Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for a total of 7 seasons, during which time 178 episodes were released. While the series gave fans of the franchise a plethora of memorable characters and storylines, the existence of so many narratives means that some are bound to be off the mark.
Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard undoubtedly stands tall among the kind of characters The Next Generation boasted of. However, even the franchise’s flag-bearer had his issues with certain aspects of the show.
In particular, Stewart called the second episode of the first season, The Naked Now, a ‘s*x farce,’ and claimed in his memoir that it smacked of desperation, even if fans of the show grew to like the particular episode.
Patrick Stewart called The Next Generation’s The naked Now a ‘s*x farce’
The episode, which was released after the two-part Encounter at Farpoint, was marred with doubt from fans and actors alike. The Next Generation opened with plenty of fans questioning whether it would be able to match the kind of success the original series enjoyed, and while that eventually happened, Patrick Stewart was not happy with the way the series began.
The episode itself saw the entire crew of the Enterprise being infected by a virus that made them act, well, horny for each other. Describing it as a ‘s*x farce’ in Making It So: A Memoir (via Looper), which was released in 2023, Stewart claimed the following: (via Slash Film)
“Dr. Crusher gets horny for Picard, Picard gets horny for Dr. Crusher, and Tasha Yar gets horny for nearly everyone before focusing on Data. Denise’s and Brent’s dialogue has become notable in Star Trek lore. Tasha, writhing in a midriff-exposing outfit, asks Data if he, being an android, is ‘fully functional.’ He responds, ‘I am programmed in multiple techniques – a broad variety of pleasuring.'”
After filming the two-part premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint,” Stewart was already nervous with respect to the future of the series. For that to be followed by such a s*x-frenzied episode was bound to alarm him, even if things turned out just fine.
Patrick Stewart had every right to be worried about The Naked Now
Brent Spiner and Spot in Star Trek: The Next Generation | Paramount+
The Next Generation’s pilot saw the series start off by staying true to the franchise’s roots. It was the same familiar type of science-fiction, space opera that viewers had initially fallen in love with. However, The Naked Now immediately came after it, and was in itself a bit of a s*x comedy which saw a range of questionable dialogues and raunchy scenes.
Brent Spiner’s Data, an Android, hooks up with Denise Crosby’s Tasha Yar, while Picard is shown having a crush on Gates McFadden’s Dr. Crusher. Furthermore, a range of characters were also shown naked, and the kind of ideas simply did not please Stewart.
He believed, that instead of The Naked Now being the second episode of the series, it should have been created as part of a later season. This, according to the actor, should have happened after The Next Generation had already worked through a ‘cupboard of good ideas.’
Still, the episode itself was created as a tribute to the original series, and was praised by fans despite the kind of content it featured.
The Next Generation is available to be streamed on Netflix.
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