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
Star Trek: The Next Generation including some soft reboot elements with an all new cast. Some episodes connected to "TNG" directly including guest stars by Brent Spiner and connections to the events in "TNG"'s fictional universe. The three-episode story arc consisting of "", "Cold Station 12", and "The Augments", with a Soong ancestor portrayed by "The Next Generation" regular Brent Spiner provides some backstory to Data's origins. Also, the "Enterprise" episode "" also helps explain the smooth-headed Klingons that sometimes appeared, a retcon that helped explain this varying presentation between "TOS", "TNG", and the films. "Star Trek" would not return to television as a show