case patrick stewart gives a great performance from the very beginning of the show but like the others jean-luc picard was yet to fully develop into the icon he would later become we'll always have paris is really the first time outside of a few brief moments where we truly get a glimpse into picard personally the wife of dr mannheim being a former flame of picards generates far more interesting dialogue and genuine chemistry between stuart and guest star michelle phillips and their preoccupation with what might have been ties in nicely with the temporal shenanigans occurring throughout the episode the final set piece of data fighting his way inside the outpost to repair the space-time fracture finishes things off with some solid action and cool visuals and just like where no one has gone before there are some big ideas which the episode invites the viewer to ponder after the credits of rolled it's by no means a classic but the episode illustrates what the creative team were usually missing out on during the first year immediately after this episode comes conspiracy which no joke i genuinely love it was written by tracy tormey and after feeling so heavily constricted by what he saw as roddenberry's unworkable demands he endeavored to write an episode to deliberately piss roddenberry off to his complete surprise however roddenberry fully endorsed the finished script picard is called to a secret meeting with an old friend and several exceptional starfleet officers where he is told about mysterious goings-on at starfleet command even warnings of a potential takeover or invasion when this same friend is later killed picard enlists the enterprise crew's help in uncovering this conspiracy after a near full season of cringe-worthy planet of the week episodes or dull hijinks on the enterprise conspiracy feels like the show suddenly woke up right from the beginning there's a tense atmosphere and foreboding tone plot twists which are genuinely shocking and a final act which feels so bold it's hard to believe it's in the same show as most of the other episodes the revelation of the starfleet admiralty having been taken over by alien parasites feels like it's emerged from a roger corman b movie mustache twirling villains scoffing down worms fist fights in the enterprise and phaser fights at starfleet headquarters it all feels miraculous considering roddenberry's demands for a peaceful utopian future where everyone gets along roddenberry himself though was also feeling frustrated by some persistent notes from higher-ups at paramount just as tormey wrote his script in an attempt to deliberately antagonize roddenberry it's possible roddenberry commissioned this episode to antagonise paramount executives indeed it was roddenberry who insisted on the gory demise of commander remick who had become taken over by the queen of these alien parasites conspiracy is one of the few episodes to feel truly fresh and exciting from season 1 and remains something of a novelty for fans of the show an episode no one on staff expected to be made but somehow it was after season one finished up with the episode the neutral zone which saw the reintroduction of the romulans star trek the next generation was in essentially the same place following encounter of farpoint ratings were strong with an average of 10 million viewers tuning in for season 1 but critical reception was lukewarm at best and the vocal fan backlash continued for the second season some big changes happened behind the scenes as roddenberry's health continued to decline for whatever reason he appointed maurice hurley essentially as the head writer for the show this was quite bizarre considering hurley and roddenberry frequently clashed during meetings erupting into full-blown shouting matches on several occasions at the start of season two roddenberry and his wife majel barrett took a holiday leaving hurley in charge this abrupt change in leadership left many writers angry and resentful dc fontana david gerald and bob justman had been with star trek since its very beginning and were well versed in science fiction they saw it as baffling to have to answer to hurley who had never written any science fiction before and wasn't at all familiar with star trek if the accounts of many tng writers are to be believed hurley perhaps could have made more of an effort with the production team however he was in an incredibly tough position he and berman elected to try and adhere to roddenberry's vision as much as possible maintaining the edict of no character conflict however by their own admission burma and hurley didn't fully believe in roddenberry's vision of the future which meant they often took an absolutist approach to this storytelling philosophy meanwhile many of the staff writers found these edicts to be unreasonable in the first place constantly struggling against them to craft their stories roddenberry himself was sometimes very inconsistent with his own rules such as with the aforementioned episode conspiracy this worsened the already volatile working environment eventually leading to dc fontana bob justman and david gerald all leaving during the second season a departure from the cast was gates mcfadden as beverly crusher the exact reasons cited over the years have been numerous and contradictory a diplomatic explanation from hurley and john pike was that the character of beverly crusher simply quote unquote wasn't working others have speculated about a personal dislike of mcfadden by hurley for one reason or another instead the character of dr pulaski was added to the ensemble played by diane mulder who previously appeared in star trek the original series another important addition to the show was the recurring character of gainen played by whoopi goldberg being a massive fan of star trek the original series she originally asked levar burton to convince paramount execs to offer her a role for the first season although this request did reach paramount at the time they assumed it was a joke goldberg was an academy award-winning actress and acclaimed stage performer the execs thought why would someone with that kind of star power want to be involved in a low budget syndicated science fiction show eventually in a meeting with roddenberry goldberg explained that when she was growing up as a young science fiction fan star trek the original series was the first time she saw herself represented on screen through the character of ahura and wanted to continue that legacy for the next generation understanding the importance of this roddenberry created the character of gainan for the actress while pulaski's addition in season 2 is a subject of much debate among trekkies and production staff one universally adored edition in season 2 was riker's beard so the next day roddenberry uh michael westmore the king of makeup did all the shows [Music] something then we wouldn't sound stage put it on camera if they liked it or they didn't like the glued hair back on the face so this went on and on until six months later some middle level executive sent a memo in contrast to the jumping the shark idiom tv tropes has since coined the phrase growing the beard to describe the moment a show starts to improve in quality and this is true of star trek the next generation's second season while it still suffers from many of the problems which played season one it has more high caliber episodes with even some outright classics however before highlighting those classics i wanted to mention one which i'm particularly fond of where silence has lease while exploring space the enterprise encounters a strange hole of some kind which gives off no readings whatsoever after failing to learn more the mysterious void soon engulfs the entire ship where the crew are subsequently met with a series of bizarre events which defy all logic this is an episode i love simply for how genuinely creepy and disorienting it is the initial encounter with the anomaly leaves the viewer just as puzzled as the characters and like any good horror story you want to reach into the screen and beg the characters to turn around and run but instead they proceed further inside you watch in anticipation wondering what new baffling thing will happen next as all grasp of time and space slowly disintegrate around the enterprise crew perhaps it's a slight letdown when the puppet master of these events is revealed to be an alien entity calling itself nagilum putting the enterprise crew through a series of experiments the concept of a god-like entity toying with our heroes was something which got old by the original series but here it feels fresh again rather than being subjected to the embarrassment of something like plato's stepchildren where silence has lease brings back that sense of real danger that the enterprise has encountered something truly beyond them it may be built on a familiar premise but the imagery and atmosphere of this episode is something which really sticks with you the new character of dr pulaski is often dismissed or outright reviled by many fans of the next generation and it's understandable considering she replaced the well-liked beverly crusher under less than ideal circumstances but personally i've never disliked the character of dr pulaski all that much i see what the writers were going for trying to bring back that dr mccoy archetype someone more cynical and down to earth to counterbalance the angelic superhumans gene roddenberry sought to create dion