We're back! Thanks for hanging with us through this bit of a hiatus. This was a lost episode originally recorded back in May 2020! While investigating a long lost civilization, the Enterprise gets caught in a strange energy trap, draining her of her resources. Now it is a race against time, to investigate what is keeping the Enterprise and her crew…

Memorable Goodbyes. Star Trek has had some very memorable goodbyes from main and secondary characters to series finales. Specifically speaking of The Next Generation, Tasha Yar, Data, and Wesley Crusher have very distinct and unique goodbyes within the series. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Joe Keegan, Amy Nelson, Ria Papageorgiou, Kevin Schar…

Character's We Never Saw Again. As a mostly episodic TV show, The Next Generation is full of rich and interesting characters that we unfortunately only got to see once. Nevertheless there is a plethora of characters that leave an indelible mark on Star Trek and on the crew of the Enterprise. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Pierre LaRocco, Joe K…

Mismatched Episodes. Kathryn Janeway, captain of the Enterprise? Jadzia Dax and Sylvia Tilly serving side by side? Jonathan Archer and Tom Paris at the Royale? How would the 24th century be different if the crew of the NCC 1701-D were replaced with characters from the other Star Trek series? Would anyone play with Wesley? In this episode of Earl Gr…

Data's Hobbies Being an android with no requirement to sleep would give you a lot of time to develop new skills and practice all your favorite pursuits. In The Next Generation we see Lieutenant Commander Data dabble in numerous hobbies including playing violin, painting, poetry, poker and holodeck adventures. His quest to understand the human condi…

Season 7 Deleted Scenes, Part I. Scenes that were filmed, but not seen by the audience in the final aired productions are available for every season and movies of The Next Generation. These deleted scenes can provide a fascinating window into what might have been, including some scenes that would have had a far-reaching impact on the show and the f…

What if Series: Part 1 Every fan has their thoughts and every fan also wonders what if... In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Pierre LaRocco, Kevin Scharf, and Amy Nelson start a new series of what if scenarios. They start with Yar, Locutus, and W. Thomas Riker. Chapters Intro (01:16:00) Feedback (04:21:00) Yar is Alive (07:10:00) W.T.K. Stays (25:…

Finding the Highs in the Low, Season 1 Every rose has its thorn, and every season has its episodes that are, well, not as highly rated by fans. While there are usually good reasons why these episodes are poorly received, even the biggest clunkers have redeeming qualities. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Joe Keegan, Amy Nelson, Pierre LaRocco, K…

Introducing New Hosts Usually, when one hosts leaves it's common for another host to be auditioned and recruited to share the vital tasks of editing and producing a professional sounding show. With Justin Oser leaving as host recently, we thought we'd shake things up and do something unique, so we've invited 3 new hosts to join us. They are Ria Pap…

Jack Crusher. Best friend to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, husband to Dr Beverly Crusher and father to Wesley Crusher. We only get to see Jack Crusher in a few short appearances; in one of which he's a hologram, another he's an hallucination and in the third he's dead. In "Family" we see a holographic Jack Crusher with a message for Wesley from when he …

Aging and Death. Death is a natural part of life and an unavoidable consequence of aging, even in the 24th century. As time marches on, so must we. We have seen many characters prematurely age due to outside influences or grow old gracefully. We see one alien culture declare old age as a burden and set rituals for death while Klingons send their fa…

Borg Collective Set. "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile." These immortals words were spoken by one of the Enterprise crews most relentless enemies - The Borg. We cover the topics of the ev…

Season 6 Deleted Scenes. Scenes that were filmed, but not seen by the audience in the final aired productions are available for every season and movies of The Next Generation. These deleted scenes can provide a fascinating window into what might have been, including some scenes that would have had a far-reaching impact on the show and the films. In…

Trivia with Jim McMahon Throughout Star Trek's history, human and alien competitive games have featured, including parrises squares, stratagema, tri-dimensional chess, hover ball, poker, dom-jot, kal toh and dabo. One thing we didn't see on screen was a good old fashioned quiz night, so we're giving you one on Earl Grey. Topics include TNG guest st…

"Birthright Part I and II" Worf and Data are both in search of their father in the season six episode "Birthright Part I and Part II". Data learns that his father created a dreaming program in hopes that he will learn more about humanity. Worf learns how to be a teacher of Klingon culture to a new generation of Klingons captured by Romulans from th…

Wesley's Starfleet. Ever since we met Wesley Crusher, he has always wanted to join Starfleet and become an officer. What is it about Starfleet that has Wesley so enamored? With the number of tests to enter the academy and the peer pressure of doing well, does this discourage Wesley to leave Starfleet before graduating? In this episode of Earl Grey,…

Time Travel Fan Set. As Deanna Troi says best in First Contact, "Timeline? This is no time to talk about time. We don't have the time!" Well, we do have the time and we do talk about the selected episodes from the Fan Collective Set covering The Next Generation episodes. We discuss time loops, going back in time, alternate-reality timelines and man…

Favorite Badass Guinan Moments. Guinan first appeared at the start of the second season of The Next Generation and she quickly became a fan favorite character. Through appearances in twenty-eight episodes and two movies, Guinan dispensed important wisdom as Ten Forward's bartender while keeping the history of her long life mostly a mystery. With Gu…

Favorite Exoplanets in TNG. Exoplanets are planets outside Earth's solar system and they have been very important to Star Trek from the first time that the crew of the Enterprise on The Original Series startedexploring strange new worlds. There have been many exoplanets depicted in every series, from familiar M-class planets like Vulcan and Betazed…

Picard's Best Partner. Over the course of seven seasons and four movies, Captain Picard has his share of love interests, from the romantic tension with Dr. Beverly Crusher that begins in the very first episode to his love affair with Anij in Insurrection. How should we judge who would make the best partner for Picard and what does that say about ho…

"Balance of Terror" and "The Neutral Zone." The Romulans are one of the most important and recognizable species in Star Trek. They were introduced in the classic season 1 episode of The Original Series "Balance of Terror" on December 15, 1966. We learn in the episode that the Romulans have re-appeared on the galactic stage after more than a century…

AI in TNG. Humanity in the 21st century is embarking on a path that includes more and more uses of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance our lives. In The Next Generation, we see examples in the 24th century of many different kinds of advanced artificial intelligence that can help us to examine where our current AI journey is taking us. In this e…

The Lost Episodes, Part 9. There are many scripts, script outlines, and episode and movie concepts that never made it onto the screen on The Next Generation. These lost episodes can provide a fascinating window into what might have been, what characters and concepts ended up being modified and used later, and into the behind-the-scenes writing proc…

Science in TNG, with Dr. Erin MacDonald. Dr Erin Macdonald is an astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, and host of the online series "Dr Erin Explains the Universe." She's also a huge Star Trek fan who was recently announced as a science consultant for the Star Trek franchise. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Joe Keegan, Amy Nelson, and Justin Ose…

"The Most Toys.” "The Most Toys" is a season three episode of The Next Generation which shows Data's death being faked in a shuttlecraft explosion and Data being kidnapped by Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo. Quirkily and malevolently played by Saul Rubinek, Fajo collects unique items from across the galaxy and wants to add Data to his collection. In thi…

Favorite Badass Data Moments. Data is a fan favorite character on The Next Generation and now Star Trek: Picard. He's known for being the operations officer and second officer on the Federation flagship, for his limitless curiosity, and for being an android on a quest to understand what it means to be human. However, we think that Data also has his…