Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Most Influential Invention Isn’t What You Think

The most influential invention to come out of Star Trek: The Next Generation may come as a surprise. With its feature-length premiere in 1986, Star Trek: The Next Generation ushered in a golden age of Star Trek and introduced a whole new era of fans to the franchise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his USS Enterprise-D crew became just as beloved as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew had been. Set about 100 years after Star Trek: The Original Series, TNG introduced some great new characters and technologies to the Star Trek universe.

The USS Enterprise-D was significantly larger than Captain Kirk's Enterprise and had several notable upgrades. Introduced in the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the holodeck was one of the major new technologies that changed the future of Star Trek. But another TNG invention had even more of an influence on every Star Trek show that followed. The crew of the Enterprise-D came to feel more like a family than anything else, and the creation of the Ten Forward lounge helped foster this feeling.

Why Ten Forward Is Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Most Influential Invention

Ten Forward Helped The Enterprise-D Crew Feel More Like Family

Ten Forward first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2, episode 1, "The Child," as an inviting lounge area aboard the Enterprise-D where crew members could take a break from their regular duties. Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan also made her debut in this episode, as the El-Aurian bartender who was always willing to provide a listening ear. Many important conversations occurred in Ten Forward throughout TNG's run, some of which would have felt out of place on the bridge or in someone's private quarters.

Guinan was one of the few people Captain Picard sought out for advice, although the Enterprise-D captain didn't frequent Ten Forward as often as his crew members. Ultimately, Ten Forward allowed TNG to reveal more about its characters, which was part of the secret to its success. While inventions like the holodeck or ungraded comm badges altered the way Star Trek tells certain stories, Ten Forward changed the way Star Trek approached its characters. Nearly every Star Trek series that followed TNG has had some kind lounge area, allowing them to explore who their characters were during their downtime.

Almost Every Star Trek After TNG Has A Version Of Ten Forward

Some Great Star Trek Scenes Have Taken Place In Bars Like Ten Forward

After Star Trek: The Next Generation popularized the more casual bar setting, many other Star Trek series followed suit. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Ferengi entrepreneur and occasional criminal Quark (Armin Shimerman) ran his eponymous establishment, Quark's Bar. From its bar to its gaming tables to its holosuites, Quark's had something for everyone and served as the location of many memorable scenes. Both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made great use of the bars on the USS Discovery and the USS Enterprise, giving the characters a place to unwind and get to know one another.The lower deckers of the USS Cerritos also spent a decent amount of time on their ship's bar in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Star Trek: Picard even brought back Ten Forward itself, in the form of an actual bar located at 10 Forward Avenue in Los Angeles (run by Guinan herself). All of these bars and lounges allowed their respective shows to add more depth to their characters and make them more relatable. While epic space battles are great, some of Star Trek's best scenes have come in quieter moments in locations like Star Trek: The Next Generation's Ten Forward.