History Series / StarTrekTheNExtGeneration

*** Q declares that the Borg "don't care about your life forms" and the Borgs are more presented as a single self-perpetuating species heavily into cybernetic. Not a hodgepodge of assimilated races. Guinan also describes them as a race that develop this way over time. No mention of assimilation is ever made, despite this being the hallmark of the Borg, just them being interested in other species' technology.

*** Borg ship interiors are much more brightly lit and colored than in subsequent appearances, especially in ''Voyager'' and ''First Contact''. with less emphasis on the black and green color palette.

* ContinuityNod: ''TNG'' is ''excellent'' makes references to previous events in a variety of contexts, including other ''Trek'' shows.

** Next to Worf and Geordi, Deanna Troi filled this role many times. She was always being possessed by aliens, once impregnated by an alien and giving birth to that same alien, abused by aliens in crashed shuttles, abducted by aliens for political gambits, being nearly forced to marry an alien, having her psychic powers robbed by aliens, suffering nightmares at the hands of aliens, forced to listen to a virtual music box in her head for days by an alien, the list goes on. Her only real use on the show was to counsel the [[RedShirt random crew member of the week]] and to tell Picard when she sensed weird things happening while on the bridge -– apart from being this show's MsFanservice, that is.

* AwesomeYetImpractical: InUniverse and meta-example with the saucer separation. In-universe, it was designed so that the ''Enterprise'' could evacuate its civilian population so that it could fight whatever was coming for it, but it was rarely used in the series - twice in season 1, once during "The Best of Both Worlds Part II" and in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. Meta-wise, the model was made without the assistance of Industrial Light and Magic and when they came in, they discovered that they had a terribly imbalanced six-foot monstrosity that could only maintain balance while upside down (ever wonder why many ship shots are from the bottom?). It's because of this that the ''Enterprise'' was destroyed in ''Generations'' and replaced for ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''.

** Props and sets throughout Sick Bay are covered with logos of the caduceus, a staff intertwined with two winged serpents. The caduceus is a symbol messengers, but it's commonly confused with the symbol of medicine, a single serpent wrapped around a staff called the Rod of Asclepius.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: "The Royale". -291 degrees Celsius. (Absolute Zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible, is -273 degrees.)

** In ''The Gambit'' 2-parter, Picard and Riker must prevent a crew of SpacePirates from assembling an ancient Vulcan telepathic weapon. [[spoiler:It only works if the person it's used on is currently feeling violent, so it's basically useless if you know how it works.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Borg Collective, and although they're Lawful in and of themselves rather than Chaotic, their effect on everyone else is ChaoticEvil as they destroy or assimilate almost indiscriminately everyone they come across as long as their prey have a minimum of technological or biological advancement - i.e. as long as whoever they are killing or assimilating is worth the energy. They try to assimilate the entire rest of the universe into their structured collective or kill them trying, and you can't reason with them or plead for mercy. [[CatchPhrase Resistance is futile]]. Averted with [[spoiler:Hugh, when he is separated from the Collective and gains individuality.]]
** The Crystalline Entity also fits this description. It speaks in harmonics (like sound produced on crystal) that was never translated and roams the galaxy strip mining entire worlds of its organic material as a food source. A fully habitable and 'inhabited' planet might look like the Moon after a couple hours of its arrival.

** The fate of Armus. He was created [[MadeOfEvil out of the darkest aspects]] of the psyches of an entire alien race [[JerkassWoobie and then abandoned.]] After he murdered Tasha Yar in a rage, the crew of the Enterprise decided that it was fitting punishment to leave him ''again'' and deploy a warning beacon that meant no-one would ever venture near the planet again. Armus even ends the episode ''screaming''.

* ApocalypticLog:
** The ''Enterprise'' has received a few of these, including a couple [[NegativeSpaceWedgie from themselves]].

* Characte

** Multiple examples, but the most well known was that of the shilling done for Wesley, which grated at the fans and became the former trope namer for the more negative and YMMV version of the trope, CreatorsPet. Apart from shilling Wesley, the story also shills a few other characters, even those who are actually popular like Riker. We are frequently assured that Riker could be a captain on any other ship in the fleet, but without a great deal of backing for the idea.

* ContinuityNod: One of the most commendable aspects of the show. ''TNG'' is ''excellent'' at making references to previous events in a variety of contexts, including other ''Trek'' shows.

