http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sttng_cast.jpg
[[caption-width:400:(from left) Geordi, Troi, Data, Picard, [[TheWorfEffect Worf]], Crusher, Riker...[[TheWesley and no Wesley]].]]


-->''Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission -- to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no [[strike: man]] one has gone before.''
-->--'''Captain Jean-Luc Picard''', title sequence voiceover

''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' is a science fiction show created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the ''{{Star Trek}}'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, about [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture eighty years]] after the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], the program features a new crew, new perspectives on established cultures (a Klingon Empire as a semi-friendly ally against a Romulan Empire emerging from decades of isolation), new antagonists and a new ''Enterprise'' (Galaxy-class starship, registration NCC-1701-D).

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, forcing him to appoint life-long Trek fans Brannon Braga and Rick Berman to be the new standard bearers) 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 is the longest running Star Trek series to date, and won many awards.

Although much of the show shared the premise of the Original Series, there were also well-placed {{Story Arc}}s: the omnipotent {{trickster}} character of Q would show up to put HumanityOnTrial (becoming a BookEnd storyline [[PatrickStewartSpeech epitomizing the series]]) or to amuse himself at the expense of others, there were various encounters with the Borg (cybernetic organisms with a hive-mind consciousness and the intent on enslaving all humanoid life, which created the series pinnacle moment, cliffhanger ''The Best of Both Worlds''), several episodes with [[TheWesley Wesley]] that [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap developed his character]], [[BreakoutCharacter defining moments]] for several of the main cast and [[AscendedExtra the odd minor character]] in addition to plenty of development for [[FriendOrFoe the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Cardassians and the Ferengi]].

The series formed the basis of the seventh through tenth Star Trek films - ''[[StarTrekGenerations Generations]]'' (1994), ''[[StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]'' (1996), ''[[StarTrekInsurrection Insurrection]]'' (1998) and ''[[StarTrekNemesis Nemesis]]'' (2002). The success led to an expansion of the franchise and is single-handedly responsible for the creation of [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]], [[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] and [[StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]. Though fans will usually agree that the quality of the episodes vary wildly, the best make for compelling and thought-provoking viewing.

It now has a tool for gathering and voting for the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Best Episode(s)]]

Character profiles and roles in the script:
* Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart): TheCaptain, TeamDad
* Cmdr. Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes): NumberTwo, TheKirk
* Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner): TheSpock, RobotBuddy, TinMan and CrouchingScholarHiddenBadass
* Lt. Cmdr. Geordi [=LaForge=] (Levar Burton): MrFixit, TwoferTokenMinority
* Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates [=McFadden=]): TheMedic, TeamMom
* Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn): ProudWarriorRaceGuy
* Counsellor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis): TheEmpath, MsFanservice
* Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton): TeenGenius, MartyStu, TheWesley (TropeNamer)
* Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney): AscendedExtra, who later became a main character on ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
* Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes): FaceHeelTurn (sympathetic one)
* Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg): TheBartender

Is the TropeNamer for:
* DroppedABridgeOnHim - [[spoiler: Captain Kirk in Generations]]
* GrowingTheBeard - The key example of this trope. After a half-baked effort of a first season, the series started to improve dramatically beginning with Riker getting away from his Kirk clone image by suddenly sporting a full beard.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Q, after he materializes two scantily clad women to fawn over Riker.
--->'''Riker''': "I don't need your fantasy women."
--->'''Q''': "Oh, you're so stolid. You were never like that before the beard."
*** Riker even ''reversed'' the Trope in ''Star Trek: Insurrection''.
* GoodTroiEpisode
* HolodeckMalfunction
* LowerDeckEpisode
* TheWesley
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech
* TheWorfEffect
** TheWorfBarrage

