History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGeneration

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]", the planet the crew is headed for is called [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Archer 4]]. And a plot-significant officer on the Enterprise-C is named "Richard Castillo". In English, Richard Series/{{Castle}}.

** The series tried hard to avoid this (the music avoided any style that had been popular since the end of the JazzAge, for example), but the hairstyles, the spandex costumes ("spacesuits" as the cast called them), the set design (especially the oft-criticized "hotel lobby" look of TheBridge and the infamously bland beige and rust carpeting and wall paneling), the "Dustbuster" phasers and the presence of a psychotherapist as a command-level officer firmly fix the early seasons of the series in the 80s. Later seasons went to a wool gabardine two-piece spacesuit, a more angular and weapon-like phaser and modified Counselor Troi's duties in an effort to try to bring the show out of the 80s, but some of the more aggressively period-fixing design choices were stuck through the entire show.

* StrangledByTheRedString: In Season 7's "Parallels", Worf is sent multiverse-hopping, and he briefly winds up in a world where he and Troi are very HappilyMarried. While he had never considered this before he decided to give it a try when he got back, leading to a romantic subplot between the two that took place across the entire second half of the season. This was the result of the new showrunner demanding more of a focus on Crusher and Troi, and a romantic subplot for the latter, only for Rick Berman to throw a wrench in the works by forbidding that any such subplot be with Riker. The writers therefore decided that Worf was the "least bad" of the remaining options,[[note]](Picard had always had better chemistry with Crusher, Data wasn't suitable due to his lack of emotions, and La Forge, the only realistic alternative to Worf, had interacted far less with Troi across the series than Worf had)[[/note]] as there had been a bit of foreshadowing in the previous year's "Fistful of Datas", and Troi had served as a mother figure to Worf's son, Alexander. In what's probably a an AuthorsSavingThrow, none of the TNG films have any mention of the relationship, despite the Series' finale including a possible future where Worf and Riker are at odds over Troi even after her death. Creator/JonathanFrakes (Riker) and Creator/MarinaSirtis (Troi) apparently disliked the idea as well, and were quite happy to have their characters get married in [[Film/StarTrekNemesis their last film]]. Creator/MichaelDorn (Worf), on the other hand, refused to forget it, and, when given a line about how Riker and Troi's feelings for each other had never gone away, subtexted it like mad. The Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel ''Triangle: Imzadi II'' by Creator/PeterDavid tried to draw a line under Worf[=/=]Troi. It involves Lwaxana Troi putting him through the paces, and a complex plot involving Sela and Thomas Riker.

* DesignatedHero: The show's main cast in most of the first two seasons. They were regularly shown to be smug, sanctimonious and occasionally even bigoted towards other cultures, regularly harping on about how perfect the Federation was and that all other societies were primitive by comparison. And yet the show would constantly praised them for how "enlightened" and "open minded" they were, portraying anyone who disagreed with them or challenged their viewpoints in anyway as aggressive and incompetent straw men. Thankfully their characterization improved when the show's writing got better.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: For years, Wesley Crusher was infamous for being one of the worst [[invoked]]MartyStu and CreatorsPet (the former {{Trope Namer|s}}, in fact) characters on television. While [[BaseBreakingCharacter he's still divisive]], there's a significant number of fans who [[CriticalBacklash find those criticisms overblown]], arguing that most instances of him being truly obnoxious occurred in the early seasons and that there are more episodes where he's being dismissed and called out by the cast. Not to mention that in later years, Wesley's actor, Creator/WilWheaton, has been more upfront about [[HateDumb the vitriol he had experienced from fans during his time on the show]], making people more inclined to cut his character some slack nowadays. [[spoiler:To whit, Wheaton's appearance as Wesley (now a Traveler) in the season 2 finale of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' was widely praised by fans.]]

