The first season of the American television science fiction series
Star Trek: The Next Generation commenced airing in broadcast
syndication in the United States on September 28, 1987, and concluded
on May 16, 1988, after 26 episodes were broadcast. Set in the 24th
century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the
Starfleet starship Enterprise-D. It was the first live-action
television series in the franchise to be broadcast since Star Trek:
The Original Series was cancelled in 1969, and the first to feature
all new characters. Paramount Television eventually sought the advice
of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, who set about creating
the new show with mostly former The Original Series staff members. An
entirely new cast were sought, which concerned some members of The
Original Series crew, as Roddenberry did not want to re-tread the same
steps as he had in the first series to the extent that well known Star
Trek aliens such as Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans were banned at
first.The characters in the series gradually changed during
preproduction, with adjustments made to the names, genders and
ethnicity. When the cast was announced at first, LeVar Burton was the
main actor highlighted because of his work on the Roots mini series;
his character, Geordi La Forge was named for a disabled fan. Although
the casting was managed by producers Rick Berman and Robert H.
Justman, Roddenberry intervened to switch the characters assigned to
Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby. Sirtis took over Crosby's role as
Deanna Troi, and Crosby became Tasha Yar, who had been named Macha
Hernandez while Sirtis held the part. Behind the scenes, the writing
team became chaotic. Eddie Milkis had quit prior to casting, with
Berman taking over from him. Roddenberry's insistence on re-writing
scripts and unusual behaviour alienated some staff. Longtime Star Trek
contributor D.C. Fontana quit, filing a claim with the Writer's Guild
of America as she had been acting as story editor but was unpaid in
the role. Such were the troubles that the series had a problem
recruiting potential writers halfway through the season. By the end of
the second season, all the writing staff recruited during season one
except for Rick Berman had quit.As the series was being launched
directly into syndication, there were concerns that it could affect
the ratings. "Encounter at Farpoint", the pilot, was broadcast to
Nielsen ratings of 15.7 percent, and after a lull seeing ratings for
"The Last Outpost" reach a season low of 8.9 percent, they increased
again and by the end of the first season, it had become the most
popular syndicated series on television. While highly anticipated,
initial reviews other than for "Encounter at Farpoint" were poor. The
second episode, "The Naked Now" had fans and critics concerned that
The Next Generation would re-hash plots of The Original Series, and
"Code of Honor" was seen as racist. It was nominated for seven Emmy
Awards, winning in makeup, costume design and sound editing. "The Big
Goodbye" was awarded a Peabody Award, while cast member Wil Wheaton
was nominated for an award at the 9th Youth in Film Awards. The season
was first released on DVD on March 26, 2002, on Region 1, and was
subsequently released in other regions. The region-free Blu-ray
releases came in July 2012. Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1) Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter