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* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Picard learned the hard way that if you refuse a nigh-omnipotent being's offer to join your crew, don't be a arrogant jerk about it lest he throw you into the path of The Borg.
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** Also Data and Jenna D'Sora in "In Theory", though not the sexual part.
** Everyone's robo for Data!
** Everyone's robo for Data!
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* TheCreon: William Riker is one of the best examples of this trope, having turned down multiple chances over the years to get his own command, just so he could stay as Picard's first officer.
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* AccidentalNightmareFuel: Quite literally, as the terrifying visions and paranoia in "Night Terrors" are caused by aliens who simply don't understand the effect their method of communication has on the human brain.[[invoked]]
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* NightmareFuel: Quite literally, as the terrifying visions and paranoia in "Night Terrors" are caused by aliens who simply don't understand the effect their method of communication has on the human brain.[[invoked]]
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** In ''"Genesis,"'' La Forge and Barclay are accessing circuitry in the Jeffries tube. During dialog, Barclay, for no apparent reason other than to show the audience what he's about to work on, which tips the trope off, twirls a band of brightly-lit power cords like a lasso in his hand. Later, when Picard seeks escape from a frenzied Worf, he uses said cords to electrify the deck to electrocute Worf while Picard sits atop an insulated panel.
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* DeadGuyJunior - Troi's temporary baby, Ian Andrew, after her deceased father.
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** Picard in "Galaxy's Child" after accidentally killing a cosmozoan in self-defense. The ''Enterprise'' ends up playing mommy it it's [[MonsterIsAMommy baby]].
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** Picard in "Galaxy's Child" after accidentally killing a cosmozoan in self-defense. The ''Enterprise'' ends up playing mommy it to it's [[MonsterIsAMommy baby]].
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* MonsterIsAMommy: "Galaxy's Child".
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** Picard in "Galaxy's Child" after accidentally killing a cosmozoan in self-defense. The ''Enterprise'' ends up playing mommy it it's [[MonsterIsAMommy baby]].
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* IncessantMusicMadness: In "Q-Pid", Q turns the bridge crew into Robin Hood and his merry men. Geordi becomes the Alan a-Dale analog, and keep plucking annoyingly at a lute. Finally Worf has had enough, walks up, snatches the lute and smashes it against a tree
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* IncessantMusicMadness: In "Q-Pid", Q turns the bridge crew into Robin Hood and his merry men. Geordi becomes the Alan a-Dale analog, and keep plucking annoyingly at a lute. Finally Worf has had enough, walks up, snatches the lute and smashes it against a treetree.
** In ''The Survivors'', Troi is being driven to maddened despair by a constantly repeating music box tune, which is coming from the music box in Kevin Uxbridge's house. It turns out to have been "psychic chaff", designed to keep her (and presumably other telepaths/empaths) from learning the truth, though Uxbridge didn't know it would hurt her so.
** In ''The Survivors'', Troi is being driven to maddened despair by a constantly repeating music box tune, which is coming from the music box in Kevin Uxbridge's house. It turns out to have been "psychic chaff", designed to keep her (and presumably other telepaths/empaths) from learning the truth, though Uxbridge didn't know it would hurt her so.
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** In The Nth Degree Barclay who has integrated his mind into the computer responds to an order from Picard with "I'm afraid I cant do that, sir," in a manner very reminiscent of [[TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey HAL9000.]]
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* MostAnnoyingSound: InUniverse example in "Suddenly Human". The Talarians and Jono all make a wailing sound as their way of mourning their dead comrades while being treated in sick bay. Picard can't stand it and after asking them nicely a couple times finally shouts at them to be quiet. They do what he says that time, much to the relief of Dr. Crusher and her staff, who weren't enjoying it either.
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** Something about Klingon weapons just seems to make it impossible to resist using them. In "Suddenly Human", Jono examines a dagger in Picard's quarters, observing that it's Klingon. Later, [[spoiler: he uses that dagger to try to stab Picard to death in his sleep.]]
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* GodGuise: "Who Watches the Watchers?"
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* StopWorshippingMe: Plot of the episode ''"Who Watches the Watchers"''.
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Moving this trope over to the appropriate episode.
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* BotheringByTheBook: Picard is in the process of trying to save a colony from a group of {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s who keep insisting on not giving them any more time. So, Picard reads through the very long peace treaty between them and the Federation, then exploits a loophole which will delay their plans by 6 months. He then hangs up on them and strolls about the bridge for a minute while they call back.
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* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Semi-subverted in ''Genesis''. Sometimes they were spiders!
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* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Semi-subverted {{Downplayed}} in ''Genesis''. Sometimes they were spiders!
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** Moriarty — the self-aware hologram intended to outsmart Data — is still conscious when he is deactivated, and speaks of "Brief, terrifying periods of consciousness . . . disembodied, without substance." In a subversion (?) of this trope, he is eventually trapped in a small device running a permanent simulation in which he thinks he has escaped into the real world. Geordi couldn't get him into the real world, but this is still an ignominious and condescending end.
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** Moriarty — the self-aware hologram intended to outsmart Data — is still conscious when he is deactivated, and speaks of "Brief, terrifying periods of consciousness . . .consciousness... disembodied, without substance." In a subversion (?) of this trope, Eventually, he is eventually trapped in a small device running a permanent simulation in which he thinks he has escaped into the real world. Geordi couldn't get him into the real world, but this is still an ignominious and condescending end.
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* OneWayVisor: Geordi's a Subversion, rather than leaving us wondering if he can see through it, it's what allows him to see.
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* OneWayVisor: Geordi's a Subversion, rather than leaving us wondering if he can see through it, it's what allows visor is an aversion; he's blind, and the visor enables him to see.
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** For a species so obsessed with "honour", many Klingons depicted in the series seem to be perfectly comfortable with stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. Subverted with Worf, who gives several epic [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal putdowns]] on just why this sort of behaviour is hypocritical and just what having true honour actually ''means''.
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** For a species so obsessed with "honour", many Klingons depicted in the series seem to be perfectly comfortable with stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. Subverted with Worf, who Worf [[DefiedTrope defies this trope]], however, as he gives several epic [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal putdowns]] on just why this sort of behaviour is hypocritical and just what having true honour actually ''means''.
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Crosswicking two additional examples.
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* AndIMustScream: The fate of Armus. He was created out of the darkest aspects of the psyches of an entire alien race [[JerkassWoobie and then abandoned.]] After he murdered Tasha Yar in a rage, the crew of the Enterprise decided that it was fitting punishment to leave him ''again'' and deploy a warning beacon that meant no-one ever venture near the planet again. Armus' even ends the episode ''screaming''.
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* AndIMustScream: AndIMustScream:
** The fate of Armus. He was created [[MadeOfEvil out of the darkestaspects aspects]] of the psyches of an entire alien race [[JerkassWoobie and then abandoned.]] After he murdered Tasha Yar in a rage, the crew of the Enterprise decided that it was fitting punishment to leave him ''again'' and deploy a warning beacon that meant no-one ever venture near the planet again. Armus' even ends the episode ''screaming''.''screaming''.
** To say nothing of those that the Borg assimilate. As Picard implied shortly after being removed from the Collective in "The Best of Both Worlds", they're privvy to everything the Borg-them is doing, but are helpless to do anything about it. That Picard was able to break through his "Locutus of Borg" personality and tell Data how to defeat the Borg was nothing short of a miracle.
** Moriarty — the self-aware hologram intended to outsmart Data — is still conscious when he is deactivated, and speaks of "Brief, terrifying periods of consciousness . . . disembodied, without substance." In a subversion (?) of this trope, he is eventually trapped in a small device running a permanent simulation in which he thinks he has escaped into the real world. Geordi couldn't get him into the real world, but this is still an ignominious and condescending end.
** The fate of Armus. He was created [[MadeOfEvil out of the darkest
** To say nothing of those that the Borg assimilate. As Picard implied shortly after being removed from the Collective in "The Best of Both Worlds", they're privvy to everything the Borg-them is doing, but are helpless to do anything about it. That Picard was able to break through his "Locutus of Borg" personality and tell Data how to defeat the Borg was nothing short of a miracle.
** Moriarty — the self-aware hologram intended to outsmart Data — is still conscious when he is deactivated, and speaks of "Brief, terrifying periods of consciousness . . . disembodied, without substance." In a subversion (?) of this trope, he is eventually trapped in a small device running a permanent simulation in which he thinks he has escaped into the real world. Geordi couldn't get him into the real world, but this is still an ignominious and condescending end.
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* FreakOut: Had by Captain Picard in "Sarek", ''on behalf of'' the tiular legendary diplomat. Sarek is suffering Vulcan Alzheimer's, and "borrows" Picard's emotional self-control to complete one last mission.
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Reworking the Trope Namer part of the page. I dunno how much these really COUNT anymore, but I\'ll leave \'em just in case.
* TheAssimilator (formerly [[RenamedTropes You Will Be Assimilated]])
* CreatorsPet[[invoked]] (formerly [[RenamedTropes The Wesley]])
* CreatorsPet[[invoked]] (formerly [[RenamedTropes The Wesley]])
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* TheWesley
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* YouWillBeAssimilated
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* ExpositionOfImmortality: In "Time's Arrow", a two-part episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the ''Enterprise'' crew runs into Guinan, the El-Aurian bartender on their ship, while on a TimeTravel trip to the 19th century. She's shown talking with MarkTwain and Jack London; but when Data approaches her, believing that she too, has traveled through time, she doesn't know him or the rest of the crew.
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Further filling in details
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* ParentalAbandonment: Of the nine series regulars who had their names in the opening credits for all or part of the show's run, only Geordi had two parents as of the series's opening (and his mother died in the middle seasons). Worf, Beverly, and Tasha were all orphaned as children (though Worf wound up with a great set of adoptive parents). Riker, Troi, and Wesley each lost one parent when they were children (Riker's mother, Troi's father, Wesley's father). Picard's parents were both dead long before he became captain, though they probably died when he was an adult. The inventor who built Data disappeared when his home planet was attacked and was [[DisneyDeath presumed dead]] until the middle of the episode "Brothers," then [[KilledOffForReal really died]] just a handful of scenes later.
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* ParentalAbandonment: Of the nine series regulars who had their names in the opening credits for all or part of the show's run, only Geordi had two parents as of the series's opening (and his mother died in the middle seasons). Worf, Beverly, and Tasha were all orphaned as children (though Worf wound up with a great set of adoptive parents). Riker, Troi, and Wesley each lost one parent when they were children (Riker's mother, Troi's father, Wesley's father). Picard's parents were both dead long before he became captain, though they probably died when he was an adult. The inventor who built Data disappeared when his home planet was attacked and was [[DisneyDeath presumed dead]] until the middle of the episode "Brothers," then [[KilledOffForReal really died]] just a handful of scenes later. We also get to meet a woman who claims to be Data's "mother" in the Seventh season. [[spoiler:She really is, after a fashion. She's actually an android duplicate of the (long-dead) woman who was both Data's co-creator and Noonien Soong's wife.]]
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** Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, played Worf's great grandfather in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
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** Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, played Worf's great grandfather in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
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They gave the wrong episode for the example.
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* AbortedArc: The PuppeteerParasite aliens seen in "Contagion" (and foreshadowed in "Conspiracy"). They were intended to be harbingers of the Borg, who were originally supposed to be insectoid. In the end this idea was scrapped as the special effects were impossible and the parasites were never seen again, despite the obvious SequelHook of them sending off a transmission at the end of "Contagion". They may have inspired the similar Goa'uld from ''StargateSG1''.
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* AbortedArc: The PuppeteerParasite aliens seen in "Contagion" (and foreshadowed in "Conspiracy")."Conspiracy". They were intended to be harbingers of the Borg, who were originally supposed to be insectoid. In the end this idea was scrapped as the special effects were impossible and the parasites were never seen again, despite the obvious SequelHook of them sending off a transmission at the end of "Contagion"."Conspiracy". They may have inspired the similar Goa'uld from ''StargateSG1''.
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** Another example of this trope involving Klingons takes place in "Reunion". We're given our first look at the ''bat'leth'' in Worf's quarters and see him showing Alexander the right way to hold and swing it. Later on, a grieving and enraged Worf takes it off the wall again and uses it to exact lethal revenge on [[spoiler: Duras]] for killing [[spoiler: K'Ehleyr]].
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* StillTheEighties: Wood paneling. 'Nuff said.
** [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ishara_Yar Ishara Yar's]] haircut also qualifies.
** [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ishara_Yar Ishara Yar's]] haircut also qualifies.
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* CowboyEpisode: "A Fistful of Datas", involving a HolodeckMalfunction.
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''[[StarTrekTNG Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is a science fiction show created by GeneRoddenberry as part of the ''StarTrek'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, about [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture eighty years]] after the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], the program features a new crew, new perspectives on established cultures (a Klingon Empire as a semi-friendly ally against a Romulan Empire emerging from decades of isolation), new antagonists and a new ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' (''Galaxy''-class starship, registration NCC-1701-[[LegacyCharacter D]]).
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''[[StarTrekTNG Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is a science fiction show created by GeneRoddenberry as part of the ''StarTrek'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, about [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture eighty years]] after the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], the program features a new crew, new perspectives on established cultures (a Klingon Empire as a semi-friendly ally against a Romulan Empire emerging from decades of isolation), new antagonists and a new ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' (''Galaxy''-class starship, registration NCC-1701-[[LegacyCharacter D]]).
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sttng_cast.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: [[BlackAndNerdy Geordi]], [[TheEmpath Troi]], [[ArtificialHuman Data]], [[TheCaptain Picard]], [[TheWorfEffect Worf]], [[HospitalHottie Dr. Crusher]], [[NumberTwo Riker]]. [[hottip:*:[[CreatorsPet Wesley]]'s holding the camera. Better than anyone else could, no doubt. Especially [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Yar.]]]] ]]
->"''Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]''. Its continuing mission -- to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.''"
-->-- '''[[TheCaptain Captain Jean-Luc Picard]]''', OpeningNarration
''[[StarTrekTNG Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is a science fiction show created by GeneRoddenberry as part of the ''StarTrek'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, about [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture eighty years]] after the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], the program features a new crew, new perspectives on established cultures (a Klingon Empire as a semi-friendly ally against a Romulan Empire emerging from decades of isolation), new antagonists and a new ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' (''Galaxy''-class starship, registration NCC-1701-[[LegacyCharacter D]]).
After struggling for a few seasons trying to establish itself apart from [[StarTrekTOS the Original Series]], it exploded into one of the most well respected television shows ever made, partially because of a change in direction (its creator had health problems starting around season two of the show's run leading to co-producer Rick Berman taking over most of the show's daily production and his promotion to executive producer during season three) and an increased willingness to experiment with the format and scope of the show, and science fiction as a whole. At 176 episodes in length, it was the longest running Star Trek series at the time, and won many awards for everything from visual effects to writing. Additionally, the series has proved wildly popular in [[ReRun Syndication]], despite having broadcast its final episode in 1994, well over fifteen years ago. To date, in the U.S. alone, it has been broadcast on no less than five different cable / satellite networks: G4, SpikeTV, SyFy, WGN America and most recently {{BBC}} America. Three of these networks, [=SyFy=], WGN America & BBC America still regularly air episodes of the program, sometimes against each other in primetime.
Although much of the show shared the premise of the Original Series, there were also well-placed {{Story Arc}}s: the omnipotent {{trickster}} character of Q would show up to put HumanityOnTrial (becoming a BookEnd storyline [[PatrickStewartSpeech epitomizing the series]]) or to amuse himself at the expense of others; redefining the Klingons as being {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s instead of the original "black hats"; various encounters with the hive-mind, cybernetic Borg (creating what is regarded as the pinnacle episode for the series and even the ''franchise'', "The Best of Both Worlds"); several episodes with [[CreatorsPet Wesley]] that [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap developed his character]]; and [[BreakoutCharacter defining moments]] for several of the main cast and [[AscendedExtra the odd minor character]], in addition to plenty of development for [[FriendOrFoe the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Cardassians and the Ferengi]].
The series formed the basis of the seventh through tenth Star Trek films: ''[[StarTrekGenerations Generations]]'' (1994), ''[[StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]'' (1996), ''[[StarTrekInsurrection Insurrection]]'' (1998) and ''[[StarTrekNemesis Nemesis]]'' (2002). The success led to an expansion of the franchise and is single-handedly responsible for the creation of ''[[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' and ''[[StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]''. Though fans will usually agree that the quality of the episodes varies wildly, the best make for compelling and thought-provoking viewing.
See also the StarTrekTheNextGenerationRelaunch, a series of novels that follow the characters after the events of ''StarTrekNemesis'', as well as setting the direction for the StarTrekExpandedUniverse in terms of the original continuity (as opposed to the [[Film/StarTrek latest film]], which is an AlternateTimeline).
It now has a tool for gathering and voting for the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Best Episode(s)]]
Character tropes for the main characters can be found [[Characters/StarTrekTheNextGeneration in this character page]]. Episode recaps can be found [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGeneration here]].
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!!This show is the TropeNamer for:
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Captain Kirk in ''Generations'']].
* GrowingTheBeard[[invoked]]
* HolodeckMalfunction
* LowerDeckEpisode
* PatrickStewartSpeech
* ResistanceIsFutile
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech
* TheWorfEffect
** TheWorfBarrage
** WorfHadTheFlu
* YouWillBeAssimilated
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!!This show provides examples of the following tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Trope-based episodes]]
* AccidentalNightmareFuel: Quite literally, as the terrifying visions and paranoia in "Night Terrors" are caused by aliens who simply don't understand the effect their method of communication has on the human brain.[[invoked]]
* ActingForTwo: "Time Squared" (Patrick Stewart plays two Picards). "Second Chances" (Jonathan Frakes plays two Rikers). Any episode with Data & Lore or their "father" Dr. Noonien Soong. (Also see the episode "Brothers" which was ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Acting For Three]]'' (including one stint in enough make up to make a Klingon's actor cry.) And let's not forget "A Fistful of Datas", where Data plays...[[ShapedLikeItself a fistful]] of Ancient-Western stock-characters.
* ActorAllusion: TNG had a minor in-show example: In "Descent, Part II" the ''Enterprise'' is forced to hide within a star's corona by using an experimental shield. The lieutenant at Tactical doesn't think that the shield will work, but is proven wrong. The actor played a different character in a previous episode who tried to make it appear that the shield didn't work.
* AdaptiveAbility: The Borg, by any means necessary.
* AdventurerOutfit: Q.
* [[AintTooProudToBeg Ain't Too Proud To Beg]]: "Q Who".
* AlternateUniverse: "Yesterday's Enterprise".
** Also the anomaly universe in "All Good Things".
*** Then hundreds of the damn things in "Parallels."
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Ferengi, Cardasians, and Borg. For the most part, the Romulans as well.
* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Semi-subverted in ''Genesis''. Sometimes they were spiders!
* AmnesiaDanger: "[[spoiler:Conundrum]]".
* AmnesiaLoop: "[[spoiler:Clues]]".
* AndIMustScream: The fate of Armus. He was created out of the darkest aspects of the psyches of an entire alien race [[JerkassWoobie and then abandoned.]] After he murdered Tasha Yar in a rage, the crew of the Enterprise decided that it was fitting punishment to leave him ''again'' and deploy a warning beacon that meant no-one ever venture near the planet again. Armus' even ends the episode ''screaming''.
* ApocalypticLog: Col. Richey's diary in "The Royale".
* ArtEvolution: A rare Live Action version, the ridge design on Worf's head changed as the show continued. This was explained as simply streamlining the make-up process.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: "Starship Mine". Absolutely.
* BadassInDistress: "The Best of Both Worlds Part II"
* BigBad: Because the Klingons had become allies of TheFederation by this point, their previous role of recurring antagonists went unfilled. The Ferengi were the first attempt at creating a big bad, and were found to be too comical. Then the Borg came along, but were found to be TooAwesomeToUse by the writers. They eventually settled late on in the run of the show on the Cardassians, who were indeed developed into a true Big Bad on StarTrekDeepSpaceNine (only for their own Big Bad status to be subverted towards the end of that show's run, following in the footsteps of the Klingons.) Ultimately, the Romulans come closest to filling out this niche`, and its a bigger plot twist to find that they are ''not'' the masterminds behind the insidous scheme of the week.
** Individually, Commanders Sela and Tomalak and the Sisters of Duras fill the role of recurring villains, though even they don't go out of their way to antagonize the Enterprise except when Starfleet interferes in their schemes. Though, it turns out that they too were just Romulan pawns.
* BigNo: "Timescape", said by Picard while suffering in temporal narcosis.
** "Darmok", again Picard, while trapped in a transporter beam as his new friend is pummeled by the MonsterOfTheWeek.
** "Night Terrors", again Picard, when he experiences ''extreme'' claustrophobia on the turbolift and feels as if he's rushing up towards the ceiling.
* BittersweetEnding: "The Vengeance Factor." [[spoiler: [[LastOfHisKind The last of the Acamarian Vornak clan]] is saved by Riker's intervention; that intervention consists of the vaporization of the woman for whom Riker had some affection.]]
** ''The Perfect Mate.'' [[spoiler: "I am for you, Alrik of Valt." Captain Picard is, unfortunately, not Alrik of Valt...]]
*** For the uninformed, Kamala (Famke Janssen, rowr!) is an empathic metamorph whose personality changes to suit those around her. When she bonds with another, she permanently changes to suit him. [[spoiler: Despite being betrothed to another man, she chooses to bond with Picard... [[FridgeHorror which may actually make her much more miserable, being with such a stuffy, uninterested (and uninteresting) bureaucrat]].]]
** ''The Inner Light'' when Picard plays the flute.
* BotheringByTheBook: Picard is in the process of trying to save a colony from a group of {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s who keep insisting on not giving them any more time. So, Picard reads through the very long peace treaty between them and the Federation, then exploits a loophole which will delay their plans by 6 months. He then hangs up on them and strolls about the bridge for a minute while they call back.
* BrokenAesop: ''The Outcast'' doubles as a BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: Psychotectic treatment is basically like the "gay de-programming" techniques of today, with all the UnfortunateImplications that that implies.]]
** As pointed out by SFDebris, the metaphor for homosexual prejudice and coming out falls flat when you realise that the entire race of genderless aliens discovering sexuality has every member played by ''women''. The alien in question even identifies herself as a ''female'' and falls in love with Riker, who's a ''man''.
