Fix TNG

[PKTrekGirl]

I was a fan of TNG when it first aired, but the further we get away from it, the more uncomfortable I become with it. If I were to 'fix' TNG, here is what I would do:

1. Make the main characters more flawed, and make more tension between them. Let them have weaknesses, and disagreements, and lapses of judgment. In short, let them be more human, and less perfect. It's really hard to show character growth in characters that are already perfect.

2. This really goes along with number one, but a less 'preachy' sort of tone would have helped the show age - at least for me. But I think this issue would have solved itself if #1 were the case.

3. The uniforms in seasons 1 and 2. Didn't like 'em, and they haven't aged well. Give them the last show uniform...or better yet, the FC uniforms, for the entire show.

4. This might be part of #1 as well, but it's too important to not mention. Picard really needed to be less stuffy and more 3-dimensional. I'd have liked to have learned more of his backstory, for example. And I'd like to see other emotions in Picard besides "mildly pleased", "angry" and "annoyed".

5. Make Wesley less annoying. I actually like Will Wheaton. I just don't care for his character. Too goody-goody. But I don't think I'm alone in this opinion at all...so nothing new there.

I still think TNG has alot of strong points - I like the Q episodes, for example. And I like the Borg on TNG. The Cardassians were given a good beginning to work off of as well. And many of the stories were good.

I guess the thing I struggle with most are the characters these days - I can't seem to really connect or identify with any of them any longer...and that's what makes the show less interesting for me than it once was.

 

[Anwar]

I would have mentioned the Cardassians from S1 onwards and the series of wars between them and the Feds and made them out to be a big force on par with the Klingons. Kind of like how they mentioned the Ferengi before we actually saw them.

And I wouldn't make the Ferengi into little trolls, but rather Master Economists who may not have military superiority but they manage to monopolize certain products and control enough trade networks that if they ever got shut down it would cause too much hardship by the other Galactic Powers to fix it up so they have to let the Ferengi be.

 

[missbevcrusher]

I definitely would have liked to see more flaws in the characters like someone mentioned. A bit more depth to their backrounds and so forth would have been nice too.

Another thing I would have liked is for the series to have been more like season 7 from the get go. What I mean by that is the women's roles on the show only started to make more sense by then. Troi got to wear a real uniform, we saw Crusher as a commander on the bridge and so forth. They weren't just "the two girls" on the show anymore as in previous seasons imo.

As much as I would have liked for Crusher and Picard to get together, I understand why TPTB didn't go down that path considering the movies they were planning on shooting, but I wouldn't have brushed their history aside totally in the feature films either. They tried to make Picard into this playboy hero it seemed... Yeah, didn't really like that concept personally but hey, it's just a show.

At least I sort of got what I wanted in the latest TNG books. They might not be considered canon, but since the series and the TNG movies are over and done, I now feel free to consider them canon just for my own personal enjoyment.

Cheers

 

[Red Ranger]

I would have mentioned the Cardassians from S1 onwards and the series of wars between them and the Feds and made them out to be a big force on par with the Klingons. Kind of like how they mentioned the Ferengi before we actually saw them.

And I wouldn't make the Ferengi into little trolls, but rather Master Economists who may not have military superiority but they manage to monopolize certain products and control enough trade networks that if they ever got shut down it would cause too much hardship by the other Galactic Powers to fix it up so they have to let the Ferengi be.

Anwar:

I especially like your idea about the Ferengi as Master Economists. They would have insinuated themselves into all the economic niches of all the Alpha Quadrant powers without them being aware of this, and thus, would need to be dealt with out of necessity.

And yep, have the Cardassians kind of lurking from the beginning. However, I liked it that the Cardassians were an up-and-coming power, as it fed into Dukat's desire to join the Dominion during the DSN eps to make Cardassia strong.

And others, interesting ideas. Thanks for speculating!

Red Ranger

 

[Lowdarzz]

Nothing about TNG needed to be changed. Yes the shift to more character based stories in the third season made the show better but there was nothing inherently wrong with the original premise in the first place.

Hindsight is 20/20, TNG is what it is and applying todays television standards to a program that started 21 years ago is just crap. At this point I long for more shows like TOS and TNG. Yes TOS had character conflict but it wasn't all this "real people", "nitty gritty" bullshit thats being forced down our throats today.

If most people really act like the people on todays television then they deserve whatever bad thing are coming to them.

Like I said, TNG was a good emmenently watchable show, better than all the shit that passes for television today. I wouldn't change one damn thing.

