Re-Doing TNG

[Bry_Sinclair]

Since there are threads for DS9, VOY and ENT about how you would re-do elements of the series, I thought it'd be fun to see what folks would do differently with TNG.

How I'd liked to have seen the senior staff from start to finish:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard remains much the same, though I might've had a few occurances when he'd have direct interaction with the civilians and young people onboard (a concept he is very much opposed to). The 'exception' would be Leslie, who he feels responsible for after the loss of her parents.
Commander William Riker would now be an alien of unknown species, found and raised by human parents. His mother died young and he fell out with his distant father. His search for his true origins would see the character dealing with identity. He would also be bisexual, giving him more opportunities to get his leg over.
Lt. Commander Data is still a male-form Android, though not quite so robotic to begin with (he's had 20 years around biologics to pick up some traits and behaviours). He would also be the Science Officer, providing in depth analyses and scientific-based technobabble, as well as being on away teams.
Lt. Commander Deanna Troi is the ship's Counsellor and Liaison Officer, as such more would be made of her diplomatic skills and working with the public. She would be an accomplished linguist as well as an expert in xenology, she is a walking encyclopedia of alien cultures. She would be in uniform throughout, and would even be left in command at times.
Lieutenant Geordi La Forge is the Chief Engineer from day one. He would still be blind but would have occular implants instead of the VISOR, which still allow him to see far better than any other human. He is still unlucky with women.
Lieutenant Natasha Yar is a tough, no-nonsense officer, who takes her role as Security Chief very seriously. She is fiercely protective of all those onboard, especially the Captain, who she admires greatly. Her tough childhood on a failed colony has caused lots of trust issues, especially with men.
Lieutenant Selar is the Vulcan Chief Medical Officer. Efficient and practical, she is considered one of the best doctors in the fleet, despite her cool bedside manner. Whilst Troi tries to help Data understand and explore emotions, Selar provides his with the opposite view.
Lieutenant JG Thorferich "Thorf" ch'Sehrn is the Andorian Conn Officer. Soft spoken but with the heart of a warrior, he has a code of honour by which he lives. He has a close friendship with Yar, often sparring when off-duty.
Ensign Leslie Crusher is the ship's new Operations Officer, she oversees communications, computers and management of shipboard systems. The daughter of Picard's oldest friends, he feels responsible following the death of her parents, so he saw she was well looked after and fast-tracked into the Academy once she applied

The bridge would also be more like it was in Generations, with Data sitting at the starboard side consoles.

 

[BillJ]

So you got rid of one of the series most popular characters... doesn't seem to make much sense. Changing Crusher's sex makes sense, getting rid of Dr. Crusher doesn't as you lose a character dynamic that is popular with a lot of fans. Keep Yar (maybe have her do double duty as XO and security chief) and shift Worf back to his "Jack of All Trades" bridge role. Ditch Riker entirely. Give Data the "unknown alien creators" trait as was originally intended. Create a new chief engineer character. Leave LaForge at the helm.

 

[Disco]

Taking Worf out of TNG is like taking the heart out of the show. Some of best episodes were exploring Klingon culture.

I like the changes to Wesley and the idea of an Andorian on board.

 

[Makarov]

Picard permanently loses his hand after being rescued from the borg. He wears a glove for the rest of the series. He wrings his arm in moments of anger and tension. There's also an episode where he has to get his arm replaced. Whenever anyone mentions the borg the entire bridge goes silent and Picard becomes a complete bad ass that would make Jellico seem fun. Starfleet now calls Picard whenever they need to deal with the borg.

Guinan tries to reason with Picard about Hugh in "I, Borg" and he throws her off the ship. She does not reappear for the rest of the series.

Geordi gradually gets better with women over the course of the series and ends up a married family man. He wears the visor forever. He has more moments of captaining the ship.

Picard punches Sisko in the face with his prosthetic arm when he brings up wolf 359. Sisko wears an eyepatch for the entire run of DS9 resulting from this incident.

Barclay gets promoted to a bridge position.

Picard destroys the entire borg collective in First Contact and they never appear in Voyager.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

So you got rid of one of the series most popular characters... doesn't seem to make much sense.

Taking Worf out of TNG is like taking the heart out of the show. Some of best episodes were exploring Klingon culture.

Personally, I've never found the Klingons very interesting and Worf with all his 'honour this' and 'honour that' just grew to be dull after a while.

Maybe rename my Andorian and have Worf on as a recurring character, but in a more "unconventional" role--like that of a science officer or nurse.

 

[DarKush]

Hmm...It was a pretty good show so let's see how I would have 'improved' it.

-Maybe change Wesley Crusher to Leslie Crusher. Whatever, I would have aged the character and had them as the helmsman on the Enterprise-D, with a chip on their shoulder over Jack Crusher's death.
-Tasha's 'death' would happen in Season 1, but it would be connected to the Borg attacks along the Romulan border and the resurgence of the Romulans. Tasha would be assumed dead, but found or captured by the Romulans. Sela might be Tasha's brainwashed identity or maybe Tasha willingly joined the Romulans who felt that Starfleet had abandoned her.
-Tomalak would be a recurring villain.
-Geordi would start off as Chief Engineer. Perhaps he could have been something of an engineering prodigy. He would also have a better love life, his family would be on the show earlier, and he would get laid.
-Probably would've done a follow up to "Conspiracy".
-Turned "Best of Both Worlds" into a three-parter, with the second act focused on the Battle of Wolf 359.

-For the movies:
-In "Generations" Crusher is the person Picard imagines having the family with within the Nexus. I would use the Ferengi instead of the Duras sisters for the heavies, along with Soran. In part because I want to see the D'Kora class marauder on the big screen. I would've put the Duras sisters up to scheming in the Dominion War and let them meet their end after their Vichy-like regime falls on DS9.
-In "Insurrection" would've tied that more into the Dominion War. And had the Enterprise-E face off against the Jem'Hadar.
-With "Nemesis" would've put the Romulans more front and center. Shinzon, played by Patrick Stewart, would be gunning for Romulus instead of Earth and the Enterprise would help the Romulans stop him. The end result would've been peace between the Federation and Romulans. I would've had Riker on the Titan so he could in like Sulu on the Excelsior to lend a hand in the final battle. Worf would still be an ambassador and not back on the ship. I would've set it up for Geordi to become a first officer aboard Titan or another ship, with hints of him becoming a captain (I really liked Captain LaForge in "Timeless")

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Hmm...It was a pretty good show so let's see how I would have 'improved' it.

-Maybe change Wesley Crusher to Leslie Crusher. Whatever, I would have aged the character and had them as the helmsman on the Enterprise-D, with a chip on their shoulder over Jack Crusher's death.
-Tasha's 'death' would happen in Season 1, but it would be connected to the Borg attacks along the Romulan border and the resurgence of the Romulans. Tasha would be assumed dead, but found or captured by the Romulans. Sela might be Tasha's brainwashed identity or maybe Tasha willingly joined the Romulans who felt that Starfleet had abandoned her.
-Tomalak would be a recurring villain.
-Geordi would start off as Chief Engineer. Perhaps he could have been something of an engineering prodigy. He would also have a better love life, his family would be on the show earlier, and he would get laid.
-Probably would've done a follow up to "Conspiracy".
-Turned "Best of Both Worlds" into a three-parter, with the second act focused on the Battle of Wolf 359.