* BuryYourDisabled: Averted in ''Ethics''
* ButtMonkey: Next to Worf and Geordi, Deanna Troi filled this role many times. She was always being possessed by aliens, abused by aliens in crashed shuttles, abducted by aliens for political gambits, being nearly forced to marry an alien, having her psychic powers robbed by aliens, suffering nightmares at the hands of aliens, forced to listen to a virtual music box in her head for days by an alien, the list goes on. Her only real use on the show was to counsel the [[RedShirt random crew member of the week]] and to tell Picard when she sensed weird things happening while on the bridge.
* CallToAgriculture: Picard was managing his family vineyard as part of the alternate future in the GrandFinale.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: The Bynars are a race of being that always work and live in pairs and can't function alone; also, in one episode Picard and Dr.Crusher received implants that allowed them to share thoughts but would killed them if they went beyond a few meters from each other.
* ChainedHeat: "Attached".
* CharacterShilling: Multiple examples, but the most well known was that of the shilling done for Wesley, which grated at the fans and became the former trope namer for the more negative and YMMV version of the trope, CreatorsPet. Apart from shilling Wesley, the story also shills a few other characters, even those who are actually popular like Riker. We are frequently assured that Riker could be a captain on any other ship in the fleet, but without a great deal of backing for the idea.
* ChildMarriageVeto: In "Haven", Deanna Troi has been arranged to be married to Wyatt Miller. It's not Deanna who breaks off the marriage, though; it's Wyatt, who has had dreams of a non-Deanna woman since he was a child...and then he finds her on a plague ship.
* ClarkesThirdLaw: "Devil's Due".
** Noteworthy in that the technology isn't even ''sufficiently advanced''; it's just been dressed-up to look more impressive than it really is.
*** Makes sense - people pull off some impressive tricks/scams today without godlike technology, stands to reason that the same will still be (relatively) possible in the 24th Century.
*** Plus, while it's not significantly advanced than the Enterprise's technology, it is sufficiently advanced for the technology of the planet in question. And some of the tricks the scam artists set up ("beaming" a holographic image over the actor and maintaining it outside a holodeck) the Enterprise couldn't replicate. When the Enterprise crew performs this trick, it's only because they've boarded the scammer's ship and used their setup to do it.
** The first season episode "Justice" has an idyllic planet that worships an interdimensional spaceship ''thing'' as their god. How advanced it really is isn't firmly established, but it's strongly implied that it's at least a match for the ''Enterprise''.
** The third season episode "Who Watches the Watchers" again casts the ''Enterprise'' crew in the role of the ones with the sufficiently advanced technology, when a botched encounter with a pre-industrial civilisation leaves some of them thinking that Picard is a god.
** In "The Next Phase", Ro and Geordi are invisible and intangible after an accident. Ro is at first convinced that they're ghosts now that need to make peace before moving on to the afterlife. Turns out they're just "out of phase" with normal matter, except for the plot-convenient floors (and oxygen).
* {{Cliffhanger}}: One at the end of every season from year 3 onward. The first of these is probably the second most famous TV cliffhanger ever (behind "[[{{Dallas}} Who Shot JR?]]")
** The cliffhanger in question resulted in months of speculation in the media, as the episode ended on the possibility that Captain Picard would die and be replaced by Riker. This led to rumors that Patrick Stewart was leaving the show and the episode was intended as a way to write his character out of the series. The first part even sets up a new first officer for the ship. These rumors proved untrue, and at the end of part two [[{{status quo is god}} everything returned to normal]], but the story was told so well that few viewers minded.
*** At the time, fans seemed to be divided between four possible scenarios: Picard would die and Riker would become Captain, Picard would live but remain a Borg and thus become the show's recurring {{big bad}}, ''Riker'' would die saving Picard's life, or things would return to normal. Quite a few fanfics (and at least one official Star Trek comic) have been devoted to exploring the alternate scenarios.
**** The alternate scenarios are also given a nod in later alternate-timeline episodes, most notably "Parallels".
*** The official story is that Stewart was renegotiating his contract and they had to leave it open for the possibility of his leaving. The ending wasn't decided until after the first part was shot.
* ClipShow: "Shades of Grey."
* CloneDegeneration: "Up the Long Ladder".
* ComesGreatResponsibility: The ostensible basis of Q's argument in "True Q" that Amanda Rogers should be returned to the Q Continuum, or else killed.
--> '''Q:''' If that child doesn't learn to control her power, she could destroy herself. Or all of you. Or your entire galaxy.
* ComeToGawk: "The Most Toys"
* {{Costumer}}: Several times; mostly holodeck adventures, although the most famous was "Q-Pid", which is decidedly ''not'' set on the holodeck.
* CourtroomEpisode: A number of examples. The best of which was "Measure of a Man".
** Though not strictly a courtroom episode, a 21st-century kangaroo court was conjured up by Q in both the series premiere ''and'' the series finale.
* CuckooNest: "Frame of Mind".
* CustomUniformOfSexy: Deanna Troi had three different ones.
* DayInTheLife: "Data's Day"
* [[DevilsAdvocate Devil's Advocate]]: In "Measure of a Man", a scientist wants to disassemble Data for study, and Data refuses as a sentient being. A hearing is held to determine whether Data is sentient. Picard is Data's defense counsel, and Riker is appointed as the prosecution - so he has to argue that Data isn't sentient. He risks summary judgement against Data if he slacks off on the job. Riker feels guilty about doing it, but Data is grateful - or anyway as grateful as an android allegedly with no emotions can be - since if Riker had refused to do it they would have decided against Data (for if he isn't a sentient being, he lacks the right to bodily autonomy, such are the rules of procedure in the 24th century).
* [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard On The USS Enterprise-D]]: "Starship Mine".
* DrivenToSuicide: Lieutenant Kwan in "Eye Of The Beholder." The first act of the episode also counts as AVerySpecialEpisode about suicide.
* [[DoAndroidsDream Do Borgs Dream]]: "I, Borg"
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: "Aquiel," where the crew finds out that a shape-shifting organism is behind the MysteryOfTheWeek. Two people, a Klingon and the titular Aquiel, are suspected of being the monster, but [[spoiler:it's really Aquiel's dog, which served as a minor comedic subplot during the episode.]]
* DontYouDarePityMe: In "Skin of Evil," Armus tells Troi to take her pity and shove it. Picard later exploits Armus' extreme distaste toward being pitied.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Tasha Yar in "Skin of Evil", Captain Kirk in TheMovie.
* DyingRace: "Up the Long Ladder", "When the Bough Breaks".
* EnemyMine: "Darmok", also (shockingly) "The Enemy".
** In "Darmok", the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" means this.
* EvilTwin: Lore, to Data.
* EvolutionaryLevels / YouFailBiologyForever: ''Genesis'', which misinterprets evolution as a phenomenon that happens in individuals, as well as invoking the theory (discredited in the mid 20th century) that our DNA retains a record of our species' evolutionary tree. ''The Chase'' has some undertones of this as well, although it isn't EvolutionaryLevels so much as Precursors with implausible sufficiently advanced skill at genetics. Plus any scene where someone mentions DNA breaking down into protein/amino acids, or vice versa.
* ExpospeakGag: In ''Time's Arrow'':
--> '''Data''': You may retain the surplus for yourself.
-->'''Jack''': Keep the change?
-->'''Data''': Exactly.
* FacePalm: The one done by Picard is particularly well-known thanks to MemeticMutation.
* FatAndSkinny: Ambassador Sarek's advisors in ''Sarek''.
* FatherIDontWantToFight
* FireForgedFriends: "Darmok".
* FirstContact: ''First Contact'' (the episode and the movie. The first one reverses the polarity by having the aliens be the ones experiencing first contact with humans).
* FishOutOfWater: "A Matter of Honor".
* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The phaser lance from the alternate future version of the Enterprise-D in "All Good Things".
* ForWantOfANail: "Parallels", "Tapestry".
* ForceFieldDoor
* FormerTeenRebel: Picard in "Tapestry".
* FountainOfYouth: "Rascals".
* FreudWasRight: Inverted in "Phantasms", when Data recreates Dr. Freud in the holodeck with the hope of interpreting the disturbing images generated by his dream program. Freud, of course, proceeds to assume it's all about Data's issues with his mother and his sexuality, neither of which he has, because he's an android.[[invoked]]
* FutureImperfect: Episode of the same name. An interesting AlternateHistory arises and thanks to a [[spoiler:fake]] TraumaInducedAmnesia Riker (now Captain of the Enterprise) can't recall any of it.
* FutureMeScaresMe: In "Time Squared", the present Jean-Luc Picard is disgusted, irritated and ''extremely'' angered by the Captain Picard of the future, who abandoned the ''Enterprise'' in a shuttlecraft shortly before its destruction.
* GRatedDrug: The game, in "The Game".
* GhostShip: "The Battle", "The Naked Now", "Night Terrors", "Hero Worship", "Booby Trap".
* GodForADay: "Hide and Q"- Q gives such powers to Riker and makes, unknown to Riker, a bet with Picard: Picard thinks that Riker will reject Q's offer and bets the Enterprise herself on him against Q offering to never bother them again. A generally well done example of the trope with the resolution not coming out of some arbitrary limit or failure of the powers. Picard wins after Riker finds every gift he tries to give to his friends rings hollow.
-->"But it's what you've always wanted Data, to become human."
-->"Yes, sir. That is true. But I never wanted to compound one... illusion with another. It might be real to Q,... perhaps even you, sir. But it would never be so to me. Was it not one of the Captain's favourite authors who wrote, "This above all: to thine own self be true?" Sorry, Commander, I must decline."
* GodGuise: "Who Watches the Watchers?"
* GodTest: Inverted in"Who Watches the Watchers." When the primitive alien tribe believes that Picard is God, they try to prove it by shooting him with a bow to prove that he can't be killed. Fortunately for Picard the alien misses his heart, but does hit him in the shoulder, injuring him and thereby proving to the aliens that he ''isn't'' God.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: "Symbiosis".
* GroundhogDayLoop: "Cause and Effect" - Actually occurred two years ''in advance'' of the ''Film/GroundhogDay'' movie.
** And unlike the ''Film/GroundhogDay'' movie (in which Bill Murray's character is fully aware of what's going on, and only once does anybody else mention a ''slight'' feeling of deja vu-- everyone on the ''Enterprise,'' except Data, starts to get that feeling.
* HarmfulHealing: Accidentally caused everyone to [[EvolutionaryLevels "devolve"]] in "Genesis".
* HumanityOnTrial: "Encounter at Farpoint" and "All Good Things..."
** Technically, [[spoiler:the whole series, the movies, and everything else in the Star Trek universe]]. As Q points out [[spoiler:the trial that starts in "Encounter at Farpoint" continues through "All Good Things..." and beyond.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Q:''' You just don't get it, do you, Jean-Luc? The trial never ends.]]
*** Regarding spoiler: [[spoiler:Not so much a threat from Q, but more of a reminder that human kind must never stop thinking outside of the box, and always work hard to better themselves.]]
* HyperspaceLanes: There are shipping lanes which are the most frequently used ways of getting from point A to point B. At one point late in the series it's revealed that space is actually wearing down in those lanes; Starfleet sets a speed limit of warp five to minimize continued damage, but then they weasel out of that by giving authorization to exceed speed limits right and left.
** In the finale, "All Good Things", even relatively low-tech medical ships easily travel at warp 13, even though the Federation's speed limit was warp 5. Either the Federation figured out how to reduce the damage from their warp drives, or the writers forgot about the speed limit.
*** Both, really. The USS Voyager had "variable warp field geometry" to minimize damage to space/time. This is why the nacelles moved before it jumped into warp, but it was stated in later episodes of Voyager and Deep Space Nine that the technology was being retrofitted to older ships with fixed-mounted nacelles. Medical ships travelling at warp 13 are still probably a writer memory lapse, considering that it was stated many times that warp 10 represents infinite speed and requires infinite energy to attain. The only possible explanation for warp 13 would be that they switch to a different speed scale in the future.
**** I suspect they recalibrated the scale because it was getting cumbersome. Voyager's top cruising speed was stated as warp 9.975. That's already a bit of a mouthful. What happens when you're routinely able to travel at 9.9999999? There was also a link explained in the Technical Manual that integer warp factors on the warp 10 scale are much more energy efficient. If the design of the engines changes and that link is no longer true, recalibrating the scale becomes even more practical. This troper may have overthought this subject.
**** "Warp 13" was such a nonsensical term (as if FTL travel is ever sensical), I thought the writers used it in the future-Picard scenes as an indicator of a made-up (by Q) future. Again, maybe overthinking it.
**** WordOfGod says that Warp 13 was used intentionally as a hint of new developments in warp technology in the alternate future.
* IfYouCanReadThis: Many examples; the set designers had a lot of fun adding in easter eggs. See the trope page for details.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: (''Datalore'')
* IndustrializedEvil: The Borg assimilation process.
* [[InAnotherMansShoes In Another Man's Shoes]] ''The Inner Light''
* InterspeciesAdoption: Not only was Worf himself raised with loving care by the Rozhenko family, but they also adopted and took care of Worf's son, Alexander, when he realized that raising a son on the Enterprise by himself would prove to be too difficult.
* [[ItsAWonderfulPlot It's A Wonderful Plot]]: ''Tapestry'' is a variation, in which Q shows Picard that without the recklessness of his youth and the mistakes he made, he would never have learned the balance of caution and courage he needed to become Captain and would be stuck in a dead-end job. This is still enough of an example for fans to nickname the episode "It's Picard's Wonderful Life".
** "Remember Me" is a subversion, in which Beverly finds people she knew vanishing, and [[RetGone no one remembering they ever existed]].
** The future timeline of "All Good Things..." has shades of this. [[spoiler:While Geordi and Data have fairly good lives overall, Picard is suffering a degenerative mental disease, he and Dr. Crusher are divorced, Troi is dead, and Riker and Worf had a bitter falling out. Most notably, the core characters have all drifted apart. (At the end of the episode, Picard has told them what he experienced specifically to prevent that.)]]
* InvisibleMainCharacter: "The Next Phase".
* JustAMachine: "Measure of a Man". Fortunately for Data, they decide that no, he's not.
** However, it should be noted that the the judge's ruling is extremely specific: [[spoiler:That Data is not ''the property of Starfleet''. The ruling actually avoids addressing his sentience, innate freewill and status as a life form.]] Data, both before and after the trial, viewed Soong-type androids as unique life forms, as does most of the crew.
** In the episode "The Quality of Life" the crew discovers that a repair robot might be sophisticated enough to be considered alive.
** "Emergence": The Enterprise computer begins using the ship's replicators and transporters to change its own circuitry around, culminating in the creation of some sort of offspring. Unfortunately, this premise mostly took place in a broken holodeck simulation.
* JustWokeUpThatWay: "Face of the Enemy"
* KangarooCourt: "The Drumhead"
** Also, Nora Satie from that episode is a KnightTemplar.
* KingInTheMountain
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: "Suspicions".
* LadyLand: "Angel One".
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: "Conundrum", "Clues".
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E2TheNakedNow The Naked Now]]".
* LowCultureHighTech: The Pakleds.
* LowerDeckEpisode: "Lower Decks".
* MadeOfEvil: "Skin of Evil".
** Also the EnemyWithout of an entire ''species'', and a [[ForTheEvulz largely motiveless]] CompleteMonster to boot.
* ManchurianAgent: "The Mind's Eye".
* MatryoshkaObject: In "The Chase", Picard's old archeology professor brings him a Kurlan naiskos as a gift. An ancient relic, the figure opens up to reveal several smaller versions of the figure inside.
* MindRape: "Violations".
* MoralMyopia: "Coming of Age" and "Chain of Command".
* MortalityEnsues: "Deja Q".
* MyGreatestFailure: Subverted in "Tapestry".
* NewMediaAreEvil: "The Game" doesn't even try to hide its contempt for videogames, which is ironic given how many videogames the NG crew helped with later on.
** It helps that as a rule, ''Star Trek'' games (especially ones that would involve the show staff) tend to be on the cerebral side as far as their plot and gameplay are concerned. "The Game" centers around a [[FarmVille mindless, addictive game that takes over people's lives]].
** SFDebris made a compelling argument that this wasn't the point of the episode, since Holodecks are the ultimate expression of gaming and no-one seems to care. It was just another stupid brainwashing device.
*** Also the episode where Barclay was discovered to have a holodeck addiction (having created an Eden for himself with a sexy Troi and a bumbling midget Riker) that begins to interfere with the performance of his basic duties. Troi herself explains that everybody enjoys the fantasy of the holodeck, but it's self destructive to rely on it to the [[WorldOfWarcraft exclusion of REAL experiences and friends]].
* NoPoverty: Or money, either. Replicators and antimatter generators with a new social philosophy did away with poverty.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Data repeatedly attempts to understand humor as part of his quest to become more human.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Q. If he finds you interesting....you, uh, know.
* NotHimself: Data in "Clues".
* NotMeThisTime: In the episode "Firstborn," Lursa and B'Etor of the House of Duras are suspected of an assassination attempt against Worf. It turns out [[spoiler:a future version of Alexander, Worf's son, had traveled back in time to stage this attempt so as to motivate the young Alexander to become a Klingon warrior.]]
** In the episode "True Q", [[spoiler:Q offers Amanda Rogers the choice to remain with humans if she can resist the temptation to use the powers of the Q. Amanda agrees, but almost the moment she and Picard leave the ready room, all hell breaks loose on the planet they're orbiting, endangering the lives of millions of people, as well as Riker and Geordi on the surface. Picard immediately suspects that Q had something to do with it, but he shrugs and says, "Not this time, Picard."]] Of course, Q's not only an inveterate liar, but he's also omnipotent. So even if he ''didn't'' have anything to do with it (which is dubious), he could easily have known that something was ''about'' to happen and waiting to offer the choice until that precise moment.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Isabella in "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Imaginary Friend]]".
* OnceASeason: The Q episodes and the {{Holodeck Malfunction}}s.
* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: "Darmok" ends up working this way in practice if not in theory.
* OrientExpress: In "Emergence", the train appears on the Enterprise's holodeck.
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Barclay's holographic duplicates of the main crew.
* PleaseIWillDoAnything: "Encounter at Farpoint".
* PortalDoor: "Contagion".
* PublicSecretMessage: The name of Data's creator ("Noonien Soongh") was Roddenberry's third (and last) RealLife attempt to attract the attention of his WorldWarII buddy, Kim Noonien Singh.
* PuppeteerParasite: "Conspiracy".
* TheRashomon: "A Matter of Perspective".
* RevivalLoophole: Used to save Tasha's opponent in "Code of Honor".
* RogueDrone: "I, Hugh".
* SecondComing: "Rightful Heir", with the return of Kahless through a clone.
* SenseLossSadness: "The Loss", where Counselor Troi loses her [[{{Telepathy}} empathy]].
* SinkingShipScenario: "Disaster".
* {{Snapback}}
* SpaceMines: In "Booby Trap" the Enterprise is trapped in an asteroid belt seeded with "acceton assimilators".
* StockholmSyndrome: Beverly shows signs of this towards Finn in "The High Ground". When Picard is captured by the separatists, he's quick to point this out to her.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Used in "Darmok", as the alien race's language is entirely based around metaphors.
* TakeAThirdOption: In "Samaritan Snare", the Pakleds capture Geordi and demand access to the ''Enterprise's'' computer. Their options, summarized by Data, are, "We can either respond to the Pakleds' demands, or not. We can either use force, or not." Riker ultimately comes up with a ruse, communicated to Geordi in code-- [[spoiler:Geordi would seemingly arm the slow-witted Pakleds with sophisticated weaponry, and when the ''Enterprise'' released harmless plasma through the Bussard collectors, he would disarm the Pakleds' weapons, claiming that the ''Enterprise's'' "crimson force field" had done it.]]
* TakeThat: "Relics" chimes in on the iconic "Kirk vs. Picard" argument (specifically, which is the better captain) that tends to plague the fandom by the simple expedient of having Montgomery Scott brought [[BackFromTheDead back from the transporter pattern buffer]] to comment on Kirk's more active, aggressive, and decisive command style versus Picard's more measured, careful style. The verdict: Both styles have their places - but look! Picard can do both!
* TalkingToHimself: Riker in "Second Chances". Any time Lwaxana Troi interacts with the computer.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Data and Worf
* TimeyWimeyBall: Sometimes it's best [[MST3KMantra not to think too hard about it]].
* TreacherousSpiritChase: "Interface", "Eye of the Beholder".
* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: "Chain of Command", with lights instead of fingers. (Done well enough that [[Memes/LiveActionTV memetic]] [[ThereAreFourLights quote]] of the episode has been made an honorary redirect to the trope.)
* TheVirus: "The Best of Both Worlds", "Identity Crisis".
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: "Measure of a Man".
* YouAreInCommandNow: "The Arsenal of Freedom", "Disaster", "Descent".
* YouWereTryingTooHard: "Booby Trap", "Hero Worship".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes A-G]]
* AbortedArc: The PuppeteerParasite aliens seen in "Contagion" (and foreshadowed in "Conspiracy"). They were intended to be harbingers of the Borg, who were originally supposed to be insectoid. In the end this idea was scrapped as the special effects were impossible and the parasites were never seen again, despite the obvious SequelHook of them sending off a transmission at the end of "Contagion". They may have inspired the similar Goa'uld from ''StargateSG1''.
* AbsenteeActor: Some episodes struggle to include all the actors, even with the MandatoryLine.
* AfterShow: One reason Paramount felt confident in the risk of pouring so much money into the first season episodes - they figured if the show bombed, they'd just add the 13 Next Gen episodes to TOS's syndication package of 79 episodes and make the money back that way.
* AlikeAndAntitheticalAdversaries: The Federation is a multi species organization, most of their enemies are [[PlanetOfHats at least a bit one dimensional]]. The Borg take the cake though, being a HiveMind that removes individuality.
* AlmightyJanitor: Boothby, grounds-keeper of Starfleet Academy and trusted mentor of almost every graduate of note.
* AlternateUniverse
* AlternativeNumberSystem: The [[MeaningfulName Binars]] use base 2.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Borg Collective. They try to assimilate the entire rest of the universe into their structured society or kill them in trying. [[CatchPhrase Resistance is futile]].
** And the Ferengi
* AnchoredShip: Picard and Crusher. [[spoiler:In the post-Nemesis [[StarTrekExpandedUniverse book series]], TheyDo.]]
* ApocalypticLog: The ''Enterprise'' has received a few of these, including a couple [[NegativeSpaceWedgie from themselves]].
