The 'ER' Approach to TNG...

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

And I agree that redoing Data's face to let another actor play him if Brent Spiner (who I now affectionately call 'BS' after Nemesis ) wanted out was the best route. Hell, make Data a woman. The only real obligations there were the way the character was written and the gold skin/yellow eyes/brown hair.

Heck they could've brought in the actress that played Lal to be the "female" Data. It would've been television's first transgender android. Talk about breaking barriers.

 

[Rarewolf]

Can't say I'm a big fan of 'revolving door' cast type shows, where all the original members leave. The X Files got silly after Duchovny moved on (even though I like Robert Patrick).

It's one of those things if you are going to do you really need to do from the 2nd year onwards - have a set cast for 6+ years then the loss of even on character and the absence is going to notice. Whereas if change is part of the series it's easier to get away with it.

So I suppose if Gates hadn't comeback and one or two others got out early it could have gone that way.

 

[Alrik]

I hate to be the one who goes against the flow, but I would hate the idea of doing to TNG what they did to ER. As a few have already mentioned, TNG was never designed for that kind of concept.For me, after 7 years, to start writing out cast members and replacing them with other just wouldn't 'feel' like TNG anymore.

 

[Praetor]

Can't say I'm a big fan of 'revolving door' cast type shows, where all the original members leave. The X Files got silly after Duchovny moved on (even though I like Robert Patrick).

It's one of those things if you are going to do you really need to do from the 2nd year onwards - have a set cast for 6+ years then the loss of even on character and the absence is going to notice. Whereas if change is part of the series it's easier to get away with it.

So I suppose if Gates hadn't comeback and one or two others got out early it could have gone that way.

Well, Yar did go in the first, and Wesley in - what- the 4th? but I see your point.

And Alrik, I see what you're saying too. But I was thinking if they carried forward enough of the crew, before everyone from the pilot was gone, that maybe it would be enough to pass the torch.

 

[Red Ranger]

I think in order for the concept to be successful, TNG would have had to start out as an ensemble show. It never was that. It had echoes of ensemble, but it was very reliant on the characters of Picard and Data. The concept would have worked much better with DS9, which was a true ensemble show. The show could have survived the exit of any number of its stars.

I think had Voyager not been spun off, introducing Janeway, Tuvok, Paris, and Kim would have been brilliant. By season 10 shall we say maybe they get temporarily stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

Sounds good. Temporarily stranding Enterprise in the Delta Quadrant would be in line with the idea of season-long arcs. Unfortunately, that means they probably would've introduced Neelix if they were stranded there! Ahhh! -- RR

 

[Praetor]

Touchee! But perhaps this time, Neelix is introduced as a more interesting character!

 

[Alrik]

Can't say I'm a big fan of 'revolving door' cast type shows, where all the original members leave. The X Files got silly after Duchovny moved on (even though I like Robert Patrick).

It's one of those things if you are going to do you really need to do from the 2nd year onwards - have a set cast for 6+ years then the loss of even on character and the absence is going to notice. Whereas if change is part of the series it's easier to get away with it.

So I suppose if Gates hadn't comeback and one or two others got out early it could have gone that way.

Well, Yar did go in the first, and Wesley in - what- the 4th? but I see your point.

And Alrik, I see what you're saying too. But I was thinking if they carried forward enough of the crew, before everyone from the pilot was gone, that maybe it would be enough to pass the torch.

I hear what you are saying, but to be honest, if it was going to be done with any of the series, it would have been best suited for DS9. TNG carried too much of the original Trek feel with it. Those crews each seemed like a singular unit. You knew them, you knew what to expect from them and they always came through. Maybe its a comfort thing, like a well worn leather jacket.

DS9 was the series that opened up the Trek Universe to something new and different. Actually it was the closest to what is suggested. With the addition of Worf, killing off Dukat's daughter and Jadzia, and introducing Ezri and a new love interest for Ben. Plus with the Dominion and the War there were a large group of recuring supporting roles to play with. I definately believe that would have been the series that the ER treatment would have worked best for.

 

[mirandafave]

^^ DS9 would have been more suited to the ER approach. Even now you could pick the DS9 series up a few years later and have some old and some new faces and make it work and feel consistent and part of the original conception of the DS9 show. The TNG Enterprise crew you couldn't do that. Sure even in the movies they usually had to contrive some way to get Worf back on board.

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

I want to point out that in the beginning, both TOS and TNG had a core main cast, along with lots of guest stars as officers on the ship.

In TOS's first season especially, we saw several different helm and navigation officers, like Hanson, Riley, Spinelli, and Stiles, one security chief, Giotto, and any number of other science, command, and operations officers, like Boma, Gaetano, Jaeger, LaSalle, and the ubiquitous Leslie.

And in TNG's first season, there were several engineers, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch, a few conn and ops officers who rotated on and off the bridge, such as O'Brien, Solis, Su, and Torres, as well as a parade of other command, science, and operations officers, far more than in subsequent seasons.

Now, these were guest stars, not regulars, but still, you get the idea.

Come to think of it, NYPD Blue was like that in its first season as well, with a number of guest stars serving as detectives in the precinct before they settled on using the regulars all the time on all cases.

Red Ranger