Saga of the Jasonite

The continuing adventures of that eternal man of mystery…

Season Seven

Season seven, the final hurrah.

Season seven would be TNG’s concluding season. Like the proverbial ‘lion in winter’ many of the series’ best days were behind it, but there were still several gems to come. Rick Berman had previously announced this would be the show’s last season in order to make room for the Generations movie and the upcoming Star Trek: Voyager series. It was not easy for the fans as ratings for TNG had never been higher and with TNG receiving an Emmy nomination for “Best Dramatic Series” (unheard of for a syndicated science fiction series), critical acclaim was more prevalent than ever. The Smithsonian did a Trek exhibit during this season, described as the most popular in the history of the museum! The final episode’s ratings were the highest for the series, coming in first in 21 of 31 markets. The Wall Street Journal ran a story about the controversy involved in translating The Bible into Klingon! Marina Sirtis said she discovered that while TNG was on the air it was the single most-watched TV show in Canada. I couldn’t verify this myself, but I’d like to believe it. Popular culture had clearly adopted Star Trek into its fold.

Sci-fi was a failure in the 80’s until TNG came along, but in the 90’s it exploded. In addition to DS9 and Voyager there was The X-Files, Babylon 5, Earth: Final Conflict, SeaQuest DSV, Earth 2, the Third Rock From the Sun and a host of others. Wasn’t it the success of TNG that laid the groundwork for all of them?

Inside Paramount, the Star Trek franchise was a house divided. Production of the Generations film began simultaneously with season seven. Two of the prominent writers of the show, Ron Moore and Brannon Braga, were taking time to write the Generations film and then All Good Things…, so they were less available to write episodes for the season seven. Michael Piller, long-time head writer for TNG was now spending two-thirds of his time writing for DS9 and that’s where the majority of Berman’s attention was also, along with developing Voyager. Jeri Taylor took over as the showrunner for TNG and it was incredibly chaotic. As a result it wasn’t until Phantasms that season seven had its first “good” episode.

Marina Sirtis gave her perception on the shift in priorities during seasons six and seven. According to her, when they were overlapping with Deep Space 9, “if anyone wrote a really good script for TNG, they would change the names and give it to DS9.” She said during those two seasons they were doing scripts that had been rejected in the past, and “we made many a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Some of the scripts were so bad they were unreadable, but they made them into watchable episodes and singled out the episode Masks as a prime example. They would turn to each other between takes and ask, “What did I just say?” Ronald Moore, one of the mainstay writers of the show said much the same thing: “I wish we could’ve had a more coherent idea of what we wanted to accomplish in TNG’s last year. Too much of it was random story-telling without a sense of bringing the show to a conclusion.” I agree, frankly Rick Berman and company should have done a better job.

Gates McFadden, however, had a different impression: “I would say, absolutely, my best episodes were probably this year.” She keyed in on Beverly’s relationship with Wesley, which also came to a conclusion. 

The focus of season seven morphed into back stories and family ties for several of the principal cast:  we learn more about Geordi’s parents, Worf’s son and his foster brother, Picard’s “son”, Wesley Crusher’s fate, Lwaxana Troi made one final appearance and even Beverly’s grandmother showed up! Despite being an up-and-down season in terms of quality, TNG proved it can still hang with the best television on the airways by making the best series finale in Star Trek history, and left with one heck of a bang.

Since TNG has ended they have gone on to make four feature films, and several of the principal cast has made guest appearances on the other Star Trek series. Picard could be spotted on the first episode of DS9, Emissary. Will Riker appears in the VOY episode Death Wish and in the Enterprise episode These Are the Voyages…, while Thomas Riker appeared in the DS9 episode Defiant. Will later showed up in the PIC episodes Nepenthe and Ent in Arcadia Ego, Part 2. Deanna Troi can be seen in the VOY episodes Pathfinder, Life Line, and Inside Man. She can also be seen in the ENT episode These Are the Voyages…, and the PIC episode Nepenthe. Data can also be seen in These Are the Voyages…, and the PIC episodes Remembrance, Broken Pieces, and Et in Arcadia Ego, as well as Altan Inigo Soong. Brent Spiner appeared as Arik Soong on the ENT episodes Borderland“, “Cold Station 12” and “The Augments“. Worf can be seen in practically every episode of DS9 starting with season 4. Geordi can be seen in the VOY episode Timeless. Beverly and Wesley Crusher are only seen on the TNG show and in the film Nemesis.

In the 27 years since the final episode, a lot of questions have been asked of the actors at Star Trek conventions. One thing they’ve been asked was what they stole from the set following the final episode! Brent was the most boring, he took nothing–he asked if he could have one of over a dozen uniforms that were custom made for him, and they told him no. He didn’t take one, but after shooting the final episode they all had dinner together only to find Gates and Jonathan there in their uniforms! He did later take one of the movie uniforms. Gates said she took a prop from Suspicions. Frakes said he took a phaser and a space suit. Marina has said she stole three space suits (which she later sold!), a beautiful robe, her director’s-style chair with her name on it, and freely admits she would’ve taken everything that wasn’t nailed down if they would have let her. LeVar took a lot too: he took a bat’leth, a Sword of Kahless, the snake-head cane from Time’s Arrow, and his VISOR! Patrick took his communicator, he offered to buy his uniform but the studio refused to sell it to him. Dorn said what he took was Parmount’s money for the next several years on DS9.  The cast weren’t the only folks who stole things. At different times during the production of the show Picard’s captain’s chair was stolen right off the set–twice!

