Retrospective: Star Trek TNG

From the perspective of a child who grew up watching the Next Generation, the Original series is completely incomprehensible. They are two entirely different creatures. Along about the third season (I think it was the third?) Gene Roddenberry died. I don't want to disrespect the dead, but whoever took control of the series after that must have been a genius. Want more proof? They got rid of Wesley almost before they put the real man in the ground. No disrespect to Wil Wheaton, either, because everybody loves Wil Wheaton, but come on - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry. That's not just fanfiction, that's self-insert in the worst, almost criminal, way. Wesley Crusher had to be sacrificed. Almost everything about the first two seasons was lumped into a bin with the original series and burned in a pyre immediately.

But let's look at what remains more closely. I don't know how they got this show on the air (probably Gene Roddenberry's pedigree) or who they were targeting. Hollywood always targets an audience, at least these days, they do. Young males, young females, older folks, kids. TNG does not seems to target any of these. There's no rogue-ishly handsome lead character breaking all the rules to hunt down bad guys or solve mysteries. There's no earthy lead woman with sizzling relationship drama. There's not even character romantic tension (not much, anyway). It's a show full of rules, discipline, uniforms, and military jargon. They operate in an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar time. They used Whoopi Goldberg in a completely unorthodox role. Everything about it seems wrong on paper.

But mainly, I wonder who suggested Picard. He is your lead character - who suggested to the rest of the writers and producers that "hey let's make him an old, bald, curmudgeonly French dude!". I'm baffled, but in love.