mulder gives us solid performance throughout the season but pulaski is often victim to the lack of character development which hampered most of the other cast as well but if there's an episode where pulaski was used well to complement a story it's elementary dear data jordy leforge becomes frustrated with data after he takes the fun out of solving a sherlock holmes style mystery by spoiling the ending overhearing their conversation pulaski states that data is simply incapable of solving a true sherlock holmes mystery because of his lack of human intuition and gut feeling thus the characters enter into a challenge by programming a new antagonist for data to take on however this inadvertently leads to the holographic version of james moriarty gaining self-awareness and eventually threatening the ship it's a wonderfully odd premise which uses the mechanics of sci-fi technology to conjure imagery and scenarios not possible in any other genre literally ripping a fictional character from their setting and placing them into the star trek universe is a stroke of genius and daniel davis is excellent as james moriarty but what makes the episode stand out is that it's one of the few from early tng where the premise is solely driven by the characters everything that happens happens as a result of pulaski la forge and data's clashing perspectives and friendly rivalry their personalities and individual arcs and the story are woven into the outlandish sci-fi plot in a really enjoyable way it's also the first star trek episode to really utilize the holodeck in a way that isn't simply an excuse to save some money shooting on the paramount backlot with costumes and props brought out of storage rather the holodeck has used to craft unique and oddball stories which allow the writers to really have some fun while those particular episodes are strong examples of typical star trek fair season 2 is the measure of a man is its crowning achievement the enterprise is visited by dr bruce maddox a leading figure in the field of robotics who asks data to undergo a risky and dangerous procedure to learn more about him when data refuses maddox questions data's right to do so stating that he is merely a machine and the property of starfleet what ensues is the reliable courtroom drama format with a truly fascinating case being discussed with some of the best dialogue in the show every one of the cast is on top form here stewart's stage experience naturally making his monologues magnetic to watch phrases innate likeability makes you truly feel for riker as he is forced to lead the case against his friend brent spiner though had been a standout since the very first episode although it's worth noting in season one how much more emotionally driven data seems to be by season two his take on the character was more refined with a desire to become human at the heart of who data is due to his robotic nature the actor initially feared being pigeonholed in terms of the kinds of dramatic material he would be offered in actuality he and the writers found consistently rich ideas to explore with the character this episode being one of the best showcases of what's possible with data being the center of a story but the brilliance of the story is its pivot away from questions about sentience and what it means to be alive and toward ideas relating to civil rights the cruel act societies are capable of when they wield power over so-called disposable creatures the courtroom drama formula is one which star trek would return to many times but none of those other cost-cutting episodes in my opinion at least were ever quite as powerful or thought-provoking as the measure of a man the episode cue who is where the next generation started to make a real mark on the larger star trek legacy queue appears once again offering to join the enterprise crew as an advisor to make sure the enterprise doesn't stumble into something it can't handle picard rebuts this saying no matter what may be out there they are ready for it seeing this as a challenge q hurls the enterprise deep into unexplored space seeking to meet q's challenge picard orders the ship to survey the area where they soon come into contact with an imposing cube-shaped vessel this was the introduction of the borg the borg were originally a part of an ambitious season-long arc maurice hurley had in mind and was something he was attempting to set up in season one the alien parasites in season one's conspiracy were originally meant to be revealed as sent by the borg and in the finale the neutral zone the enterprise investigates the disappearance of entire colonies which have been uprooted by an unknown force hurley's plan for season two when he took over his head writer was for the board to launch a full-scale invasion of the galaxy and would see the federation form an unlikely alliance with the romulan empire to defeat the borg in an epic season finale these plans unfortunately had to be binned as a writer's strike stopped pre-production of season two for several months a relic of hurley's long-running plans is the character of ensign sonia gomez played by lucia naff she was meant to become a recurring character and a love interest for jordy jordy would eventually undergo a dangerous operation to cure his blindness so that he could look at the woman he loves with his own eyes the same writer's strike and poor planning around naf's schedule prevented this arc from materializing as well and naf only appeared in one other episode aside from this one much like the aforementioned conspiracy kyuhu demonstrates a willingness to be bold and shake things up the borg's introduction would have lasting consequences for the franchise and as a faction they would become an icon in the same league as the klingons or the vulcans their concept makes them the ideal foe for the federation as i have proposed in other videos on this channel the central theme of star trek is empathy being parallel with technology the optimistic future of gene roddenberry's vision is a future where human empathy has kept pace with technological advancement allowing devices such as replicators to eradicate world hunger rather than being coveted for profit the borg are a distorted version of this relationship where the obsession of technological advancement has destroyed individuality and created a uniform collective society in many ways they echo doctor who's cybermen seeing their actions as a twisted form of altruism benefiting other civilizations via assimilation although in their first appearance the inner workings of the borg are slightly different to what they became while kuhu is far from the best borg story their introduction is highly memorable the characters are forced far out of their comfort zone facing an enemy which has no interest in understanding them and who cannot be reasoned with it's only thanks to q's begrudging intervention the ship and its crew are saved had picard and co encountered the borg on their own the episode makes clear they would not have survived due to the writer's strike the next generation was forced to wrap up its second season with a money-saving clip show episode while critical reception to certain episodes was improved and ratings continued to hover around the 10 million mark the angry fan backlash and perception of the show as a second-rate follow-up to the original series persisted maurice hurley having had his ambitious season-long plans scuppered and being disliked by many of the staff left the show by the end of season two despite some improvements the series was once again without a showrunner and without a single creative vision to guide it a costume change was needed as well due to the tight one-piece spandex uniforms having detrimental effects on many of the cast notably patrick stewart was suffering intense back pain therefore for the third season onwards the uniforms were redesigned into two-piece cotton uniforms following the departure of maurice hurley writer producer michael piller joined the team as the new head writer and showrunner by all accounts pillars joining effectively saved the next generation virtually overnight the entire atmosphere of the writer's room changed significantly due to roddenberry's declining health he was forced to take a less active role in the series and while it was under unfortunate circumstances this did allow the writers some freedom outside of roddenberry's sometimes strict guidelines pillar's central philosophy for future stories was to focus on character first and foremost new episodes would take on a kind of rotating protagonist format where stories would focus on a single central character giving them a personal obstacle to overcome with encouragement guidance or sometimes opposition from other crew members this finally paved the way for the crew of the enterprise to get the development they sorely needed two more important figures joined the third season as well ronald d moore who was only 26 at the time was hired by pillar after submitting a spec script to the series among the staff he was known as the klingon guru and wrote many of the klingon-centric stories the second important figure was writer producer ira stephen bear although he only worked on the next generation for a single season he would go on to be sure on her of the later deep space nine star trek the next generation's third season is an almost shocking leap up in quality the series as a whole feels far more confident having finally