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STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION
EPISODE SYNOPSIS
During the celebration of Star Trek's 20th Anniversary, Paramount Pictures announced plans to revive Star Trek by producing a new series entitled Star Trek: The Next Generation, featuring a whole new crew and ship. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the original series, was to be the producer for this new show together with a number of veterans recruited from the production team of the original show.
Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the new Starship U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC 1701-D), the fifth ship to bear the name, picked up the torch and heralded a whole new era for Star Trek. Set seventy years after the last appearance of the original crew in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, the Next Generation took hold of the flame and began forging its own identity, moving away from the foundations which were laid by the original series and branching out into a totally independent production, free from the pressures of having to prove itself in a world of non-believers and those still fighting for the return of Kirk.
After proving that the show no longer needed to rely on the original cast for success and that the appeal and resilience of the Star Trek universe was much stronger than first anticipated, the Next Generation was allowed to flourish and became one of the most popular television shows of all time. Producing a total of 178 episodes and two feature films, the future for Star Trek seemed unlimited, but after five years of production, executives began to realise that the show was coming to an end, primarily due to increased costs and exhausted story lines.
To most people, including myself, the Next Generation was the true Star Trek success that the original series should have been. An instant success, the Next Generation has grown into a show known throughout the world with its legacy continuing onto the silver screen. The Next Generation was the true pioneer of modern Star Trek, finally bringing the phenomenon into the present and beyond.
