Roddenberry Made Sure Star Trek TNG’s Biggest Conspiracy Was Dropped

Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 introduced a vast Starfleet conspiracy, but Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry quickly shut down the idea. TNG had a notoriously rocky first season, both in terms of story quality and with writers and producers behind the scenes. Although most TNG episodes were stand-alone stories, TNG season 1, episode 19, “Coming of Age,” not only referenced previous episodes, but also introduced two separate plot threads that would be followed up on in later episodes. The main story of “Coming of Age” follows Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) as he takes the Starfleet entrance exam for the first time, and this would be followed up on in TNG season 2, episode 17, “Samaritan Snare.”