Star Trek: The Next Generation turns 30: Why modern Trek owes everything to TNG

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As Katharine Trendacosta points out, “if The Next Generation had flopped it would have been disastrous, and Star Trek would surely have just withered away. We wouldn’t have gotten Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise at all.” She adds: “The Next Generation proved that Star Trek was more than just the adventures of a certain group of characters, but an entire universe,. The question of whether you can do Star Trek without Bones, Kirk, and Spock was answered by The Next Generation, which was a hit right from the start.”

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