Star Trek: The Next Generation:

In 1986, it was announced that Star Trek was coming back to television.  It wasn’t Kirk, Spock, & McCoy – who were off in movies at this point.  It was a totally new crew.  Set roughly 85 years after the era of Kirk & Spock (according to press at the time), this was a new ship, and new Enterprise.   It was also created by Gene Roddenberry (as was the original).  When it was first announced I was both excited and unsure.  But I was a fan of the original, as well as the animated series, so a new incarnation with totally new characters and setup was something I wasn’t sure about.  But…  it was created by Gene Roddenberry himself, and it had (at least at the start) much of the same production people behind the scenes.  So that was good.

This was also the first incarnation of Trek on TV that I remembered myself fully.  Family legend has me in a playpen when the original series was on TV, and I do remember watching the 73/74 animated series, but I was only 8 at the time, so I don’t have a ton of recall of what I thought about it at the time.  When this came out I was 22, and was the target for this, so I remember it well.  I was there on 28 Sep 1987 when this launched, and watched every episode when it aired.  Something that has continued to this day with all the subsequent Star Trek variants.

But as I said elsewhere – TNG is to Star Trek what Patrick Troughton was to Doctor Who.  The first “replacement” – so if this didn’t go well, we wouldn’t have gotten any of the other incarnations that came after.  Fortunately, this did go well, and went on to run 179 episodes over seven seasons.   I’ll be watching them all – as with my other TV marathons, they’ll be indexed below, and grouped into seasons.

Season 3

Season 3 had more behind the scenes changes (in writing and exec producer mostly) – although it pretty much stabilizes from here given the fiasco that went on behind the scenes in Seasons 1 & 2.  However one MAJOR change was in front of the camera.  With the departure of Maurice Hurley,  we had a change in the actor playing the Doctor.  Gates McFadden returned as Dr Crusher and Diana Muldaur was out.  This was due to Hurley, who was allegedly responsible for firing McFadden in the first place.  Dr Pulaski is never mentioned again – complete erasure of the character.

This season contains some of my all time favorite episodes of the Series (Yesterday’s Enterprise, Sins of the Father, & The Best of Both Worlds).  It also featured the return to Trek of Mark Lenard as Spock’s father Sarek.  We also got introduced to Tony Todd as Worf’s brother Kurn & Dwight Schultz as Reg Barkley.

The main titles had a small tweak after season 2 as well.  The show found its footing in this series for sure.

• Allegiance (11/20/2024) - (26 Mar 1990) – Season 3 Episode 18 (Serial 166)
• Sins of the Father (11/19/2024) - (19 Mar 1990) – Season 3 Episode 17 (Serial 165)
• The Offspring (11/18/2024) - (12 Mar 1990) – Season 3 Episode 16 (Serial 164)
• Yesterday’s Enterprise (11/17/2024) - (19 Feb 1990) – Season 3 Episode 15 (Serial 163)
• A Matter of Perspective (11/16/2024) - (12 Feb 1990) – Season 3 Episode 14 (Serial 162)
• Deja Q (11/15/2024) - (5 Feb 1990) – Season 3 Episode 13 (Serial 161)
• The High Ground (11/14/2024) - (29 Jan 1990) – Season 3 Episode 12 (Serial 160)
• The Hunted (11/13/2024) - (8 Jan 1990) – Season 3 Episode 11 (Serial 159)
• The Defector (11/12/2024) - (1 Jan 1990) – Season 3 Episode 10 (Serial 158)
• The Vengeance Factor (11/11/2024) - (20 Nov 1989) – Season 3 Episode 9 (Serial 157)
• The Price (11/10/2024) - (13 Nov 1989) – Season 3 Episode 8 (Serial 156)
• The Enemy (11/9/2024) - (6 Nov 1989) – Season 3 Episode 7 (Serial 155)
• Booby Trap (11/8/2024) - (30 Oct 1989) – Season 3 Episode 6 (Serial 154)
• The Bonding (11/7/2024) - (23 Oct 1989) – Season 3 Episode 5 (Serial 153)
• Who Watches the Watchers (11/6/2024) - (16 Oct 1989) – Season 3 Episode 4 (Serial 152)
• The Survivors (11/5/2024) - (9 Oct 1989) – Season 3 Episode 3 (Serial 151)
• The Ensigns of Command (11/4/2024) - (2 Oct 1989) – Season 3 Episode 2 (Serial 149)
• Evolution (11/3/2024) - (25 Sep 1989) – Season 3 Episode 1 (Serial 150)

