By Chris Snellgrove
| Printed 27 seconds in the past
Nowadays, Star Trek: The Subsequent Era is taken into account the gold customary of the franchise. When followers complain about NuTrek exhibits like Discovery or Starfleet Academy, they’re normally griping that these new sequence are nothing just like the adventures of Captain Picard and crew. Nevertheless, what many fashionable followers don’t understand is that, in its early days, TNG was one of many worst exhibits in all the franchise. That’s principally as a result of Season 1 was a practice wreck, one full of stiff characters and stiffer tales that ranged from inexplicably attractive to unspeakably racist.
Season 2 was a common enchancment, although the present was nonetheless very tough across the edges. Sadly, it ended with “Shades of Gray,” a finale so unhealthy that almost all followers think about it the worst episode of all the franchise. Thankfully, that episode saved Star Trek: The Subsequent Era, albeit unintentionally. That’s as a result of this episode was so unhealthy that it made everybody concerned say the identical factor that Bruce Wayne mentioned after watching his dad and mom get gunned down: “by no means once more!”
You’ll Need To Burn Your Eyes After Watching
“Shades of Grey” is an actual warfare crime of an episode, so I’ll spare you the difficulty of watching it with a fast abstract. Mainly, Paramount compelled everybody to create an ultra-low-budget bottle episode, so the writers developed a skeletal plot about Riker getting a fast-acting virus that may shut his mind down in hours. Dr. Pulaski develops a tool to assist stimulate his mind with recollections of his numerous adventures from the final two years. In actuality, the reminiscence stimulation plot was simply an excuse to create Star Trek’s first and solely clip present episode, with Riker watching the worst set of nonsense video snippets this aspect of TikTok.
Just about everybody concerned with “Shades of Grey” hated it. This included then-showrunner Maurice Hurley, who (as recorded in Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Full Trek Voyages) later dubbed this episode a “Piece of sh*t.” He lamented that “It was imagined to be a bottle present. Horrible, simply horrible, and a approach to avoid wasting cash.” Nevertheless, the present wasn’t going to be Hurley’s drawback anymore as a result of, as he bluntly acknowledged, “I used to be on the way in which out the door.”
Two Beams, One Cup
In an interview with The Official Star Trek: The Subsequent Era Journal, “Shades of Grey” director Rob Bowman basically disowned his work. He mentioned that this was “principally a money-saving episode. All we shot was three days of framework, they usually simply caught in flashbacks. That’s all it was.” To listen to Bowman inform it, this was an episode in title solely, with Paramount simply throwing in a bunch of disjointed clips and calling it a day. That is a part of why legendary TNG author dubbed it an “embarrassment” in one in every of his well-known AOL chats, deeming it (together with “Up the Lengthy Ladder”) because the worst episode of the sequence.
Nevertheless, one man feels that Star Trek: The Subsequent Era owes a debt of gratitude to “Shades of Grey.” That man was veteran producer Peter Lauritson, who spoke concerning the matter on the DVD particular options for TNG Season 2. “It was simply… we discovered from that. I believe, most likely, the worst we ever did,” he mentioned. “It was like ‘By no means once more.’ ‘Shades’… I don’t even need to bear in mind it.”
The Worst Of Each Worlds
On reflection, Lauritson was right, and everybody concerned with Star Trek: The Subsequent Era by no means made an episode even practically as unhealthy. Over on IMDB, it’s the lowest-rated episode of all time, however the total high quality of episodes steadily elevated after this. Granted, credit score for this principally goes to Michael Piller, who revamped all the writing staff when he grew to become showrunner in Season 3. However some credit score should additionally go to “Shades of Grey,” an episode so unhealthy and so universally hated that it taught the writers and producers precisely what to not do with this formidable sci-fi spinoff.
Whereas Season 2 was typically an enchancment over Season 1, Star Trek: The Subsequent Era was nonetheless an awfully tough sci-fi spinoff. “Shades of Grey” taught the writers and producers a serious lesson by means of the best instructor of all: failure. Had this crappy clip present not been the worst episode of Trek ever made, TNG won’t have grow to be probably the most foundational little bit of style tv of the twentieth century. On this approach, it’s honest to say that the worst episode of Star Trek’s most beloved present helped save probably the most influential sequence in sci-fi historical past!
