The final episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," called "All Good Things...", aired on May 23, 1994, though many Trekkies weren't completely heartbroken. While viewers will no longer be able to watch the weekly adventures of the Enterprise-D and its stalwart crew, they all know that spinoff feature film, Star Trek: Generations it was due to hit theaters in just six months. In addition, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was already entering its third season, and Star Trek: Voyager was in active development. I'm telling you, the 1990s were a great time to be a Trekkie.

Of course, at the time many fans wondered why The Next Generation felt the need to stop after just seven seasons. Ratings were high and the show's cultural popularity was undiminished. The cast has even signed on to star in season eight, ready to endure another year in space. There was every reason to assume that The Next Generation would continue indefinitely, or at least until audiences stopped paying attention.

However, the fact was that the series was becoming too expensive to produce. The main seven cast members (Gates McFadden, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes) were getting higher and higher salaries, and the show's producers knew they had to keep pushing the boundaries of TV. . special effects to keep audiences engaged in a galaxy-spanning space opera. And there were other, more technical costs to consider; it appears that Paramount had a tough time selling "Next Generation" to local TV stations.

All this was detailed in July 1994 New York Times article. Not only was the cost of The Next Generation getting too high, but the show's unusual distribution model was becoming less and less sustainable. Instead of continuing to push the limit of unbalanced ledgers, the studio ended the series while still riding high.

For most of its history, Star Trek has dealt with unusual distribution models. The original series aired on NBC but did not become a cultural phenomenon until it was sold into syndication; The series became a phenomenon only in reruns. The Next Generation, meanwhile, was sold directly to local TV stations, rather than tied to a network (Paramount didn't seriously attempt to launch its own TV network until 1995). To buy The Next Generation, a local station had to repeat each episode at least seven times, allowing for a glut of The Next Generation reruns; there was a time when you could watch both Star Trek and The Next Generation on a daily basis.

Of course, with seven seasons and 278 episodes, the promise of reruns of each one seven times raised concerns. Which station would be willing to commit to buying 1,946 hours of TV? Would viewers stay interested in seven full checks from one series? It was a time commitment that Paramount knew it would have trouble selling. Also, spending trends in 1994 dictated that newer episodes command lower prices than early ones, not higher. This meant that Paramount would generally make less from Next Generation sales, just when it was costing more and more to make (thanks to rising salaries and SFX budgets).

Overall, it just wasn't economically feasible. In short, The Next Generation ended because there were already too many. That will be much later The Star Trek film and TV rights would be split between two companiescomplicating matters further.

According to a 1994 article in EWthe cast was not told any of the above information. They only heard stories about their show's high ratings and knew they had a deal for an eighth season. When Paramount announced they were canceling the show, no one could give the cast a solid reason why. They must not have been told the labyrinthine details of local television distribution deals. A movie, of course, was planned, but actor Jonathan Frakes saw no reason why the movie couldn't be delayed another year. He expressed his frustration this way:

"I have not been given any reason that it holds water." (...) Maybe (Paramount) thought they couldn't make the movie and the TV show at the same time - although I don't know why the movie had to. Some of us were hoping there would be an eleventh-hour delay, that Paramount would realize how much money earn the show for them and change their minds.

According to Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman, the decision to end The Next Generation after seven years was all Paramount did. That was decided before Star Trek: Voyager aired. The writers, while perhaps feeling a bit burned out, were still on board, and the cast seemed game (though Spinner was quoted in the EW article as somewhat dispassionate). But like all things, it came down to money. The EW article also quoted Paramount CEO Joel Berman (no relation), and he noted that a film franchise would be more profitable than a TV franchise.

Of course, the cancellation of The Next Generation after seven years set the template. Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager ran for seven years, and 2001's Star Trek: Enterprise would have followed suit had it not been canned after just four. And now, in the age of streaming, services can buy entire shows without having to commit to seven reruns, changing the rules entirely. Of course, even with the new rules, Star Trek remained ubiquitous.