An Excuse to Write About "Star Trek: The Next Generation"!

It is the 25th anniversary of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," one of my favorite science-fiction series. I'm too young to have been around for the original from the 60s, and never got into the subsequent spin-offs, so for me, "Next Generation" is "Star Trek." I thought about doing a Top Ten list for this, but I thought I'd write up something a little more personal instead.

I started watching reruns of the early "Next Generation" seasons in syndication in the early 90s, right around when I started junior high. I was aware that there were new episodes airing in prime time, but I wasn't comfortable watching them when my parents were around. I remember one of my first encounters with the series was trying to get through the fifth season episode "Darmok" with my dad complaining about it in the background, and me protesting that I just wanted to see what this "Star Trek" thing was all about. I was impressed enough with that episode that I wanted to watch more, but I wasn't keen on debating my dad about it every week, who on reflection was always pretty hostile towards genre shows. Mom was less so, but still had a tendency to roll her eyes at anybody sporting too much latex. So I watched the reruns in the early evenings before they got home, and we were all happy.

Between "Star Trek" and reading paperback anthologies from the library, I turned into quite the little science-fiction geek for a while. Initially I think I liked science fiction because the people in the stories were smart. They were always scientists or explorers who had to explain complicated ideas, or reveal faulty assumptions, or solve mysteries that didn't involve heiresses killing each other over money. The "Twilight" Zone" was another early favorite, with all its wonderfully strange "what if" scenarios and symbolism-heavy morality tales. I loved following the twists and turns in the logic, seeing situations get turned on their heads by last minute reveals or shifts in POV. I was one of those kids who liked puzzles, and frequently science fiction stories had some of the best ones, because the answers could be purely theoretical concepts that only made sense according to the particular rules of its own universe. Admittedly, I was a weird kid.

So "Star Trek" appealed to me with its high concept ethical dilemmas and heady approach to encounters with the unknown. Some of these were just monsters-of-the week, but the key to defeating them was never something like "let's go get a bigger gun." The show was far more ambitious than that. Enemies could be reasoned and negotiated with. If violence was the answer, it was often used symbolically, to prove a larger point. I liked "Darmok" because the whole episode was built around two groups working out how to communicate with each other, after an alien race's system of language thwarts the capabilities of the Enterprise's usually trusty universal translators. There were a lot of bad episodes and a lot of nonsense technobabble, but when the show was at its best, it was challenging, quality television that really felt like it had something to say about the human condition.

I admit I was also enamored with some of the more typically flashy science-fiction elements too, like the holodecks, the transporters, and the replicators. "Next Generation" looks dated now, but you can still see the amount of effort and care that went into the design of the show. The graphic interfaces on the control panels, the Starfleet uniforms, and the spectacular model work that went into those flyby shots of the Enterprise have barely aged at all. Once you get past the shaky first season, the look of the series solidifies into something instantly recognizable. And then there's the score and the sound design - chirping communicators, thrumming warp drives, and even the particular sound of the Enterprise's doors opening and closing. Some found this vision of the future too utopian and unlikely, but it provided an important point of reference for all the spaceship adventure series that followed, and the success of "Next Generation" spawned quite a few.

Finally, the characters were never very deep, but they have become iconic. I don't think the show would have worked without Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, who made even the most ridiculous dialogue sound weighty and important. My favorite was Data the android though, a fascinating character who was the subject of some of the show's best hours. Geordi LaForge was LeVar Burton from "Reading Rainbow" of course, an association I could never quite put aside. Worf was the first Klingon in the "Star Trek" universe I was ever acquainted with, so I never viewed them as villains. I didn't really get the appeal of Riker or Troi, but grew to appreciate their actors. Wesley Crusher never bothered me much. All television kids were twerps back then, except Darlene from "Roseanne," and it was worth putting up with him to have level-headed Dr. Crusher manning sickbay. However, I think I'm one of the few who really didn't mind Dr. Pulaski's tenure that much.

I became an honest to goodness "Next Generation" fan. I read stacks of the tie-in novels, hunted down the official "Companion" books to help keep track of the episodes in the days before the internet, and when the movies came out, I made sure to see every last one, even though I waited for home video toward the end of their run. The infatuation didn't last long beyond junior high and the end of "Next Generation," because then there was "The X-Files" and "Star Wars" and all the FOX one-season wonders of the 90s. And my parents decided there were worse things I could be doing on Friday nights than staying in to watch geeky sci-fi shows.
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