** Fan Favorite episode "Relics" was written by PromotedFanboy Ronald Moore and featured {{Continuity Nod}}s to TNG and TOS in nearly every scene, most especially the holodeck recreation of the original series bridge.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In the episode "Justice", [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher]] is [[spoiler:nearly put to death]] by the locals for accidentally crushing some flowers. Worth pointing out that [[AllCrimesAreEqual Death was the only form of retribution]] on that planet.
** This was made even worse by the trial, in which no one even bothered to point out that Wesley did not intentionally step over the marker (hence violating the law). He was trying to catch a ball, and tripped and fell. One wonders what the legal system on that planet would've said if they had made this argument.

* {{Facepalm}}: The best known picture happens to feature Picard facepalming from "Deja Q".
** The face palm is even an emote in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline''.

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: A variation occurs in the episode "Cause and Effect"--the ''Enterprise'' is trapped in a GroundhogDayLoop where she's destined to collide with another ship and explode. Data figures out how to avoid the collision too late, so he uses TechnoBabble to send a message into the next loop, which helps the crew save themselves and the other ship.
** The [[TearJerker tearjerkingly brilliant]] "The Inner Light", commonly seen as one of the best, tells the story of an alien race doomed by instability in their sun who send out a space probe that finds Picard and [[MindRape forces]] him to hallucinate living a lifetime among their final generations before the end, and thus ensures that their species will at least be remembered. It affected ''Picard'' and no other crew member. The life he lived involved being married, having a family, and other things he's never made time for - taking it from a disturbing experience to something he sees as a gift.
** The episode "The Chase" reveals that all humanoid life is this--a {{Precursor|s}} species that inhabited the Milky Way eons before life anywhere else was more complex than bacteria seeded planets all over the galaxy with [=DNA=] so that evolution there would result in people who resembled them after their eventual extinction. They left a message coded in [=DNA=] to explain all this. (This is ''less'' well-regarded by fans, since evolution does not work like that and it comes off as a justification for the RubberForeheadAliens.)
* FlowersOfRomance: It happened a few times:
** In the episode "Haven", Deanna Troi wants to fulfill her arranged marriage promise to Wyatt Miller. He had given her a chameleon rose as a gift. It was blue when Miller held it and turned red, then white when Troi held it. It later turned purple while still in Troi's hands (which becomes FridgeBrilliance when you take into account that the marriage is called off when Wyatt found his fantasy lover, Ariana, aboard a Tarellian ship);
** "In Theory" had Lieutenant Commander Data presenting a bunch of crystilia to Lieutenant Jenna D'Sora, when the two were "dating". Data's choice came from Commander William Riker's recommendation, since crystilia had "worked for him before";

* HarsherInHindsight: In "Where No One Has Gone Before," Picard sees a vision of his mother as an old woman, offering him tea. His facial expression is utterly bereft when he turns after answering Will, to find her gone - which makes sense given that, in ''Star Trek: Picard'' we discover that [[spoiler: she committed suicide when he was a boy, and he prefers to imagine her as having lived to become an old woman, to deal with the trauma of her death]]. That scene has even more resonance now as a result.

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter At Farpoint]]" its heavily implied they're notorious for [[SapientEatSapient eating other sapient species]], something which is never mentioned again throughout the entire franchise (save one novel that reconnected it as part of a propaganda campaign to make them look fearsome in preparation for meeting what they believed was a truly insane faction).
*** In their first appearance "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost The Last Outpost]]" the Ferengi are effectively caricatures of the worst parts of humanity (to contrast with how advanced and enlightened the crew of Enterprise is) and presented as manic, vicious greedy warriors, who are openly hostile and hell-bent on attacking the crew then looting the corpses. Following it being realised they were nowhere near intimidating enough to work in this role, later episodes switched to presenting them as, whilst still potentially dangerous and obsessed with greed, an overall cowardly race who only attacked when they clearly had the upper hand, and who's tactics leaned towards deception, subterfuge, and illegal activities.
*** Come ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' the Ferengi were completely reimagined as a ProudMerchantRace whose only focuses are on economic pursuit and profit (albeit with not [[CorruptCorporateExecutive many moral scruples]]), with Quark outright boasting that the Ferengi had never engaged in active warfare during their entire existence, instead using their economic skills to force any opponents into making a quick (and often highly profitable) deals. With not even [[TheEngineer Chief O'Brien]] (who was aboard the Enterprise and involved in several Ferengi attacks) ever calling him out the discrepancy.

