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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:41 pm    Post subject: The Next Generation Thread Reply with quote

'Star Trek': The Story of the Most Daring Cliffhanger in 'Next Generation' History
by Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter



[size=20]In June 1990, many Trekkies considered the crew of the Enterprise-D pretenders to the throne.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was closing out its third season, and it was still struggling to step out of the shadow of Kirk's (William Shatner) Enterprise. That was about to change thanks to a daring cliffhanger pulled off in an era of television in which shocking deaths and major plot twists weren't par for the course.

When "Best of Both Worlds: Part I" aired 25 years ago this week, it was truly jarring to fans. The season three finale saw the return of The Borg, the seemingly unstoppable villain introduced a year earlier. The Borg captured Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and transformed him into Locutus of Borg, a de facto spokesperson for the collective consciousness. The episode ended with Picard's No. 1 Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) giving shocking order ("Mr. Worf, fire.") and the screen cutting to the words "To be continued...", something it had never done.

Written by Michael Piller and directed by Cliff Bole, "Best of Both Worlds" is arguably the most influential arc in Next Generation history. Along with "Best of Both Worlds: Part II" and its aftermath episode "Family," the story introduced layers of psychological complexity, bold storytelling and emotional depth the show had not yet explored.

"RICK BERMAN CALLED ME AND SAID, 'THIS IS FANTASTIC!' "

Ronald D. Moore, member of the writers room: The story really goes to Michael Piller, who was running the writing staff in the third season, when I joined the show. In the writers room, we would often talk about revisiting the Borg. Piller said as the season went on that he thought there should be a cliffhanger, which Star Trek had never done.

Jonathan Frakes, Commander William T. Riker: All of us were quite thrilled they had the balls to leave Picard on the Borg cube. I don't know if they were trying to threaten Patrick with renegotiations. It's commonplace now. Shows like Lost and House of Cards they'll kill off a regular and think nothing of it. This was 1990. It was not commonplace to be killing off any of your series regulars. That was a big "who shot J.R." type of plot.

Moore: It was the only show that year that we didn't actually sit in the room as a writing staff and break together. Michael said he wanted to go do it. Michael had a very personal connection to that particular story. The episode starts with Riker getting an offer to go command another ship. That's at the heart of it. Michael said very overtly that he was in a very similar place. He was the number two guy on the show, and he was debating whether or not to leave Star Trek and go and run his own show or if he wanted to remain second in command of the Enterprise, as it were. So he was Riker and he wrote the story from that perspective.

Frakes: The episode was key to Riker's character. Previously, I thought it was not very cleverly handled to have Riker say in the first two seasons, "All I want is to have my own ship. I aspire to be a captain in Starfleet." But then, when offered the ship, the writers put in Riker's mouth that he didn't feel he was ready to captain, or he didn't want to leave his friends.



Michael Dorn, Lieutenant Worf: We didn't know how they were going to handle it in terms of the special effects with Patrick. At that point we trusted each other, we trusted the producers and we trusted the writers enough to know that it was going to be exciting.

Alan Sims, property master: My pride with those episodes would be the prosthetic arms, for which I created remote control apertures. You would see it flicker and flip back and forth. When the one Borg came to the Enterprise and captured Picard, that was me off camera with a little remote control with two control joysticks and antenna.



Michael Westmore, makeup artist: Patrick Stewart loved being in the makeup chair. He didn't care what it was whether he was doing a Shakespearean character in the Holodeck or doing the old age makeup on "Inner Light," Patrick loved getting in the chair and getting made up. He would be putting his two cents in. "Oh, let's do a little more shading right here." He loved that part of the process.

Moore: My favorite moment was seeing Picard in that Borg outfit for the first time. When that reveal happens and he looks at the camera and he's a Borg, and he says, "I am Locutus." It was a shocking moment. You realize the show had gone someplace different. We all knew that internally and were like, "Woah, OK. This is going to break some molds."