When asked if there was any sexism on the set, Marina Sirtis answered frankly. She said it wasn’t so much about her character, it was how male and female actors were treated differently. She jokes at conventions “Patrick would be on the phone for hours changing dialogue. If Dorn got to the set and things weren’t ready and people were still talking he’d say ‘you talk, I walk’ and walk off the set. As for Brent, we don’t call him Spiner the Whiner for nothing. They had artistic integrity–I was ‘a bitch.’ Here’s a link to the brief video where I got the info.

Speaking of Dorn, he tells a funny story of how he and Patrick would have fun on the set. Here’s the link to it, it’s only about a minute long, but by the end of it you’ll know by Dorn would say “Death lurks in the form of a banana!” Speaking of Spiner, one of the funniest riffs I’ve seen him do was is front of the entire cast, is in this link and  begins with “…as a Black man…”

Frakes and Sirtis were asked at a convention who flubbed their lines the most, and who the least? Both in unison said “Dorn” to the first question and “Brent” to the last. Most of the cast has said what they loved most about the show was that they all became really good friends, and they got to hang out all day together. Here’s a wonderful clip with Marina and Jonathan talking about it. Are they still close? Brent Spiner was the best man at LeVar Burton’s wedding, he was also Patrick Stewart’s best man at his second wedding, he’s also the godfather to Gates McFadden’s son. They still all get together on as regular a basis as they can according to all reports.

The crew also made some other videos as well, more or less in character. This is a link to a video the whole cast made as a tribute to comic relief, no doubt due the begging of Whooping Golderg which I’ve always thought was fun. Patrick Stewart made one himself, on the bridge, which is classic. Speaking of comedy, the cast has been asked at multiple moments what were some of the funniest moments. Here is a completely superfluous clip of the entire cast answering that question at a convention. Not only are they all funny, but they all get along so great, it’s wonderful to see. This final season summary will include a lot of links to clips because the cast are so terrific to watch. This one is Michael Dorn telling a funny series of events that happened between him and Patrick. One begins to wonder how they ever got anything done on the set.

When asked what did they learn as people, or how did they grow, there were a few answers. Since TNG ended, Brent Spiner has said that so many people with autism spectrum disorder have come up to him at conventions and told him how wonderful it was to have someone they could relate to, and how good it was to see Data’s crew mates accept him and be friends with him even though he was different. Wil Wheaton said he wasn’t prepared for how much he would miss his friends from the cast when he left. He didn’t stay in touch with the cast, though, becuase he was a typical 18-yr old. In his words, later “I felt really ashamed of myself. I felt like I couldn’t look them in the eye. I felt like I didn’t have the right to invite them to my wedding.” Later on when he saw them at conventions he apologized to them for not staying in touch and every single one said he was always welcome, he was always part of them. Here is a clip of him answering that question when asked by a surprise celebrity. Patrick has said again and again what he learned while working on TNG, which has become known as the Denise Crosby story, but my favorite person to tell the story is Brent Spiner. Here is another link of him telling that story.

When asked at a convention which aspects of their character never got explored that well, Marina said she wanted to know more about “what Troi was doing when she wasn’t being a counselor, or working out.” Michael Dorn said he wished the Worf/Troi romance could have been fleshed out a little more, because they are polar opposites, which frankly I agree with. Brent was once asked at a convention if it was difficult to not use contractions, and he said no, I just memorized the script, but he said that Dorn took it upon himself as Worf to not use contractions either. I never noticed that!

Frakes was asked if he was as good at poker as his character. He replied that while Riker was a relatively smart guy, because look at what he was going up against: Data, the android who was a genius and knew everything, Geordi, who could see right through your cards, Worf, who would kick your ass and take your money, and the empath who knew everything you were feeling and read you like a book. The only one he could legitimately beat was Beverly Crusher, and she was always too cheap to bet! “What was I doing at that poker table?” One bit of trivia you may not know, Riker used profanity more than everyone else on the show! Want proof? Here’s a solid two minutes of Riker swearing, and it’s hilarious.

You may be wondering what the cast has done since? We all know what Patrick Stewart has been doing. As for the rest, I don’t know look it up yourself! I will include one funny side note. A few years after TNG wrapped Frakes was somehow talked into hosting a show called Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. Click here for 47-second video of the kind of questions he would ask the audience, and every second you watch this video it gets funnier.

When asked if there anything they wish had been different about the show, Marina Sirtis pointed out that all the writers on the show were men, and in retrospect it shows. I think that’s fair, as the Deanna and Beverly were the two most underused characters in the ensemble. I would’ve preferred one or two female writers on the show.

What else is there to say about The Next Generation? In my opinion ST:TNG was more than just a great TV show; it made science fiction mainstream in America. Gone was the occasional sci-fi film, now we have a plethora of science fiction shows on, and the genre has been well represented on TV ever since. Why? Michael Dorn said it most succinctly: “this show was lightning in a bottle.” For me, it was because behind the camera as well as in front of it, they really were a family.

I love these guys

List of episodes in season seven:

Season Six                       Star Trek: The Next Generation page                  That’s All Folks!