Build an 8th Season of TNG

[Pseudo]

You know... that actually sounds pretty good. In thinking about it UPN wanted Voyager to essentially be TNG so this basically accomplishes that task. If there were someway to gracefully shoehorn a few more new characters into the original cast (or to replace them) this would be my favorite idea ever for a continuation of the 7th season/re-envisioning of Voyager.

-Withers-​

I was just thinking about this and another interesting aspect of this scenario would be that the civilians on the Enterprise would also be stranded in the delta quadrant which could lead to some interesting conflict.

Also Q could be a very big and interesting recurring adversary in this, if so I'd kill Riker in Caretaker.

The Borg would also be much different in this series what with Picard's experience with them. Perhaps even the events of 'First Contact' could be used as part of end of season 10 cliff-hangar that would lead the Enterprise back to the alpha quadrant for one final season.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Interesting ideas but I think the thing with doing an eighth season of TNG would be to incorperate the feel of TNG with what was going on in the Trek Verse at that time with DS9. I think it was only the second season of Deep Space Nine in 1994 so we were only being introduced to the Dominion. The Maquis storyline was going strong. I wouldn't alter the stories that were being told by DS9 but have TNG season eight come alongside them. Maybe even a two part crossover similar in style to how Stargate has handled their crossovers. A final resolution to Sisko's feelings regarding Picard and his role as Locutus.

Generations could exist...I think as a kind of season finale or series finale happening very much as it did in the movie proper with the Enterprise D being destroyed by the Duras sisters. First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis would all still be told as they were. Worf being recruited by Sisko would still happen. I like the idea of season eight exploring and developing his relationship with Deanna. As we know it was not mentioned after season seven and we were just assumed to have thought they had broken up. I would have it mentioned that not only is Worf missing the Enterprise D but also is having a hard time dealing with the end of his relationsihp with Troi. Dax being fascinated with him doesn't help matters.

 

[SpyOne]

I tend to go with the idea that an eighth season of TNG would cancel out Generations (not necessarily a bad thing, IMO) and the Enterprise-D would still be flying past 2371.

Ironically, if it hadn't been for Generations, the Enterprise-D still wouldn't have made it past 2371.

In the DS9 Episode "The Jem'Hadar", set in 2370, the Galaxy Class ship that gets destroyed was originally supposed to be the Enterprise-D, but it was changed when they decided they wanted to do a movie with the TNG cast, so they couldn't kill them off.

 

[RobertScorpio]

For my plan we need to reshape the end of season seven somewhat...

720. Firstborn

As Aired​

721. Emergence

Instead of the turgid mess that was aired, this episode sees Dr. Zimmerman come aboard the Enterprise to do field trails of his new EMH. Geordi and Data help to develop the EMH but begin to suspect that it is no mere holo-program.​

722. The Maquis, Part I
723. The Maquis, Part II

Very similar to the DS9 two-parter with Lt. Cmdr Hudson being effectively Chakotay without the native American mysticism element.​

724. Journey's End

As Aired​

725. Peemptive Strike

As Aired. Except that at the end of the episode Picard is ordered to pursue Ro by Admiral Nechayev.​

726. The Caretaker, Part I

The Enterprise enters the Badlands in pursuit of the ship carrying Ro... pretty much the same plot as the Voyager version.

The big thing is who gets killed off?

For my initial thoughts are at least:

• Dr. Crusher - replaced by Robert Picardo's EMH.
• Troi - Not directly replaced, but Ro becomes full time helmsman.
• Picard or Riker (I'm afraid one of them has to go) - to be replaced by the Lt. Cmdr. Hudson/Chakotay character.

801. The Caretaker, Part II

From here on in we've got a reinvigorated Next Generation series that could last another five years.

But expensive...the reason they brought in the 'minor league' team, Voyager, was because of the contract situation...but this isn't a bad idea..

Rob

 

[Mytran]

Too expensive? No problem, kill off a few more!



Anyone else feel underpaid? No? Good!

 

[Pseudo]

But expensive...the reason they brought in the 'minor league' team, Voyager, was because of the contract situation...but this isn't a bad idea..

Rob

As I mentioned the events of Caretaker give you plenty of opportunity to kill characters off and replace them. You could even use the Lavelle character from 'Lower Decks' as a TNG version of Harry Kim.

How I would do it would be:

I'd have Worf leave the Enterprise for DS9 toward the end of season seven to do something Klingon-y this would unfortunately leave him off the ship during the events of Caretaker. He could then join DS9 either at it's original point or at some point during season three.

During the devastation of Caretaker:

Riker dies replaced by Cmdr Hudson/Chakotay character.
Crusher dies replaced by Robert Picard's EMH
Troi dies replaced by Ro Larren (not a direct replacement)​

That leaves us with:

Capt. John-Luc Picard (Commanding Officer)
Cmdr. Hudson/Chakotay (First Officer)
Lt. Cmdr. Data (Second Officer/Chief Operations Officer)
Lr. Cmdr. La Forge (Chief Engineer)
The Doctor (Chief Medical Officer)
Lt. Ro Laren (Security Chief/Tactical Officer)
Ens. Lavelle/Harry Kim (Conn Officer)​

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't get why you'd have to kill characters. Someone like Will could easily be written out as finally accepting a promotion to Captain. Perhaps one of the various Galaxy class starships we saw during Deep Space Nine. Again you guys are presupposing that Voyager and Deep Space Nine aren't going to still need those characters you are trying to incorporate into a TNG season. I just don't see them working as Next Generation characters which was a very different show from DS9 and Voyager. This thread is also based on the question what about an eighth season not find a way to continue the franchise. I would still conclude TNG with Generations the movie and have Deep Space Nine be the flagship show and eventually would have introduced Voyager just as it happened in real life. You guys seem to be excluding Voyager and taking their characters just to continue TNG which I believe would not have gone on beyond an eighth season no matter what.

