I've seen it said that TNG was centered around Picard, Riker, and Data like TOS was centered around Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. But I've always thought of TNG as an ensemble cast. Thoughts?
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No TNG was definitely a full ensemble cast. I think people say that because Data is an obvious analog of Spock. But if this analogy is to hold, who is McCoy? Riker? Crusher? It doesn’t make sense.
I think they just held onto the TOS traditions of strong captain as the lead with a Spock-like character and diverse remaining cast. But TNG had more space to work with the non-lead actors than TOS did partially because it had TOS’s world building as a foundation.