Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a 1987 sci-fi & fantasy series created by Gene Roddenberry. It stars Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner.
A century after Kirk, a new Enterprise carries Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew across the Alpha and Beta quadrants, meeting fresh civilizations and puzzling through the ethical knots that first contact tends to tie. Gene Roddenberry built this flagship series around diplomacy and curiosity as much as action, trusting that a bridge full of professionals talking through a crisis could be gripping television. It ran seven seasons in syndication from 1987, expanding the Federation's 24th-century future with a crew who would rather reason through a standoff than fire a phaser. The optimism is the point.
Quick answers
What is Star Trek: The Next Generation about?
A century after Kirk, a new Enterprise carries Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew across the Alpha and Beta quadrants, meeting fresh civilizations and puzzling through the ethical knots that first contact tends to tie. Gene Roddenberry built this flagship series around diplomacy and curiosity as much as action, trusting that a bridge full of professionals talking through a crisis could be gripping television. It ran seven seasons in syndication from 1987, expanding the Federation's 24th-century future with a crew who would rather reason through a standoff than fire a phaser. The optimism is the point.
When was Star Trek: The Next Generation released?
Star Trek: The Next Generation was released on 28 September 1987.
How many episodes does Star Trek: The Next Generation have?
Star Trek: The Next Generation has 176 episodes across 7 seasons.
Who made Star Trek: The Next Generation?
Star Trek: The Next Generation was created by Gene Roddenberry.
Where can I watch Star Trek: The Next Generation?
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), Paramount+ (Via Apple TV), Pluto TV, Google Play and Amazon.
Where to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation
Stream: Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), Paramount+ (Via Apple TV)
Watch free: Pluto TV
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Official site
https://intl.startrek.com/shows/star-trek-the-next-generation
Cast
- Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
- Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
- Brent Spiner as Data
- LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
- Michael Dorn as Worf
- Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
- Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
- Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher
- Tracee Cocco as Jae (uncredited)
- Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien
- Majel Barrett as Enterprise Computer (voice) / Lwaxana Troi
- Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar
Similar series
Explore Star Trek: The Next Generation guides
Star Trek: The Next Generation in our writing
- Companion guide: Robots & AI
- Companion guide: Space Opera
- Companion guide: Time Loops: The Complete Guide to Second Chances
A few thoughts on Star Trek: The Next Generation
TNG rewards a love of hopeful, idea-driven science fiction. The film Project Hail Mary shares its faith in curiosity and cooperation across a species barrier. The comic Galaxy Express 999 sends travelers among the stars with the same wonder, and Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix reaches for the cosmic, humanist questions Picard's crew keeps circling. Deltron 3030 offers a moodier future to round things out.
The rest of the Star Trek voyages, from Kirk to Pike's crew
Picard's Enterprise is one voyage among many. These series carry the same Federation forward and back, from Kirk's original mission to Sisko's frontier station, Janeway's long trip home and the newer adventures of Pike's crew. If The Next Generation left you wanting more Starfleet, this is the rest of the fleet.
Optimistic sci-fi that meets the unknown with curiosity
The Next Generation trusts that a crew talking through a crisis makes gripping television, prizing first contact and diplomacy over firepower. These stories share that curious, hopeful streak, sending explorers and problem-solvers into the unknown with reason as their first tool. Expect strange new worlds met with wonder rather than a drawn phaser.
Sweeping space operas with fleets and frontier crews
Roddenberry set The Next Generation against a vast, populated galaxy of rival powers and old grudges. For that bigger canvas, these space operas trade bridge diplomacy for fleets, frontier crews and conflicts that stretch across the stars. They scratch the same itch for a universe with real history behind every encounter.
Science fiction that thinks its way through the problem
Half of The Next Generation is the crew reasoning through an ethical or scientific puzzle before anyone reaches for a weapon. These stories work the same way, building worlds around ideas, paradoxes and hard questions about minds and machines. Come for the satisfaction of a problem solved by thought, not force.