Star Trek: The Next Generation It's generally remembered by sci-fi fans as peak television, and that's largely because the third season changed the show for the better. Before that, the first two seasons were brutal, with Season 2 ending on a tear-worthy cliffhanger. That episode was titled "Shades of Grey," but had a funnier name because a Star Trek production assistant suggested it be "Riker's Brain" because of the story's super-lazy plot involving Commander Riker.
Riker's brain
"Shades of Grey" is the one and only episode of Star Trek, and the loose plot involves Riker being infected with a virus that soon destroys his brain. Dr. Pulaski attaches him to a machine that stimulates neurons in an attempt to save Commander Noggi, and the result is that Riker has flashbacks to the past two seasons. The idea for the full-length episode was to help the show save money after the second season ran over budget, and production assistant Eric A. Stillwell thought "Riker's Brain" would be the right name for the episode before he came up with the final title.
If you know much about how TV shows are made, you might be wondering why it's called "Shades of Grey." Star Trek A production assistant rather than a writer or producer. The short answer is that Stilwell had the inevitable task of finding all the different clips that the producers could use. He says he spent an incredible 80 hours in one week to get all these clips, so it only makes sense to have a special influence on the final episode's name.
A fitting honor
While the "Shades of Grey" production assistant didn't elaborate on this, it's possible that his "Riker's brain" suggestion was meant to pay homage to the famous episode. Star Trek: The First Series. "Spock's Brain" was the first episode of the third season, and involved a crazy plot (even by 60's travel standards) where Spock's entire brain is removed. "Spock's brain" is considered the worst Original series Class, and considering "Shades of Grey" is one of the worst. TNG Classes, it would only suit him if he had the same name.
While the producers didn't go with Stullwell's original idea, "Shades of Grey" still owes a lot to Star Trek's production assistant. The title often seems nonsensical to fans, but Stilwell likes it "because I decided it was a really interesting piece that wasn't black or white; It was just shades of gray. And going above and beyond, researching clips and naming the segment, the production assistant is given the honor of "researcher" for this segment.
As fans, it may come as a surprise to know that "Shades of Grey" has a name that might be ridiculous, but the show itself is one of the greatest Star Trek stories of all time. It was written by the famous former showman Maurice Hurley, who later said that it was simply a "piece of s***". Fortunately for all of us, the franchise learned from this mistake, and we didn't have to suffer through another whole clip show episode again.
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