Which is Your Star Trek Generation?
In a YouTube interview, Jonathan Frakes (who played Lieutenant Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation) stated that the cast of that show had supplanted the cast of the original Star Trek series as the recognized guardians of the Star Trek legacy. Blasphemy!
The original series (TOS) ran from 1966 to 1969. The Next Generation ran from 1987 to 1994. For you, which series sounds like it starred the rightful legacy guardians?
I understand that some fans weren’t born in time to catch the original Star Trek. They could be forgiven for thinking the followup series was the original idea. I’ll grant that it was very good — but those characters stood on the shoulders of Kirk, Spock, et al. And I don’t mean the Kirk and Spock of the rebooted movies; I mean William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Those actors gave real substance to the characters and the concept of a star-spanning United Federation of Planets.
The Next Generation wouldn’t have even existed if it weren’t for Gene Roddenberry’s first series. Those first shows were spellbinding, especially given what else was on TV in the 1960s. I’m sure it opened the minds of many young viewers to ideas that they couldn’t have come by in any other place.
So, Mr. Frakes, instead of assuming the mantle of keeper of the Star Trek legacy, how about a little humility in the face of who and what came before?
By the way, I loved your direction of Star Trek: First Contact. Big fan.
The End
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I always viewed TNG as a separate series – not so much building on the Shatner/Nimoy universe. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek legacy will always be carried by the actors and stories of the original series. TNG was not so much a continuation, but another arc in that universe (bringing in Marvel terminology now -grin-). Deep Space Nine and Voyager were similarly separate arcs in the same universe. Now, with the movies – I have thoroughly enjoyed the ‘reboots’ starring Chris Pine as a young Captain Kirk, but those also build upon the legacy created by the original series.
Well said!