Westmore: My son [Michael Westmore, Jr.] found the laser we mounted on Patrick's head for the end of "Part I". It cost $200. It was a new product on the market and had never been used on TV previously. We thought, "Oh this is going to be great," but we go into the set, and we can't see it at all. The special effects guy said, "Let me put a little smoke in." And oh my God, that light cut right through everything. They wanted Patrick to look directly in the lens, and nobody knew what was going to happen at all. Patrick turns to the camera, and the refraction between the laser and the mirrors in the camera made it look like it's just shattered everything. It's the one time [executive producer] Rick Berman called me and said, "This is fantastic! Oh my god." It blew Paramount away. If it was an optical, it would have cost thousands of dollars and we did it with a $200 laser.

"IS PICARD GOING TO BE KILLED?"

The episode electrifies audiences when it begins airing on syndication June 18, 1990. Even Trekkies who refused to accept Next Generation as legitimate are buzzing. Rumors of Patrick Stewart's exit swirl, with fans waiting an agonizing three months for the conclusion to air in September. Meanwhile the writers are tasked with figuring out how to follow up their first cliffhanger ever.

Moore: What people forget now is in the first couple of seasons of Next Generation, we were sort of not taken seriously as Star Trek. The fans were split on the acceptance of the show. You would go to conventions and there would be bumper stickers and t-shirts that basically said, "I'm a real Trekker. Forget the bald guy." Stuff like that. We were the second-tier Trek. When "Best of Both Worlds" came out, suddenly there was all this buzz. And it got in the press and there was all this tension and people were talking about the cliffhanger and Picard.

Jordan Hoffman, freelance writer/critic who specializes in Star Trek: After that "To be continued" we felt, "Is Picard going to be killed?" After that episode, there was a lot of talk. Somehow we knew there were rumors that Patrick Stewart was going to leave the show. That was definitely in the air. There would be somebody who goes, "You know Patrick Stewart is leaving?" How do you know this? "Everyone knows it."

Dorn: We figured there wasn't any problem with Patrick's contract. He was coming back. The interesting thing was, how were they going to play that?

Moore: "Part II," we did break the story together in the writer's room, but when Michael did "Part I," he said, "I have no idea how this thing ends. We're going to end on this cliffhanger of "fire" and we're going to figure it out next season." We all gather in the room, and it was essentially a new writing staff. I was the only holdover from season three. We sat down and Michael was like, "all right, I don't know where we're going. Let's just try to figure out something."

Hoffman: Something that younger people don't quite get was the fact that Next Generation was on in syndication. It was not on a major network. It was the first show to be in syndication to have tremendous ratings. What that meant was it was on in different times of the day depending on where you were. I would go down on my grandparents on the weekends. They were in southern Jersey outside of the Philly markets. I lived in the New York market. You could catch it three times a week. I relived that "to be continued" moment over and over.

Moore: There were various efforts to try to keep the script's distribution tight and the plot secret. They were trying to watermark the scripts, which was a novelty at that point, and number them. It was the pre-Internet days, so it wasn't like the files were being passed around in emails. It was all hard copy stuff anyway.

Gary Hutzel, visual effects supervisor: The budget was small by today's standards. A lot of stuff you see on the series wasn't shot on a professional stage. A lot of it was shot in people's basements, because there was no money.

Brent Spiner, Data: I remember Worf and Data beamed over to the Borg ship to grab Picard and bring him back to the Enterprise. There was a moment where a Borg is coming up behind me, and I turn and blast him with my phaser. We shot a version of it where the Borg was coming up behind me and I didn't even turn around. I just put the phaser over my shoulder and shot it and blew it away. We thought that would be really cool if Data just sensed it and didn't have to turn around. It looked great, but they sent it to Rick Berman and he said, "That's ridiculous. He can't do that. He doesn't have eyes in the back of his head." So we didn't use that one.

Dorn: This might take away some of the drama for the audience, but there is a scene where Data and I go and rescue Patrick. I had to struggle with Patrick. He tries to hit me and I grab him and we're going "ah, ah!" back and forth. And we just started cracking up. We just started laughing uncontrollably. All of us laughed uncontrollably most of the time on the show.

