Star Trek: The Next Generation - Why You Should Be Watching This Show on DVD

Storytelling just might be our oldest art form. And today, the market for storytelling is absolutely jam-packed. We have more media in more forms than we could ever hope to sort through as individuals, and quite frankly...a lot of it is junk. Most times, the bad is filtered out of our system immediately. It's not memorable enough to last. But every now and then, something comes along that we deem to be "classic" or "neo-classic". The media that sticks usually has one thing in common, good writing. This good writing can reach across all genres. It can be comedy or drama, it doesn't matter. One of the shows that sticks out to me as being surprisingly relevant today is Star Trek: The Next Generation. I realize that this opinion may initially fall upon deaf ears. The Star Trek franchise has many stigma attached to it. Some examples would be that the franchise is cheesy, laughable, for "nerds", or even boring. But usually the people who think these things have never seen an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Ahead of Its Time

The show was ahead of its time in many ways. It debuted in 1987, long before personal computers and the internet were the norm in American households. And yet, if you watch it now, their portrayal of technology seems remarkably fresh, not really all that out of the ordinary to us the way they conduct searches on their laptops...but this was in 1987! The show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, followed a similar tradition of other science-fiction writers, in that some of his ideas of what the future would be like weren't far from the truth. By the time 1987 rolled around, the Star Trek movies had done well enough and the technology of entertainment had caught up with Roddenberry's vision just enough to have another go at making a television series based on his ideas of what the future may hold. And unlike the first series, this one was a huge hit and a massive ratings success...despite the lack of awareness about it in today's pop culture sphere. Sure, there's still a loyal following, but almost none of that following is comprised of anyone eighteen or under.

Why? Because the show's writing has a lot to offer in the way of substance, something not easily found in today's programming for the eighteen and under set. As evidenced by shows like, "Gossip Girl", "90210", and every single reality television offering that comes to mind. Now, I'm not an alarmist when it comes to those types of shows. Do I hate them? Yes. Do I think they should be taken off the air? Not necessarily. As I stand in every other matter relating to entertainment, I am decidedly anti-censorship. Censorship only ever leads to very bad things. But, I am for a call to some accountability. Add to that the fact that filth and tastelessness in entertainment is probably also as old as the art form of storytelling itself. That's not to say that all escapist fare is innately bad either. There's a place for it all. But one can only hope that with the market overrun with all escapist television shows (all bearing an uncanny resemblance to, "The Jerry Springer Show") there will be a backlash toward intelligence and wit. (Personally, I already feel rumblings of this in the form of, "30 Rock" and others like it.)

Representational Characters

So back to good writing...what's so great about the writing on Star Trek: TNG? For one thing, the characters are each representative of something specific, like a trait or an idea. This is a storytelling device that has been employed in some of the mega-hits of pop culture (Star Wars) and goes as far back as Greek morality plays. For example, the character of Worf, ship's security officer, represents honor, masculinity, and aggression. The character of Deanna, ship's counselor, represents sensitivity, emotion, and care-giving. Captain Picard represents poise, dignity, and leadership. Riker plays the young hero archetype, the type of character that I often laughably refer to as a "loose cannon". The list could go on and on, but the set-ups of these characters in the initial writing stage has created a framework from which to write episode after episode that will both work and be entertaining. Hence the series seven year run. By supplying the show with characters that are archetypal and representative, there are endless roads that can be taken plot-wise...sort of like trying to imagine the variety of ways in which you could get a triple scoop ice-cream cone at a Baskin Robbins. Often times, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation will feature a primary storyline focused on one character, giving them a challenge to overcome, and then having a secondary storyline focused on another character that compliments the first storyline.

Story vs. Teaser

Another earmark of good writing on the show is the independence and significance of each episode. Every week, there was a fresh show with a unique arc. An arc in this case is a reference to the writing that means a show works almost like a movie. It has a three act structure, the characters grow and change in a certain way within that timeline, and there has been a development in the overall arc and plotline of the show as a whole. This is in direct contrast to many of the popular shows of today that have a more soap-opera based idea of writing and plot. For example, shows like, "Grey's Anatomy" and, "Gossip Girl" have constantly changing plots that never really lead to any kind of significant development in the characters or the life of the show. The shows each week are usually based on moments of drama recalling those laughable moments on soap operas where one character is dead and then magically reappears time and time again. It's all about keeping the viewer hooked while giving them little or no reward.

