Star Trek: The Next Generation
Summary
Captain Jean - Luc Picard may now be consider one ofStar Trek’sbest characters , but Patrick Stewart was not Gene Roddenberry ’s first pick to portray theStar Trek : The Next GenerationCaptain . Picard commanded the USS Enterprise - D for seven seasons ofTNG , with Patrick Stewart ’s performance obtain near - universal congratulations . Still , there was a period during the filming ofTNGwhen Stewart feel that Roddenberry did n’t want him in the use . Roddenberry had reportedly changed his attitude toward Stewart by the sentence of his death in 1991 , but why did theStar Trekcreator hate Stewart ’s casting in the first place ?
As the creator ofStar Trek : The Original Series , Roddenberryhad strong impression aboutStar Trek , as well as a readable visual sensation for the sequel series , which was set about a century after the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk ( William Shatner).TOSdeveloped a strong cult following in syndication after the show ended in 1969 , which Paramount leverage into a series of successful movie , get going withStar Trek : The Motion Picturein 1979 . Paramount formally denote it was developing a new television series for the enfranchisement in 1986 that would introduce a new Starship Enterprise and bunch , andStar Trek : The Next Generationwas born .
start out in January 2020 , Patrick Stewart reprised the role of Jean - Luc Picard for three seasons ofStar Trek : Picard . Picardseason 3 reunify Admiral Picard with his USS Enterprise - D crowd , and became the most successful time of year of the show .
The Star Trek TV franchise has be for 57 years and consist of 12 shows ( and numeration ) . Here ’s how to watch them all in timeline ordering .
Patrick Stewart Didn’t Fit Gene Roddenberry’s Image Of Captain Picard
Roddenberry didn’t want a “bald, middle-aged Englishman” playing the French captain.
When it get to casting forStar Trek : The Next Generation , Gene Roddenberry sure enough had input , but others were also involved in the decision - qualification . In a roundtable treatment withThe Hollywood Reporterin August 2020,Patrick Stewart recalled how Gene Roddenberry did not want him cast as Picard . Stewart said that Roddenberry seemed to disprove of him on solidification , saying " It was readable he could n’t see why I was there . " He go on to say that the situation made him " a little uncomfortable . “However , he does describe having lunch with Roddenberry once , which suggests the tardy television fable had slightly warm up up to the player after production begin .
With Picard ’s oratory skills and knack for diplomacy , he was doubtlessly the right kind of Captain for the showTNGwanted to be .
Had Gene Roddenberry gotten his way , another player may have play Captain Picard onTNG . According to a Paramount memoranda post toLetters of Note , the Belgian player Patrick Bauchau was Roddenberry ’s personal alternative to play Captain Jean - Luc Picard . base on the other name list in the memo , Picard was originally think to be another liberal adventurer like William Shatner ’s Captain Kirk inTOS . Another Kirk - like Captain might have madeTNGfeel like a retread ofTOS , and Stewart ’s more cerebral Captain Picard helped makeTNGstand on its own . Picard may not have had thehand - to - deal combat skills of Kirk , but , with his oratory acquisition and knack for diplomatic negotiations , he was undoubtedly the right kind of chieftain for the showTNGwanted to be .
Captain Picard Was Meant To Be Horatio Hornblower In Space
Fictional Royal Navy officer Horatio Hornblower was created by author C. S. Forester.
Patrick Stewart ’s anecdote about his lunch with Roddenberry further illustrates that Roddenberry wanted another Kirk - like character forCaptain of the Enterprise . In the original pitch forStar Trek , the captain ( then cite Robert April ) is identify as a"space - years Captain Horatio Hornblower " — the same literary type Roddenberry would later tell Stewart to base his Captain Picard character on . Read Stewart ’s quote from theHollywood Reporterroundtable below :
I had lunch with him only once , just the two of us and I say , ' So Gene , to assist me : Where did the idea for the grapheme springtime from ? Can you give me any connections that I could use and build on for this ? ' And he said , ' Oh yeah I ’ve got it here with me , ' and he pulled out a beaten - up paperback copy of one of the Horatio Hornblower book , and said , ' It ’s all there . ' So the character , it turns out , was based on Horatio Hornblower .
Ironically , Stewart ’s Picard would go on to substantiate the spirit of Horatio Hornblower arguably more efficaciously than Shatner ’s Kirk did . Hornblower , the protagonist of C. S. Forester ’s al-Qur’an series , is known not just for his skill and daring ( trait that Kirk had in nigga ) , but also forhis determination , Graeco-Roman cognition , and commitment to duty . These are all attributes that would come to define Captain Picard . Given the grounds , it ’s probable that if Gene Roddenberry had lived to seeStar Trek : The Next Generationbecome the pop polish phenomenon it is today , he might have recognise that he had been wrong about Patrick Stewart ’s take on Captain Jean - Luc Picard .
Patrick Stewart Spoke More About Roddenberry In His Memoir
Making It So: A Memoir was released in October 2023.
With the getting even of Jean - Luc Picard inStar Trek : Picard , Patrick Stewart embody an old , more world - aweary version of the former initiative - D sea captain . Admiral Picard had lost some of his religious belief in Starfleet and had to face the fiend of his yesteryear to regain his sense of optimism . In Patrick Stewart ’s 2023 memoir , Making It So , the role player open up about play Picard at different point in his life story , and reflects on the dad culture ikon that the Enterprise captain has become . Stewart also open up about his complicated relationship with Gene Roddenberry , saying :
In a elbow room , I felt sorry for Gene where I was concerned . Jean - Luc Picard was his creation , and he had been coerce to cast someone who did n’t gybe with his vision of the fiber . I thank Robert Justman and Rick Berman every day for run in that special struggle , but I do wish that Gene had dwell long enough to see how ' Star Trek ' and Picard himself have continued to deepen and grow .
Star Trek : The Next Generationand the character of Jean - Luc Picard embodyRoddenberry ’s optimisticStar Trekphilosophymore than any otherTrekshow afterTOS.Reflecting on Roddenberry ’s 1991 dying , Stewart observe that he was thankful for Roddenberry ’s advice , adding:“For all his wariness of me , he had created the splendid ' Star Trek ' universe of which I was now privileged to be a part . “Roddenberry unluckily never got to see the heightsStar Trek : The Next Generationwould reach or the massive influence the show would have , but his legacy dwell on in the grand vision of the far future he create .
Star Trek : The Next Generationis available to stream on Paramount+ .
Sources : The Hollywood Reporteron YouTube , Letters of Note , ca-ca It So : A Memoirby Patrick Stewart
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