The Unauthorized Trekkers’ Guide to the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine

The thing that attracted Roddenberry to the new series was that he wouldn’t have to deal with networks. “And then they said, maybe you shouldn’t [try to do a new series] because it’s impossible, and my ears perked up over that. The most difficult aspect was to go against all of that and put a show together and believe you could do it, and collect people that could do it, and collect a cast that in its own way has the qualities of the old cast. It was the impossibility of it that was the most difficult.”

Roddenberry described what he hoped to accomplish with the new series when he stated, “What we want to do is to grapple now with the problems of the eighties and nineties and the turn of the century. I think we are going to surprise you on technology. You can only go so far in making things smaller and faster and more powerful. What other things should technology be worrying about? We’re going to be getting into those areas. There’s a reason to do another Star Trek now. We did the original Star Trek about the problems of the sixties. Many people forget that, in the mid-sixties, when we put on a multiracial crew, that was considered awful. People were shocked.”

When asked what he kept from the old Star Trek to please audience expectations when creating The Next Generation, Gene explained, “While I listen to the audience, one of the secrets of whatever success I’ve amounted to was that I never make shows for the audience. I listen to good advice, but the only person I make shows for is myself. I love any help you can give me, but I’ll be damned if I’ll make a show for you! I make it for myself and if you happen to like it I’m delighted that you do and great; we’ve got the best of both possible worlds. Writers and producers and directors and so on that create a show for specific audiences do schlock work. They should do selfish work; proudly selfish work, and that happens to be true about painters, and sculptors, too.”

THE NEW CREW

More worrisome at the time was resistance from old fans, although this turned out not to be the problem it could have been. Still, creating a new series when the original has grown to mythic proportions is a heavy proposition. As might be imagined, it took some doing. The characters took time to settle in. Once they did, they were believable.

First there was Captain Jean-Luc Picard. For this demanding role, Gene cast British actor Patrick Stewart, a noted Shakespearean with roles in films besides extensive stage work.

CAPTAIN AND COMPANY

Gene said, “Patrick Stewart was my first choice after looking at him hard and long because here I’m faced with a bald-headed man for a captain and I’m used to him being jolly with hair, and Bill was rather athletic. The longer I looked at Patrick Stewart and saw the actor who was there, and the power that was there that was a different kind than Bill’s, the more I became sure that he was the man. I’m so delighted to have him I cannot tell you! When you look at dailies, you always watch Picard even when he’s not doing anything! Because he is doing something here [points to his head] constantly! England produces great actors and he’s an example of that.”

Roddenberry wanted no one character to emerge as the star. A whole ensemble of players was created for the new Enterprise. Since Captain Picard would never beam down to an uncharted, possibly hostile planet in this modern version, Gene in essence divided the command function in two, providing Picard with an executive officer, William Riker. There has been speculation that Picard and Riker are the two aspects of Captain Kirk, split in half. It is conjectured this was done both for dramatic reasons and to prevent any single actor from attempting to dominate a true ensemble program. In a nod to the old show’s first pilot, as well as to nautical history, Riker is often referred to as “Number One.” Riker, a canny poker player, is not afraid to take risks. He weighs them carefully, assuring the safety of his superior officer.

The notion of having “Away Teams” instead of sending the ship’s executive officers on dangerous missions was suggested by David Gerrold.

THE COUNSELOR AND THE ANDROID

Gene also created a new position for The Next Generation, that of Ship’s Counselor, and a new alien race—the Betazoids. Although this position can be occupied by a member of any race, Picard is highly fortunate that his ship’s counselor is a Betazoid. Betazoids are extremely empathic, if not telepathic, and can read minds to varying degrees. Picard’s counselor, Deanna Troi, is a beautiful half-human woman, who can sense emotions with great acuity. Combined with extensive psychological training, this makes her a vital part of the captain’s decision-making process. “Captain, I sense …” has become as familiar a line to Next Generation fans as “I’m a doctor, not a …” was for those of the original series.

Deanna once had a relationship with Riker, but it seems to have mellowed into an abiding friendship. Only in season six when a transporter-created double for William Riker was introduced did the old romance again resurface. Marina Sirtis enjoys the irony of being a British actress playing an alien on American television.

Most controversial at the show’s inception was the android science officer, Data. Many saw him as a transparent Spock substitute. Indeed, there are many similarities between the two, but the differences have been developed more thoroughly. A much closer predecessor of Data is found in the android in The Questor Tapes. Gene cast Texas-born Brent Spiner as Data. He was very well prepared for his role by a strong belief in extraterrestrials.

THE DOCTOR AND THE ENGINEER

An Enterprise without a ship’s doctor would be unthinkable. Gene provided Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher. Dr. Crusher is the first regular role in a television series for actress Gates McFadden. The compassionate, dedicated doctor is the mother of a precocious youngster, Wesley Crusher. Not coincidentally, Gene’s middle name was Wesley. Wesley Crusher was played by Wil Wheaton, who left the series in its fourth season to pursue school and a film career. Because he left on amicable terms, an opening was left for him to return to the show at any time, even if only in guest star roles. He came back for one in season seven’s “Journey’s End.” Wheaton wanted to return to the status of being a regular on the final season, but what the actors called “studio politics” prevented that. Others connected with the show have stated that “Journey’s End” wrote a finish to the character of Wesley, who will apparently not be appearing in the Next Generation feature films.

McFadden was replaced by Diana Muldaur in the second season of The Next Generation and Roddenberry even issued a press release telling fans not to bother writing to him about the decision because his mind was made up—that is, until he changed it again and brought Gates McFadden back to the role in the third season.

Another new character, eventually to be promoted to the post of chief engineer, is Geordi La Forge. The role is named as tribute to the late Star Trek fan George LaForge, a cerebral palsy sufferer whose long survival was attributed to his strong identification with the show. Geordi contributes to the tradition of a multiethnic cast in Star Trek. He is blind, but due to the advanced technology of the twenty-fourth century, can see by means of an electronic visor linked with his nervous system. He can even see visual ranges inaccessible to most human beings. Geordi is a sincere, likable, confident man with slight insecurities. He always perseveres, communicating freely with others. The opposite of Picard, he affects an informal approach to life and is not hung up on protocol. Actor LeVar Burton, best known as the young Kunta Kinte in the classic miniseries Roots, plays the role. This character was reportedly created by David Gerrold.

A KLINGON ON THE BRIDGE

The biggest shock in The Next Generation’s crew roster was Worf … a Klingon. Since Kirk’s heyday, peace has finally been negotiated between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Negotiations were underway at the time of the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, a fact referred to by Commander Kruge in that film. This was further developed in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The two spheres of influence strive to get along and have established some mutual trust. There are no other Klingons in Starfleet.

Worf is unique. He was raised by humans after his family was killed in the massacre of their outpost during a surprise Klingon attack—an event that still haunts him. He is like Spock in that he is the product of two cultures, a warrior Klingon dedicated to his own culture but tempered by exposure to human ideals. Worf was added after the pilot for The Next Generation and does not appear in “Encounter at Farpoint.” For a time, he would be little more than a grouchy guy standing in the background recommending aggressive action. He would be featured in more and more episodes, eventually opening up a window on the fascinating world of the Klingons. The six-foot-five Michael Dorn was cast as Worf. Dorn was born in Liling, Texas, but raised in Pasadena, California, just minutes away from Hollywood.

With the cast set, The Next Generation got under way. Creator Gene Roddenberry handed the executive producer’s reins over to Paramount’s Rick Berman.

CREATIVE CONFLICTS

D. C. Fontana signed on as story editor, but soon left, unhappy with the treatment received by her script “Encounter at Farpoint.” Sadly, the episode kicked off the new series with less than a bang. Fontana’s initial story received a forced graft of Gene Roddenberry’s “Q” subplot and the two concepts didn’t cross over, much less merge. Instead of a genuine, two-hour movie, audiences received two separate stories. Like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, “Encounter at Farpoint” moved slowly, too enamored of its own special effects. It was no surprise that Gene Roddenberry’s name was on the screenplay. Roddenberry said, “In the first Star Trek [series], I rewrote or heavily polished the first thirteen episodes so that Mr. Spock would be the Mr. Spock that I had in mind. This was enormous labor, and then this began to catch on and we got some good writers on this.

