Would TNG Have Worked Without Picard?

[JamesRye]

Jonathan Frakes and the 100+ episodes of television (and several movies) that he's directed would like a word.

Well sure, he's a decent Director, and I think he's a good actor. But I just don't think he'd have given TNG the gravitas in a lead role that Stewart brought to bear. I mean, I think most of the TNG cast are talented actors...

It's funny because in the original concept for TNG, Picard is supposed to be kind of the second lead. You know, Riker was the one who went on the missions while the Captain stayed on the ship. But as time went by, Picard came to dominate the series along with Data and to a lesser extent, Worf. And I think that's because those actors were the best ones.

It's a fun thought experiment to imagine if they brought on Avery Brooks or Kate Mulrew or Richard Dean Anderson after BOBW. Would it have worked? Maybe. But we'd loose those incredible tour de force performances that Sir Pat put in.

 

[ananta]

Interestingly, people seem to like Picard less these days, I remember back in the 90’s most fans seemed to think he was the best captain by far. I’m not sure what’s contributed to the reevaluation of the character. His incongruous morphing into Bruce Willis-esque action hero in TNG movies? The rather frail, broken, regretful figure we encountered in PIC? Who knows.

I always liked Picard even though he had a stick up his ass for most of TNG. I liked his intelligence, dignity and presence. Stewart brought a lot of class to the series with his incredible performance.

I think the show would have been fine if we’d had Riker as captain. What Jonathan Frakes lacks in acting chops he makes up for with charisma and I think he’d have done fine. His command style would have been more relaxed and less formal perhaps. I doubt it would have been better but it would have got by.

 

[Oddish]

I think that TNG would have been a very different show with Riker instead of Picard. But, I think that by the end of S3 it had come into its own enough that it would have survived the transition, as long as the new first was a good fit. I might have disliked Shelby early on, but she might have grown on me later. It took me awhile to warm to Janeway.

 

[JamesRye]

Interestingly, people seem to like Picard less these days, I remember back in the 90’s most fans seemed to think he was the best captain by far. I’m not sure what’s contributed to the reevaluation of the character. His incongruous morphing into Bruce Willis-esque action hero in TNG movies? The rather frail, broken, regretful figure we encountered in PIC? Who knows.

I always liked Picard even though he had a stick up his ass for most of TNG. I liked his intelligence, dignity and presence. Stewart brought a lot of class to the series with his incredible performance.

I think the show would have been fine if we’d had Riker as captain. What Jonathan Frakes lacks in acting chops he makes up for with charisma and I think he’d have done fine. His command style would have been more relaxed and less formal perhaps. I doubt it would have been better but it would have got by.

Well, IMHO, the movies were all pretty terrible for the TNG cast. I mean, FC works as a kind of Alien riff set in the Star Trek Universe, it's well directed, but hardly original. I strongly dislike Nemesis. Picard Seasons 1 and 2 I thought were awful and I was quite sad that Sir Patrick had tarnished his legacy, so I was pleased that Season 3 kind of reset the ship and let the cast go out on something of a high.

To be honest, I kind of wish the show had ended with AGT, it was the perfect send off.