Star Trek: The Best Generation of Television Revivals
By Bill Rockas
Sequels have become the titans of the entertainment industry. A good sequel can give characters greater depth, explore the source material in new ways, and even outperform the original show in terms of profit. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) is the preeminent example of a reboot, finding greater success and longevity than the original show. It is the paragon of revivals, displaying quality independent of its source material, deepening the canonical universe and strengthening the pre-existing mythology. It is widely regarded as the best interpretation amongst many other Star Trek properties. The series revolutionized television by being a high-quality hour-long show that was not created for a network, but went directly to syndication, harkening the multi-channel era.
The Next Generation (“TNG”) was the result of Paramount executive’s desire to draw from the financial success of Star Trek (1965-1969), also known as The Original Series (“TOS”). TOS was not a show with broad appeal, but its ambitious storytelling and references to classic literature consistently attracted the coveted demographic of upper income educated males. The show only became more popular through syndication, with fans assiduously rewatching episodes. Furthermore, “[e]ven by 1986, twenty years after TOS’s premiere and seventeen years after its cancellation, it was the fifth-highest rated one hour show in syndication seen in 140 national markets covering 90 percent of the nation” (Pearson and Davies 48). The TOS movies were created with varying degrees of success and although TOS continued to do well in the ratings, the studio feared that their serialized cash cow was slowly dying (Clark 45).
TNG was created with Gene Roddenberry, creator of TOS and the so-called Great Bird of the Galaxy. Roddenberry owned fifty percent of the rights to Star Trek and though he was known to be difficult, his involvement was necessary (Clark 9). Paramount determined that TNG would be well-financed, feature special effects by Industrial Light and Magic and, because they could not get a network to commit to buying twenty-six episodes, it would go directly to syndication. The new series was offered to stations already running TOS with the agreement that while stations would pay nothing for the show, Paramount would be allotted seven out of twelve minutes of advertising (Clark 47). This unique structure allowed the station to take a chance and for Paramount to create enough episodes to guarantee residual profits in reruns.
From the start, TNG was a commercial success. It consistently ranked in the top ten of hour-long dramas and surpassed other TV heavyweights of Cheers, LA Law, and Monday Night Football (Pearson and Davies 50). However, TNG’s content struggled in its first season due to restrictions placed on the show by Roddenberry. He saw TNG as a way to reclaim and cement his glory as the series’ auteur. He disregarded other writers and personally rewrote many finished teleplays. He also insisted that there could be no stories of personal conflicts among the crew of the Enterprise. This policy removed any emotionally engaging drama, and Roddenberry’s diverse characters, new alien races, and episodic adventures were hindered by these constraints. Roddenberry remained in control for the first two seasons of TNG. But as his age and health caught up with him, he was forced to withdraw. Much of the TOS team he hired also retired at this time. By 1991, Paramount producer Rick Berman and his team controlled TNG and the Star Trek Properties. This second generation was the key to producing an even greater Star Trek.
Berman and Michael Piller, a third-season hire who became head writer and executive producer, were finally given free rein to experiment with the Star Trek universe in new ways. Berman kept the Paramount executives at bay while Piller molded the writing staff into a team that was willing to add personality to characters, engage in emotional and dramatic plots, and, true to Star Trek, provide social commentary. TNG transformed into a show centered on character development and dilemmas ultimately more appealing to the audience (Pearson and Davies 67). The show garnered great critical attention, “amass[ing] a whopping forty-one Emmy nominations and nineteen wins” (Clark 88). TNG was lauded by the public as well “earn[ing] its highest-ever Nielsen ratings the [year prior to its final season] and cleared more than $30 million in profit for Paramount pictures” (Clark 246). Berman and his team built the most successful show in syndication and created a platform upon which the Star Trek universe could flourish. Part of the secret to their success was employing the same crew of people over a long period of time. The familiarity allowed efficiency as well as personal and creative satisfaction “because they led to the mutual enhancement of the creative autonomy of individuals within the team” (Pearson and Davies 90). By creating a stable, positive work environment, TNG could produce a quality and profitable product.
One of Star Trek’s many attractions is its stress on the importance of morals. TNG embraced the idea that “social commentary was Gene Roddenberry’s prime directive” (Clark 237). Where TOS has been progressive, featuring the first interracial kiss on television in 1968 and having a Russian ensign as a main character during the Cold War, TNG included issues of inclusion and racial diversity. TNG’s Enterprise included Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), a blind Black man, and the immensely moral Guinan played by Whoopi Goldberg. Chief of Security Worf (Michael Dorn) is Klingon, the warrior race that had been one of the main antagonists in TOS, “By introducing the Federation-Klingon alliance… the series modeled values of reconciliation and of overcoming prejudice” within the fictional universe (Clark 240).