-For the movies:
-In "Generations" Crusher is the person Picard imagines having the family with within the Nexus. I would use the Ferengi instead of the Duras sisters for the heavies, along with Soran. In part because I want to see the D'Kora class marauder on the big screen. I would've put the Duras sisters up to scheming in the Dominion War and let them meet their end after their Vichy-like regime falls on DS9.
-In "Insurrection" would've tied that more into the Dominion War. And had the Enterprise-E face off against the Jem'Hadar.
-With "Nemesis" would've put the Romulans more front and center. Shinzon, played by Patrick Stewart, would be gunning for Romulus instead of Earth and the Enterprise would help the Romulans stop him. The end result would've been peace between the Federation and Romulans. I would've had Riker on the Titan so he could in like Sulu on the Excelsior to lend a hand in the final battle. Worf would still be an ambassador and not back on the ship. I would've set it up for Geordi to become a first officer aboard Titan or another ship, with hints of him becoming a captain (I really liked Captain LaForge in "Timeless")

All grand ideas, especially "Nemesis".

After 'Sela' was revealed, would you have her stay with the Romulans or ultimately return to Starfleet (and the Enterprise).

 

[nonbelligerency]

Getting rid of 'Wesley Crusher' is the only thing that needed done.

That and maybe keeping Ro as a permanent bridge officer.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I won't go character by character, but general changes.

-Ship is in deep space, close enough to communicate with Starfleet but not to be frequently involved in politics. Trips to Earth are few and a big event when they occur.

-Wesley is still a genius and good for the occasional clever idea but his inexperience shows through more. His personality is more like a real teenager. Due to his intelligence he is very vain and thinks he knows better than other people and he has to learn to follow authority, and not doing so because he thinks he knows better gets him in trouble early on.

-More women, more aliens in the cast. More mentioning aliens with different environmental needs like much shorter or longer sleep cycles, dietary needs, respiratory needs, etc.

-More recurring secondary characters. Like, Geordi's engineering team is more consistent.

-Make the ship less beige and blah.

-Show the civilian culture on the ship more.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also now that you mention Data's origins, maybe he actually was made by Khan. That would be cool, and maybe it's discovered by Geordi who keeps it a secret for a while because he knows what assumption people will make. And Data has to struggle with the fact that he was originally created to be an instrument of conquering, and when it finally comes out, the crew of the Enterprise trusts him but everybody else thinks he should be dismantled.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Commander William Riker would now be an alien of unknown species, found and raised by human parents. His mother died young and he fell out with his distant father. His search for his true origins would see the character dealing with identity. He would also be bisexual, giving him more opportunities to get his leg over.

Sounds like you've combined Worf and Data and given the result Riker's name.

 

[FormerLurker]

Getting rid of 'Wesley Crusher' is the only thing that needed done.

No. This below is a far better idea.

-Wesley is still a genius and good for the occasional clever idea but his inexperience shows through more. His personality is more like a real teenager. Due to his intelligence he is very vain and thinks he knows better than other people and he has to learn to follow authority, and not doing so because he thinks he knows better gets him in trouble early on.

I think as a result of some or other screwup, Wesley should end up not being allowed on the Bridge until he demonstrates that he can follow orders, and actually contribute. Probably at the end of Season One. Wesley could even be the one who discovers that the Romulans don't know what actually happened to the bases along the Neutral Zone. He has occasional conversations with Picard in the Ready Room, going from it directly to the turbolift and back, and is caught between them when Offenhaus calls out the Romulans, hearing everything. Wes then goes to some scanning station in Engineering or some such and verifies what Offenhaus said.

 

[suarezguy]

Instead of Data being less robotic to begin with, have him be discovered more recently and start him out at a lower rank and position so his personal and professional growth are more in sync.
Have more supporting characters in both sickbay (at least Selar) and engineering and feature more of Crusher and La Forge as leaders. Agreed that La Forge should have improved his interactions with women.
Have Wesley be at most an observer in engineering and maybe the bridge for much of the beginning.

 

[JJohnson]

Pretty good ideas there, everyone! It's fun coming up with some alternatives...each one opens up new possibilities for story ideas to explore the 'final frontier.'

