Revealed: Michael Piller Pitched Star Trek: TNG Sequel To TOS Episode “A Piece Of The Action”

Once again our friends at the TrekDocs account on Twitter have revealed an interesting document from their Trek archive. This time it comes in the form of a 1990 memo from Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller to executive producer Rick Berman, who at the time had the final say on what got on the air for Star Trek. The memo covered possible episodes for the second half of the fourth season of TNG. It briefly discusses progress on a couple of ideas that eventually became “Qpid” and “Devil’s Due,” but the main thrust of the memo was an interesting new pitch from Piller.

Fourth season publicity photo for Star Trek: The Next Generation

A return to the ‘Action’

Dated October 17, 1990, Michael Piller’s memo to Rick Berman is titled “HIGH CONCEPT.” Here is Piller’s opening teaser pitch for his new episode idea:

We’re in space… an unidentified ship confronts us, it appears an old starship. The voice on the audio channel identifies himself as Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. End of tease.

Piller goes on to describe the episode as a “return to the planet” (Sigma Iotia II) from the classic original Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action,” which is the one where Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise find a society that had molded itself on a book about Chicago gangsters, left behind by a Starfleet vessel a century before.

That TOS episode ended with McCoy accidentally leaving leaving behind his communicator, which Piller envisioned would result in the imitative Iotions again reshaping their society, this time around the Federation. However, it would be one where they “perverted the ideals and purpose of Starfleet,” combining them with “the morality of the Chicago mob.” Piller’s pitch also called for a cameo of Leonard Nimoy to return as Spock to “straighten these people out.”

Spock and Kirk in the Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action”

Piller’s dare

In general, Star Trek: The Next Generation avoided direct links to the original Star Trek. There was one early episode in the first season (“The Naked Now”) which was a sort of sequel to a TOS episode (“The Naked Time”) but nothing as closely linked as what Piller was proposing.

Piller, who joined TNG in the third season and is credited with improving the overall quality of the writing, was aware there was a wariness around tie-ins to classic Star Trek. He even prefaced his memo saying he expected Berman to reject the idea. However, he also noted that they didn’t have any big ideas set up for February sweeps, and he argued that “now that we’ve established ourselves on our own merits, I don’t feel we need to fear the ‘old startrek’ syndrome as much. If you buy in, it will provide the highest ratings of the season.”

He ended the memo by signing off “I dare you.” According to the TrekDocs people, there is no corresponding response from Berman available. It is likely the idea was quickly rejected and the team moved on to develop the rest of the fourth season.

Piller signed off “Piece of the Action” sequel pitch with a dare

Ideas that lived on

While TNG never did this episode, the notion of following up on the provocative ending of “A Piece of the Action” was certainly something bandied around. TNG and DS9 staff writer Ronald D. Moore also wanted to do a follow-up with the Iotians imitating Starfleet. Moore’s concept had the society holding conventions and allowed for what would have been a comment on fandom itself. When Deep Space Nine was developing ideas for a special episode celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise in 1996 Moore pitched the idea again, but it was rejected in favor of “Trials and Tribble-ations,” which had the DS9 crew travel back in time to the events of the TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Follow-ups to “A Piece of the Action” were addressed in the non-canon extended universe of Star Trek books, comics and games, and some picked up on the idea that the society would be influenced by the visit of the USS Enterprise. In fact, the 1989 book The Worlds of the Federation, published a year before Piller’s memo, stated the next vessel to visit Iotia after Kirk’s Enterprise “found what at first appeared to be a Federation Starbase, complete with uniformed personnel and communications on Starfleet frequencies.” And in 1998, the tenth and final issue of Marvel’s Star Trek: Unlimited comic series – titled “A Piece of Reaction” – had the TNG crew on Enterprise-E return to Sigma Iotia II expecting to find the planet still styled after the 1920s Chicago, but instead find the society had reshaped itself around a version of Kirk’s Starfleet, albeit without the same moral code.

Cover for Star Trek Unlimited #10

In November 1991, a little over a year after Piller wrote his “HIGH CONCEPT” memo, Leonard Nimoy did return as Spock for the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode “Unification.” The fifth season episode celebrated the 25th anniversary of the franchise and found Spock on the planet Romulus trying to bring about unification of the Romulans and the Vulcans in a sort of follow-up to the classic TOS episode “Balance of Terror,” which introduced the Romulans and their link back to Vulcans. “Unification” was based on a story by Piller and Berman, so the pair were in agreement about bringing Nimoy back for a big ratings event.

