Why all the family reunion episodes in Season 7?

[Cyke101]

They had to be running out of ideas. And you know the Berman way of dealing with the problem: go back to the past and write about that. That's right, let's "reboot" it and to hell with putting any real creativity into it.

Berman always dug into the past of an event or a person's life. He never had any vision about what the future would be like. And the future is the crux of Star Trek to begin with.

Eh, I don't mind that there were stories oriented on the characters' families in the first place -- one thing DS9 did very well as incorporating families as part of the big picture, so that there'd be more character driven stories with our heroes. Rather, I would think TNG S7's problem was the execution (or even, the conception of some of these plots). Knowing the past helps people care about the future, after all.

 

[Atariboy]

In an interview with Patrick Stewart many years ago, he mentioned that the producers approached the cast and asked if there were any loose ends left over the years that they would like to see tied up. The motivation behind this is unclear - were they running out of ideas or genuinely interested in tying up as many loose ends as possible?

At any rate, Stewart reminded the producers that DaiMon Bok was still out there and mad as hell at Picard and it might be interesting to revisit him.

 

[Dr. Crusher]

In an interview with Patrick Stewart many years ago, he mentioned that the producers approached the cast and asked if there were any loose ends left over the years that they would like to see tied up. The motivation behind this is unclear - were they running out of ideas or genuinely interested in tying up as many loose ends as possible?

At any rate, Stewart reminded the producers that DaiMon Bok was still out there and mad as hell at Picard and it might be interesting to revisit him.

That's really interesting. I once heard that TNG was supposed to be eight seasons long, and the cast was surprised that the plan changed to wrap up in season 7. Perhaps this was asked of the cast in the context of this change?

 

[Worf'sParmach]

I never really thought out about it like that but I guess there were lots of family episodes in Season 7 (I'd forgotten all about Geordi's mom). I guess at that point viewers had become so attached to the characters that seeing more about their personal "backstories" was interesting (I liked most of the episodes listed). In earlier seasons, those same episodes wouldn't have been as meaningful.

 

[TroiFan4ever]

How could Braga know in Season 4 if there's gonna be a Season 7?

It wasn't up to him. The producers were the ones who blew it off until then.

Which I'm glad they did because I liked seeing Troi take command of the ship for once.

I'm willing to bet that scene got added on when they finally got around to making that episode because this took place two episodes after "Thine Own Self" where she gets promoted to a full-fledged Commander. She didn't start wearing a uniform or gain her promotion in Season 4 so if "Genesis" WAS a Season 4 episode, that scene would'nt've been in it. Follow?

At any rate, Stewart reminded the producers that DaiMon Bok was still out there and mad as hell at Picard and it might be interesting to revisit him.

AH HA! So Stewart is the reason why "Bloodlines" happened? Interesting.

I really liked the Gambit as well. No I thought season 7 was about the same as seasons 5 and 6. There were some weird episodes like Genesis, and that one were Data becomes a Mayan god. But at least it started to really explore the characters, and everyone (the main characters) got at least one episode devoted to them. So it was balanced, good feng shui, and I like that.

I really like "Masks"... well I'm losing interest now that I saw it a lot of times.

One episode, huh? Data had so many episodes which irked me! He had, like, the most episodes in this season! And speaking of "Masks" it irks me even more how Data and Troi both shared "Thine Own Self" but it was mostly about Data. However, the episode right after it a Data episode! That's a little unfair, don't 'cha think?

It would've made more sense to let Troi's plot dominate "Thine Own Self" then give Data a few scenes. I understand that they can't cover a whole 44 minutes about Troi being promoted but since "Masks" is all about Data being the Mayan Queen, he can have just a little appearance in "Thine Own Self".

It would've been interesting given that the episode before "Thine Own Self" is about the four Ensigns being promoted and then the next is about Troi being promoted.