1994-1995: Star Trek: Generations
and Star Trek: Voyager

While Deep Space Nine ascended and claimed the crown of the top syndicated dramatic series, the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation, did not sit still. It was well known that they are destined for the big screen, and this time, it will also be the last time the original crew appear on the big screen. Both the original crew, and the next generation will appear together, and the torch will be passed.

The result was Generations, the seventh Star Trek movie, which premiered in November 1994. At the beginning, James Kirk, on his tour of NCC-1701-B Enterprise, was lost while attempting to save another ship from the destructive effects of the Nexus. Over seventy years later, Dr.Soran (Malcolm McDowell), an evil scientist is destroying entire star systems in order to reenter the Nexus, a phenomenon in space that encompasses all points of all space in all times, and the crew of NCC-1701-D is trying to prevent that from happening. Picard, failing in an attempt, was drawn into the Nexus with Dr.Soran. Inside, Picard, found James T. Kirk, and together they were able to defeat Soran, but Kirk was killed in the attempt. Enterprise-D was damaged by renegade Klingons and was forced to crash-land.

The reaction from the fan was mixed. Some liked the transition, but many more hated the ending (why did they have to destroy the ship?), about Shatner taking over the screen and the Next Generation crew have little to do, and so on. Still, the movie did make money for Paramount, and there will be the eighth Star Trek movie. This one, will be Next Generation only.

Paramount, in the meanwhile, is reviving the United Paramount Network idea it tried back in the seventies with Star Trek Phase II (which became Star Trek: The Motion Picture), and they need a new series to anchor the network. What can be better than ANOTHER Star Trek series? After all, Paramount has always been the Star Trek source, but Deep Space Nine is for the syndicated market. A new series it must be, and Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor went their drawing boards.

Their answer was Star Trek: Voyager, which premiered in January 1995 on the United Paramount Network.

The third spin-off series from Gene Roddenberry's classic sci-fi series featured a lot of major changes, yet leaving the background familiar enough to follow. USS Voyager is the first starship that can actually land and takeoff on planets, and has new warp drive that does not damage the space-time continuum. Star Trek: Voyager is also far more politically correct then before, with a female Captain Kathryn Janeway, a Native American first officer Chakotay, a black Vulcan security officer Tuvok, a holographic doctor, and an Asian-American bridge officer ensign Kim.

The ship will not be flying in familiar space either. Thrown 70,000 light years to the opposite side of the galaxy, the Voyager crew must band together with a ship of rebel Maquis in order to get back home. Survival in the unfamiliar part of space will be hard, and it will be dangerous, but they are truly where no one has ever gone before, where totally unfamiliar aliens abound. Two of them will join the crew, in fact.

The new series, as of now, did not receive very good ratings, but it is the longest surviving series of the United Paramount Network, or UPN for short. Occasionally breaking into the top 100 networked shows in ratings, Voyager has carved a niche for itself in the Star Trek lore.

 

To learn more

Star Trek Nexus Voyager section

 

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