Season 2

Season 2 had quite a bit of overhaul.  The show was popular, and behind the scenes instability led to a lot of changes on the show.  Not all of them behind the scenes.  The main cast had several changes.   The first one was that Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) was dropped from the cast.  It was explained on screen that she left to join Starfleet Medical, but the reality is the behind the scenes instability had someone push her out.  She was replaced for Season 2 with Diana Muldaur as “Dr. Katherine Pulaski”.  Dr. Pulaski came off as a female version of Dr. McCoy.  Same kind of sensibility.

Also, Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast as a semi-regular – the bartender “Guinan”.  She was (mostly) in a newly created lounge area called “Ten Forward” – a bar, basically.  While it would be easy to write Guinan off as a bartender, she was a lot more than just that.

The series also suffered from the ongoing writer’s strike – in fact the finale of Season 2 was the only “clip slow” in the show’s history due to writing problems at the time.  The Borg are introduced in this series as well.

• Shades of Gray (11/2/2024) - (17 Jul 1989) – Season 2 Episode 22 (Serial 148)
• Peak Performance (11/1/2024) - (10 Jul 1989) – Season 2 Episode 21 (Serial 147)
• The Emissary (10/31/2024) - (26 Jun 1989) – Season 2 Episode 20 (Serial 146)
• Manhunt (10/30/2024) - (19 Jun 1989) – Season 2 Episode 19 (Serial 145)
• Up the Long Ladder (10/29/2024) - (22 May 1989) – Season 2 Episode 18 (Serial 144)
• Samaritan Snare (10/28/2024) - (15 May 1989) – Season 2 Episode 17 (Serial 143)
• Q Who (10/27/2024) - (8 May 1989) – Season 2 Episode 16 (Serial 142)
• Pen Pals (10/26/2024) - (1 May 1989) – Season 2 Episode 15 (Serial 141)
• The Icarus Factor (10/25/2024) - (24 Apr 1989) – Season 2 Episode 14 (Serial 140)
• Time Squared (10/24/2024) - (3 Apr 1989) – Season 2 Episode 13 (Serial 139)
• The Royale (10/23/2024) - (27 Mar 1989) – Season 2 Episode 12 (Serial 138)
• Contagion (10/22/2024) - (20 Mar 1989) – Season 2 Episode 11 (Serial 137)
• The Dauphin (10/21/2024) - (20 Feb 1989) – Season 2 Episode 10 (Serial 136)
• The Measure of a Man (10/20/2024) - (13 Feb 1989) – Season 2 Episode 9 (Serial 135)
• A Matter of Honor (10/19/2024) - (6 Feb 1989) – Season 2 Episode 8 (Serial 134)
• Unnatural Selection (10/18/2024) - (30 Jan 1989) – Season 2 Episode 7 (Serial 133)
• The Schizoid Man (10/17/2024) - (23 Jan 1989) – Season 2 Episode 6 (Serial 131)
• Loud As a Whisper (10/16/2024) - (9 Jan 1989) – Season 2 Episode 5 (Serial 132)
• The Outrageous Okona (10/15/2024) - (12 Dec 1988) – Season 2 Episode 4 (Serial 130)
• Elementary, Dear Data (10/14/2024) - (5 Dec 1988) – Season 2 Episode 3 (Serial 129)
• Where Silence Has Lease (10/13/2024) - (28 Nov 1988) – Season 2 Episode 2 (Serial 128)
• The Child (10/12/2024) - (21 Nov 1988) – Season 2 Episode 1 (Serial 127)

