Star Trek's Coolest Bad Guys Accidentally Created the Franchise's Worst Episode
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Pop quiz, hotshot: what do you think is the worst Star Trek episode? There are great contenders, including vintage stinkers The Original Series as “Spock's Brain” and later as “Code of Honor.” However, many fans agree that the biggest culprit was “Shades of Gray,” the Season 2 finale Star Trek: The Next Generation. The reason this episode is so infamous is that it's the first and only Trek clip series, which happens to be as cheap as it is boring.
Ending on such a negative note seemed very strange TNGits second season included bangers like “Q Who?”, which introduced Borg. However, as it turns out, there is a surprising relationship between these two episodes. If The Next Generation I hadn't introduced bionic baddies who would become the biggest villains of the franchise, “Shades of Gray” would not have been made!
They Take Our Songs
Here's a quick summary (just think of it as the script equivalent of a clip show): “Shades of Gray” is the episode where Riker gets a virus in a plant, and he only has hours to live. At sickbay, Dr. Pulaski hooked him up to a machine designed to regenerate his senses so he could fight the virus. Of course, the “regenerative neurons” plot is just an excuse for the episode to turn into a clip where Riker flashes at various times from the first few seasons. All of these clips mysteriously help cure Riker, though they will haunt Star Trek fans for the rest of our natural lives.
Also, “Shades of Gray” was the first clip show in Star Trek history, and it was so bad that the franchise never made this mistake again. That leads to the obvious question: why did the producers create this episode in the first place? Even in the '80s, clip shows had a reputation for being cheap, lazy, and uninspired. So, why would a twelve-course series trying to be taken seriously use the oldest and most hated trick in television history?
Money Talks, Travel Walks
The answer, of course, is money. It may not have existed in the 24th century (at least, in the form of the Federation), but cold, hard cash was still there. a lot important in the 20th century. Paramount had so much production money Star Trek: The Next Generationand some episodes cost more than others. This often involved compromises, so if the network was paying too much for certain fonts, others would get a shorter font. This is where bottleneck episodes come in: having certain episodes that require fewer actors and sets makes big, blockbuster episodes more affordable.
The name “Shades of Gray”. a lot it's cheaper than regular episodes, and the reason for this is that the network already made less money at the beginning of the season. As recorded in Captain's Logs: The Complete Adventure of Unauthorized Adventuresepisode director Rob Bowman said “Shades of Gray” was Paramount's way of saying, “We gave you more money for 'Elementary, Dear Data' and the Borg show. Now, do us a favor and give us a three-day show. So that's what you do. It's an accepted part of the grammar.”
When it comes to money, resistance is futile
“Elementary, Dear Data” was the episode where Data played Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck, opposing Moriarty who managed to endanger the entire ship. That episode was also directed by Rob Bowman, who once noted how expensive it was for Paramount to create a Victorian-era set for Data's mystery-solving shenanigans. He estimated the cost at $200,000, which was big investment in what was intended to be a one-off.
“The Borg show,” of course, refers to “Q Who,” which introduced the Borg to the franchise. While the episode didn't require the production crew to recreate 19th century England, it did require them to create a new bionic race and ship design: the iconic Borg cube. Additionally, the episode featured a cool new Cube interior set and action scenes. In addition, “Q, Who” featured the return of John de Lancie, a much-loved guest The Next Generation history. All those costs added up, left very little money to create a Season 2 finale.
That's how we got “Shades of Gray:” after spending so much money bringing the Borg to life, the TNG production team had to create a clip show on a shoestring budget. It was also shot in a record three days only. In context, most early episodes take eight days to shoot, and Rob Bowman was upset that he previously only had to shoot “Elementary, Dear Data” in seven days because he felt too rushed. A three-day shoot was unheard of, and the legal need for speed is a big part of why this episode (which only has three sets) is so bad.
Perfectly Appropriate
Undoubtedly, though, “Shades of Gray” was worth it, because this episode was worth it like that hot mess of a low-budget slop, the producers had enough money to introduce the Borg into the franchise. They quickly became fan favorite villains, eventually serving as the Big Bads of Star Trek: First Contactwidely considered to be the best TNG films. Later, they served as the main villains of Voyager before appearing to torment the crew of the Enterprise one last time in the final season of Star Trek: Picard.
Without the Borg, it is entirely possible that Star Trek would not have become a cultural phenomenon. Fortunately, these ruthless robots have reinvigorated the franchise, giving fans the coolest villain since Khan. In true cosmic irony, though, we wouldn't get the worst villains in the franchise if it weren't for him even worse A Star Trek episode ever made.
