10 Star Trek Episodes That Started As Something Completely Different
8. The Child
The Child is the first episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The story revolves around an alien lifeform impregnating Deanna Troi so that it can experience life through the eyes of a corporeal lifeform. Ian, as Troi names the boy, is born, ages and dies all within a matter of hours.
The script originated as part of Star Trek: Phase II. This was the abandoned series that was replaced by Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It would have dealt with the ongoing adventures of the original Enterprise, although post-refit. In that script, Lt. Ilia, who appeared in The Motion Picture, played by Persis Khambatta, would be the one to become a mother to Ian. However, in that version of the script, the Enterprise herself would have become pregnant too.
'Ian' would have been a baby girl named 'Irska' here. The child would also have posed issues for the Enterprise, but, rather than weakening the hull as Ian does, Irska would have been the focus of an alien cylinder that posed problems that only she could solve.
The original script by Jaron Sommers and Jon Povill was rewritten by Maurice Hurley. It was used because of the Screen Writers' Guild Strike of 1988.