10 TV Shows That Were Saved By One Genius Tweak
3. Adding Q To The Pilot At The Last Minute - Star Trek: The Next Generation
There's no denying that the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was quite the rocky ride indeed, but it very nearly faced even more of an uphill struggle retaining viewers if Trek creator Gene Roddenberry got his way.
Originally Roddenberry wrote an hour-long pilot for the show, but Paramount ultimately demanded a two-hour pilot, at which point Roddenberry had to find ways to pad out the story.
And so, he came up with Q (John de Lancie), the inter-dimensional being who puts humanity on trial in the episode.
Q's presence certainly helped imbue the relatively sleepy pilot with some much-needed energy, and the character proved enough of a hit that he reappeared numerous times throughout TNG's run, cementing him as an all-time fan favourite Trek character.
Had the pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," simply been a one-hour episode without Q as Roddenberry initially intended, it's difficult to imagine it making quite the same impact with fans.
And yet, Roddenberry clearly knew what he had once he came up with Q, because though other Trek writers suggested to him that the character wouldn't work, he confidently retorted, "The fans will love it."
TNG is so much more than Q of course, but without the charismatic nudge he gave the show at the outset, who can say where it would've ended up?