Marina Sirtis, Counselor Deanna Troi: The episode was a very important one for my character [Troi is key to figuring out how to save Picard]. A lot of the time, I was decorative. Hey, that was fine. I was a very ugly child, so if you had said to me when I was 13, "one day you are going to grow up to be this sex symbol," I would have asked if you were high. But, as far as character development goes, the third going into the fourth season, where my advice was listened to, I always used to treasure those moments. Every weekend at a convention, someone will say to me it was so nice to see a competent woman on a TV show who wasn't "the bitch." Troi was strong and professional, but took a pride in her appearance. It was kind of a first, to have a professional woman, who wasn't "the bitch." It was very important to me that the writers began to see Troi as a whole person. I think it kind of started with "Best of Both Worlds Part II."

Westmore: Creating the Borg took a lot of makeup artists and it took a lot of time. Not only because of the makeup, but because they had the suits to put on. It was a process that probably took at least three hours at that time. We had it down to a system, where we could line them all up and make them up very fast. For the faces, I found every makeup artist shades differently. In the early shows, all the Borg had all different looks to them because of all the different techniques people used to shade. Later, I took an airbrush class and I could literally airbrush each one of them in a minute and a half. It was easier for me to do than for a bunch of makeup artists, where there'd be some great ones and there'd be some not so great ones. That was the beginning of Star Trek using the airbrush. After that point, I insisted any makeup artist I hired knew how to use an airbrush.

Hutzel: My coordinator Judy Elkins, had a great idea as we were preparing to do the destruction of the fleet. We didn't have that much money to work with, and we had to physically build everything. How do we show an entire fleet destroyed? We invited people from the art department and other people on the show for a kit bash. We got spaceship models and all destroyed them. And we gave them our own names and whatever we wanted and put on them the ships for the shot. We were able to get quite a few ships made that way with pretty minimal effort and money. I rigged them all with internal lighting to make them look like they are on fire and we shot then that way. The toy company gave them to us for free.

Spiner: Near the end, I'm hooked up to Patrick. It's a tribute to Michael Westmore's genius and his son Mike Jr. who did all of the electronics. They always did a great job of opening up my various bits. They opened up every part of my body, save one and they were saving that one for I guess in case we did another movie (laughs). Michael Westmore is a genius.

Hutzel: I had to build the Borg ship because we couldn't afford a modeler to make it. I just brought a whole bunch of models. I put chicken wire over a framework. And I stapled that on and I attached a board and attached all the plastic to it. We hung the cube on one of the sound stages and the pyrotechnician came in and he rigged it. Back then, if you really wanted to blow something up, you would use primer cord. Nobody really does that anymore because it's dangerous. But this thing is loaded with primer cord. They let it rip. I didn't know that putting chicken wire inside of something with primer cord would cause it to become a big grenade. And so when it went off, stuff flew everywhere. Fortunately it was a safe situation and no one got hurt. They'd cleared the stage before we fired it, but we came back in and saw the mess on the floor and bits of chicken wire stuck on the walls.

THE AFTERMATH

The arc would go down as one of the most daring in Star Trek history. It also gave birth to "Family," an understated but highly acclaimed episode which saw Picard deal with the psychological trauma of becoming a Borg, as well as Star Trek: First Contact (1996), the Next Generation cast's most beloved film.

Moore: That was the turning point on Next Generation's acceptance as Star Trek, among the fans and with the public. Suddenly we had done something that was legitimate and got people's attention and told a great story. From then on out we carried the torch. We were legitimate and that was the show that turned it around for us.

Frakes: The cool thing about the story was that he was forever haunted by Locutus being in his DNA. That informed the first movie that I directed, First Contact.

Moore: The second half of the show was kind of not as satisfying as the first half, in all honesty. It was a little too technobabble. It doesn't quite have the oomph that "Part I" did. But Michael [Piller] was fine with that. He launched us into more character-based storytelling. The next episode was "Family," which was a complete character episode, which I got to write. It was set down on Earth after Captain Picard's experience in "Best of Both Worlds." He goes home and you meet his brother. There was no action-adventure component to that episode. It showed you Piller was determined to make the show more character-oriented and more about the people on the Enterprise, instead of the alien on the week.

