The most influential invention to come out ofStar Trek: The Next Generationmay come as a surprise. With its feature-length premiere in 1986,Star Trek: The Next Generationushered in a golden age ofStar Trekand introduced a whole new era of fans to the franchise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his USS Enterprise-D crew became just as beloved as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew had been. Set about 100 years afterStar Trek: The Original Series,TNGintroduced some great new characters and technologies totheStar Trekuniverse.
The USS Enterprise-D was significantly larger thanCaptain Kirk’s Enterpriseand had several notable upgrades. Introduced in the premiere ofStar Trek: The Next Generation,the holodeck was one of the major new technologies that changed the future ofStar Trek.But anotherTNGinvention had even more of an influence on everyStar Trekshow that followed.The crew of the Enterprise-D came to feel more like a family than anything else,and the creation of the Ten Forward lounge helped foster this feeling.
Why Ten Forward Is Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Most Influential Invention
Ten Forward Helped The Enterprise-D Crew Feel More Like Family
Ten Forward first appeared inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 2, episode 1, “The Child,“as an inviting lounge area aboard the Enterprise-D where crew members could take a break from their regular duties. Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan also made her debut in this episode, as the El-Aurian bartender who was always willing to provide a listening ear.Many important conversations occurred in Ten Forward throughoutTNG’srun,some of which would have felt out of place on the bridge or in someone’s private quarters.
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Guinan was one of the few people Captain Picard sought out for advice, although the Enterprise-D captain didn’t frequent Ten Forward as often as his crew members. Ultimately,Ten Forward allowedTNGto reveal more about its characters,which was part of the secret to its success. While inventions like the holodeck or ungraded comm badges altered the wayStar Trektells certain stories, Ten Forward changed the wayStar Trekapproached its characters. NearlyeveryStar Trekseriesthat followedTNGhas had some kind lounge area, allowing them to explore who their characters were during their downtime.
Almost Every Star Trek After TNG Has A Version Of Ten Forward
Some Great Star Trek Scenes Have Taken Place In Bars Like Ten Forward
AfterStar Trek: The Next Generationpopularized the more casual bar setting, many otherStar Trekseries followed suit. InStar Trek: Deep Space Nine,Ferengi entrepreneur andoccasional criminal Quark (Armin Shimerman)ran his eponymous establishment, Quark’s Bar. From its bar to its gaming tables to its holosuites,Quark’s had something for everyoneand served as the location of many memorable scenes. BothStar Trek: DiscoveryandStar Trek: Strange New Worldsmade great use of the bars on the USS Discovery and the USS Enterprise, giving the characters a place to unwind and get to know one another.
The lower deckers of the USS Cerritos also spent a decent amount of time on their ship’s bar inStar Trek: Lower Decks.Star Trek: Picardeven brought back Ten Forward itself, in the form of an actual bar located at 10 Forward Avenue in Los Angeles (run by Guinan herself). All of these bars and lounges allowed their respective shows to add more depth to their characters and make them more relatable. While epic space battles are great, some ofStar Trek’sbest scenes have come in quieter moments in locations likeStar Trek: The Next Generation’sTen Forward.
