We think it's safe to say that Star Trek: The Next Generation wouldn't be Star Trek: The Next Generation without Sir Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard in the captain's chair.

But, if the show had stuck with its original concept, it looks like we would have gotten a very different show indeed, complete with a different captain, a different ship and a different crew.

Courtesy of new Star Trek podcast The Trek Files, hosted by Larry 'Dr Trek' Nemecek with the support of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's son Rod, a five-page memo between Paramount and Gene from 1986 has emerged detailing the company's preliminary conceptual work on The Next Generation.

The memo was shared with Gene in a bid to convince him to be involved in the making of the series – which, of course, he ultimately was, but only after he made more than a few changes, by the looks of things.

CBS via Getty Images

Among some of the major ideas proposed included a new captain, Captain Rhon, who was a Vulcan who was revered by Starfleet and his crew but was something of a pariah among Vulcans, who felt his experiences had had a 'humanising' effect on him.

According to the plans, Captain Rhon was going to be killed off in the pilot episode but would have continued on through the series in the form of a hologram for 'consultations' in times of great need.

Along with a new captain, the crew would have served on board the USS Odyssey, as well as offering some wildly different crew members too – including a second Vulcan character who served as the ship's science officer.

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"Finding this memo was literally a jaw-dropper," Nemecek said (via Trek Today). "We knew of the moment in time when this occurred: summer 1986, just as Paramount Television was determined to go ahead with a 'new' Star Trek TV series. And Gene Roddenberry reluctant to get involved directly.

"But we never knew they had a new cast and premise fleshed out, just in case!"

Of course, while The Next Generation ultimately went down a very different path, there are a few similarities between this concept and what ultimately happened 30 years later in new series Star Trek: Discovery, from the Federation being at war with the Klingons, to featuring a captain who dies in the pilot episode.

You can hear Larry Nemecek discuss the memo with fellow Trek expert and Paramount executive Dave Rossi in the podcast now, while Star Trek: Discovery will be back for a second season on CBS' streaming platform All Access and Netflix in 2019 (at the earliest).

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