Leonard Nimoy appeared in TNG one year after Piller’s memo suggesting a cameo

Here is the tweet from TrekDocs if you want to read the full memo.

 

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After unification, didn’t Nimoy suggest he was interested in following up that story but the call from Berman never came. Although it was briefly discussed as a story thread for generations.

That’s what I remember hearing too. Leonard Nimoy talked about it (I think) during the audio commentary with William Shatner on Star Trek IV. I was pretty disappointed in Unification although a few of the Spock/Picard scenes were fun and the Spock/Data scene was really great but way too short. I would have loved a follow-up done better.

Berman and Nimoy didn’t really gel. I don’t think it was bitter or anything, I think they just did not see eye to eye on a creative level.

Actually quite liked the first half of “Unification,” which had a lot of production value and set up an intriguing mystery. Ironically, it was conclusion featuring Nimoy that fell somewhat flat. As Kirk would say, “C’est la vie.”

As Picard would say, “Merde” ;-)

Really? Well, even Piller (whom I personally regard as the savior of TNG and have nothing but admiration for, to the extent that I attended his memorial service) came to admit that his half of “Unification,” after a very able setup by Jeri Taylor, was something of a fizzle. Sorry.

Unification as I recall was done to advertise for Star Trek VI and get some Star Trek VI buzz transferred to TNG (as I recall the episode mentions Khitomer). It sort of worked, one of the few times ended up really excited back then to be watching a TNG episode. At the end of the day Star Trek VI delivered some real Trek, which was nice given the eerie disappointment that was V and TNG, that seemed to follow up to the excellence that was the whole Genesis Arc and all the mainstream excitement around Star Trek IV. You really had to worry that with TNG, Star Trek IV was the end and everything else was going to be this lackluster perversion.

We all know you don’t like TNG and that you don’t consider it to be “real” Trek, for heaven’s sake. (I suspect even the gods have been made aware of that by now, and are frankly bored with all the repetition.) By the time “Unification” aired TNG had improbably become a hit with audiences and critics alike, and thus hardly needed “buzz” from Trek VI which, whatever its virtues, ended up being a very modest success at the box office. None of which has much to do with subject of this thread in any case.

Cmd. Brennon repeats things more than a parrot does. We get it, he didn’t like TNG. Get over it and move on.

I did like DS9, ENT (though wasted opportunity) and now Discovery. Trek is back in some ways!!

>inb4 “Wagon Train to the stars”

“You really had to worry that with TNG, Star Trek IV was the end and everything else was going to be this lackluster perversion.”

What on Earth?! If you hate everything post The Voyage Home, why do you even bother coming here to comment? I genuinely don’t get you whatsoever!

He’s one of these hypocritical Trek fans who act like something in the franchise was the worse thing ever created and yet its pretty obvious the guy watched EVERY episode of TNG lol. Because someone made him watch all 178 episodes…and of course the films.

I didn’t like Enterprise. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t like it. I stopped watching after the first season and didn’t watch the rest until 8 years after it went off the air because I finally decided to give it another chance and ended up really enjoying it. But yeah I had a lot of issues with it early on and simply gave up since I wasn’t into the prequel idea instead of moaning about how horrible every episode was for years on end. But ‘fans’ like this are eye rolling. If it was so horrible why did you keep watching it? Obviously it couldn’t have been that bad or his life was just that boring. One or the other.

I had a similar experience with Enterprise. The bulk of my watching for that was after it was added to Netflix. Wasn’t crazy about it, didn’t dislike it either. I ended up rather enjoying it when I finally watched the entire series all the way through.

Fizzle? I prefer to play fizzbin instead.

I have to admit when I first watched Unification as a teenager back then I was really bored about the story line. I didn’t care about the Vulcans and Romulans getting back together and it just kind of dragged for me. BUT I will say watching it later as an adult I really enjoyed the story. I guess thats what happens with a little maturity and hindsight. I will say it didn’t end as strongly as I liked but I liked the episode a lot now and in fact rewatched a few weeks ago.

The scene between Spock and Data is one of my favorite character moments in the franchise.

Yes, Unification was a massive letdown in part two.

