Almost all stories succeed or fail based on their characters. This is especially true in television, where viewers are asked to repeatedly watch mostly the same cast of characters for hopefully years and years’ worth of screen time.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is no exception. Star Trek especially revolves around it’s ensemble of characters, literally in the sense that the central location, the ship, requires a crew to function.
However, more than that, seeing the characters grow and succeed is what keeps viewers coming back. We want to follow these intrepid explorers into the final frontier. We see idealized and also relatable versions of ourselves in Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Doctor Crusher, and Chief Engineer La Forge.
There are also characters that didn’t help with viewers tuning in again and again, though. Sometimes the writers had lazy ideas about what they wanted the characters to be, while at other times, some actors didn’t live up to the part or had so little material to work with.
In the worst cases, the characters and the writing were solid but woefully underused. This left some viewers frustrated as they kept watching.
In this list, we’re looking at the best conceived and poorest conceived of characters, the most compelling performances and the least, and our most loved crew of the Enterprise and the ones we could do without.
Here are the 8 Casting Decisions That Saved Star Trek: The Next Generation (And 8 That Hurt It).
16. SAVED: JONATHAN FRAKES AS COMMANDER WILLIAM RIKER
William Riker was originally conceived as a bold explorer closer to the spirit of Kirk in the Original Series and was meant to contrast with the more diplomatic Picard.
Like most of the other mainstays, Riker grew appreciably as a character. Fans like to point to Riker’s distinctive facial hair as the symbol of his character development.
Jonathan Frakes gave Riker an effortless sense of fun and charm, but also a consummate sense of duty to Star Fleet and to the crew of the Enterprise.
Riker was the idol and role model for plenty of characters, ranging from Data to Wesley.
He also gives Kirk a run for his money in hooking up with alluring space babes. Whenever an alternate timeline or absent Picard sees Riker in the captain’s chair, he slips into the role like a glove.
15. RUINED: MICHELLE FORBES AS ENSIGN RO LAREN
Michelle Forbes joined the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation after Denise Crosby left the show. The writers evidently felt that there was still room for a strong-willed, confident, female officer in the Bajoran Ensign Laren.
Laren came with her own dark past relating to the Cardassians. She was a victim of the Cardassian occupation of Bajoran and got involved with the Maquis.
Despite her breakout popularity, we don’t get to see all that much of her in The Next Generation.
Fans would have been happy to see more of her combat and infiltration skills, budding relationships with the other crew, and sparse, softer moments.
Star Trek writers wanted to upgrade her to a main character for both Deep Space Nine and Voyager, but Forbes refused. The characters she might have played were reworked in Kira Nerys and B’Elanna Torres for Deep Space Nine and Voyager respectively.
14. SAVED: BRENT SPINER AS COMMANDER DATA
The Original Series had Leonard Nimoy’s Spock as the breakout fan favorite brain of the crew. Brent Spiner’s Commander Data quickly accrued almost as much fan admiration in The Next Generation. As an artificially constructed, purely analytical entity, Data required a particularly skilled actor.
His arc over the course of the series was to build a greater understanding of humanity and to emulate them so that he could improve his performance and relationships with his crew mates.
For all of the times he saves the day with his superior capabilities, his “human” moments stick with fans the most.
Perhaps his most emotional subplot was with his genius creator and identical evil twin. They gave him purpose and provided fans with a foreboding look at what Data could become if he got what he strived for.
13. RUINED: MARINA SIRTIS AS COUNSELOR DEANNA TROI
Deanna Troi served as the counselor aboard the Enterprise. If you had only watched the first few seasons of the show, you could be forgiven for thinking that her role was superfluous.
All she seemed to do on the ship was repeat or explicitly say obvious emotional commentary about the mission and stand around, looking pretty.
The writing for the character was certainly lackluster in the earlier seasons.
However, Sirtis didn’t give the best performances either, coming off as flatter and more reserved than you might expect for an empath.
The episodes that focused on her often had her manipulated, captured, or possessed by the alien of the week. Thankfully, both the fans and Sirtis herself got fed up with the shallow portrayal of Troi. She took on much more interesting arcs and completed the bridge officer exam.
12. SAVED: PATRICK STEWART AS CAPTAIN JEAN LUC-PICARD
Patrick Stewart the actor and Jean Luc-Picard the character had a lot riding on them. They were the centerpieces of the second Star Trek TV show. If audiences didn’t buy into Captain Picard’s character and commanding presence, the show would be toast.
