TNG producers lack of planning for the Big Screen.

[ConRefit79]

I'm pretty sure there was never a plan for Khan to be a reoccurring arch villain. But in Space Seed, he was a dead serious and cunning adversary. There was so much to work with the character, that Bennet and Meyer were able to use him to create the most popular Star Trek movie ever.

I'm certain TNG's producers were aware of this. But despite that knowledge, they failed to create a similar adversary for the TNG crew after 7 seasons of TV. Sure we have the Borg, but they're like the TOS's Klingons. The Borg Queen may be the closest they got. But many people didn't like how that changed the Borg. Q ended up being more of comedic adversary. Bok could have been, due to his desire to get revenge on Picard for killing his son. But he and Ferengi in general became more comedic. I know they were trying to do that in Nemesis, but it didn't work for many reasons.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Maybe they could've given Conspiracy the WOK treatment
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=265711

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

TNG movies just weren't thought out well enough in general, in my opinion-

I don't like the notion that there has to be a singular "Arch Villain" in the films.

"Star Trek IV- The Voyage Home" proved you can make a very successful film without a villain. Its about ideas.

I just think Berman/Piller/Braga/Moore maybe did so much TV Trek and didn't have a break that they couldn't step back to really think through a Feature -level story.

It would have been prudent to turn to Nimoy/Bennett/Meyer for a story idea- since they were very successful in the past- and Moore, etc. work from that idea. Star Trek 2, 4, 6- had something to say. TNG movies didn't really say anything- maybe "Generations" said something about "time"...

The TNG producers did lack planning- I agree with this thread.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'd argue that Khan was an accidental adversary. Gene Coon could not have imagined in 1967 that Khan would reappear fifteen years later in a film. It was a happy accident that Coon ended "Space Seed" in such a way that suggested that Khan could be revisited.

I'd also note that the 24th-century series were much better at mining their own mythology than the original series was. A recurring baddie could come back on television, because that's the way 80s and 90s television worked, while in the 1960s the original series was much more anthologized and the past wasn't revisited.

 

[Lance]

They should've re-used Sela.

I'm not that fond of the character, but if there was any one villain that I think could've been mined for a 'personal connection to the characters' (via Tasha Yar), as well as wanted revenge against them (for having spoiled her plans in the series), then Sela could definitely have been brought back/reimagined ala Khan. Perhaps as a rogue element who has been cast off from Romulus, and is now simply out for revenge on Picard at all costs (etc).

I do think they were too hasty in killing off the Duras sisters, too. They could've been a long term recurring villain, or else have been re-used in DS9 when the Klingon War flared up (not to mention the whole 'Duras' thing, a personal connection to Worf). But because the writers of Generations decided to arbitarily kill them off with the stroke of a pen, then none of that ever got to happen.

 

[Cyke101]

I thought using the Duras sisters was a major waste, only because they're hardly the most engaging individual villains TNG ever had. And they were reduced to pawns anyway -- purely extraneous to the plot. Soren could have had anyone be his henchmen, really, and it wouldn't have made a lick of difference to the story.

 

[Melakon]

A movie screen Q story might have been able to go darker than any Q before, with Humanity's trial finally ended, and sentence carried out. But it would have been too little time since "All Good Things..."

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I'd argue that Khan was an accidental adversary. Gene Coon could not have imagined in 1967 that Khan would reappear fifteen years later in a film. It was a happy accident that Coon ended "Space Seed" in such a way that suggested that Khan could be revisited.

Even if "Space Seed" concluded with something less open ended, a film producer can retcon anything, and the public would not miss a beat accepting it.

I'd also note that the 24th-century series were much better at mining their own mythology than the original series was. A recurring baddie could come back on television, because that's the way 80s and 90s television worked, while in the 1960s the original series was much more anthologized and the past wasn't revisited.

In the 60's, series such as The Wild, Wild West, Batman, The Avengers, Get Smart and others had recurring villains, and occasionally referred to earlier plots. Granted, it was not what would be seen two decades later, but it was definitely there.

 

[Cyke101]

I'd argue that Khan was an accidental adversary. Gene Coon could not have imagined in 1967 that Khan would reappear fifteen years later in a film. It was a happy accident that Coon ended "Space Seed" in such a way that suggested that Khan could be revisited.

Even if "Space Seed" concluded with something less open ended, a film producer can retcon anything, and the public would not miss a beat accepting it.

I'd also note that the 24th-century series were much better at mining their own mythology than the original series was. A recurring baddie could come back on television, because that's the way 80s and 90s television worked, while in the 1960s the original series was much more anthologized and the past wasn't revisited.

In the 60's, series such as The Wild, Wild West, Batman, The Avengers, Get Smart and others had recurring villains, and occasionally referred to earlier plots. Granted, it was not what would be seen two decades later, but it was definitely there.

TOS wasn't totally alone, in the case of Harry Mudd. Still, as you point out, recurring villains were much more common in the 80s than the 60s.

I cut Batman some slack in that regard, though. They hired celebrities to play the villains, so they were always a draw. Many viewers even tuned in depending on the villain.

 

[xvicente]

TNG movie series could have been awsome it there had been no Wrath of Khan.

The biggest proof TWOK wasn't set up by Space Seed is that the planet exploded and Khan and his gang looked like poor desert bums. Had they followed the ending of the original episode, Khan's planet would be a superpower by TNG's time and Picard would be in a big pickle like Spock predicted.