 

[Trek Survivor]

For my plan we need to reshape the end of season seven somewhat...

720. Firstborn

As Aired
​

721. Emergence

Instead of the turgid mess that was aired, this episode sees Dr. Zimmerman come aboard the Enterprise to do field trails of his new EMH. Geordi and Data help to develop the EMH but begin to suspect that it is no mere holo-program.
​

722. The Maquis, Part I
723. The Maquis, Part II

Very similar to the DS9 two-parter with Lt. Cmdr Hudson being effectively Chakotay without the native American mysticism element.
​

724. Journey's End

As Aired
​

725. Peemptive Strike

As Aired. Except that at the end of the episode Picard is ordered to pursue Ro by Admiral Nechayev.
​

726. The Caretaker, Part I

The Enterprise enters the Badlands in pursuit of the ship carrying Ro... pretty much the same plot as the Voyager version.

The big thing is who gets killed off?


For my initial thoughts are at least:

• Dr. Crusher - replaced by Robert Picardo's EMH.
• Troi - Not directly replaced, but Ro becomes full time helmsman.
• Picard or Riker (I'm afraid one of them has to go) - to be replaced by the Lt. Cmdr. Hudson/Chakotay character.

801. The Caretaker, Part II

From here on in we've got a reinvigorated Next Generation series that could last another five years.

Congrats - I mentioned this idea on page 1 of the thread (not in as much detail) and nobody batted an eyelid. You mention it, and you get some response!!

In my idea, I would avoid the obvious contractual disputes and simply have Picard and Data reassigned/removed by the start of season 8. You can't really kill either (even back in 1994 they were pretty iconic), but temporarily removing them (special ops/temp promotion/on leave etc) offers lots of possibilities.

The rest of the cast would've gone for an 8th or 9th season. Heck, Sirtis and Frakes would have lived on the sets for the next 2 decades if Berman would've let them.

In my mind, the only drawback is losing Worf on DS9 if TNG continued... and that would've been a big loss.

 

[Pseudo]

Congrats - I mentioned this idea on page 1 of the thread (not in as much detail) and nobody batted an eyelid. You mention it, and you get some response!!

In my idea, I would avoid the obvious contractual disputes and simply have Picard and Data reassigned/removed by the start of season 8. You can't really kill either (even back in 1994 they were pretty iconic), but temporarily removing them (special ops/temp promotion/on leave etc) offers lots of possibilities.

The rest of the cast would've gone for an 8th or 9th season. Heck, Sirtis and Frakes would have lived on the sets for the next 2 decades if Berman would've let them.

In my mind, the only drawback is losing Worf on DS9 if TNG continued... and that would've been a big loss.

If Picard and Data were reassigned prior to the Enterprise being stranded in the Delta quadrant wouldn't it make sense for Spiner to make the odd guest appearance as Data who would I'd presume be the lead scientist on the Pathfinder project with Picard in overall command (but making less appearances).

I'm sure that the Enterprise could return to the Alpha quadrant in Season 10 (or even halfway through season 9) and Worf could be on DS9 for the start of season 5. Possibly leaving the Enterprise after his relationship with Troi breaks down and once returned to the alpha quadrant he feels it is too awkward to continue serving on the same ship and requests a transfer. Alternatively Troi could die in the delta quadrant in early season 9 and he is unable to deal with the pain (perhaps he feels it is his fault that she died).

I still think that at least one of the main cast should die as a result of the ship being hurled in to the delta quadrant. For me, the obvious candidate would be Dr. Crusher - not because I particularly dislike the character, but because her death (and that of the majority of the sick bay staff) would necessitate the use of the EMH.

To be honest the real shame is that we couldn't have done this for season 7.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I tend to go with the idea that an eighth season of TNG would cancel out Generations (not necessarily a bad thing, IMO) and the Enterprise-D would still be flying past 2371.

Ironically, if it hadn't been for Generations, the Enterprise-D still wouldn't have made it past 2371.

In the DS9 Episode "The Jem'Hadar", set in 2370, the Galaxy Class ship that gets destroyed was originally supposed to be the Enterprise-D, but it was changed when they decided they wanted to do a movie with the TNG cast, so they couldn't kill them off.

That's incorrect.


What happened was that the DS9 producers wanted to show that the Dominion could easily take down a Galaxy-class ship like the Enterprise-D, but the Odyssey itself was never originally meant to be anything other than the Odyssey.

And if TNG had an eighth season, the Enterprise-D definitely would have made it past 2371, because Generations wouldn't have happened or it would have been delayed until whenever TNG finally made it off the air. At that point, there's no telling what direction that movie might have gone in because there could have been different creative people behind it at that time...