Deanna Troi almost had her own “The Inner Light”

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “The Inner Light” is easily one of the finest episodes of Star Trek ever. Having won both a Hugo and an Emmy, it’s one of those episodes that stays with you long after you watch it. But before it was made, in season three of the series, two writers, Fred Bronson and Susan Sackett, pitched an episode entitled “Leap of Faith” that would have had Deanna Troi living another life instead of Captain Picard.

Though the story wasn’t exactly like “The Inner Light,” in it, Deanna would have gotten stuck in time on a planet where she would have lived a completely different second life, one that involved children and didn’t involve Commander Riker. Fortunately, executive producer, Michael Piller, nixed the idea, saying he didn’t think it would work.

Two seasons later, “The Inner Light” was written and filmed with the second life going to Patrick Stewart’s character, Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Fred Bronson admitted that he doesn’t believe he and Sacket could have made “Leap of Faith” any better than “The Inner Light” had turned out.

Giving the second life to Captain Picard was a stroke of pure genius, considering he got to live a life he never did in his own time. Deanna Troi, on the other hand, did eventually get to live that life after she married Will Riker. Stewart brought so much pathos to the part of Kamin, and plus the episode had purpose. It wasn’t just about Picard living another life; it was about the people of Kataan not wanting to be forgotten.

That’s not to say that “Leap of Faith” wouldn’t have had purpose, but now that we’ve seen “The Inner Light,” it’s doubtful we could be convinced that another episode would have been better or even equal to one of our favorites.