Siskoid and infectiously enthusiastic guest host David Ace Gutiérrez tackle Star Trek: The Next Generation and each present a handful of characters they wish had gotten more play on TNG. Are your favorites among them? Listen and see. (Wait, is that a mixed metaphor?)
Listen to Episode 2 below!
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Credits:“Star Trek Theme” by Alexander Courage, with the mellifluous tones of the Irredeemable Shagg. End theme: “Deep Space Nine Theme” by Dennis McCarthy.
Bonus clips from: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Lower Decks” starring Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis; “All Good Things…” starring Andreas Katsulas; “Lessons” starring Patrick Stewart and Wendy Hughes; “Second Chances” starring Jonathan Frakes; “Ensign Ro” starring Patrick Stewart, Michelle Forbe and Ken Thorley; “Chain of Command, Part II” starring Ronny Cox, Patrick Stewart and Majel Barrett; “Redemption, Part II” starring Denise Crosby and Nicholas Kepros; “Q Who?” starring LeVar Burton and Lycia Naff; “I Borg” starring Gates McFadden and Jonathan Del Arco; and Star Trek’s “The Ritual – Ancient Battle – 2nd Kroykah” by Gerald Fried.
And thanks for leaving a comment!
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Some great discussion there. I’m not as familiar with the TNG extended crew and characters to offer any suggestions beyond those mentioned here, but the talk of Thomas Riker intrigued me. That episode has always been a favorite, and a fascinating character study. What if your younger self (or as David put it, an arrested version of yourself) was disappointed in the life choices you had made?
The thought of Thomas replacing Will on the ship blew my mind. I’m not sure I’d want it to be permanent, but maybe an extended storyline where Will is believed dead and Thomas replaces him would have been interesting. And, of course, it wouldn’t have put Frakes out of work at all.
Again, great show!
Chris
Fascinating.
Minor STTNG characters I’d like to have seen more of: Alyssa Ogawa, Mr Homn, Captain Kargan, Tomalak, Sela & Taurik.
Fantastic episode! Count me in as another fan of Captain Edward Jellico. He was a tough boss and there are times when a tough boss is needed; the situation with the Cardassians certainly qualified.
Other minor TNG characters whom I would have liked to see more often are Dr. Selar, Admiral Quinn (since he and Picard were friends), and Bruce Maddox (especially in “The Offspring”).
For more Jellico check out New Frontier. He goes through quite an interesting character arc.
Well…probably should’ve listened to the whole episode first…cause yep Peter David used pretty much all the one-offs
I suppose conflict *is* at the heart of good drama, but I’m actually surprised to see so much love for Captain “Jerk-o” (as I took to calling him back when the episode aired, and the teenage version of me thought I was being quite clever). I found him to be so insufferable….
But, to each his (or her) own.
Mark Baker-Wright, it’s okay to have a wrong opinion.
Enjoyable episode, even though I didn’t know who/what you were talking about most of the time.
My fav side character was Ensign Ro, and I never forgave TNG for doing what it did to her on her final appearance. I also really loved Q, and his appearance on the final episode was one of the best moments of TV I’ve ever seen.
Siskoid, I hope whatever guest canceled on you (forcing you to book Gutierrez at the last minute) can reschedule.
Robbie Rich, we’ll try to keep it to MASH characters we would have liked to have seen in Trek the next time I’m on the show. Maybe then you can keep up.
I wasn’t a replacement, pal. I was sought out and wooed! Siskoid knows how to treat a guest.
Thomas Riker was ‘safe’ in a Cardassian Prison when last seen canonically, and spared the death penalty. That was a couple revolutions ago. (The Dominion ought to have tried to brainwash him and use him as a blood-draw-proof substitute for William…)
I’d have gone with at least one character in the “one more appearance, for closure of dangling plotlines”, the Traveller (and Wesley, of course)
And I’d have liked Berlinghoff Rasmussen to have recurred and become TNG’s Mudd.
There ought to be a Mott/Morn buddy comedy
Wonderful episode Siskoid and David. Thanks for wonderful song during the iTunes review, Siskoid.
I agree with pretty much all your choices, gentlemen, Honestly, I can’t really think of too many others that I’d actually like to see more from. Mostly, I think I’d like to see more about some of the species that were encountered only once or twice in the series, or possibly following up on some episodes that left plot threads dangling for fanfic writers to latch onto. But, since we’re looking at characters, Ensign Ro, Sela, anybody from the Enterprise-C, Guinan (because I want a definitive backstory for her, damn it), and pretty much anybody who was at Starfleet Academy with Wesley. Say, there’s a thought. What about Boothby, the groundskeeper? I bet he’d have a ton of stories to tell everybody.
Great episode, I love conversations like this.
Topping my own list is chief engineer Leland T. Lynch – ha! Just kidding. More seriously, though, one of the many problems in the first season was the rotating line-up of chief engineers – it’s one of the most crucial positions on the ship, after all. It would have been cool if, before Geordi took over in Season 2, they had just stuck with Sarah MacDougal, who only appeared once in the second episode.
Otherwise, I definitely agree with you about Ro Laren, she should have absolutely become a regular cast member – if for no other reason than there just had to be a permanent crew member in that navigator’s chair, dammit! But she was such a great character, played so well by Forbes and, as you noted, in those few episodes she basically wrote the book on Bajorans (much as I like Nana Visitor, Kira often came across as a pale imitation of Ro). And yes, I agree with others that her desertion to the Maquis was horrible way to send her off.
Also in complete agreement about Sela. Denise Crosby certainly seemed to work better as an adversary rather than an ally, and the Sela character made a fantastic foil for the Enterprise crew.
Personally, I would definitely add Commander Shelby to my list – she would have been either a great addition to the crew, or a semi-regular who showed up during episodes in which Federation security was threatened. They should have at least given her a cameo in the First Contact movie…
Also, Robin Lefler. This was a real missed opportunity, I think. Until Voyager, when we saw a few semi-regulars like Vorik down in engineering, the engineering staff on the various Trek shows always got the short-shrift, as they were mainly just a bunch of guys standing in the background looking at screens and occasional tapping control panels (and getting killed or injured when something blows up). I really liked Lefler because she was competent and confident, unlike Barclay and Gomez, who seemed to be there for comedy relief. I could see her becoming something like a right-hand woman to Geordi (so he wouldn’t always have to use Data as a crutch when there was some really big engineering problem to deal with).
By the way, when you mentioned New Frontier, for a moment I thought you were talking about that series of fan films, called Hidden Frontier – since a number of minor characters from TNG, like Shelby, Lefler, Admiral Nechayeva, etc. were also used there. Which leads me to ask, will you also be including those online fan film projects in your discussions?
Keep up the good work, looking forward to the next episode…