In addition to diverse casting, TNG centered its stories around politically divisive topics and discussed historical tragedies of the past by portraying them in the future. The episode “The Drumhead'' dissected the biases of courts and how trustworthy people can abuse their power, harkening back to the Red Scare and reinforcing that we must all be vigilant to preserve freedom and combat facism. TNG engaged in meaningful representation and frequently told politically charged stories through the veil of the future. While TNG included many feats of award winning special effects and plenty of action, like its predecessor, it made human stories the heart of the show. This created emotional resonance and helped balance the budget of the show, as action episodes required expensive special effects. TNG had more than its fair share of plot lines meant to service spectacle, but it was versatile enough to let the characters and the human stories be the electrifying feat.
TNG effectively altered TOS to create something bigger and better while utilizing and ensuring the future of the Star Trek universe. TNG’s opening theme has the first notable change, with Captain Jean Luc Picard delivering the same monologue from TOS but changing “to boldly go where no man has gone before” to “where no one has gone before.” TNG sent its message of inclusivity from the start. Another striking difference is with the seriously resolute Picard as captain in place of TOS’s hedonistic hot shot, James T. Kirk. Picard represents the dignity and seriousness of TNG. He is faithful to the prime directives of Starfleet and performs only moral actions. This change signified not only a more dramatic side of Star Trek but also the opening to more complex storylines as Picard operated within the rules, unlike Kirk. Picard was also a defiant shift from the typical leading man. Patrick Stewart brought a fascinating character to the forefront without a need to prove to studio executives that he reached audience demographics with a causal style or a marketable sex appeal. His moral wisdom was what gave him value. When a reporter queried Roddenberry about the stark differences in the captains by asking, “Surely by the 24th century, they would have had a cure for male pattern baldness,” Roddenberry responded “No. By the 24th century, no one will care” (Alopeciaworld 03:15–05:21).
TNG also updated the antagonists, creating a distinction from its predecessor’s cultural issues. TOS found its worst enemies in stubborn alien races like the Romulans or greedy supermen like Khan. While these antagonists were appropriate to Cold War fears of the nineteen-sixties, they grew dated over time. TNG found its greatest villain in the cyborg hivemind of the Borg, which asked modern viewers to question impersonal forces like disease or technology. Diplomacy and vulnerable appeals were futile against the viral eugenic race of cyborgs. Picard’s assimilation by the Borg and subsequent return to human form skewed his future judgments and plagued him with inextricable mental health problems. This serialized narrative forever altered Picard as well as Star Trek, depicting storylines whereby both the rules of the universe and the characters’ emotional journeys had continuity.
TNG was willing to believe in the intelligence of its viewers and explored more ambitious storytelling with episodes like “The Inner Light,” where an alien probe flashes an energy beam at Picard, knocking him unconscious for a few minutes. In that timeframe, Picard lives 40 years as an entirely new person on a completely unknown planet. In the end, the alien probe is revealed to have been created by a species who was destroyed by climate change and wanted a future traveler to experience their culture and know of their existence. Other episodes like “Darmok” sees the Enterprise crew trying to decipher an alien language that they cannot understand with Picard resolving the conflict by learning the language along with the audience and defusing any unintended belligerence. These layered ideas created fascinating character studies and dramatic conflicts that were unlike TOS but emblematic of Star Trek as a whole.
TNG was blessed with a built-in audience, considerable funding, and a production company that was truly invested in the team and making a high-quality product. Before the first episode aired, the show had forged an independent path through syndication and capitalized on the love for TOS. Paramount’s choice to bypass the networks became standard in the multichannel era and contributed to the weakening of the established networks (Pearson and Davies 48-49). But it was under the leadership of Berman and Piller that the show excelled. TNG created stories that highlighted the traits of humanity, explored nuanced concepts of morality, embraced cutting edge special effects, and pushed the boundaries of what a TV show could be. Though Paramount may have exhausted the golden goose by oversaturating the market with new Star Trek TV shows, movies, and merchandise, TNG remains a shining star in the Star Trek universe. Its quality as well as those of its revelatory successors, made Star Trek the rich and expansive intellectual property that it is today.
Works Cited
Clark, Mark. Star Trek FAQ 2.0. Hal Leonard, 2013.
“Darmok”, Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, season 5, episode 2, Paramount Domestic Television, 1991
Pearson, Roberta, et al. Star Trek and American Television. First, University of California Press, 2014.
“Star Trek Actor Talks about Being Bald.'' YouTube, uploaded by alopeciaworld, 2 July 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqm_Iq8rFeg.
Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, 1987- 1994, Paramount Domestic Television.
Star Trek The Original Series, created by Gene Roddenberry, 1965- 1969, Viacom.
“The Drumhead'', Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, season 4, episode 21, Paramount Domestic Television, 1991
“The Inner Light”, Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, season 5, episode 25, Paramount Domestic Television, 1992
“The Measure of a Man”, Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, season 2, episode 9, Paramount Domestic Television, 1989