What it says on the tin.
What if TNG have been cancelled?
- Thread starter Wingcommanderdarkwolf01
- Start date
erm... erm.... let me think.
I suppose we would have had significantly fewer TNG episodes in that case?
I suppose we would have had significantly fewer TNG episodes in that case?
Ultimately, it was cancelled. After 7 seasons.
I assume this is about what if it was cancelled after the first two seasons?
Well, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Well, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I’ll provide a more serious answer, assuming @JesterFace is correct and OP means if TNG was cancelled after a season or two.
Based on the success of ST4, they still move forward with ST5, presumably it’s essentially the same as what we got and its disappointing performance causes Star Trek to go dormant for a few years.
In the mid/late 90s revivals of old 60s/70s properties were all the rage, so we’d get a rebooted TOS crew movie or TV show at this time.
Based on the success of ST4, they still move forward with ST5, presumably it’s essentially the same as what we got and its disappointing performance causes Star Trek to go dormant for a few years.
In the mid/late 90s revivals of old 60s/70s properties were all the rage, so we’d get a rebooted TOS crew movie or TV show at this time.
Next Gen would be like many failed spinoffs and quickly forgotten. The TOS movies would've continued and ended at 6. After that, the franchise would probably be like that gap between Ent and '09 where a slew of projects were in development, ultimately leading to a reboot of TOS with a younger cast. Summer of '98 would've seen Lost in Space vs Star Trek dueling it out in theaters. Both would be financial and critical failures until Netflix reboots both a decade or so later.
It wasn't cancelled, TNG was a syndicated show, it had no network that could have cancelled it, Paramount decided to cease production in favor of movies. Had they decided to produce an eighth season and beyond it would have continued on tv, the stations airing TNG didn't want to lose it, the ratings in season 7 were still very good, there was literally no reason for them to pull out.
I don't mind discussing this more seriously, but the topic seems a bit broad. I mean, is the question whether Trek would still have been a thing today at all, or, if so, what kind of series we would have gotten since that hypothetical TNG cancellation, or how the Trek universe would have been different today without TNG's 7 years of influence, or .... ?
All of them i guess.
If TNG had been cancelled after 2-3 years, that would most likely have meant the series had failed to attract a new flock of followers (of significant size) at least. So it would have meant no DS9, VOY, or ENT, and Trek would still have mostly been associated with TOS.
Beyond that, it's a bit hard to guess. Given that those TOS fans seemed a hardy and persistent breed, paramount might have tried again in another 20 years or so and that 2nd attempt might or might not have been successful. What it would have evolved into in the first case is anyone's guess.
Beyond that, it's a bit hard to guess. Given that those TOS fans seemed a hardy and persistent breed, paramount might have tried again in another 20 years or so and that 2nd attempt might or might not have been successful. What it would have evolved into in the first case is anyone's guess.
If STNG didn't succeed, I wonder how the TOS following would have endured?
I'd imagine it would still have a special place in TV history.
I'd imagine it would still have a special place in TV history.
Hey, one nice thing about TNG is that it's a combo platter of sorts: you've got your TOS-esque Seasons 1 and 2, your stronger written yet still exploration-oriented Seasons 3, 4 and 5 and your increasingly martial Seasons 6 and 7. There truly is something for everyone.
If it got cancelled after just 3 or even 4 seasons it would widely be regarded as a failure, at best as just being love it or hate it and that for widespread success you have to have, stick with the original characters. But you probably would then still get (especially if TUC was still a success and planted more hints of successors, spin-offs), around 1995 or 1996, with UPN starting and there being an anniversary, a new attempt, either based on Starfleet Academy or a remake and/or prequel to the original show or maybe trying to pass the torch to new movie characters but the reaction to TNG would probably make that too risky.
More like two decades later
I also yes don't see a pretty soon hip remake without more creativity or ambition doing well at all.
More like two decades later
I also yes don't see a pretty soon hip remake without more creativity or ambition doing well at all.
I suspect if TNG had been whacked after 2-3 seasons, Trek would have gone on hiatus for a number of years, and then there would have been a hard reboot of the entire franchise with the TOS crew recast at some point in the future, or a hard reboot in terms of a movie franchise along the lines of JJ-Trek.
I remember reading somewhere that, had TNG failed, it would have been tacked on with TOS reruns and show a glimpse of what the Trek universe's future would have looked like. I don't recall if it was a retrospective article or if it was said by someone circa 1986, or if it was intentional that early-TNG would try to be "TOS-future", rather than finding its own independent niche (e.g. season 3). The lack of shiny new competition, which included "Doctor Who", didn't hurt TNG getting all the ratings as well...
