Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XII)
I didn’t have a TV between 1985 and 1990. Being in college and being more focused on music, movies, drinking, and partying, I missed a lot of stuff I wasn’t aware of, so it wasn’t until Season 4 that I got into this next generation of Star Trek.
I watched a lot of the first seasons out of order and much of the next was a crap shoot whether I’d be home to watch it. It wasn’t until later that I had a VHS and could record the episodes.
Coming out in 1987, each season had better production, the storylines continued to develop the crews personalities effectively, as well as introducing us to some memorable reoccurring characters.
With the exception of Patrick Stewart who I recognized from his appearance in the movies Dune and Excalibur, the rest of the cast was unknown to me which always makes a new show more believable.
Stewart delivered several knockout performances during the series, proving his range of talent, even within a sometimes not too serious series.
Jonathan Frakes on the other hand always came off as a bit stiff, and Wil Wheaton was the often despised by fans as the wunderkind Wesley Crusher (kudos to Wil for embracing that hatred in his many appearances on The Big Bang Theory).
Brent Spiner portrayed the android Data, who has no emotions, and his evil brother, Lore who does. In several episodes, he does gain the ability to feel which enabled the character to grow.
Micheal Dorn (Worf), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troy), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) rounded out the main cast, with each character growing and developing throughout the series.
John De Lancie, of Days of Our Lives, was stellar in his portrayal of the omnipotent Q, a character who made a multitude of appearances, much to the ire of Captain Picard. The rocky relationship between the two continued all the way to the most recent spinoff, Picard, and ended with this [spoiler] poignant scene:
There would be four movies between 1994-2002 with this cast.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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