** Q. CharacterDevelopment aside, it's easy to look at his seemingly immature meddling and misuse of godlike powers as a Film/MaryPoppins act. There are hundreds of possible interpretations for Q out there; is he a maladjusted PsychopathicManchild who uses mortals as toys for his amusement, FauxAffablyEvil, a harmless childish prankster, a ChaoticGood rebel struggling against his people's repressive society, is he in love with Picard, is he a supremely alien being following some BlueAndOrangeMorality only he understands, humanity's self-appointed TricksterMentor, is he all? None? Is it even possible to give him labels? The appearances he's made throughout the franchise strongly imply that Q is acting as a TricksterMentor, as he shows up with a purpose of making those he encounters more aware of the world around them and better for it. Rarely does a Q episode not result in this ending.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: For years, Wesley Crusher was infamous for being one of the worst MartyStu and CreatorsPet (the former {{Trope Namer|s}}, in fact) characters on television. While [[BaseBreakingCharacter he's still divisive]], there's a significant number of fans who [[CriticalBacklash find those criticisms overblown]], arguing that most instances of him being truly obnoxious occurred in the early seasons and that there are more episodes where he's being dismissed and called out by the cast. Not to mention that in later years, Wesley's actor, Creator/WilWheaton, has been more upfront about [[HateDumb the vitriol he had experienced from fans during his time on the show]], making people more inclined to cut his character some slack nowadays. [[spoiler:To whit, Wheaton's appearance as Wesley (now a Traveler) in the season 2 finale of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' was widely praised by fans.]]

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Alexander is [[NonActionGuy not a warrior type]], and this causes both tension with his father and [[spoiler: a plot to change this by a time-travelling future incarnation]].

** Dr. Pulaski. Pulaski replaced Wesley's mother as the ship's doctor for a single season before fan outcry got them to bring Dr. Crusher back. As often happens in life, first impressions are everything. Not only was she a ReplacementScrappy, but the writers made a major miscalculation in their attempt to make her a DistaffCounterpart of [[TheMcCoy Dr. McCoy]] from the original series. Since [=McCoy's=] arguments with Spock were such a fan favorite aspect of the character, the writers tried to duplicate it by having Pulaski take a dislike to [[TheSpock Data]] and toss him similar insults about being so logical all the time. Unfortunately, unlike Spock, Data couldn't even really understand that he was being insulted and could not respond in kind -- they missed that at least half of what made the Bones/Spock relationship so great was that Spock would zing [=McCoy=] right back, Vulcan-style. Also, Data is very rarely wrong, so Pulaski's mockery of Data's aping of human traits makes her come across like a bigot bullying a mentally disabled person. Other than Pulaski, every TNG character who has expressed doubt in Data's sentience has been labeled a villain. Worse, Pulaski behaved boorishly to Captain Picard in her very first scene. If an incoming department head tried that in a naval ship, she'd probably be tossed overboard. The character mellowed out by her second episode, but the damage was done. Diana Muldaur left the show on less-than-harmonious terms; a mess all around. However, some fans at least acknowledge that she was a competent and intelligent doctor (and a good actress, as her two parts in classic ''Trek'' show).

-->'''Picard:''' [[TitleDrop The first duty]] of every Starfleet officer is to the truth! Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth! It is the ''guiding principle'' upon which Starfleet is based! If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, '''you don't deserve to wear that uniform.''' I'm going to make this simple for you, Mister Crusher. [[IfYouWontIWill Either you come forward and tell Admiral Brand what really took place, or I will.]]
-->'''Wesley:''' Captain--
-->'''Picard: [[GetOut Dismissed!!!]]'''

-->'''Picard:''' When I look at you now, I won't see a powerful Cardassian officer... but a small boy weeping because he was powerless to protect himself.

** A running gag in some ''Star Trek'' circles claims that Wesley Crusher has broken the fanbase between those who simply hate him and those who ''loathe'' him. Joking aside, Wesley does have actual fans, who point out that he's ''supposed'' to be unusually gifted and he only saved the ship six times. His detractors still see him as overpowered, though.

* VindicatedByHistory: Wesley Crusher used to be the most hated character on the show, but Creator/WilWheaton becoming a geek icon on the strength of his social media presence caused many new fans to wonder why so many people thought he was so annoying in the first place. Another reason why the hate has died down is that, in the era of streaming, new viewers of the show will often take the advice of old viewers and [[GrowingTheBeard skip much of the first and second seasons in their binge]] - which, incidentally, eliminates almost every bad Wesley episode (he's much more tolerable in the later seasons). He's probably never going to be anywhere near the ''most'' popular character from the show, but at least nowadays fan polls are generally more likely to rank Pulaski as the show's worst regular character over Wesley.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: One of the common criticisms of Season 1, and much of Season 2, is that they were attempting to tell TOS stories twenty years too late. Part of this is to be expected, as much of the creative staff were veterans of TOS. Many of the episodes were recycled TOS plots, or even unused scripts from the never-realized ''Phase II'' series. Dr. Pulaski was even introduced to serve as a female Bones, right down to the banter with the logical bridge member (in this case, Data). Fortunately, the show began to develop its own character by Season 3 and finally managed to emerge from its predecessor's shadow.

