Not a retread, but a better show, overall
While the original Star Trek series was hampered by financial hamstrings
and
inconsistent scripts ranging from the mediocre to the sublime, Star Trek:
The Next Generation floundered the first three seasons with old re-hashes
of
the original series scripts and ideas. They didn't find their voice until
the final episode of season three, "The Best of Both Worlds." Afterwards,
they started seriously exploring the various characters and concepts
(second
chances, the nature of love and attraction, etc) and in their final
season,
with the exception of the attempted romance between Worf and Troi, they
hit
very few bad notes. The two shows really can't be compared, since the
original series had been pitched as a "Wagon Train to the Stars" and were
pretty much held to that, and was consistently cut in budget by it's
producer, Desilu every season of the three years it was on. The Next
Generation, also overseen by Roddenberry, suffered from some of the
constraints that Gene put on the show (there is no conflict, no poverty,
etc
in the 24th century) was often just ok, seldom bad after season three and
often hilarious. And, when it hit, it was the equal of anything in the
first series, both poignant and thought provoking, such as the episode
"Tapestry."<br><br>It was eclipsed in writing by Star Trek: Deep Space 9 which didn't have
the
luxury of travel and finding a new alien species each week (a staple of
the
first two series) so it had to concentrate on issues and characterization.<br><br>Later, another series in the canon, Star Trek: Voyager, attempted to
recapture the sense of exploration of the first two series but failed
badly
as the writing never quite came up to par of the first two
series.
the Next Generation Complete Series
