If tng had an 8th season.

[Oddish]

I actually wrote a selection of parody episode ideas for DS9's 8th season. Episodes like:

I'm Not Just the President: Quark decides to give himself a makeover, including a full head of blond hair.

Salad: Keiko is stalked (no pun intended, but I'll take it) by a sentient plant lifeform. A jealous Miles gets rid of it by causing a "transporter malfunction". The result is, well, the title.

 

[Arpy]

^ kind of makes me wish a hunky Phylosian visited DS9 while Keiko & Miles were having marital problems. At first she was just delighted to speak with a plant person, then she found herself surprised by the feelings it inspired.

 

[Snowdrop82]

I would delete Star Trek Nemesis. I wonder what would have happened if Riker took up after Picard, after Picard was unable to be saved, but the show continued for 8 seasons. I can imagine Riker being the face of Star Trek by then. I would promote Data to first Officer, though. Riker wouldn't need the Titan, as he would have the Enterprise.

 

[Oddish]

I would delete Star Trek Nemesis. I wonder what would have happened if Riker took up after Picard, after Picard was unable to be saved, but the show continued for 8 seasons. I can imagine Riker being the face of Star Trek by then. I would promote Data to first Officer, though. Riker wouldn't need the Titan, as he would have the Enterprise.

While I certainly think that Riker (having demonstrated that he could captain like a boss) should have taken his own ship after Best of Both Worlds, I could have lived with this. Certainly with deleting Nemesis. It would have been nice to see Data finally get the job he should have had years ago.

 

[Snowdrop82]

While I certainly think that Riker (having demonstrated that he could captain like a boss) should have taken his own ship after Best of Both Worlds, I could have lived with this. Certainly with deleting Nemesis. It would have been nice to see Data finally get the job he should have had years ago.

What other crew promotions, etc, would you enjoy seeing? I would have replaced Picard's role in the future seasons with Riker. Imagine if Riker was in the Inner Light instead of Picard, I can imagine it would have been a lot more emotional, as he would have been there longer than Picard was.

 

[Oddish]

Not sure. Except for Data, most of the crew leveled up pretty reasonably. Data should have been a full commander after BoBW, second officer or no. If Deanna could get a third pip for snuffing hologram Geordi, Data could get one for saving Earth from the Borg.

In general, in addition to Data, I would say: Harry on Voyager (duh), both Sito and Mayweather on Enterprise, and Boimler certainly could have kept his higher rank. He did nothing to deserve a demotion, after all.

 

[Phoenix219]

While I certainly think that Riker (having demonstrated that he could captain like a boss) should have taken his own ship after Best of Both Worlds, I could have lived with this. Certainly with deleting Nemesis. It would have been nice to see Data finally get the job he should have had years ago.

Yup, I always wished / wanted an alternate take on the latter half of TNG was centered around a big three of Riker, Data, with Pulaski as doctor. Locutus as a recurring villain could have added a lot of drama as well. Restart the Troi relationship (as he begins confiding in her more as Captain and they closer) but don't bring it to fruition until the final season.

*lost in an edit*

If not Pulaski, Shelby, but i'm not sure the show could have handled both, and I don't want to diminish Data's promotion.

 

[remember...]

Beverly. Tng films voy.ds9 new crew fresh start.

 

[brandnewfan]

Picard accepts an admiral position and he and Data go off on their own adventures to, Idk, further android rights or something. Before Picard leaves, he and Beverly finally become a couple and marry between seasons 7 and 8. Dr. Beverly Picard remains aboard the Enterprise and has a long distance, mostly off-screen marriage with Jean-Luc.

Promote Riker to captain, but have there be competition. Bring on Shelby as a contender to captain the ship, and the two of them butt heads a lot. Ultimately, of course, River becomes captain. I'd imagine he offers Shelby to stay as first officer but I would think she would decline, because she wants to be in charge *somewhere*. With her gone, I'd personally like to see Worf get promoted to first officer.

So...we need a new security chief and a new operations officer. OP says we're assuming DS9/VOY don't happen. I'm not that creative and it'd be meaningless to try and create new characters out of my own head for this thread. So I'm going to cherry pick some legacy characters to fill the gaps.

TNG Season 8 cast:

Captain William T. Riker
Lt. Commander Worf (first officer)
Dr. Beverly Picard
Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge (second officer)
Counselor Deanna Troi
Lt. Commander Tuvok (taking over security)
Lt. Jadzia Dax (science officer)
Lt. Sam Lavelle (operations)
Ensign Sean Hawk (comm officer)
Seven of Nine

Without Data, TV execs are gonna want something to bring in the ratings. How about a bigger focus on Worf and Klingons? Relations deteriorate and essentially we get the early Dominion v. Federation type hostilities but with the Klingons instead. The DS9 storyline with Kurn plays out on TNG instead. Jeremy Aster moves back to the Enterprise as Worf's adopted son and brother to Alexander. Jeremy because he was taken into the House of Mogh and never heard from again and I thought that was weird.

Anyway, the Romulans sit back to watch what happens after the dust settles. Maybe we get something akin to In the Pale Moonlight with Riker trying to bring the Romulans into the war. He negotiates with Sela, who fills the role of Vreenak...though she maybe or maybe not dies. Not sure who would fill the role of Garak in this scenario. No one on TNG was anywhere near as shady and complex who could make it work convincingly.