This is also similar to the way in which shows like, "Entertainment Tonight" and, "The Insider" are produced. Those shows feature (almost exclusively) clips of things that are, "coming up next", effectively keeping the viewer waiting. When the clips themselves are played, they usually only consist of what was shown in the, "coming up next" clip itself. Clips like these are called, "teasers" in the world of t.v. in case you didn't know. It's like a mobius strip of mindless "entertainment". A never-ending loop meant to sort of hypnotize television viewers. And based on the overwhelmingly dominant presence of this format today...it's one that seems to be working.

Sneaky Culture

There's another factor at play here when it comes to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that is something that I like to call, "sneaky culture". "Sneaky culture" is something that happens when a television show or a movie works some kind of cultural or educational aspect into the entertainment factor of its framework without patronizing the viewer of the show. It just works something valuable right in there naturally. Some examples would be "Reading Rainbow"," Sesame Street", and many other shows made directly for children. Star Trek: TNG was one of the few shows to work this practice into its programming regularly with topics advanced enough to challenge adults. The show often featured dialogue about art history, music and music history, and it almost always featured scientific or mathematic theory. And it always managed to do so in such a way that taught people to learn these often intimidating ideas by simply inferring their meaning. For example, regularly the ship and its crew would get into some kind of trouble...and the crew would have to sit down at a meeting and discuss different ways in which they could get out of whatever mess it was they were in this week.

This crew meeting usually involved all kinds of talk about the space-time continuum, or the prime directive, or worm-holes, black-holes, gravity, propulsion systems...all things that would sound terribly difficult to understand if you were just walking down the street and overheard people talking about such things. But the show gave people a context in which to listen to new ideas, and as someone who was a kid at the time (I was 5 when the show debuted) I know that I often went to my parents or sisters with questions about things on the show that I didn't understand. A context for education on the show, and a reason to discuss things you hear about on the show after it's over. Good media and good writing should ALWAYS stir post-intake discussion of some kind. Can you imagine today what kinds of questions kids are asking their parents based on what they see on television? I would imagine that most questions would be related to things that would make us all blush...for example, "Family Guy" is shown on my local Fox affiliate as a SATURDAY morning cartoon. Discuss.

Tip of the Iceberg

There are a million ways in which Star Trek: TNG serves as an example of both what can be so good about television and what is so wrong with the television industry today. For one thing, Star Trek: TNG was given time to develop. The show is very different in its initial season than it is in any of its following seasons. This show was given time to develop! This doesn't happen anymore. Shows are not given the chance to develop a fan-base of any kind. The most interesting thing about this is the fact that what most often happens with this new way of green-lighting television shows is that ratings drop severely after a certain point as the show runs out of literary steam. For example, "Heroes" and, "LOST" garnered giant ratings in their first year, but have consistently dropped off in the ratings ever since then. These shows were lauded as the second coming of television, and millions of dollars were spent in advertising those shows. Back in television history, the shows that have become the largest hits over time (Such as, "Cheers".) were some that had menial ratings in their first season but were allowed to carry on, effectively allowing the writers, actors, and directors to find their voices and purposes and sharpen their aim. I shudder to think of the amazing shows that were cancelled too soon because they didn't make enough money for the sponsors, but could've become mega-hits were they given time to grow via word-of-mouth, shows like, "Wonderfalls" and, "Sports Night".

Star Trek: TNG also offered up different formats of shows. There was never a set prototype for what a show was going to be like. Settings, time spans, character focus, tone (funny or serious), could all differ from episode to episode. This is highly unlikely now, where most shows have a clear and predictable format every week, such as in the narrated and structured, "Desperate Housewives", and, "Gossip Girl".

The show also broke ground on female characters with substance, versus the shallow, female-hating, bed-hopping, unrealistic women characters on television today...but don't even get me started on this subject...my face is getting hot with rage just thinking about it.

Another admirable quality in the show was the tendency to write episodes based around relevant issues. The issues featured on Star Trek: TNG were often very heavy and very important. Some of the topics addressed included slavery, racism, war, war crimes, weapons development, environmental causes, etc. Many shows today won't even attempt to address issues such as these, for fear of some kind of backlash among viewers.

The Bottom Line

Really, the ways in which Star Trek: TNG can be studied in an almost anthropological way, are endless. It's a time capsule. And love it or hate it, seen it or never seen it, the truth is, the history of the Star Trek franchise on television cannot be denied its influence...or its entertainment value. For all the dissection featured in this article, the truth is, I love this show. I want people to give it a chance on DVD. I want people to see what a show of substance can really be, what a show of the sci-fi genre can really do for its viewer. Yes, some of the costumes and hairstyles are funny now, but it's remarkable how willing you will be to look past those superficial things if you give the show a chance. I want people to be disturbed by the lack of shows like this one that there are on television today. I want people to know what storytelling via television and good writing for television can do to change the landscape of media in general, and viewers in specific.