TNG's Original Plan's Picard Lie Would've Changed The Holodeck

Original Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2 ending had major holodeck implications. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Stewart lied. In seven seasons of TNG, Captain Picard led the Enterprise-D through space and met strange aliens.

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 TNG gave the Federation the holodeck and advanced tech. TNG writers played with genre and transported the Enterprise crew through time using the holodeck.

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Season 2, episode 3, "Elementary, Dear Data," features Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) on a Sherlock Holmes-themed holodeck. 

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La Forge orders the Enterprise computer to create a Data-outsmarting foe, revealing Professor James Moriarty (Daniel Davis). Picard stops Moriarty from leaving the holodeck. The original "Elementary, Dear Data," ending had Picard lie.

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In "Elementary, Dear Data" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, holographic Moriarty draws the USS Enterprise, a major reveal. Data displays this holodeck paper for Picard.

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This paper leaves the holodeck without explanation in the episode. Moriarty could leave the holodeck in the original ending. In Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages.

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Gene Roddenberry cut "Elementary, Dear Data's" ending because it made Captain Picard look shady. Hurley thought Picard smart, but Roddenberry decided. 

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The original ending affected holodeck technology regardless of Picard. Data is "Elementary, Dear Data's" true star," so complicating Moriarty's existence could have slowed the episode and focused on Picard's lie.

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Paper can survive outside the holodeck, but a sentient departure worries me. It's "I am alive, and I am aware of my own consciousness." If Moriarty leaves, the holodeck could create life, affecting Starfleet and the Federation. 

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Also See

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