TNG: Expand the Universe

[Arpy]

One of the things I like about DS9 is the myriad recurring characters. Say TNG had a larger recurring cast...beyond Guinan, Ro, Barclay, Kurn, O'Brien, Lwaxana/Homm, Q, Gowron, Keiko, and Ogawa. Plus the asian male nurse and the spiky-haired woman extra. Who would you like to see?

 

[Shikarnov]

One of the things I like about DS9 is the myriad recurring characters. Say TNG had a larger recurring cast...beyond Guinan, Ro, Barclay, Kurn, O'Brien, Lwaxana/Homm, Q, Gowron, Keiko, and Ogawa. Plus the asian male nurse and the spiky-haired woman extra. Who would you like to see?

Tomalak would have made an interesting recurring character as a foil for Picard. At least the Tomalak from "The Enemy," not the caricature they made of him in AGT (both in behavior and in appearance).

On the ship itself, I would have liked to see more of Robin Lefler and Sonya Gomez. Both had such rich personalities that would have added a lot to the show.

Elizabeth Shelby might also have been great to see more of. She had a lot of strength and passion that could have pushed TNG to a whole new level -- assuming the writers didn't tame her pretty quickly.

 

[Arpy]

I sometimes wonder about the department heads...stellar cartography, xenobiology, etc. The regulars were in constant contact with them as part of their duties buy we never saw them. I think they might have made for some pretty interesting characters. Maybe even some stunt casting too if you wanted to take it in a more playful "special guest-star of the week" direction. It would have been interesting for an episode to be all about the antics of a team that ultimately reports to say Data or Riker. Sort of a "Lower Decks" episode or an X-Files ep carried by the Lone Gunmen.

 

[HaventGotALife]

I sometimes wonder about the department heads...stellar cartography, xenobiology, etc. The regulars were in constant contact with them as part of their duties buy we never saw them. I think they might have made for some pretty interesting characters. Maybe even some stunt casting too if you wanted to take it in a more playful "special guest-star of the week" direction. It would have been interesting for an episode to be all about the antics of a team that ultimately reports to say Data or Riker. Sort of a "Lower Decks" episode or an X-Files ep carried by the Lone Gunmen.

TOS used to do this. We saw department heads, a new navigator (until Chekov) every week, we saw the crew interact with each other in the mess. I think that's something we miss in the other incarnations of Trek.

 

[Arpy]

I don't know how recurring they could be, but there were lots of characters I wish we'd seen again. Commander Maddox was a jerk but changeable. I wish he'd come back in say season 5 or 6 with some new cybernetic issue to explore. One more episode would have been good. Though, come to think of it, they did sort of do this with the Moriarty character. God, I felt for him at the end of his first episode - waiting in cybernetic oblivion for modern science to set him free.

Gul Macet might have been an interesting character to return later too. What would a good Cardassian soldier be like when his people are in expansionist mode and he's outnumbered by Guls like Madred and Lemec. How tragic, and awesome, when you feel for the enemy attacking your ship - like the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror". Then again, we don't know that Macet was any good. And you know, although he wasn't as complex, I do have a soft spot for the Cardassian we did get later - Gul Evek.