People

By Martha Smilgis

Their mission will still be "to boldly go where no man has gone before," but when the Paramount TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation blasts off in October, don't expect to see Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock or any of the old crew at the blinking controls. Set in the 24th century, 76 years after the original series, the refitted Enterprise will feature, along with new sets and special effects, a fresh crew, including a blind lieutenant, a superstrong android, a half-human, half-Betazoid female counselor, and a captain named Jean Luc Picard, played by British Actor Patrick Stewart, 46. "He is a bit older and wiser than Kirk," Stewart observes of his character. "But like Kirk, he is strongly independent and something of a legend as an explorer." One of the few returning veterans is Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry. Says he: "The show will deal with problems that have arisen during the past two decades, such as terrorism and drugs." Roddenberry is firm about one point: the new Trekkers will never reveal what finally happened to the old crew. Could it be the Klingons won the war?

With reporting by David E. Thigpen/New York