 

[Red Ranger]

Nothing about TNG needed to be changed. Yes the shift to more character based stories in the third season made the show better but there was nothing inherently wrong with the original premise in the first place.

Hindsight is 20/20, TNG is what it is and applying todays television standards to a program that started 21 years ago is just crap. At this point I long for more shows like TOS and TNG. Yes TOS had character conflict but it wasn't all this "real people", "nitty gritty" bullshit thats being forced down our throats today.

If most people really act like the people on todays television then they deserve whatever bad thing are coming to them.

Like I said, TNG was a good emmenently watchable show, better than all the shit that passes for television today. I wouldn't change one damn thing.

I hear you. However, I wasn't advocating using a somber tone as in some modern series, merely a change in some of the characterizations and introducing a bit more conflict.

Other series that were broadcast around the time of TNG had a bit more conflict between main characters, shows like L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, just to name a few.

I do agree that not all shows need to be strife-filled like BSG or The Shield. Those shows have their place, as do more optimistic shows like TNG.

I was just addressing some flaws in how the characters were conceived and portrayed.

Hey, it's a moot point anyway. Just a way of getting folks to chime in!

Red Ranger

 

[USS Excelsior]

3. The uniforms in seasons 1 and 2. Didn't like 'em, and they haven't aged well. Give them the last show uniform...or better yet, the FC uniforms, for the entire show.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I didn't like those spandex uniforms or even the later uniforms since they basically are glorified pyjamas, and would have preferred the FC uniforms.

And plus at the time TNG aired they didn't have to promote colour TV, and with only a coloured undershirt, they could have kept the original TOS department colours.

 

[Lowdarzz]

Nothing about TNG needed to be changed. Yes the shift to more character based stories in the third season made the show better but there was nothing inherently wrong with the original premise in the first place.

Hindsight is 20/20, TNG is what it is and applying todays television standards to a program that started 21 years ago is just crap. At this point I long for more shows like TOS and TNG. Yes TOS had character conflict but it wasn't all this "real people", "nitty gritty" bullshit thats being forced down our throats today.

If most people really act like the people on todays television then they deserve whatever bad thing are coming to them.

Like I said, TNG was a good emmenently watchable show, better than all the shit that passes for television today. I wouldn't change one damn thing.

I hear you. However, I wasn't advocating using a somber tone as in some modern series, merely a change in some of the characterizations and introducing a bit more conflict.

Other series that were broadcast around the time of TNG had a bit more conflict between main characters, shows like L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, just to name a few.

I do agree that not all shows need to be strife-filled like BSG or The Shield. Those shows have their place, as do more optimistic shows like TNG.

I was just addressing some flaws in how the characters were conceived and portrayed.

Hey, it's a moot point anyway. Just a way of getting folks to chime in!

Red Ranger

I understand where your coming from. I also agree that character conflict can add to the dynamic of a show and TNG might have benefited by having more along the line of what TOS had.

My problem just comes from the fact that almost every Trek fan I come across these days seems to think that Trek needs to turn into NuBSG. I personally don't think thats a good idea but everywhere you go thats whats being advocated. Hell Ron Moore is on record, atleast in the earlier days of NuBSG, as saying that while Star Trek might need to be rebooted it should not be NuBSG.

Hearing that kind of talk just always seems to piss me off for some reason.

 

[Anwar]

They want 24th century people to act exactly like 20th/21st century people pretty much. They don't give much thought that maybe all the tech and social changes might affect how people act as well.

 

[Eric Cheung]

They want 24th century people to act exactly like 20th/21st century people pretty much. They don't give much thought that maybe all the tech and social changes might affect how people act as well.

Well as Nicholas Meyer said in his commentary tracks, movies are always about the time and place in which they're made.

Therefore in order for anyone to relate to the characters we must see their humanity. That means that they must be flawed. Technological and social change would certainly change society but it would never change the fact that every single person in the galaxy would have a different point of view, nor would it likely change how passionately most would hold their points of view. This neccesarily breeds conflict. There may be better societal safeguards against war and violence through a more progressive system of social mores based on empathy and conflict resolution but that doesn't remove the seeds of conflict, it just demonstrates a better way to work with them.

If nothing else there would be a conflict between maintaining a mostly currency free post-scarcity economy with individuality.

It doesn't have to be nu-BSG, but it should at least be something that honestly considers the implications of a utopian Earth, rather than be an advertisement for it. TNG was great but sometimes it was in danger of becoming propaganda.