Star Trek: The Next Generation & Expanding the Universe
Classic Science Fiction Television
Chapter 4 · Star Trek: The Next Generation & Expanding the Universe
A Bold, Risky Return
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered on 28 September 1987 and ran seven seasons, to 23 May 1994 — 178 episodes in total. Gene Roddenberry, initially reluctant, came on board as creator after growing unhappy with the studio's own early conceptual work on the revival. Executive producers across the show's run included Roddenberry, Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor.
An Unlikely Captain
Casting a new captain to follow Kirk was a genuine risk in itself, and the actor who took the role arrived almost by chance. Producer Robert H. Justman first noticed Patrick Stewart — at the time described by the Los Angeles Times as an "unknown British Shakespearean actor" — attending a literary reading at UCLA in 1987.
A Crew Built to Last
William Riker
Data
Worf
Geordi La Forge
Deanna Troi
Dr. Beverly Crusher
Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) and Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) rounded out the original main cast.
Creative Friction Behind the Scenes
Whoopi Goldberg's Own Star Trek Origin Story
Whoopi Goldberg joined the show as Guinan, the bartender of Ten-Forward. Per an account Nichelle Nichols herself gave in the 1997 documentary Trekkies, a young Goldberg watched the original series, saw Nichols as Uhura, and exclaimed to her mother: "Momma! There's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!" That moment is credited with sparking a lifelong devotion to Star Trek that eventually led directly to her own role on this show.
First-Run Syndication, Not a Network
Rather than selling the show to a network the way the original series had aired, Paramount distributed TNG directly to individual local stations as first-run syndication — offered to stations free, in a barter arrangement, with Paramount retaining control of the advertising. The strategy paid off enormously: by 1992 the show was generating around $90 million a year in advertising revenue, with a single 30-second spot commanding $115,000 to $150,000.
Reception, and a Legacy Larger Than the Show Itself
Viewership peaked at 11.5 million during Season 5, and the series finale drew over 30 million viewers. TNG became the first syndicated drama ever nominated for the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy, and went on to win 19 Emmy Awards, two Hugo Awards, a Peabody Award, and six Saturn Awards over its run.
The show's success directly enabled the franchise's next generation of growth: four TNG-cast feature films (1994–2002), the launch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1993, and — decades later — Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023), alongside a wide range of novels, comics, and video games.
Two Star Treks, Compared
| The Original Series (1966–1969) | The Next Generation (1987–1994) | |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | NBC network broadcast | First-run syndication, sold directly to stations |
| Captain | James T. Kirk (William Shatner) | Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) |
| Cancellation risk | Nearly cancelled after Season 2; saved by a real fan letter campaign | Producers themselves expected it to fail quickly; it became a ratings and awards success instead |
| Real legacy | Cult afterlife in syndicated reruns fueled the franchise's later growth | Directly launched films, further spin-off series, and decades of franchise expansion |
Questions to Sit With
Patrick Stewart himself expected the show to fail. What do you make of one of the most successful science-fiction casting choices in television history beginning with the actor's own genuine skepticism?
TNG succeeded outside the traditional network system entirely, through first-run syndication — the same distribution method that had turned the cancelled original series into a quiet, delayed success. What does it say that the franchise's biggest growth came from deliberately not repeating the network route that had nearly killed it the first time?
Whoopi Goldberg's own connection to the franchise began with seeing Uhura on screen as a child. How does it change your view of Chapter 3's own real Nichols/Uhura story to see its actual, documented effect on a real viewer, decades later?
Quick Reference — Chapter 4
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994, 178 episodes) — a reluctant Roddenberry return, built on first-run syndication rather than a network
- Patrick Stewart was discovered by producer Robert Justman at a UCLA reading, and signed his own contract genuinely expecting the show to fail
- A crew including Frakes, Spiner, Dorn, Burton, Sirtis, and McFadden, alongside Crosby and Wheaton
- Real Season 1 creative friction — writer departures, Roddenberry's own strict rewriting rules, and a disputed removed storyline
- Whoopi Goldberg's own real, documented Star Trek origin story, sourced from Nichelle Nichols in the documentary Trekkies
- First-run syndication proved enormously profitable, generating roughly $90 million a year in advertising by 1992
- TNG's own success directly launched four films, Deep Space Nine, and eventually Star Trek: Picard
What's Next
Chapter 5: Battlestar Galactica: Original & Reimagined.