** Having a psychologist as a main cast character and a bridge crew member came in for a lot of mockery. However, now that attitudes towards mental health issues are (gradually) improving and the effects of trauma are better understood by the public, the question has become why other Star Trek shows ''don't'' have [[ThereAreNoTherapists real counselors around]], given the {{Trauma Conga Line}}s everyone goes through on a regular basis. Picard even points out, in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Family]]", that Troi has been incredibly helpful his recovery from his abduction by the Borg and it's pretty clear he'd have been an even bigger mess without her.

--->'''[[http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/tng-season-three.html Joe Ford]]''': Hang on one cotton-picking minute…isn’t season three of TNG when Micheal Piller joined the show? And suddenly its really rather good! In exactly the same way when he left ''Voyager'' it turned shite! Maybe, just maybe there is a trend here.

** Also, for many folks of color, ''La Forge''. Even with all the issues around the other person of color on the main cast (as much of the rest of this page details), La Forge was, for a whole generation of nascent [[BlackAndNerdy blerds]], practically revelatory: here was a black man who had a "nerdy" interest in engineering, and he was ''successful'', he had a career, people who respected him and his work and his insight, he had a three-dimensional character over the show's run, he was good friends with the (fairly caucasian-presenting) Data, and no one on the main cast mocked him or made fun of him for his skin color or his interests. Sure, his superiors were white dudes, but especially in-context it was easy enough to believe it was simply a matter of experience (and later ''Trek'' works ''loved'' teasing a captaincy later in his career). Years before [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Ben Sisko]] was on anyone's radar, La Forge provided an escape and hope to young folks of color with "nerdy" interests -- which, ''especially'' in the Eighties, was often still (wrongly) seen as "not appropriate" for African-Americans in particular.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While the series managed to drag itself out of an early DorkAge by around the second or third season depending on who you ask, many fans feel that it fell back into the Dork Age in its seventh and final season. The writers were running out of ideas, resulting in many bizarre and {{technobabble}}-laden plots, which was compounded by the new showrunner demanding more episodes focusing on Dr. Crusher and Troi, despite those being the two characters the writers had always had the most trouble dealing with. It didn't help that ExecutiveMeddling closed off the two most obvious story arcs for the characters -- the implied UnresolvedSexualTension between Crusher and Picard, and the romantic history between Troi and Riker -- resulting in the former getting a very perfunctory subplot in one episode and never being mentioned again, while the latter was spurned in favor of pairing Troi with ''Worf'', with the subject of her and Riker not being revisited until years later with ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection''.

* DorkAge: While the series managed to drag itself out of an early DorkAge by around the second or third season depending on who you ask, many fans feel that it fell back into the Dork Age in its seventh and final season. The writers were running out of ideas, resulting in many bizarre and {{technobabble}}-laden plots, which was compounded by the new showrunner demanding more episodes focusing on Dr. Crusher and Troi, despite those being the two characters the writers had always had the most trouble dealing with. It didn't help that ExecutiveMeddling closed off the two most obvious story arcs for the characters -- the implied UnresolvedSexualTension between Crusher and Picard, and the romantic history between Troi and Riker -- resulting in the former getting a very perfunctory subplot in one episode and never being mentioned again, while the latter was spurned in favor of pairing Troi with ''Worf'', with the subject of her and Riker not being revisited until years later with ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection''.

** The late Andreas Katsulas, who played Romulan Commander Tomalak, was Ambassador G'Kar on ''Series/BabylonFive'', as well as [[Film/TheFugitive the One-Armed Man]].

** For a lot of younger viewers (especially Gen-Xers and Millenials), ''TNG'' is '''the''' definitive ''Star Trek'' series over ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]''.