* AppliedPhlebotinum: ''StarTrek'' runs on this and all the subset variants, justified with heavy heaps of TechnoBabble.
* AsceticAesthetic: The ''Enterprise''.
* AssInAmbassador: Lwaxana Troi.
* AuthorAvatar: Wesley for GeneRoddenberry
* BabyFactory: One episode ends with Doctor Pulaski telling two merged colonies they have to use this trope to insure "genetic diversity".
* BadassBoast: The Klingon ritual of roaring at the heavens is this [[DueToTheDead on behalf of one who died in battle]]... they are ''warning'' the afterlife that a ''warrior'' is coming.
* BaldOfAwesome: Picard.
* BedmateReveal: In "Tapestry", Picard (who's reliving his days as a fresh young ensign) has sex with his good female friend Marta Batanides. In the morning, a hand reaches up to stroke his ear, and Picard turns around, opens his eyes-- [[HoYay and it's Q.]]
--> '''Q:''' Morning, darling.
** In "Redemption II", after Worf is captured, B'Etor wakes him up with foreplay, and he briefly responds in kind-- and then wakes up, and immediately recoils.
* BerserkButton: In the premiere, it was established that Picard did not allow children on the bridge, and he ''screamed'' Wesley off the bridge. Wesley soon gained his acceptance, but Picard's BerserkButton was seen again in the second-season "Pen Pals", he was practically ''trembling'' with rage when Data brought Sarjenka onto the bridge. (Of course, Data ''had'' violated the Prime Directive by doing so).
** A later episode involved Picard getting stranded on the ship with a group of children and relating to them poorly. By the end of the episode, he had apparently gained some understanding and acceptance of children, as the kids give him a medal on the bridge at the end, and he seems genuinely embarrassed.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In "Where Silence Has Lease", Picard chooses to set the ''Enterprise'' to auto-destruct (thus killing the entire crew) rather than allow Nagilum to continue with his experiments, which would kill one-third to one-half of the crew.
* BilingualBonus: In "The Icarus Factor", the Japanese characters written on the side of the anbo-jyutsu ring are mostly martial-arts relevant elemental characters-- 火 (fire), 水 (water), etc. "ユリ" ("YURI") is a ShoutOut to ''DirtyPair''. There are a few of them scattered around the show. The top of the ring says 星 (star).
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Data, though his CharacterDevelopment starts to negate this towards the end.
* BrainCriticalMass: In the episode "The Nth Degree," Barclay's brain is taken over by an ancient race from the center of the galaxy, greatly increasing his intellect. Under their influence, Barclay seizes command of the Enterprise, controlling the ship with his mind. This has the small drawback that he can't be removed from the ship's systems without destroying said mind... but the aliens who started all of this fix that too, in the end.
* BrainwashResidue: After losing his superintelligence, Barclay seems to retain some chess-playing ability.
* TheBusCameBack: Tasha in "Yesterday's Enterprise" by way of an AlternateTimeline.
* CaptainMorganPose: A favourite pose for Riker.
** Because Jonathan Frakes is freaking huge, and if he didn't he wouldn't fit in the frame.
*** Some fans, in homage to the behind-the-scenes use of the term [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Picard_Maneuver Picard Maneuver]], call this the Riker Maneuver.
* TheCastShowoff: Many episodes feature Riker playing the trombone, because Jonathan Frakes really does play trombone. And the episode "Data's Day" features Dr. Crusher teaching Data how to dance, because Gates [=McFadden=] is an accomplished dancer and choreographer.
** Also, Patrick Stewart reciting Shakespeare. Well, they had to get it in there ''somehow''.
** ''Everyone'' in the cast sings, pretty well too. Brent Spiner cut an album of Jazz standards (and some new material) a few years back where his backup singers were Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, [=LeVar=] Burton and Jonathan Frakes, It was spectacular.
* CatchPhrase: Many, including:
--->'''Picard:''' Make it so.
--->'''Data:''' It is possible
--->'''Data (again):''' Intriguing...
--->'''Worf:''' I an Worf! Son of Mogh!
--->'''Troi:''' I sense that...
--->'''The Borg:''' Resistance is futile.
* CharacterDevelopment: Part of the reason the show came into its own was building up the origin stories and social habits of the crew, which served to make them more ''real''.
** Gene Roddenberry, it turns out, wasn't so fond of character development. Some writers left after season 1 due to this and other strange restrictions he had.
** To clarify, Roddenberry apparently felt that not only would the races and nations have made peace in the future, but individuals would have evolved beyond petty arguments and emotional disruptions. A big part of why so many early episodes revolve around technical puzzles, and why it helps to have a completely flat, stoic character (or super-sensey empath) in the cast for contrast against the "normal" people.
** Characters introduced later in the show's run, Lt. Barkley and Ensign Ro Laren are significantly more complex and, importantly, flawed.
* ChangedMyJumper: Any time the cast enters the holodeck in a period setting the artificial characters are the first to comment on their strange uniforms. In one of the few actual TimeTravel episodes Data received ''less'' comments on his Starfleet uniform than he would if he were in an artificial setting. It seems holodeck characters are just rude.
** To be fair, that time travel episode took place in [[CityOfWeirdos San Francisco]].
** This could also be a standard holodeck subroutine meant to remind participants that they haven't changed into costume yet. It's much more polite than an "access denied" message from the computer and it helps the users get into character.
* ChekhovsGun: In the episode "The Defector", one of the coded communications Picard receives is from a Klingon vessel. We don't see the communication and it seems to be a throwaway line in the middle of the episode. [[spoiler: Turns out, he was enlisting the assistance of the Klingons. Three of their vessels joined the ''Enterprise'' under cloak through the Neutral Zone and defended them against two Romulan warbirds who attempted to ambush them.]]
* ChivalrousPervert: Will Riker. (Apparently, this is his way of interpreting the OfficerAndAGentleman trope.)
* ClarkesThirdLaw
* CombatMedic: [[ActionMom Beverly Crusher]] is not only one of the best doctors in the Federation, she studies Klingon martial arts [[hottip:* :and can [[BadAss drop you on your ass]] so fast you won't remember the trip down]] and is fully capable of commanding a starship in combat. She also phasers a Starfleet Admiral in "Conspiracy".
* CommunicationsOfficer: This was the original duty for Worf, perhaps owing to his bicultural background.
* TheConfidant: Guinan and Counselor Troi.
* ContinuityNod: One of the most commendable aspects of the show. ''TNG'' is ''excellent'' at making references to previous events in a variety of contexts, including other ''Trek'' shows.
** There are several instances during the third season that allude to the fact that Dr. Crusher wasn't on the ''Enterprise'' during the previous season-- and not all of them were directly related to Wesley. For example, in "Who Watches the Watchers?", Picard asks Crusher if the Mintakan's memory can be erased, mentioning it's been done before. Crusher replies that she's familiar with Dr. Pulaski's research (as seen in "Pen Pals" with Sarjenka). Then in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I", when about to join the away team onto the Borg ship, she asks Data what kind of resistance they can expect. (The fact that she wasn't around for the first Borg encounter in "Q Who?" was even pointed out in the screenplay).
** Fan Favorite episode "Relics" was written by PromotedFanboy Ronald Moore and featured {{Continuity Nod}}s to TNG and TOS in nearly every scene, most especially the holodeck recreation of the original series bridge.
** One of the most interesting, yet little known ones is the opening [[CaptainsLog Captain's Log]] of episode 80 where Picard mentions the ship having recently left the same planet in which the last episode of [=ToS=] (Which officially was episode 79) happened on.
** One of the most unexpected nods is that Picard in an early Season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare" privately told Wesley Crusher that when he got stabbed in the heart by a Naussican, he inexplicably started laughing. Cut four years later to "Tapestry", when we find out ''why'' young Picard started laughing.
* ConvergingStreamWeapon: The Federation develops a 'collimator beam' made of dozens of small phaser banks spread along the rim of a ship; the energy can be seen flowing along the surface of the Enterprise until it meets at one point, and then fires off from the point on the phaser bank row closest to the target.
* CranialProcessingUnit: On at least one occasion, Data's "brain" is shown to be entirely in his head, including an instance of his head being removed and [[LosingYourHead still talking]].
* CulturedWarrior: Picard is usually the example, but TNG basically made ''everyone'' in Starfleet this. Though it also made Starfleet [[MildlyMilitary less militaristic...]]
* CreatingLifeIsAwesome: Data is an artificial person. He's a good guy, and his creator is presented as a benevolent father figure. However, he also created another android, and ''that'' failed experiment goes into CreatingLifeIsBad territory.
** Also, the sentient holograms in several series. Whether AIIsACrapshoot results or not varies.
* CyborgHelmsman: Geordi was the Helmsman in the first season.
* DanBrowned: In "I, Borg", Guinan and Picard are fencing. They are wearing epee costumes, using epee rules, however, the two are clearly using foils. Especially annoying because the writers [[ShownTheirWork did their research]] the last time Picard fenced in-show and had the correct weapons.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The episode "Conspiracy" was jarringly graphic.
* DashedPlotline: Picard's alternate life in "The Inner Light" is portrayed with many large time-skips.
* DeathRay: The Varon-T Disruptor, capable of painfully killing rather than [[DisintegratorRay just disintegrating]].
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Q
** Picard is one of these to some extent throughout the series, most notably in "The Survivors", after he beams Kevin and Rishaun Uxbridge to the bridge.
--->'''Jean-Luc Picard:''' My apologies if I interrupted a waltz.
* DemotedToExtra / SpotlightStealingSquad: The TNG movies focused so much on Picard and Data that they might as well have been credited as them "[[GilligansIsland and all the rest!]]".
* {{Deprogram}}ming
* DeusExMachina
* [[DidMomJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu Did Pulaski Just Have Tea With Moriarty?]]
* DiplomaticImpunity: In "Man of the People", Ambassador Alkar [[spoiler:has been using young women as receptacles to store his unwanted negative emotions, turning them malevolent and unnaturally aging them. After Troi dies, Picard tells him that he intends to see that Alkar pays for what he's done. Alkar replies that the Federation Council has guaranteed his safe passage back to his homeworld, and he expects Picard to follow those orders. His diplomatic immunity is [[LethalWeapon revoked]] when Troi is resuscitated while Alkar attempts to bond with someone else, and then they beam his intended victim out of his reach.]]
** The trope is played straight earlier in the episode when Alkar [[spoiler:refuses to return with Picard and Worf to the ''Enterprise'' and hides behind the security field put up by the parties he's negotiating a peace agreement for.]]
* DoubleDontKnow: "The Battle".
* TheDutifulSon: Robert Picard.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In full effect; most noticeable in Season 1.
* EightiesHair: Troi in the first season or so.
** The supporting cast of "Angel One". And ''Haven''.
* EnforcedMethodActing: The relationships between the characters mirrored the relationships between the actors. Knowing this may cast [[TheChessmaster Gene Roddenberry in a different light.]]
* TheEveryman: Reg Barclay. He's clearly not who you'd pick as the poster child for Starfleet, but in a crunch he's shows he's just as capable, if not more so, than the main characters. This is lampshaded by Picard;
--> '''Picard''': And yet he ''chose'' this way of life. He's made the ''same'' commitment to Starfleet we ''all'' have.
* EvilTwin: Lore, which usually gave Brent Spiner a chance to show off more of his range as an actor outside of the stoic Data character.
** Brent Spiner actually stated in an interview that he preferred playing Lore to playing Data. Why? Because "we have more in common."
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill
* {{Expositron 9000}}: The ship's computer.
* EyeLightsOut: The Soong androids.
* FaceFramedInShadow: For a surprise [[TheReveal revelation]] about long lost Tasha Yar's fate.
* {{Facepalm}}: The best known picture happens to feature Picard facepalming.
** The face palm is even an emote in StarTrekOnline.
* FalseInnocenceTrick: Captain Picard is the subject of an AlienAbduction along with several others, who conspire to escape. It turns out that one of them is really a member of the alien race which captured them all.
** In another episode Deanna, Warf, O'Brien and Data are mentally taken over by noncorporeal beings who claim to have crash landed on a world, but they're actually convicted prisoners.
* FauxActionGirl: Tasha Yar had a habit of switching from regular ActionGirl to FauxActionGirl almost on a whim. The first time she meets Q, she spends much of her time scowling and hitting people. The second time she meets Q, she spends much of her time crying and apologising to the Captain for it.
* FightingFromTheInside
* FishPeople: The Antedeans.
* FiveManBand: The original bridge crew consisted of [[TheHero Picard]], [[TheLancer Riker]], [[TheBigGuy Worf and Yar]], [[TheSmartGuy Data and Geordi]], and [[TheChick Troi]]. Also, [[TheMedic Dr. Crusher]] sometimes visited, and [[TheSixthRanger Wesley joined not long after]].
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture
* ForWantOfANail:
-->'''Picard:''' There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of... there were loose threads... untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads... it had unraveled the [[TitleDrop tapestry]] of my life.
* FromASingleCell
* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Inverted with Brent Spiner's Data, a completely emotionless character played by an utter goofball of an actor.
* TheFutureIsNoir: The first two seasons often had this; the ''Enterprise'' bridge was usually floodlit, but everywhere else tended to have very minimal lighting levels. Inverted starting with the third season, when the lighting became uniformly bright and vivid.
* FutureSpandex: Early-season uniforms; later seasons replaced them with something looser.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: There are a few instances of Picard using swear words in French that would never have been allowed on network TV if they were in English, most notably "merde" (French for 'shit').
* GirlOfTheWeek: This trope was in ''full force'' with Riker, especially in the first and second seasons. And then it got reversed, and Troi had a Guy Of The Week going on for several seasons.
* AGodAmI: Q plays with this in "Tapestry". Picard dies and enters the "afterlife", where he finds Q awaiting him, who informs him that he's dead and that Q himself is God. Picard rejects this, because he doesn't think that "the Universe is so badly designed". Q just snarks that Picard is lucky Q doesn't smite him for his blasphemy.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The EP-607 in "The Arsenal of Freedom".
* GoodGuyBar: Ten Forward.
* GoodIsNotNice: The Federation seem to take on this attitude after Wolf 359.
* {{Gorn}}: The death and destruction of [[spoiler: Cmdr. Dexter Remmick]] and [[spoiler: the mother parasite inside him]] in the first season episode "Conspiracy" caused much controversy when it first aired.
** The aftermath of Wolf 359. ''Star Trek Online'' reveals that 20 years on the entire system is ''still'' a starship graveyard, as the system is uninhabited so making it part of the memorial could be considered a fitting gesture.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: The former plague cure that became a narcotic in "Symbiosis" plus the 21st-century drug-addled supersoldier Q conjures up in "Encounter at Farpoint".
* GreatGazoo: Q.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes H-M]]
* HaveYouTriedRebooting: In the end, the simple solution to the Iconian computer virus threatening to destroy the ''Enterprise'' in "Contagion" was to shut down the computer and reimage the system from protected memory.
* HideYourGays: Yes ''StarTrek'' is about tolerance, but even at that time, homosexuality could only be portrayed through metaphor.
** Through no fault of the writers or actors, however; they tried several times, and WhoopiGoldberg even changed some of her dialog. When explaining the concept of love to Lal, which was initially written from a purely heterosexual viewpoint, she pointed out that homosexuality would not be stigmatized in the 24th century of StarTrek, and so the lines were changed to be more gender-neutral and inclusive. However, a plan to have a same-sex couple in the background in that scene was nixed by someone on the set calling out the producers in secret, who stood around to make sure that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar nothing slipped by.]] The issue would have to wait for DeepSpaceNine to get any real exposure at all.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:The kidnapping aliens in "Allegiance" are placed in a restraining field on the bridge to give them a taste of their own medicine.]] To put it mildly, they didn't like it; they were practically having a panic attack.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The Borg.
* HotMom: Beverly Crusher.
* HumanityEnsues: The Continuum once meted out this punishment to Q. By the end of the episode he was back to his all-powerful [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] self again.
* HumanityIsInfectious
* HumansAreUGLY GIANT BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER.
-->'''Picard:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne "Bags of mostly water?"]]
* HyperAwareness: Data, due to being an android would see more into events then was actually relevant.
* HyperspeedAmbush: The Picard Maneuver.
* HyperspeedEscape: Quite a few times, given the ubiquitousness of Warp Drive in this setting (as a general rule, if you don't have warp drive, nobody in Starfleet is terribly interested in dealing with you anyways). Occasionally {{subverted}}, either because the pursuing ship is faster, or because the heroes are trapped inside some sort of NegativeSpaceWedgie and literally have nowhere they can go.
* IAmXSonOfY: "I am Worf, Son of Mogh."
* ICommaNoun: The episode "I Borg", despite lacking the comma.
* IdenticalGrandson: Also overlaps with ''literal'' GenerationXerox as Data and Lore were designed to resemble their creator Dr. Noonien Soong. Its later revealed that ''he'' was also an IdenticalGrandson of Dr. Arik Soong from ''Enterprise''.
** Although given how Arik Soong was a brilliant ''geneticist'', its entirely plausible [[FridgeBrilliance the resemblance is the result of genetic manipulation or all-out cloning]].
** Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, played Worf's great grandfather in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
* [[ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou I Love You Because I Can't Control You]]
* IncessantMusicMadness: In "Q-Pid", Q turns the bridge crew into Robin Hood and his merry men. Geordi becomes the Alan a-Dale analog, and keep plucking annoyingly at a lute. Finally Worf has had enough, walks up, snatches the lute and smashes it against a tree
* InformedAbility: Pretty much everything about the "outrageous" Okona.
** For the tactical officer Worf seemed to be a terrible shot both with the ship's weapons and his own phaser. Not all of this can be attributed to TheWorfEffect or the necessity of the script - in one episode he's practicing on the phaser range and gets easily beaten by ''Guinan'' (although she's had a lot more years to practice, and explicitly tells him she's been doing this since before he was born).
*** Worf does, however, generally succeed more often than he fails when it comes to weapons fire, especially in episodes with the Borg (though everyone became a crack shot in those) and the movies. And when he's asked to target specific parts of ships, he delivers nine times out of ten.
* InstantSeduction: Okona again.
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: In a meta example, Patrick Stewart was so certain this series would fail that for the first six weeks of shooting he refused to unpack his suitcases.
* JerkAss: Q and most of the Cardassians that show up.
* JokerJury: The onlookers in Q's 'courtroom.'
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: A lot of enemy plots are foiled when their plans are revealed, only to have the crew member in question escape and foil the whole thing.
* JustIgnoreIt: The Stone of Gol: a device that can kill anyone with a single thought. However, being a Vulcan invention, it only works on the aggressive.
** In more detail, it's a Vulcan superweapon from before they embraced logic and the planet was ruled by psionic warlords. Part of the success of Surak's movement for pure logic was that his followers were immune to such weapons.
* KarmaHoudini: The solanogen-based lifeforms in "Schisms", who experimented on several crewmembers and caused the death of one of them, weren't ''really'' retaliated against. The crew simply sealed the rift into their universe. The writers decided they looked too non-threatening to ever be brought back, too.
** Armus, who killed Tasha Yar, was immune from any attempts at physical retaliation. Ultimately, the worst thing they could do to him was to leave him alone. (YourMileageMayVary on whether this is AFateWorseThanDeath).
** Vulcan Ambassador T'Pel [[spoiler: who is really a Romulan spy called Sub-Commander Selok]] in "Data's Day".
* KilledOffForReal: Aside from Tasha Yar, Spock's father Sarek, who'd first appeared in the original series nearly 25 years earlier, died in "Unification I".
* LampshadeHanging: In "Ensigns of Command", while getting more and more frustrated in attempting to deal with the Sheliak-- or even communicate effectively with them at all-- Picard exclaims, "Ludicrous!" Troi calmly replies, "No, sir, the fact that any alien race communicates with another is quite remarkable."
* LifeImitatesArt: The Tricorders and to a lesser extent the computer [=PADDs=] seen in this version of Trek inspired all kinds of similarly-sized, touchscreen-powered devices, such as tablet [=PCs=], Palm Pilots and the [=iPhone=].
** THE IPAD IS FROM THE FUTURE!
* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: The reason why any promotions were token, or short-lived, or part of.
** Riker has been up for promotion around seven times, He personally refuses because he feels it is more prestigious to be First Officer aboard the Enterprise than Captain of any other ship.
** Picard is ''overly'' qualified for Admiral rank, and has been pushed there many times. He refuses because he joined Starfleet to ''explore'', not to sit behind a desk on Earth or a starbase somewhere. This creates the odd situation of ''Admiral Janeway'' giving him orders in ''Nemesis'', despite the fact he is substantially more qualified and experienced. [[StarTrekVoyager Meanwhile, the aforementioned admiral has plenty of reason to prefer a nice quiet desk job.]]
*** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], however, as captain Picard have had more of a daily, repetive routine. Janeway, on the other hand, was stranded on the other side of the galaxy and had to find a way home while [[AccidentalPun exploring seemingly stranger new worlds and new civilizations]] to make [[first contact]] with hundreds of species and finding neccessary-to-survive-equipment that could be found at your local [[SpaceStation Starbase]] in the Alpha Quadrant.
* LiteralChangeOfHeart: Picard has an artificial heart as a result of a fight in which he was stabbed in the chest. During a near-death experience in a later episode, he was asked by Q if he would like to change that part of his past that lead to that; however, by doing so, he wound up becoming a person who never developed any guts or took any risks.
* LivingMemory
* MatronChaperone: In "The Dauphin", Salia, the future queen of Daled IV, is accompanied by her governess Anya, who is very protective of her. When Wesley is attracted to Salia and they get together, Anya turns into a giant monster and breaks into Wesley's cabin to stop them.
* MeaningfulName: "Data" is named for a word that means "facts and statistics". His {{evil twin}} is named "Lore", which means "superstition and legend", thus marking him as Data's symbolic opposite.
* MegaManning: The Borg have the ability to assimilate technology and knowledge from other species. It is at the very core of their philosophy. As a result most newly designed weapons or tactics will only be effective for a short period of time.
* MexicanStandoff: A staple of later seasons. There is plenty of exposition at gun/disruptor/phaser-point.
* MilkyWhiteEyes: Geordi's blindness, later dropped in ''StarTrekFirstContact'', where he gets cybernetic eye implants that instead gives his eyes a silverish color.
* MindScrew: Several episodes, with "Frame of Mind" being an outstanding example with a standout performance from Jonathan Frakes as Riker. Not so much a case of BreakingTheFourthWall as breaking the fifth, sixth and seventh walls. Into little pieces.