Another possibility:

Captain Picard: just about the same
Commander Riker: pretty much the same, but does get promoted off the show onto his own ship. He still shows himself as ambitious, but it's much more obvious that Picard is grooming him for the center seat.
Lt Cdr Troi: Every Betazoid looks Nordic with vividly blue or green eyes that give off an iridescence that lets you know they're not really human. Still telepathic, but only with physical contact, or after having a deep emotional bond with someone (like Riker, ahem)
Dr Crusher: full-blooded Scottish, deep red hair, has a bit of a temper, occasionally spouts off in Scottish Gaelic. Not sure which actress could do this new version of Crusher convincingly though. Has identical twin, Leslie's aunt, who helped her get through the loss of Jack, whom she called 'that daft American,' but secretly looked up to and had the hots for.
Lt Yar: imagine Nikki Stanley (martial artist on Youtube) in her fighting ability, not the half-judo-chop stuff we got. This Yar looked up to Starfleet, and we get to explore her psyche a bit more, and see her ease into being more feminine, but she knows multiple martial arts and weapons and could still kick anyone's rear in a fight.
Leslie Crusher: has a bit of an ego with her high intelligence, but after making a mistake that gets the ship in a lot of trouble, she realizes that experience and following orders matter just as much, if not more, than just being smart. This epiphany happens midway through the first season, after which we see Leslie becoming more well-rounded and less annoying. Still a prodigy, just more willing to work within the system and less of a Sheldon about her own intelligence. Maybe Alexandra Daddario at one point.
Worf: still Klingon, but I would like to see less of him wanting to shoot everything and have Riker/Picard tell him to stuff it (which, even though it's been a while, seems to have happened a lot in TNG), and more of him being strategic tactician kind of tactical officer, with the kind of guile that the TOS Klingons seemed to have, just more honor than them.
Data: same, but if he's going to be learning about humankind, make him a Lt and very fresh, because it would make more sense than someone who spent 20+ years in Starfleet and never having heard "snoop around." (Encounter at Farpoint). Science officer, rather than operations officer. It seems to be more useful for his talents to be in science.
Lt La Forge: assistant Chief engineer for the first season, with the tech-eyes instead of visor, but is actively promoted to Chief Engineer after several ingenious saves of the Enterprise throughout the first year.
Others: I'd like to see more aliens - Bolians, Bajorans, Orions (female), Andorians - to show the diversity of the crew, and in the case of the Orions, that the ENT episode got it wrong, that a female Orion can work on the ship without it driving everyone loony. Have these officers be guest stars with their own storylines like Garak, and when the story's done, rotate them off to another ship.

Stories:
Best of Both Worlds: more cinematic movie event, with First-Contact-like Borg infecting ships as they try to attack, after which Riker gets his own ship, Shelby (with a new actress) becomes first officer on Enterprise, and ruffles feathers along the way. Riker takes Troi and maybe one or two others with him (who would work well with Riker?) so that other minor characters can get a chance to shine. The ship rotation would enable new actors to get their moment in the sun, and mimic real crew rotation like in the Navy.
-show Leslie maturing into a capable officer/Ensign, esp. one with valuable scientific insights. Works well with Data and La Forge.
-show Crusher through the course of the first season reconciling with Picard, whom she blamed for her husband's death.
-stand-alone episode format, so you can jump in any time, but with a season arc so that you get the feeling of progress to some big event at the end of the season.
-Show more human colony worlds, maybe show some 'ideal society' type colonies and whether or not they'd succeed (what if a bunch of French try to form their own communist state on a new planet, with no outside influence. would it work? Or a bunch of Irish found a colony based on the pre-English Irish government, and all speak Gaelic. How would that evolve? Or a Bavarian colony which speaks Middle German?) You don't need to have every story have a technobabble answer. More stories that make you think and explore the human condition work just as well, like TOS did.