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Notable trope-based episodes include:
* ActingForTwo: ''Time Squared''. Any episode with Data & Lore or their "father" Dr. Noonien Soong. (Also see the episode ''Brothers'' which was ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Acting For Three]]'' (including one stint in enough make up to make a Klingon's actor cry.)
* [[AintTooProudToBeg Ain't Too Proud To Beg]]: ''Q Who''
* AlternateUniverse: ''Yesterday's Enterprise''
* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals
* AmnesiaDanger: ''Conundrum''
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: ''Starship Mine''. Absolutely.
* BigNo: ''Timescape'', said by Picard while suffering in temporal narcosis.
* ChainedHeat: ''Attached''
* [=~Clarke's Third Law~=]: ''Devil's Due''
** Noteworthy in that the technology isn't even ''sufficiently advanced''; it's just been dressed-up to look more impressive than it really is.
* CloneDegeneration: ''Up the Long Ladder''
* {{Costumer}} (Several times; mostly holodeck adventures, although the most famous was "Q-Pid", which is decidedly ''not'' set on the holodeck)
* CuckooNest: ''Frame of Mind''
* DayInTheLife: ''Data's Day''
* [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard On The USS Enterprise-D]]: ''Starship Mine''
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Tasha Yar in ''Skin of Evil'', Captain Kirk in TheMovie.
* EnemyMine: ''Darmok'', also (shockingly) ''The Enemy''
* FirstContact: ''First Contact'' (the episode and the movie. The first one reverses the polarity by having the aliens be the ones experiencing first contact with humans.)
* FishOutOfWater: ''A Matter of Honor''
* FormerTeenRebel: Picard in ''Tapestry''
* FutureImperfect: Episode of the same name. An interesting AlternateHistory arises and thanks to a TraumaInducedAmnesia Riker (now Captain of the Enterprise) can't recall any of it.
* GhostShip: ''The Naked Now'', ''Night Terrors'', ''Hero Worship'', ''Booby Trap''
* GodEmperor- The Klingon treatment of Kahless the Unforgettable.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: ''Symbiosis''
* GroundhogDayLoop: ''Cause and Effect''
* HumanityOnTrial: ''Encounter at Farpoint'' and ''All Good Things...''
* InAnotherMansShoes
* InvisibleMainCharacter: ''The Next Phase''
* JustAMachine: "Measure of a Man" Fortunately for Data, they decide that no, he's not.
* KangarooCourt: ''The Drumhead''
** Also, Nora Satie from that episode is a KnightsTemplar.
* KingInTheMountain
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: ''Conundrum'' again
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E2TheNakedNow The Naked Now]]''
* LowerDeckEpisode: ''Lower Decks''
* MadeOfEvil: ''Skin Of Evil''
* ManchurianAgent: ''The Mind's Eye''
* MindRape: ''Violations''
* MoralMyopia: ''Coming of Age'' and ''Chain of Command''
* NakedSally: Picard's Baldness, Riker's Beard, Geordi's Blindness, etc
* NightmareFuel: ''Night Terrors'', which actually did give this editor (then twelve years old) nightmares for days after watching it.
** Also, ''Schisms''.
* ThePoseidonAdventure: ''Disaster''
* ThePuppetMasters: ''Conspiracy''
* TheRashomon: ''A Matter of Perspective''
* {{Snapback}}
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: ''Darmok''
* TheVirus: ''The Best of Both Worlds'', ''Identity Crisis''
* TwoPlusTwoMakesFive: ''Chain of Command'', with lights instead of fingers. (Done well enough that [[Memes/LiveActionTV memetic]] [[ThereAreFourLights quote]] of the episode has been made an honorary redirect to the trope.)
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: ''Measure of a Man''
* WonderfulLife: ''Tapestry''
* YouAreInCommandNow: ''The Arsenal of Freedom'', ''Disaster'', ''Descent''
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Tropes used by this show in general are:
* AbsenteeActor: Some episodes struggle to include all the actors, even with the MandatoryLine.
* AlternateUniverse
* BaldOfAwesome (Picard)
* AppliedPhlebotinum: StarTrek runs on this and all the subset variants, justified with heavy heaps of TechnoBabble.
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Data, though his CharacterDevelopment starts to negate this towards the end.
* TheBusCameBack: Tasha in "Yesterday's Enterprise" by way of a {{retcon}}.
* CatchPhrase: Many, including:
--->'''Picard:''' Make it so.
--->'''Data:''' It is possible.
--->'''Troi:''' I sense that...
--->'''The Borg:''' Resistance is futile.
* CharacterDevelopment: Part of the reason the show came into its own was building up the origin stories and social habits of the crew, which served to make them more ''real''.
* [[{{ptitletnnwhqnhdt9x}} Clarke's Third Law]]
* ContinuityNod: One of the most commendable aspects of the show. '''TNG''' is ''excellent'' at making references to previous events in a variety of contexts, and not always just within it's own canon.
* 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.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The episode ''Conspiracy'' was jarringly graphic, and featured MoralDissonance on the part of several characters to the point of CharacterDerailment.
