Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jean-Luc Picard
6. Is That A Rip Off? When Patrick Stewart Saw Red
Abhorrent as it may sound, it is actually perfectly acceptable to enjoy parodies of Star Trek. Patrick Stewart needed to take a moment to remember this though in late 1993 or early 1994.
Red Dwarf first aired in 1988, though Stewart was unaware of it while in America, filming Star Trek: The Next Generation. When he returned to the UK, he was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon an episode. He recalled that in those first few moments, he was incensed, as he believed Red Dwarf to be ripping off The Next Generation.
He said that his hand was already on the phone receiver while the show was still playing, and he stopped in his tracks as one of the scenes had him laughing. Then he watched a bit longer and found that he was actually truly enjoying the show. Red Dwarf is a comedy that uses SciFi tropes as complementary to its character settings, though, despite many mutations, there are no aliens.
After sitting through the episode, Stewart had become a fan, seeing the series for what it was - a fun, comedic take on space-travel, with some elements he wished they'd been allowed to do on Star Trek to boot.