Star Trek: The Next Generation is the sci-fi show for anyone who grew up in the ’90s. And a contributing reason for its incredible popularity was Brent Spiner’s performance as the Enterprise’s android second officer, Lt. Commander Data. Most of the show’s most memorable and humorous moments came via scenes surrounding Data’s fumbling through attempts at appearing human.
Since Data provided so much of TNG’s comic relief, it’s only fitting that someone decided to edit together scenes from the show as if they were the opening credits to a wacky family sitcom from the ’90s. The opening credits video below comes to us (via Laughing Squid) from YouTuber Thomas Price of TrainDozer.
There is also a “pilot” episode, which is basically a re-edit of the second episode of the series, “The Naked Now.” It’s a pretty bad episode overall in its original form (a remake of a superior ’60s series classic) and it’s easy to make it look like a cheesy sitcom with the right canned laughter and reactions.
If the theme music and the font seem familiar to you, it’s because they’re riffs on one of the most quintessential sitcoms of the era, Family Matters. Price changed the lyrics of course, making them a little more 24th century specific. Does this mean that Data is the Urkel of Starfleet? Actually, that honor probably goes to poor Wesley Crusher instead. Sorry about that, Wesley. Patrick Stewart simply credited as “Jean-Luc” is a nice touch too.
CBS
A lot of the clips in the cut are just random silly moments from the TNG outtakes and bloopers. And if you look carefully, series creator Gene Roddenberry is in one of them goofing off with the cast. If we have one complaint at all, it would be the fact that Gates McFadden got totally omitted from the whole video. Dr. Beverly Crusher is simply nowhere to be seen at all. Even Denise Crosby, who played Lt. Tasha Yar for only one season, gets her name in the opening credits. Maybe on Data there are just no doctors on the ship, and all the laughs come at the expense of all those untreated phaser burns.
Featured Image: CBS