** Also occurs with the back-and-forth dialogue between Gul Madred and Picard in "Chain of Command (Part II)" too, along with some MindGameShip.
** A probably-unintentional example: In "Datalore", they make a big deal out of the fact that Data can't use contractions and Lore can. Lore renders Data unconscious, switches clothing with him and has everyone (aside from Wesley) believing that he's Data. At the conclusion of the episode, Lore (still wearing Data's uniform) is beamed into space, and a moment later the cavalry arrives. Picard asks Data if he's all right, and Data says, ''"I'm'' fine."
** "Ship in a Bottle" has crew defeat Moriarty, whose return threatens the Enterprise ''again'', by creating a holodeck within a holodeck, then beaming him into an active memory core that will continue to run the program he's created with him unaware that the world he's in is not the real one. Picard later muses that Moriarty's new reality may be equally valid to there own and whether their reality is not just a story playing out in a box on someone's table. Barclay, once alone, pauses for a moment to actually ''check'' and laughs at himself when nothing happens.
*** "Computer, end program." And that's when the episode ends. Roll credits.
**** As an aside point, when he says "Computer, end program", the computer apparently does not see fit to respond. It evidently realize that Barclay is just being a nervous yutz again and chooses to ignore him.
* {{Misblamed}}: The racist undertones of "Code of Honor" have been pinned on near everyone on the production staff, but it has been shown that the script only called for a few token ScaryBlackMan bodyguards. The director of the episode (who was fired mid-way) decided to cast every guest star as black and make the alien race an African Tribe InSpace. WilWheaton mentioned in his blog that if it wasn't for that, the stereotypical accents and their [[HumanAliens human appearance]] it might have been a rather good, if derivative, episode.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Subverted in the episode "New Ground," when Worf tells his son Alexander that the rigors of Klingon schools are meant to build character -- but that their staying together will be an even greater challenge.
* MotivationalKiss: In one away mission, Data gets such a kiss from a local girl. He is perplexed.
* MrExposition
* MsFanservice: Troi. Marina Sirtis said that she was thrilled with the role because "There's a little ugly girl inside of me going 'Yay! I'm a sex symbol!'"
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "The Survivors", [[spoiler:Kevin Uxbridge, an immortal being with incredible powers and a lifelong pacifist, admits that when he saw his wife Rishaun murdered by the Husnock, in a fit of blind rage he wiped out ''every'' Husnock, ''everywhere''. And as heartbroken as he is about Rishaun's death, he's even ''more'' devastated by his retribution.]]
** The terraformers in "Home Soil" are devastated to find out that there ''were'' lifeforms on Valera III after all.
* MysteriousPast
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes N-S]]
* NearDeathExperience
* NegativeSpaceWedgie
* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer. In one episode Captain Picard calls up Riker and asks what's going on and all Riker can say is "Trouble."
* NobodyEverComplainedBefore: In "Half a Life", the entire species of people who ritualistically kill themselves on their 60th birthdays seems shocked and baffled when one of their own refuses to do so so (because he needs more time in order save the whole planet - also, he'd fallen in love with Lwaxana). Apparently none of their 60-year-olds had ever had any qualms about dying before.
* NoodleIncident: Despite her showing up a lot throughout the series, we never ''do'' find out just what it is that Picard did to so completely earn Guinan's trust and vice versa.
** The ExpandedUniverse novel ''[[StarTrekStargazer Stargazer: Oblivion]]'' explains that Picard helped her overcome her "serious trouble" (and she means "serious") from leaving [[StarTrekGenerations the Nexus]] in his ''Stargazer'' days.
** However, the reason why Q is so wary of Guinan is never explained.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Jean-Luc Picard, a Frenchman played by an obviously English actor '''using Yorkshire idioms''' - ''Grand.''
** Somewhat TruthInTelevision as many native speakers of other European languages speak English with a British accent.
** Patrick Stewart had tried speaking in a French accent but sounded so ridiculous that he gave up.
** When Picard visits his home village in France his entire family affects the same accent, which suggests that his family and perhaps the whole village or region consists of British transplants. If a sizable group fled Britain for some reason before the 24th century, they could have been established long enough for their accent to become a localized French dialect.
** This actually ''happened'' in reality. Due to the Norman Conquest, during the 13th to 14th Century the English had inherited so much land in France that they owned more of the country than the French did.
* NotNamedInOpeningCredits: [[FakeGuestStar Dr. Pulaski]].
* NotSoDifferent: The Romulans and the Klingons. Despite their intense loathing, the two races actually have ''a lot'' of cultural similarities, both run [[TheEmpire authoritarian Empires]], frequently under military coups, and are the main two powers in the Alpha Quadrant to equip their vessels with cloaking devices (which is implied in some non-canon sources that their initial development was due to a previous technology-sharing agreement, also stated as the reason for Romulans having occasionally been seen in the 23rd century with ship designs resembling Klingon D7s).
* NotSoHarmless: Q in some instances, but especially after the Enterprise's first encounter with the Borg (which he engineered).
* NoAntagonist: After the first few seasons, most episodes were like this.
* TheNudifier: One Ferengi transporter does this when transporting women.
* OneSceneWonder: Sarek in "Unification I".
* OneSidedArmWrestling: Data vs a Klingon
* OneWayVisor: Geordi's a Subversion, rather than leaving us wondering if he can see through it, it's what allows him to see.
* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: Tasha Yar was originally from the [[RecycledInSpace planetary equivalent]] of Bosnia, but managed to get a job with Starfleet.
* OntologicalMystery
* OrphanedPunchline: The Bolian barber, Mr. Mot, has one of these in "Schisms".
--> '''Mr. Mot:''' ...and she said, "If they're not squirming, I won't eat 'em!"
** Sounds like ''gagh''.
* OutOfCharacterMoment
* PalsWithJesus: Q, to Picard's chagrin.
** He even helped God with making life on Earth, Q's contribution? The [[EverythingsBetterWithPlatypi platypus]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Of the nine series regulars who had their names in the opening credits for all or part of the show's run, only Geordi had two parents as of the series's opening (and his mother died in the middle seasons). Worf, Beverly, and Tasha were all orphaned as children (though Worf wound up with a great set of adoptive parents). Riker, Troi, and Wesley each lost one parent when they were children (Riker's mother, Troi's father, Wesley's father). Picard's parents were both dead long before he became captain, though they probably died when he was an adult. The inventor who built Data disappeared when his home planet was attacked and was [[DisneyDeath presumed dead]] until the middle of the episode "Brothers," then [[KilledOffForReal really died]] just a handful of scenes later.
** Also,Guinan's family either died or were assimilated when the Borg all but destroyed the El-Aurians. Alexander, the only semi-regular child other than Wesley, lost his mother as a toddler (and was raised by her alone up to that point). And whenever we had a one-off guest star whose parentage was some sort of plot point, be it a child (Jeremy Aster, Salia) or an adult (Amanda Rogers, Jason Vigo), they had an excellent chance of being ConvenientlyAnOrphan.
* {{Phlegmings}}: Fek'lhr, the guardian of the Klingon hell, as seen in the episode ''Devil's Due''.
* PrinciplesZealot: Captain Picard (and thus his crew) in "Homeward" where he chose to let an entire civilization die, one that they could easily have saved. They commit this genocide-through-inaction for the simple reason that [[{{Alien Non-Interference Clause}} the rules say so]]. Of course, it doesn't take long before a sympathetic civilian TheProfessor character goes all WhatTheHellHero on them.
* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Whoopi Goldberg, who was a big fan of the original series
--> Whoopi (To Gene): I am a Star Trek fan, I was a Star Trek fan long before I was ever Whoopi Goldberg and I'm wondering if there's some part I can play in your show?
* PsychoPrototype: Lore.
* RacialRemnant: The early episode "Haven" has a shipful of Tarellians, the last survivors of a deadly plague.
* RandomPasserbyAdvice:
** After Lt. Barclay gained (and later lost) huge amounts of knowledge, as he's talking with Counselor Troi they pass by a chess game. He moves one piece and says "checkmate in nine moves."
--->Troi: I didn't know you play chess.
--->Barclay: I don't!
** In the GrandFinale, Picard is in the past, on the first voyage of the ''Enterprise-D''. He demands something of the engineering crew, and O'Brien says that they'll have to "burn the midnight oil." [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIlJaSDPaA Data happens to be passing by and mentions that it would not be advisable to do so.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: At the end of "Ethics", Beverly has a beautifully scathing one for Dr. Russell, and does it without even raising her voice:
--> '''Dr. Crusher:''' I am ''delighted'' that Worf is going to recover. You gambled. He won. Most of your patients aren't so lucky. You scare me, Doctor. You risk peoples' lives and justify it in the name of research. But ''genuine'' research takes time... sometimes a lifetime of painstaking, detailed work to get results. Not you-- you take shortcuts... right through living tissue. You put your research ahead of your patients, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a violation of our most sacred trust. I'm sure the work you've done here will be hailed as a stunning breakthrough. Enjoy your laurels, Doctor. I'm not sure I could.
* [[RememberTheNewGuy Remember The New Species]]: The Cardassians are introduced in the season four episode "The Wounded," where it is explained that it has been only a year since the end of the long, costly war between the Federation and the Cardassian Union. However, this information means that the first two years of the show occurred during a war that was never seen, heard or experienced. Just where, exactly, was the flagship of Starfleet while the rest of the fleet was engaged in active operations?
** It makes sense that the Federation's flagship would be one of exploration as opposed to one of war. At many points throughout TNG it's been made clear that the ''Enterprise'''s mission is one of peace. Keeping it on this mission in a time of conflict may be Starfleet's way of demonstrating their commitment to diplomacy. Moreover, the Cardassians aren't exactly the Borg.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Guinan. In "Time's Arrow" Data notes that he knew that Guinan's species was long-lived, but he had no idea that she was actually on ''Earth'' during the 19th Century.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Lwaxana Troi brags she's "Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed", among other boasting of her position (which likely means she's high nobility at the very least.)
** Another of her boasts is "Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix", which her daughter quite bluntly points out is nothing more than:
--->"An old clay pot with mold growing inside of it."
* [[RemovingTheEarpiece Removing The Combadge]]
* RoboFamily: Data has a 'brother', Lore, and even creates his own android 'daughter' Lal.
** Also, [[spoiler: there's an android copy of his "mother" out there as well, who believes she is the REAL woman and is designed to age and eventually die like a human being]]
** And don't forget his 'father', who said he never liked living anywhere without an escape route, and was last seen, apparently mortally wounded, in his fully equipped lab [[spoiler: and he already knows he can transfer a mind from an organic body to an android, having done it with the 'mother' above]].
* {{Robosexual}}: Data and Yar.
* RubberForeheadAliens: So much so that it is often difficult to tell alien species apart.
* SapientCetaceans: A frequent theme in the series.
** The DianeDuane ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' novel ''Dark Mirror'' involves an alien race that's essentially dolphins [-IN SPACE!-] (They're not related to the whales [-IN SPACE-] from ''Star Trek IV''.)
** The ''Star Trek The Next Generation: Technical Manual'' notes that the Cetacean tanks on board contain the dolphin and whale navigational specialists. This is pretty much shout out to ''Gunbuster'', where cybernetically enhanced dolphins form the main navigational computer of the Eltreum.
** One ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' novel had a dolphin as a supporting character, which held the rank of commander in Starfleet. At one point, Riker whistles a specific sequence of notes to get its attention, implying he can speak (or at least swear) in Dolphin.
* ScreamingBirth: If your midwife was a Klingon, you'd be screaming too.
-->'''Worf:''' [consults tricorder] Congratulations. You are fully dilated to ten centimeters. You may now give birth.
-->'''Keiko''': THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING!
-->'''Worf:''' [{{beat}}] Why has it not begun?
-->'''Keiko:''' I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T THINK IT'S UP TO ME! IT HAPPENS WHEN IT HAPPENS!
-->'''Worf:''' The computer simulation was not like this. The delivery was very orderly.
* SecretTest: When Wesley is taking the Starfleet entrance exam his final test is "facing his biggest fear." While he's waiting for the test to start, a fire breaks out in a nearby lab and he can only save one of the techs working there. It turns out that that was the test, his fear was having to make a decision like that, since his own father died in a similar situation when Picard chose the other guy.
* SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes: This trope is most prominent with this show as most ship-to-ship conflicts were tense stand-offs rather than the more action oriented battles of later series.
* ShoutOut: Due in large part to Rick Steinbach being a ''huge'' otaku, there are tons and tons of shoutouts to 80s anime, in particular DirtyPair and {{Gunbuster}}, some blatant, some very very subtle.
** Noonien Soong, the scientist who created Data and Lore, is named after Khan Noonien Singh, the prominent villain from the original series.
** Episode 80 of Next Gen begins with Picard reporting in his log that they just left the same planet that TOS visited in their 79th and last episode.
** "The Mind's Eye" borrows heavily from ''TheManchurianCandidate'', most notably with a scene where Geordi is instructed to kill a holographic version of Chief O'Brien.
** In "[=QPid=]", Q transforms the crew into characters from the RobinHood stories. Geordi is Alan A'Dale, and as a result gets a lute to play with. After a few minutes of tuneless strumming, Worf can't take it anymore, and gets up and smashes the instrument, then hands it back to Geordi, muttering, "Sorry." Much like [[JohnBelushi a certain]] [[AnimalHouse seven-year pre-med student]] did once.
** In "Arsenal of Freedom", when asked by a computer-generated image of Captain Rice what ship he's come from, Riker responds that he's serving aboard the ''Lollipop.'' "It's just been commissioned; it's a [[ShirleyTemple good ship."]]
** The [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nebula_class Nebula-class starship]] was the first new design of Federation ship seen in the series (besides the ''Galaxy''-class ''Enterprise''), and is similar in configuration to the [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miranda_class Miranda-class starship]] (the class that the [[TheWrathOfKhan U.S.S. Reliant]] is), which was the first new design of Federation ship seen in [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the first series]] and the first new Federation design of the franchise.
** In "The First Duty", the motto of Starfleet Academy is "Ex Astris Scientia" ("From the stars, knowledge"), which was derived from {{Apollo 13}}'s mission motto "Ex Luna Scientia" ("From the moon, knowledge"), which, in turn, was derived from the United States Naval Academy's motto "Ex Scientia Tridens" ("From knowledge, sea power").
** In "Phantasms", Data has a nightmare where Counselor Troi is a cake being eaten, which is an awful lot like the music video for TomPetty's "Don't Come Around Here No More".
* SolarCPR: "Half Life".
* SpaceClothes: The uniforms worn by the engineering staff (a tunic-miniskirt one-piece and knee-high boots, to be specific - and yes, men and women wear the same uniform) and several other crew members during the first season are truly astonishing. And the [[FetishFuel clothes worn]] [[BrainBleach by the denizens]] [[YourMileageMayVary of the utopian paradise]] in "Justice" make them look sensible.
* SpaceFriction
* SpaceIsCold
* SpaceIsNoisy
* SpaceJews: In the second-season episode "Up the Long Ladder", the Enterprise is transporting an entire Irish village, complete with accents, apparel, drinking problems, and chickens.
** The Ferengi, oh so much. The Space Africans of "Code of Honor" are even worse, portrayed as barbaric, patriarchal, er... matriarchal, er... some kind of savages with complex but still demeaning gender roles.
* SpaceMines: Appear in "Chain of Command Part II".
* SpinoffSendoff: "Encounter at Farpoint", with a visit from [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series']] Dr. Admiral [=McCoy=], who inspects the Enterprise-D and gives it his blessing.
-->'''Dr [=McCoy=]:''' Now she's a new ship, but she's got the right name, y'hear? Treat her like a lady, and she'll always bring you home.
* StartXToStopX: In one episode, a scientist intentionally causes a tear in space with a self-destructed warp drive, just to convince the Federation to stop using warp travel so she can prevent that very type of tear from occurring elsewhere.
* StockSubtitle: This was the TropeMaker for the subtitle "The Next Generation".
* [[MeanCharacterNiceActor Stoic Character Cheerful Actor]]: Brent Spiner, who plays the emotionless android Data, has a reputation as something of a cheerful, enthusiastic goofball off the set.
** Likewise Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, is known for being rather gregarious and a bit geeky once he break character.
* StealthPun: * In yet another ''StarTrek'' film, the commanders of a Klingon vessel give the order of "Fire at will." There is an immediate cut to the bridge of their target, the ''Enterprise'', currently commanded by Commander Riker. Will Riker.
** Picard did the same thing in the series during a training exercise.
** And in a StarTrekNewFrontier novel, we get "[[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat I've been wanting to say this for ages]]...Fire at Will."
** That joke was done in ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' too, but the order was followed by a volley of gunfire and the line, [[DontExplainTheJoke "Do not fire at Will, he is my second mate. Fire at the Sea Duck!"]]
* StopWorshippingMe: Plot of the episode ''"Who Watches the Watchers"''.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: The Tamarians, who speak mostly in metaphor. The universal translator can easily deliver the literal meanings, but without knowledge of the myths upon which the sayings are based, it's still near-impossible to understand. [[hottip:*: Tamar, when speaking of the lost and remembered. [[HarryPotter Harry]], with speech beyond the Alley. Picard, his brow furrowed, his mind clouded.]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: K'Ehleyr. Worf avenges her almost immediately afterwards.
* StyrofoamRocks: In "Ethics", Worf's spine is broken when a cargo container falls on him. The way it falls and bounces indicates that it's so light it wouldn't even hurt a human, let alone a big sturdy Klingon.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The entire race of Q, and the mysterious creature in "The Survivors".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes T-Z]]
* TaintedVeins: Borg infection.
* TantrumThrowing: According to Worf, this is a stock feature of Klingon courtship.
* {{Technobabble}}: Teraquads of it.
* TeleporterAccident
* TeleportersAndTransporters
* TeleportInterdiction:
** In the episode "Attached", the Enterprise's transporters are redirected by an alien force, so Picard and Crusher end up on a strange planet instead of where they intended.
** In another episode, the Enterprise is in a confrontation with a Romulan warbird. There is a severely injured Romulan on board the Enterprise who can't be beamed to the Romulan ship unless the ship not doing the beaming lowers its shields.
* TerminallyDependentSociety
* ThatCloudLooksLike
* ThemeTuneExtended, since the theme music is taken from StarTrekTheMotionPicture, which has a longer theme.
* ThisIsMyChair: Picard to Wesley in the Pilot. "Get out of my chair!"
** Played with the time Worf was temporarily put in command of the Enterprise to deal with recently thawed [[HumanPopsicle Klingon Popsicles]] who were unaware that the war between the Empire and The Federation was over.
--->'''Riker:''' How did you like your first command?
--->'''Worf:''' ...Comfortable chair.
** TruthInTelevision to a degree. It was an accepted custom during the series run that none of the actors except Patrick Stewart himself sit in the captain's chair unless it was as part of a scripted scene.
*** They let StephenHawking sit in it when he came to film his cameo.
* ThisIsSparta: Picard's "THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!!" from part 2 of "Chain of Command".
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The Duras Sisters.
* * ThrowAwayGuns: While this happens with about as much frequency as any other TV show, one particuliarly notable case occurs in "Time's Arrow," where the crew is shown [[ChekhovsGun a revolver from the late 19th century]] at a site on Earth with evidence of AncientAstronauts. After the crew winds up in [[TheGayNineties the 1890s]], it is revealed that [[spoiler:MarkTwain, suspicious of the time travelers' motives, threatened them with it and left it behind]].
* ThrowItIn: ''Skin of Evil'' was Denise Crosby's last aired episode, with her character being killed off. In the previous episode, ''Symbiosis'' (which was actually filmed later), she's in the background at the end, as Picard and Crusher enter the turbolift. Just as the doors close she waves goodbye to the camera.
* TimeIsDangerous: In "Timescape", Picard is injured when he sticks his hand across the edge of a "time bubble", which causes his fingernails to age faster than his arm. Later, he experiences symptoms of "temporal narcosis" due to a malfunction of the equipment protecting him from being frozen in time.
* TinMan
* TinmanTypist
* TouchedByVorlons
* TricksterMentor: Q... usually. Sometimes he's just screwing with them.
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Lwaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed.
* TuringTest: Data, as a very sophisticated AI, often demonstrates he passes this test.
** Data tests this out on [[spoiler: Julianna Tanner]] when he realises that [[spoiler: Doctor Soong recreated his wife, and Data's mother]] as an Android.
* TwoKeyedLock: Used for the auto-destruct.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Riker/Troi and Picard/Crusher run through the whole series. [[spoiler:Riker and Troi are married in ''StarTrekNemesis''. Picard/Crusher is never fully resolved, although a DeletedScene from the end of ''Nemesis'' hints that they might have HookedUpAfterwards.]]
** Data and Tasha Yar gave hints of this after they hooked up in "The Naked Now", but this was curtailed by his being an Android unable to express emotion, and her eventual death.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The solution Worf comes up with against the formerly-frozen Klingons in "The Emissary" is an example of this.
* UnwantedFalseFaith: In the episode "Who Watches the Watchers" Picard inadvertently becomes a deity to a group of vaguely-ancient/medieval-tech-using Vulcanoids.
* VoiceChangeling: Data has shown this ability a few times.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Borg.
* VolcanicVeins: The aliens in "Identity Crisis".
* WarriorPoet
* WaterSourceTampering: In one episode, Data -- who has amnesia and doesn't know about his own history or Starfleet -- is accused of poisoning a well in the village he's living in, but he's really trying to cure them of radiation poisoning by putting the cure in the drinking water.
* WeDidntStartTheBillyJoelParodies: The mid-90s ad "[[http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=UumYV2jAAAw We Didn't Start the Series]]".
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Tasha Yar, actress Denise Crosby felt she wasn't useful and asked to be let go. Her death was so sudden that it took a while before you realized she wasn't coming back. A TimeTravel episode briefly brought her back and the subsequent timeline screw-ups resulted in a recurring enemy that [[IdenticalGrandson looked exactly like her.]]
** Leading to an amusing fourth-wall break: Her parts in the episode where she died, ''Skin of Evil'', were shot ''before'' those shot in the episode that aired just before it. If you watch closely, during the prior episode, ''Symbiosis'', you can see her ''waving goodbye''--that was the ''last'' scene that they shot with her.
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: The Federation thought they were prepared for anything. Then Q introduces them to the Borg.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out the final fate of Geordi's mother, who's vessel completely vanishes without a trace, in "Interface".
