News Flash! New series: STNG

[23skidoo]

Yeah, I remember the HUGE backlash when they announced that Kirk and Spock weren't going to be in the show. Two guys at a comic shop I went to came to blows over the issue, and to this day you'll still find people who refuse to accept TNG as "true Trek".

I remember reading the announcements about the new show. The first I ever saw of it was a news story on Entertainment Tonight that actually had some raw footage from an early episode, and the Calgary Sun newspaper ran a 2-page spread.

But ... I lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the local stations there DIDN'T BOTHER to buy the thing! And while we got Detroit TV on cable, TNG was bought by the one channel that wasn't carried! So needless to say I wasn't a happy camper.

I can't remember the exact dates, but I recall we did eventually see Season 1 a couple months after it started (maybe more than a couple months). I also recall there was controversy in my neck of the woods because the programmers at the station that did eventually buy TNG weren't SF fans and I believe Season 2 ended up being scheduled at some ungodly hour like 1 AM. It wasn't till the 3rd season that a) we were guaranteed to actually see the thing and b) they showed it at a half-decent time. So all was well until one of the Spock episodes was preempted by a press conference with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, which pissed a lot of people off (it even made the newspaper).

Ah yes, good times...!

What's interesting in that original clipping is the announcement was made in October 1986 before Star Trek IV was released. My memory was that TNG was commissioned because of STIV's success... memories do cheat!

Alex

 

[Warped9]

...and to this day you'll still find people who refuse to accept TNG as "true Trek".

Alex

Really? I find that rather hard to believe.

 

[RAMA]

Yeah, I remember the HUGE backlash when they announced that Kirk and Spock weren't going to be in the show. Two guys at a comic shop I went to came to blows over the issue, and to this day you'll still find people who refuse to accept TNG as "true Trek".

I remember reading the announcements about the new show. The first I ever saw of it was a news story on Entertainment Tonight that actually had some raw footage from an early episode, and the Calgary Sun newspaper ran a 2-page spread.

But ... I lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the local stations there DIDN'T BOTHER to buy the thing! And while we got Detroit TV on cable, TNG was bought by the one channel that wasn't carried! So needless to say I wasn't a happy camper.

I can't remember the exact dates, but I recall we did eventually see Season 1 a couple months after it started (maybe more than a couple months). I also recall there was controversy in my neck of the woods because the programmers at the station that did eventually buy TNG weren't SF fans and I believe Season 2 ended up being scheduled at some ungodly hour like 1 AM. It wasn't till the 3rd season that a) we were guaranteed to actually see the thing and b) they showed it at a half-decent time. So all was well until one of the Spock episodes was preempted by a press conference with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, which pissed a lot of people off (it even made the newspaper).

Ah yes, good times...!

What's interesting in that original clipping is the announcement was made in October 1986 before Star Trek IV was released. My memory was that TNG was commissioned because of STIV's success... memories do cheat!

Alex

HELL I had that problem with ST Voyager when it came out, for almost a full season I couldn't get UPN in my area. One was blacked out and the other station wasn't carried locally. I am proud to say that it was ST FANS complaints that got our cable company to bring the station to our lineup...and then of course that station had the weakest signal on the planet and we couldn't see it all the time. It seems so long ago...that was 1995-96!!!! Before we had digital cable, dvr, streaming video on demand, bluray/dvd, etc. WOW!

My main sense from those who did not immediately accept STNG was simple lack of imagination, narrow-mindedness. Easy to dismiss them after STNG's new success. My sense now in 2011 for the tiny handful who are left, is that they are genuinely distressed that STNG lasted longer, got 80 Emmy noms and was accepted by many of the old as well as new viewing audience, overtaking the old show in almost every respect. As a trek fan, seeing the show proliferated would normally be a good thing, but those people simply can't open themselves up to such ideas. Nope, its better to sit back and hope for the "good ole days" when men's hairstyles were close cropped, there were no women Governors or in the Presidential cabinet (horrors, women who speak their mind!), and things were a bit more simple.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think I used to have the shirt that kid has on. Ah...the 80s.

 

[RandyS]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

Hey, finally something new...er, old.

I've never seen that before.

 

[RAMA]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

Hey, finally something new...er, old.

I've never seen that before.

They had commercials for it in the first few episodes.

 

[Botany Bay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AayLwwvn77s&feature=related

That promo was my first exposure to TNG.

It was included on the video cassette release of STIV:TVH, when I saw it I was speechless with shock and excitement.

I remember watching that trailer maybe 20 times before returing TVH to the video store (remember them? ).

I was convinced the new captain was called Ik-Tarn (thats what I thought that voiceover guy called him), and that he wore a cape

Blurry TV's and videotapes...seems a long time ago now

 

[BillJ]

Imagine the beating the show would've taken had that bridge come to be. The hotel lobby comparisons would've really stuck then.

 

[RandyS]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

Hey, finally something new...er, old.

I've never seen that before.

They had commercials for it in the first few episodes.

Oh. Well, I never pay any attention to commercials anyhow. That drink refill, and bathroom time.

 

[Doug Otte]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

I remember when they announced that contest on the air. I expect the winner was one of the kids in When the Bough Breaks, but that episode would already have been in the can when the season started, wouldn't it? I wonder which episode it was, and which kid?

Doug

 

[JoeD80]

When the Bough Breaks, but that episode would already have been in the can when the season started, wouldn't it?

Nope not in the can yet. The script date on that one was December 1987, so it was definitely filmed after the show started airing.

 

[RAMA]

From the website mentioned below...I remember this contest as if it were yesterday. I wonder who made it!!?

I remember when they announced that contest on the air. I expect the winner was one of the kids in When the Bough Breaks, but that episode would already have been in the can when the season started, wouldn't it? I wonder which episode it was, and which kid?

Doug

Dammit i need to know!

 

[RAMA]

Imagine the beating the show would've taken had that bridge come to be. The hotel lobby comparisons would've really stuck then.

I like it but its probably too much of a good thing. It reminds me of the bridge from the Doctor WHo episode "Robots of Death". There were comfy couches on the bridge althought not in this picture:

http://images.myreviewer.com/fullsize/0000008219.jpg

 

[A beaker full of death]

Re-cast Star Trek!? It'll never work.

Turned out to be prophetic.

 

[David cgc]

Imagine the beating the show would've taken had that bridge come to be. The hotel lobby comparisons would've really stuck then.

At least they wouldn't have had to go to the next room when Picard decided they needed to conference-lounge it out.

 

[RAMA]

Re-cast Star Trek!? It'll never work.

Turned out to be prophetic.

Yup 176 episodes, 80 odd Emmy noms, a writers guild award, 6 Hugo noms and 2 wins, 17 million viewers a week..and 4 films grossing $455 million worldwide later, STNG has been a failure...

RAMA

 

[22 Stars]

I first heard about it on Entertainment Tonight. They had a brief 30-second segement or so covering the official announcement from Paramount.

Didn't get my first look at the crew and the ship until I was thumbing through a May 1987 copy of Star magazine and there was this big double-page spread showing both publicity stills and shots from the first few epsidoes.

There's nothing like hearing about a new Star Trek series coming and the anticipation and speculation of wondering what it'll be like, who the characters are, and what kind of adventures they'll have. It's also interesting to see how the initial premise and concepts change as they refine it during pre-production...

I have this ET clip on VHS somewhere. AND that Star Magazine. It refers to Gates as Cheryl McFadden.

 

[Maxillius]

I think I had that kid's shirt too lol

 

[RAMA]

First cast photo..oh oh, where is Worf??