STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION

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-"REGULAR CAST"-

Patrick Stewart "Captain Jean-Luc Picard"

Jean-Luc Picard is the son of a traditional French winemaker. Despite intense pressure from his father and his brother Robert,he decided not to take up the wine trade, but instead enrolled in Starfleet Academy.

His brother Robert took over the vineyard when their father died.

After a rather wild period as an Ensign he buckled down and worked hard. He rose through the ranks quite quickly, and within a few years was given command of the USS Stargazer,a lowly science vessel.

While under attack from an unidentified vessel, he invents a wholly new tactical maneuver, "the Picard maneuver",and manages to destroy the attacking vessel. The Stargazer is so badly damaged that it is abandoned. It is rediscovered in the episode The Battle when the events of the attack are replayed.

Later, after gaining considerable experience in first contact situations and in negotiating treaties and trade agreements, Picard was given command of the Federation's brand new flagship, the Enterprise-D (NCC-1701-D).

His interests include acting, archeology, philosophy and classical music. He always drinks hot earl grey tea. He also enjoys a series of novels about Dixon Hill, a Bogart-style private detective in 1940s Chicago, and enjoys acting them out in the Holodeck,episode "The Long Goodbye".

Jonathan Frakes "Commander William T. Riker" First Officer

Riker was brought up in Alaska, by his ambitious and overbearing father, after his mother died young. After graduating from Starfleet academy,his first posting was on the USS Pegasus which ends in a mutiny (in which he sided with the Captain). The consequences of this are explored in the brilliant episode The Pegasus.

Before joining the Enterprise, Riker was emotionally involved with Deanna Troi for several months. When he arrived on board the Enterprise to take up his posting as First Officer, he found that they are shipmates, and they have to work together.

Brent Spiner "Lt Commander Data" Second Officer

Data is an android, one of two created by Noonian Soon, a brilliant but eccentric cyberneticist. The first android, superficially identical to Data, is called Lore and was shut down when it developed faults.

Data was discovered as the lone survivor when the colony where Noonian Soon was working was destroyed by a mysterious Crystalline Entity.(The Enterprise encounters the Entity in Datalore and Silicon Avatar).

Data soon enrols in Starfleet academy and soon passes with flying colours - the only android ever to do so.

For all his advantages (great strength, enormous intelligence and virtually unlimited processing power), Data has no emotions (until the very last few episodes of TNG), and does not understand much of human behaviour (especially humour!). Data's fondest wish is to understand the human equation, and become human himself.

LeVar Burton "Lt Commander Geordi La Forge" Chief Engineer

Blind from birth, Geordi was outfitted with an electromagnetic visor that enables him to see much of the electromagnetic spectrum.

His mother was a Starfleet Captain and goes missing in the episode Interface.

An excellent engineer, he started out on board the Enterprise as Navigation Officer (in early episodes) but soon became the Chief Engineer, after the previous Chief Engineer got killed.

Geordi isn't particularly good with women, and we see him make the occasional disastrous mistake on dates. One particularly notable mistake occurs in the episode "Booby Trap" where he creates a hologram of Dr Leah Brahms, one of the original designers of the Enterprise, falls in love with the hologram and later meets the real Leah Brahms in "Galaxy's Child!"

Gates McFadden "Dr Beverly Crusher" Chief Medical Officer

Beverley Crusher is the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer, except during the second season when she was teaching at starfleet academy, when Dr Pulaski took her place on board the Enterprise.

She was married to Jack Crusher with whom she had a son, Wesley.

She has a secret crush on Captain Picard, which adds a bit of tension to the relationship and occasionally surfaces (for instance, in The Naked Now).

She is a keen dancer, and teaches Data to dance in the episode "Data's Day". She is also involved in staging amateur dramatics, featured in several episodes including "Frame of Mind".

Marina Sirtis "Counselor Deanna Troi"

Deanna Troi is the ship's counselor - a role that did not exist in the Original Series. She is basically a psychologist who checks that all members of the crew are coping with the stresses and strains of life on board the Enterprise.

She is half-betazoid and half-human. The betazoids are telepathic and empathic. She is only empathic - she can sense emotions, but cannot read minds.

Before joining the Enterprise, Deanna was emotionally involved with Will Riker for several months. When she arrived on board the Enterprise, she found that they are shipmates, and they have to work together. Their relationship comes to the fore in the episode "Haven" when her mother Lwaxana arranges a marriage for her!

Her formal rank is Lt. Commander until the fifth season episode "Disaster" after which she decides to seek promotion to Commander. She manages this during the final season.

Michael Dorn "Lt Worf", (second) Chief Security Officer

Worf is the only Klingon in Starfleet. As such, he is in a unique position, and we learn a lot about the Klingon Empire through his experiences.

Worf started on the Enterprise as a Flight Control Officer, and was then promoted to Chief Security Officer when Tasha Yar was killed in "Skin of Evil".

Worf continued as Chief Security Officer until the end of TNG.

In the first TNG movie, "Star Trek: Generations", Worf was promoted to Lt Commander.

After the Enterprise was destroyed at the end of "Star Trek: Generations", Worf accepted a commission on "Deep Space Nine", transferred from Security to Command and got promoted again to Commander.

Denise Crosby "Lt Tasha Yar",(first) Chief Security Officer

Tasha Yar grew up on a remote Federation colony world where law and order broke down irretrievably. After her parents were killed, Tasha and her sister, Ishara had to survive alone from the age of 5, having to avoid all the criminal gangs who ran unchallenged throughout the colony-looters, murderers, and the infamous rape gangs.

Her sister Ishara joined the gangs in order to survive, but Tasha kept independent.

At the age of 12, a starfleet ship landed on the planet. the crew found Tasha and a kindly Starfleet Security officer offered to take her off the planet. She left, leaving her sister behind.

In gratitude to her rescuers, Tasha went to Starfleet Academy and soon graduated, and took up a career in security, becoming the Enterprise Chief Security Officer.

Towards the end of the first season, she was tragically killed by an evil entity called Ardros in the episode "Skin of Evil".

Wil Wheaton "Wesley Crusher"

Wesley is Beverley Crusher's and Jack Crusher's son.

He is a young, brash and irritating teenager when he is first stationed aboard the Enterprise with his mother.

However, for all his faults, Wesley is something of a prodigy, studying advanced warp theory at the age of 13.

At first, he and Captain Picard do not get on, and he is banned from the Bridge, but eventually he is not only allowed on the Bridge, but is appointed as an Acting Ensign.

He gets into trouble on numerous occasions, nearly getting the ship blown up in "The Naked Now", and nearly getting killed in "Justice". However, he also saves the Enterprise several times. When the Enterprise is thrown thousands of light years off course after a warp drive experiment (in the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before"), the crew meet a mysterious alien called "The Traveler", who tells them that Wesley is destined for greatness.

Wesley takes the entrance exams for Starfleet Academy twice, failing narrowly the first time, and succeeding the second time. He then leaves the Enterprise for the Academy.

After an excellent start at the Academy, Wesley gets into some serious trouble in the episode "First Duty".

In the final season episode "Journey's End", Wesley comes back to the Enterprise as a bitter and angry young man, disillusioned with Starfleet. He announces his resignment from the Academy, and encounters a group of American Indians with a mysterious holy man.