* WhatMeasureIsANonUnique: Many unique and rare lifeforms, Data included.
** Reg Barclay, who repeatedly demonstrates a firm belief that holograms are real living ''people'', worthy of recieving the same respect given to any organic.
* WhatTheHellHero: Riker and Pulaski in "Up the Long Ladder" get mugged for DNA by a race that propagates by clones. Sure, that's bad, but their response is to ''massacre the clones!'' [[StarTrekDS9 Odo]] will have a point later: "Killing your clone is still murder." The Prime Minister is highly upset with them. With so many undisputible counts against them, Riker and Pulaski would be in the slammer for, like, ''ever''. The only way of salvaging the situation would be if the clones weren't fully developed yet and they technically committed abortion (which is possible given the abortion-heavy subtext that was going on).
** Picard's refusal to commit genocide on the Borg gets him chewed out by his superiors. YMMV on who was right.
* WhenItAllBegan: Khitomer's effect.
* WhiteSheep: Worf.
* WillNotTellALie: Betazoids.
* WorkingWithTheEx: Will Riker & Deanna Troi are ex-lovers.
* WroteTheBook: In "The Best of Both Worlds part 2", Guinan and Riker have an extended discussion of their strategy centering around this metaphor.
* {{Yandere}}: A piece of {{Phlebotinum}} turns Troi into one in "Man Of The People".
* YearInsideHourOutside: "The Inner Light" has a variation that happens in a MentalWorld.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: The flagrant misuse of "sentient".
-->'''Data''': "And though you are not ''sentient'', Spot, and cannot comprehend..."--''Ode To Spot''
** For a species so obsessed with "honour", many Klingons depicted in the series seem to be perfectly comfortable with stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. Subverted with Worf, who gives several epic [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal putdowns]] on just why this sort of behaviour is hypocritical and just what having true honour actually ''means''.
* YouLookFamiliar: Suzie Plakson as Selar, K'ehlyr, and the female Q on ''Voyager'' to name one.
** Look out for the future Tuvok (Tim Russ) playing a human terrorist in "Starship Mine". (And, ironically, ''being the recipient of a Vulcan nerve pinch.'')
*** He also plays an unnamed human bridge crew member in the 23rd century in ''Generations''.
** Marc Alaimo who would become, in ''Deep Space Nine'', Gul Dukat, played 4 different characters in TNG, including the first Romulan seen in TNG in "The Neutral Zone". Most notably he played the first ever Cardassian seen in ''Star Trek'' (Gul Macet in "The Wounded").
** Robert Duncan [=McNeill=], ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'''s Tom Paris, as Nicholas Locarno in "The First Duty." (The character of Locarno was the inspiration for Paris. The ''Voyager'' creators say they didn't plan to hire the same actor; once they realized they had, they considered making [=McNeill=] Locarno on ''Voyager'', but reformulated him into Paris, feeling that Locarno "couldn't be redeemed enough" (read: they didn't want to pay royalties) for what they planned with Paris.
** Ethan Phillips, ''Voyager'''s Neelix, as Dr. Farek in "Ménage à Troi."
*** He also plays the holographic maître d' in ''First Contact''.
** Most jarring of all is James Cromwell as the leader of a potential new Federation alliance world in "The Hunted", when he later played Cochrane in ''StarTrekFirstContact''.
** David Tristan Birke, who played Rene, Picard's nephew in "Family", later played the young Picard himself in "Rascals".
** Max Grodenchik as the very typical conniving, treacherous Ferengi Sovak in "Captain's Holiday"; better known for his later role as the very ''a''typical (and somewhat dim) Rom from ''DeepSpaceNine''.
** Armin Shimerman played both Letek, one of the first Ferengi ever shown onscreen in "The Last Outpost", and the better known Quark -- also from ''DeepSpaceNine.''
** Majel Barrett (who played [[HospitalHottie Nurse Chapel]] in ''StarTrekTOS'', as well as NumberTwo in the original pilot) as Lwaxana Troi, and also the voice of the ship's computer in both series.
** Diana Muldaur, who played Dr. Pulaski in season 2, had two previous spots on the original series (as different characters, no less.)
** Christopher Collins, AKA [[TheStarscream Chris Latta]] played a Klingon Captain in ''A Matter of Honor'' and later plays a Pakled in ''The Samaritan Snare''. Might be more of a case of You ''Sound'' Familiar.
* YourHeadAsplode: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REoN1sEYVZo Not for the faint of heart]]
* YourMom: Riker invokes this when speaking to a holographic representation of Captain Rice in "Arsenal of Freedom", which is trying to get as much tactical information about the ''Enterprise'' and its mission as possible. When the ''faux'' Drake asks who sent them there, Riker says, "Your mother. She was worried about you."
* YouNeedToGetLaid: This is the real reason why Riker asked Picard to buy him a Horg'ahn on Risa in "Captain's Holiday."
* YourNormalIsOurTaboo: Riker falls in love with an alien woman who gets really hated by her own people for their love. Not because he's a human, but because he's a man. Her culture require her and her partner to both be intergender. Essentially, it's inverted homophobia and inverted heterophobia, a fear of having a gender at all. Which is also a cisphobia, an inverted transphobia.
* YouSeeImDying: EvilTwin android Lore is about to walk out on his creator Dr. Soong when the latter reveals that he is dying — as Lore, for all his faults, does have emotions, this makes him stop.
* {{Zeerust}}: So far the show's managed to avoid falling into this trap ''quite'' as hard and as quickly as TOS did... but the biggest exception is noticeable for the kind of computer nerds who love ''Trek.'' In the late 80s and early 90s, the LCARS computer interface looked incredibly slick and high-tech (''touchscreen controls?!'')... but as of 2010, many people would wonder why there doesn't seem to be tabbed displaying, the apparent inability to have multiple applications running at once, and the laughably slow speed at which text appears on screen, line by line, although the latter could easily simply have been implemented as a form of ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation.
** The Original Series was, naturally, far worse. Not just aesthetically - searches of the computer database for particular terms also seem to be conducted manually- ''by hand''- and can take hours (such as in ''The Naked Now''), suggesting that the Enterprise's computer lacks the handy indexing of a modern search engine. In TNG, searches were generally instant or a few seconds, even for a species' entire recorded history or similar, unless they had to process a truly colossal amount of data.
** In-universe. After Wolf 359 ''everything'' changed. The Federation in early series was depicted as filled with [[WideEyedIdealist eternal optimists]]. After Wolf 359, the Federation leaders are shown to be clearly more [[KnightInSourArmour jaded]] and should they have to, will not hesistate to remind everyone just ''why'' they are one of the [[GoodIsNotNice dominant]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes powers]] of the Alpha Quadrant.
[[/folder]].
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[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: [[BlackAndNerdy Geordi]], [[TheEmpath Troi]], [[ArtificialHuman Data]], [[TheCaptain Picard]], [[TheWorfEffect Worf]], [[HospitalHottie Dr. Crusher]], [[NumberTwo Riker]]. [[hottip:*:[[CreatorsPet Wesley]]'s holding the camera. Better than anyone else could, no doubt. Especially [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Yar.]]]] ]]
->"''Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]''. Its continuing mission -- to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.''"
-->-- '''[[TheCaptain Captain Jean-Luc Picard]]''', OpeningNarration
''[[StarTrekTNG Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is a science fiction show created by GeneRoddenberry as part of the ''StarTrek'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, about [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture eighty years]] after the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], the program features a new crew, new perspectives on established cultures (a Klingon Empire as a semi-friendly ally against a Romulan Empire emerging from decades of isolation), new antagonists and a new ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' (''Galaxy''-class starship, registration NCC-1701-[[LegacyCharacter D]]).
After struggling for a few seasons trying to establish itself apart from [[StarTrekTOS the Original Series]], it exploded into one of the most well respected television shows ever made, partially because of a change in direction (its creator had health problems starting around season two of the show's run leading to co-producer Rick Berman taking over most of the show's daily production and his promotion to executive producer during season three) and an increased willingness to experiment with the format and scope of the show, and science fiction as a whole. At 176 episodes in length, it was the longest running Star Trek series at the time, and won many awards for everything from visual effects to writing. Additionally, the series has proved wildly popular in [[ReRun Syndication]], despite having broadcast its final episode in 1994, well over fifteen years ago. To date, in the U.S. alone, it has been broadcast on no less than five different cable / satellite networks: G4, SpikeTV, SyFy, WGN America and most recently {{BBC}} America. Three of these networks, [=SyFy=], WGN America & BBC America still regularly air episodes of the program, sometimes against each other in primetime.
Although much of the show shared the premise of the Original Series, there were also well-placed {{Story Arc}}s: the omnipotent {{trickster}} character of Q would show up to put HumanityOnTrial (becoming a BookEnd storyline [[PatrickStewartSpeech epitomizing the series]]) or to amuse himself at the expense of others; redefining the Klingons as being {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s instead of the original "black hats"; various encounters with the hive-mind, cybernetic Borg (creating what is regarded as the pinnacle episode for the series and even the ''franchise'', "The Best of Both Worlds"); several episodes with [[CreatorsPet Wesley]] that [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap developed his character]]; and [[BreakoutCharacter defining moments]] for several of the main cast and [[AscendedExtra the odd minor character]], in addition to plenty of development for [[FriendOrFoe the Romulans, the Vulcans, the Cardassians and the Ferengi]].
The series formed the basis of the seventh through tenth Star Trek films: ''[[StarTrekGenerations Generations]]'' (1994), ''[[StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]'' (1996), ''[[StarTrekInsurrection Insurrection]]'' (1998) and ''[[StarTrekNemesis Nemesis]]'' (2002). The success led to an expansion of the franchise and is single-handedly responsible for the creation of ''[[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' and ''[[StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]''. Though fans will usually agree that the quality of the episodes varies wildly, the best make for compelling and thought-provoking viewing.
See also the StarTrekTheNextGenerationRelaunch, a series of novels that follow the characters after the events of ''StarTrekNemesis'', as well as setting the direction for the StarTrekExpandedUniverse in terms of the original continuity (as opposed to the [[Film/StarTrek latest film]], which is an AlternateTimeline).
It now has a tool for gathering and voting for the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Best Episode(s)]]
Character tropes for the main characters can be found [[Characters/StarTrekTheNextGeneration in this character page]]. Episode recaps can be found [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGeneration here]].
----
!!This show is the TropeNamer for:
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Captain Kirk in ''Generations'']].
* GrowingTheBeard[[invoked]]
* HolodeckMalfunction
* LowerDeckEpisode
* PatrickStewartSpeech
* ResistanceIsFutile
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech
* TheWorfEffect
** TheWorfBarrage
** WorfHadTheFlu
* YouWillBeAssimilated
----
!!This show provides examples of the following tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Trope-based episodes]]
* AccidentalNightmareFuel: Quite literally, as the terrifying visions and paranoia in "Night Terrors" are caused by aliens who simply don't understand the effect their method of communication has on the human brain.[[invoked]]
* ActingForTwo: "Time Squared" (Patrick Stewart plays two Picards). "Second Chances" (Jonathan Frakes plays two Rikers). Any episode with Data & Lore or their "father" Dr. Noonien Soong. (Also see the episode "Brothers" which was ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Acting For Three]]'' (including one stint in enough make up to make a Klingon's actor cry.) And let's not forget "A Fistful of Datas", where Data plays...[[ShapedLikeItself a fistful]] of Ancient-Western stock-characters.
* ActorAllusion: TNG had a minor in-show example: In "Descent, Part II" the ''Enterprise'' is forced to hide within a star's corona by using an experimental shield. The lieutenant at Tactical doesn't think that the shield will work, but is proven wrong. The actor played a different character in a previous episode who tried to make it appear that the shield didn't work.
* AdaptiveAbility: The Borg, by any means necessary.
* AdventurerOutfit: Q.
* [[AintTooProudToBeg Ain't Too Proud To Beg]]: "Q Who".
* AlternateUniverse: "Yesterday's Enterprise".
** Also the anomaly universe in "All Good Things".
*** Then hundreds of the damn things in "Parallels."
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Ferengi, Cardasians, and Borg. For the most part, the Romulans as well.
* AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Semi-subverted in ''Genesis''. Sometimes they were spiders!
* AmnesiaDanger: "[[spoiler:Conundrum]]".
* AmnesiaLoop: "[[spoiler:Clues]]".
* AndIMustScream: The fate of Armus. He was created out of the darkest aspects of the psyches of an entire alien race [[JerkassWoobie and then abandoned.]] After he murdered Tasha Yar in a rage, the crew of the Enterprise decided that it was fitting punishment to leave him ''again'' and deploy a warning beacon that meant no-one ever venture near the planet again. Armus' even ends the episode ''screaming''.
* ApocalypticLog: Col. Richey's diary in "The Royale".
* ArtEvolution: A rare Live Action version, the ridge design on Worf's head changed as the show continued. This was explained as simply streamlining the make-up process.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: "Starship Mine". Absolutely.
* BadassInDistress: "The Best of Both Worlds Part II"
* BigBad: Because the Klingons had become allies of TheFederation by this point, their previous role of recurring antagonists went unfilled. The Ferengi were the first attempt at creating a big bad, and were found to be too comical. Then the Borg came along, but were found to be TooAwesomeToUse by the writers. They eventually settled late on in the run of the show on the Cardassians, who were indeed developed into a true Big Bad on StarTrekDeepSpaceNine (only for their own Big Bad status to be subverted towards the end of that show's run, following in the footsteps of the Klingons.) Ultimately, the Romulans come closest to filling out this niche`, and its a bigger plot twist to find that they are ''not'' the masterminds behind the insidous scheme of the week.
** Individually, Commanders Sela and Tomalak and the Sisters of Duras fill the role of recurring villains, though even they don't go out of their way to antagonize the Enterprise except when Starfleet interferes in their schemes. Though, it turns out that they too were just Romulan pawns.
* BigNo: "Timescape", said by Picard while suffering in temporal narcosis.
** "Darmok", again Picard, while trapped in a transporter beam as his new friend is pummeled by the MonsterOfTheWeek.
** "Night Terrors", again Picard, when he experiences ''extreme'' claustrophobia on the turbolift and feels as if he's rushing up towards the ceiling.
* BittersweetEnding: "The Vengeance Factor." [[spoiler: [[LastOfHisKind The last of the Acamarian Vornak clan]] is saved by Riker's intervention; that intervention consists of the vaporization of the woman for whom Riker had some affection.]]
** ''The Perfect Mate.'' [[spoiler: "I am for you, Alrik of Valt." Captain Picard is, unfortunately, not Alrik of Valt...]]
*** For the uninformed, Kamala (Famke Janssen, rowr!) is an empathic metamorph whose personality changes to suit those around her. When she bonds with another, she permanently changes to suit him. [[spoiler: Despite being betrothed to another man, she chooses to bond with Picard... [[FridgeHorror which may actually make her much more miserable, being with such a stuffy, uninterested (and uninteresting) bureaucrat]].]]
** ''The Inner Light'' when Picard plays the flute.
* BotheringByTheBook: Picard is in the process of trying to save a colony from a group of {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s who keep insisting on not giving them any more time. So, Picard reads through the very long peace treaty between them and the Federation, then exploits a loophole which will delay their plans by 6 months. He then hangs up on them and strolls about the bridge for a minute while they call back.
* BrokenAesop: ''The Outcast'' doubles as a BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: Psychotectic treatment is basically like the "gay de-programming" techniques of today, with all the UnfortunateImplications that that implies.]]
** As pointed out by SFDebris, the metaphor for homosexual prejudice and coming out falls flat when you realise that the entire race of genderless aliens discovering sexuality has every member played by ''women''. The alien in question even identifies herself as a ''female'' and falls in love with Riker, who's a ''man''.
* BuryYourDisabled: Averted in ''Ethics''
* ButtMonkey: Next to Worf and Geordi, Deanna Troi filled this role many times. She was always being possessed by aliens, abused by aliens in crashed shuttles, abducted by aliens for political gambits, being nearly forced to marry an alien, having her psychic powers robbed by aliens, suffering nightmares at the hands of aliens, forced to listen to a virtual music box in her head for days by an alien, the list goes on. Her only real use on the show was to counsel the [[RedShirt random crew member of the week]] and to tell Picard when she sensed weird things happening while on the bridge.
* CallToAgriculture: Picard was managing his family vineyard as part of the alternate future in the GrandFinale.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: The Bynars are a race of being that always work and live in pairs and can't function alone; also, in one episode Picard and Dr.Crusher received implants that allowed them to share thoughts but would killed them if they went beyond a few meters from each other.
* ChainedHeat: "Attached".
* CharacterShilling: Multiple examples, but the most well known was that of the shilling done for Wesley, which grated at the fans and became the former trope namer for the more negative and YMMV version of the trope, CreatorsPet. Apart from shilling Wesley, the story also shills a few other characters, even those who are actually popular like Riker. We are frequently assured that Riker could be a captain on any other ship in the fleet, but without a great deal of backing for the idea.
* ChildMarriageVeto: In "Haven", Deanna Troi has been arranged to be married to Wyatt Miller. It's not Deanna who breaks off the marriage, though; it's Wyatt, who has had dreams of a non-Deanna woman since he was a child...and then he finds her on a plague ship.
* ClarkesThirdLaw: "Devil's Due".
** Noteworthy in that the technology isn't even ''sufficiently advanced''; it's just been dressed-up to look more impressive than it really is.
*** Makes sense - people pull off some impressive tricks/scams today without godlike technology, stands to reason that the same will still be (relatively) possible in the 24th Century.
*** Plus, while it's not significantly advanced than the Enterprise's technology, it is sufficiently advanced for the technology of the planet in question. And some of the tricks the scam artists set up ("beaming" a holographic image over the actor and maintaining it outside a holodeck) the Enterprise couldn't replicate. When the Enterprise crew performs this trick, it's only because they've boarded the scammer's ship and used their setup to do it.
** The first season episode "Justice" has an idyllic planet that worships an interdimensional spaceship ''thing'' as their god. How advanced it really is isn't firmly established, but it's strongly implied that it's at least a match for the ''Enterprise''.
** The third season episode "Who Watches the Watchers" again casts the ''Enterprise'' crew in the role of the ones with the sufficiently advanced technology, when a botched encounter with a pre-industrial civilisation leaves some of them thinking that Picard is a god.
** In "The Next Phase", Ro and Geordi are invisible and intangible after an accident. Ro is at first convinced that they're ghosts now that need to make peace before moving on to the afterlife. Turns out they're just "out of phase" with normal matter, except for the plot-convenient floors (and oxygen).
* {{Cliffhanger}}: One at the end of every season from year 3 onward. The first of these is probably the second most famous TV cliffhanger ever (behind "[[{{Dallas}} Who Shot JR?]]")
** The cliffhanger in question resulted in months of speculation in the media, as the episode ended on the possibility that Captain Picard would die and be replaced by Riker. This led to rumors that Patrick Stewart was leaving the show and the episode was intended as a way to write his character out of the series. The first part even sets up a new first officer for the ship. These rumors proved untrue, and at the end of part two [[{{status quo is god}} everything returned to normal]], but the story was told so well that few viewers minded.
*** At the time, fans seemed to be divided between four possible scenarios: Picard would die and Riker would become Captain, Picard would live but remain a Borg and thus become the show's recurring {{big bad}}, ''Riker'' would die saving Picard's life, or things would return to normal. Quite a few fanfics (and at least one official Star Trek comic) have been devoted to exploring the alternate scenarios.
**** The alternate scenarios are also given a nod in later alternate-timeline episodes, most notably "Parallels".
*** The official story is that Stewart was renegotiating his contract and they had to leave it open for the possibility of his leaving. The ending wasn't decided until after the first part was shot.
* ClipShow: "Shades of Grey."
* CloneDegeneration: "Up the Long Ladder".
* ComesGreatResponsibility: The ostensible basis of Q's argument in "True Q" that Amanda Rogers should be returned to the Q Continuum, or else killed.
--> '''Q:''' If that child doesn't learn to control her power, she could destroy herself. Or all of you. Or your entire galaxy.
* ComeToGawk: "The Most Toys"
* {{Costumer}}: Several times; mostly holodeck adventures, although the most famous was "Q-Pid", which is decidedly ''not'' set on the holodeck.
* CourtroomEpisode: A number of examples. The best of which was "Measure of a Man".
** Though not strictly a courtroom episode, a 21st-century kangaroo court was conjured up by Q in both the series premiere ''and'' the series finale.
* CuckooNest: "Frame of Mind".
* CustomUniformOfSexy: Deanna Troi had three different ones.
* DayInTheLife: "Data's Day"
* [[DevilsAdvocate Devil's Advocate]]: In "Measure of a Man", a scientist wants to disassemble Data for study, and Data refuses as a sentient being. A hearing is held to determine whether Data is sentient. Picard is Data's defense counsel, and Riker is appointed as the prosecution - so he has to argue that Data isn't sentient. He risks summary judgement against Data if he slacks off on the job. Riker feels guilty about doing it, but Data is grateful - or anyway as grateful as an android allegedly with no emotions can be - since if Riker had refused to do it they would have decided against Data (for if he isn't a sentient being, he lacks the right to bodily autonomy, such are the rules of procedure in the 24th century).
* [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard On The USS Enterprise-D]]: "Starship Mine".
* DrivenToSuicide: Lieutenant Kwan in "Eye Of The Beholder." The first act of the episode also counts as AVerySpecialEpisode about suicide.
* [[DoAndroidsDream Do Borgs Dream]]: "I, Borg"
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: "Aquiel," where the crew finds out that a shape-shifting organism is behind the MysteryOfTheWeek. Two people, a Klingon and the titular Aquiel, are suspected of being the monster, but [[spoiler:it's really Aquiel's dog, which served as a minor comedic subplot during the episode.]]
* DontYouDarePityMe: In "Skin of Evil," Armus tells Troi to take her pity and shove it. Picard later exploits Armus' extreme distaste toward being pitied.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Tasha Yar in "Skin of Evil", Captain Kirk in TheMovie.
* DyingRace: "Up the Long Ladder", "When the Bough Breaks".
* EnemyMine: "Darmok", also (shockingly) "The Enemy".
** In "Darmok", the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" means this.
* EvilTwin: Lore, to Data.
