"Twenty years ago, the genius of one man brought to television a program that has transcended the medium. We are enormously pleased that that man, Gene Roddenberry, is going to do it again. Just as public demand kept The Original Series on the air, this new series is also a result of grassroots support for Gene and his vision." With those words spoken by Mel Harris, the president of the Paramount Television Group, the long-awaited second Star Trek television series at last became official on October 10, 1986, seventeen years after the first series had been canceled.

But this time there would be something different in the revived series. The fight to bring back Kirk and his crew that had been waged throughout the seventies was no longer a battle that could be won. The Star Trek films and the individual careers of the key cast members were too succesful for the original series' crew ever to be lured back to the weekly grind of episodic television production. So with a grand leap of faith, Paramount had agreed to the concept of setting the next series a century ahead of the first, and going forward with an all-new cast of characters.

At the time, this attempt to "catching light in a bottle," as Leonard Nimoy called it, carried considerably risk for Paramount. The networks the studio had approached with the new series had recognized that risk as well. Though all were interested in broadcasting an updated Star Trek series, none was willing to commit to a full-season order. At best, the networks would buy only six episodes. And the potential revenue from only six episodes was not enough to cover Paramount's investment in new sets, costumes, props and models.

Thus Paramount made the groundbreaking decision to make the series directly for the syndicated market. It had been in the syndicated market that the first series had found its audience, and where it continued to thrive almost two decades later. Paramount executives ran the numbers and determined that at the very worst, they would end up with twenty-six new episodes, which they could add to the ongoing syndication orders for the original seventy-nine. They could not be certain if the series would succeed, but at least they knew the studio wouldn't lose money.

With that critical business concern taken care of, Gene Roddenberry once again began the task of gathering together a production team that would match his passion for the Star Trek universe, and take it boldly into its next century. In Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season, its crew of veterans from the original series included producer Robert Justman, William Ware Theiss as costume designer, set decorator John Dwyer, and special-effects supervisor Dick Brownfield. And this time, Roddenberry had his own second generation of Star Trek personnel to draw from - veterans from the successful movies. In the first season, these included makeup artist Werner Keppler, illustrators Andrew Probert and Rick Sternbach, scenic artist Michael Okuda, and the visual-effects wizard of Industrial Light & Magic.

Among the new faces added to the Star Trek crew that year, production designer Herman Zimmerman, makeup supervisor Michael Westmore, visual-effects coordinators Robert Legato and Dan Curry, and unit production manager David Livingston would go on to make significant and ongoing contributions to The Next Generation, as well as to the following series and the next stage in the evolution of Star Trek movies.

Andrew Probert was first hired by Gene Roddenberry in 1978 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. However, not until 1986, when Roddenberry was preparing to launch The Next Generation, did he call upon Probert to take a lead design role. Everything had to be rethought, imagined, planned and redesigned. As the vision evolved in the designers' minds, the evolution was charted in successive sketches and paintings, some of which in elaborate and perfect detail are shown here.

When it came time to design a new starship Enterprise for The Next Generation, history did not repeat itself. Where Matt Jefferies had produced hundreds of sketches to come up with the design direction for the original Enterprise, Andrew Probert's main design work for the new Enterprise was done before his job even started.

Before the series was announced, Andrew Probert painted the below illustration of a future starship concept, strictly for his own enjoyment. When he went to work on the Paramount lot to design the new Enterprise, he brought that painting with him as inspiration and hung it on his office wall. One day, David Gerrold came into Probert's office, saw the painting, and asked if Gene Roddenberry has seen it. Probert said he hadn't, and Gerrold immediately took it in to Roddenberry, who approved the painting's design direction on the spot. All that remained was fine-tuning and filling in the details.

As well as many other sets, the Enterprise's bridge had to be redesigned. These concept drawings by Andrew Probert show the refinement of the new look for the new bridge. An early writers' bible for the new series described the new bridge as combining "the features of ship control, briefing room, information retrieval area, and officers' wardroom. In other words, much the same kinds of things happen here as in the old bridge, but with less emphasis on the mechanics of steering the starship".

That new, less mechanistic approach can be seen in the preliminary designs featuring viewing couches and a conference table on the bridge.

All material may be reproduced under the Terms of Usage outlined in the legal disclaimer. Simply stated, this means appropriate credit must be given in the form of a hyperlink. For any content used by courtesy of a third party, this third party is to be credited.