Star Trek: The Next Generation

Andrew Tong’s fansite, called simply Star Trek: The Next Generation, is a relic of the early internet. Made for 640×480 monitors in 1994, the year the series ended, it was last updated in 1996.

Andrew writes he started the site not because he was an exceptionally big Star Trek fan, but because “there was an abundance of digital source material for me to work with” and “because the show’s content naturally provided the kind of snazzy-looking graphics that can catch attention on the web.”

The design may not appear particularly snazzy by today’s standards, but at a time when most websites were still black test and blue links on a white background, Andrew’s stood out.

In addition to a detailed episode guide — often including the scripts of contemporary promos as well as reviews — the main content of the site is the cast section. It lists all the actors who have appeared in The Next Generation with pictures, links to the episodes in which they starred, and their Internet Movie Database profiles.

A trivia section contains another surprising wealth of information, including 1980s and 90s news reports about Star Trek and a “list of lists” by Mark Holtz that tracks, among other things, the episodes in which Wesley Crusher saved the day, the episodes in which he wrecked havoc and the episodes in which anyone smoked. There’s also an amusing list of The Next Generation snafus.

Andrew never got around to finishing the website, as evidenced by a couple of empty sections under trivia. But almost three decades later, it’s still impressive how much information he was able to gather in one website — and it’s a testament to his dedication that it remains online!