* EvolutionaryLevels / YouFailBiologyForever: ''Genesis'', which misinterprets evolution as a phenomenon that happens in individuals, as well as invoking the theory (discredited in the mid 20th century) that our DNA retains a record of our species' evolutionary tree. ''The Chase'' has some undertones of this as well, although it isn't EvolutionaryLevels so much as Precursors with implausible sufficiently advanced skill at genetics. Plus any scene where someone mentions DNA breaking down into protein/amino acids, or vice versa.
* ExpospeakGag: In ''Time's Arrow'':
--> '''Data''': You may retain the surplus for yourself.
-->'''Jack''': Keep the change?
-->'''Data''': Exactly.
* FacePalm: The one done by Picard is particularly well-known thanks to MemeticMutation.
* FatAndSkinny: Ambassador Sarek's advisors in ''Sarek''.
* FatherIDontWantToFight
* FireForgedFriends: "Darmok".
* FirstContact: ''First Contact'' (the episode and the movie. The first one reverses the polarity by having the aliens be the ones experiencing first contact with humans).
* FishOutOfWater: "A Matter of Honor".
* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The phaser lance from the alternate future version of the Enterprise-D in "All Good Things".
* ForWantOfANail: "Parallels", "Tapestry".
* ForceFieldDoor
* FormerTeenRebel: Picard in "Tapestry".
* FountainOfYouth: "Rascals".
* FreudWasRight: Inverted in "Phantasms", when Data recreates Dr. Freud in the holodeck with the hope of interpreting the disturbing images generated by his dream program. Freud, of course, proceeds to assume it's all about Data's issues with his mother and his sexuality, neither of which he has, because he's an android.[[invoked]]
* FutureImperfect: Episode of the same name. An interesting AlternateHistory arises and thanks to a [[spoiler:fake]] TraumaInducedAmnesia Riker (now Captain of the Enterprise) can't recall any of it.
* FutureMeScaresMe: In "Time Squared", the present Jean-Luc Picard is disgusted, irritated and ''extremely'' angered by the Captain Picard of the future, who abandoned the ''Enterprise'' in a shuttlecraft shortly before its destruction.
* GRatedDrug: The game, in "The Game".
* GhostShip: "The Battle", "The Naked Now", "Night Terrors", "Hero Worship", "Booby Trap".
* GodForADay: "Hide and Q"- Q gives such powers to Riker and makes, unknown to Riker, a bet with Picard: Picard thinks that Riker will reject Q's offer and bets the Enterprise herself on him against Q offering to never bother them again. A generally well done example of the trope with the resolution not coming out of some arbitrary limit or failure of the powers. Picard wins after Riker finds every gift he tries to give to his friends rings hollow.
-->"But it's what you've always wanted Data, to become human."
-->"Yes, sir. That is true. But I never wanted to compound one... illusion with another. It might be real to Q,... perhaps even you, sir. But it would never be so to me. Was it not one of the Captain's favourite authors who wrote, "This above all: to thine own self be true?" Sorry, Commander, I must decline."
* GodGuise: "Who Watches the Watchers?"
* GodTest: Inverted in"Who Watches the Watchers." When the primitive alien tribe believes that Picard is God, they try to prove it by shooting him with a bow to prove that he can't be killed. Fortunately for Picard the alien misses his heart, but does hit him in the shoulder, injuring him and thereby proving to the aliens that he ''isn't'' God.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: "Symbiosis".
* GroundhogDayLoop: "Cause and Effect" - Actually occurred two years ''in advance'' of the ''Film/GroundhogDay'' movie.
** And unlike the ''Film/GroundhogDay'' movie (in which Bill Murray's character is fully aware of what's going on, and only once does anybody else mention a ''slight'' feeling of deja vu-- everyone on the ''Enterprise,'' except Data, starts to get that feeling.
* HarmfulHealing: Accidentally caused everyone to [[EvolutionaryLevels "devolve"]] in "Genesis".
* HumanityOnTrial: "Encounter at Farpoint" and "All Good Things..."
** Technically, [[spoiler:the whole series, the movies, and everything else in the Star Trek universe]]. As Q points out [[spoiler:the trial that starts in "Encounter at Farpoint" continues through "All Good Things..." and beyond.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Q:''' You just don't get it, do you, Jean-Luc? The trial never ends.]]
*** Regarding spoiler: [[spoiler:Not so much a threat from Q, but more of a reminder that human kind must never stop thinking outside of the box, and always work hard to better themselves.]]
* HyperspaceLanes: There are shipping lanes which are the most frequently used ways of getting from point A to point B. At one point late in the series it's revealed that space is actually wearing down in those lanes; Starfleet sets a speed limit of warp five to minimize continued damage, but then they weasel out of that by giving authorization to exceed speed limits right and left.
** In the finale, "All Good Things", even relatively low-tech medical ships easily travel at warp 13, even though the Federation's speed limit was warp 5. Either the Federation figured out how to reduce the damage from their warp drives, or the writers forgot about the speed limit.
*** Both, really. The USS Voyager had "variable warp field geometry" to minimize damage to space/time. This is why the nacelles moved before it jumped into warp, but it was stated in later episodes of Voyager and Deep Space Nine that the technology was being retrofitted to older ships with fixed-mounted nacelles. Medical ships travelling at warp 13 are still probably a writer memory lapse, considering that it was stated many times that warp 10 represents infinite speed and requires infinite energy to attain. The only possible explanation for warp 13 would be that they switch to a different speed scale in the future.
**** I suspect they recalibrated the scale because it was getting cumbersome. Voyager's top cruising speed was stated as warp 9.975. That's already a bit of a mouthful. What happens when you're routinely able to travel at 9.9999999? There was also a link explained in the Technical Manual that integer warp factors on the warp 10 scale are much more energy efficient. If the design of the engines changes and that link is no longer true, recalibrating the scale becomes even more practical. This troper may have overthought this subject.
**** "Warp 13" was such a nonsensical term (as if FTL travel is ever sensical), I thought the writers used it in the future-Picard scenes as an indicator of a made-up (by Q) future. Again, maybe overthinking it.
**** WordOfGod says that Warp 13 was used intentionally as a hint of new developments in warp technology in the alternate future.
* IfYouCanReadThis: Many examples; the set designers had a lot of fun adding in easter eggs. See the trope page for details.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: (''Datalore'')
* IndustrializedEvil: The Borg assimilation process.
* [[InAnotherMansShoes In Another Man's Shoes]] ''The Inner Light''
* InterspeciesAdoption: Not only was Worf himself raised with loving care by the Rozhenko family, but they also adopted and took care of Worf's son, Alexander, when he realized that raising a son on the Enterprise by himself would prove to be too difficult.
* [[ItsAWonderfulPlot It's A Wonderful Plot]]: ''Tapestry'' is a variation, in which Q shows Picard that without the recklessness of his youth and the mistakes he made, he would never have learned the balance of caution and courage he needed to become Captain and would be stuck in a dead-end job. This is still enough of an example for fans to nickname the episode "It's Picard's Wonderful Life".
** "Remember Me" is a subversion, in which Beverly finds people she knew vanishing, and [[RetGone no one remembering they ever existed]].
** The future timeline of "All Good Things..." has shades of this. [[spoiler:While Geordi and Data have fairly good lives overall, Picard is suffering a degenerative mental disease, he and Dr. Crusher are divorced, Troi is dead, and Riker and Worf had a bitter falling out. Most notably, the core characters have all drifted apart. (At the end of the episode, Picard has told them what he experienced specifically to prevent that.)]]
* InvisibleMainCharacter: "The Next Phase".
* JustAMachine: "Measure of a Man". Fortunately for Data, they decide that no, he's not.
** However, it should be noted that the the judge's ruling is extremely specific: [[spoiler:That Data is not ''the property of Starfleet''. The ruling actually avoids addressing his sentience, innate freewill and status as a life form.]] Data, both before and after the trial, viewed Soong-type androids as unique life forms, as does most of the crew.
** In the episode "The Quality of Life" the crew discovers that a repair robot might be sophisticated enough to be considered alive.
** "Emergence": The Enterprise computer begins using the ship's replicators and transporters to change its own circuitry around, culminating in the creation of some sort of offspring. Unfortunately, this premise mostly took place in a broken holodeck simulation.
* JustWokeUpThatWay: "Face of the Enemy"
* KangarooCourt: "The Drumhead"
** Also, Nora Satie from that episode is a KnightTemplar.
* KingInTheMountain
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: "Suspicions".
* LadyLand: "Angel One".
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: "Conundrum", "Clues".
* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E2TheNakedNow The Naked Now]]".
* LowCultureHighTech: The Pakleds.
* LowerDeckEpisode: "Lower Decks".
* MadeOfEvil: "Skin of Evil".
** Also the EnemyWithout of an entire ''species'', and a [[ForTheEvulz largely motiveless]] CompleteMonster to boot.
* ManchurianAgent: "The Mind's Eye".
* MatryoshkaObject: In "The Chase", Picard's old archeology professor brings him a Kurlan naiskos as a gift. An ancient relic, the figure opens up to reveal several smaller versions of the figure inside.
* MindRape: "Violations".
* MoralMyopia: "Coming of Age" and "Chain of Command".
* MortalityEnsues: "Deja Q".
* MyGreatestFailure: Subverted in "Tapestry".
* NewMediaAreEvil: "The Game" doesn't even try to hide its contempt for videogames, which is ironic given how many videogames the NG crew helped with later on.
** It helps that as a rule, ''Star Trek'' games (especially ones that would involve the show staff) tend to be on the cerebral side as far as their plot and gameplay are concerned. "The Game" centers around a [[FarmVille mindless, addictive game that takes over people's lives]].
** SFDebris made a compelling argument that this wasn't the point of the episode, since Holodecks are the ultimate expression of gaming and no-one seems to care. It was just another stupid brainwashing device.
*** Also the episode where Barclay was discovered to have a holodeck addiction (having created an Eden for himself with a sexy Troi and a bumbling midget Riker) that begins to interfere with the performance of his basic duties. Troi herself explains that everybody enjoys the fantasy of the holodeck, but it's self destructive to rely on it to the [[WorldOfWarcraft exclusion of REAL experiences and friends]].
* NoPoverty: Or money, either. Replicators and antimatter generators with a new social philosophy did away with poverty.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Data repeatedly attempts to understand humor as part of his quest to become more human.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Q. If he finds you interesting....you, uh, know.
* NotHimself: Data in "Clues".
* NotMeThisTime: In the episode "Firstborn," Lursa and B'Etor of the House of Duras are suspected of an assassination attempt against Worf. It turns out [[spoiler:a future version of Alexander, Worf's son, had traveled back in time to stage this attempt so as to motivate the young Alexander to become a Klingon warrior.]]
** In the episode "True Q", [[spoiler:Q offers Amanda Rogers the choice to remain with humans if she can resist the temptation to use the powers of the Q. Amanda agrees, but almost the moment she and Picard leave the ready room, all hell breaks loose on the planet they're orbiting, endangering the lives of millions of people, as well as Riker and Geordi on the surface. Picard immediately suspects that Q had something to do with it, but he shrugs and says, "Not this time, Picard."]] Of course, Q's not only an inveterate liar, but he's also omnipotent. So even if he ''didn't'' have anything to do with it (which is dubious), he could easily have known that something was ''about'' to happen and waiting to offer the choice until that precise moment.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Isabella in "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Imaginary Friend]]".
* OnceASeason: The Q episodes and the {{Holodeck Malfunction}}s.
* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: "Darmok" ends up working this way in practice if not in theory.
* OrientExpress: In "Emergence", the train appears on the Enterprise's holodeck.
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Barclay's holographic duplicates of the main crew.
* PleaseIWillDoAnything: "Encounter at Farpoint".
* PortalDoor: "Contagion".
* PublicSecretMessage: The name of Data's creator ("Noonien Soongh") was Roddenberry's third (and last) RealLife attempt to attract the attention of his WorldWarII buddy, Kim Noonien Singh.
* PuppeteerParasite: "Conspiracy".
* TheRashomon: "A Matter of Perspective".
* RevivalLoophole: Used to save Tasha's opponent in "Code of Honor".
* RogueDrone: "I, Hugh".
* SecondComing: "Rightful Heir", with the return of Kahless through a clone.
* SenseLossSadness: "The Loss", where Counselor Troi loses her [[{{Telepathy}} empathy]].
* SinkingShipScenario: "Disaster".
* {{Snapback}}
* SpaceMines: In "Booby Trap" the Enterprise is trapped in an asteroid belt seeded with "acceton assimilators".
* StockholmSyndrome: Beverly shows signs of this towards Finn in "The High Ground". When Picard is captured by the separatists, he's quick to point this out to her.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Used in "Darmok", as the alien race's language is entirely based around metaphors.
* TakeAThirdOption: In "Samaritan Snare", the Pakleds capture Geordi and demand access to the ''Enterprise's'' computer. Their options, summarized by Data, are, "We can either respond to the Pakleds' demands, or not. We can either use force, or not." Riker ultimately comes up with a ruse, communicated to Geordi in code-- [[spoiler:Geordi would seemingly arm the slow-witted Pakleds with sophisticated weaponry, and when the ''Enterprise'' released harmless plasma through the Bussard collectors, he would disarm the Pakleds' weapons, claiming that the ''Enterprise's'' "crimson force field" had done it.]]
* TakeThat: "Relics" chimes in on the iconic "Kirk vs. Picard" argument (specifically, which is the better captain) that tends to plague the fandom by the simple expedient of having Montgomery Scott brought [[BackFromTheDead back from the transporter pattern buffer]] to comment on Kirk's more active, aggressive, and decisive command style versus Picard's more measured, careful style. The verdict: Both styles have their places - but look! Picard can do both!
* TalkingToHimself: Riker in "Second Chances". Any time Lwaxana Troi interacts with the computer.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Data and Worf
* TimeyWimeyBall: Sometimes it's best [[MST3KMantra not to think too hard about it]].
* TreacherousSpiritChase: "Interface", "Eye of the Beholder".
* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: "Chain of Command", with lights instead of fingers. (Done well enough that [[Memes/LiveActionTV memetic]] [[ThereAreFourLights quote]] of the episode has been made an honorary redirect to the trope.)
* TheVirus: "The Best of Both Worlds", "Identity Crisis".
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: "Measure of a Man".
* YouAreInCommandNow: "The Arsenal of Freedom", "Disaster", "Descent".
* YouWereTryingTooHard: "Booby Trap", "Hero Worship".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes A-G]]
* AbortedArc: The PuppeteerParasite aliens seen in "Contagion" (and foreshadowed in "Conspiracy"). They were intended to be harbingers of the Borg, who were originally supposed to be insectoid. In the end this idea was scrapped as the special effects were impossible and the parasites were never seen again, despite the obvious SequelHook of them sending off a transmission at the end of "Contagion". They may have inspired the similar Goa'uld from ''StargateSG1''.
* AbsenteeActor: Some episodes struggle to include all the actors, even with the MandatoryLine.
* AfterShow: One reason Paramount felt confident in the risk of pouring so much money into the first season episodes - they figured if the show bombed, they'd just add the 13 Next Gen episodes to TOS's syndication package of 79 episodes and make the money back that way.
* AlikeAndAntitheticalAdversaries: The Federation is a multi species organization, most of their enemies are [[PlanetOfHats at least a bit one dimensional]]. The Borg take the cake though, being a HiveMind that removes individuality.
* AlmightyJanitor: Boothby, grounds-keeper of Starfleet Academy and trusted mentor of almost every graduate of note.
* AlternateUniverse
* AlternativeNumberSystem: The [[MeaningfulName Binars]] use base 2.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Borg Collective. They try to assimilate the entire rest of the universe into their structured society or kill them in trying. [[CatchPhrase Resistance is futile]].
** And the Ferengi
* AnchoredShip: Picard and Crusher. [[spoiler:In the post-Nemesis [[StarTrekExpandedUniverse book series]], TheyDo.]]
* ApocalypticLog: The ''Enterprise'' has received a few of these, including a couple [[NegativeSpaceWedgie from themselves]].
* AppliedPhlebotinum: ''StarTrek'' runs on this and all the subset variants, justified with heavy heaps of TechnoBabble.
* AsceticAesthetic: The ''Enterprise''.
* AssInAmbassador: Lwaxana Troi.
* AuthorAvatar: Wesley for GeneRoddenberry
* BabyFactory: One episode ends with Doctor Pulaski telling two merged colonies they have to use this trope to insure "genetic diversity".
* BadassBoast: The Klingon ritual of roaring at the heavens is this [[DueToTheDead on behalf of one who died in battle]]... they are ''warning'' the afterlife that a ''warrior'' is coming.
* BaldOfAwesome: Picard.
* BedmateReveal: In "Tapestry", Picard (who's reliving his days as a fresh young ensign) has sex with his good female friend Marta Batanides. In the morning, a hand reaches up to stroke his ear, and Picard turns around, opens his eyes-- [[HoYay and it's Q.]]
--> '''Q:''' Morning, darling.
** In "Redemption II", after Worf is captured, B'Etor wakes him up with foreplay, and he briefly responds in kind-- and then wakes up, and immediately recoils.
* BerserkButton: In the premiere, it was established that Picard did not allow children on the bridge, and he ''screamed'' Wesley off the bridge. Wesley soon gained his acceptance, but Picard's BerserkButton was seen again in the second-season "Pen Pals", he was practically ''trembling'' with rage when Data brought Sarjenka onto the bridge. (Of course, Data ''had'' violated the Prime Directive by doing so).
** A later episode involved Picard getting stranded on the ship with a group of children and relating to them poorly. By the end of the episode, he had apparently gained some understanding and acceptance of children, as the kids give him a medal on the bridge at the end, and he seems genuinely embarrassed.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In "Where Silence Has Lease", Picard chooses to set the ''Enterprise'' to auto-destruct (thus killing the entire crew) rather than allow Nagilum to continue with his experiments, which would kill one-third to one-half of the crew.
* BilingualBonus: In "The Icarus Factor", the Japanese characters written on the side of the anbo-jyutsu ring are mostly martial-arts relevant elemental characters-- 火 (fire), 水 (water), etc. "ユリ" ("YURI") is a ShoutOut to ''DirtyPair''. There are a few of them scattered around the show. The top of the ring says 星 (star).
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Data, though his CharacterDevelopment starts to negate this towards the end.
* BrainCriticalMass: In the episode "The Nth Degree," Barclay's brain is taken over by an ancient race from the center of the galaxy, greatly increasing his intellect. Under their influence, Barclay seizes command of the Enterprise, controlling the ship with his mind. This has the small drawback that he can't be removed from the ship's systems without destroying said mind... but the aliens who started all of this fix that too, in the end.
* BrainwashResidue: After losing his superintelligence, Barclay seems to retain some chess-playing ability.
* TheBusCameBack: Tasha in "Yesterday's Enterprise" by way of an AlternateTimeline.
* CaptainMorganPose: A favourite pose for Riker.
** Because Jonathan Frakes is freaking huge, and if he didn't he wouldn't fit in the frame.
*** Some fans, in homage to the behind-the-scenes use of the term [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Picard_Maneuver Picard Maneuver]], call this the Riker Maneuver.
* TheCastShowoff: Many episodes feature Riker playing the trombone, because Jonathan Frakes really does play trombone. And the episode "Data's Day" features Dr. Crusher teaching Data how to dance, because Gates [=McFadden=] is an accomplished dancer and choreographer.
** Also, Patrick Stewart reciting Shakespeare. Well, they had to get it in there ''somehow''.
** ''Everyone'' in the cast sings, pretty well too. Brent Spiner cut an album of Jazz standards (and some new material) a few years back where his backup singers were Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, [=LeVar=] Burton and Jonathan Frakes, It was spectacular.
* CatchPhrase: Many, including:
--->'''Picard:''' Make it so.
--->'''Data:''' It is possible
--->'''Data (again):''' Intriguing...
--->'''Worf:''' I an Worf! Son of Mogh!
--->'''Troi:''' I sense that...
--->'''The Borg:''' Resistance is futile.
* CharacterDevelopment: Part of the reason the show came into its own was building up the origin stories and social habits of the crew, which served to make them more ''real''.
** Gene Roddenberry, it turns out, wasn't so fond of character development. Some writers left after season 1 due to this and other strange restrictions he had.
** To clarify, Roddenberry apparently felt that not only would the races and nations have made peace in the future, but individuals would have evolved beyond petty arguments and emotional disruptions. A big part of why so many early episodes revolve around technical puzzles, and why it helps to have a completely flat, stoic character (or super-sensey empath) in the cast for contrast against the "normal" people.
** Characters introduced later in the show's run, Lt. Barkley and Ensign Ro Laren are significantly more complex and, importantly, flawed.
* ChangedMyJumper: Any time the cast enters the holodeck in a period setting the artificial characters are the first to comment on their strange uniforms. In one of the few actual TimeTravel episodes Data received ''less'' comments on his Starfleet uniform than he would if he were in an artificial setting. It seems holodeck characters are just rude.
** To be fair, that time travel episode took place in [[CityOfWeirdos San Francisco]].
** This could also be a standard holodeck subroutine meant to remind participants that they haven't changed into costume yet. It's much more polite than an "access denied" message from the computer and it helps the users get into character.
* ChekhovsGun: In the episode "The Defector", one of the coded communications Picard receives is from a Klingon vessel. We don't see the communication and it seems to be a throwaway line in the middle of the episode. [[spoiler: Turns out, he was enlisting the assistance of the Klingons. Three of their vessels joined the ''Enterprise'' under cloak through the Neutral Zone and defended them against two Romulan warbirds who attempted to ambush them.]]
* ChivalrousPervert: Will Riker. (Apparently, this is his way of interpreting the OfficerAndAGentleman trope.)
* ClarkesThirdLaw
* CombatMedic: [[ActionMom Beverly Crusher]] is not only one of the best doctors in the Federation, she studies Klingon martial arts [[hottip:* :and can [[BadAss drop you on your ass]] so fast you won't remember the trip down]] and is fully capable of commanding a starship in combat. She also phasers a Starfleet Admiral in "Conspiracy".
* CommunicationsOfficer: This was the original duty for Worf, perhaps owing to his bicultural background.
* TheConfidant: Guinan and Counselor Troi.
* ContinuityNod: One of the most commendable aspects of the show. ''TNG'' is ''excellent'' at making references to previous events in a variety of contexts, including other ''Trek'' shows.
