Star Trek: The Next Generation and Its Key Impact
Twenty years on from Captain Kirk's legendary ship, we find the starship Enterprise with a new look, a new crew, a new way of facing space. It has been 20 years since the first TV series, but about 78 as far as the chronology of the history of the United Federation of Planets is concerned, but there are still Klingons, Starfleet, Romulans and Vulcans.
This new series wanted by the creator of the first one Gene Roddemberry, is struggling a little to take off, but in spite of initial criticism, it has become the most watched and loved series. It is the characters of the series themselves, starting with Captain Picard (in my opinion the most beloved captain of the Star Trek series), his second William Riker, and many others that I will tell you about in more detail that have made this TV series so successful.
They are very different characters, but united by feelings of respect, friendship and fraternity. The characters never question themselves or their companions, it is always external situations that create problems.
So many innovations in this series, starting with the holodeck. This is a technology that makes it possible to immerse oneself in virtual worlds so perfect that they seem real. It is used on the starship Enterprise as a recreation for the crew, but also as a test for new technologies and to safely allow tests that would otherwise have brought risks to those who carried them out.
And it safely allows you to visit worlds of the past, with characters from the past, to create environments and stories that develop according to the interaction of the main character(s). So you can climb mountains, fight with Klingon warriors, ride a boat, walk on a beach.
Everything that can be imagined can become real in this fantastic place. And then there's Data, who in my opinion has been the most successful innovation in the series. The android, so much like a human being that he actually wants to be one, with his search for emotions, slowly in the series came very close and his death in the last episode is proof of that.
But his dialogues with his colleagues are incomparable, when he tried to understand why he behaved as he did, perhaps even trying to give advice. And his trying to paint, to act, to behave in all respects like a human being, even going so far as to have a romantic relationship (as he calls it), his cat and his friendship with Geordi La Forge, make him a character that I think everyone has come to like. I couldn't imagine that series without Commander Data.
Another character I really liked was Q, that enemy, friend of Captain Picard's, that almighty alien who occasionally sneaks into the ship. At times he seems boastful, full of himself, but sometimes from his omnipotence his human side shines through, and his satirical character, who enjoys making sometimes very big trouble for the Enterprise and its crew, also lends a hand in solving it, although he always behaves ambivalently.
It is through him that the crew of the Enterprise will meet the Borg, who will be the most feared enemies in this, but also in other Star Trek series. And another minor character who fascinates me is Guinan, who under the apparent role of bartender in the Enterprise's ten-forward bar, is so much more.
Her wise advice proves invaluable to Captain Picard, who has unlimited trust in her. Very old, said to be 700 years old, of a very long-lived race, it is not known how she came to be on the Enterprise and her relationship with Captain Picard is very close although we are not told why.
Another charismatic character in the series is Wolf, the Klingon. He was supposed to be a secondary character in the series, but ended up becoming one of the main ones. Initially the role of security commander was held by Tasha Yar, who dies after a few episodes and is replaced by Worf.
His character is very Klingon, i.e. touchy and proud, but also strong and proud. He is, however, also a character one can have full confidence in, and who would not hesitate to offer his life for a just cause.
And now we come to Captain Picard, very different from Captain Kirk, much more thoughtful and who likes to resolve disputes through dialogue and confrontation. But even of him it can be said that his crew trusts him blindly, he is gruff in appearance and not very inclined to small talk, but everyone knows they can count on him in emergency situations.
A man of great moral integrity, consistent and absolutely not prone to violence, this makes him a point of reference. He cares so much about life that he even refuses to exterminate the Borg, despite everything they have done to him.
There are also other not minor characters that should be mentioned, such as Counsellor Troi, Dr. Crusher, her son Wesley, Commander Riker, and La Forge, who form together with all the others a truly formidable crew in every sense and who leave their mark on so many episodes of this successful series.
