In the Star Trek franchise shows Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, each show almost always had 26 episodes per season. Besides Voyager's first season, the only exception in this is the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which instead had 22. Why is this?
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5What, you wanted more Pulaski episodes?– Darrel HoffmanCommented Jun 30, 2021 at 13:36
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2I was hoping for one where she fell down an elevator...– Harper - Reinstate MonicaCommented Jun 30, 2021 at 18:45
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1That's turbolift, Harper.– Ham SandwichCommented Jul 4, 2021 at 1:20
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@HamSandwich Or maybe Harper meant she'd go back in time...– AnonymousCommented Jul 4, 2021 at 1:32
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2 Answers
Because of the 1988 Writer's Guild of America Strike. Technically it occurred at the very end of the previous season, but the next season was impacted more heavily because the producers weren't able to consult with the writing team on the upcoming scripts.
In the end they padded out the season out to 24 episodes by recycling a TOS script, adding a clip show and showing a 'Star Trek TOS -> Star Trek TNG' two-hour special hosted by Patrick Stewart.
Extensively discussed in this series of interviews:
answered Jun 29, 2021 at 22:17
There was a writers' strike in 1988.
The Writers´ Guild of America went out on strike in the spring and summer of 1988. They demanded more creative control and residuals for the shows they wrote.
The writers of ST:TNG at Paramount joined in despite their Sacred Duty.
The strike ended on August 7, but the production pipeline was adversely affected, and ST:TNG wasn't able to start airing until November 21. (This episode, "The Child", contained the first appearance of Whoopi Goldberg playing Guinan.)