Dorn: In the end, Patrick, although he was back and he was fine and he was like, "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything is great," you knew by his look, and by the way he felt and looked out the window that it wasn't over. We didn't know how it wasn't going to be over, but it wasn't over. Interestingly enough, it culminated in First Contact, the movie.

Moore: We had to kind of fight for "Family." [Star Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry hated it. He wanted to throw it out. My only story meeting with Gene was that episode. It was me and Michael and Rick Berman, who was running the production side of things, we all met in Gene's office and Gene just said "this isn't the 24th century." "These brothers reflect outdated, 20th-Century modes of childhood development. Mankind had solved these kind of issues by then. I hate this." I sat there and I was a really green writer. I was like, "Oh my God, what are we going to do? I'm dead." We walked out in the hall and I just looked at Michael and Rick and was like, "What do I do now?" They said, "You know what? Just go write your story, we'll work with Gene." That was the last I ever heard of it. So they went off behind the scenes and did something and got him to back off or let it go or kind of distracted him with something else, because then we did the show.

LINK:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-trek-story-daring-cliffhanger-803642 [/size]


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Magnificent article, BDT. Thanks.

I remember how stunned I felt in the last moments of the cliffhanger, and how impressed I was that they'd done something so shocking and bold.

Parts 1 and 2 really cemented my fondness for TNG.

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:30 am    Post subject: Post Your Next Generation GIFs here Reply with quote






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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:22 pm    Post subject: Star Trek the Next Generation DVDs Reply with quote

I bought a used set of Star Trek the Next Generation, seasons 2-7 (six season). For $101.00, including tax.

The individual season boxes prices ranged from $20 to $32.
However, on that day, it was buy 1, buy another DVD/set for $1 more!

And there was no limit to that offer.

Good price or not so good?

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 6:04 pm    Post subject: William Shatner interview: Chaos On The Bridge, Star Trek Reply with quote

William Shatner interview: Chaos On The Bridge, Star Trek TNG Den of Geeks

BDT: Does anyone find it odd that Shatner wants to talk about the Next Generation instead of Star Trek (the original series)? For years Shatner said that he had never watched The Next Generation.

Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, chats to us about his Star Trek: The Next Generation documentary, Chaos On The Bridge...

William Shatner Presents: Chaos On The Bridge is a documentary covering the tumultuous early years of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as told by the writers and producers who worked on it. Written, produced and directed by William Shatner, the 60-minute film has recently been made available worldwide for the first time following a limited release last year, so we took a moment to sit down to talk with the man himself and find out what the story behind it really is.

So, the documentary is essentially the story of how Gene Roddenberry passed the Star Trek torch - or possibly had it wrested from him - during the first few years of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first thing I'd like to ask is how you remember Gene, and whether making this documentary changed your feelings about him?

Yes, it did. I had got to know Gene when I was working for him, but back then he held us all at some distance. You know, there's a conflict between the two roles of a writer-producer, which is what he was. Writers are usually - and I don't know if this applies to you - they're usually solitary people who work at a keyboard or typewriter and manufacture things out of their mind, and it can be a lonely profession. Writers either accept that or get tired of it and quit, but it is a largely solitary venture. Do you agree with that?

I think that's definitely a fair assessment.

Okay. So the opposite of that is somebody who produces a show. It's a role that requires a gregarious person, who speaks to people and is political, and can soothe feelings and generate enthusiasm, and it's the exact opposite of the lonely writer. When you make a writer into a producer, it creates a conflict between two basic personalities, and I think on Star Trek we ran into a Gene Roddenberry who wasn't comfortable dealing with a lot of people who had a lot of emotions.

Now, when he came about later onto The Next Generation, he had evolved. He was much more the gregarious, political producer, and was able to handle people in an acceptable way. Except then he began to get sick, and his illness made it difficult for him to reach out to people. He was once again in conflict, and it was that conflict which I began to understand when I made the film.