In truth, Spock was only really in one episode, not two (a photo and a couple of lines at the end of the first part, taken from the opening of part two, are barely a cameo.) TNG had a nasty habit of making two-parters with corking first parts that chickened out on the resolution. I mean, who were the Romulans on those invading ships? Perhaps if we’d met one or two of the soldiers, come to understand why they believed invading Vulcan was the right thing to do, seen them die, seeing a grieving Perrin react as the ships enter Vulcan space, it would have been better than the ‘tell, not show’ we got.

Seeing the soldiers would have given the story some scale and made us appreciate the stakes – TNG was always collectivist and bad at handling individuals, being more interested in ‘the people’ en masse or ‘societies.’

The problem with Spock was that he needed Kirk and/or McCoy to bounce his dialogue off. The lack of either of the other two, leaving Mr Nimoy acting next to the TNG cast, made him also seem rather boring and perhaps showed that Spock was like the ‘tonic water’ in a gin and tonic: essential but less interesting on its own. Also, really, Unification is two 45-minute individual stories, with a through line, rather than a cohesive 90-minuter.

A sequel to A Piece of the Action, though, could have been great fun. It’s way too subversive for someone who was, frankly, as unimaginative a showrunner as Rick Berman, but it could have been played both ways: an old-school Constitution-class starship where the characters are just like those of the Kirk TOS era meets the TNG crew and each has to reassess the way they do things when confronted with a different morality. To the TNG crew, the Ionian Starfleet is a throwback to cowboys and frontiersmen (the ‘cowboy’ insult being a common one in Berman’s Treks) while, to the Ionians, the TNG crew are the equivalent of city slicker lawyers and slimy politicians.

Ah, the fun that could have been had!

Bingo Dom!

Great points all around (with the exception of the totally unnecessary “collectivist” barb, sheesh), and we’re very much in agreement about the TNG two-parters, “Chain of Command” being perhaps the one notable exception.

Your point about Spock alone is a very relevant one, something that Nimoy himself realized years earlier. He mentioned in a book about Shatner back in 79 how defining Spock would have been much harder with Hunter instead of Shatner, because the way the latter carved out his part of the scene made Nimoy’s own work stand out in relief. He also even ventured the opinion that without Kirk, Spock would not have a proper function, and probably wouldn’t live long were Kirk to die (which tied in with the authors’ take on Alexander the Great and his buddy Hephaestian.)

Practically everything in p2 of that seemed recessive, except for the Yar-thing (and that just seemed a mess), and nothing seemed to gel.

Completely disagree; first I think the second half was excellent, even if the b story kind of dragged to full out the runtime.

Narratives the romulan invasion was executed a bit weakly (just three ships to invade an entire planet?) but I attribute that more to budget.

As for “Spock alone” I feel completely the opposite. Unification proved he didn’t need Kirk to shine. Bouncing off the TNG cast proved what a great character he truly was. His scenes with Data, a similarly emotionless character, and even the stoic Picard, were a particular standouts. But even his verbal sparring with Sela, and his relationship with Pardec were superbly written and performed all around.

One of my absolute favorite TNG episodes, and further proof that the cast of that show outshines TOS.

Nimoy though is in a world his own in Trek, and this episode proved it. So glad he was revived for it and the Abrams movies in lieu of Shatner.

SanFranDisco

Spock was the most emotional character of the lot. That was his greatest dilemma: striving to control his extremely violent Vulcan emotions, which is much harder as a result of his human ancestry. You’re demonstrating the great failure of understanding that resulted in Berman Trek always having duff Vulcans.

Placing Spock with Data was simply putting the two shows’ ‘freak’ characters together. It was a dull scene that only worked because the two actors were so good.

Picard and Spock was as offensive to me as Picard and Kirk. Picard is TNG’s Spock (Data is TNG’s Xon.) Every time I hear Picard in Generations pull that ‘You are a Starfleet officer’ tosh, I keep wishing Jim would smack him in the chops. ;)

To me, Unification was absolute proof that TNG and TOS should never cross over. Star Trek was a strongly libertarian, romantic series, while TNG was an extremely authoritarian, naturalistic one. They’re oil and water.

Part 2 was filmed before Part 1 I believe, which may explain a little at least, why the episode feels uneven, even by TNG two-parter standards.

Nimoy/Spock was good I’ll agree, but I found Part 1 far more enjoyable than Part 2. I cannot understand why they didn’t make this a cohesive 90 minute episode on the Blurays! It would benefit from not being broken up.

Interesting. February sweeps used to be huge.

Interesting idea.
But,I don’t think that they needed it.