** There are several instances during the third season that allude to the fact that Dr. Crusher wasn't on the ''Enterprise'' during the previous season-- and not all of them were directly related to Wesley. For example, in "Who Watches the Watchers?", Picard asks Crusher if the Mintakan's memory can be erased, mentioning it's been done before. Crusher replies that she's familiar with Dr. Pulaski's research (as seen in "Pen Pals" with Sarjenka). Then in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I", when about to join the away team onto the Borg ship, she asks Data what kind of resistance they can expect. (The fact that she wasn't around for the first Borg encounter in "Q Who?" was even pointed out in the screenplay).
** Fan Favorite episode "Relics" was written by PromotedFanboy Ronald Moore and featured {{Continuity Nod}}s to TNG and TOS in nearly every scene, most especially the holodeck recreation of the original series bridge.
** One of the most interesting, yet little known ones is the opening [[CaptainsLog Captain's Log]] of episode 80 where Picard mentions the ship having recently left the same planet in which the last episode of [=ToS=] (Which officially was episode 79) happened on.
** One of the most unexpected nods is that Picard in an early Season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare" privately told Wesley Crusher that when he got stabbed in the heart by a Naussican, he inexplicably started laughing. Cut four years later to "Tapestry", when we find out ''why'' young Picard started laughing.
* ConvergingStreamWeapon: The Federation develops a 'collimator beam' made of dozens of small phaser banks spread along the rim of a ship; the energy can be seen flowing along the surface of the Enterprise until it meets at one point, and then fires off from the point on the phaser bank row closest to the target.
* CranialProcessingUnit: On at least one occasion, Data's "brain" is shown to be entirely in his head, including an instance of his head being removed and [[LosingYourHead still talking]].
* CulturedWarrior: Picard is usually the example, but TNG basically made ''everyone'' in Starfleet this. Though it also made Starfleet [[MildlyMilitary less militaristic...]]
* CreatingLifeIsAwesome: Data is an artificial person. He's a good guy, and his creator is presented as a benevolent father figure. However, he also created another android, and ''that'' failed experiment goes into CreatingLifeIsBad territory.
** Also, the sentient holograms in several series. Whether AIIsACrapshoot results or not varies.
* CyborgHelmsman: Geordi was the Helmsman in the first season.
* DanBrowned: In "I, Borg", Guinan and Picard are fencing. They are wearing epee costumes, using epee rules, however, the two are clearly using foils. Especially annoying because the writers [[ShownTheirWork did their research]] the last time Picard fenced in-show and had the correct weapons.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The episode "Conspiracy" was jarringly graphic.
* DashedPlotline: Picard's alternate life in "The Inner Light" is portrayed with many large time-skips.
* DeathRay: The Varon-T Disruptor, capable of painfully killing rather than [[DisintegratorRay just disintegrating]].
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Q
** Picard is one of these to some extent throughout the series, most notably in "The Survivors", after he beams Kevin and Rishaun Uxbridge to the bridge.
--->'''Jean-Luc Picard:''' My apologies if I interrupted a waltz.
* DemotedToExtra / SpotlightStealingSquad: The TNG movies focused so much on Picard and Data that they might as well have been credited as them "[[GilligansIsland and all the rest!]]".
* {{Deprogram}}ming
* DeusExMachina
* [[DidMomJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu Did Pulaski Just Have Tea With Moriarty?]]
* DiplomaticImpunity: In "Man of the People", Ambassador Alkar [[spoiler:has been using young women as receptacles to store his unwanted negative emotions, turning them malevolent and unnaturally aging them. After Troi dies, Picard tells him that he intends to see that Alkar pays for what he's done. Alkar replies that the Federation Council has guaranteed his safe passage back to his homeworld, and he expects Picard to follow those orders. His diplomatic immunity is [[LethalWeapon revoked]] when Troi is resuscitated while Alkar attempts to bond with someone else, and then they beam his intended victim out of his reach.]]
** The trope is played straight earlier in the episode when Alkar [[spoiler:refuses to return with Picard and Worf to the ''Enterprise'' and hides behind the security field put up by the parties he's negotiating a peace agreement for.]]
* DoubleDontKnow: "The Battle".
* TheDutifulSon: Robert Picard.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In full effect; most noticeable in Season 1.
* EightiesHair: Troi in the first season or so.
** The supporting cast of "Angel One". And ''Haven''.
* EnforcedMethodActing: The relationships between the characters mirrored the relationships between the actors. Knowing this may cast [[TheChessmaster Gene Roddenberry in a different light.]]
* TheEveryman: Reg Barclay. He's clearly not who you'd pick as the poster child for Starfleet, but in a crunch he's shows he's just as capable, if not more so, than the main characters. This is lampshaded by Picard;
--> '''Picard''': And yet he ''chose'' this way of life. He's made the ''same'' commitment to Starfleet we ''all'' have.
* EvilTwin: Lore, which usually gave Brent Spiner a chance to show off more of his range as an actor outside of the stoic Data character.
** Brent Spiner actually stated in an interview that he preferred playing Lore to playing Data. Why? Because "we have more in common."
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill
* {{Expositron 9000}}: The ship's computer.
* EyeLightsOut: The Soong androids.
* FaceFramedInShadow: For a surprise [[TheReveal revelation]] about long lost Tasha Yar's fate.
* {{Facepalm}}: The best known picture happens to feature Picard facepalming.
** The face palm is even an emote in StarTrekOnline.
* FalseInnocenceTrick: Captain Picard is the subject of an AlienAbduction along with several others, who conspire to escape. It turns out that one of them is really a member of the alien race which captured them all.
** In another episode Deanna, Warf, O'Brien and Data are mentally taken over by noncorporeal beings who claim to have crash landed on a world, but they're actually convicted prisoners.
* FauxActionGirl: Tasha Yar had a habit of switching from regular ActionGirl to FauxActionGirl almost on a whim. The first time she meets Q, she spends much of her time scowling and hitting people. The second time she meets Q, she spends much of her time crying and apologising to the Captain for it.
* FightingFromTheInside
* FishPeople: The Antedeans.
* FiveManBand: The original bridge crew consisted of [[TheHero Picard]], [[TheLancer Riker]], [[TheBigGuy Worf and Yar]], [[TheSmartGuy Data and Geordi]], and [[TheChick Troi]]. Also, [[TheMedic Dr. Crusher]] sometimes visited, and [[TheSixthRanger Wesley joined not long after]].
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture
* ForWantOfANail:
-->'''Picard:''' There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of... there were loose threads... untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads... it had unraveled the [[TitleDrop tapestry]] of my life.
* FromASingleCell
* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Inverted with Brent Spiner's Data, a completely emotionless character played by an utter goofball of an actor.
* TheFutureIsNoir: The first two seasons often had this; the ''Enterprise'' bridge was usually floodlit, but everywhere else tended to have very minimal lighting levels. Inverted starting with the third season, when the lighting became uniformly bright and vivid.
* FutureSpandex: Early-season uniforms; later seasons replaced them with something looser.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: There are a few instances of Picard using swear words in French that would never have been allowed on network TV if they were in English, most notably "merde" (French for 'shit').
* GirlOfTheWeek: This trope was in ''full force'' with Riker, especially in the first and second seasons. And then it got reversed, and Troi had a Guy Of The Week going on for several seasons.
* AGodAmI: Q plays with this in "Tapestry". Picard dies and enters the "afterlife", where he finds Q awaiting him, who informs him that he's dead and that Q himself is God. Picard rejects this, because he doesn't think that "the Universe is so badly designed". Q just snarks that Picard is lucky Q doesn't smite him for his blasphemy.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The EP-607 in "The Arsenal of Freedom".
* GoodGuyBar: Ten Forward.
* GoodIsNotNice: The Federation seem to take on this attitude after Wolf 359.
* {{Gorn}}: The death and destruction of [[spoiler: Cmdr. Dexter Remmick]] and [[spoiler: the mother parasite inside him]] in the first season episode "Conspiracy" caused much controversy when it first aired.
** The aftermath of Wolf 359. ''Star Trek Online'' reveals that 20 years on the entire system is ''still'' a starship graveyard, as the system is uninhabited so making it part of the memorial could be considered a fitting gesture.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: The former plague cure that became a narcotic in "Symbiosis" plus the 21st-century drug-addled supersoldier Q conjures up in "Encounter at Farpoint".
* GreatGazoo: Q.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes H-M]]
* HaveYouTriedRebooting: In the end, the simple solution to the Iconian computer virus threatening to destroy the ''Enterprise'' in "Contagion" was to shut down the computer and reimage the system from protected memory.
* HideYourGays: Yes ''StarTrek'' is about tolerance, but even at that time, homosexuality could only be portrayed through metaphor.
** Through no fault of the writers or actors, however; they tried several times, and WhoopiGoldberg even changed some of her dialog. When explaining the concept of love to Lal, which was initially written from a purely heterosexual viewpoint, she pointed out that homosexuality would not be stigmatized in the 24th century of StarTrek, and so the lines were changed to be more gender-neutral and inclusive. However, a plan to have a same-sex couple in the background in that scene was nixed by someone on the set calling out the producers in secret, who stood around to make sure that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar nothing slipped by.]] The issue would have to wait for DeepSpaceNine to get any real exposure at all.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:The kidnapping aliens in "Allegiance" are placed in a restraining field on the bridge to give them a taste of their own medicine.]] To put it mildly, they didn't like it; they were practically having a panic attack.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The Borg.
* HotMom: Beverly Crusher.
* HumanityEnsues: The Continuum once meted out this punishment to Q. By the end of the episode he was back to his all-powerful [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] self again.
* HumanityIsInfectious
* HumansAreUGLY GIANT BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER.
-->'''Picard:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne "Bags of mostly water?"]]
* HyperAwareness: Data, due to being an android would see more into events then was actually relevant.
* HyperspeedAmbush: The Picard Maneuver.
* HyperspeedEscape: Quite a few times, given the ubiquitousness of Warp Drive in this setting (as a general rule, if you don't have warp drive, nobody in Starfleet is terribly interested in dealing with you anyways). Occasionally {{subverted}}, either because the pursuing ship is faster, or because the heroes are trapped inside some sort of NegativeSpaceWedgie and literally have nowhere they can go.
* IAmXSonOfY: "I am Worf, Son of Mogh."
* ICommaNoun: The episode "I Borg", despite lacking the comma.
* IdenticalGrandson: Also overlaps with ''literal'' GenerationXerox as Data and Lore were designed to resemble their creator Dr. Noonien Soong. Its later revealed that ''he'' was also an IdenticalGrandson of Dr. Arik Soong from ''Enterprise''.
** Although given how Arik Soong was a brilliant ''geneticist'', its entirely plausible [[FridgeBrilliance the resemblance is the result of genetic manipulation or all-out cloning]].
** Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, played Worf's great grandfather in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
* [[ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou I Love You Because I Can't Control You]]
* IncessantMusicMadness: In "Q-Pid", Q turns the bridge crew into Robin Hood and his merry men. Geordi becomes the Alan a-Dale analog, and keep plucking annoyingly at a lute. Finally Worf has had enough, walks up, snatches the lute and smashes it against a tree
* InformedAbility: Pretty much everything about the "outrageous" Okona.
** For the tactical officer Worf seemed to be a terrible shot both with the ship's weapons and his own phaser. Not all of this can be attributed to TheWorfEffect or the necessity of the script - in one episode he's practicing on the phaser range and gets easily beaten by ''Guinan'' (although she's had a lot more years to practice, and explicitly tells him she's been doing this since before he was born).
*** Worf does, however, generally succeed more often than he fails when it comes to weapons fire, especially in episodes with the Borg (though everyone became a crack shot in those) and the movies. And when he's asked to target specific parts of ships, he delivers nine times out of ten.
* InstantSeduction: Okona again.
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: In a meta example, Patrick Stewart was so certain this series would fail that for the first six weeks of shooting he refused to unpack his suitcases.
* JerkAss: Q and most of the Cardassians that show up.
* JokerJury: The onlookers in Q's 'courtroom.'
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: A lot of enemy plots are foiled when their plans are revealed, only to have the crew member in question escape and foil the whole thing.
* JustIgnoreIt: The Stone of Gol: a device that can kill anyone with a single thought. However, being a Vulcan invention, it only works on the aggressive.
** In more detail, it's a Vulcan superweapon from before they embraced logic and the planet was ruled by psionic warlords. Part of the success of Surak's movement for pure logic was that his followers were immune to such weapons.
* KarmaHoudini: The solanogen-based lifeforms in "Schisms", who experimented on several crewmembers and caused the death of one of them, weren't ''really'' retaliated against. The crew simply sealed the rift into their universe. The writers decided they looked too non-threatening to ever be brought back, too.
** Armus, who killed Tasha Yar, was immune from any attempts at physical retaliation. Ultimately, the worst thing they could do to him was to leave him alone. (YourMileageMayVary on whether this is AFateWorseThanDeath).
** Vulcan Ambassador T'Pel [[spoiler: who is really a Romulan spy called Sub-Commander Selok]] in "Data's Day".
* KilledOffForReal: Aside from Tasha Yar, Spock's father Sarek, who'd first appeared in the original series nearly 25 years earlier, died in "Unification I".
* LampshadeHanging: In "Ensigns of Command", while getting more and more frustrated in attempting to deal with the Sheliak-- or even communicate effectively with them at all-- Picard exclaims, "Ludicrous!" Troi calmly replies, "No, sir, the fact that any alien race communicates with another is quite remarkable."
* LifeImitatesArt: The Tricorders and to a lesser extent the computer [=PADDs=] seen in this version of Trek inspired all kinds of similarly-sized, touchscreen-powered devices, such as tablet [=PCs=], Palm Pilots and the [=iPhone=].
** THE IPAD IS FROM THE FUTURE!
* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: The reason why any promotions were token, or short-lived, or part of.
** Riker has been up for promotion around seven times, He personally refuses because he feels it is more prestigious to be First Officer aboard the Enterprise than Captain of any other ship.
** Picard is ''overly'' qualified for Admiral rank, and has been pushed there many times. He refuses because he joined Starfleet to ''explore'', not to sit behind a desk on Earth or a starbase somewhere. This creates the odd situation of ''Admiral Janeway'' giving him orders in ''Nemesis'', despite the fact he is substantially more qualified and experienced. [[StarTrekVoyager Meanwhile, the aforementioned admiral has plenty of reason to prefer a nice quiet desk job.]]
*** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], however, as captain Picard have had more of a daily, repetive routine. Janeway, on the other hand, was stranded on the other side of the galaxy and had to find a way home while [[AccidentalPun exploring seemingly stranger new worlds and new civilizations]] to make [[first contact]] with hundreds of species and finding neccessary-to-survive-equipment that could be found at your local [[SpaceStation Starbase]] in the Alpha Quadrant.
* LiteralChangeOfHeart: Picard has an artificial heart as a result of a fight in which he was stabbed in the chest. During a near-death experience in a later episode, he was asked by Q if he would like to change that part of his past that lead to that; however, by doing so, he wound up becoming a person who never developed any guts or took any risks.
* LivingMemory
* MatronChaperone: In "The Dauphin", Salia, the future queen of Daled IV, is accompanied by her governess Anya, who is very protective of her. When Wesley is attracted to Salia and they get together, Anya turns into a giant monster and breaks into Wesley's cabin to stop them.
* MeaningfulName: "Data" is named for a word that means "facts and statistics". His {{evil twin}} is named "Lore", which means "superstition and legend", thus marking him as Data's symbolic opposite.
* MegaManning: The Borg have the ability to assimilate technology and knowledge from other species. It is at the very core of their philosophy. As a result most newly designed weapons or tactics will only be effective for a short period of time.
* MexicanStandoff: A staple of later seasons. There is plenty of exposition at gun/disruptor/phaser-point.
* MilkyWhiteEyes: Geordi's blindness, later dropped in ''StarTrekFirstContact'', where he gets cybernetic eye implants that instead gives his eyes a silverish color.
* MindScrew: Several episodes, with "Frame of Mind" being an outstanding example with a standout performance from Jonathan Frakes as Riker. Not so much a case of BreakingTheFourthWall as breaking the fifth, sixth and seventh walls. Into little pieces.
** Also occurs with the back-and-forth dialogue between Gul Madred and Picard in "Chain of Command (Part II)" too, along with some MindGameShip.
** A probably-unintentional example: In "Datalore", they make a big deal out of the fact that Data can't use contractions and Lore can. Lore renders Data unconscious, switches clothing with him and has everyone (aside from Wesley) believing that he's Data. At the conclusion of the episode, Lore (still wearing Data's uniform) is beamed into space, and a moment later the cavalry arrives. Picard asks Data if he's all right, and Data says, ''"I'm'' fine."
** "Ship in a Bottle" has crew defeat Moriarty, whose return threatens the Enterprise ''again'', by creating a holodeck within a holodeck, then beaming him into an active memory core that will continue to run the program he's created with him unaware that the world he's in is not the real one. Picard later muses that Moriarty's new reality may be equally valid to there own and whether their reality is not just a story playing out in a box on someone's table. Barclay, once alone, pauses for a moment to actually ''check'' and laughs at himself when nothing happens.
*** "Computer, end program." And that's when the episode ends. Roll credits.
**** As an aside point, when he says "Computer, end program", the computer apparently does not see fit to respond. It evidently realize that Barclay is just being a nervous yutz again and chooses to ignore him.
* {{Misblamed}}: The racist undertones of "Code of Honor" have been pinned on near everyone on the production staff, but it has been shown that the script only called for a few token ScaryBlackMan bodyguards. The director of the episode (who was fired mid-way) decided to cast every guest star as black and make the alien race an African Tribe InSpace. WilWheaton mentioned in his blog that if it wasn't for that, the stereotypical accents and their [[HumanAliens human appearance]] it might have been a rather good, if derivative, episode.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Subverted in the episode "New Ground," when Worf tells his son Alexander that the rigors of Klingon schools are meant to build character -- but that their staying together will be an even greater challenge.
* MotivationalKiss: In one away mission, Data gets such a kiss from a local girl. He is perplexed.
* MrExposition
* MsFanservice: Troi. Marina Sirtis said that she was thrilled with the role because "There's a little ugly girl inside of me going 'Yay! I'm a sex symbol!'"
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "The Survivors", [[spoiler:Kevin Uxbridge, an immortal being with incredible powers and a lifelong pacifist, admits that when he saw his wife Rishaun murdered by the Husnock, in a fit of blind rage he wiped out ''every'' Husnock, ''everywhere''. And as heartbroken as he is about Rishaun's death, he's even ''more'' devastated by his retribution.]]
** The terraformers in "Home Soil" are devastated to find out that there ''were'' lifeforms on Valera III after all.
* MysteriousPast
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes N-S]]
* NearDeathExperience
* NegativeSpaceWedgie
* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer. In one episode Captain Picard calls up Riker and asks what's going on and all Riker can say is "Trouble."
* NobodyEverComplainedBefore: In "Half a Life", the entire species of people who ritualistically kill themselves on their 60th birthdays seems shocked and baffled when one of their own refuses to do so so (because he needs more time in order save the whole planet - also, he'd fallen in love with Lwaxana). Apparently none of their 60-year-olds had ever had any qualms about dying before.
* NoodleIncident: Despite her showing up a lot throughout the series, we never ''do'' find out just what it is that Picard did to so completely earn Guinan's trust and vice versa.
** The ExpandedUniverse novel ''[[StarTrekStargazer Stargazer: Oblivion]]'' explains that Picard helped her overcome her "serious trouble" (and she means "serious") from leaving [[StarTrekGenerations the Nexus]] in his ''Stargazer'' days.
** However, the reason why Q is so wary of Guinan is never explained.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Jean-Luc Picard, a Frenchman played by an obviously English actor '''using Yorkshire idioms''' - ''Grand.''
** Somewhat TruthInTelevision as many native speakers of other European languages speak English with a British accent.
** Patrick Stewart had tried speaking in a French accent but sounded so ridiculous that he gave up.
** When Picard visits his home village in France his entire family affects the same accent, which suggests that his family and perhaps the whole village or region consists of British transplants. If a sizable group fled Britain for some reason before the 24th century, they could have been established long enough for their accent to become a localized French dialect.
** This actually ''happened'' in reality. Due to the Norman Conquest, during the 13th to 14th Century the English had inherited so much land in France that they owned more of the country than the French did.
* NotNamedInOpeningCredits: [[FakeGuestStar Dr. Pulaski]].
* NotSoDifferent: The Romulans and the Klingons. Despite their intense loathing, the two races actually have ''a lot'' of cultural similarities, both run [[TheEmpire authoritarian Empires]], frequently under military coups, and are the main two powers in the Alpha Quadrant to equip their vessels with cloaking devices (which is implied in some non-canon sources that their initial development was due to a previous technology-sharing agreement, also stated as the reason for Romulans having occasionally been seen in the 23rd century with ship designs resembling Klingon D7s).
* NotSoHarmless: Q in some instances, but especially after the Enterprise's first encounter with the Borg (which he engineered).
* NoAntagonist: After the first few seasons, most episodes were like this.
* TheNudifier: One Ferengi transporter does this when transporting women.
* OneSceneWonder: Sarek in "Unification I".
* OneSidedArmWrestling: Data vs a Klingon
* OneWayVisor: Geordi's a Subversion, rather than leaving us wondering if he can see through it, it's what allows him to see.
* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: Tasha Yar was originally from the [[RecycledInSpace planetary equivalent]] of Bosnia, but managed to get a job with Starfleet.
* OntologicalMystery
* OrphanedPunchline: The Bolian barber, Mr. Mot, has one of these in "Schisms".
--> '''Mr. Mot:''' ...and she said, "If they're not squirming, I won't eat 'em!"
** Sounds like ''gagh''.
* OutOfCharacterMoment
* PalsWithJesus: Q, to Picard's chagrin.
** He even helped God with making life on Earth, Q's contribution? The [[EverythingsBetterWithPlatypi platypus]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Of the nine series regulars who had their names in the opening credits for all or part of the show's run, only Geordi had two parents as of the series's opening (and his mother died in the middle seasons). Worf, Beverly, and Tasha were all orphaned as children (though Worf wound up with a great set of adoptive parents). Riker, Troi, and Wesley each lost one parent when they were children (Riker's mother, Troi's father, Wesley's father). Picard's parents were both dead long before he became captain, though they probably died when he was an adult. The inventor who built Data disappeared when his home planet was attacked and was [[DisneyDeath presumed dead]] until the middle of the episode "Brothers," then [[KilledOffForReal really died]] just a handful of scenes later.
