The Bizarre Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episode Written For Another Show
Whether you love it or hate it, it’s impossible to deny that Deep Space Nine is a very unique flavor of Star Trek, and not just because of all the root beer talk. The show had very distinctive characters and storylines, resulting in episodes that felt vastly different from earlier series. But here’s an ironic twist: “The Storyteller,” one of DS9’s most original early episodes, was developed from a story originally written for The Next Generation.
The Storyteller Originally For The Next Generation
In fact, what would become “The Storyteller” goes all the way back to the earliest days of TNG. Kurt Michael Bensmiller originally pitched this script for that show’s first season, but it was never adapted into an onscreen adventure for Captain Picard and his crew.
The script impressed Michael Piller when he became TNG’s showrunner, and he later decided that it would work well as a DS9 story.
A Simpler Time
In this way, “The Storyteller” hearkens back to a simpler time many modern TV writers would kill to return to. Back then, Paramount accepted spec scripts, which led to some writers getting much-needed TV credits and others (like future Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald Moore) getting staff jobs.
Bensmiller had successfully pitched the TNG episode “Time Squared,” and after his second story was rejected, it looked like it might never see the light of day.
A Matter Of Desperation
However, his script for “The Storyteller” was kept at the Paramount office, and it won over Michael Piller once he read it. However, the showrunner still didn’t think the script was suitable for The Next Generation, which is why it never got picked up for that series.
When Piller became the showrunner for the spinoff series Deep Space Nine, however, he finally brought this story to television, though this was a matter of desperation as much as creativity.
No One Liked It
To hear Piller tell the tale, he might have brought “The Storyteller” to TNG rather than DS9 if anybody else liked it as much as he did.
According to Captains’ Logs Supplemental–The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, the showrunner kept the script for three years bringing it out “every season” in order to ask his writers if they should use it.
Consistently, though, “Everybody reads it, and they say let’s not do it.” Piller was quite blunt about the general assessment of this script: “They just didn’t like it.”
Just Needed An Episode
Why did “The Storyteller” finally make it to TV, then? Two months had gone by without Paramount purchasing any DS9 scripts and Piller needed to find some good stories to use.
He gave the green light to this script for the simple reason that “I needed some shows and I needed to put some things into development.”
This was good news for Kurt Michael Bensmiller, but he had to hurry: once Piller contacted him, the writer had to start adapting “The Storyteller” for a new show right away.
He also had to do so without ever seeing any episodes, as he was crafting this script several weeks before Deep Space Nine premiered. It was co-written by future showrunner Ira Steven Behr, and together, both men get the credit for introducing the awesome Bashir/O’Brien dynamic that would resonate throughout the entire show.
Such A Weird Episode
It’s a bit difficult to imagine how “The Storyteller” would have worked on The Next Generation, especially because the main story involves Chief O’Brien dressing up like a D&D bard and dealing with a cloud made out of fear.
Maybe Dr. Crusher could have bonded with the creature due to her special (ahem) relationship with ghostly entities. Although if she spent a night of weird passion with both the cloud monster and her candle lover, the subsequent journal entry would be enough to make even her frisky grandmother blush.
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