The start of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was a difficult and tempestuous time.
Many Trekkies will be able to tell you the series of events: “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” wasn’t the enormous hit that Paramount wanted when the film was released in 1979, and “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry was uninvited from participating in any further sequels.
Smarting from the rejection, Roddenberry eventually turned back to TV, developing an all-new “Star Trek” show at the studio’s behest.
This show was to be the purer version of “Star Trek,” complete with Roddenberry’s infamous “no infighting between the characters” mandate that so frustrated his writing staff.
Roddenberry was also determined to retain as much control as possible over “Next Generation,” causing him to butt heads with, well, just about everyone around him.In brief, in the show’s first two years, there was a lot of chaos.
One of the show’s main cast — Denise Crosby,…
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