Encounter at Farpoint

"Encounter at Farpoint" is the pilot episode and series premiere of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered in syndication on September 28, 1987. It was written by D. C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry and directed by Corey Allen. Roddenberry was the creator of Star Trek, and Fontana was a writer on the original series. It was originally aired as a two-hour (with commercials) TV movie, and subsequent reruns typically split the episode into two parts. Set in the 24th century (2360s to 2370s), the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, the crew of the newly built Enterprise examine the mysterious Farpoint Station which the Bandi people are offering to the Federation, while under the scrutiny of a powerful godlike entity that calls itself "Q" (John de Lancie). The episode was made as a pilot for the new Star Trek series, and was a double length episode at Paramount Television Group's insistence. After the show was initially announced on October 10, 1986, Roddenberry put together a production team which included staff members from the original series such as Robert H. Justman. The show used some existing sets and props from the Star Trek films and both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Phase II. New actors were hired for the pilot, which in some cases required the character concepts to be redeveloped to better fit the actor. Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby were hired for the roles of Macha Hernandez and Deanna Troi respectively, but were later switched by Roddenberry and Crosby's new role renamed to Tasha Yar. DeForest Kelley agreed to appear in a cameo role in the pilot, but—as a gesture to Roddenberry—refused to be paid more than the minimum possible salary. The show made its debut in syndication to a mixed critical response, an assessment which was upheld by critics reassessing the episode following the end of the entire series. It also marked the first appearance of the emergency saucer separation maneuver and the only time where saucer reconnection sequence appears on-screen.