A key figure behind Star Trek's classic era has likened the shortened seasons of modern TV to the equivalent of a Tinder relationship, and said he hoped the sci-fi franchise would return to 22-episode seasons.
The problem with season 5 was they didn’t know if they were going to be able to do it or not, so season 4 had to have at least something of an ending for the series. It really messed with his five year plan for the story.
Worse. The network went under and they finished up the show with the remaining budget, cramming the front half of what was supposed to be season 5 into season 4. They didn’t get picked up by TNT until after they filmed the series finale. After unexpectedly getting renewed, they filmed a new season 4 finale and pushed the already filmed finale back to the end of season 5. And JMS had to scramble to fill content now that half of it had already been used.
The problem with season 5 was they didn’t know if they were going to be able to do it or not, so season 4 had to have at least something of an ending for the series. It really messed with his five year plan for the story.
Worse. The network went under and they finished up the show with the remaining budget, cramming the front half of what was supposed to be season 5 into season 4. They didn’t get picked up by TNT until after they filmed the series finale. After unexpectedly getting renewed, they filmed a new season 4 finale and pushed the already filmed finale back to the end of season 5. And JMS had to scramble to fill content now that half of it had already been used.