A good analogy I saw at one review site said that Wesley’s “training to be an ensign” arc played as if a teen sitcom had invaded TNG.
2 Likes
One of my favorite moments of TNG was during Best of Both Worlds Part 1 where Wesley, recently accepted into the Academy and serving as Acting Cadet Ensign on the Enterprise, complete with uniform, participates in the poker game, where he is successfully bluffed out by Riker and learns how bad he lost when Lt. Commander Shelby calls him out. The look on Wesley’s face realizing how he failed is great, because it shows that book knowledge only gets you so far, and experience is something you can’t research but have to learn the hard way. THIS was Wesley at his best, not “tap into your special power, Wesley” nonsense. Heck, if he was gonna be that way, at least run away with Q. WAY less creepy.
5 Likes
HAHAHAHA Yes, yes, I agree. All the more reason for “Star Trek Academy” to be its own thing.
2 Likes
Speaking of Riker, that was another failed arc for Star Trek TNG. The Best of Both Worlds should have been the moment that Riker began his departure from The Enterprise, having learned he no longer needs to be the first officer to Picard, that he was ready for the big chair. I would have loved for Lt. Commander Shelby to have taken his place as Picard’s #1, I thought she was VERY well realized in her only appearance and served to shake things up without going too unfamiliar. Riker should have taken command of another ship, then have the series go back and forth between Enterprise and Riker’s command. TNG kept being great, but for several characters, particularly Riker and La Forge (and also Crusher and Troi), there was very little growth and risk like had been seen earlier.
2 Likes
If it’s true that Patrick Stewart was negotiating his return for the next season, I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers were positioning Shelby to be Riker’s potential Number One, and then dropped the idea when Stewart’s return was definite.
4 Likes
I’m glad Picard wasn’t written out, because him suffering from PTSD and the subsequent seasons were his best. In fact, Tapestry is likely my favorite episode featuring him, not to mention perhaps THE perfect series finale Star Trek has ever had in All Good Things…
But that said, a Riker-led Enterprise with Shelby as his Number One would have been VERY interesting.
4 Likes
This is something that happens in most long-running series. The main cast has to be there. It’s easy to say that they deserve to be promoted (and they do; I mean, they had the whole arc with Troi becoming a genuine officer), but I don’t know that TNG could have worked bouncing back and forth between two separate ships, especially if there’s no connection between them beyond that some of the cast are there.
So while they realistically would have been promoted beyond their positions on the Enterprise, I’m okay with not doing that to keep them there. Quite frankly, I never even thought about it when I was watching the show back in the 90s.
Farscape did manage it for a while, but there was also a connection with the two Crichtons and the connected missions. Plus, it was always meant to be temporary.
4 Likes
You’re right; like Futurama said, audiences are too scared by the risky and unfamiliar. A shame, too, because Tasha Yar’s death in Season 1 gave the notion early on that main characters could be expendable (though her death and the real world reason for killing her off, as well as sending Beverly Crusher away for season 2, is some of the scummiest behind-the-scenes pettiness and Denise Crosby and Gates McFadden did not deserve that treatment).
3 Likes
I always felt that a good way to move the series forward so that it wouldn’t have stagnated so much in later seasons, would be to promote Picard to commodore or something, he could, in theory, remain on the enterprise as his flagship (he could step back a bit from the command duties and focus more on his role as diplomat which he had proven himself capable of time and time again) but then promote Riker to captain to shake things up a bit… Because yeah seasons 3-5 were great, seasons 6 and 7 were uneven.
4 Likes
Brilliant. Such a small change, and yet it would have been a great way to shake things up but not drastically. Heck, Sisko went from Commander to Captain (and even briefly adjutant to Vice Admiral during the start of the Dominion War) throughout Deep Space Nine. It really helps wonders to show progress for officers (as opposed to keeping them Ensigns throughout seven years of being stranded in unknown space…right Ensign Harry Kim?).
1 Like
Right? Of course, there’s also Worf’s meteoric rise through the ranks over the course of about ten years from a Jr. Lt. to full Commander! Honestly it always pissed me off that Data, despite multiple occasions where he proved himself in a command situation got passed over for full Commander by TROI!
3 Likes
Robophobia on full display! Bender warned us about this!
3 Likes
That’s a great idea. Picard really was a great negotiator and while he didn’t always do the best against Q, even there, he held his own. That really could have worked.
Who would have been Riker’s number one?
3 Likes
Lt. Commander Shelby from The Best of Both Worlds. In only two episodes, she proved herself knowledgeable, capable, and independent to know when to tow the line and when to step beyond it. Plus she had REALLY good chemistry with Riker, and not in the usual “hint of romance” that comes with partnering two people like that. It’s an absolute shame she never came back in any way, both the character and the actress Elizabeth Dennehy would have been a wonderful permanent addition to the show.
4 Likes
Oh, yeah. I remember her now. I had forgotten about her. It took two mentions for me to remember her. 
She was very good.
2 Likes
But Starfleet commodores are notoriously incompetent.
3 Likes
They’re notoriously insane.
4 Likes
Gargoyles from Disney is a series that a fantastic first season, a second INCREDIBLE season that should have been divided up into 4 seasons, and one season that most, including the series creator, do not acknowledge as canon. Apparently Disney was done with the series after the 65 episodes of season 1 and 2, but ABC picked up an additional 13 episodes with new writers and animators, resulting in a series that feels like an imitation of what had come before. Greg Weisman has tried to bring the series back via comic continuations that ignores the third series entirely.
5 Likes
IIRC there’s only one episode in the 3rd season Weisman considers canon. I wish Disney would issue a trade reprint of the comics.
3 Likes