It does seem like The Next Generation had a lot of conflict around its beginnings, not just with Gene and those around him, but at virtually every level of its production. I came away from the documentary wondering whether it's typical, at least in your experience, for TV shows to be born out of such turmoil?

No, no, not at all. It's normally the exact opposite, in that every moment you waste is money lost, so everybody in the production is geared up towards getting everything done exactly on time. On the Star Trek I was on, in the third year we weren't allowed to go over. We had to quit at 6:12 every day. Not 6:11, or 6:13. At 6:12 they pulled the plug, no matter where we were. It's that level of organisation that you expect in television. So what we saw on The Next Generation - the chaos, the time-wasting, the people in conflict with each other - it just can't take place. It's supposed to be eradicated, and the fact that it wasn't made the situation worthy of study.

And key to understanding the chaos, I think, was getting Maurice Hurley to talk to you. Maurice was clearly a big part of getting TNG to the point where it could survive the pressure of Roddenberry's vision, but he was in such a difficult position that once he left the show he didn't speak on the record about Star Trek for over two decades.

That's exactly right.

So I have to ask: how did you get him involved?

He and I knew one another from when I directed some of his scripts for TV, we worked on a movie and some movie scripts together which unfortunately weren't made even though he wrote great scripts, so we became really good friends. He and his wife Jeri came to my house frequently to watch football and have fun, we were really good buddies. So when I asked if he'd consent to being interviewed and tell the truth about his time on The Next Generation, he was happy to do it with me. And it's his presence that essentially made the documentary work.

And with Maurice and some of the other major players, most notably Gene himself, but also Leonard Maizlish, you've got three guys about whom there were a lot of conflicting opinions to say the least. How, as a director, did you approach the responsibility of giving them a fair portrayal?

I was very aware of that. You as a writer must know you have to be careful what words you use, and in my case it was the same, only I have the angles, and the edit to work with. The position we took was that we wouldn't come down on one side or the other. We made sure to give everyone a chance to express themselves, even when there were polar opposite opinions about some individuals being expressed. We were assiduous in trying to give people a fair time of it.

I expect that was easier for some people than others.

As you well know!

So since we're almost out of time, I wondered if we could just get some thoughts about your relationship to Star Trek. I don't mean to be indelicate, so I apologise in advance if it comes off that way, but many of your contemporaries are no longer with us. Do you feel, with documentaries like this one and more generally, that you have a responsibility to remain a voice in the conversation?

I understand what you're saying, but you know, I've done a number of documentaries and written several books. I think I've clearly delineated my view of Star Trek both in its fiction and in reality, and I don't know if I have that much more to add about my own experiences, which is part of why I wanted to bring out other people's. I've bequeathed what I can. In the final analysis, it was only a television show. It's part of everybody's life. But only a part.

William Shatner, thank you very much.

Thank you.

William Shatner Presents: Chaos On The Bridge is available to rent or buy from Vimeo, iTunes and Amazon now, in the UK and other territories.

Read more: http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/william-shatner/36591/william-shatner-interview-chaos-on-the-bridge-star-trek#ixzz3j741orDi


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 5:24 pm    Post subject: William Shatner Presents: Chaos On The Bridge review Reply with quote

William Shatner Presents: Chaos On The Bridge review by Den of Geeks

William Shatner presents a new documentary going behind the scenes on the early tumultuous years of Star Trek: The Next Generation...

The revival of Star Trek in the late 1980s ultimately proved so popular that it's strange to think it was almost sunk by infighting and internal politics between those who most desperately wanted to see it succeed. And yet, that's what happened. You don't have to be a particularly keen fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation to notice that the earliest two seasons are ropey and inconsistent. In many ways, it's surprising that they got made at all.

This is the stance taken by William Shatner's latest Star Trek documentary, titled Chaos On The Bridge, which examines the tumultuous early years of TNG and the circumstances surrounding its creation. It's been more than 25 years since the show went into production, and while we've had parts of the story told in interviews and memoirs, it's rare to see it delivered first hand by the people who were there.

Throughout the documentary, Shatner is able to use his unique position within Star Trek's inner circle to speak to those who witnessed the turmoil first-hand and get the real story at least as they see it. At times it makes uncomfortable viewing, especially if you buy into some of the mythologies around Star Trek and its creator, Gene Roddenberry. However, the emphasis rarely falls on blame and grudges in fact, the overall tone is one of amazement and surprise that despite it all, they produced something people loved. Perhaps a few decades distance will give you that perspective.

Key to understanding the turmoil of the era are the contributions of Maurice Hurley, who has sadly since passed away between the making and general release of this documentary. Speaking on the record for almost the first time in 20 years, Hurley. a showrunner during those early years provides a fascinating perspective that this documentary has been key in getting on the record. Whatever you think you know about Star Trek: TNG's origins, you don't know the full story until you've heard his.

Perhaps the strangest thing about the documentary is the comparative lack of Shatner himself. While he narrates and occasionally hosts from in-camera, his contributions to the narrative itself are minimal. This might be expected after all, he wasn't there when TNG was being made but as someone who knew many of these people and has similar experiences of his own, it feels like a missed opportunity to hear from him. Then again, as he suggested in his interview with us, it's not as if there's any shortage of material from him around on the subject.

Certainly, it's not as though the film lacks voices. It's packed with recognizable names, and even has its own cartoon villain in the shape of Leonard Maizlish. It seems no coincidence that the film intersperses the interviews with short, animated reconstructions of major events. It's not a documentary that tries to unpick the emotional nuance surrounding its subjects. Rather, it simply wants us to feel what they feel so that we can understand them.

If there's anything wrong with the documentary, it's simply that there isn't enough material in it, and that's a surprise given how many people show up in here, some of whom are rarely seen talking about their time on the show. This creates a comprehensive feeling, but it also leaves the impression that huge chunks of interesting material had to go in order to keep the focus on specific events. When the period is so demonstrably fascinating, it's hard not to get the sense that more would be better, especially since many of the interviewees were clearly in a candid mood.

Ultimately it's a strong hour of behind-the-scenes information that any TNG fan will find interesting. It certainly benefits from being made outside the overly-sanitised environment of DVD extras, which is the place we're next most likely to find this type of interview. It's not unfair to say this documentary isn't going to be Shatner's greatest contribution to Trek lore, but in making it, he has, at the absolute minimum, helped foster a better understanding of this difficult time for the franchise and the people behind it. And that's more than enough to justify its existence.

William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge is available to rent or buy from Vimeo, iTunes and Amazon now.

LINK: http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/william-shatner-presents-chaos-on-the-bridge/248511/william-shatner-presents-chaos-on-the-bridge-review


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm looking forward to seeing this documentary one of these days, BDT. Thanks for passing on this info to us.
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 9:05 am    Post subject: Chaos on the Bridge Reply with quote

Shatner Answers The Mystery Of Dr. Crusher
The 1701

She was there, and then she was gone. And before fans knew it, she was back again.

Dr. Beverly Crusher had been a part of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" from the first episode, but disappeared suddenly in the second season when Gates McFadden was replaced by Diana Muldaur. Although there were whispers about problems on the set, no one would ever confirm them — that is, until William Shatner brought a camera crew.

Continuing his string of successful documentaries highlighting the world of Star Trek, the former original series star looks at the first three years of TNG between 1987 and 1990 for a new documentary he calls "Chaos on the Bridge."

In a new clip from the film, which will be released digitally Aug. 1, Shatner casts a spotlight on the McFadden mystery, tying it directly to the ascension of Maurice Hurley as head writer for the second season. Hurley, who died in February at the age of 75, had issues working with McFadden, and it seemed to be mutual. And by the end of that season, Hurley was gone, as was Muldaur, and McFadden was back in sickbay.

Some of the story is shown in this clip of the documentary, released this week.

http://1701news.com/node/891/so-what-happened-dr-crusher-exactly.html

Shatner worked with Vision Films and Content Media to produce the film, and brought in many of the people who were a part of TNG in the 1980s. That includes Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, John de Lancie, Denise Crosby, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and others.

The project has been in development for a number of years, something Shatner originally talked about under the title of "Wackydoodle." A trailer for the documentary features the late Hurley using the term, which Shatner told 1701News in 2013 was based on the "crazed and chaotic" environment on the TNG set. (video)

Original plans for the documentary called for it to be released in November 2013, in time for "Star Trek: Into Darkness," but instead, it will finally get its premiere at the beginning of August.

Shatner has shared that the focus of the film will be about the power struggles over the beginning of the show, likely painting a rather unflattering picture of TNG creator Gene Roddenberry.

You can see a trailer for the new documentary here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNdCjc-3Ps&feature=youtu.be

LINK:
http://1701news.com/node/892/shatner-answers-mystery-dr-crusher.html
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a big fan of ST(TOS),I was excited by the announcement of a brand new ST TV show.

I found a number of the production values were very well done.The cast was likable.

However,the stories were very hit or miss for the first 3 seasons. I realize now that there was quite a bit of drama behind the scenes resulting in challenges,hirings & firings,confusion.All of which severely impacted the quality & direction of the series.

By the fourth season of ST:TNG the show dramatically improved for we fans.

With all due respect to Gates,her leaving the show was neither here nor there for me. Same with Diana.

We all laughed & rolled our eyes at yet another Holo Deck malfunction episode.Why in heaven's name did Star Fleet keep this horribly flawed tech on board Federation Star Ships?
The series finale with Picard running between timelines & ultimately having the Enterprise save all of humanity by ensuring its inception at the dawn of time was always way,way over-the-top for me.

Somewhere along the line ST could not be bothered with doing routine stories about other civilizations,topical issues,& so forth.

The stakes were raised to absurd levels. You couldn't have the Enterprise doing a delicate first contact mission anymore.
They had to go & help God preserve the universe itself!

Still & all they did some wonderful stories & feature films along the way. I will always be a fan.
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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "Enterprise 3D Project" offers a virtual tour of the Enterprise-D
by Brian Drew , TrekMovie



BDT: This reminds me of "Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual". This was a CD from 1994 that had 360?? QuickTime VR photos taken on the actual sets. It won't play on modern Windows.
PS:You get to see the restroom on the bridge. Very Happy

The "Enterprise 3D Project" is an ambitious work that means to build the Enterprise-D in virtual form, and we have an amazing clip to share.

Most fans have dreamed of walking the corridors of the Enterprise and experiencing what life is like aboard a starship. A fan and 3D artist named Jason is trying to make that dream come true by building a virtual facsimile, using the Unreal 4 game engine.....

The clip below shows his progress thus far as he builds the exterior of the ship and parts of the first four decks:

VIDEO HERE:
https://youtu.be/uK9ijZeHWjI
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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How Gates McFadden kept her son from confusing her with Dr. Crusher

by Ian Sherr, CNET



The Star Trek star who played a single mom on TV also had a child during the show's run. Though she's happy with her real son, her fictional one could have used more work.

Gates McFadden didn't watch much TV before she landed a role on the Star Trek revival "The Next Generation." And when she admitted to friends she had almost no Trekkie knowledge, they were horrified.

"I didn't understand what warp speed is or what a Klingon is," she said.

That's probably why she turned down the role. Twice. It took several conversations with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry to turn her around. His goal for her character, Dr. Beverly Crusher, was to give a woman a command position on the Enterprise and much more substance than Communications Officer Nyota Uhura had in the original series.

"It's a character that has authority and it's something people didn't have in the show," she remembered Roddenberry telling her. Crusher would be able to challenge Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart. ....."I had grown up when Gloria Steinem had happened and the question was, Can women have it all?" she said. "This was a different role. There was something modern about it."

Even so, she felt the show didn't dig as deep on some aspects of her character, like single parenting.

Even so, she felt the show didn't dig as deep on some aspects of her character, like single parenting.

She also faced the challenge of being on "The Next Generation" and raising her son, who was born about halfway through the show's 1987-94 run. Though many of us would be jealous of parts of his childhood ("My son learned to walk on the bridge, literally"), she struggled with separating Gates McFadden from Beverly Crusher.

One way she handled that was by letting her son watch rehearsals, but not the finished show. "I didn't want him to project onto my character," she said. "I didn't want him to confuse realities."

There were times the situation worried her. Once, she was inspecting an action figure of her character for approval, and her son blurted out, "Oh, a mommy doll!"

It all turned out fine, she said, and she's happy with the 25-year-old man he's become.

As to her on-set son, Wesley Crusher, she felt he got a bad rap from fans who complained he was both annoying and boring.

Some of that could have been fixed, she thinks, by giving his character more interactions with other young people on the show. There could have also been stories with deep philosophical questions about parenting as a single mother and what to do when there isn't a clear father figure — especially since Capt. Picard professed in the pilot episode that he was not good with children.

Instead, Wesley's character became typified by weird sweaters and odd moments, like when he was disciplined on the bridge.

Another criticism leveled at Wesley was that he was an unconvincing genius. He became an acting ensign without going through Starfleet training and he was depicted as so otherworldly smart that a powerful alien chose him as a traveling companion. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and people Wesley Crusher's age and a bit older certainly seem like geniuses who can fix computers with little effort. "Who does not have a 25-year-old who is constantly showing them shortcuts on their computer and fixing their iPhone?" McFadden said. "I have it all the time."

McFadden's favorite Star Trek story comes from her own medical emergency. Her appendix ruptured while she was in Hawaii and she had to have surgery. When the doctor walked in, he took one look at her and said, "Dr. Crusher!"

At that moment, she knew she was safe. She remembers thinking that if he was a fan of the show, he'd more likely be up on the most modern techniques. "We're on the same wavelength," she thought.

While she was in recovery, the doctor showed her images of her insides and began talking to her as if she were a colleague, even though she didn't have a medical background.

The whole episode reminded her how popular the show had become.

BDT: I had my appendix rupture a couple of months ago.

McFadden has since sold off her Star Trek memorabilia to fund an organization called Gates Plays that helps develop theatrical and musical productions. She still acts on the stage as well . . .

For full story, click on this link:

https://www.cnet.com/news/star-trek-50th-anniversary-how-gates-mcfadden-kept-her-son-from-confusing-her-with-dr-crusher/
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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Worf gets DENIED again and again on Star Trek TNG



Link for full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edflm7Hh3hs
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:21 am    Post subject: Vinyard Location Reply with quote

This is a scene from the episode "All Good Things...", from season 7, wherein Picard jumps forward and backward in time.



The photo below was taken from a street near our house.



The white spot on top of the mountain ridge is Palomar Observatory. The mountain on the right is the same one seen in the scene from "All Good Things...", but from a location farther to the left, so the ridge on which the observatory sits is visible.

In the screen grab only the highest point of the observatory's mountain ridge can be seen peeking out from behind the mountain in front.

Scenes in ST:TNG involving a vineyard are typically shot on location in Temecula, CA.

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Custer
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How interesting. It was a suitably intriguing title for the show's finale, as of course the whole proverb is "All good things must come to an end." A friend tends to use "All Good Things" as his sign-off at the end of an email.

The episode itself was rather clever, too, as it would greatly tempt viewers into watching the whole seven series again, with scenes in it making an ideal re-starting point. Handy for any TV network that intended to run repeats in the same slot!



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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After not having watched any ST: TNG episodes for quite some time, I watched 2 yesterday. "The Dauphin," & "Contagion." Both are from the show's second season in 1989.

I was very impressed at just how good their now 34-year old visual effects stand up to this day. Just like the original Trek show in 1966, TNG could only utilize the special FX technology that was on hand in 1989. They also had the limitations of their budget, and the show had a grueling shooting schedule of six days. The fact that they were able to produce such fine FX that are still a delight to view today is a Herculean feat. It could qualify as the 13th labor for Herc.
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