* HideYourGays: Yes ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is about tolerance, but even at that time, homosexuality could only be portrayed through metaphor. Through no fault of the writers or actors, however; they tried several times, and Creator/WhoopiGoldberg even changed some of her dialog. When explaining the concept of love to Lal, which was initially written from a purely heterosexual viewpoint, she pointed out that homosexuality would not be stigmatized in the 24th century of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', and so the lines were changed to be more gender-neutral and inclusive. However, a plan to have a same-sex couple in the background in that scene was nixed by someone on the set calling out the producers in secret, who stood around to make sure that nothing slipped by. The issue would have to wait for ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' to get any real exposure at all.

* {{Hypocrisy}}:
** In "Ensign Ro", when Riker chastises Ro Laren for wearing her Bajoran earring--which has religious significance--only to subsequently take her into a meeting where Troi was wearing her low-cut, non-regulation uniform and Worf is proudly wearing his Klingon baldric. This may be more out of personal and professional dislike than anything; in the end, when she makes being allowed to wear her earring a condition for staying on, Picard accepts with a grin.
** In "Attached", the xenophobic Prytt abduct Picard and Crusher, who were attempting to visit the neighboring Kes. In the course of trying to get them back, Riker abducts the security minister who ordered the original abduction. She is outraged. She actually uses the word "outrage".

* LicensedGame:
** ''VideoGame/AFinalUnity'' follows in the footsteps of the ''25th Anniversary'' {{Adventure game}}s based on TOS. The ship mechanics are expanded, with the player even able to eject the warp core if need be. The options are so exhaustive, you are free to meddle around other bases and star systems at will, though it accomplishes basically nothing.
** ''Generations'', based on the movie, is an {{FPS}} in which you chase Dr. Soran from planet to planet, always narrowly missing him. The Stellar Cartography room (used by Picard and Data in the film) also comes into play, with the player trying to predict where Soran will land next a la Carmen Sandiego.
** ''Future's Past'' is essentially a console port of ''A Final Unity'', though the away missions are stripped-down to a basic top-down shooter. Everything else is intact, including the multitude of [[WhereWasIGoingAgain window-dressing worlds]] to visit and the tactical battle system. One drawback of the 2-D gameplay is that the three-dimension space battles are now essentially dogfights, with the biggest risk being running out of ammo. ([[MyRulesAreNotYourRules Enemies have infinite ammo]].)
** ''Birth of the Federation'' is a TurnBasedStrategy game with five playable empires: The Federation, Romulan Empire, Cardassian Union, Klingon Empire, and Ferengi Alliance (back when the Ferengi were still purportedly a threat).
** ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander'', probably the most popular ''Trek'' of its era and a favorite among [[GameMod modders]]. ([[Series/BabylonFive Shadow Battlecrab]] [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny versus]] [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Battlestar Pegasus!]])

** The back-and-forth dialogue between Gul Madred and Picard in "Chain of Command (Part II)" too, along with some MindGameShip.

* {{Misblamed}}: The racist undertones of "Code of Honor" have been pinned on near everyone on the production staff, but it has been shown that the script only called for a few token ScaryBlackMan bodyguards. The director of the episode (who was fired mid-way) decided to cast every guest star as black and make the alien race an African Tribe InSpace. Creator/WilWheaton mentioned in his blog that if it wasn't for that, the stereotypical accents and their [[HumanAliens human appearance]] it might have been a rather good, if derivative, episode.

* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: Tasha Yar was originally from the [[RecycledInSpace planetary equivalent]] of Bosnia, but managed to get a job with Starfleet.