Hawk has a Rejoined type episode to feature the first male-male kiss in Star Trek. I guess the obvious choice from the list above would be with Lavelle but I don't remember if Lower Decks depicted his sexuality much. Doesn't matter really even if they did.

We get a lot of Trill stuff with Dax...also exploring her host's past with Klingons in light of the war and on a TNG setting.

Worf and Troi are still together but break-up mid season. Paving the way for Worf/Dax and Riker/Troi.

More Borg stuff, and the Enterprise crew encounters a drone (Seven) and liberates it from the collective. Jeremy becomes enamored with Seven the way Harry Kim was early on with Seven (though Jeremy is much more tolerable as a character than Kim ever was).

Probably all dumb ideas.

 

[Oddish]

They aren't bad, actually. Only tweak I'd suggest concerns Worf. Since Geordi is five years senior to him as a LCDR, either (my recommendation) flipflop the two or at least put Worf up to full Commander. The Starfleet flagship's first should have that rank anyway.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

• Troi is counseling Riker through his slump of weight gain and "Enterprise" addiction.
• Worf is transported into a universe where the Enterprise is captained by Wesley Crusher, the first officer is Neelix, and the other 1,000 crewmembers are all Ferengi.
• Moriarty breaks free of his cube-prison and reprograms the ship's computer to broadcast Gilbert Gottfried reading Klingon erotica
• Amanda Rogers and Q Junior from "Voyager" decide that the Enterprise is the perfect place for a date, much to Picard's chagrin
• Geordie La Forge continues not to get laid
• Groppler Zorn returns, threatening to sue Starfleet for illegally breeding two giant jellyfish and creating a mass infestation in his species' area of space
• Amanda Rogers and Q Junior ride the giant jellyfish while singing "A Whole New World"
• Data's cat finally eats Picard's fish.

 

[Arpy]

• Troi is counseling Riker through his slump of weight gain and "Enterprise" addiction.
• Worf is transported into a universe where the Enterprise is captained by Wesley Crusher, the first officer is Neelix, and the other 1,000 crewmembers are all Ferengi.
• Moriarty breaks free of his cube-prison and reprograms the ship's computer to broadcast Gilbert Gottfried reading Klingon erotica
• Amanda Rogers and Q Junior from "Voyager" decide that the Enterprise is the perfect place for a date, much to Picard's chagrin
• Geordie La Forge continues not to get laid
• Groppler Zorn returns, threatening to sue Starfleet for illegally breeding two giant jellyfish and creating a mass infestation in his species' area of space
• Amanda Rogers and Q Junior ride the giant jellyfish while singing "A Whole New World"
• Data's cat finally eats Picard's fish.

You lost me at Geordi not getting laid, and want me back with A Whole New World.

 

[Lord Garth]

Knowing what we know now, I'm trying hard to resist the urge to say, "We'll find out what an eighth season of TNG will be like in 2023!" Because that's not what the OP meant. And yet, here we are.

 

[Arpy]

^ It won’t be TNG proper, but it could be wonderful. I’m looking forward to it.

Who can come up with one more spin-off for the series for season 8 before they head out to the Big Screen? Who are they visiting or seeing off?

 

[Oddish]

You lost me at Geordi not getting laid, and want me back with A Whole New World.

I'm fine with Geordi getting friendzoned. It shows that some 20th/21st century experiences just never change.

Spot eating Livingston (yes, the fish had a name) was the perfect end, though.

 

[Arpy]

He was the handsome and amiable chief engineer and a lieutenant commander on the Federarion’s flagship. He’s not going to have any trouble with women that we all don’t have — finding one simpatico with us. Beyond that, he should be fine.

 

[Oddish]

Maybe women in the 24th century aren't into nice guys and gravitate toward abusive scum. Seems to happen a lot these days...

 

[Arpy]

Maybe women in the 24th century aren't into nice guys and gravitate toward abusive scum. Seems to happen a lot these days...

I don’t buy it. Men who think themselves nice guys yet harbor expectations and resentments against every woman who doesn’t want them aren’t realistic. I’m never going to date a Vogue model, or even Sandy down the street, but there are women (or in my case men) as schlubby as me who I’ve gotten close with over the years. Maybe Geordi doesn’t date Seven, but he and Leah Brahms apparently make it work.

Thank goodness, too. Something I find a little more troubling is Trek’s pattern of hooking up men and women of the same race — at least among the black/white ones. Geordi was denied by a couple of white women but got together with Aquiel. Both Sisko’s long-term relationships (Jennifer and Kassidy) were black, as was his late-night mystery woman Fenna. Everyone Jake dated was black. Tuvok’s wife was black. Uhura was forced to kiss Kirk but the Salt Vampire appeared to her as a handsome black crewman. Michael Burnham and Book were black, thank God she was getting together with Ash earlier, though he too was a person of color. There’s a bit more leeway with aliens: Worf and Jadzia, maybe Worf and K’Ehleyr as her complexion was darkened.

B’Elanna and Tom, Charity’s and Seven, Miles and Keiko, Harry and Libby…it’s not cut and dry.

 

[Oddish]

The most successful married couple in Trek were Miles and Keiko, who were not the same race.