Star Trek was the original science fiction franchise. Laying the foundations for an entire era of cinema, The Original Series stands as one of the most formative shows in the history of Hollywood. While some might argue that the franchise did not have that big of an impact, there is no denying that works like Star Wars wouldn’t have had the success that they do today without the show first gathering an audience for them.
Considering this, one might think that there is no reality in which Star Trek would be influenced by George Lucas’ series. It came first, and it had influence.
However, it would seem that the production of Star Trek: The Next Generation was directly influenced by the release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Star Trek: The Next Generation wasn’t the original plan
1966 was a very different time for television and Hollywood. Creators were more interested in sticking to what worked, and experimental programs were rarely given funding. With this in mind, it is not surprising that Star Trek: The Original Series was canceled after three seasons, with its viewership not being very devoted.
However, the scene drastically changed when the series started to get a lot of attention due to its reruns. All of a sudden, it had a fan following that wanted more from the program, and it was something that studios could invest in. While one might assume that this led to the birth of The Next Generation, the creation of the spin-off was a lot more complicated than this.
In an oral history of the series by Entertainment Weekly, it was detailed that the series was originally titled Star Trek: Phase II. This was supposed to follow in the footsteps of the original show and take off with the same cast and characters.
While this was certainly an interesting creative choice, things completely changed when Star Wars entered the scene.
Star Wars forced Star Trek to rethink their approach
The pilot of Star Trek: Phase II was already written out by the time Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope was released in 1977. However, Paramount took the decision to shelve it for the time being because of one very big reason. The studio noticed the amount of attention and love that the film was getting and realized that there was a completely different approach they could have taken.
Due to the George Lucas franchise, Paramount Pictures decided to create Star Trek: The Motion Picture, trying to conclude the story for The Original Series and open a new chapter within the world that they created. What was originally going to be a new phase in our lead characters’ stories turned into something completely new, and The Next Generation was born with a completely different cast and characters.
While this does sound like an excellent journey, the rivalry between the two fandoms could lead to it not being cherished fully. At the same time, one might argue that the spinoff could have been made so much faster if the franchise had just been more trusting of its viewers.
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