cemented a creative vision separate from the original series rather than fighting to replicate older successes the enterprise found the freedom to forge its own path the focus on character results in a much slower pace for many episodes but the greater emotional depths each story explores more than makes up for this rather than phaser fights or flashy starship maneuvers some of the most memorable scenes in each episode are simply two or three of the characters in a room talking commander riker's regular poker games and gaining's counselling intent forward gave the characters opportunities to provide commentary on the events of each episode which also allowed the writers to explore the themes and concepts of these same episodes in much more detail while vocal detractors of the show continued to cry betrayal and other hyperbolic bad faith criticisms there was a cultural sense of the tide beginning to turn the different approach to story in season 3 is readily apparent in ronaldi moore's first contribution to the show the bonding while on an away mission commanded by worf lieutenant marla astor is killed leaving behind her son jeremy astor while the ship continues to orbit the planet some kind of entity boards the ship pretending to be jeremy's deceased mother and compels him to join her on the planet's surface it's a highly underrated episode in my opinion with a fantastic script and strong performances all around it's a story which uses the trappings of science fiction to tackle a truly human subject dealing with loss and grief while the story could have had more impact had the central characters been regulars rather than one-offs it still manages to have an impact all the same what i especially like is the drama it generates between captain picard and wesley crusher it forces them both to confront difficult truths about their relationship had this same premise been used for a season one episode it's easy to see how these great opportunities for emotional depth and character drama could have been missed in favor of an evil alien child snatcher villain but thanks to michael piller's new vision for the series and ronald d moore's talents as a writer the bonding is a heartfelt and touching tale the 15th episode of the third season is essentially a showcase for the new talents in the writers room at the time yesterday's enterprise the enterprise encounters a temporal anomaly from which the enterprise sea the previous vessel to bear the name emerges changing the timeline dramatically now picard commands a warship warf has vanished and the federation is hip deep in a brutal conflict with the klingon empire however due to gainan's intuition the crew soon deduced that if the enterprise sea is sent back and destroyed during the battle against romulans to defend a klingon outpost this war which the federation is badly losing could be averted it's a brilliant setup as time travel stories go but once again it manages to pack in moments of poignancy in unexpected ways primarily in the return of tasha yar having avoided her death during the events of skin of evil under this new writing team tasha yara is finally given some real depth and it makes one wonder how the show would be different had denise crosby remained part of the cast once again the focus on character turns a classic time travel plot set up into a tense emotional drama ultimately it's a story about self-sacrifice no one truly knows for sure if gainan's intuition is correct the only certainty for anyone during the final act of this episode is death in battle but it's this capacity for self-sacrifice in the hopes of forging a better future which defines many of star trek's core themes and turns yesterday's enterprise into yet another classic episode a slightly less appreciated episode from this season is another data-centric story the offspring to everyone's surprise data reveals he has created a child for himself who develops into a young woman named low offspring conjures up similar ideas as the measure of a man did albeit with a slightly different twist naturally data sees this as a perfectly ordinary act with himself as the default father figure however due to their status as artificial life forms the creation of a second positronic android sends many starfleet higher-ups into a panic with visiting admiral haftel suggesting removing lyle from data's custody by force as the debates continue lal develops rapidly eventually exceeding data's own emotional capabilities hayley todd's performance is simply wonderful she echoes many of brent spiner's own mannerisms but instills the character with a personality unique to her own what makes the story especially powerful is its tragedy a reset button of sorts hangs over the episode like a sword of damocles from the pre-title sequence although that doesn't make it any less saddening when lol's rapid development cascades into an irreparable breakdown of her systems i have to say on my most recent re-watch i was struggling to hold back the tears during this particular scene thank you for my life [Music] it's illustrative of just how much the writing for the next generation improved that goodbye scene between two emotionless robots can be so heartbreaking a more lighthearted later episode though was the introduction of a fan favorite character in hollow pursuits the hapless reginald barkley slacks on his engineering duties to spend more time in a holodeck fantasy world where he can play a confident capable ladies man and swashbuckler putting to wright's holographic counterparts of those he often ends up on the wrong side of when jordy discovers his fantasy life he endeavors to try and help barkley come out of his shell and live up to his potential perhaps as an answer to the sometimes two perfect morally upstanding future superhumans of roddenberry's earlier edicts barkley appears as a far more relatable character for the audience someone who feels nervous in social situations has shaky confidence at best and isn't completely in love with life aboard a starship more than likely describes aspects of a good chunk of the show's audience it's a refreshing change of pace and dwight schultz is sublime in the role using his skills as a career character actor to switch effortlessly between fantasy life and real life barkley the warped holodeck versions of the main characters were no doubt loads of fun for the actors to play and certainly loads of fun for the viewer it's no wonder barkley would appear in several more tng episodes and make further appearances in later star trek spin-offs season three had clearly won over many critics as it drew to a close the show was coming close to surpassing the number of episodes in the original series but it was the third season finale which would see the next generation surpass its predecessor as a definitive incarnation of the franchise in many viewers minds this was the best of both worlds a year after their first encounter the federation's worst nightmare comes true with the borg launching an invasion of the federation and the first line of defense is the enterprise just like in cue who the borg in their second appearance feel like an insurmountable threat with the viewer truly not knowing how our heroes can possibly triumph without cue being there as an on-hand deus ex machina having worked around the clock to develop a new weapon against the borg the enterprise successfully engages the enemy ship but with reinforcements many days away it's a near hopeless battle the character drama for the episode comes in the form of commander shelby a borg specialist posted to the enterprise who's looking to replace ryker as first officer since he has been offered his own command this puts riker in a tough spot as he suddenly finds himself unsure of his ultimate goal with his starfleet career and upstaged by a younger and more ambitious officer riker's character arc is cleverly used to prolong the tension and borderline torture the audience as several puzzle pieces of plot information slot together by the episode's end riker is unsure about taking on responsibility and becoming captain picard is kidnapped off the bridge of the enterprise an away team searches for him at first finding only his uniform compounding the sense of dread the audience feels this leads to the shock of picard our stalwart captain having been assimilated into the borg collective with a rescue mission deemed impossible and with only one chance to use their new weapon the episode builds into one inevitable conclusion mr wharf fire this was the moment audiences knew they could no longer deny the smash success of the series star trek the next generation had cemented itself as a new definitive incarnation of star trek rather than some cheap imitation and increasingly smaller vocal minority insisted it was the show had enjoyed three seasons with an average audience of 10 million viewers season three garnered a total of eight emmy nominations among other prestigious awards die hard trekkies and casual watchers alike spent the summer of 1990 agonising over the fate of jean-luc picard at the time patrick stewart was yet to renew his contract with the series and the writers fully prepared a version of the best of both worlds part 2 which would see the series continue with riker as captain thanks to the dedicated efforts of some fans this fact was known to a large amount of viewers further increasing their anticipation for part two season four had the potential of