An episode that had the potential to be as polarizing (or as ridiculous) as DS9's baseball episode later became, "IQ Test" would have seen Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D crew pitted against representatives of an alien race in an Olympic-style series of athletic contests held at the behest of Q and one of his fellow Continuum dwellers. Originally a spec script submitted by a freelance writer, the teleplay was polished by staff writer Herbert J. Wright and was apparently in serious danger of actually being produced before being (wisely) deep-sixed by producer Michael Piller. While very few specific details from the script have ever been publicly divulged by the writers and producers involved, one can only imagine the dizzying array of possibilities that existed: Data and Dr. Crusher in an inter-gender synchronized swimming death match with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance? Captain Picard showing off his fencing chops? Worf being made to appear in awful sports-themed episodes of two different Star Trek series? The mind boggles at the potential competitive scenarios, and one is left to wonder, given Star Trek's track record for topical social commentary, whether the story would've featured a doping scandal and/or a host venue without flushing toilets and hot water.
Recovering print journalist, writing professionally since 1991, polluting the internet and wasting the world's bandwidth since 1995. Board-certified Doctor of Memetics and Trollology, offering free consultations to qualified patients.
