Being a child of the late 20th century, I never had the chance to grow up' with the original Captain Kirk and gang; However, lucky me I had Captain Picard to idolize.
While Captain James Tiberius Kirk was the trigger happy, love crazed gigolo, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was (and still is) the gentle, sensitive diplomat. Realizing that you cannot simply compare Kirk's crew to Picard's crew, you must evaluate The Next Generation on it's own merits.
It's a show that had very well written stories, and each week there was a different hero from the no named ensign, to the captain himself. Several of the stories developed into true sagas and much of the plots involved many of the original cast. Bringing Spock into The Next Generation was a true piece of art.
You must keep in mind that the budget for The Next Generation was a great deal larger than that of the original show. With that in mind, the special effects were superb, not only for a television show, but for movies as well. The Next Generation brought some very cool gadgets into our lives including tricorders, androids, and, of course, the most dreamed about invention the Holodeck! What a great thing that would be!
While I would never doubt that the original Star Trek series is a classic, after all, they did name a Space Shuttle after the Enterprise, The Next Generation brought the 21st century into our homes each and every Saturday night, and helped us to believe that we can `Boldly go where no man have gone before!'
