Not every 'rule' Gene Roddenberry had made sense

Gene Roddenberry is the man behind Star Trek. Without him, none of us would be here today. He created the foundation of what the franchise would be and helped everyone see the potential that his little science-fiction show had. Now, decades later, so many voices have contributed to his original idea. So many that fans have taken issue with some of the uniqueness these new voices bring to the table.

The usual retort to something fans don't like is "Gene wouldn't like that". And he may not. Yet, it's important to note that Gene hated most of Star Trek. He disliked The Wrath of Khan, he hated Patrick Stewart and the idea of Deep Space Nine was one that may have been a hard sell to him. After all, he believed Star Trek should adhere to strict rules.

Now, not all of his rules are bad. For instance, highlighting a prosperous future where we work in harmony to strive for a better future. We love that. Star Trek should be a positive show for anyone and everyone. Other rules weren't as great like the one that states interpersonal conflicts were not allowed in his scripts.

He wanted his future to be perfectly laid out. No issues with one another. No squabbles, no arguments, no fighting. He broke his own rule a lot, obviously but it was one that was so prominent that the folks at Star Trek: Lower Decks started poking fun at it.

In the first episode of the final season, the series poked fun at Roddenberry's desire for Star Trek: The Next Generation to be void of any interpersonal conflicts. The show even took from the actual 'bible' of the series in order to mock the idea of no conflicts.

Conflicts are pretty common. Be it in the future while traversing space or just right here on this very planet on this very day. To act like we'll evolve past it is a fallacy as it's part of our nature to squabble. The point of conflict isn't to pretend that it doesn't exist but to figure out ways to circumvent the conflict and find common ground.

It was something that Roddenberry himself never truly embraced, as he was routinely seen as argumentative. He clashed with so many people over his career that he has a bit of a reputation for being hard to work with or for. So maybe he wanted to see the future be free of such conflicts because Roddenberry himself knew he wasn't the easiest to work with.