being a victory lap of sorts for the production team after the behind the scenes chaos of the early seasons the next generation has successfully established itself as must-see television for millions of households across the world rather than trying to repair the damage of previous seasons now their only obstacle was how they could top their previous efforts joining the production staff for season four onwards were writers producers brannon braga and jerry taylor like ron moore and ira stephen bear braga and taylor would go on to become key creative voices in the star trek franchise over the following decade this was a team which worked extremely well together and helped shape some of star trek's best stories but their first task was wrapping up the cliffhanger they had left their audience on immediately after the conclusion of part one the enterprise's new weapon failed due to the borg obtaining captain picard's knowledge of it and successfully adapting now with riker as acting captain the enterprise races the borg to earth trying desperately to think of a new plan before time runs out i could only imagine the sense of excitement when the best of both worlds part 2 finally aired but watch today with the benefit of streaming part 2 isn't quite as strong as part one that's not to say it's bad in fact it's easily one of the best episodes of the show but this epic conclusion does come off as slightly contrived by the end the tension and drama carries over from part one with the enterprise in close pursuit of the borg cube the stakes are suitably high following the famed battle of wolf 359 although we don't see the battle itself the aftermath of it is devastating after an entire fleet couldn't stop the borg what hope does the enterprise have all the while riker having been thrust into the captain's chair is forced to shoulder the immense responsibility he so wanted to avoid after all the build up though the resolution seems a little bit too easy after it was deemed impossible to rescue captain picard at the end of part one here an away team is able to accomplish that objective while it does require some clever maneuvers the sequence would have benefited from one or two more significant obstacles to overcome the pacing of the final act also feels slightly off there's all this build up to the enterprise intercepting the borg earth but the payoff is a little too protracted to be a true punch the air moment of triumph and after riker reaches what seems to be the logical conclusion of his character arc either becoming captain of his own ship or captain of the enterprise itself a reset button of sorts is hit returning him to first officer of the enterprise and picard reinstated his captain however the final shot of the episode manages to circumvent this sense of backpedaling after picard is left alone in his ready room he sets down his pad and stares out into space with remnants of the borg implants still visible clearly not everything has returned to normal and it's this thread which makes the following episode essential viewing when revisiting the best of both worlds family sees the enterprise remain in earth orbit to undergo repairs while docked the crew takes some personal time worf reunites with his adoptive parents beverly gifts wesley a message from his late father and picard returns to his childhood home to visit his brother's family it's a slow-paced plot with no space anomalies or alien worlds but this time spent with the characters in a set of emotionally driven personal stories is well earned wharf's parents are honestly wonderful it's the last thing the audience would expect from the parents of a stone-faced klingon warrior but it's in the fun of these clashing personalities we get our first detailed look into wharf's core being of a man divided between two worlds and two identities he clearly loves his parents and they clearly love him but as a klingon he struggles to express such feelings meanwhile will wheaton and gates mcfadden each give one of their best performances of the show by this point wesley crusher as a character was often despised by many fans of the show feeling that it was implausible for a child to quote unquote always save the more mature more well-trained starfleet officers although the number of times wesley actually quote-unquote saved the crew has been grossly exaggerated the writing for the character was quite thin but then again that's true for everyone in the earlier seasons season 3 was the first time wesley actually felt like a real person making mistakes and being the subject of decent drama in family wesley watching his father's recorded message is truly heartwarming however it's picard's thread back on earth which is the highlight of the episode after his ordeal with the borg he feels unsure of his place in starfleet even considering resigning his commission altogether all he wants by returning home is some kind of stability but years of pent-up conflict with his older brother prevent that from happening when this passive aggression finally boils over the two brothers finally make amends when the full magnitude of picard's trauma becomes clear after overcoming such incredible odds as a show family is a welcome break from the expected star trek format and a necessary addition to the season but that's not to say the next generation wouldn't continue to thrill us with new out of this world adventures one of my personal favorite episodic sci-fi outings this season is the twilight ask remember me while wesley and jordy work on a warp bubble experiment in engineering beverly crusher welcomes an old friend galen quais aboard the ship however by the next day quace has mysteriously vanished along with every record of him ever existing as she enlists the help of the crew to investigate she discovers more and more passengers and crew are disappearing and only she remembers them ever existing it's a frightening tale built on such a simple premise with an eerie atmosphere slowly rising as beverly begins to question her own sanity that is until the disappearance has become so obvious and reality around her rapidly disintegrates i've always felt like beverly crusher was a woefully underwritten character who gates mcfadden pretty much had to create from the ground up in terms of personality and character traits remember me is an example of the often untapped potential in centering episodes around her because she rarely spends her time on the bridge of the enterprise showing a story from her perspective shows us a side of the ship operations we don't usually see dr crusher interacts with many characters who are usually reduced to background extras in other episodes she almost feels like an outsider to the rest of the bridge crew working from a bottom-up perspective of sorts remember me is a showcase of this unique perspective and crusher's differing approach to problem-solving leforge and data often solve problems using scientific or engineering knowledge but with crusher not only does she not have this knowledge she also doesn't have colleagues like leforge or data on hand to make these suggestions therefore her stories are often driven by intuition and gut feeling it's truly nail-biting stuff as crusher uses her heavily disadvantaged position to deduce what exactly is going on and make a daring escape back to normality as the universe itself collapses around her it's a contained but captivating episode with a character-centric perspective which only enhances the thrills something which is also true of the next episode i want to highlight the wounded is an episode i already mentioned in my lore evolution on the cardassians as it was their debut appearance former enemy of the federation the cardassians are enraged to discover a rogue starfleet captain attacking cardassian ships determined not to start another war the enterprise pursues the royal captain so he can explain his actions what i want to highlight this time however is the character miles o'brien cole meanie made his first appearance in the next generation's very first episode playing an unnamed officer simply referred to as khan he made a handful of other appearances operating the transporters but it wasn't until season two the character even had a name since then o'brien served as a likable recurring character who could always assist away team efforts and help with some engineering challenges here and there eventually his personal life was also fleshed out marrying the character of keiko ishikawa in the episode data's day however in the wounded mini is given the chance to flex his acting muscles and further establish o'brien as a fan favorite character having served under the now rogue captain maxwell o'brien is forced to confront a lingering guilt he has carried since his time serving in the cardassian wars the cardassians themselves are written with great pathos rather than mustache twirling villains rather than some great ideological struggle like the federation's conflict with the klingons we get the sense the cardassian wars were more morally ambivalent a bloody and petty conflict where black and white terms like hero and villain don't apply so easily the episode utilizes o'brien's grounded character often juxtaposed with these stand-up starfleet officers in the main cast to effectively comment on the lasting consequences of such a conflict captain maxwell himself played by guest star rob gunton isn't a cartoonish villain either but a sad broken man