[Observer]

Originally Posted by Whitestar

Actually, Patrick Stewart originally performed the voice of Picard with a french accent at his audition, but Roddenberry preferred him to speak in his native british accent because he liked it better. Boy, talk about retarded! LOL!

Makes you wonder why he didn't just make him British then.

"Federation Starship Captain John Pickering!"

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Observer

Makes you wonder why he didn't just make him British then.

"Federation Starship Captain John Pickering!"

Becuase GR wanted a "Jacques Cousteau" type as Captain to get as far away from Kirk as possible.

[horatio]

Picard lives on the United Earth where cultural borders do not exist anymore.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by horatio

Picard lives on the United Earth where cultural borders do not exist anymore.

Tell that to Scotty..lol..., and Chekov....lol.

[TNG_Trekman]

"Best of Both Worlds"

Best cliffhanger EVER!!

That's all I'm saying here.

[kevin]

Especially as there was genuine doubt about Stewart's future on the show at that time.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by kevin

Especially as there was genuine doubt about Stewart's future on the show at that time.

I rember that too, but later I heard it was planned that way to increase ratings. Don't know how much truth there is to it.

[chator]

I don't think we should forget that Star Trek: The Next Generation, was also very influencial for sci-fi television. Not in the way the X-files was, in terms of popularizing the paranormal, UFOs, conspiracy culture, and even making the male-female partner duo dynamic hip again, but in terms of creating a whole generation of writers for the genre. No other show can claim that. Michael Piller went on to create The Dead Zone, Ronald D. Moore went on to create Battlestar Galactica, Rene Echevarria went on to create The 4400, Robert H. Wolfe went on to create Andromeda, Brannon Braga went on to create Threshold, and FlashForward.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

I rember that too, but later I heard it was planned that way to increase ratings. Don't know how much truth there is to it.

Me neither - although Stewart had become unhappy by season 3 and wanted more action (hence the introduction of Vash etc).

Originally Posted by chator

I don't think we should forget that Star Trek: The Next Generation, was also very influencial for sci-fi television. Not in the way the X-files was, in terms of popularizing the paranormal, UFOs, conspiracy culture, and even making the male-female partner duo dynamic hip again, but in terms of creating a whole generation of writers for the genre. No other show can claim that. Michael Piller went on to create The Dead Zone, Ronald D. Moore went on to create Battlestar Galactica, Rene Echevarria went on to create The 4400, Robert H. Wolfe went on to create Andromeda, Brannon Braga went on to create Threshold, and FlashForward.

Until about the early 1990s TNG didn't really have a lot of competition in the on-air sci-fi series market.

There had been the 'War of the Worlds' TV series and maybe one or two short lived others, but it wasn't really until 1993 when 'Babylon 5'' and 'The X-Files' arrived that proper competition emerged.

[chator]

There seems to be a fair amount of agreement that what made TNG the best Trek tv series were the stories. I would venture to say Trek story telling reached a high point in TNG.