Star Trek: The Next Generationeventually became one of the best science fiction television shows of all time, but it did not get off to a very strong start in season 1TNGushered in a new golden era ofStar Trek,introducing the world to Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and thecrew of the USS Enterprise-D. With stories recycled fromStar Trek: The Original Seriesand cliches that were outdated even in the 1980s, many ofTNG’searly episodes fell flat. Thankfully, fans stuck with the show, and it went on to produce some truly great television.
As the first live-actionStar Trekshow since the end ofStar Trek: The Original Series, many fans were weary ofStar Trek: The Next Generationfrom the start.People were not sure how aStar Trekshow would work without Captain James T. Kirk(William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley). WhileStar Trek: The Next Generation’scharactersshowed promise from the beginning, many of them were not fully developed inTNG’s first season. ByTNGseason 2 and beyond, Captain Picard and his crew began to feel like a family and became the characters fans came to love, butStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1 had issues.
10Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Is A Disappointing Start To The New Era
Star Trek’s TNG Era Certainly Didn’t Hit The Ground Running
Although fans were unaware at the time,Star Trek: The Next Generationwould lead to over a decade of newStar Trekshowsset in the 24th century. No new live-actionStar Trekhad aired on television since the conclusion ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesin 1969, and fans desperately wanted moreTrek. WhileTNGfaced some backlash for introducing an entirely new cast of characters, the show did well enough in the ratings to warrant a second season.
IfTNGseason 1 had aired today, the show likely would not have made it past one season.Paramount Studios chose to broadcastTNGas a first-run syndication show,which was basically unheard of in the 1980s. This means that the show aired on numerous networks simultaneously rather than on one specific channel, like CBS or NBC. AfterTNG’sfeature-length premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint,“did well in the ratings, the studios agreed to produce a full 23-episode season.
9Early Star Trek: TNG Borrowed Too Much From Star Trek: The Original Series
TNG Got Better Once It Began Stepping Out Of TOS' Shadow
Despite the fact that Gene Roddenberry wantedStar Trek: The Next Generationto distinguish itself fromStar Trek: The Original Series,TNGseason 1 borrowed several story ideas fromTOS.Most obviously,TNGseason 1, episode 3, “The Naked Now"is a direct sequel toTOSseason 1, episode 4, “The Naked Time.” Between its derivative plot and cringe-worthing moments,TNG’stake on the story simply doesn’t work.
Star Trek TNG’s Greatness Started After It Ditched Retreading TOS
In its sixth episode, Star Trek: The Next Generation shows glimpses of the phenomenal science fiction television it would go on to produce.
One ofStar Trek’sworst episodes,TNGseason 1, episode 4, “Code of Honor,” borrows many of the worst cliches fromTOS,including a cheesy fight to the death and questionable gender roles. The following episode, “The Last Outpost,” is most remembered forintroducing the Ferengi, but it has a similar plot to theStar Trek: The Original Series'“Arena,” without being as good as that classic episode.
TNG’s Writers Room Earned A Reputation For Being Chaotic
Much of the inconsistency of earlyStar Trek: The Next Generationis the result of a writing staff in constant flux.TNGeven gained a reputation in Hollywood for having a particularly chaotic writers' room, as writers were constantly coming and going.Aging and in poor health,Gene Roddenberry was reportedly becoming more difficult to work with,as he often insisted on rewriting perfectly fine scripts and inserting unnecessary scenes.
Some of this chaos bled intoStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 2, which was further hampered by the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike. By the end ofTNGseason 2, Rick Berman was the only writer from the first season who remained on the show.
Thanks toareputation of behind-the-scenes troubles,TNGhad difficulty finding and keeping writers.Some of this energy affected the actors as well. Denise Crosby, in particular, felt that her character of Tasha Yar was too often relegated to the background. Still, the writers ofTNGseason 1 came up with some cool ideas, although many were never followed up on.
7Gene Roddenberry’s “No Conflict” Rule Limited TNG’s Writers
Stories Are Often Built On Conflict
ThroughoutStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, Gene Roddenberry was still heavily involved in the show’s production.Gene implemented a now-infamous “rule” that there could be no interpersonal conflictamong the USS Enterprise-D’s main cast. This severely limitedTNG’swriters, forcing them to introduce new conflicts from outside sources for every episode.
TNGmostly abandoned Roddenberry’s arbitrary rules as the show went on.
Roddenberry also wanted to stay away from any serialized elements or continuity between seasons, meaning the writers had to return to the established status quo by the end of each episode.The lack of conflict and continuity inTNGseason 1 kept the characters from growingand ultimately didn’t make sense for the show long-term.TNGmostly abandoned Roddenberry’s arbitrary rules as the show went on, but still managed to uphold Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of the future.
6TNG’s Characters Feel Underdeveloped In The Show’s First Season
Some Characters Behave Out Of Character In TNG Season 1
Star Trek: The Next Generation’scharacters were one of the show’s greatest strengths even in season 1. Still,the Enterprise crew members ofTNGseason 1 feel like pale imitationsof the characters they would one day become. Captain Picard was colder and more standoffish in the first season but became softer as the show went on.Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), too, lightens up throughoutTNG’searly seasons.
Patrick Stewart Walking Off Star Trek: TNG’s Set In Season 1 Reveals A Heartwarming Truth About Picard
Patrick Stewart once stormed out of a meeting with his Star Trek: The Next Generation costars, highlighting an interesting parallel with Picard.
Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and her Betazoid empathic abilities work differently inTNG’spilot than they do later in the show’s run. Even Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) feels off in “Encounter at Farpoint.” For much ofTNGseason 1,it feels like the actors are growing into their characters,and they become more three-dimensional by the show’s second season.
5Wesley Crusher Saves The Enterprise-D Too Often In TNG Season 1
TNG’s Writers Never Knew What To Do With Wesley
Soon after his introduction,Wil Wheaton’s Wesley Crushergained a reputation as an annoying boy genius who saved the Enterprise far too often. Most of these instances occurred duringStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1 andcaused manyTrekfans to dislike Wesley as a character.Prodigy or not, it never made sense that Wes was able to solve problems that had stumped the more experienced senior officers.
Wesley improved asStar Trek: The Next Generationwent on, and he made a triumphant return as a Traveler inStar Trek: Prodigyseason 2 that went a long way toward redeeming his character.
While it could have worked to have Wesley find a genius last-minute solution once as a fluke,TNG’swriters turned to this well far too often.In “The Naked Now,” Wes even takes control of the Enterprise by creating a force field around engineering. Wil Wheaton did the best he could with the material he was given and has since become a beloved staple of theStar Trekfamily, butTNG’sseason 1 writers certainly didn’t do him any favors.
4Several TNG Season 1 Episodes Are Among Star Trek’s Worst
“Code of Honor,” “Justice,” and “Angel One” Are Particularly Weak
There are some solid episodes inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, but when earlyTNGwas bad, it was really bad. With its racist depiction of a primitive alien culture, evenTNG’scast members hate “Code of Honor,“which has been referred to asthe worst episode ofStar Trekever made.TNGseason 1, episode 14, “Angel One,” does not fare much better, falling into the same sexist tropes it’s trying to critique.
7 Episodes From Star Trek: TNG’s Worst Season Are Better Than You Remember
Star Trek: The Next Generation may not have hit the ground running, but these 7 episodes from season 1 hold up better than you might remember.
Star Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, episode 8,“Justice” is another episode often cited as one of the show’s worst.Not only does the episode present aflawed understanding ofStar Trek’sPrime Directive, but it also depicts another underdeveloped alien culture with a ridiculous fashion sense. There are undoubtedly bright spots throughout earlyTNG,but the worst episodes bring the entire season down.
While it makes sense that the huge Galaxy Class USS Enterprise-D would have multiple engineers,Star Trek: The Next Generationdid not establish a main chief engineer until Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) took over the rolein the show’s second season.TNGseason 1 cycled throughfour different chief engineers, some of whom only appeared in one episode. “The Naked Now,” introduced Lt. Commander MacDougal (Brooke Bundy) as the chief engineer and Jim Shimoda (Benjamin W.S. Lum) as his assistant.
The next chief engineer to make an appearance wasLt. Commander Argyle (Biff Yeager), who appeared in “Where No One Has Gone Before” and “Datalore.“After Argyle was Lieutenant Logan (Vyto Ruginis) in “The Arsenal of Freedom.” Lastly, Lt. Commander Leland T. Lynch (Walker Boone) appeared in “Skin of Evil,” and insisted on stating his full name every time he answered a call.
2Tasha Yar’s Star Trek: The Next Generation Death Still Hurts
Yar Could Have Been Written Off The Show Differently
Despite being initially presented as one ofStar Trek: The Next Generation’smain characters, Denise Crosby’s Lt. Tasha Yar got less and less to do as the first season progressed. This eventually ledCrosby to leaveTNG, andher character was rather unceremoniously killed off inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, episode 23, “Skin of Evil.“Worse, Tasha’s death was abupt and meaningless.
Star Trek’s Tasha Yar Death Annoyed Me, But Then TNG Made It So Much Worse
Tasha Yar could’ve been a great character, but Star Trek: The Next Generation ultimately failed her.
When the Enterprise away team tries to save Counselor Troi from a crashed shuttle in “Skin of Evil,” a tar-like creature named Armus blocks their path. Armus kills quickly kills Tasha Yar for his own amusement.Tasha was the first majorStar Trekcast member to be killed off, and her death came as a shock to fans. Yar lived on in the memories of her crew members and the character got a more heroic send-off inTNGseason 3’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”
1Star Trek: TNG’s “Conspiracy” Plot Never Went Anywhere
The Starfleet Conspiracy Storyline Only Lasted For 2 Episodes
InStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, episode 19, “Coming of Age,” Starfleet Admiral Gregor Quinn (Ward Costello) and Lt. Commander Dexter Remmick (Robert Schenkkan) visit the USS Enterprise-D.Admiral Quinn tells Captain Picard that Starfleet may have been compromised due to a dangerous conspiracy.This storyline continues a few episodes later, in the aptly named “Conspiracy,” the Enterprise travels back to Earth to investigate several strange orders from Starfleet command.
The conspiracy storyline was initially meant to reveal a human conspiracy within Starfleet, but Gene Roddenberry felt Starfleet officers would never betray their own.
It was soon revealed that intelligent parasites had taken control of several high-level officers. Although Picard and Riker manage to take out the leader (by gruesomely killing Commander Remmick), the"Conspiracy” parasites are never mentioned againon screen, despite hints that they would return.Star Trek: The Next Generationseason 1 introduced several elements that would pop up later in the series, but these parasitic aliens were not one of them.