Actually I suspect “Unification” WAS Berman’s reply to Piller. And we ended up all the better for it, for “Unification” was a vastly more interesting story than the tired old “Parallel Development” plot.

I see UNI as a missed op on all levels, myself. TNG should have been mature enough by then to realize they could have some fun and then resume the biz as usual without calamity, but we’re talking about a lead presence b-t-s who wouldn’t take advantage of good dramatic underscore and apparently feared antennae, so what can you reasonably expect?

I think Melinda Snodgrass talked about this on the TNG Blu Ray special features — about how the writing staff wanted to do it when she was on the show, so the idea seems to have originated in Season 3 at the latest.

Another case of Piller messing over Snodgrass? Honestly, I would probably have mostly good feelings about the guy if not for how he caused HIGH GROUND and others to get trashed that involved her.

What did he do to “The High Ground”? I love that episode. How did you find this out? I watch all the special features and didn’t find out about any of this. I’d love you to tell me where I could look this up.

Muldfeld,

Snodgrass talked about this in CINEFANTASTIQUE I believe. She talked about how ENSIGNS OF COMMAND got wrecked in an afterword to the CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER book published in the mid 90s too.

Originally HIGH GROUND was about a planet in revolt, where Feds supported the government there while Roms were aiding the rebels. Eventually Picard realizes that this is America and England all over again and he is aiding the wrong side. THAT’s the kind of show I want to see on TREK, not the kind where perceptions go unchallenged or are bypassed with a convenient undramatic ‘we’re evolved beyond that kind of thing’ shtick.

I believe Snodgrass described GROUND as having her hands tied behind her back and then being ordered to write.

Thanks, kmart, for letting me know and explaining. I haven’t seen the episode in a while, but I found it very politically challenging, though I don’t recall the characters’ stances — other than Crusher coming to sympathize with the terrorists. I believe the episode was banned in the UK for quite some time because they found it offensive in sympathizing with the IRA. I’m not saying you’re wrong at all, though.

I thought the aired version was okay, but the unmade version has always struck me as a MAJOR missed opportunity. Then again, Stewart might not have approved, he didn’t like Picard being weak in Q WHO and that is one of the character’s best moments when he is humbled at the end.

This would have been quite enjoyable. TNG was great, however some episodes are just terrrrbal.

– TOS Kirk would be so adamant about protecting his crew, his people, that he would destroy a whole planet in retaliation if need be [general order 24].
– TNG Picard is willing to sacrifice his entire crew or crewman for his extreme interpretation of the prime directive [Justice, etc, etc]

TNG could have benefitted from more episodes with TOS tie-in’s.

Absolutely. There’s a reason why a blockbuster movie trilogy was based on TOS as well as Discovery trying very hard to be TOS’ little brother (or in their case sister) not to mention video games, etc while TNG nostalgia is pretty much limited to Seth McFarlane. One was the Wagontrain to the Stars; the other Love Boat in Space.

Do I really need to point out how much actual history you’re eliding over to make that statement?

Yes and Beyond bombed. And while I like Discovery, even with my issues with it, I don’t know a single person in real life watching it sadly. I found out a week ago two of my coworkers never even heard of it.

But TNG at the time was huge, talked about everywhere before the internet was a thing. I remember talking about it fondly with my friends and we watched it loyally every week just to discuss it afterwards and it got us into the later shows. That was probably the most fun to be a Star Trek fan because so much was going on. I doubt Star Trek will ever get to that level again.

I watched BEYOND several times, in fact. Found it to be the best of the 3.If it wasn’t for the let down of INTO DARKNESS, more people would have gone to see it. It felt more Star Trek-y than the first 2 reboots.

I did too. In fact its the ONLY film I paid twice to watch in IMAX. But yeah, the reality is still the same, a lot less people bothered with it than the other two, on the 50th anniversary of the franchise no less. Its not to say another one couldn’t generate more interest but the fact there is no guarantee it can is probably why there seems to be less interest in making another one. Maybe Tarantino’s involvement will help get it off the ground but it could be something completely different from the KT films.

Beyond Boring should never have happened. the 3rd Kelvin/50th anniversary movie should have been the Shatner/alt reality/time travel stuff Orci was going to do. maybe with some Klingon war stuff thrown in as well (leading on from STID)

I do agree the story probably felt too small and a bit generic. It comes down to another supervillain to conquer the Federation, only we spend most of the movie on a pretty dull planet involving some weird mcguffin I still don’t quite understand how it works. And I remember when Pegg described it in an interview as a big budget TOS episode. That sounded like Insurrection to me, which many felt was a big budget TNG episode. Its a way to appeal to the hardcore fans but it didn’t make either film feel cinematic enough for everyone else IMO.

