Why Star Trek needs a chief engineer as a main character
The reasons why season 1 had the “rotating chief” bit vary depending on who you talk to. One theory is that Roddenberry wanted to get away from comparisons to The Original Series with rotating figures in some positions and focus on new jobs like counselor. There was also how a new chief engineer would be in Scotty’s wide shadow, and then there's the surprise if one was suddenly killed off.
However, the fact was that the engineer was a vital position on a starship, especially one as complex as the USS Enterprise-D. Captain Picard wouldn’t have his ship maintained by a rotating series of officers or a committee. He’d want one person, who could stick around and keep order, and being a mechanical genius themselves would fit.
The character of chief engineer was also needed to handle the classic technobabble exposition and offer solutions on the fly. That comes off much better to the audience when it's delivered by one of the core cast members rather than some random guest star who may not be in another episode.
That ended up being a boon for Burton, as in the prep for season 2, the writers realized A) a chief engineer was needed and B) Geordi didn’t have enough to do on the bridge. So having him slotted into the role instantly made Geordi a better character and opened up storylines of him trying to solve emergencies.
It’s among the many errors made when The Next Generation first began and, thankfully, the writers managed to fix it. Having a revolving door of chief engineers was way too distracting for the audience and took away from their part in a storyline. Making a main cast member fit the part was far better and the fact that every Trek series since has made sure to cast a chief engineer shows how this mistake was one of the bigger missteps in TNG’s rough first season.
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