“In Star Trek: The Next Generation I rewrote thirteen episodes. I don’t want to act out a big ‘I did this, I did that,’ but as far as the basic original writing, I had to do that again, with few exceptions. It is the way episodic television is. Now as the year’s gone on,” he said during the first season, “I’ve found some good people and I hope to find more. We got some good writing in the old series, and we’ve had some good writing in the new series. Most of the writing comes from very few, very good people who labor hard. Very often they are staff people.”

Special effects for the first season were provided by Industrial Light and Magic, but they soon proved too expensive. Other effects teams were sought out. With a per episode budget of over a million dollars, The Next Generation was a major gamble for Paramount. They had to use the budget to the best of their ability.

GROWING PAINS

The first season of The Next Generation was erratic. The actors had yet to settle into their roles, and the scripts, often rewritten by Gene, were uneven. Controversy ensued when both D. C. Fontana and David Gerrold felt they had contributed to the development of the series concept and neither received credit. Gene never acknowledged them. In fact, in regard to Gerrold, he went so far as to comment that “… Gerrold [had] been condemning the show, constantly. I had him on staff for many, many months, [and] he never wrote an episode we could shoot.” He had, but Roddenberry refused to approve it. This contributed to their professional break.

Fontana is harder to dismiss. She worked on a total of four scripts for the first season of The Next Generation. She left following a particularly ugly encounter with Roddenberry when he supposedly asked her to write an entire script and attach his name as cowriter so that he could meet the studio’s demand for his writing a certain number of scripts during the first season. When she refused because it would be a violation of Writer’s Guild rules, Roddenberry claimed that he was the one who got her into the business (which wasn’t true) and felt that she was ungrateful for not doing him this favor.

The dispute between Gene, Fontana, and Gerrold was settled behind the scenes for a monetary sum. No on-screen credit was given. Some regard this as more important than a lump sum payoff, because without screen credit there is no public acknowledgment of what a writer created. In spite of the settlement, Roddenberry may well have felt that he’d won.

The second season of The Next Generation showed marked improvement. Changes were evident. Jonathan Frakes now sported a beard. Some viewers, unimpressed by the first season, now use the sight of a clean-shaven Riker as their cue not to watch a rerun.

TWO NEW SECOND-SEASON ADDITIONS

Doctor Pulaski, ably played by Diana Muldaur, a veteran guest star of the original Star Trek, joined the cast in the second season. Despite Muldaur’s fine acting, this character didn’t work. Perhaps the problem was that the crusty, no-nonsense Pulaski seemed to be a female “Bones” McCoy. The character provided much-needed friction on the bridge, but never really came to bear on the plots much.

Another new character also came onboard in the second season, although she may have been there all along for purposes of continuity. Guinan is a mysterious alien woman of great age who functions as bartender and freelance counselor in the Enterprise’s open lounge, Ten Forward. She serves synthehol, a marvelous brew whose mildly intoxicating effects can be shaken off at will. Guinan’s background is intentionally shrouded in mystery. Although not featured on a weekly basis, she is a recurring presence.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

By this time, Gene had developed a stable of writers he could trust. His production team was learning to work the way Gene worked. On future plans for The Next Generation, Roddenberry stated, “We have a lot in store, and a lot of things we want to talk about. We can no longer claim we’re brave because we have mixed races. Twenty-three years ago, that was very exciting. We had women in jobs other than secretaries. People were saying, ‘My God, how far can they go!’

“Now we want to talk about hostage situations. I am amazed to see the hostage (takers) treated as bad guys always. Many of these people have legitimate complaints. The world is not as simple as we lay it out—good guys here, bad guys there. I am very concerned and want to find a way to get into the fact that most of the warfare and killing going on in the world is going on in the name of religion: organized religion. Not that I’m saying that there are not great plans and that we are not part of some great thing, but it is not the type of thing you see preached on television. I don’t hold anyone up to ridicule. My mother is a good Baptist and she believes in many great things. I cannot sit still in a series of this type and not point out who’s killing who in the world.”

