As production was underway on the film
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Paramount executives began to work on ideas to bring
Star Trek back to television, hiring writer/producer Greg Strangis to develop some proposals. This was not the first time that this had been considered following the success of
Star Trek: The Original Series in
broadcast syndication, as a series entitled
Star Trek: Phase II had been briefly worked on in the late seventies between attempts at creating a film based on
The Original Series. The pilot episode of
Phase II, entitled "In Thy Image" was changed to become the first
Star Trek film,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Paramount spoke to
Leonard Nimoy, who was still portraying
Spock in the film franchise, about the new series. They offered him the chance of producing the new series, but he turned them down due to the time commitment. Next, Paramount sought to consult franchise creator
Gene Roddenberry. He turned down the idea of running the show, given the time that production of
The Original Series had distracted him from his family. But Paramount told him that it was impossible to pursue the new series otherwise, Roddenberry began to make plans for the series—with a new cast, as he wanted to avoid retreading and recreating the same roles now seen in the film franchise. Although they had not planned on it originally, Paramount hired Roddenberry to oversee the production and fired Strangis. However, one of his ideas appeared in the premise of
The Next Generation, that the
Federation and the
Klingons had become allies. The first announcement of a new series was made by Roddenberry publicly on October 10, 1986. Several stars of
The Original Series and the film franchise stated that they did not like the premise of a new series set in the same universe that did not feature them.
DeForest Kelley, who appeared in the pilot as Admiral
Leonard McCoy, said that while he understood that the studio wanted to keep the franchise going beyond them, he felt that "there's only one
Star Trek, and that's ours".
James Doohan, who played
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, said that
Star Trek was about the characters and with a new cast the studio was "trying to fool the public, and that's bad business."
William Shatner, who portrayed
James T. Kirk, was concerned with the overexposure of the franchise and how a new television series could affect future films. A memo sent on October 24, showed that
Robert H. Justman, an associate producer on
The Original Series, was working with Roddenberry on the new plans for a series, which was at that time untitled. They took several influences from the criticism of the previous series in
David Gerrold's
The Worlds of Star Trek, and brought the writer of "
The Trouble with Tribbles" on as a writer. Gerrold went on to produce the series
bible, although Roddenberry took the credit for it. Roddenberry also brought together former
Star Trek associate producer Eddie Milkis, who had gone on to produce series such as
Happy Days. Ideas were suggested such as an
android and Klingon
marine, which each made it into the final series as well as the great-great-great-granddaughter of James T. Kirk, which did not. Ideas proposed for
Phase II were included, such as having the second-in-command leading the away team, an idea originally proposed in Gerrold's
The Worlds of Star Trek. Concepts refined from
Star Trek: The Animated Series such as the "rec room" were also incorporated, becoming the
holodeck. Roddenberry also insisted that technology failures should not be a routinely used plot device. The new version of the
starship Enterprise was at first designated NCC-1701-7, but following the numbering pattern established in
The Voyage Home, became NCC-1701-G. Roddenberry also insisted that the new series avoid reappearances by alien races well known from
The Original Series, specifically banning
Romulans,
Vulcans and the majority of Klingons. These plans did not last, with Klingons being central to the plot of "
Heart of Glory", a Vulcan appearing in "
Coming of Age", and Romulans making their first appearance in the season finale, "
The Neutral Zone".
Crew They were joined by
Robert Lewin as writing producer, based on a recommendation by Justman who had worked with him previously. Lewin was the first person to be involved in the series who did not have a background working on the franchise.
D. C. Fontana, who had originally been Roddenberry's secretary while working on
The Original Series and went on to become the
story editor for the show, was also brought onto the staff of
The Next Generation. She was also the story editor on the new series, but sought a promised associate producer credit. Non-writing staff who were brought from working on the film franchise included
Rick Sternbach and
Andrew Probert, as well as
Michael Okuda who was hired as a scenic artist. Roddenberry hired
costume designer William Ware Theiss, who had designed
The Original Series costumes, while Milkis and Justman recruited art director
Herman Zimmerman.