* DeathRay: The Varon-T Disruptor, capable of painfully killing rather than [[DisintegratorRay just disintegrating]]
** That's why it's illegal.
* DeusExMachina
* DoubleDontKnow: ''The Battle''
* TheDutifulSon: Robert Picard
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Both Data and Worf came to share the spotlight with Picard among fans. Originally the series focused more on Picard, Riker and Dr. Crusher.
* EvilTwin: Lore, which usually gave Brent Spiner a chance to show off more of his range as an actor outside of the stoic Data character.
** Brent Spiner actually stated in an interview that he preferred playing Lore to playing Data. Why? Because "we have more in common."
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill
* FaceFramedInShadow: For a surprise [[TheReveal revelation]] about long lost Tasha Yar's fate.
* {{Facepalm}}: The best known picture happens to feature Picard facepalming.
* FightingFromTheInside
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture
* FromASingleCell
* GeniusBonus: In "The Icarus Factor", the Japanese characters written on the side of the anbo-jyutsu ring are mostly martial-arts relevant elemental characters-- 火 (fire), 水 (water), etc. But there isn't really a good explanation for "ユリ" ([[{{GirlsLove}} "YURI"]])...
** Sure there is. It's a ShoutOut to ''DirtyPair''. There's a few of them scattered around the show.
* GoodTroiEpisode: TropeNamer.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: The former plague cure that became a narcotic in ''Symbiosis'' plus the 21st-century drug-addled supersoldier Q conjures up in ''Encounter At Farpoint''.
* GreatGazoo: Q
* HyperAwareness: Data, due to being an android would see more into events then was actually relevant.
* IAmXSonOfY: "I am Worf, Son of Mogh."
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou
* InformedAbility: Pretty much everything about the outrageous Okona's character. Which incidentally leads to...
* InstantSeduction: Okona again.
* JerkAss: Q and most of the Cardassians that show up
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: A lot of enemy plots are foiled when their plans are revealed, only to have the crew member in question escape and foil the whole thing.
* JustIgnoreIt: A device that can kill anyone with a single thought. However, being a Vulcan invention, it only works on the aggressive.
* LightsOffTheirEyes: The Soong androids.
* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: The reason why any promotions were token, or short-lived, or part of
* MagnificentBastard: Q in all his appearances, to one degree or another, often with [[HilarityEnsues very entertaining results.]]
* MegaManning: The Borg have the ability to assimilate technology and knowledge from other species. It is at the very core of their philosophy.
* MemeticMutation: Picard has become an image for the FacePalm (GallifreyBase actually has a Picard facepalm smilie) and general disbelief on the stupidity of a situation.
* MexicanStandoff: A staple of later seasons. There is plenty of exposition at gun/disruptor/phaser-point.
* MilkyWhiteEyes: Geordi's blindness, later averted in [[TheMovie the second (or eighth, depending on how you count) movie]].
* MindScrew: Several episodes, with "Frame Of Mind" being an outstanding example with a standout performance from Jonathan Frakes as Riker. Not so much a case of BreakingTheFourthWall as breaking the fifth, sixth and seventh walls.
** Also occurs with the back-and-forth dialogue between Gul Madred and Picard in "Chain Of Command (Part II)" too, along with some MindGameShip.
* MrExposition
* MysteriousPast
* NearDeathExperience
* NegativeSpaceWedgie
* NoodleIncident: Despite her showing up a lot throughout the series, we never ''do'' find out just what it is that Picard did to so completely earn Guinan's trust and vice versa.
** Not so; Time's Arrow showed Picard caring for a wounded Guinan in 19th century San Francisco. That's also the origin of Guinan's attraction to bald men.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Jean-Luc Picard, a Frenchman played by an obviously English actor '''using Yorkshire idioms''' - ''Grand.''
** I belive they said at one point the UK took over France in WWIV to explain this.
** Fun with the almost last-minute additions of exclamations like "Merde!" during the first season, dropped partway through.
* NotNamedInOpeningCredits: Dr. Pulaski
* NotSoHarmless: Q in some instances, but especially after the Enterprise's first encounter with the Borg (which he engineered).
* TheNudifier: One Ferengi transporter does this when transporting women.
* OntologicalMystery
* OutOfCharacterMoment
* PalsWithJesus: Q, to Picard's chagrin.
* PsychoPrototype: Lore.
* ReplacementScrappy: Dr. Pulaski in season 2 for Dr. Crusher (Crusher was PutOnABus with a stint at Starfleet Academy). Disliked not so much for the fact that she was not Dr. Crusher as for her [[DrJerk abrasive, unsympathetic and arrogant personality]] despite characters [[ShillingTheWesley regularly claiming otherwise]]. She had her moments, though.
* 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 stone cup with mold growing in it."
