The Next Generation character who embodies the spirit of the original Enterprise isn't Beverly Crusher

Star Trek started with the original series in the 1960s, and fans loved it. Yet, when a new show was announced in the latter part of the 1980s, fans became skeptical. They weren't sure if the show would have the same spirit as the first show and to a degree, they were right to be worried. The Next Generation was different, but not in a bad way, but in a good way. The kind of difference you find when you cook 100 meals and notice that your 100th is better than your first.

It's not that the first was bad, it was just so new. The follow-up show took the teachings of the first show and expanded upon them, making it a bit more polished. Yet, the spirit of the original remained in some ways. While the Enterprise was no longer the hook-up ship from the 1960s, the captain was more refined, and fewer interstellar incidents occurred because of the hubris of some, the new Enterprise still had that adventurous spirit.

But it wasn't in the show's lead, Jean-Luc Picard. It wasn't even in Beverly Crusher, the character that Montgomery "Scotty" Scott claimed it was in. In Star Trek issue 15, now on sale, Scotty claimed that the good doctor captured the spirit of adventure that the original ship had.

This isn't simply true, rewriting a character's personality for one comic doesn't change the fact that Crusher was not that adventurous.

No, her son was more adventurous than she was. But of all the officers we followed, it would be Geordi La Forge who really embodied the idea of pushing the known into the unknown. As both the ship's pilot and later chief engineer, La Forge found himself in numerous instances of exploration and adventure with maybe the most compelling being the time he and a Romulan had to help one another stay alive, despite one another believing the other to want him dead.

While each character has some aspect that reminds you of a time prior, it's La Forge who fully embraces the idea of exploration among his Next Generation brethren.