Season 1

Season 1 had a bit of a rocky start.  There’s obviously some good stuff in the first series, but there was a lot of shaky ground, too.  It took some time for the show to find its footing – and it didn’t happen in this series.  As I start this marathon in Sep of 2024, I can’t tell you the last time I sat down to intentionally watch the first series of TNG like this.  It’s been awhile.

Also, Season 1 was plagued with behind the scenes instability – it’s a bit of a surprise the show survived its first year to be honest.  There was a movie made about all that by William Shatner, it’s called “Chaos on the Bridge” and can be viewed in full for free on Youtube Movies (as of 19 Sep 2024). Check it out – it’s a good watch.

• The Neutral Zone (10/11/2024) - (16 May 1988) – Season 1 Episode 26 (Serial 126)
• Conspiracy (10/10/2024) - (9 May 1988) – Season 1 Episode 25 (Serial 125)
• We’ll Always Have Paris (10/9/2024) - (2 May 1988) – Season 1 Episode 24 (Serial 124)
• Skin of Evil (10/8/2024) - (25 Apr 1988) – Season 1 Episode 23 (Serial 122)
• Symbiosis (10/7/2024) - (18 Apr 1988) – Season 1 Episode 22 (Serial 123)
• The Arsenal of Freedom (10/6/2024) - (28 Mar 1988) – Season 1 Episode 21 (Serial 121)
• Heart of Glory (10/5/2024) - (21 Mar 1988) – Season 1 Episode 20 (Serial 120)
• Coming of Age (10/4/2024) - (14 Mar 1988) – Season 1 Episode 19 (Serial 119)
• Home Soil (10/3/2024) - (22 Feb 1988) – Season 1 Episode 18 (Serial 117)
• When the Bough Breaks (10/2/2024) - (15 Feb 1988) – Season 1 Episode 17 (Serial 118)
• Too Short A Season (10/1/2024) - (8 Feb 1988) – Season 1 Episode 16 (Serial 112)
• 11001001 (9/30/2024) - (1 Feb 1988) – Season 1 Episode 15 (Serial 116)
• Angel One (9/29/2024) - (25 Jan 1988) – Season 1 Episode 14 (Serial 115)
• Datalore (9/28/2024) - (18 Jan 1988) – Season 1 Episode 13 (Serial 114)
• The Big Goodbye (9/27/2024) - (11 Jan 1988) – Season 1 Episode 12 (Serial 113)
• Haven (9/26/2024) - (30 Nov 1987) – Season 1 Episode 11 (Serial 105)
• Hide and Q (9/25/2024) - (23 Nov 1987) – Season 1 Episode 10 (Serial 111)
• The Battle (9/24/2024) - (16 Nov 1987) – Season 1 Episode 9 (Serial 110)
• Justice (9/23/2024) - (9 Nov 1987) – Season 1 Episode 8 (Serial 109)
• Lonely Among Us (9/21/2024) - (2 Nov 1987) – Season 1 Episode 7 (Serial 108)
• Where No One Has Gone Before (9/20/2024) - (26 Oct 1987) – Season 1 Episode 6 (Serial 106)
• The Last Outpost (9/19/2024) - (19 Oct 1987) – Season 1 Episode 5 (Serial 107)
• Code of Honor (9/18/2024) - (12 Oct 1987) – Season 1 Episode 4 (Serial 104)
• The Naked Now (9/17/2024) - (5 Oct 1987) – Season 1 Episode 3 (Serial 103)
• Encounter at Farpoint (9/16/2024) - (28 Sep 1987) – Season 1 Episodes 1-2 (Serial 101/2)