It was 20 years ago today...

[DWF]

I think it aired here on Oct. 4, 1987 and it was pretty exciting the series was shown first on Saturday at 7PM EST and repeated on Thursday night at 10PM EST so including watching my Saturday night taping I watched the ep. three times a week.

The seven years of the show was amazing ride and Generations was IMO ther true ending for the series.

 

[Nardpuncher]

UWC Defiance said:

SmoothieX said:
Hey not to burst anyone's bubble, but I just checked TrekCore, and they list 9/28/87 as the airdate.

What gives?

There was no single airdate. There was a one-week window after a certain date when the show could be run, and every station running it could schedule it however they liked within that period.

That said, the window probably did begin in the last few days of September, as a lot of stations ran the show on the weekend of October 4rd-6th. So the actual satellite uplink was probably on the 27th or 28th.

I remember I first watched it with a party of folks over at Rich Kolker's house; he pulled it off the satellite about a week before it actually was broadcast in this market.

I'm pretty sure the first time any station could show it was Monday the 28th of September. I remember reading that back before the show started.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

On my Trek day calender for this year, it's marked as September 24, 1987. There's even a cast picture from the first episode.

 

[tomalak301]

I'm not going to celebrate until the 27th. I had a feeing we were jumping the gun a bit.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

24th makes sense. 24th Century and all.

 

[SmoothieX]

tomalak301 said:
I'm not going to celebrate until the 27th. I had a feeing we were jumping the gun a bit.

The 28th works even better as it's a Friday. I'm gonna break out some of that green shit Data served Scotty drank in Relics and have at it.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

Here's proof! From my own collection.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

As far as the show's broadcast history is concerned - the first satellite uplink was on Saturday, September 26.

It's possible that there was some kind of special premiere screening somewhere earlier in the week.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Did Paramount do a premiere for the show? Enterprise had a premiere at Paramount so maybe they did the same for TNG on the 24th?

 

[Holdfast]

Cmndr J Crichton said:
It's hard to believe that Encounter at Farpoint is 20 years old today.

Wow.

Cool. But scary!

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

It's gonna be even scarier when DS9 makes the 20 year mark.

 

[RAMA]

I remember it as if it were yesterday. In my area it was supposed to be shown on Oct 3rd, but apparently the station couldn't wait and showed it Sept 28th!!!! I accidentally saw it flipping the channels. It was a jaw dropping experience.

RAMA

 

[WillsBabe]

Cmndr J Crichton said:
It's gonna be even scarier when DS9 makes the 20 year mark.

Why?

 

[Keith1701]

Cmndr J Crichton said:
It's gonna be even scarier when DS9 makes the 20 year mark.

I agree.......
Good Point!!!!

 

[The Old Mixer]

I made a point of recently finally getting around to buying the Season One DVD set in time for the anniversary...though I didn't manage to hold out until the actual date, and am currently up to "Conspiracy". It's been a trip, though Season One's flaws only get stronger with age.

Here's an odd little thing that I found on YouTube after checking out a video link on another thread...somebody had the idea to make an alternate TNG opener to the theme of (and in the style of)...Dallas...and it isn't half bad...!

Dallas: The Next Generation

Now if somebody did one of these using the Hawaii Five-O intro...that would really be something....

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

That was pretty neat. I like how they got three different costumes of the chatacters in the cast opening.

 

[euphorik]

Cmndr J Crichton said:
Here are some nostalgia videos I found on You Tube. Remember to watch Ecounter at Farpoint today to celebrate 20 great years of Star Trek The Next Generation!

does anybody else remember those "clip" ads that ran in the final 10 days before your local premiere? these were the things that said, in onscreen text, "in 10 [or - as applicable - 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1] days, the 24th century begins..." interspersed with clips from early 1st season shows. i still have quite a few of these - my first glimpses at stuff like "the naked now," "code of honor" and "farpoint." i haven't seen any of these posted on youtube -

in indianapolis, the premiere was 8PM on WXIN-59, wednesday 9/30/87. i was a senior in high school, and was totally blown away by the pilot.

what's hard to get across to younger people who grew up with new star trek on every week was the utter WEIRDNESS of the show, the strangeness of new, unfamiliar faces amidst the familiar trek universe - which itself was weirdly different. until that night, star trek was about the 23rd century...this is a little off-topic, but i always felt that one of the failures of ENT was the producers' failure to make (after the early episodes, anyway) the 22nd century as different and exotic from the 24th century of TNG, DS(, and VOY as TNG's 24th was from the original 23rd. holodeck? families on the enterprise? and a KLINGON?!? from the first episode on, the 24th century was convincing and engagingly different from any trek seen before. i don't ENT was like that. "farpoint" gets pretty savaged in "best pilot" polls these days, but i think it holds up just fine.

i don't think many people remember these days how much pressure was on the cast and crew in season one to make the new show both the same and very different from TOS, and i think season 1 did that very well.

i was a picard fan from the moment he yelled "SHUT OFF THAT DAMN NOISE!!! GO TO YELLOW ALERT!!"

20 years. it's really hard for me to believe!!!

 

[tomalak301]

Well, today is the day,

I can't believe TNG turns 20 today. I grew up with this series, keep watching it on occasion and still love it to this day. Last year was the 40th anniversary of Trek, but this year means more since it's 20 years of TNG, the series I grew up with and brought the family together on Saturday nights.

 

[CaptainStoner]

Let's see that would put me back in the 7th grade...I too remember it clearly. After Dr. Who it was the next big VCR project...a silver Sony that top-loaded with a very cool sound...takes me back. By then end of the season I had taken over the VCR operations and was editing out commercials on the fly...
I remember being aware of how stilted the acting felt, contrasted by the cameo with DeForest Kelly...how natural and convincing he was as McCoy, crackling away.
That, and being really impressed with the sound and music, and the ship! My Dad was wowed by the ship. There hadn't been sound and visuals like that on a TV show before, and I really think they helped carry the show in the beginning.

 

[SmoothieX]

tomalak301 said:
Well, today is the day,

I can't believe TNG turns 20 today. I grew up with this series, keep watching it on occasion and still love it to this day. Last year was the 40th anniversary of Trek, but this year means more since it's 20 years of TNG, the series I grew up with and brought the family together on Saturday nights.

Word. Same here.