To restart production quickly, the premiere episode, "The Child," was adapted from a script originally written for the aborted 1970s project Star Trek: Phase II .

Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) was replaced for the season by Dr. Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur), who was intended to provide a McCoy-like dynamic but was ultimately phased out. Key Character & Lore Developments

Overruns in early episodes led to the infamous finale "Shades of Gray," a "clip show" created to recover costs by using mostly existing footage.

A major writers' strike delayed the season and forced the production of only 22 episodes (instead of 26).