Encounter at Farpoint

"Encounter at Farpoint" is the first episode and series premiere of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered in syndication on September 28, 1987. It was written by D. C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry and directed by Corey Allen. Roddenberry was the creator of Star Trek, while Fontana was a writer on the original series.

In this episode, the crew of the newly built USS Enterprise-D examine the mysterious Farpoint Station which the Bandi people are offering to the Federation, while under the gaze of a powerful alien entity that calls himself Q (John de Lancie).

The episode was made as a pilot for the new Star Trek series, and was a double length episode at Paramount Television Group's insistence. After the show was initially announced on October 10, 1986, Roddenberry put together a production team which included staff members from the original series such as Robert H. Justman. The show utilized some existing sets and props from the Star Trek films and both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Phase II. New actors were hired for the pilot, which in some cases required the character concepts to be redeveloped to better fit the actor. Both Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby were hired for the roles of Macha Hernandez and Deanna Troi respectively, but were later switched by Roddenberry with Crosby's new role renamed to Tasha Yar. DeForest Kelley agreed to appear in a cameo role in the pilot but as a gesture to Roddenberry, he refused to be paid more than the minimum possible salary. The show made its debut on syndication to a mixed critical response, an assessment which was upheld by critics reassessing the episode following the end of the entire series.