* RecycledInSpace:
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E16StarshipMine "Starship Mine"]] is ''Film/DieHard'' [-[[DieHardOnAnX ON THE USS ENTERPRISE]]-]!
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E13FaceOfTheEnemy "Face of the Enemy"]] is ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' [-IN SPACE-]!, with Toreth essentially Sean Connery's Captain Marko Ramius. Very little of Toreth's dialogue was changed from her original male depiction.
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E24TheNextPhase "The Next Phase"]] is basically ''Film/Ghost1990'' [-IN SPACE, MINUS THE ACTUAL DEATH OF THE HEROES-]! Too bad Creator/WhoopiGoldberg [[CastingGag wasn't there that particular week...]]
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E24TheMindsEye "The Mind's Eye"]] is ''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate'' [-IN SPACE-]!
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E14AMatterOfPerspective "A Matter of Perspective"]] is ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' [-IN SPACE-]!
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E11TheHunted "The Hunted"]] is basically ''Film/FirstBlood'' [-IN SPACE-]!
** The Picard torture subplot of [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand "Chain of Command Part II"]] is ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' [-IN SPACE-]!
** Brannon Braga described [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E23Timescape "Timescape"]] as ''Film/TheAbyss'' [-IN SPACE-]!
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E13SubRosa "Sub Rosa"]] is GothicHorror [-IN SPACE!-] (The writer [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial specifically denies]] that it's ''[[Literature/LivesOfTheMayfairWitches The Witching Hour]]'' [-IN SPACE!-])

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Picard gives an epic verbal beatdown to Armus.

* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Lwaxana Troi brags she's "Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed", among other boasting of her position (which likely means she's high nobility at the very least.)
** Another of her boasts is "Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix", which her daughter quite bluntly points out is nothing more than:
--->"An old clay pot with mold growing inside of it."
%%* RemovingTheEarpiece

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Picard is a fan of Shakespeare and will occasionally quote or reference him. This was clearly written in because Creator/PatrickStewart is a trained Shakespearean actor.

** "The Best of Both Worlds" introduces the Borg's ability to "assimilate" life-forms, implanting them with cybernetic components which override the life-form's free-will. It's not until the movies that this is refined into the ability to [[NightmareFuel inject people with nanites which instantly begin the transformation]].

* VoiceChangeling: Data has shown this ability a few times.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Borg are quite good at this, enough so to perhaps have served as the TropeCodifier for modern audiences.

** In "Pen Pals," Riker gives some sage advice to Wesley Crusher when the latter is given his first command: "In your position it's important to ask yourself one question: 'What would Picard do?'" (The line promptly underwent MemeticMutation, naturally enough.)

* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: "Code of Honor", with emphasis on a literal Battle of the Sexes and unbelievable alien culture of Zulus wearing tinfoil. "Why aren’t we warping out of here?" says Picard at the conclusion, and one can't help but agree with him.

%% The tropes that a work named is trivia and belongs on the Trivia tab.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In universe, Riker can barely keep a straight face when [[DeadpanSnarker Worf]] delivers a simple but savage retort to Q's latest personal problem.

* AlasPoorVillain: In-universe in "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle." After being accidentally made sentient, the Moriarty hologram never does anything overtly villainous, indeed acting polite and well-mannered at all times. The reasons he hijacks the ''Enterprise'' twice are due to his frustration that he simply cannot leave the holodeck and his belief that Picard failed to keep his word about researching a way to give him autonomy: the fact that he somehow managed to [[AndIMustScream remain conscious]] during the 4-year gap between activations didn't really help his mood either. Picard even laments having to thwart him, as while he was programmed to act as an arch-villain, Moriarty is still a decent man.

* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: {{Downplayed}} in "Genesis". Sometimes they were spiders!

* ArtEvolution: A rare Live Action version. The ridge design on Worf's head changed as the show continued. This was explained as simply streamlining the make-up process.

* ArtisticLicenseSpace: In the episode "Masks", Troi seems to think the sun and the moon both revolve around the same planet, and "only one of them can be in ascendance at any given time". Oops.

* BarbieDollAnatomy: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in "The Naked Now" regarding Data:
-->'''Tasha Yar:''' Data, you are fully functional, aren't you?
-->'''Data:''' Of course, but...
-->'''Tasha Yar:''' How fully?
-->'''Data:''' In every way, of course.

** In "Tapestry", Picard (who's reliving his days as a fresh young ensign) has sex with his good female friend Marta Batanides. In the morning, a hand reaches up to stroke his ear, and Picard turns around, opens his eyes--[[spoiler:[[HoYay and it's Q.]]]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Q:''' [[{{Troll}} Morning, darling]].]]

%%* CaptainObvious: Troi does this a lot. Data also did this frequently in the first and second seasons.

