Why all the family reunion episodes in Season 7?

[TroiFan4ever]

I really don't mean to ASK why, just something I notice. My mistake. lol

We got...

Data and Lore in "Descent 2"
Geordi and his mom in "Interface"
Troi and her mother and sisters in "Dark Page"
Data and his "mother" in "Inheritance"
Worf and his foster brother in "Homeward"
Beverly and her grandmother in "Sub Rosa"
Wesley, his mother, and other ancestors in "Journey's End"
Worf, Alexander and the future version of him in "Firstborn"
Picard and his "son" in "Bloodlines"
and then we got Picard getting married to Beverly in "All Good Things..."

It's also interesting how "Brothers" is a Season 4 family-oriented episode. But listen to this: When Braga was the author of "Genesis" he originally intended for it to be a Season 4 episode, but it got procrastinated until Season 7. Since this was basically the "family reunion" season, wouldn't it have made more sense to shelf "Brothers" for Season 7 and let "Genesis" made its way to the cameras in Season 4?

Also, I listened to the commentary of when this season was being made and how they did in fact intend for this to be the family season. Interesting it is because it's the last season.

Since it was done on purpose, both hours of "Birthright" could've been saved for Season 7!

 

[Trekker4747]

Probably because most of the good writers had moved to DS9 at that point, were working on the upcoming movie or even the upcoming series. This left most of the mediocre writers behind to do a bulk of the work and it may have also been felt some family details needed exploring since the opportunity to do so wouldn't be around much longer.

But blame a thin writing staff and, mostly, Jeri Taylor.

 

[Namikaze]

I remember watching all of those episodes on television during my teenage years. I can't say I hated them, except for Sub Rosa, as it reminded me of a pulp romance novel.

 

[SchwEnt]

It's also interesting how "Brothers" is a Season 4 family-oriented episode. But listen to this: When Braga was the author of "Genesis" he originally intended for it to be a Season 4 episode, but it got procrastinated until Season 7. Since this was basically the "family reunion" season, wouldn't it have made more sense to shelf "Brothers" for Season 7 and let "Genesis" made its way to the cameras in Season 4?

How could Braga know in Season 4 if there's gonna be a Season 7?

 

[Cyke101]

It's also interesting how "Brothers" is a Season 4 family-oriented episode. But listen to this: When Braga was the author of "Genesis" he originally intended for it to be a Season 4 episode, but it got procrastinated until Season 7. Since this was basically the "family reunion" season, wouldn't it have made more sense to shelf "Brothers" for Season 7 and let "Genesis" made its way to the cameras in Season 4?

How could Braga know in Season 4 if there's gonna be a Season 7?

For that matter, I doubt they planned three seasons in advance to have a family theme.

Rather, I believe that because it was Season 7, the cast and crew wanted to give each of the big 7 at least one focus episode each to tell their backstories, and the easiest place to start is to explore their personal lives in some form or way (something that was rarely done in the previous 6). In a sense, I'd also list Riker and Pegasus, as Starfleet is mostly the closest thing to a family Riker has.

 

[Ln X]

I liked all the family reunion episodes in season 7. Mind you I didn't realize how many until this thread popped up. I'm surprised all the main seven character's backstories were developed so much in the last season. Still you've got to start somewhere, and they did squander the first two seasons, so they're making up on lost episodes with all the family stuff.

 

[doubleohfive]

I think the OP is forgetting that by and large, TNG was a family-friendly show.

It's also interesting how "Brothers" is a Season 4 family-oriented episode. But listen to this: When Braga was the author of "Genesis" he originally intended for it to be a Season 4 episode, but it got procrastinated until Season 7. Since this was basically the "family reunion" season, wouldn't it have made more sense to shelf "Brothers" for Season 7 and let "Genesis" made its way to the cameras in Season 4?

There's no way anyone on staff during the fourth season was worried about what to do/save for season seven. Its a ludicrous notion that they had planned anything that far in advance. Braga was just getting started on the show at the time, and if I remember correctly he was still an intern, or at least a first-year writer. In other words, it was his first actual gig on a show. No way would he get first dibs on a script in that kind of environment, and certainly not against the showrunner (Rick Berman, who wrote "Brothers.")

The more likely explanation is that while "Genesis" may well have been an idea Braga had been kicking around as far back as season 4, it likely either wasn't as well-developed or fit the preference and "voice" of the show at the time. It's also likely that by the time season seven rolled around and the writers were grasping for ideas to finish out the series, Braga still had this in his back pocket and seized the opportunity to get it produced.