**And she's a "daughter of the Fifth House of Betazed." Which apparently means ''something''.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Wesley; he went back and forth after he left the show.
* RonTheDeathEater: Riker is often treated... unkindly... by certain sections of the fandom. It's like a dashing, handsome, charismatic ladies' man is somehow offensive to the sort of science fiction fans that write RevengeFic, who knew?
* RubberForeheadAliens: So much so that it is often difficult to tell alien species apart.
* SpaceClothes: The uniforms worn by the engineering staff (a tunic-miniskirt one-piece and knee-high boots, to be specific - and yes, men and women wear the same uniform) and several other crew members during the first season are truly astonishing. And the [[NightmareFuel clothes worn by the denizens of the utopian paradise]] in ''Justice'' make them look sensible.
* SpaceFriction
* SpaceIsCold
* SpaceIsNoisy
* SpaceJews: In the second-season episode ''Up The Long Ladder'', the Enterprise is transporting an entire Irish village, complete with accents, apparel, drinking problems, and chickens. SoYeah.
* {{SORAS}}
* ScreamingBirth
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: K'Ehleyr. Worf avenges her almost immediately afterwards.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The entire race of Q, and the mysterious creature in ''The Survivors''.
* TearJerker: ''The Inner Light'' has been known to reduce grown men to tears.
* {{Technobabble}}: Teraquads of it.
* TeleportersAndTransporters
* TheFutureIsNoir: The first two seasons often had this; the ''Enterprise'' bridge was usually floodlit, but everywhere else tended to have very minimal lighting levels. Inverted starting with the third season, when the lighting became uniformly bright and vivid.
* TinMan
* TinmanTypist
* TouchedByVorlons
* TricksterMentor: Q...usually. Sometimes he's just screwing with them.
* TwoKeyedLock: Used for the auto-destruct.
* TheUnfunny: Worf.
--->'''Data''': "There once was a woman from Venus, whose body was shaped like a - "
--->'''Picard''': "That's enough, Mr. Data!"
--->'''Worf''': "I do not understand their humor, either...."
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Lwaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed.
* VivaLaEvolution: The Borg, by any means necessary.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Borg.
* WarriorPoet
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Tasha Yar, actress Denise Crosby felt she wasn't useful and asked to be let go. Her death was so sudden that it took a while before you realized she wasn't coming back. A TimeTravel episode briefly brought her back and the subsequent timeline screw-ups resulted in a recurring enemy that [[IdenticalGrandson looked exactly like her.]]
**Leading to an amusing fourth-wall break: Her parts in the episode where she died were shot ''before'' those shot in the episode that aired just before it. If you watch closely, during the prior episode, you can see her ''waving goodbye''--that was the ''last'' scene that they shot with her.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: RobinWilliams was offered the part of the time-traveling "Dr." Berlinghoff Rasmussen in ''A Matter of Time'', but he was busy working on ''{{Hook}}'' at the time, so the role was given to [[MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]].
* WhatMeasureIsANonUnique: Many unique and rare lifeforms, Data included.
* WillNotTellALie: Betazoids.
* YouLookFamiliar: Suzie Plakson as Selar, K'ehlyr, and the female Q on Voyager to name one.
** Look out for the future Tuvok (Tim Russ) playing a terrorist in ''StarshipMine''.
** Marc Alaimo who would become, in DS9, Gul Dukat, played 4 different characters in TNG, including the first Romulan seen in TNG in "The Neutral Zone".
** Robert Duncan [=McNeil=], Voyager's Tom Paris, as Nicholas Locarno in "The First Duty." (The character of Locarno was the inspiration for Paris. The Voyager creators say they didn't plan to hire the same actor...)
** Ethan Phillips, Voyager's Neelix, as Dr. Farek in "Ménage à Troi."
** Most jarring of all is James Cromwell as the leader of a potential new Federation alliance world in ''The Hunted'', when he later played Cochrane in ''[[TheMovie First Contact]]''.
** David Tristan Birke, who played Rene, Picard's nephew in ''Family'', later played the young Picard himself in ''Rascals''.

*ViewerStockPhrases: Some things that somebody watching this show might say
**"Not bad at all. In fact, I think I like this one more!" - Initially, just the thought that a new Trek was being made minus the beloved Kirk and Co. prompted cries of TheyChangedItNowItSucks. But after GrowingTheBeard, many accept it as the premier incarnation of ''StarTrek''.
**"I know him/her.." - Famke Janssen appearing as an empath. Glenn Morshower (pre-Aaron Pierce) as a lieutenant j.g.
**"Best episode ever!": ''Best Of Both Worlds'', ''The Inner Light'', ''Tapestry'', to name just a few. When the show was on form, it was '''ON'''.
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