8. STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION (1987-1994)
Created by Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman
It probably shouldn't have worked, resurrecting Star Trekas a TV series. Lightning is hard enough to bottle once, but twice? Just the same, Trek godfather Gene Roddenberry gave it a go, and in doing so allowed us to take TV sci-fi seriously again. And the masterstroke was casting Patrick Stewart. By signing on as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, the Royal Shakespeare Company veteran gave The Next Generation a gravitas-laden foundation to build on. (Having Brent Spiner as Data and Jonathan Frakes as Commander Riker definitely helped.) As time went on, the writers and producers erected a sci-fi gold standard, tackling subjects as varied as homosexuality, euthanasia, and slavery — all while flitting around the cosmos doing battle with Romulans, Klingons, and the Borg.
POP CULTURE LEGACY The Next Generation resuscitated the dormant Star Trek television franchise, spawning Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.
THE BEST BIT Season 3 brought landmark episodes like the time-travel gem ''Yesterday's Enterprise,'' the classic Trek touchstone ''Sarek,'' and one of the best season-ending cliff-hangers in TV history: the Borg-centric ''The Best of Both Worlds, Part I.'' —Marc Bernardin