** On a similar tack, while [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] has been noted as having more friction between the ship crew and Federation officials than folks might have considered at the time of airing, ''TNG'' is absolutely where the trope of "[[InsaneAdmiral corrupt or incompetent Starfleet admiral makes trouble for the Enterprise]]" settled in to the franchise lexicon. Later shows are accused of making the Federation seem amoral and imperialistic, but as noted above in Alternate Character Interpretation, ''TNG'' is so rife with corrupt, pointedly amoral, or otherwise incompetent flag officers that at times it feels like a miracle Starfleet works at all. Of all the flag officers that the Enterprise has contact with, a grand total of ''one'' - Admiral Haden from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E10TheDefector The Defector]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E12TheWounded The Wounded]]" - provides clear, reasonable guidance, advice and orders, and is suitably horrified at what Maxwell is doing in "The Wounded", all without any other subplots or strings attached. He's never seen again after that episode. Even otherwise-reasonable admirals, such as Hanson in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds Best of Both Worlds]]", still make foolish mistakes like wildly underestimating the Borg and get blown away for their trouble. It's ''really'' not hard to see where some of the modern writing attitudes about the Federation comes from when going back and taking the Corrupt Admiral Episodes, and the sheer number of them, on their face, especially with the overall fiction of the show ''still'' trying to posit that the Federation is unambiguously and openly Good™ in the face of all this.

%%
%% Fridge items go on the Fridge tab.
%%

** On a similar tack, while [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] has been noted as having more friction between the ship crew and Federation officials than folks might have considered at the time of airing, ''TNG'' is absolutely where the trope of "corrupt or incompetent Starfleet admiral makes trouble for the Enterprise" settled in. Later shows are accused of making the Federation seem amoral and imperialistic, but as noted above in Alternate Character Interpretation, ''TNG'' is so rife with corrupt or otherwise incompetent flag officers that at times it feels like a miracle Starfleet works at all. Of all the flag officers that the Enterprise has contact with, a grand total of ''one'' - Admiral Haden from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E10TheDefector The Defector]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E12TheWounded The Wounded]]" - provides clear, reasonable guidance, advice and orders, and is suitably horrified at what Maxwell is doing in "The Wounded", all without any other subplots or strings attached. He's never seen again after that episode. Even otherwise-reasonable admirals, such as Hanson in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds Best of Both Worlds]]", still make foolish mistakes like wildly underestimating the Borg and get blown away for their trouble. It's ''really'' not hard to see where some of the modern writing attitudes about the Federation comes from when going back and taking the Corrupt Admiral Episodes, and the sheer number of them, on their face.

* On a similar tack, while [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] has been noted as having more friction between the ship crew and Federation officials than folks might have considered at the time of airing, ''TNG'' is absolutely where the trope of "corrupt or incompetent Starfleet admiral makes trouble for the Enterprise" settled in. Later shows are accused of making the Federation seem amoral and imperialistic, but as noted above in Alternate Character Interpretation, ''TNG'' is so rife with corrupt or otherwise incompetent flag officers that at times it feels like a miracle Starfleet works at all. Of all the flag officers that the Enterprise has contact with, a grand total of ''one'' - Admiral Haden from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E10TheDefector The Defector]]" and "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E12TheWounded The Wounded]]" - provides clear, reasonable guidance, advice and orders, and is suitably horrified at what Maxwell is doing in "The Wounded", all without any other subplots or strings attached. He's never seen again after that episode. Even otherwise-reasonable admirals, such as Hanson in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds Best of Both Worlds", still make foolish mistakes like wildly underestimating the Borg and get blown away for their trouble. It's ''really'' not hard to see where some of the modern writing attitudes about the Federation comes from when going back and taking the Corrupt Admiral Episodes, and the sheer number of them, on their face.

* FriendlyFandoms: Pre-Internet, there was an informal trading network. The British were airing STTNG at least a season behind the Americans, and Americans only got to see ''Series/DoctorWho'' if their local PBS station was begging for cash. Queue some quasi-formal tape exchanges across the pond.

