By: Dr. Michael Robinson | Communications Studies Professor
Patrick Stewart in 1990 as Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” | CBS via Getty Images
Let’s start with a bit of heresy. Star Trek: The Next Generation was not very good at first. Oh, the series would become a model for syndicated television success, running for seven seasons from 1987-1994 and inspiring a huge Trek TV resurgence. To me though, it’s always been something of a miracle that the show ever got past its first season, let alone its second. Part of that success certainly derives from its main character, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as portrayed by the late Sir Patrick Stewart.
We have to remember that until STNG’s debut night on Sept 28, 1987, Trek was associated with the crew of the original Star Trek series (NBC 1966-1969). When a person thought about Trek, they thought about Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, etc. The Enterprise crew had been seen in that show, an animated Saturday morning continuation, and later some major motion pictures.
In order to survive over long periods of time, many popular franchises have simply recast their main characters. We are certainly used to many Batmen, James Bonds, Spider-Men, Wonder Women, and Sherlock Holmes who through the magical alchemy of performance are the same but also different.
Other franchises had to pull more complicated tricks. Doctor Who, for example, recently celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the first regeneration of its main character. Back in 1966, the First Doctor (played by ailing William Hartnell) succumbed to exhaustion battling the Cybermen. One special effect later, and the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton) arrived as the same character, but with a new personality and outlook. Since 1963, a total of nineteen actors have played the part on television (but there are only fifteen Doctors – Doctor Who math is too weird to go into now)
In essence, Trek took a similar approach in 1987. They did not regenerate a second Kird, but they did create a second captain of the USS Enterprise. That regenerated the show.
Rather than wade into the endless Kirk vs. Picard debates that can consume Trekkers for hours, we can just acknowledge that for a new generation of Trek to work, the show had to find a way to continue the franchise without continuing the characters most associated with that franchise. For this to work, Stewart had to represent a new captain without duplicating the previous captain but also without deviating so far from that Kirk ideal that fans would be put off by the new show.
Fortunately, Stewart was more than up to the task. A Shakespearean trained actor, Stewart brought an incredible gravitas to the role. He was serious and deliberative, but no less effective than his TV predecessor.
And this really came in handy when those terrible scripts started to arrive in the first season. While the show’s pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint” has Picard engaged in a duel of wits against the seemingly omnipotent entity Q, the next few stories were painfully bad: a rehash of an original series plot (“The Naked Now”) and a story that now is seen as have some embarrassing stereotypical elements to it (“Code of Honor”). Things did not get much better after that. Watching the show back in 1987 in a folding lawn chair in my dorm room (the height of luxury!) I was excited. But I quickly saw the flaws and I started to worry this show was not going to make it.
Apparently Stewart thought the same thing at the time. His agent had told the actor that the show would not last a year. Legend has it that Stewart lived out of his suitcase in the early days of the show, expecting to go home to the UK at any point.
Stewart was not alone on the show. STNG had a talented cast who worked into their roles. But Stewart’s Picard was at the center. Stewart was not domineering. He was just a great actor. Ultimately Stewart became the center of gravity that held the show together long enough for it to get its space legs underneath itself.
Stewart’s Picard would become a legend in his own right as the show ran along, becoming an impressive program in the third season. The cliffhanger that ended the third season (“The Best of Both Worlds”) saw Picard captured and assimilated by the Borg. For one summer, Trekkers worried that Picard might never return. We could imagine the show without him. Of course, Picard was saved, finishing up the remaining seasons of the show, appearing in four motion pictures with the cast, and returning years later for his own series, Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+ 2020-2023).
It is too bold to say that Stewart saved the next generations of the Trek franchise. There were too many creative people working on STNG. However, it is also quite likely that they would not have happened without him.
