From a post in TNG, new kid here got me thinking.... I've heard that, too, and I assume there is some truth to it. I also think that most of us agree that Season 7 of TNG was the weakest since 1/2, so it makes me wonder if season 8 would have been worth much... That being said, Season 1 of Voyager wasn't exactly The West Wing or M*A*S*H, and it didn't have the characters we'd fallen in love with. So, if we could do 1994-1995 all over again, surely we would spend less time following the OJ trial, but which Trek would we choose?
Not sure what to say here, as around this time, we found out about the dominion, so it would have been interesting to see how tng dealt with them, but some folks, may been a little confusing, to some viewers, who weren't fans of ds9. In the end, best as it was.
If I could do 1994 over again, I would, and for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with Star Trek. That was one of the best years of my life. Well, except for one thing. As far as Star Trek of that period however, the only thing that really needs fixing is not destroying the Enterprise-D. There was no point to that at all. And I agree about the damned OJ trail. I didn't follow it, but I DID get sick of it pre-empting my favorite shows for months on end.
I would say neither. In retrospect, I think the best option would have been to just run DS9 on its own for awhile, assuming they could've re-worked the syndication contract and move it to UPN. It would have been the perfect time to do it since the show was essentially being rebooted with season 3 anyway. It would have given it the stronger showing in many markets that it badly needed, and they could have easily rewritten "The Search" to add some "catch-up" exposition for new viewers. This would also have allowed for more prep time for Voyager--something it badly needed. As far as the film, it would have been better to wait for that too until they could bring in some outside talent in a few areas. Carson is a fine director; however, he directed the film the same way he directed episodes of TNG and DS9 which is a big reason why it has the "glorified episode" feel. Same goes with McCarthy's score. He scored the film like the umpteen different episodes he scored--with the excessive use of the middle-register horns. Yeesh. It also would have given Braga and Moore time to tighten up their script. I seem to recall reading once the reason why it was rushed was so they could ensure they got Dee into it. But since he ended not in it anyway, I don't see why they couldn't have postponed.
Crucially, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner were NOT contracted for an 8th season and were using all their negotiating power (as the "star" and "most popular character") to get more money. The others, of course, would probably do Star Trek for free if somebody would let them. I voted for an 8th season, though, on the proviso that season 7 suffered in quality as a result of the attention "Generations" got, and that if there were an 8th season this problem wouldn't be there.
I think another season of TNG. Giving Voyager some more prep time for the first season wouldn't have been bad, plus another season TNG is great, no matter how bad it was, when I watch a series like this I am addicted to the world and characters so more is always a good thing. That said, I was 12 in 1994, so not really into that sorta discussion then, more into starting highschool and such. Think me and mom only started watching TNG a year before that or so, so I wasn't as far as season 8 by then..
Yeah, Star Trek on UPN was up against it a lot of the time. It's interesting to think what could have happened if TNG had continued. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner would have eaten up a lot more of the budget, but I would have thought that with a hypothetical 8th season, there wouldn't be any VOY or GEN to distract the producers. Seasons 7 and 8 may have been more on season 6's level of quality. It's a very hypothetical situation though. What I think should have happened that might have been beneficial, is for GEN to have been put into production after TNG finished. VOY was distracting enough for the producers, so leaving the film till things were up and running may have been sensible.
Would 94/95 be too late to do that Star Trek: The Academy Years prequel? http://www.aintitcool.com/node/22789
Create a new series under the TNG banner with season seven serving as the phase-in to new characters.
TNG was getting tired. The "same old thing"... zipping about your known quadrants and dealing with ever more "desperate to be creative" alien encounters. The cast was also getting tired. You could tell this in their performances, for the most part. Also, the episodic nature was getting tired too. DS9 introduced a more serialized approach and VOY picked up on it to some degree. VOY started out well, but stumbled in the early seasons. Once the Kazon and Seska were out of the way, it began to "get going". Sure, it wasn't perfect and there were some characters easily disliked (like Neelix, although I think it took many seasons of character building to begin appreciating him more), but I thought this was a good series in many respects. TNG ended when it should have. It was time.
I'm surprised by all the "TNG season 8" responses, considering the deservedly poor reputation TNG season 7 has. I don't think "generations" was the reason that season was mostly crap, I just think the show was tired and the creative team was running out of gas. I think a season 8 would have been a debacle. Ending it with "AGT" made it seem like the show was going out on a high note, which was nice.(even if that ep is absurdly overrated)
Basically, just wait a while longer to develop VOY better and iron out the premise a little more. It's probably too much to wait til after DS9 was done but maybe a little while after 1995.
I love Voyager, but an 8th season of TNG - and thus setting that as the mold for DS9 and Voyager if she was done a little later - would have been a good route. I wonder why DS9 or VGR didn't go such? Was it because they didn't want either show to surpass TNG? I imagine with Voyager it was a ratings choice, maybe the same with DS9 but... still.