Star Trek: The Next Generation holds a special place in the hearts of the fans of the sci-fi franchise that comes second after the original series. Although the series had massive problems, it soon became one of the series that hooked the attention of the viewers and showcased the ethical themes of the franchise, which made it so distinct.
During its seven-season run, the show became so popular that it was regarded as one of the greatest television series, with each episode receiving high praise from both audiences and critics. The final episode was titled All Good Things.
The two-hour finale had initially decided to include an unwanted Borg plot featuring Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard. However, Ronald D. Moore, one of the writers of the series, explained that they decided to skip the storyline that would have bounced between four different events, making it too clustered for a wrap-up.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Almost Dug Their Grave With an Unwanted Storyline in it’s Finale
Star Trek: The Next Generation was released 37 years ago, and it has now established itself as one of the most successful additions to Roddenberry’s franchise. The enduring legacy created during the seven seasons is the result of a dramatically satisfying storyline.
The TV series gained popularity and became so close to cementing its legacy in pop culture. However, this massive feat was possible only if they managed to air a triumphant final season.
The show decided to initially feature a complicated storyline in its runtime of 120 minutes. Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore shed more light on their initial plans for the season finale, which later had to be discarded for good.
During an exclusive interview via Trek Mate Family Network, Moore and Braga had planned a rough storyline that would have featured four timelines. However, the fourth timeline was dropped, where Sir Patrick Stewart’s character would have turned into a Borg called Locutus. He said,
The first story outline, I think, had four timelines that we were going to go back to. The fourth one, which eventually got dropped from the final teleplay, was revisiting the events of [the classic TNG episode] ‘The Best of Both Worlds,’ when Picard was taken and turned into [a Borg named] Locutus. So originally, the finale was going to bounce between those four events.
He further added that Michael Piller, one of the many showrunners of the series, told them that it was too much to take in because they wanted to showcase “the beginning, middle, and end of his life.”
And Michael [Piller], I think, rightly said, ‘It’s one too many, and we want this to kind of be the beginning, middle, and end of his life.’ And that kind of simplified everything, and it became much cleaner and easier to go through it from that angle.
Nevertheless, the story with three alternate timelines featuring Jean-Luc Picard was perfect, where he had to work with three different versions of the Enterprise to fight the anomaly.
The decision was the right one, as the finale could not get any more perfect, taking their viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions.
The Next Generation’s Finale Was Full of All Good Things
The storyline of the grand finale of TNG was perfect and featured high stakes that revolved around Picard figuring out a way to stop an anomaly that grew bigger as it traveled back in time.
If he failed, the anomaly would wipe out all of humanity and some other races as well. The finale felt as if it were a movie, which brought out everything good about a well-written story ages before the MCU did by sewing different franchises together.
Moreover, the finale gave a complete closure to one of the most renowned antagonists, Q, and used him to display more cameos from characters that Trekkies have not seen in years.
However, the finale did not go overboard in character development and cameos, as it also presented gripping action scenes. Hence, the fandom loved the finale, drawing it closer to their hearts.
Star Trek: The Next Generation can be streamed on Paramount+.
