TNG Finale’s Signature Poker Game Origin Explained By Star Trek Writer – Screen Rant

Summary

Star Trek: The Next Generation famously ends with a poker game, and writer Ronald D. Moore explains the origin of that iconic and beloved moment. Moore and Brannon Braga co-wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale, "All Good Things...", which had the challenge of wrapping up TNG's historic 7-season run while also opening the door for the USS Enterprise-D crew's jump to feature films in Star Trek Generations. By all accounts, Moore and Braga succeeded in their task, and "All Good Things..." is considered a classic TV series finale, with the poker game as a fitting capstone to the voyages of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) Enterprise.

In the Star Trek oral history, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Ronald D. Moore details how Star Trek: The Next Generation's finale poker game became the "signature of the show," and how it was an order by executive producer Rick Berman to leave the audience with a "warm, fuzzy feeling" that led to Moore and Braga closing out TNG with Captain Picard and his crew playing poker. Read Moore's quote below:

The poker game that ended the episode, and the series, has become the signature of the show. It was a great idea that brought the crew together in a social situation. Its something weve always played through the years, and it seems like them at their best, sitting around, off the bridge, just interacting with each other. Rick Bermans big note on the script was that he wanted the end of the series to have a sweet, nostalgic feel, and he wanted everybody to walk away with a warm fuzzy feeling. That was his dictum to us. We wanted it to be something sweet and sentimental and we wanted the whole family there together, and we did not want to do it on the bridge. We thought it was the most obvious thing to do. The bridge is kind of cold and its not very personal, and we wanted to do one last poker game and end it there with the whole family in a quiet, intimate setting.

Captain Picard joining his crew for a poker game in the finale moments of Star Trek: The Next Generation's finale was a major breakthrough for Jean-Luc. When Picard experienced the alternate future shown to him by Q (John de Lancie) in "All Good Things...", he was dismayed that the USS Enterprise-D's senior staff had broken apart. Captain Picard always kept his crew, even those closest to him like Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), at a distance, but Jean-Luc's ordeal made him realize that his crew was his family. Picard sitting down to play poker with Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and the others - something he "should have done a long time ago" - was Jean-Luc acknowledging how much they all mean to him.

Captain Picard's closing dialogue, "Five card stud, nothing wild, and the sky's the limit" is one of the greatest last lines in TV history.

Star Trek: Picard season 3's ending provided a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation's finale poker game. After saving the galaxy from the Borg one final time, the triumphant Admiral Picard and the USS Enterprise-D's crew assembled in Ten Forward where Jean-Luc invited them to another poker session. This time, Star Trek: Picard showrunner and director Terry Matalas let the camera linger over an unscripted poker game, allowing the audience to see the actors' real-life camaraderie, as Picard tells Riker, "I've come to realize the stars have always been in my favor." Just like Star Trek: The Next Generation's series finale, Star Trek: Picard season 3's poker game left audiences with a warm, fuzzy feeling and a genuine affection and love for these beloved, iconic characters.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: Source: The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross

Visit link:

TNG Finale's Signature Poker Game Origin Explained By Star Trek Writer - Screen Rant