Roddenberry did do an episode questioning religion, “Who Watches the Watchers?” in season three. On a primitive planet, an off-world survey team is accidentally discovered by the inhabitants, who come to regard the Enterprise crewmen and their miraculous feats (appearing and disappearing) as the actions of gods. “I’ve always thought that, if we did not have supernatural explanations for all the things we might not understand right away, this is the way we would be, like the people on that planet,” Gene explained. “I was born into a supernatural world in which all my people—my family—usually said, ‘That is because God willed it,’ or gave other supernatural explanations for whatever happened. When you confront those statements on their own, they just don’t make sense. They are clearly wrong. You need a certain amount of proof to accept anything, and that proof was not forthcoming to support those statements.”

HARD WORK BUT FEW REWARDS

The one thing that did disappoint Roddenberry about doing The Next Generation was the little recognition it first received. Even though it did achieve a Peabody Award for the first season episode “The Big Goodbye,” it remained largely ignored thereafter, in spite of episodes like “Who Watches the Watchers?” and “Justice.”

“It is a source of considerable amusement to me that we can do shows like this and get little or no public reaction. If these things were to be done on Broadway or in motion pictures, they would have stunned audiences. The audiences would have said, ‘How wild, how forward, how advanced.’ Because these subjects are done on a syndicated television show, in our time slot, no one really notices them.

“I thought several times that the world of drama would have stood up and cheered us, but no, only silence. There is one advantage. All of these episodes are brought back and rerun every year. What will happen with Star Trek: The Next Generation is almost identical to what happened to the original Star Trek as larger and larger audiences become acquainted with the program. The original Star Trek audience now says, ‘Hurrah, what fine shows!’ This has brought us considerable pleasure that they would notice it. Star Trek: The Next Generation is on that path now and more so. The time will come when the second series will attain its true stature. I just hope some of it happens while I am still alive. I’m not jealous that I don’t have praise. This happens very broadly in contacts with humans. The world is not necessarily poorer because a painter or playwright is not recognized in his or her lifetime.”

NEW BUT FAMILIAR

Since Gene Roddenberry understood his audience, he did not stray far when he re-created Star Trek. Andrew Probert, who had contributed to the redesign of the Enterprise for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was tapped for the job of redesigning the Enterprise for its new and far more advanced version. Although looking more sleek with a slightly squashed appearance, it was still quite recognizable. The biggest change was internal, such as the addition of the holodeck. The kinds of recreation areas on the original Enterprise were rarely referred to outside of the first movie. The only one that comes to mind is a reference to the “bowling alley” in “The Naked Time,” and it has never been established whether or not this was a joke. After all, with the way the original Enterprise would periodically hurl its crew back and forth, the thought of bowling balls having similar violence done to them could only cause one to imagine large holes in the bulkheads on a fairly regular basis.

The other design alterations on The Next Generation extended to the expected: the uniforms, hand weapons and other items such as the tricorder. Just as they had been redesigned for the Star Trek movies, they were redesigned for the TV series. Again, the designs were superficial and seemed to have been done mostly for purposes of merchandising: more new Star Trek toys could now be licensed by Paramount.

Although set seventy-five years after the original series, the technical changes were not as major as they could have been. By making the changes so slight, Roddenberry insured that the old Star Trek fans would more willingly accept this new version in spite of the completely new cast.

FINE-TUNING THE STAR TREK PHILOSOPHY

In describing the future life he envisioned for Earth in the twenty-fourth century, Roddenberry stated, “I do not perceive this as a universe that’s divided between good and evil.”

For The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry chose to expand the Trek philosophy, and perhaps he went a little too far. Roddenberry decided that his crew of the Enterprise-D would, frankly, be perfect. He decreed that they would get along without complaint and never have the kind of personality clashes experienced by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. The only time disagreements appeared on TNG was when someone who was not a part of this tightly knit inner circle came aboard, such as when Ensign Ro stepped aboard in the fifth season (about the time Gene Roddenberry died).

Otherwise the main crew members, consisting of Picard, Riker, Data, Dr. Crusher, Geordi, and Troi were always in harmony. Worf was the only wild card, but then he’s allowed to be—he isn’t human. Tasha Yar seemed to have the makings of a character with spunk and personality, but she was quickly dispensed with.