** Also,Guinan's family either died or were assimilated when the Borg all but destroyed the El-Aurians. Alexander, the only semi-regular child other than Wesley, lost his mother as a toddler (and was raised by her alone up to that point). And whenever we had a one-off guest star whose parentage was some sort of plot point, be it a child (Jeremy Aster, Salia) or an adult (Amanda Rogers, Jason Vigo), they had an excellent chance of being ConvenientlyAnOrphan.
* {{Phlegmings}}: Fek'lhr, the guardian of the Klingon hell, as seen in the episode ''Devil's Due''.
* PrinciplesZealot: Captain Picard (and thus his crew) in "Homeward" where he chose to let an entire civilization die, one that they could easily have saved. They commit this genocide-through-inaction for the simple reason that [[{{Alien Non-Interference Clause}} the rules say so]]. Of course, it doesn't take long before a sympathetic civilian TheProfessor character goes all WhatTheHellHero on them.
* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Whoopi Goldberg, who was a big fan of the original series
--> Whoopi (To Gene): I am a Star Trek fan, I was a Star Trek fan long before I was ever Whoopi Goldberg and I'm wondering if there's some part I can play in your show?
* PsychoPrototype: Lore.
* RacialRemnant: The early episode "Haven" has a shipful of Tarellians, the last survivors of a deadly plague.
* RandomPasserbyAdvice:
** After Lt. Barclay gained (and later lost) huge amounts of knowledge, as he's talking with Counselor Troi they pass by a chess game. He moves one piece and says "checkmate in nine moves."
--->Troi: I didn't know you play chess.
--->Barclay: I don't!
** In the GrandFinale, Picard is in the past, on the first voyage of the ''Enterprise-D''. He demands something of the engineering crew, and O'Brien says that they'll have to "burn the midnight oil." [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIlJaSDPaA Data happens to be passing by and mentions that it would not be advisable to do so.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: At the end of "Ethics", Beverly has a beautifully scathing one for Dr. Russell, and does it without even raising her voice:
--> '''Dr. Crusher:''' I am ''delighted'' that Worf is going to recover. You gambled. He won. Most of your patients aren't so lucky. You scare me, Doctor. You risk peoples' lives and justify it in the name of research. But ''genuine'' research takes time... sometimes a lifetime of painstaking, detailed work to get results. Not you-- you take shortcuts... right through living tissue. You put your research ahead of your patients, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a violation of our most sacred trust. I'm sure the work you've done here will be hailed as a stunning breakthrough. Enjoy your laurels, Doctor. I'm not sure I could.
* [[RememberTheNewGuy Remember The New Species]]: The Cardassians are introduced in the season four episode "The Wounded," where it is explained that it has been only a year since the end of the long, costly war between the Federation and the Cardassian Union. However, this information means that the first two years of the show occurred during a war that was never seen, heard or experienced. Just where, exactly, was the flagship of Starfleet while the rest of the fleet was engaged in active operations?
** It makes sense that the Federation's flagship would be one of exploration as opposed to one of war. At many points throughout TNG it's been made clear that the ''Enterprise'''s mission is one of peace. Keeping it on this mission in a time of conflict may be Starfleet's way of demonstrating their commitment to diplomacy. Moreover, the Cardassians aren't exactly the Borg.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Guinan. In "Time's Arrow" Data notes that he knew that Guinan's species was long-lived, but he had no idea that she was actually on ''Earth'' during the 19th Century.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Lwaxana Troi brags she's "Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed", among other boasting of her position (which likely means she's high nobility at the very least.)
** Another of her boasts is "Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix", which her daughter quite bluntly points out is nothing more than:
--->"An old clay pot with mold growing inside of it."
* [[RemovingTheEarpiece Removing The Combadge]]
* RoboFamily: Data has a 'brother', Lore, and even creates his own android 'daughter' Lal.
** Also, [[spoiler: there's an android copy of his "mother" out there as well, who believes she is the REAL woman and is designed to age and eventually die like a human being]]
** And don't forget his 'father', who said he never liked living anywhere without an escape route, and was last seen, apparently mortally wounded, in his fully equipped lab [[spoiler: and he already knows he can transfer a mind from an organic body to an android, having done it with the 'mother' above]].
* {{Robosexual}}: Data and Yar.
* RubberForeheadAliens: So much so that it is often difficult to tell alien species apart.
* SapientCetaceans: A frequent theme in the series.
** The DianeDuane ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' novel ''Dark Mirror'' involves an alien race that's essentially dolphins [-IN SPACE!-] (They're not related to the whales [-IN SPACE-] from ''Star Trek IV''.)
** The ''Star Trek The Next Generation: Technical Manual'' notes that the Cetacean tanks on board contain the dolphin and whale navigational specialists. This is pretty much shout out to ''Gunbuster'', where cybernetically enhanced dolphins form the main navigational computer of the Eltreum.
** One ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' novel had a dolphin as a supporting character, which held the rank of commander in Starfleet. At one point, Riker whistles a specific sequence of notes to get its attention, implying he can speak (or at least swear) in Dolphin.
* ScreamingBirth: If your midwife was a Klingon, you'd be screaming too.
-->'''Worf:''' [consults tricorder] Congratulations. You are fully dilated to ten centimeters. You may now give birth.
-->'''Keiko''': THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING!
-->'''Worf:''' [{{beat}}] Why has it not begun?
-->'''Keiko:''' I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T THINK IT'S UP TO ME! IT HAPPENS WHEN IT HAPPENS!
-->'''Worf:''' The computer simulation was not like this. The delivery was very orderly.
* SecretTest: When Wesley is taking the Starfleet entrance exam his final test is "facing his biggest fear." While he's waiting for the test to start, a fire breaks out in a nearby lab and he can only save one of the techs working there. It turns out that that was the test, his fear was having to make a decision like that, since his own father died in a similar situation when Picard chose the other guy.
* SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes: This trope is most prominent with this show as most ship-to-ship conflicts were tense stand-offs rather than the more action oriented battles of later series.
* ShoutOut: Due in large part to Rick Steinbach being a ''huge'' otaku, there are tons and tons of shoutouts to 80s anime, in particular DirtyPair and {{Gunbuster}}, some blatant, some very very subtle.
** Noonien Soong, the scientist who created Data and Lore, is named after Khan Noonien Singh, the prominent villain from the original series.
** Episode 80 of Next Gen begins with Picard reporting in his log that they just left the same planet that TOS visited in their 79th and last episode.
** "The Mind's Eye" borrows heavily from ''TheManchurianCandidate'', most notably with a scene where Geordi is instructed to kill a holographic version of Chief O'Brien.
** In "[=QPid=]", Q transforms the crew into characters from the RobinHood stories. Geordi is Alan A'Dale, and as a result gets a lute to play with. After a few minutes of tuneless strumming, Worf can't take it anymore, and gets up and smashes the instrument, then hands it back to Geordi, muttering, "Sorry." Much like [[JohnBelushi a certain]] [[AnimalHouse seven-year pre-med student]] did once.
** In "Arsenal of Freedom", when asked by a computer-generated image of Captain Rice what ship he's come from, Riker responds that he's serving aboard the ''Lollipop.'' "It's just been commissioned; it's a [[ShirleyTemple good ship."]]
** The [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nebula_class Nebula-class starship]] was the first new design of Federation ship seen in the series (besides the ''Galaxy''-class ''Enterprise''), and is similar in configuration to the [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Miranda_class Miranda-class starship]] (the class that the [[TheWrathOfKhan U.S.S. Reliant]] is), which was the first new design of Federation ship seen in [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the first series]] and the first new Federation design of the franchise.
** In "The First Duty", the motto of Starfleet Academy is "Ex Astris Scientia" ("From the stars, knowledge"), which was derived from {{Apollo 13}}'s mission motto "Ex Luna Scientia" ("From the moon, knowledge"), which, in turn, was derived from the United States Naval Academy's motto "Ex Scientia Tridens" ("From knowledge, sea power").
** In "Phantasms", Data has a nightmare where Counselor Troi is a cake being eaten, which is an awful lot like the music video for TomPetty's "Don't Come Around Here No More".
* SolarCPR: "Half Life".
* SpaceClothes: The uniforms worn by the engineering staff (a tunic-miniskirt one-piece and knee-high boots, to be specific - and yes, men and women wear the same uniform) and several other crew members during the first season are truly astonishing. And the [[FetishFuel clothes worn]] [[BrainBleach by the denizens]] [[YourMileageMayVary of the utopian paradise]] in "Justice" make them look sensible.
* SpaceFriction
* SpaceIsCold
* SpaceIsNoisy
* SpaceJews: In the second-season episode "Up the Long Ladder", the Enterprise is transporting an entire Irish village, complete with accents, apparel, drinking problems, and chickens.
** The Ferengi, oh so much. The Space Africans of "Code of Honor" are even worse, portrayed as barbaric, patriarchal, er... matriarchal, er... some kind of savages with complex but still demeaning gender roles.
* SpaceMines: Appear in "Chain of Command Part II".
* SpinoffSendoff: "Encounter at Farpoint", with a visit from [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series']] Dr. Admiral [=McCoy=], who inspects the Enterprise-D and gives it his blessing.
-->'''Dr [=McCoy=]:''' Now she's a new ship, but she's got the right name, y'hear? Treat her like a lady, and she'll always bring you home.
* StartXToStopX: In one episode, a scientist intentionally causes a tear in space with a self-destructed warp drive, just to convince the Federation to stop using warp travel so she can prevent that very type of tear from occurring elsewhere.
* StockSubtitle: This was the TropeMaker for the subtitle "The Next Generation".
* [[MeanCharacterNiceActor Stoic Character Cheerful Actor]]: Brent Spiner, who plays the emotionless android Data, has a reputation as something of a cheerful, enthusiastic goofball off the set.
** Likewise Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, is known for being rather gregarious and a bit geeky once he break character.
* StealthPun: * In yet another ''StarTrek'' film, the commanders of a Klingon vessel give the order of "Fire at will." There is an immediate cut to the bridge of their target, the ''Enterprise'', currently commanded by Commander Riker. Will Riker.
** Picard did the same thing in the series during a training exercise.
** And in a StarTrekNewFrontier novel, we get "[[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat I've been wanting to say this for ages]]...Fire at Will."
** That joke was done in ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' too, but the order was followed by a volley of gunfire and the line, [[DontExplainTheJoke "Do not fire at Will, he is my second mate. Fire at the Sea Duck!"]]
* StopWorshippingMe: Plot of the episode ''"Who Watches the Watchers"''.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: The Tamarians, who speak mostly in metaphor. The universal translator can easily deliver the literal meanings, but without knowledge of the myths upon which the sayings are based, it's still near-impossible to understand. [[hottip:*: Tamar, when speaking of the lost and remembered. [[HarryPotter Harry]], with speech beyond the Alley. Picard, his brow furrowed, his mind clouded.]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: K'Ehleyr. Worf avenges her almost immediately afterwards.
* StyrofoamRocks: In "Ethics", Worf's spine is broken when a cargo container falls on him. The way it falls and bounces indicates that it's so light it wouldn't even hurt a human, let alone a big sturdy Klingon.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The entire race of Q, and the mysterious creature in "The Survivors".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tropes T-Z]]
* TaintedVeins: Borg infection.
* TantrumThrowing: According to Worf, this is a stock feature of Klingon courtship.
* {{Technobabble}}: Teraquads of it.
* TeleporterAccident
* TeleportersAndTransporters
* TeleportInterdiction:
** In the episode "Attached", the Enterprise's transporters are redirected by an alien force, so Picard and Crusher end up on a strange planet instead of where they intended.
** In another episode, the Enterprise is in a confrontation with a Romulan warbird. There is a severely injured Romulan on board the Enterprise who can't be beamed to the Romulan ship unless the ship not doing the beaming lowers its shields.
* TerminallyDependentSociety
* ThatCloudLooksLike
* ThemeTuneExtended, since the theme music is taken from StarTrekTheMotionPicture, which has a longer theme.
* ThisIsMyChair: Picard to Wesley in the Pilot. "Get out of my chair!"
** Played with the time Worf was temporarily put in command of the Enterprise to deal with recently thawed [[HumanPopsicle Klingon Popsicles]] who were unaware that the war between the Empire and The Federation was over.
--->'''Riker:''' How did you like your first command?
--->'''Worf:''' ...Comfortable chair.
** TruthInTelevision to a degree. It was an accepted custom during the series run that none of the actors except Patrick Stewart himself sit in the captain's chair unless it was as part of a scripted scene.
*** They let StephenHawking sit in it when he came to film his cameo.
* ThisIsSparta: Picard's "THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!!" from part 2 of "Chain of Command".
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The Duras Sisters.
* * ThrowAwayGuns: While this happens with about as much frequency as any other TV show, one particuliarly notable case occurs in "Time's Arrow," where the crew is shown [[ChekhovsGun a revolver from the late 19th century]] at a site on Earth with evidence of AncientAstronauts. After the crew winds up in [[TheGayNineties the 1890s]], it is revealed that [[spoiler:MarkTwain, suspicious of the time travelers' motives, threatened them with it and left it behind]].
* ThrowItIn: ''Skin of Evil'' was Denise Crosby's last aired episode, with her character being killed off. In the previous episode, ''Symbiosis'' (which was actually filmed later), she's in the background at the end, as Picard and Crusher enter the turbolift. Just as the doors close she waves goodbye to the camera.
* TimeIsDangerous: In "Timescape", Picard is injured when he sticks his hand across the edge of a "time bubble", which causes his fingernails to age faster than his arm. Later, he experiences symptoms of "temporal narcosis" due to a malfunction of the equipment protecting him from being frozen in time.
* TinMan
* TinmanTypist
* TouchedByVorlons
* TricksterMentor: Q... usually. Sometimes he's just screwing with them.
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Lwaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riix, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed.
* TuringTest: Data, as a very sophisticated AI, often demonstrates he passes this test.
** Data tests this out on [[spoiler: Julianna Tanner]] when he realises that [[spoiler: Doctor Soong recreated his wife, and Data's mother]] as an Android.
* TwoKeyedLock: Used for the auto-destruct.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Riker/Troi and Picard/Crusher run through the whole series. [[spoiler:Riker and Troi are married in ''StarTrekNemesis''. Picard/Crusher is never fully resolved, although a DeletedScene from the end of ''Nemesis'' hints that they might have HookedUpAfterwards.]]
** Data and Tasha Yar gave hints of this after they hooked up in "The Naked Now", but this was curtailed by his being an Android unable to express emotion, and her eventual death.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The solution Worf comes up with against the formerly-frozen Klingons in "The Emissary" is an example of this.
* UnwantedFalseFaith: In the episode "Who Watches the Watchers" Picard inadvertently becomes a deity to a group of vaguely-ancient/medieval-tech-using Vulcanoids.
* VoiceChangeling: Data has shown this ability a few times.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Borg.
* VolcanicVeins: The aliens in "Identity Crisis".
* WarriorPoet
* WaterSourceTampering: In one episode, Data -- who has amnesia and doesn't know about his own history or Starfleet -- is accused of poisoning a well in the village he's living in, but he's really trying to cure them of radiation poisoning by putting the cure in the drinking water.
* WeDidntStartTheBillyJoelParodies: The mid-90s ad "[[http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=UumYV2jAAAw We Didn't Start the Series]]".
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Tasha Yar, actress Denise Crosby felt she wasn't useful and asked to be let go. Her death was so sudden that it took a while before you realized she wasn't coming back. A TimeTravel episode briefly brought her back and the subsequent timeline screw-ups resulted in a recurring enemy that [[IdenticalGrandson looked exactly like her.]]
** Leading to an amusing fourth-wall break: Her parts in the episode where she died, ''Skin of Evil'', were shot ''before'' those shot in the episode that aired just before it. If you watch closely, during the prior episode, ''Symbiosis'', you can see her ''waving goodbye''--that was the ''last'' scene that they shot with her.
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: The Federation thought they were prepared for anything. Then Q introduces them to the Borg.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out the final fate of Geordi's mother, who's vessel completely vanishes without a trace, in "Interface".
* WhatMeasureIsANonUnique: Many unique and rare lifeforms, Data included.
** Reg Barclay, who repeatedly demonstrates a firm belief that holograms are real living ''people'', worthy of recieving the same respect given to any organic.
* WhatTheHellHero: Riker and Pulaski in "Up the Long Ladder" get mugged for DNA by a race that propagates by clones. Sure, that's bad, but their response is to ''massacre the clones!'' [[StarTrekDS9 Odo]] will have a point later: "Killing your clone is still murder." The Prime Minister is highly upset with them. With so many undisputible counts against them, Riker and Pulaski would be in the slammer for, like, ''ever''. The only way of salvaging the situation would be if the clones weren't fully developed yet and they technically committed abortion (which is possible given the abortion-heavy subtext that was going on).
** Picard's refusal to commit genocide on the Borg gets him chewed out by his superiors. YMMV on who was right.
* WhenItAllBegan: Khitomer's effect.
* WhiteSheep: Worf.
* WillNotTellALie: Betazoids.
* WorkingWithTheEx: Will Riker & Deanna Troi are ex-lovers.
* WroteTheBook: In "The Best of Both Worlds part 2", Guinan and Riker have an extended discussion of their strategy centering around this metaphor.
* {{Yandere}}: A piece of {{Phlebotinum}} turns Troi into one in "Man Of The People".
* YearInsideHourOutside: "The Inner Light" has a variation that happens in a MentalWorld.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: The flagrant misuse of "sentient".
-->'''Data''': "And though you are not ''sentient'', Spot, and cannot comprehend..."--''Ode To Spot''
** For a species so obsessed with "honour", many Klingons depicted in the series seem to be perfectly comfortable with stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. Subverted with Worf, who gives several epic [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal putdowns]] on just why this sort of behaviour is hypocritical and just what having true honour actually ''means''.
* YouLookFamiliar: Suzie Plakson as Selar, K'ehlyr, and the female Q on ''Voyager'' to name one.
** Look out for the future Tuvok (Tim Russ) playing a human terrorist in "Starship Mine". (And, ironically, ''being the recipient of a Vulcan nerve pinch.'')
*** He also plays an unnamed human bridge crew member in the 23rd century in ''Generations''.
** Marc Alaimo who would become, in ''Deep Space Nine'', Gul Dukat, played 4 different characters in TNG, including the first Romulan seen in TNG in "The Neutral Zone". Most notably he played the first ever Cardassian seen in ''Star Trek'' (Gul Macet in "The Wounded").
** Robert Duncan [=McNeill=], ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'''s Tom Paris, as Nicholas Locarno in "The First Duty." (The character of Locarno was the inspiration for Paris. The ''Voyager'' creators say they didn't plan to hire the same actor; once they realized they had, they considered making [=McNeill=] Locarno on ''Voyager'', but reformulated him into Paris, feeling that Locarno "couldn't be redeemed enough" (read: they didn't want to pay royalties) for what they planned with Paris.
** Ethan Phillips, ''Voyager'''s Neelix, as Dr. Farek in "Ménage à Troi."
*** He also plays the holographic maître d' in ''First Contact''.
** Most jarring of all is James Cromwell as the leader of a potential new Federation alliance world in "The Hunted", when he later played Cochrane in ''StarTrekFirstContact''.
** David Tristan Birke, who played Rene, Picard's nephew in "Family", later played the young Picard himself in "Rascals".
** Max Grodenchik as the very typical conniving, treacherous Ferengi Sovak in "Captain's Holiday"; better known for his later role as the very ''a''typical (and somewhat dim) Rom from ''DeepSpaceNine''.
** Armin Shimerman played both Letek, one of the first Ferengi ever shown onscreen in "The Last Outpost", and the better known Quark -- also from ''DeepSpaceNine.''
** Majel Barrett (who played [[HospitalHottie Nurse Chapel]] in ''StarTrekTOS'', as well as NumberTwo in the original pilot) as Lwaxana Troi, and also the voice of the ship's computer in both series.
** Diana Muldaur, who played Dr. Pulaski in season 2, had two previous spots on the original series (as different characters, no less.)
** Christopher Collins, AKA [[TheStarscream Chris Latta]] played a Klingon Captain in ''A Matter of Honor'' and later plays a Pakled in ''The Samaritan Snare''. Might be more of a case of You ''Sound'' Familiar.
* YourHeadAsplode: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REoN1sEYVZo Not for the faint of heart]]
* YourMom: Riker invokes this when speaking to a holographic representation of Captain Rice in "Arsenal of Freedom", which is trying to get as much tactical information about the ''Enterprise'' and its mission as possible. When the ''faux'' Drake asks who sent them there, Riker says, "Your mother. She was worried about you."
* YouNeedToGetLaid: This is the real reason why Riker asked Picard to buy him a Horg'ahn on Risa in "Captain's Holiday."
* YourNormalIsOurTaboo: Riker falls in love with an alien woman who gets really hated by her own people for their love. Not because he's a human, but because he's a man. Her culture require her and her partner to both be intergender. Essentially, it's inverted homophobia and inverted heterophobia, a fear of having a gender at all. Which is also a cisphobia, an inverted transphobia.
* YouSeeImDying: EvilTwin android Lore is about to walk out on his creator Dr. Soong when the latter reveals that he is dying — as Lore, for all his faults, does have emotions, this makes him stop.
* {{Zeerust}}: So far the show's managed to avoid falling into this trap ''quite'' as hard and as quickly as TOS did... but the biggest exception is noticeable for the kind of computer nerds who love ''Trek.'' In the late 80s and early 90s, the LCARS computer interface looked incredibly slick and high-tech (''touchscreen controls?!'')... but as of 2010, many people would wonder why there doesn't seem to be tabbed displaying, the apparent inability to have multiple applications running at once, and the laughably slow speed at which text appears on screen, line by line, although the latter could easily simply have been implemented as a form of ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation.
** The Original Series was, naturally, far worse. Not just aesthetically - searches of the computer database for particular terms also seem to be conducted manually- ''by hand''- and can take hours (such as in ''The Naked Now''), suggesting that the Enterprise's computer lacks the handy indexing of a modern search engine. In TNG, searches were generally instant or a few seconds, even for a species' entire recorded history or similar, unless they had to process a truly colossal amount of data.
** In-universe. After Wolf 359 ''everything'' changed. The Federation in early series was depicted as filled with [[WideEyedIdealist eternal optimists]]. After Wolf 359, the Federation leaders are shown to be clearly more [[KnightInSourArmour jaded]] and should they have to, will not hesistate to remind everyone just ''why'' they are one of the [[GoodIsNotNice dominant]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes powers]] of the Alpha Quadrant.
[[/folder]].
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