* CharacterDevelopment: Part of the reason the show [[GrowingTheBeard came into its own]] was building up the origin stories and social habits of the crew, which served to make them more ''real''. Gene Roddenberry, it turns out, wasn't so fond of character development. The characters were supposed to inhabit an [[HumansAreSpecial enlightened future]], but [[HumansAreFlawed conflict is what breeds drama]]. Some writers left after season 1 due to this and other strange restrictions he had. Characters introduced later in the show's run, Lt. Barclay and Ensign Ro Laren are significantly more complex and, importantly, flawed.

** Played with in "Peak Performance". Data loses a game to an alien and checks himself for a malfunction over and over again. Pulaski and Troi reassure him that it's fine to make mistakes, but Data knew that already and even if he didn't, he wouldn't be discouraged as he doesn't have emotions-- he just couldn't see how it was ''possible'' because he's an android. Eventually, he "wins" the game by causing a stalemate.
*** Not helped by Pulaski's initial reaction to Data losing the game. "You're supposed to be infallible!"
*** Ultimately averted because it turns out that Data didn't actually make any mistakes, he was simply playing against a superior opponent. It is Captain Picard who finally gets Data to realize this.
----> "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life!"

* MonsterIsAMommy: In "Galaxy's Child", a huge space dwelling creature gets killed just before it gives birth.

** Averted in "The Child", when Troi feels no pain at all during her birth. Of course, her child wasn't exactly normal.

* SpidersAreScary:
** Averted, where Chief O'Brien tells Lieutenant Barclay at the end of "Realm of Fear" about how he overcame his own fear of spiders to work a repair in a spider-infested crawlspace. The episode ended with O'Brien's pet tarantula crawling on Barclay's arm.
** The seventh-season episode "Genesis" had Barclay [[DevolutionDevice devolve into one]] for a JumpScare.

* {{Squick}}: Intentional in-universe example in "Rascals", the scene between O'Brien and Keiko, his wife who is now her 12-year-old self. He has no idea how to handle the situation, especially when she tries to cuddle up to him, and is visibly ''extremely'' uncomfortable.

* StockholmSyndrome: Beverly shows signs of this towards Finn in "The High Ground". When Picard is captured by the separatists, he's quick to point this out to her.

* SuddenSchoolUniform: Not a "school uniform" as such, but Jellico ordering Troi to start wearing her duty uniform from now on in "The Chain of Command" is basically this trope.

* AnchoredShip: Picard and Crusher. [[spoiler:In the post-Nemesis [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse book series]], TheyDo.]]

* HazyFeelTurn: In a species-wide example, the Klingons have gone from being the Federation's staunchest adversaries in ''The Original Series'' to being uneasy allies by the time ''Next Generation'' is set.

* RayGun: Phasers return, bearing multiple forms and up to sixteen settings:

** StuffBlowingUp - settings 11 through 16. Worth noting is that setting 11, which features a blast radius of '''ten cubic meters''', is considered "slight explosive effects".

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: In "Starship Mine," TheCaptain takes on a team of intruders on his own.

* DanBrowned: In "I, Borg", Guinan and Picard are fencing. They are wearing epee costumes, using epee rules, however, the two are clearly using foils. Especially annoying because the writers [[ShownTheirWork did their research]] the last time Picard fenced in-show and had the correct weapons.

After struggling for a few seasons trying to establish itself apart from the original series, it exploded into one of the most well-respected television shows ever made, partially because of a change in direction (its creator had health problems starting around season two of the show's run leading to co-producer Rick Berman taking over most of the show's daily production and his promotion to the executive producer during season three) and an increased willingness to experiment with the format and scope of the show, and science fiction as a whole. At 176 episodes in length, it was the longest-running ''Star Trek'' series at the time,[[note]]It was equaled by two of the three series to follow it, but has not been surpassed.[[/note]] and won many awards for everything from visual effects to writing. Like its predecessor, the series has proved wildly popular in [[ReRun Syndication]], despite having broadcast its final episode in ''1994''. To date, in the U.S. alone, it has been broadcast on no fewer than five different cable/satellite networks: G4, Creator/SpikeTV, Creator/SyFy, Creator/WGNAmerica, and [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]]. Three of these networks, [=SyFy=], WGN America, and BBC America, still regularly air episodes of the program, sometimes against each other in primetime. It also remained for a long time a near-pillar of {{Creator/Netflix}}, and was also available on several other streaming services, prior to CBS consolidating streaming of ''Star Trek'' programming to its Creator/ParamountPlus service in 2022.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The Klingons, as usual, since they respect martial ability above all else. See KlingonPromotion.