Rick Berman joined the team as the liaison between Roddenberry's team and
Paramount Television. Roddenberry proved a tough negotiator in hiring staff. When he made his first offers to recruit Gerrold and Fontana, they were each below the minimum salaries as designated by the
Writers Guild of America. After Fontana continued to oppose the rates offered that were lower than dictated by WGA rates, Roddenberry brought his personal lawyer, Leonard Maizlish, to argue his case. Gerrold found that Maizlish's influence changed Roddenberry, and Gerrold started to be called disloyal by Roddenberry when he disagreed with him. Fontana drafted the script for the pilot episode, "
Encounter at Farpoint", while Gerrold and another
Original Series staffer,
John D.F. Black, also worked up scripts of their own. Based on the pilot script at that point and Gerrold and Roddenberry's bible, the design team began to work up plans for sets and props. After viewing the movie series sets, they decided that they needed to build a new bridge for the new
Enterprise to meet Roddenberry's proclaimed "technology unchained" ideal. Probert, who had worked on the design for
Phase II and
The Motion Picture, based the exterior design for the
Enterprise on an abandoned design he had created at the time. Some of the film sets were used, as the film bridge was re-dressed to appear as the battle bridge, and was further re-dressed many times over the course of
The Next Generation to represent various bridges. The first staffing change occurred early in 1987, with Milkis leaving the production. He had signed a one-year contract, but decided to prioritise other commitments. Berman was drafted in to replace him, accepting the new position instead of being the studio liaison. Milkis later said that it was a seamless transition because of the level of knowledge Berman had gained on the production. Fontana and Roddenberry had a falling out over the associate producer position, which she eventually gained. The relationship between the two became so strained that she recorded all meetings with him, and left after the first couple of episodes. Her work on "
The Naked Now" was credited to the
pseudonym J. Michael Bingham. She put in a claim with the Writers Guild that she had also worked as a story editor on the series but was never paid for it, which was settled amicably with Paramount. Meanwhile, Maizlish started working effectively as a story editor, while production meetings often resulted in Roddenberry ranting about various issues. Other writers and producers, including
Herbert Wright and
Maurice Hurley, joined the team. Justman left after half of season one, later explaining,"I'd accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.
Star Trek wasn't a fluke". They were not the only departures, as the number of employees departing the increasingly chaotic production started to become legendary in the WGA. By mid-season the show was having difficulty recruiting writers, as there were rumours about how difficult working with Roddenberry had become. He often rewrote scripts, inserting sexual overtones, while blaming the original writers for the problems with the parts that he had inserted. His fellow producers blamed the issues and inconsistencies on his drinking, although his writing had all but stopped by around two-thirds of the way through the first season. Gerrold left after the completion of the first season, choosing not to renew his contract due to the issues with his script for an unfilmed episode called "
Blood and Fire" and his relationship with Roddenberry and Maizlish. Head writer Lewin also left the team at the end of the season. Out of all the writing staff who worked on the show during the first season, only Rick Berman remained following season two.
Casting An initial casting call was released to talent agencies on December 10, 1986, for eight main cast members. These featured several minor differences in the eventual names, such as Captain Julien Picard, William Ryker and Leslie Crusher (a 15-year-old girl). It also featured the security chief, Macha Hernandez. The Captain was given the nickname of "Luke", and both his and Ryker's names took on their more familiar forms at some point between the two versions of the writer's guide in February and March 1987. Leslie Crusher was considered as a boy named Wesley prior to the casting call; the gender change was later made permanent.
Geordi La Forge was named for a quadriplegic fan named George La Forge who had died in 1975, while Macha evolved over time to eventually become
Tasha Yar. Preliminary casting began in March 1987, with Justman and Berman in charge of the process. In May, the actors who were to receive star
billing were announced. In the initial press release, only three actors were discussed; primarily
LeVar Burton as La Forge, due to the actor's appearances in the mini-series
Roots. Also included in that release were the announcements of Patrick Stewart, a member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company as Captain Picard, and
Jonathan Frakes, formerly of the
North and South miniseries.
Marina Sirtis and
Denise Crosby were cast as Masha Hernandez and
Deanna Troi respectively, but Roddenberry decided to switch the roles, at which point Hernandez became Yar. The rest of the cast included
Brent Spiner as the android
Data,
Gates McFadden as Doctor
Beverly Crusher,
Wil Wheaton as Beverly's son,
Wesley Crusher. Outside of the main cast,
Michael Dorn successfully auditioned to portray Lieutenant (j.g)
Worf. It had originally been planned for Dorn to appear in seven out of the first thirteen episodes, but after appearing in the pilot it was decided to expand the role and add him to the main cast. Other guest actors who made their first appearances during season one included
John de Lancie as
Q and
Eric Menyuk as the
Traveler. Several future
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine alumni also appeared in the first season of
The Next Generation, although not in roles in which they later featured. These included
Armin Shimerman as a wedding box in "
Haven" and as Letek in "
The Last Outpost" (he later appeared as other
Ferengi before gaining the main cast role of
Quark in
Deep Space Nine).
Marc Alaimo appeared as an Antican in "
Lonely Among Us", before appearing in different makeup as the Romulan Captain Tebok in the first-season finale "
The Neutral Zone"; he later appeared as the
Cardassian Gul Macet in
The Next Generation fourth season episode "
The Wounded" and was later cast as the recurring character of Gul
Dukat in
Deep Space Nine.
Colm Meaney appeared as a conn ensign in two episodes during the season, later established as Chief
Miles O'Brien in
season two, and became a main cast member of
Deep Space Nine. Crosby decided to leave the series part way through the first season, due to the underdevelopment of her character, Tasha Yar. She later said about the situation in an interview with the official
Star Trek website, "I was miserable. I couldn't wait to get off that show. I was dying". Roddenberry agreed to her request to leave, and she returned in the
third season episode "
Yesterday's Enterprise". Another change to the cast, this time after the end of the first season, was the firing of McFadden, who played Dr. Crusher. This was later attributed to the actions of Hurley and once he left the crew, she returned to the role at the start of the third season. ==Reception==