Would there be a complete reboot? Considering that the 1991 movie (TUC) was originally going to be - thanks to the preceding one being a critical flop at the time, never mind fresh new takes on Batman, sequels like Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones where they trot out Indy's fam on that leash but thank goodness they got Julian Glover to make up for it and then some, and so on but I digress - a cadet flick on how our beloved crew got together, all conveniently at the same time like a clique of high school kids on their first day of school* or something else equally akin to "small universe syndrome"*, I've no doubts that a retry of the franchise, either via a new future or a rebooted one, would be inevitable... Trek was riding high in the 1980s thanks to the movies (II-IV in particular, and even back then kids were in summer camp blabbering on about how "Kirk would get a DeLorean" as well...)
I do enjoy TNG season 1 and 2 and largely because they're finding their feet and there is some originality in among the dross, but I have to admit - season 3 definitely makes TNG its own and fully original creative style, and first showed how multiple approaches to Star Trek could and would work to become pop cultural zeitgeist juggernauts and other bins of buzzword blopped together. Indeed, the only thing more miraculous would be if they had season 3's approach from day one, as the cast was already there. After all, TOS was about 90% there from day one**.
Then again, even with STV viewers were annoyed that the show ditched its serious tone in favor of crap comedy, while TNG was taking even its crap episodes seriously. TOS never fully recovered, as TUC ultimately had shown (e.g. Communications officer Uhura reduced to the butt of a cheap joke, despite "Who Mourns for Adonis" having Uhura be the only one who could get the systems working again.)
* ugh
** okay, they had to iron out shouty Spock*** and Kirk being a bit too grumpygruff (and racist? --> https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-mystery-of-joses-peppers.314181/ But one could argue "character growth" as well, except there's no visible journey in that regard - so it's all offscreen...)
*** wait for some new Trek incarnation to flesh out Data from early TNG before they solidified on "I am an android" over the fuzzier interpretation of Pinnochio. Fortunately, TNG already engaged in the law of diminishing returns when they wore out Data's family shtick, which was borderline with his creator Noonien Singh Soon Soolin Whocares so they found his mommy and everyone else... (never mind "The Measure of a Man" when they dipped back into that well for the Offspring, the exocomp garbage, and so on****...)
^^ 2:10 in features the "I'm an Android" song - wish there was a 10 hour loop of that, hehe!
**** Editorializing into tangents, again
Would there be a complete reboot? Considering that the 1991 movie (TUC) was originally going to be - thanks to the preceding one being a critical flop at the time, never mind fresh new takes on Batman, sequels like Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones where they trot out Indy's fam on that leash but thank goodness they got Julian Glover to make up for it and then some, and so on but I digress - a cadet flick on how our beloved crew got together, all conveniently at the same time like a clique of high school kids on their first day of school* or something else equally akin to "small universe syndrome"*, I've no doubts that a retry of the franchise, either via a new future or a rebooted one, would be inevitable... Trek was riding high in the 1980s thanks to the movies (II-IV in particular, and even back then kids were in summer camp blabbering on about how "Kirk would get a DeLorean" as well...)
I do enjoy TNG season 1 and 2 and largely because they're finding their feet and there is some originality in among the dross, but I have to admit - season 3 definitely makes TNG its own and fully original creative style, and first showed how multiple approaches to Star Trek could and would work to become pop cultural zeitgeist juggernauts and other bins of buzzword blopped together. Indeed, the only thing more miraculous would be if they had season 3's approach from day one, as the cast was already there. After all, TOS was about 90% there from day one**.
Then again, even with STV viewers were annoyed that the show ditched its serious tone in favor of crap comedy, while TNG was taking even its crap episodes seriously. TOS never fully recovered, as TUC ultimately had shown (e.g. Communications officer Uhura reduced to the butt of a cheap joke, despite "Who Mourns for Adonis" having Uhura be the only one who could get the systems working again.)
* ugh
** okay, they had to iron out shouty Spock*** and Kirk being a bit too grumpygruff (and racist? --> https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-mystery-of-joses-peppers.314181/ But one could argue "character growth" as well, except there's no visible journey in that regard - so it's all offscreen...)
*** wait for some new Trek incarnation to flesh out Data from early TNG before they solidified on "I am an android" over the fuzzier interpretation of Pinnochio. Fortunately, TNG already engaged in the law of diminishing returns when they wore out Data's family shtick, which was borderline with his creator Noonien Singh Soon Soolin Whocares so they found his mommy and everyone else... (never mind "The Measure of a Man" when they dipped back into that well for the Offspring, the exocomp garbage, and so on****...)
^^ 2:10 in features the "I'm an Android" song - wish there was a 10 hour loop of that, hehe!
**** Editorializing into tangents, again
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