10 Times Star Trek Should Have Known Better

The Next Generation was the first live-action spin off for Star Trek, spurred on by the success of the Original Series movie franchise. Specifically, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was so successful at the box office that Paramount gave the thumbs up for the new show, though there had been plans brewing before that official notice. The registry of the Enterprise-A directly affected the registry of the Enterprise-D, for example. 

While it makes perfect sense that any show would seek to encourage existing viewers to give the new series a chance, remaking one of the seminal Star Trek episodes, The Naked Time, as the second episode of The Next Generation was a poor decision, one that earned derision from George Takei specifically. He described watching the episode as seeing children dressing up in their parents’ clothes, playing imitation. 

Introducing a comedic episode so early on, as well as including that scene between Data and Yar (we’re still not sure how Data was infected with the virus in the first place), combined to give the impression that no one was really taking this new spin-off seriously. Crusher and Picard can barely control themselves, while almost everything that fuels anti-Wesley sentiments are present in this show. Add to this the reused plot of the Enterprise being unable to escape collision with an astral body (this time, an asteroid), and this was a straight up retread of the earlier episode. 

Thankfully, The Next Generation would begin telling its own stories not long after this. Perhaps it is best to skip the following episode, though - as it’s called Code Of Honor.