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He should be listed as the creator of the series alongside Gene Roddenberry. The defining elements of TNG that mark it as distinct from its predecessor were, nearly, all David Gerrold’s ideas.

In very, very early publicity for the series, like Entertainment Tonight’s earliest pieces on TNG, David Gerrold is not just another guy in the writing room; he is treated as a showrunner by the publicity of the series (though that term obviously was not in widespread use in 1987). And this is not just my opinion, either: there’s actually a complaint with the Writer’s Guild that David Gerrold was essentially assigned producer duties, but was not paid as a producer – a suit that Gerrold won to the tune of six figures.

This early piece here in Starlog says that David Gerrold wrote the series Bible for TNG: 

What’s more, many of Next Gen’s unique elements are Gerrold ideas. In David Gerrold’s World of Star Trek essays in the 1970s, which were widely reprinted, Gerrold called for the following changes to Star Trek:

• The first officer should lead away missions, not the captain (Gerrold preferred the term “contact team” in the 70s, though he later used the term “away team”)
• Since deep space missions are non-violent and require a great deal of time (possibly a decade or more without seeing a starbase), families should live on the ship alongside the crew.
• The Klingons will, probably in the future, become allies of the Federation, and we may see a Klingon serve in Starfleet. Gerrold’s phrasing was “today’s foes are tomorrow’s allies.”
• If families serve on a ship, it therefore stands to reason that mental health would be significant, and an important officer would be a ship’s therapist or counselor, who would be in on meetings and consulted. 

To be clear, Gerrold’s essays were not obscure little memos in Paramount. They were widely read in the fandom world. If you’re old like me, you probably remember reading them back in the day.

David Gerrold had a lot of other ideas that were only partially used. For example, he believed fashion would be totally intersex (which explained why, in early TNG episodes, there were men in miniskirts), and that homosexuality would be widely accepted in the future (in fact, Gerrold wrote an AIDS-analogue episode that was rejected that may be one of the most famous unmade episodes of TNG’s first season, which would have had gays in Starfleet as early as Next Gen season one). “Blood and Fire” is to TNG what Ellison’s “Perils of the City” is to the original series, better known as a script and lore. 

Not all of these ideas were that progressive. Some were kinda…loopy.  David Gerrold also wanted dolphins and whales to be a part of the crew, used as navigators, in sections set aside as their own tanks. Like the idea that the captain would only make decisions with his therapist beside him on the bridge, talking dolphin crewmembers seems to be the idea that dates TNG most firmly to the 1980s. You can kinda tell that Gerrold lived his whole life in California. 

One character in particular was David Gerrold’s idea above all else: Lieutenant Worf. Here’s a publicity image from early TNG. Notice anyone who’s missing? Worf was not anything other than a background character, until at Gerrold’s insistence, he was elevated in the script. 

Gene Roddenberry in particular did not like Worf as a main character (as a background bit, that’s fine), but Gerrold guided him into a main character role.

To be clear, not every TNG idea was Gerrold’s. No show is ever just the vision of one person. The holodeck was mentioned in Gene Roddenberry’s original proposal for the original series in 1964, but they only had the ability to show it come the animated series in the 70s (as all true trekkies know, the animated series, not TNG, introduced the holodeck). Gene L. Coon made many additions to Trek lore, but that one was all Roddenberry’s. Emergency Saucer Separation also was mentioned in the original series as well, as an emergency tactic. The Q were the most Gene Roddenberry idea of all: a godlike alien race that puts mankind on trial for barbarism (and to his credit, the original writing room thought he wouldn’t work). 

Data actually came from an unaired Roddenberry pilot about a robot searching for his creator who becomes best friends with a human engineer, the Quaestor Tapes (in fact, the robot there actually says “I am fully functional” and I almost fell out of my chair). Troi and Riker are essentially reskins of Ilia and Decker from Star Trek the Motion Picture. Andrew Probert created the Ferengi, the look of the TNG Enterprise, and the idea that the bridge is more of a “hangout spot” due to automation, since the operation of the ship could be counted on to work without someone manning stations like in a submarine. Love him or hate him, the Borg were mostly producer Maurice Hurley’s idea. 

Gerrold left after the first season, but don’t feel bad about Gerrold, though. It feels like every other superhero project draws from his Man Who Folded Himself, about a guy who time travels so often that he splits the timeline over and over and interacts with endless variations of himself. His alien invasion series, War Against the Cthorr, was fascinating in that it was an alien invasion that is ecological in nature, with a hostile alien ecosystem that replaces our own. In other words, he is a great writer independent of Trek and it rubs me the wrong way people call him the “tribble guy” still. And he is still very much alive, although, tragically, he has succumbed to being extremely online. 

Flowers are awesome, uncle Harry too. So, of course, Teddy gives him flowers.

Thank you Andromeda for your beautiful garden.

Harry and Teddy

We need more things about Harry and Teddy

Teddy has a favorite uncle beyond anyone else, and Harry has a favorite nephew beyond anyone else.

Also when Teddy was little everytime he heard or saw Harry his eyes would turn the same green as Harry’s eyes.

Cute sweet baby

Baby Teddy Lupin and his wonderful hair.

Harry bought his clothes.

Appledash next gen redesigns! A little bit of info under the read more:

(AJ and Dashie)

- Rainbow lost their wing in a one of those Saving Equestria fights, and was forcibly retired from the Wonderbolts because of it

- AJ gave her hat to her son, Zapapple, when he got his apple themed cutie mark

- Rainbow is in charge of the weather for Ponyville now

- AJ runs Sweet Apple Acres now that Granny Smith has passed

- Sweet Mac (deadname: Big Mac) has taken over the main barn and AJ made a home for her and RD on a hill in the orchard

(Zapapple)

- He’s the older child

- He inherited his mom’s hat when he got his cutie mark

- He’s autistic

- His hair is constantly frizzy and cannot be tamed

(Zestar)

- She’s the younger kid

- She’s super braggy about how awesome her moms are

- She wants to be as strong as her moms one day

The Next Generation meets the Next Generation.

Confession.

03:15 am in the morning. He called her for a walk and to eat some ramen.

Then he asked her to never leave his side.

— Oyaji?

— Hi there…