Ship: Keep the Enterprise D mostly as it was, but with the Generations-style bridge as an upgrade maybe a year or two in to give it a visual refresh. Show the main shuttlebay, and random rooms we never saw in our TNG.
-other ships: Show more than just Miranda and original Excelsior ships: show Ent-B-type Excelsior as at least 1/3 to 2/5 of all Excelsior ships, Constitution, Constellation, Akira, Norway, Centaur, and other ships in the fleet.

Uniforms: use my own idea for uniforms, with flashbacks using some of the conjectural uniforms I've seen here before that looked really good as transitions from Movie era to TNG era. Show Starfleet as more military, but having gotten a bit soft until the Borg incursion, with that showing that it's necessary to expand Starfleet and toughen them up a bit.

Just a few random ideas.

 

[Marsden]

Picard permanently loses his hand after being rescued from the borg. He wears a glove for the rest of the series. He wrings his arm in moments of anger and tension. There's also an episode where he has to get his arm replaced. Whenever anyone mentions the borg the entire bridge goes silent and Picard becomes a complete bad ass that would make Jellico seem fun. Starfleet now calls Picard whenever they need to deal with the borg.

Guinan tries to reason with Picard about Hugh in "I, Borg" and he throws her off the ship. She does not reappear for the rest of the series.

Geordi gradually gets better with women over the course of the series and ends up a married family man. He wears the visor forever. He has more moments of captaining the ship.

Picard punches Sisko in the face with his prosthetic arm when he brings up wolf 359. Sisko wears an eyepatch for the entire run of DS9 resulting from this incident.

Barclay gets promoted to a bridge position.

Picard destroys the entire borg collective in First Contact and they never appear in Voyager.

I absolutely love this post.

 

[DarKush]

Bry,

I hadn't thought about what would happen with "Sela". One idea I had for Nemesis though was that Sela (the Romulan daughter version) would work with Captain Picard-perhaps against her will-to hunt down Shinzon. Since Shinzon is a Picard clone, the Romulans and Federation think that Picard can think like him and hopefully stop him.

Another thing I want to add to the redo, I would develop the Picard-Crusher relationship in the movies. Starting with Picard's fantasy of Beverly in Generations, I would slowly build it up over the course of the movies.

 

[T'Girl]

Starting with Picard's fantasy of Beverly in Generations

Nah, that should have been Vash. But if the fantasy wife/mother in Generations had been Beverly, then how (if at all) would you have dealt with Picard's relationship with Anij in Insurrection? Having Picard building a relationship with Beverly would have basically precluded him (in the eyes of the fans) from having any romantic feelings toward Anij.

 

[Kinggodzillak]

That and maybe keeping Ro as a permanent bridge officer.

This. Throwing Ro on the scrapheap after season 5 is the single biggest mistake TNG made. Forbes doesn't want to be a regular, but she'd like to carry on recurring? Fine. Keep bringing her in every two or three episodes then, don't just drop her altogether. Such a waste.

 

[kirkfan]

That and maybe keeping Ro as a permanent bridge officer.

This. Throwing Ro on the scrapheap after season 5 is the single biggest mistake TNG made. Forbes doesn't want to be a regular, but she'd like to carry on recurring? Fine. Keep bringing her in every two or three episodes then, don't just drop her altogether. Such a waste.

Except maybe that the actress left of her own accord.

 

[DarKush]

Starting with Picard's fantasy of Beverly in Generations

Nah, that should have been Vash. But if the fantasy wife/mother in Generations had been Beverly, then how (if at all) would you have dealt with Picard's relationship with Anij in Insurrection? Having Picard building a relationship with Beverly would have basically precluded him (in the eyes of the fans) from having any romantic feelings toward Anij.

That would be fine with me. To me the relationship with Anji was pretty meaningless. I would much rather have watched the movies build up the Picard-Crusher relationship over several films than to have Picard with a one-movie love interest. And perhaps it would've been a nice nod to fans of the All Good Things future.