Fortunately, Patrick Stewart made it an easy sell.
He made a cerebral, sophisticated sort of Captain compared to William Shatner’s Kirk in the Original Series.
He grew to be a paternal figure to most of the other characters on the show. His keen sense of enlightened Star Fleet ideals (and independent ideals) saw the Enterprise through countless harrowing missions.
Stewart even made one of the show’s most compelling villains when he was briefly transformed into the Borg avatar Locutus. It i arguably the best casting decision that Star Trek: The Next Generation made.
11. RUINED: COLM MEANEY TRANSPORTER CHIEF MILES O’BRIEN
Colm Meaney first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation as an extra in the pilot episode. He had a minor speaking part on the bridge, but he went on to become a recurring supporting character with an official role and rank as Transporter Chief.
The writers should have taken advantage of O’Brien’s backstory sooner. He’s one of the few Enterprise crew members on the show who has any connection to the Cardassians, or any personal connection to the politics of the wider galaxy.
Deep Space Nine expanded on this, upgrading Meaney’s O’Brien into a main character. However, as for The Next Generation, his backstory is underserved. We only get one episode where O’Brien’s prejudice against Cardassians is explored. We hardly ever get to hear about his experiences in the Federation-Cardassian War.
10. SAVED: GATES MCFADDEN AS DOCTOR BEVERLY CRUSHER
Fans were definitely relieved to have Gates McFadden return to the show after leaving for season 2. Thankfully, her character grew as well with her return, moving on from the attempt to have her be an expy of Doctor McCoy from the Original Series.
Her episodes let her focus more on her personal growth and her career.
In some of her standout episodes, she got to command the Enterprise with a crew of elevated extras, take on the Borg, and win. She also got to play sleuth and solve a high profile murder in the scientific community.
Also, there was the time when logically worked her way out of a collapsing alternating universe warp bubble. Through all of those parts, Gates McFadden could convey equal measures of tenderness and confidence.
9. RUINED: WHOOPI GOLDBERG AS GUINAN
Guinan is the biggest enigma of all The Next Generation’s recurring characters. She appears human but is in fact a far older-than-she-appears alien.
She is evidently more familiar with Q and the Borg than any of the rest of crew when the Enterprise first encounters them. She’s got a big alien laser rifle hidden behind the bar in Ten-Forward and can show up Worf in holodeck target practice.
However, throughout the whole series, we learn next to nothing about her.
Her screen time in the series is pitiful compared to the potential of her backstory and character.
Some fans even think that Guinan was a better counselor to Picard and others on the ship than Troi.
In fact, plenty of the scenes and episodes that featured Guinan had those parts originally written for Troi but were just rewritten when Goldberg was available to play the part. Both characters suffered for that.
8. SAVED: LEVAR BURTON AS COMMANDER GEORDI LA FORGE
It’s a testament to LeVar Burton that he conveyed such a strong sense of character and emotional range while having his eyes obscured. Despite being born blind, La Forge became a first class tech-wiz and the Chief Engineer of the Enterpise. He gets his moments of incredulously shouting with the captain about impossible engineering feats, per Star Trek tradition.
However, La Forge also got teased with several romantic subplots and developed his own deadpan sense of humor to keep up with the rest of the crew.
Ironically, his greatest relationship in the show is with another machine, with Commander Data. La Forge and Data have some of the best adventures in the show together. Their friendship stays strong even through Data torturing La Forge due to malicious reprogramming.
7. RUINED: DWIGHT SCHULTZ AS LIEUTENANT REGINALD BARCLAY
Most of the characters that we meet in on Star Trek and in the Star Fleet in particular are among the best that humanity has to offer. As the flagship of the Federation, the Enterprise has most of Star Fleet’s best and brightest.
So at first glance, Reginald Barclay doesn’t look like he belongs. He has debilitating social anxiety and when he’s first introduced, he’s dealing with a severe holodeck compulsion.
Barclay has always been a mixed bag for fans.
You either sympathize with him immediately and relish the episodes where Barclay gets into interesting situations and developments, or you think he’s a dull, unimportant character with too little to make him compelling.
Schultz at least was talented enough to sell Barclay’s pitiful awkwardness and his more impressive moments.
6. SAVED: MICHAEL DORN AS LIEUTENANT WORF
In the Original Series, the Klingons were a barely-alien-looking race of one-note aggressive foil antagonists to the Federation. The Next Generation made the bold move of not only improving relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, but also providing a Klingon as the Chief of Security onboard the Enterprise.
