Patrick Stewart believes long-running British Sci-Fi series ripped off Star Trek

Star Trek rarely ever looks in the rearview mirror these days. It is one of, if not the most successful and long-running series in science fiction history. It has few equals and even those that dare stand shoulder to shoulder often lack the time, the quality, or the abundance of content that Trek has created in its nearly 60 years.

So it isn't surprising to see a show rip off the franchise now and then. Sometimes to great aplomb. One such franchise that dared poke fun at the juggernaut that is Trek was a very popular sci-fi comedy series from the UK called Red Dwarf.

They were quite good at it, sticking around for decades with various seasons and relaunches. Yet, one episode in the mid-1990s caught the eye of Patrick Stewart, the face of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the second line of Trek films. Stewart didn't name the episode, but some believe he was watching the airing of "The Gunmen of the Apcoplayse".

The episode is seen by some as having borrowed elements from The Next Generation episode, "A Fistful of Datas" but due to the release schedule, that seems unlikely. Still, when Stewart was picked to introduce Red Dwarf Night on BBC in 1998, he recounted his shock when seeing an episode that bore a resemblance to a Star Trek episode he was a part of.

In the intro, Stewart tells a tongue-in-cheek story about how he nearly sued the creators of Red Dwarf, going as far as to call it a ripoff, before eventually admitting he found it funny and charming. The story may have been all made up, or it may have been true and he was seconds away from calling up lawyers to start a lawsuit.

Regardless, Stewart had no problem with the series, as he would later sit down to film the introduction. While he comes off as stuffy, it's fair to say that Stewart has always had a healthy sense of humor, especially when it comes to his work.

One only needs to see his work with Seth MacFarlane on Family Guy or American Dad to see that he's quite talented when it comes to comedy and that he's got no problem poking fun at himself.