But yes I also think there were other problems like that first trailer that probably left a bad taste in people’s mouths and destroying the Enterprise so early on in the film. For a lot of people thats another character unto itself. Its been destroyed before in TSFS and Generations but never so early.

An utter wasted opportunity to build on the 2 JJ films (ok some fans may have disliked STID but general audiences seemed to dig it) with a movie that could have put Trek beyond the 500m barrier.

I’m HAPPY TNG didn’t do more TOS tie-ins, let it be its own thing. Its too much fan service and nostalgia going on in these franchises. Thats what I loved about the show, that it wasn’t TOS in the future.

And DS9 is really the one that did most of the TOS tie-ins, which I have to say I really did like most of the time, including obviously Trial and Tribbulations. But I’m happy the shows mostly did their own thing with call backs whenever appropriate.

Excellent call in not producing this episode. “A Piece of the Action” is not a particularly memorable TOS episode, aside from the fact that Shatner got to ham it up a notch more than usual. By contrast, “Journey to Babel” and “The Enterprise Incident” were; Unification wasn’t a direct sequel to these, but they do explain some of Spock’s motivations in reaching out to Senator Pardek.

I agree. Piller made some great stories with TNG and others but this would’ve been a bad call. A Piece of the Action is one of those TOS stories that is fun to watch for the campiness but it doesn’t need to be repeated. Its fun though to watch Shatner chew up the scenery like he hadn’t eaten for weeks.

It would’ve turned into an excuse for Bermanco to take shots at TOS, not realizing or caring that TOS is what the fans wanted in the first place. “A Piece” was the first episode I ever saw, late one night on a local Fox affiliate back in the late 80s when getting a clear Fox reception was a minor miracle. Yes, it was campy and silly. But it also sparked an interest that’s never waned even as the quality of product went to shit after 1993. So this particular episode holds a special place in my heart.

Certainly, there were better episodes to do sequels to. I think a Day of the Dove sequel would’ve been fascinating, with the Klingons being replaced with the Borg. Imagine the horror of being assimilated over and over, just for the anger alien to undo it and restart the cycle. Also would’ve offered the opportunity for a long Picard speech (who himself would have to get over the mecharape of Locutus to work out a solution with the Borg).

Please. Berman was involved in a few direct tie ins to TOS with the Mirror Universe episodes on DS9 and Enterprise and Trials and Tribulations. None of them ‘took shots’ at TOS and in fact are some of the best made episodes of the franchise. They went out of their way to try and honor TOS as best they could.

The Scotty show absolutely took shots at TOS, though in such a bad way it made Geordi seem like more of a jerk than the TOS guy.

James Doohan got to have some fun in this episode, too – I love the scene between him and Krako in the transporter room – “You mind your P’s and Q’s, mister, or you’ll be wearing concrete galoshes!” – “You mean, cement overshoes?” – “Uh… Aye.”

Vic Tayback and Anthony Caruso were both great guest stars, too.

If you let yourself go and loosen up a little “A Piece of the Action” is a fun show. It would have been a treat to see a sequel. Not everything has to be so heavy and dire in Star Trek.

Great article… but no comment on the often forgotten Star Trek: 25th Anniversary classic Nintendo video game… where indeed, the Iotians are revisited and have been playing around with advanced technology thanks to McCoy’s wayward communicator. Not as exciting as a TNG episode, but it was compelling and enjoyable to play as a kid back then.

Holy crap, I remember that game!! Totally forgot it existed. I’ve always thought of the PC version of 25th Anniversary, as it was much better. But yeah, you’re right. The Iotians do pop up again in the NES one. Good catch.

– Picard would have loved to get his Dixon Hill trench coat out of the closet for this…

– Regarding the “Starfleet imitators” angle, the closest we actually got are two different Voyager episodes: “Live Fast and Prosper”, wherein the imitators were conmen, and “In the Flesh”, wherein Species 8472 of all people painstakingly recreated Starfleet Academy – even complete with their own Boothby!

