Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Lost" Episodes

by Rich Handley

As Star Trek Into Darkness warps into U.S. theaters today, here's a look back at a "lost" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, titled The Star Trek Logs: An MTV Big Picture Special Edition. The special aired on MTV in November 1991, during TNG's fifth season, as a tie-in to both Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and the two-part episode "Unification."

The Star Trek Logs featured the lovely Marina Sirtis as her TNG character, Counselor Deanna Troi, on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Troi, having developed an interest in learning about Kirk's crew following her recent encounter with Spock in "Unification," is shown studying clips from The Original Series and its films, as though viewing recordings stored in the ship's computer.

The special showcased interviews with Star Trek VI's cast, and was directed by Robert Legato and written by Rick Austin and Larry Young. The entire half-hour segment was filmed on TNG's Enterprise bridge set during a one-day shoot, and featured biographies and graphics created by series stand-in actor Guy Vardaman. For years, The Star Trek Logs was nearly impossible to find, making it a lost Next Generation episode of sorts. Thankfully, someone has posted the videos on YouTube, which you can now watch below (unfortunately, the quality is quite low... but beggars can't be choosers).

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

And as a special bonus, here's another "lost" episode from season 7, filmed for that year's Comic Relief special: