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[Éowyn]

Originally Posted by MWTrek

Very Nice. TNG was one of the best series I think. Gene Roddenberry, who first started star trek, did so with the idea of sparking hope in the future for Americans during the cold war. People at the time thought that the technology will one day destroy the human race. Roddenberry showed them a world where humans interacted with technology to create a better place to live. Unfortunately at the time, there was little support for the show. The Original series (TOS) was shutdown after only three seasons.

In the 70's there was a revitalizing of star trek when trekkers (those who are dedicated to TOS) pressured paramount pictures to create Star Trek the Motion Picture. This was a block buster (even though I don't think it was one of the better movies in the star trek movie series). Star trek then made 5 other movies finally ending the TOS generation.

Star trek did not die however it spawned into a new series correctly names Star Trek the Next Generation (TNG) which aired in 1987. This series was a hit. This series featured famous actors, such as Patrick Steward as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and LeVar Burton who had stared in Roots. As the series grew, Paramount dedicated more money which created better special effects. TNG also made four movies, one of which opened only three years ago.

In 1991, tragedy stuck Gene Roddenberry passed away. With him left the true meaning of Star Trek. With out Roddenberry at the controls of Star Trek the writers wanted to veer from the original happy-go-lucky attitude on which Star Trek was founded and it show the future in a more violent light. TNG was cancelled after 7 seasons, even though it still had great rating. Paramount started a new Series Star Trek Deep Space 9 (DS9). This was set on a space station and had many galactic war scenes. This may have ruined star trek forever. Even though it aired for 7 seasons, many hardcore Trekkies (those who jumped on the bandwagon during TNG) and Trekkers were turned off by this new portrayal of the future.

Star Trek writers realized their mistake early in the DS9 program and began to develop a new series called Star Trek Voyager (VOY). VOY was set on a ship which had been thrown across the galaxy by an unknown entity and their voyage home. Unfortunately the writers used too much technology and only the hard core fans were able to keep up with the terminology. VOY was cancelled after 6 seasons.

Star Trek kept declining. In 2001 Star Trek made one last attempt for a classic TV show. Their new series was called Enterprise (ENT) after the ship which stared in both TOS and TNG. This had been considered a soap opera by many and failed in only 4 seasons. Star Trek has not returned since however we trekkies never give up hope on a new movie or show.

Wow, thanks for the history of Star Trek! You really must be a hardcore Trekkie... I like TNG and VOY but my favorite is Stargate.