Star Trek the Next Generation the Series

Star Trek the next generation the series follows the adventures of the starship Enterprise and its crew Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, first Ofc. William Riker, Lieut. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge, Counselor Deanna Troi, Lieut. Cmdr. Data, Lieut. Worf, and the ships doctor Beverly Crusher . The show lasted for seven seasons and has a huge fan base following which is why I decided I wanted to give it a try. As a kid I was a huge fan of Star Trek the original series but by the time the next generation came out I wasn't watching very much episodic TV. I thought it would be the kind of show I would need to follow every week and I'm the type of person who hates to leave something unfinished or incomplete.

The show starts off with Capt. Jean-Luc Picard(Patrick Stewart) for the first time taking command of the enterprise. Aboard the enterprise he meets his crew and things don't exactly start off smooth. I know it's a TV show and that it's written in that the crew did not exactly know what to think of Capt. Picard but like the crew in the beginning I didn't really like him that much either. He just seemed very stale and rigid which might have been due to his accent. It's nothing against Patrick Stewart himself in fact I think he's a great actor. It's just early on Capt. Picard does not seem to have much of a sense of humor at all. However towards the middle of the series he did begin to grow on me.

Honestly it just didn't seem the same without Capt. Kirk. Although it seems the first officer William Riker(Jonathan Frakes) was meant to be sort of like a younger version of Kirk although he felt more like a bad carbon copy. Like Kirk, Riker would sleep with anything female or close to female that moved slow enough for him to catch. Maybe it was his arrogance but I had a tough time liking Riker also. The thing that irritated me the most was Riker's walk. He had this irritating swagger and I'm not sure if it was Jonathan Frakes idea or the directors but I found it extremely irritating. As far as I can remember I haven't seen Jonathan Frakes in anything else so I don't know if that is his walk or not. However that being said once the series was completed there were moments when I found myself liking him.

Although there are no Vulcan members of the immediate crew this time they do have the first Klingon to ever serve aboard a Federation starship Lieut. Worf(Michael Dorn). I honestly found his character one of the most intriguing of the series and although they do focus quite a bit on his back story later in the series, I felt like he should have been a bigger part of the show early on. I also must say I think Michael Dorn as Worf was probably the most well acted out character next to Data.

My favorite character on the show would have to be Lieut. Cmdr. Data(Brent Spiner) a android who longs to be human or have human emotions was created by a brilliant scientist Dr. Noonien Soong. Like Lieut. Worf you get to see a great deal about Datas back story and a great deal of growth that his character experiences throughout the series as he attempts to learn to be human as well as find out where he came from.. Brent Spiner's portrayal of Data in my opinion steals the show and without a doubt is one of the biggest reasons I continued on with the complete series.

I guess my next favorite character would have to be Geordi La Forge(LeVar Burton)even though they deal very little with his back story. He takes Scottie's place as the starships engineer and is best friends with Data. Which provides for some great chemistry between the two of them. La Forge's character is also portrayed very well by LeVar Burton who was probably the most well-known for being on the children's show Reading Rainbow which I grew up watching. Every time I saw him I couldn't help but miss watching Reading Rainbow as a child.

Then there's the ship's counselor Deanna Troi(Marina Sirtis) who is also Riker's on-again off-again love interest. She is half Betazoid which is a race of telepathic people and half human. Her mothers visit to the enterprise always means for an intertaining and hysterical episode. Like the majority of the cast Marina does an excellent job as Deanna.

That leaves the ships doctor Beverly Crusher(Gates McFadden). I guess Star Trek the original series ruined me in some ways because it just isn't the same without Bones however that being said Gates McFadden does an adequate job playing the ships doctor. It's her and her son Wesley Crusher that end up bringing out the softer side of Picard and make him more likable. That being said I never found myself caring for either character all that much.

In the beginning the special effects are not that special. I'm not a huge fan of CGI sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. As far as the sets and locations I was surprised that they really hadn't been improved upon that much sense the original Star Trek. Although when it comes to the alien races they encounter they have vastly improved upon the distinction between them. Which mostly consisted of prosthetics on the face and head. The one area that always bothered me throughout the show with her phaser weapons. It looked more like electric razors or beard trimmers then a weapon. The highlight of the special effects would have to be Data's android makeup. I also enjoyed the improvement of the Klingons look from the original series they definitely look more formidable in the next generation. Overall I would say the special effects were adequate and as the show goes on the special effects do improve even the CGI just don't expect George Lucas type special effects and you won't be disappointed.
Overall I would say I liked The Next Generation but I think I would've liked the show a lot more had there been larger story arcs over the seasons. Not that each episode was not entertaining I just always assumed I would have to watch the episodes in order so I didn't miss out on any important information but that's not the case. You could watch most of the episodes out of order and if you didn't know so you couldn't tell the difference. I guess it's possible this could have been done on purpose so when it was played in syndication you could start watching from any point in the show. The highlight of the show was definitely chemistry between the cast and the character development and growth of certain characters. Although I found The Next Generation entertaining it's not a show that I got emotionally attached to and could watch again. I would rate The Next Generation 3/5 stars