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Murder of TNG?

One of the enjoyable things about the Titan series is getting to know Riker - particularly his (frayed) relationship with Troi.

He's an interesting character, when given the chance to be... complicated.
 
If Picard wasn't there then Riker would be in his place which would add a great big dollop of generic-ness to TNG.

Hypothetically, if they kept TNG on the air for several more years, they would have dumped 75% of the crew and replaced them with cheaper alternatives. Frakes was probably pretty cheap, so I think they'd probably keep Riker around as first officer just so the audience could watch him squirm underneath "Capt Janeway's" toes.
 
If Picard wasn't there then Riker would be in his place which would add a great big dollop of generic-ness to TNG.

Hypothetically, if they kept TNG on the air for several more years, they would have dumped 75% of the crew and replaced them with cheaper alternatives. Frakes was probably pretty cheap, so I think they'd probably keep Riker around as first officer just so the audience could watch him squirm underneath "Capt Janeway's" toes.

Of course I should be very happy about this proposal as having Janeway captain the Enterprise for a few more seasons would of course be epic. However the rush of Riker/Janeway threads, fanfic, vids.. would absolutely kill me. I would not survive it, I would have to be one of those luddites who locked themselves in a vault with their treasured seasons of a show and ignored all newcomers.

Now if he just died in the first episode that would make it okay.
 
TNG would have gone along fine without Picard. It was an ensemble show. Also, it may have made the TNG movies better, as they would have been less "Jean-Luc Picard, action hero" type of stuff.
It would turn into "Somebody else, action hero". And lets face it, TNG was mostly the Picard,Data and sometimes Worf show. The other characters were thrown a bone a few times each season.
 
TNG would have gone along fine without Picard. It was an ensemble show. Also, it may have made the TNG movies better, as they would have been less "Jean-Luc Picard, action hero" type of stuff.
It would turn into "Somebody else, action hero". And lets face it, TNG was mostly the Picard,Data and sometimes Worf show. The other characters were thrown a bone a few times each season.

I disagree.

The whole "Picard/Data" thing only became prominent in the Next Generation movies as Paramount tried to promote Picard and Data as the new "Kirk & Spock".

Which I believe was disastrous for the movies.
 
I often avoid forums precisely due to threads such as this. They seem...well, to have their own agenda which is contrary the the "feel" of the site.

That said. Actors such as Stewart need variety. Without variety there is no growth. I do not have his ear, but I know artists well. The series ran its course, the actors wished to move on, some decent movies were made, all in all a success. Many wish they had such success. Indeed, Hollywood is full of them.

Nothing succeeds like success.

If one does not like it, that is ok.
 
IIRC, Crosby was let out of her contract early

I believe I said that. Paramount could have forced her to stay for five years. Or sued her if she failed to show up (a la Farrah Fawcett on "Charlie's Angels").

Wheaton was released from his contract

Again, I said that.

Wheaton wanting some additional time off during the Summer hiatus in order to do a movie

Exactly. Paramount was within its rights to refuse. They couldn't stop Muldaur from doing "The Return of McCloud" telemovie reunion because she wasn't contracted for five years.
 
Hmm. My understanding is the initial contract was for six years, not five. Sir Patrick Stewart has stated this to be the case on numerous occasions when talking about how he became involved with The Next Generation.

The standard contract is five years, and even the standing sets were costed over a projected five-year series. Agents wouldn't allow actors to get locked in for longer than industry standard. There is probably an inbuilt option for a sixth year, but further negotiation is possible. Salaries and conditions were locked in for the first five years, as is industry standard. Then contracts were renegotiated for Year 6, and again for Year 7. The same pattern occurred for DS9 and VOY.

Patrick Stewart's agents did fight for some earlier changes (to conditions such as trailer size, royalties and likeness approvals) during the season hiatus between "The Best of Both Worlds" two-parter. The creation of Locutus was a stop-gap in case Stewart decided not to return, even though he was contracted to do so.
 
Since TNG ended theres been an explosion of quality shows on television, shows that have better writing and direction than TNG did. Also, while TNG was generally good and had some great episodes, a lot of it was pretty awful. I think one of the problems with Trek in general is the variability of qaulity; its something you dont get in other shows, and I think it tends to hurt the ratings.
 
TNG would have gone along fine without Picard. It was an ensemble show. Also, it may have made the TNG movies better, as they would have been less "Jean-Luc Picard, action hero" type of stuff.
It would turn into "Somebody else, action hero". And lets face it, TNG was mostly the Picard,Data and sometimes Worf show. The other characters were thrown a bone a few times each season.

I disagree.

The whole "Picard/Data" thing only became prominent in the Next Generation movies as Paramount tried to promote Picard and Data as the new "Kirk & Spock".

Which I believe was disastrous for the movies.
I think both Picard and Data became the most popular characters during the run of the show. That's why they were the focus of the films.
 
I think both Picard and Data became the most popular characters during the run of the show. That's why they were the focus of the films.

Exactly. The problem the films made, however, is that TNG was always an ensemble show. It wasn't TOS, where the focus was pretty much always on the three main characters. There were great episodes that focused on nearly every character, even if Picard and Data came out on top in fan polls of best liked character.

Further, Picard and Data simply didn't have the Kirk/Spock relationship. They were friends, but not great friends. Picard wouldn't have risked his ship, his command, his life, and the lives of his crew to bring Data back.

Also the films focused on the two, but their stories (with the possible exception of Nemesis) never complimented one another. In Generations, we have Picard dealing with Soren and the aftermath of losing his family, with Data getting emotions and enjoying lame jokes. First Contact, Picard dealing with the return of the Borg and his assimilation, with Data, again, dealing with emotions and being seduced by the Borg Queen. Insurrection, Picard dealing with getting younger and a budding romance, with Data learning how to play in hay stacks.

The TOS films simply had tighter story lines.
 
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