* UnfortunateImplications:
** The much-loathed episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E3CodeOfHonor Code of Honor]]" features a race of savage black people who play into several uncomfortable stereotypes about native Africans. How much of this was due to an honest miscommunication between the director and the script-writer is debatable, but either way, director [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Russ_Mayberry Russ Mayberry]] was fired mid-filming for racist behavior and being abrasive with the actors. Creator/WilWheaton, Creator/JonathanFrakes and Creator/BrentSpiner have all expressed their disgust at the episode, and ''Trek'' reviewer Website/SFDebris discussed this at length in [[http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/t104.php his review of the episode]]. A few, like Wil Wheaton, even think it's a bit incredible this episode didn't kill the series in its infancy because of just how hideously offensive and contrary to ''Trek''[='s=] ostensible mission it is.
** Website/StarDestroyerDotNet [[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Racism.html criticizes]] TNG's abuse of the PlanetOfHats trope and the commonly used idea of HalfHumanHybrid characters being "trapped between two cultures", arguing that it enforces racial stereotyping, racial separatism, and MalignedMixedMarriage.
%%** As noted in FairForItsDay, the ultimate application of the Klingon ReTool and how it works in practice -- that is, turning them into a whole race of [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Black Men]] who are, textually, ''inherently'' violent -- can make for some uncomfortable-as-hell viewing in the [=21st=] century. %% UnfortunateImplications entries require external citations.
%%** There's another unfortunate side-element to this: there's a fair few sequences where Worf ultimately gets praised for his "human" restraint and behavior. Usually by the very ''euro-caucasian'' Picard or Riker. Some of this can really stick out like a neon targ and feels uncomfortably close to a black man being praised for being "white enough". %% UnfortunateImplications entries require external citations.

** Also a CMOF. At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E24MenageATroi Ménage à Troi]]", Picard has to convince a Ferengi he is in love with Lwaxana Troi, who he actually finds extremely overbearing and annoying. So, Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart starts reciting sonnets. Specifically, the first lines of [[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56227/sonnet-147-my-love-is-as-a-fever-longing-still sonnet 147]], "I am going crazy because I fell in love with someone who turned out to be awful, [[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50276/sonnet-141-in-faith-i-do-not-love-thee-with-mine-eyes sonnet 141]], "you're ugly, your voice is annoying, and you smell bad, but I still love you, and [[https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/shall-i-compare-thee-summers-day-sonnet-18 sonnet 18]], which isn't a love poem at all, it's Shakespeare bragging about how great his poems are. Then she suggests that he'll shoot down the Ferengi ship if he can't have her, even with her on it, so he pulls out a line from [[http://nfs.sparknotes.com/othello/page_270.html Othello's]] speech right before he kills his wife for cheating on him before finishing up with some [[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45336/in-memoriam-a-h-h-obiit-mdcccxxxiii-27 Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]

*** This especially applies to their treatment of the Bajorans. They allowed the Cardassians to use them as a slave race for fifty years, using their non-interference policies as a justification. While we do get some information about a brief war between Starfleet and the Cardassians, it was apparently unrelated to Bajor's "occupation". Then there's the on-screen treatment of Bajoran Starfleet members that begins in their first appearance - notably their earrings, which are considered an important part of their cultural & spiritual beliefs, yet are generally not allowed to be worn because they violate the '''dress code'''(Tuvok even enforces this against a Voyager crewmember at one point). This might make sense if not for the fact Worf is allowed to wear a heavy piece of chain mail at all times simply because it's part of '''HIS''' cultural beliefs. This makes Starfleet look sympathetic to only certain races, not others. Even some Bajorans are wary of the Federation's offers of assistance after Cardassia withdraws and a lot of them wonder if the Federation is being charitable or simply wants something in return (which may be the case - they want Bajor to join the Federation at some point). There is no apparent effort made by the Federation to apologize for any of this when they all but beg Bajor to join, either, yet a lot of anger when they're talked out of it.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg "I, Borg,"]] in which they study a Borg drone separated from the collective. Changes them from [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cyborg zombies]] into StarfishAliens.
** Creator/GeneRoddenberry never liked that he used the Klingons as the "Race of Black Hats" in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], and thus made Worf as a Klingon main character and the first season episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E19HeartOfGlory "Heart of Glory"]] completely redefined their place as a {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}}.
** Even the [[CreatorBacklash writing staff]] were dissatisfied with Tasha's [[DroppedABridgeOnHer infamously underwhelming death]], so "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]" was originally written with the sole purpose of bringing her back and giving her character a properly dramatic ending.