
The Star Trek franchise originated in the 1960s, with the Star Trek television show which ran from 1966 to 1969. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked Star Trek: The Next Generation #79 – along with Upstairs, Downstairs, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Alfred Hitchcock Presents – on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series. It received many accolades, including 19 Emmy Awards, two Hugo Awards, five Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award. The series is also the setting of numerous novels, comic books, and video games. The characters from The Next Generation returned in four films: Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and in the television series Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).

Due to its success, Paramount commissioned Rick Berman and Michael Piller to create a fourth series in the franchise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which launched in 1993. The show was very popular, reaching almost 12 million viewers in its 5th season, with the series finale in 1994 watched by over 30 million viewers. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Stewart's voice-over introduction during each episode's opening credits stated the starship's purpose: The series was broadcast in first-run syndication with dates and times varying among individual television stations. Roddenberry, Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor served as executive producers at various times throughout its production. Beverly Crusher, Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar, Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, and a new Enterprise.

The Next Generation featured a new crew: Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, Brent Spiner as Data, Michael Dorn as Worf, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Gates McFadden as Dr. He decided to set it a century after the events of his original series. In the 1980s, Roddenberry-who was responsible for the original Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974), and the first of a series of films-was tasked by Paramount Pictures with creating a new series in the franchise. Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series.

It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons.

Star Trek: The Next Generation ( TNG) is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry.