Admittedly, Worf’s characterization in the early seasons is wanting.
He also got beat up a lot by the monsters of the week. However, despite that, he grew into a wise, strong, deeply feeling hero.
Michael Dorn grew to bring a sense of depth, hiding under Worf’s tough, terse, Klingon exterior. He saves the Klingon homeworld from civil war and goes on to become a revered diplomat between the Federation and the Empire. He even builds a genuine romance with Troi.
5. RUINED: DENISE CROSBY AS LIEUTENANT TASHA YAR
Natasha Yar was the original chief of security on board the Enterprise. However, her tenure wasn’t destined to be long. Denise Crosby’s frustration with the writing of her character set in quickly.
She was supposed to be a hard uncompromising character, but that characterization was frequently undermined. She was forced to gratuitously act objectified or bashful in multiple episodes. Also, she frequently appeared as idiotic or unprepared when she could have saved the crew or herself a lot of trouble.
Crosby decided to leave the show before the first season was over. Ironically, her ignominious death eventually paved the way for a few much more interesting acting turns on The Next Generation.
She reprised the role a few times thanks to alternate timelines and as the half Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar, Commander Sela.
4. SAVED: JOHN DE LANCIE AS Q
The Next Generation introduced an intriguing overarching antagonist in the form of the Q. They are an omnipotent collective of beings beyond conventional time and space who have decided to test the expanding Federation, morally and physically. A single one of them acts as the envoy and adjudicator for this ongoing examination.
Who could have played this Q better than John de Lancie? He’s a showboating trickster who plays off the ruled and regulated Picard marvelously.
He puts the Enterprise crew through one arduous, unlikely situation after another, with plenty of entertainment for the audience. However, there are also episodes where Q is fleshed out in dramatic situations of his own.
He showed convincing vulnerability when the Q Continuum stripped his powers and stranded him on the Enterprise.
3. RUINED: DIANA MULDAUR AS DOCTOR KATHERINE PULASKI
The initial chief medical officer of the Enterprise, Dr. Beverly Crusher, disappeared in season 2 when actress Gates McFadden quit the show.
Her successor was Dr. Katherine Pulaski played by Diana Muldaur. Pulaski was obviously conceived as a gender-swapped version of the original series’ Dr. McCoy. However, Muldaur just didn’t have the same deadpan or incredulity chops as the great Deforest Kelly.
Pulaski just came across as mean without being entertaining.
She repeatedly disparaged Data for being an artificial being. However, instead of the fair verbal sparring between McCoy and Spock, Data was incapable of naturally retorting.
Fans did not take kindly to Pulaski as a character. The writers started doing some different characterizations later on in the season but she was still unceremoniously dropped to make way for McFadden’s return by the time season 3 rolled around.
2. SAVED: MAJEL BARRET AS LWAXANA TROI
The matriarchal gold-digger and instant scene-stealer Lwaxana Troi was played by none other than Majel Barret-Roddenberry. Barret actually appeared in almost every Next Generation episode as the voice of the Enterprise computer. However, for Lwaxana Troi, she got the chance to physically step out in front of the camera in spectacular fashion.
Lwaxana is a somewhat pompous, self-involved, meddling mother and ambassador. She is Heir to Holy Rings of Betazed, lest you forget, and constantly on the lookout for a worthy husband. To Picard’s pronounced displeasure, Lwaxana frequently tries to allure him.
Just when you think she’s merely a vapid, entitled character, she shows some genuine smarts and compassion for the crew of the Enterprise. Even her tense relationship with her daughter Deanna has depth and warmth.
1 RUINED: WIL WHEATON AS ENSIGN WESLEY CRUSHER
Not even the crew of the Enterprise in-universe have much patience for Wesley Crusher. Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry originally envisioned the character as a self-insert/audience point of view character.
He’s a bright young man just starting out on his career in Star Fleet and he’s assigned to the Enterprise to learn from the best. Unfortunately, even Gene Roddenberry can’t pull off a likable author-insert character.
Wesley is too immature for most of his screen time. He gets into predictable and annoying predicaments, not to mention endangering the ship and the crew several times.
Some of the later episodes make him a bit more interesting, such as the time he saved the Enterprise from a video game fad that brainwashed the crew.
However, Star Trek fans will never get over Wesley’s insufferable early years.
Do you agree with our list? Are there any other performances from Star Trek: The Next Generation that you thought saved or hurt the show? Let us know in the comments!
