Raumschiff Enterprise: Das nächste Jahrhundert

Being a child of the late 20th century, I never had the chance to ‘grow up' with the original Captain Kirk and gang; However, lucky me I had Captain Picard to idolize.

While Captain James Tiberius Kirk was the trigger happy, love crazed gigolo, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was (and still is) the gentle, sensitive diplomat. Realizing that you cannot simply compare Kirk's crew to Picard's crew, you must evaluate ‘The Next Generation on it's own merits.

It's a show that had very well written stories, and each week there was a different hero from the no named ensign, to the captain himself. Several of the stories developed into true sagas and much of the plots involved many of the original cast. Bringing Spock into ‘The Next Generation was a true piece of art.

You must keep in mind that the budget for ‘The Next Generation was a great deal larger than that of the original show. With that in mind, the special effects were superb, not only for a television show, but for movies as well. The Next Generation brought some very cool gadgets into our lives including tricorders, androids, and, of course, the most dreamed about invention the Holodeck! What a great thing that would be!

While I would never doubt that the original Star Trek series is a classic, after all, they did name a Space Shuttle after the Enterprise, ‘The Next Generation brought the 21st century into our homes each and every Saturday night, and helped us to believe that we can `Boldly go where no man have gone before!'

It's depressing to read a comment from one ST fan bashing another. Can we all agree on one thing: that the universe of Star Trek changed (perhaps in a modest way) not only the way people viewed sci-fi but also how they envision the future?

Each of the four series is excellent in their respect ways:

(1) ST-TOS for starting it all and for revealing Roddenbury's creative genius. TOS has influenced American culture in many subtle ways ("beam be up, Scotty"). Sure, some of the old episodes were weak ("brain, what is brain?") but compare those to the many excellent, thought-provoking episodes. TOS stands on its own (much like the original "Star Wars") and all other ST series are compared against it.

(2) ST-TNG resurrected the series with fresh characters and technologies (can you forget the always malfunctioning holodeck?). Patrick Stewart was a bold choice to play the captain and the supporting cast was excellent. While the first two seasons were weak, the series was going full steam by the third year. The story lines overlapped episodes (which many of you deride as soap opera-ish, but I loved it) providing a sense of character development. While I love all the ST's, TNG is my favorite.

(3) ST-DS9 overlapped and continued where TNG left off. A darker vision, it also maintained the continuous story line technique. Like its predecessor, it was weak in the beginning but soon came into its own. While I will miss DS9, I feel that seven seasons is enough; any longer and you will weaken the production values.

(4) ST-V departs from the other three series (where the players start from Earth and move outwards), Voyager has an original twist: start far away and revolve the show around the characters getting home (moving inwards). And while there's a certain "Melrose Place in Outer Space" feel to it, Voyager is a fine show (I can't quite get myself to call it "excellent" yet). Starting in June ST-V has a new, critical mission: it will now carry the ST franchise alone.

In summary, I believe that each show has brought its own unique contribution to creating/continuing the ST phenomenon. They are all great creative efforts and each should be admired.

I say down with "the Force" and up with "live long and prosper." Make it so, Number One. Engage.

I've watched this in 2019 and at the beginning i was sceptical because it felt so dated and cheesy but man i'm glad i've endured season 1 because what i got was really smart and well written science fiction and not the explosion action filled one we get nowdays. This show is about the ethical and moral dilemma of future civilization exploring space. While some episode are clearly filler they are still really watchable thanks to the amazing cast of characters you end up caring about, even secondary ones i really didn't like i ended up caring and rooting for them. The good episodes on the other hand are really some of the best television i've ever seen, they put the crew in really thought provoking situations with most of the time a satisfying ending. I really reccomend this show to anyone that is even a little bit interested in science fiction and if you are scared by the colossal lenght of this show since it's basically a collection of adventures the enterprise goes through you can also watch the best rated episodes even though i reccomend watching the whole show.

I was originally a loyal and dedicated fan of the original series...when I'd seen all the episodes and all the movies, and needed something more to watch, I went and rented Generations...since it did still have some of the original cast. I was dissapointed by how little. I completely rejected the idea of a new cast...no one could ever replace the classics...but I went ahead and watched the rest of the movies...and then decided to watch a few episodes of TNG. Now about a year later I have seen almost every TNG episode, own seasons 6 & 7 o DVD, and own all the TNG movies with the exception of Nemesis. In my opinion, the people who said you couldn't redo Star Trek were quite mistaken. I love the way the characters interact, everyone on the show seems to have such a bond...on and off the screen. The show also deals with a great amount of philosophical ideas and moral issues. The character of Data is a perfect example of that. is he self aware? Or is he just an emotionless machine? I've always leaned towards the former...Brent Spiner does a wonderful job of giving a slight little hint of emotion that really makes you feel for the character and makes you doubt that he's nothing more than just a machine, and makes you question, just what is sentience? These are the kind of wonderful themes this show deals with. I'm not a big fan of TV in general...and there's very little on that will actually grasp my attention. But every night at 8:00 I sit down to watch TNG reruns. It's most definitely my favorite TV show out there.

People that watch science fiction seem to forget that Star Trek: The Next Generation was filmed from 1987 to 1994, and that it accomplished the breakthrough technical wizardry we now see in other sci-fi movies and television shows.

It was Star Trek: The Next Generation (STTNG) that accomplished the "orange screen", reducing by 2/3 the cost of shooting space sequences. It was STTNG that finally allowed for a very advanced and yet BELIEVABLE "evolved" human behavior involved in space travel.

I admired Captain Jean-Luc Picard for his reserved Brit style, and the tension between him and Dr. Beverly Crusher. Who did not like watching Lieutenant Commander Data and Lieutenant Geordi LaForge spar over human behavior? What about the short brilliant life of Lieutenant Natasha Yar? Who didn't tune in to see that? Commander William Riker was amazing to watch, as he grew a beard and a conscience -- while still being able to keep up with the great Lieutenant Worf, the only Klingon (as yet) in Star Fleet!?

Those of you out there trying still to wage the Star Wars - Star Trek battle for supremacy -- grow up! They are both inspiring stories in different universes.