unable to move on from the past it's a huge departure from the utopian future with the morally perfect characters gene roddenberry had in mind but it makes for a powerfully tragic story the best of both worlds has established a tradition of ending each subsequent season of the next generation with a two-part episode a cliffhanger to keep audience anticipation up for the following year season 4 rounded up the summer of 1991 with redemption part 1. likewise with wesley crusher the klingon-centric episodes of the next generation is something i've come around to during my recent re-watch for this video i remember when i was younger i used to dislike these episodes for being quote unquote boring i perceived them to be a solid hour of burly men standing around grumbling about honor but now that i'm older and better able to grasp the story they're a real highlight of the show the klingon identity seen in tng was first cemented back in star trek three the search for spock when harv bennett and leonard nimoy took heavy inspiration from japanese samurai for their characterization as they progressed they also picked up some viking influence with stovokor acting like a klingon valhalla and death and glorious battle being a commendable ambition in klingon culture within the universe of star trek the klingon-centric stories offer a glimpse into a rubber e howard-like fantasy setting just with science fiction trappings noble houses vying for power in a long-standing empire frequently breaking into ritualistic contests and one-on-one duels these are elements right out of a fantasy or historical fiction novel but in context with the rest of the star trek universe these klingon stories are welcome and exciting departures from the norm redemption is a years in the making conclusion to an overarching subplot surrounding wharf the seeds of this plotline were planted early on in season one's heart of glory warf is confronted by two klingon fugitives who still believe in making war with the federation it's a solid episode in one of the few truly character driven stories of the first year which allowed michael dorne to showcase the potential of his character through the sheer power of his performance alone in season 2 this potential was further capitalized on with the emissary in which worf works with and ultimately falls in love with the half human half klingon klar played to excellence by susie plaxen the following year gave us sins of the father which introduced another great guest star and fan favorite worf's brother kern played by tony todd here we learn of a shameful cover-up by the house of duras in which the blame for a romulan attack on the klingon outpost kittimer was falsely attributed to worf's father bringing dishonor to his family and exile from the empire itself and earlier in season four reunions saw this plot continue with the return of kalor having birthed wolf's son alexander and saw two powerful figures competing to become the next leader of the klingon empire the treacherous duras and gauran played by robert o'reilly yet another fan favorite character when dirac is exposed as a romulan puppet the shocking murder of kailar spurs worf into a deal with duras which he narrowly wins at striking down his nemesis for good redemption sees the fallout of these events with the kligon empire descending into a brutal civil war precipitated by lirsa and baitor sisters of the deceased duras it's a truly epic story with warf leaving the enterprise to join his brother in battle while picard seeks to prove romulan involvement in the conflict led by the villainous selah after leaving the show in the first season denise crosby was stunned to see how much the show had improved and petitioned the producers for a way to return to the series sila is revealed as the daughter of the alternate timeline tasha yar from yesterday's enterprise while crosby may have been frustrated by the lack of good material for tasha yar she does a terrific job as sila this two-parter is the next generation as a large-scale space opera depicting fleets of starships intense standoffs plenty of fast-paced action and heaps of twists turns surprises and betrayals yet thanks once again to michael piller's core philosophy of character-driven plots there is plenty of great drama to enjoy as well obviously there is warf fighting to restore his family name in the empire while still struggling with his divided cultural identity picard and the enterprise crew reeling from encountering selah being reminded of their lost friend and a third subplot in part two sees data take command of his own ship clashing with his first officer who doesn't believe an android is suited to being a ship's captain it's worth remembering this was 1991 before the debut of the next star trek spin-off deep space nine and another seminal science fiction show babylon 5. this was the first time space opera like this was attempted on a television budget grand clashes between space faring nations was the stuff of big screen action adventures like star wars but despite the limited resources redemption parts 1 and 2 are absolute triumphs and another high benchmark for the next generation as a whole [Music] early in season five during the production of the episode hero warship the cast and crew were called into an unscheduled meeting there they learned the news that gene roddenberry had passed away earlier that day ever since season two of the series his health had been on the decline making him unable to actively participate in the show's running he died of a cardiopulmonary arrest on the 2nd of october 1991. although i have been critical of the man in this series of videos and a handful of others on this channel star trek the universe and stories which i have so loved my entire life started with him there wouldn't be star trek without him and that despite gene roddenberry's very human flaws is something i'll always be thankful for season 5 is yet another set of high quality star trek stories honestly since season 3 onwards it's been incredibly difficult to choose which episodes i want to highlight for example this season saw the return of the borg with the introduction of hugh in iborg as well as the hugo award-winning episode the inner light no doubt there will be many comments underneath this video asking why i didn't highlight certain ones but as i've said before i wish to balance exploring episodes which are well known to be great with a few personal favorites of my own therefore the first outing for season five i wanted to highlight is disaster while on a routine trip the enterprise is hit by a quantum filament which heavily damages the ship leaving it adrift with many of the characters isolated from one another as the danger of a warped core breach among other threats begin to mount the stranded groups of passengers and crew have to pull together to save the ship and themselves now i'm someone who grew up loving disaster movies the towering inferno the poseidon adventure even twister the 4k blu-ray of roland emmerich's 2012 sits proudly on my shelf so using this formula for a star trek episode felt like a gift to childhood rowan the initial disaster is a nice bit of practical effects and stunt work but it's the individual threads of each character combination which always makes it enjoyable to revisit picard being admittedly awkward around children is naturally trapped in a turbo lift with three of them jordy and beverly have to engineer their way out of being killed by radiation from a plasma fire data and riker embark on a convoluted trip to engineering and dwarf is stuck with caico o'brien as she's having a baby congratulations you are fully dilated to 10 centimeters you may now give birth but the most interesting thread takes place on the bridge when deanna troy is unexpectedly put in command as the highest ranking officer it's a shame to say but marina certais was often ill-served during the run of the show when researching for this video reading the earlier character brief on troy almost made me laugh the idea of troy being a wise and highly intelligent character was rarely followed through with troy's empathic abilities were basically about as useful as the writers decided they were depending on the episode and most of the actual counselling was better executed by gainan who effectively supplanted troy as the wise intelligent emotional healer while there are some solid troy-centric episodes for the most part the character was stuck with some truly poor scripts such as the child violations and the later man of the people in disaster however troy is given some solid material as she unexpectedly finds herself in a leadership position joining her on the bridge is ensign row laryn played by michelle forbes the troublesome and insubordinate starfleet officer having escaped the horrors of the cardassian occupation on her home world she has a naturally cynical perspective assuming everyone else on the ship is likely dead and the best option is to separate the saucer section before the core breach meanwhile o'brien is the much more by-the-book officer trying to support troy but not sugarcoating the situation either but in the end it's thanks to troy's empathetic nature driving her to hang on to hope well past the logical deadline which ultimately saves the ship it's a simple arc but it's some of the better material the character was given and certais gives a solid performance throughout it's a contained episode with no