– And this is probably just pure coincidence, since this is were the similarities end, but Piller’s proposed teaser reminds me quite a lot of the last minutes of the season 1 finale of a certain more recent Trek series…

I’m sad we never got to see Moore’s version for DS9 which would have been a planet of bad Shatner impressions. I get that they didn’t do it because it would have made fun of the fans, but it would have been good silly fun. We did get the wonderful tribble ep instead so I’m not too mad about it.

Yup. They probably feared having the entire population of Iotia dressed in 60’s Starfleet tops, would’ve been seen as a dig at Trekkies, and reinforcing the stereotypical media portrayal. Worse still a poke at the old show, instead of a celebration. Certainly a fine line would’ve had to be walked, with some not seeing it as a valentine at all.

Then again, Futurama’s “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” is one of the best tributes I think I’ve ever seen! And pretty much anything on The Big Bang Theory among the worst.

I can’t help but think that would have come off as very, very silly. Like the “Wormhole X-Treme!” episode of Stargate SG-1.

LOL can you explain more please? I never heard about this.

Somehow, get that ship marooned on The Royale’s Casino Planet and you have Space Las Vegas!

The 1980’s DC series used Animated Series characters, had continuing original characters of their own, and used characters from the novels as well (for example, when Diane Duane wrote for them, she used her original novel characters).

All that was around when Paramount began enforcing ideas of “canon.” There are various theories about why this happened, not all of them complimentary, but it’s when, for example, TAS was officially written out. So when DC began anew after ST V, they had to get rid of all their original characters, get rid of the TAS characters (they replaced them with original characters who, of course, had to be written out eventually), and were not allowed to reference any Pocket Books books.

So when the Iotians eventually put in an appearance, Shane Johnson’s idea could not be used. The planet was peaceful but otherwise unchanged. They did bring in suitcases of cash for Kirk’s “cut” they assumed he wanted. And on the way out, Oxmyx flipped Bones his untouched communicator. “We figured you’d get mad if we messed with it, so we saved it for you.” “Thanks, I’ve been worried sick.”

When fans wrote in to complain that Johnson’s idea was so much better, the editors responded that, yeah, it was, but they weren’t allowed to use it.

In the same issue, the Eminarans also were given a much different story than Johnson had given them. In the latter, they made peace, but in the comic, they only did so after a massive real war in which millions were killed.

I don’t know why Marvel was allowed to use the idea. Maybe they altered it sufficiently, or maybe Paramount loosened up.

Has anybody else noticed that Chaos on the Bridge is on Netflix? I watched it this weekend. WOW there were some massive egos around.

Guess I know what I’m doing tonight.

How does one “watch the shit out of” something? Such classy writing right there.

I think that would have been a fun idea. To bad.

Awe man, that could’ve been great. Done proper, it couldve been another TNG episode I actually like! Oh well. Is what it is. I can say this, however. As of the weak wrap-up of Discovery, TNG is no longer my least favorite interpretation of Star Trek. Take a bow, Discovery…you’re the new low-man on the totem pole.

Picard really spent a lot of time looking down his nose at Starfleet’s ‘good ole’ days’. Considering that the standard for contact by the Federation is possession of FTL drive, it might have been interesting to see how Picard, who would never stoop so low for a Piece of the Action, would have to deal with a society who acquired FTL through underhanded means.

Agreed, generally, it would not have killed TNG to have drawn a bit more heavily from it’s TOS history, even if some of it was made up.

I am sure that one day, this idea will be televised.

dswynne,

“The revolution will not be televised.”

First of all, I would have LOVED to see this episode. It really is a shame that Berman didn’t seem to embrace the original series like Doctor Who embraces ITS original series. Imagining a TNG where Kirk and crew’s adventures are given sequels on occasion (but not too often) would have been fun, and this is the perfect episode for a followup.

As for Unification, the problem with it was that nothing in that episode required Spock. Any generic Vulcan could have played Spock’s role. There were a few ties to TOS and Sarek, but not enough to really make it a Spock episode. And yeah, it wasn’t really a Spock two parter because he wasn’t in the first episode any more than Mark Hamill was in Force Awakens.

yes now think about it the end of Force Awakens is very similar to end of Unification 1. also the way Luke removed his hood was same as Spock at end of III

Force Awakens was even worse. At least Spock spoke.

I would have loved to have seen this rather than the decidedly mediocre Unification two-parter.

When we eventually get a Trek series set in a post-TOS era, it would be awesome to revisit this.

Piller had some good ideas! The piece of the action, one would’ve been epic!

This episode was done. It was called Galaxy Quest.