It all began in 1987, when Gene Roddenberry along with other Paramount writers decided to create another series in the Star Trek saga. The first episode Encounter at Farpoint aired about the time that the immensly popular Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home came out on video casette. Gene Roddenberry, who became the Producer, now had much more control than he had during the feature films. Even though Encounter was not as popular or happily recieved by the fans, it went on to prove the fact that people should never estimate the success by the first/pilot episode.

Patrick Stewart, along with Marina Sirtis and other cast have mentioned that they were literally living in suitcases, ready to return to England where other acting career opportunities were in the great numbers. However, after a few episodes and the end of the First Season, fans started realizing "Hey, this series isn't bad after all!" There was character development, better plots and storylines, and everything seemed to "fit" much more nicely.

Star Trek: The Next Generation would eventually overcome the problems that it had in the First Season (and what some may suggest the Second Season as well) and go on to become one of the most popular television series of its time. Millions of viewers tuned into their local stations to watch Captain Picard and crew boldly going where no-one has gone before each night. Star Trek: The Next Generation merchandise started becoming very popular at the Star Trek conventions. The future looked wonderful for TNG (The Next Generation).

After 7 Seasons, 177 Episodes, the writers decided to pull the plug on Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the cast mentioned in various interviews, episodes were starting to get poorly written and everyone was very tired after working on such an enormous project. But the writers didn't stop there! The success of Star Trek: The Next Generation eventually impacted on the Star Trek franchise so much that two feature films: Star Trek: Generations, and Star Trek: First Contact would be made. I don't believe that the success will stop with 2 films, billions of dollars in merchandise, syndication still on hundreds of major television networks, hundreds of books, reviews, chronology and technical guides, and a creation of millions of fans worldwide. What does the future have in hold for Star Trek: The Next Generation? We'll just have to wait and see..