profound consequences for the rest of the season but i've always had a soft spot for disaster it's a tried and true formula anchored by great characters and fun suspense sequences i have no idea if anyone else thinks of this one as fondly but i certainly do a much hyped two parter this season was unification which saw leonard nimoy reprise the role of spock after spock is seen on romulus picard and data are sent to investigate discovering spock leads an underground movement seeking to reform romulan society and even unify with vulcan in the future however this movement is soon discovered by sela who uses the inner workings of their plan to invade vulcan while there are many strong aspects to this episode it's never been one of my personal favorites while picard and spock meeting is a fan pleasing event i've always found their plot thread quite dull by part two and the romulan plan to invade vulcan is funnily enough quite illogical for me the true highlight of the episode is the subplot of the enterprise uncovering the romulan invasion plan it mostly takes place on the fringes of federation space in the seedy underbelly of this usually gleaming future which we only recently got a better look at in star trek picard what does really work in the episode however are the elements which carry over from the season 3 episode saric mark leonard is outstanding as always and the connection shared between saric and picard becoming a conduit for spock to effectively say goodbye to his father is very touching the two-part season finale is yet another episode which i believe to be quite underrated the enterprise crew are shocked to discover data's severed head buried in a cave on earth for over 500 years soon after mysterious aliens are discovered on the planet davidia 2 feeding off human synaptic energy extracted from humans of the past specifically 1893. although my favorite science fiction property is star trek i'm also very fond of the uk's own doctor who and time's arrow is an episode which echoes many of doctor who's own trappings to great effect intentional or otherwise a bizarre mystery which can only be solved by a temporal paradox disguised aliens haunting these seemingly ordinary streets of a familiar locale and of course running into famous historical characters though truth be told the relentlessly cranky high-pitched tone of voice used by jerry hardin while playing samuel clemens aka mark twain does become very irritating after a while but the highlight is whoopi goldberg as a younger almost teenage version of gainan who the enterprise crew unexpectedly run into it's an enjoyable and charming time travel yarn with plenty of welcome humor and a puzzle of a plot which satisfyingly coalesces by the end if you're a trekkie who likes this episode i recommend giving the sci-fi show from across the pond to go if you haven't already season six of the show saw some changes behind the scenes and in front of the camera this season broadcasts almost simultaneously with the first season of deep space nine therefore michael piller and rick berman had to split their time between the two shows with jerry taylor taking on a co-showrunning position with pillar on tng also thanks to the debut of ds9 chief o'brien had become such a fan favorite he was promoted to a regular cast member for the new spin-off he appears in a handful of season six episodes before his departure is shown in a touching scene during deep space nine's first installment overall season six maintains the high caliber of episodes expected from the show by this point which once again made choosing which episodes to highlight a tough task obviously there are many more strong stories in the ones i'll be mentioning but i believe i've made a good selection relics sees the enterprise come across a dyson sphere where a maroon starfleet vessel has kept montgomery scott suspended in its transporter buffer after being reconstituted scotty struggles to find his place in the 24th century while the rest of the crew attempt to learn more about the sphere despite how iconic the supporting cast of the original series are very rarely were scottie chekhov sulu and ahura actually given real character-driven material there were exceptions but for the most part these characters served as plot devices or tools for exposition in relics james dewan delivers an endearing performance as scotty finds himself increasingly out of date it's also a chance for the writers to demonstrate how the star trek franchise had evolved by that point the more gritty cowboy-like swagger of the original series clashes harshly with the more progressive next generation not only does the episode give more for doing to do but the same goes for levar burton burton was always likable as jordi laforge but very few laforge centric episodes are all that strong season four's booby trap and its follow-up galaxy's child demonstrates some very dated sexual politics and actually caused leforge to come off quite badly to more enlightened modern sensibilities his attempts to try and work alongside the behind the time scotty offer a glimpse at some missed opportunities with a character like leforge the starfleet corps of engineers books have shown what's possible when they technically minded take the lead in a star trek story rather than playing second fiddle to the traditionally command focused protagonist a much darker episode this season is schisms riker wharf jordy and a handful of other crew and passengers have been having trouble sleeping as well as experiencing strange reactions to everyday objects meanwhile a spatial anomaly of some kind has appeared in one of the cargo bays eventually it becomes clear that the enterprise has been infiltrated by an extra dimensional race who have been abducting people from the ship and performing experiments on them a scene which has always stuck with me from this episode is when the affected group convene in the holodeck to try and understand what has been troubling them the sense of dread slowly builds throughout the scene as each person contributes half-remembered pieces of the picture to the whole gradually as the room falls into darkness and the shadows are filled with distant alien sounds a feeling of spine-chilling terror is instilled within the characters and the viewer i've been in this room before we've all been here before [Music] the final act of the episode when the aliens are seen is a little disappointing much more brightly lit and the design of the creature's a little underwhelming but by the end the unknowable nature of these beings and their callous treatment of other life forms is something which really succeeds in getting under your skin tapestry is comfortably one of the best character-driven stories of the entire show jean-luc picard's artificial heart is damaged during a mission leading to his death he finds himself in a white heavenly void where he is met by q after the usual verbal joust q gives picard the opportunity to go back in time and avert the fight with a nausican which led to him having his artificial heart in the first place therefore avoiding his death in the present it's once again a showcase of patrick stewart in arguably his most famous role since encounter at farpoint the audience became much more familiar with the inner workings of his character understanding picard's values and the traits which make him not only an excellent starship captain but also an incredibly loyal friend and mentor he believes wholeheartedly in starfleet's mission statement and upholds federation ideals even to his detriment yet it's also clear he would throw away his career in a heartbeat if it meant helping someone else tapestry shows us a more fallible side of the character as he attempts to rewrite what he sees as the past mistakes of his youth but in doing so pushing away his closest friends and while he succeeds in avoiding the fight the life he has returned to is horrifying to picard having led a life never taking risks he finds himself not a captain of the enterprise or of any ship but a lowly junior science officer seemingly with no real friends aboard ship and no real career prospects with his former life in ruins picard pleads with q to let him die as the man he was rather than continue with what he has witnessed it's a deeply intimate and personal tale something akin to a charles dickens story but with its sci-fi trappings this is star trek at its most twilight zone [Music] season six concluded with yet another solid two-parter descent which saw the return of data's nefarious twin brother lore by the seventh year of the series though paramount had been enjoying the immense success of the show for quite some time the next generation had been such a hit and its characters so beloved the higher-ups of the studio believed this cast were now strong enough to carry a new set of star trek movies while the cast and crew were contracted for an eighth season this renewal was reversed which was technically a cancellation but not in practice the contractual obligations for another season would be fulfilled by the soon to be feature films and the writers slash producers were given enough time to pen a proper finale for the show due to this slight change of plans though season 7 feels slightly odd as the final year of the next generation had the writers known this would be the last set of tng episodes it's likely they would have attempted to wrap up some more threads or create some more impactful