"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before." - Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Although the original ‘Star Trek’ series was cancelled after only three seasons, it gained huge popularity through constant repeat runs over the next few years. It was this success that subsequently prompted Paramount to attempt to revive the series for television in the early Seventies, with the proposed ‘Star Trek - Phase II’, featuring the return of the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise; however, this idea was then scrapped when it was decided to make feature films of ‘Star Trek’ instead. After numerous blockbuster movies had been released to much critical and fan acclaim, Paramount once more approached the creator of ‘Star Trek', Gene Roddenberry, and asked him to come up with a new series for them. The studio executives also decided to try a completely new technique of production and distribution, in which they produced the series independently without the aid of or finance from a Network, and then sold it directly into syndication. They decided to offer it directly to the stations that had taken the original ‘Star Trek’ series over the years.

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' is is set in the years 2364-9, some eighty years after the time of the original series; by this time only twelve to fifteen percent of our galaxy has been explored. As with the original ‘Star Trek’ series, the Enterprise crew are charged with the mission to explore strange new worlds, and meet new life-forms and civilisations. The new USS Enterprise is much larger that the ship seen in the original series; it is Starfleet’s flagship, a Galaxy Class starship, registry number NCC-1701-D, and the fifth starship to carry the name of Enterprise. It has a regular complement of just over a thousand people, many of them families, and in an emergency situation it is able to separate into two sections – the Saucer section and the Battle section.

The Enterprise-D is commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a stoic and no-nonsense Frenchman, whose leadership and tactical skills are second to none. The crew comprises of First Officer Commander William Riker, a tough and loyal right-hand-man to the captain; Second Officer Lieutenant Commander Data, an android who longs to become human; Chief Medical Officer Doctor Beverley Crusher, whose brilliant son Wesley rises through the ranks as the series progresses; Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, who, blind from birth, is outfitted with an electromagnetic visor that enables him to ‘see’; responsible for the crew’s welfare is the empathic half-human, half-Betazoid Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi; ship security is headed initially by the ill-fated Natasha Yar, and subsequently by Lieutenant Worf, a Klingon warrior with a strong belief in his race’s code of honour.

‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ began transmission in 1987, and, although at first it is slow to develop new ideas, concentrating instead on sequels to stories from the original ‘Star Trek’ series, it soon finds its feet and proceeds to deliver some exceptional episodes; in fact, it is viewed by many as being the best of all the ‘Star Trek’ franchises. As well as the standard ‘Trek’-fare of concentrating on character interaction, the series explores the Klingon warrior-culture; heralds the return of the Romulans as a military presence in opposition to the Federation; introduces new villains such as the omnipotent and troublesome Q, the devious and capitalistic Ferengi, the militaristic Cardassians, and the unstoppable cybernetic terror of the Borg.

Over the next seven seasons it progressively climbed in the viewing ratings to become one of the most popular series on U.S. television. At the beginning of season five Paramount began filming a third Star Trek series in parallel: ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’. The two series were set at the same time, and on occasion, cast from one series would guest-star in episodes from that of the other.

Immediately after finishing the final ‘Star Trek the Next Generation’ story – ‘All Good Things’, the cast started filming the first ‘Next Generation’ movie – ‘Star Trek: Generations’, which acted as a handing over between the original crew and that of the new. Two more films followed – ‘Star Trek: First Contact’ and ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’, with the promise of more to come…

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 4
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 5
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 7

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Legal Bit: 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures. The 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' logo and all images from the television series are copyright Paramount Pictures unless otherwise stated; music is copyright the original composers and producers; no copyright infringement is intended. All specially created images and text are copyright © Clive Banks; please do not use these without my permission. All rights reserved. No profit is made from this website, and any revenue made from using the banner-links featured goes straight back into the costs of maintaining it, which comes out of my own pocket in the first place. No profit advertising is accepted. This website was created purely to entertain and amuse, and any references to persons living, dead, comatose, in suspended animation, not born yet, or a figment of someone's imagination is purely coincidental. All opinions expressed are my own, so there...

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