#TBT Star Trek: The Next Generation Review

First watched in: 2016

Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first Star Trek I ever saw. My dad would have it on occasionally when I was younger, because he enjoyed it when it was on air originally. I knew some of the characters through these occasional viewings. So when looking for something to watch during spring semester last year, I decided to start TNG from the beginning, skipping right over the original series and holding onto my small amount of knowledge about Captain Picard, an android, and an annoying kid named Wesley.

It was…good. Not mind blowing, but definitely entertaining once it hit its stride a couple seasons in. Definitely some boring, strange, and confusing episodes, but some good, thought-provoking, funny, and beautiful episodes as well. Alien of the week episodes were interesting, even though most of them just seemed like humans but with a strange extra custom. I also enjoyed episodes that employed the holodeck as the source of the week’s problem or enjoyment; references to modern and historical literature and music were a nice touch to remind us that this could be our future.

I’ve found, through a little poking around online, that Star Trek is known for its easy fixes to problems, so some of that annoyance of frequent last-minute solutions was resolved. The only thing I had a problem with was the use of time travel as a frequent plot device. I kept muttering to myself, “This has more time travel than Doctor Who”. It seemed like every few episodes they hit a rift or a wormhole or a time loop and they used time as their antagonist for an episode. That’s an exaggeration, but I can be picky like that.

Data the android is definitely my favorite character of the TNG set. It was enjoyable to see him grow as a character and as a “person”. He gets a cat and learns how to paint and play the violin (and the oboe, my instrument!). It is because of his character I enjoyed the non-organic characters on the other series as well. The other characters on the show have interesting and varied backgrounds and arcs, like any other show, but Data’s intrigued me the most.

Looking back, after having seen the rest of the series except TOS, TNG was probably my least favorite. I’m not sure why. It might have something to do with the fact it was the first of the 90’s series and unlike Deep Space Nine and Voyager, didn’t have a set story arc because it was following in the footsteps of the original Star Trek, carrying on the Enterprise’s journey. But I’m still glad I watched it.

Would I watch again? Probably not for a while, if at all