stories but instead season 7 mostly continues like business as usual make no mistake it's just as strong overall as seasons 4 through 6 but perhaps there was a missed opportunity to try and make it the best season of the show either way it has some of my personal favorite episodes such as the great two-parter gambit the crew of the enterprise are shocked when they hear captain picard has been murdered while on the hunt for an ancient artifact as the enterprise attempts to track down the culprits they run into a ragtag group of bandits and mercenaries searching star systems for the same artifacts picard was looking for piccard himself having joined the crew under the guise of a smuggler as with unification seeing this more space western-like side of the star trek universe is always a treat and the indiana jones-esque macguffin quest across many worlds is endless amounts of fun what's most enjoyable is the subterfuge being maintained by picard and riker as they fool their tyrannical captain into thinking they are bitter enemies it's always welcome to see established characters break from their usual roles similarly back on the enterprise data has taken command and his frequent clashes with acting first officer wharf creates some brilliant dialogue between the two it's a wonderfully enjoyable romp full of memorable one-off characters plenty of solid twists and turns and in general is just a terrific star trek adventure one episode which feels appropriate for the next generations last season is the pegasus riker's former commanding officer now admiral eric pressman comes aboard with a mission for the enterprise find the lost federation science vessel the uss pegasus before it falls into romulan hands jonathan freaks never phoned in a performance during the seven seasons of the show but at times the writers did take his kirk influences a little too far a prominent example is in the season 6 episode chain of command in which the perfectly reasonable demands of captain jelico are met with flagrant disobedience and self-entitled dismissal from riker in many instances riker was perhaps too infallible of a character bucking authority but always having the script on his side in the pegasus however riker is put in a much more difficult scenario with some regrettable past actions of his coming back to haunt him even picard one of his closest friends comes to regard riker with suspicion and doubt when signs of a cover-up are brought to light the cover-up in question was due to the pegasus developing an experimental cloaking device in blatant violation of a federation treaty with the romulan empire while riker in his youth sided with pressman his time on the enterprise and mentorship from picard persuades him to come clean and admit his wrongdoing while the fallout of his actions are disappointingly left off screen it's easily the best riker centric episode stories focusing on riker were on the whole consistently pretty good but perhaps there was an opportunity to do something a little more fresh with the classic kirk archetype as was glimpsed in the pegasus another highlight from the final season is an episode which doesn't much concern the main cast at all instead the focus shifts to a group of low-ranking officers in the episode lower decks obviously the episode which inspired the recent animated entry in the franchise lower decks shows as a typical enterprise mission from a new perspective rather than the veteran space adventurers we've come to know this tight-knit group expresses apprehension about upcoming missions and nervousness with regard to their burgeoning starfleet careers something i especially like is the inclusion of already established recurring character nurse ogawa as well as bajoran saito jaxa who previously appeared in season five's the first duty alongside wesley crusher from the perspective of these lower decks officers the regular cast whom the audience have come to know and love are rendered in a new light the warm and fatherly picard comes across as a terrifying and intimidating presence the charming and fun riker seems passive-aggressive and irritable the formidable and domineering worf acts as a wise and encouraging albeit firm teacher i think it's a shame wesley crusher was no longer a regular character in the show at this point as it would have been interesting to see how these junior officers interacted with him as well the episode is made all the more impactful though when saito is tragically killed in the line of duty the loss felt deeply by all finally uniting both groups because in the end no matter the rank they all stand shoulder to shoulder with one another season 7 featured many more episodic adventures but as i mentioned before a few episodes really feel like final season material with the exception of the departure of roe laren in the penultimate pre-emptive strike however the task of ending the next generation after seven years fell to writers brannan braga and ronald d moore after a month of hard work the duo turned in their final draft for the final episode of the series the appropriately titled all good things in the final two-part episode captain picard finds himself unstuck in time moving seemingly at random between his past present and future while he and the crew struggle to understand what is happening to him the enterprise is dispatched to investigate a spatial anomaly which has appeared in the neutral zone the mystery of the unfolding events is magnified when q appears yet again revealing that humanity is still on trial as it had been since encounter at farpoint and cryptically states that the human race will be destroyed as a result of picard's own actions the story must have been incredibly challenging to write structurally with the jumps in time being just as disorienting for the audience as they are for picard for most of the first half we spend time exploring the events of each time period the events just prior to encounter at farpoint are brought to life in rich detail bringing back the uniforms of the first two seasons as well as denise crosby as tasha yar meanwhile the future sees a retired picard tending to his family vineyard leforge now using artificial eyes a more emotional data heading oxford university beverly crusher having married and then divorced jean-luc in the interim now commanding her own medical ship and riker and wharf having become antagonistic towards each other as a result of diana troy's tragic death both time periods offer a lot of entertainment for long time viewers of the show as established events of the first episode are altered by picard's actions and the future offers as a tantalising as well as dark glimpse at what might become of these beloved characters the true marvel of the episode is how its narrative structure is used itself as a plot device with picard slowly realizing how his actions could lead to humanity's end and recognizing a temporal paradox created by the anomaly what was a disorienting jump between locations and characters turns into a strength which allows picard to successfully coordinate with all three time periods and avert the coming disaster the build toward the finale is a truly gratifying punch the air sequence but it's the closing moments which really make all good things a triumphant last outing for the show picard shares one last scene with q in which the omnipotent trickster finally concedes to the great sense of potential in all humans and then a real goodbye to the crew with picard finally joining riker's poker game after all this time dennis mccarthy's beautiful music and stewart's understated poignant performance really tugging at your heartstrings i should have done this a long time ago you were always welcome star trek the next generation did what many people considered to be impossible but then again that seems to be what star trek as a whole does best the original series going from a cancelled failure to a blockbuster franchise and cultural icon was already unheard of but for the next generation to do that all over again is simply astounding against all the odds of the show and its creative team persevered and they were tough odds the characters were seen as cheap knockoffs of beloved household names but eventually they became just as beloved by fans the world over the behind the scenes chaos of its early years virtually assured it would be cancelled but a core team of writers and producers came together to create some of the greatest stories in the franchise most industry insiders believed attempting a spin-off show to begin with was destined for failure yet it was essential viewing for millions of households a critical success a new definitive incarnation of star trek and to this day is considered one of the greatest works of science fiction ever created that is the incredible legacy of star trek the next generation all that being said while it was able to replicate and then surpass the success of star trek the original series on the small screen could it do the same on the big screen [Music] thank you for watching if you like these videos subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay up to date on my new uploads if you want to help the channel grow join my patrons or my youtube members where you can see videos early as well as some other exclusive content speaking of which i'd like to quickly thank all of my patrons and members who are now appearing on screen have a good one and as always live long and prosper

