Partial Spoilers here...
This is an extremely important and revealing episode for the Trek universe. It literally gives us an explanation of origins for all the major species in the Alpha quadrant (which, as has been mentioned, gives us a rather sophisticated explanation as to why so many Trek races are humanoid and vaguely similar). Of course, originally it was a budget limitation. But this gives us a great "in story" explanation.
This is an underrated episode. In my opinion, this episode should have been a MOVIE. The scope of this episode and the ramifications of the discovery demand a larger canvas. Not to mention the relationship between Picard and the professor, which we only got to glimpse. Can you imagine this storyline, expanded out to a full two hours, with a massive budget? It's a terrible tragedy that such a incredible premise was wasted, yes WASTED, by being stuffed into a single episode (not even a two parter!). With a little rewriting and a true movie budget, this would have resulted in a much better Trek film than Generations, Insurrection or Nemesis.
This is an extremely important and revealing episode for the Trek universe. It literally gives us an explanation of origins for all the major species in the Alpha quadrant (which, as has been mentioned, gives us a rather sophisticated explanation as to why so many Trek races are humanoid and vaguely similar). Of course, originally it was a budget limitation. But this gives us a great "in story" explanation.
This is an underrated episode. In my opinion, this episode should have been a MOVIE. The scope of this episode and the ramifications of the discovery demand a larger canvas. Not to mention the relationship between Picard and the professor, which we only got to glimpse. Can you imagine this storyline, expanded out to a full two hours, with a massive budget? It's a terrible tragedy that such a incredible premise was wasted, yes WASTED, by being stuffed into a single episode (not even a two parter!). With a little rewriting and a true movie budget, this would have resulted in a much better Trek film than Generations, Insurrection or Nemesis.