Star Trek II: "Engage!"

 

I was very clear about what to expect. Star Trek: The Next Generation was going to be an utter failure and I would be on my way back to England within a few months. I could make some money for the first time in my life, get a suntan and go home.

- Patrick Stewart

Today, without any real fanfare, Star Trek: The Next Generation celebrated its 30th birthday. 

As I've discussed in other blog postings, ST:TNG is my favourite part of the Star Trek franchise - not always perfect, almost nothing is, but with an excellent record of thought-provoking and watchable stories over the course of its seven year run on television, and its four movies.

The Next Generation was my Star Trek:  I'd seen all the episodes of the original series, but by 1987 they were as much a part of history as World War II, and as such had become one of the pillars of science fiction fandom.  Because of that position, you didn't really have a choice about liking those episodes - it was all we had to hold up against The Six Million Dollar Man and Buck Rogers.

The Next Generation offered a return to the kind of thoughtful science fiction that was Star Trek at its best, at a time when the franchise was experiencing serious fatigue issues. The show's creators were faced with a unique challenge:  to take an existing concept of the future, and imagine what its future might be, while remaining faithful to the foundations of the original series - in other words, to boldly go where Gene Roddenberry* had already gone in 1966, but better.

The result was a surprising success that clearly demonstrated the durability of the original premise, revived the franchise, gave us a believable future for the Federation, and permanently added the phrase "the next generation" ** to the list of cultural clichés.

Oddly enough, in spite of my affection for ST:TNG, it's been a very long time since I've actually watched any of the episodes. As far as I know, The Next Generation is on Netflix™ - maybe it's time to revisit the series and the entertaining selection of dated 80s hairdos offered by the different cast members.  (With the exception of Jean-Luc Picard, of course - being bald is always fashionable.)

- Sid

* Different sources offer very different views of the benefits and drawbacks of Gene Roddenberry's influence on the first two or three seasons of The Next Generation before his death in 1991. However, it may not be a coincidence that, in my opinion, it wasn't until the third season that the show really found itself.

** Not to mention "Make it so, number one.", "Engage!" and "Shut up, Wesley!".