Channel: Rowan J Coleman

Views: 798,257

Keywords: star trek, star trek the next generation, star trek the next generation retrospective review, star trek the next generation review, star trek the next generation series review, star trek deep space nine, star trek the original series, star trek voyager, star trek enterprise, spacedock, generation films, trek culture, star trek retrospective, star trek retrospective part 8, rowan j coleman

Id: LB08m-d1hhc

Length: 101min 46sec (6106 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Naranek42]

Rowan’s channel is full of great discussion content for fans of sci-fi TV and this Star Trek Retrospective series has been his absolute best work! I totally recommend checking out the other episodes in this series if you’re interested in Trek’s production history.

[u/1904worldsfair]

Just finished watching this and it was definitely worth the wait.

[u/iamnotsteven]

I love how he rolled into The Best of Both Worlds.

Half way through it now and yeah, absolutely loving it.

Makes me want to do (yet another) rewatch!

[u/Kitchen_Resident_819]

Fantastic

[u/RowanJColeman]

Thanks for sharing :)

[u/GoAvs14]

Rowans entire channel involving Trek and all scifi is top notch. It's definitely worth a subscribe.

I may be biased because he also loves Mass Effect, but still he covers lots of shows and, come on, that voice is great!

[u/SonNeedGym]

Loved this, thank you! Have gone back to your coverage on TOS and now working my way through the films, you’ve done a terrific job.

[u/ReasonableScorpion]

It's not that the video is long, it's that the author took too long to get to his points. This video told me nothing any other Star Trek fan video didn't do before.

I would not recommend watching it unless you're looking for something to put on to the screen and fall asleep to.