Star Trek: The Next Generation Original Series" in 1969, the "Star Trek" franchise had continued with "" (1973–74) and a series of films, all featuring the original cast. In the 1980s, franchise creator Roddenberry decided to create a new series, featuring a new crew embarking on their mission a century after that of "The Original Series". "TNG" featured a new crew that starred (for the majority of its seven-year broadcast run) Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Brent Spiner as Lt Commander Data, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf, LeVar Burton as Lt Commander Geordi La Forge, Marina Sirtis as
Borderland (Star Trek: Enterprise) Series" and "The Next Generation" due to ongoing low ratings. It was not originally planned to include an ancestor of Noonien Soong in the episode, with executive producer Manny Coto instead planning for the character to be Colonel Phillip Green from "" episode "The Savage Curtain". The character was to be a straightforward villain, but after discussion with "" Spiner, the character was re-written to become Arik Soong, described as a "misunderstood genius". It was Spiner's first "Star Trek" role since the film "Star Trek Nemesis" in 2002, having previously played Arik Soong's descendant Noonien Soong and his creations Data