 

[Brikar99]

I've always just taken it as a sign that the show was just one year too long in the tooth. It felt like a sitcom trotting out all these previously unseen family members.

 

[MikeS]

Season seven definitely has it's moments, Parrallels, The Pegasus, The Maquis, All Good Things. And I think it's nice they had the time to wrap up a few arcs.

 

[Ln X]

I really liked the Gambit as well. No I thought season 7 was about the same as seasons 5 and 6. There were some weird episodes like Genesis, and that one were Data becomes a Mayan god. But at least it started to really explore the characters, and everyone (the main characters) got at least one episode devoted to them. So it was balanced, good feng shui, and I like that.

 

[Alrik]

There were some weird episodes like Genesis, and that one were Data becomes a Mayan god. .

Masks

 

[Jon1701]

We nearly got Geordi's sister too. The Force of Nature 'B' story was supposed to revolve around her coming on board to help Geordi get through his mothers death. I think, at that point, they realised they had already had too much family stuff that season but it was too late to totally rewrite the script.

It also explains why Geordi and Data spend the first 15 minutes of the episode talking about Spot, a plot strand that goes nowhere at all...

As for the season itself, its weak. The reasons have been discussed before.

I like Gambit, Paralells, The Pegasus, AGT. The rest are largely forgettable.

 

[BillJ]

The writing staff was running on fumes by season seven...

 

[RAMA]

The producers specifically planned it that way...I recalled reading about it months before season 7 came out. Its a mixed bag of eps, and I find most of the stories to have shoehorned elements that were not necessary.

RAMA

 

[SchwEnt]

We nearly got Geordi's sister too. The Force of Nature 'B' story was supposed to revolve around her coming on board to help Geordi get through his mothers death. I think, at that point, they realised they had already had too much family stuff that season but it was too late to totally rewrite the script.

It also explains why Geordi and Data spend the first 15 minutes of the episode talking about Spot, a plot strand that goes nowhere at all...

As for the season itself, its weak. The reasons have been discussed before.

I like Gambit, Paralells, The Pegasus, AGT. The rest are largely forgettable.

The bit with Spot, I guess, is to illustrate how cats as a "Force of Nature" can't be trained or controlled. Get it? "Force of Nature"??

 

[Ln X]

The producers specifically planned it that way...I recalled reading about it months before season 7 came out. Its a mixed bag of eps, and I find most of the stories to have shoehorned elements that were not necessary.

RAMA

Parts of season seven may have been a little blander than season 6, but it is full of interesting episodes. I like all the family/drama stuff, for me it's very interesting and engaging, and I like emotive stuff. So I like the feel of season 7.

 

[Dr. Crusher]

I really like season 7 a lot. Season 6 was great, too, but I think there were a lot of "reset button" episodes in season 6. The great thing about "reset button" episodes is that literally anything can happen after them (to some degree--I do understand that it isn't exactly unlimited, and I know that not all season 6 episodes fall into this category), but family-oriented episodes, especially those introducing new characters, actually gave the characters some depth. Some of the best TNG episodes were great plots but had very little bearing on developing the characters or giving the audience any more information about them. Many season 7 episodes filled in these blanks, but I think they waited a little too long to introduce them. It would probably have been better if they had "peppered" them in throughout the series.

 

[indolover]

Season 7 was mixed, some stinkers and some good episodes. As others have said, maybe most of the top writing talent went to DS9 at that point. it makes sense, since TNG was wrapping up anyhow.

 

[tafkats]

We nearly got Geordi's sister too. The Force of Nature 'B' story was supposed to revolve around her coming on board to help Geordi get through his mothers death. I think, at that point, they realised they had already had too much family stuff that season but it was too late to totally rewrite the script.

It also explains why Geordi and Data spend the first 15 minutes of the episode talking about Spot, a plot strand that goes nowhere at all...

As for the season itself, its weak. The reasons have been discussed before.

I like Gambit, Paralells, The Pegasus, AGT. The rest are largely forgettable.

The bit with Spot, I guess, is to illustrate how cats as a "Force of Nature" can't be trained or controlled. Get it? "Force of Nature"??

This unfortunately did not stop it from being astoundingly boring.

 

[Anji]

They had to be running out of ideas. And you know the Berman way of dealing with the problem: go back to the past and write about that. That's right, let's "reboot" it and to hell with putting any real creativity into it.

Berman always dug into the past of an event or a person's life. He never had any vision about what the future would be like. And the future is the crux of Star Trek to begin with.