Star Trek’s Season 2 Finale Is So Cool, The Franchise Homaged It 56 Years Later

The season 2 finale of Star Trek: The Original Series was so cool that the Star Trek franchise paid homage to the episode twice in modern Star Trek shows. "Assignment: Earth" sees Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) crossing paths with Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a human Supervisor tasked with protecting Earth from historical turmoil in 1968. Kirk and Spock follow Gary to Earth to determine his legitimacy, while accidentally preventing Mr. Seven from stopping the launch of an orbital H-bomb. The crossed missions make it feel like Star Trek got mixed up with another show.

And that's because it did. The Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 ender was actually a backdoor pilot for a completely different Gene Roddenberry series, all about Gary Seven and his deceptively smart, mod-styled assistant Roberta Lincoln (Terri Garr). Knowing that, the story can be forgiven for sidelining the USS Enterprise crew in their own show, and pushing Gary Seven to the forefront. "Assignment: Earth" promises that Gary and Roberta have a lot of work to do, but because the Assignment: Earth show never got off the ground, they never get the chance to do it. Or do they?

“Assignment: Earth” Left A Lasting Impression Despite Being A Failed Star Trek Spinoff

The Star Trek: The Original Series Episode Was Supposed To Launch A New Series

There's something about "Assignment: Earth" that leaves a lasting impression, despite Roddenberry's intended spinoff never getting the green light. Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln are clearly intended as main characters, with great chemistry in their working relationship. There's a lot of fascinating world-building, and Gary's mid-century modern office is full of gadgets like his do-anything servo, speech-to-text typewriter, and Beta 5 computer (Barbara Babcock). Beta 5 and Gary's cat, Isis — briefly seen in humanoid form — would have rounded out the cast. A series could've answered questions about Isis, the Supervisors' training, and Gary's unusually perfect physical condition.

Gary Seven's Supervisor mission naturally subscribes to Roddenberry's Star Trek vision of a better future being possible. But shifting the setting to the present means Assignment: Earth would've put the onus on its 1960s audience to change course and do better now, if they want to actually create the Star Trek future. Roberta even points out that she and her peers aren't sure they'll live to age 30. Cool gadgets aside, the concept of Assignment: Earth may have been too on-the-nose for its time, instead of concealing its message in sci-fi metaphors like Star Trek: The Original Series did.

But because "Assignment: Earth" was an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series instead of a separate pilot that went nowhere, Gary Seven and the Supervisors are definitively part of Star Trek canon. The Supervisors were present throughout the Star Trek timeline, showing up to gently nudge humanity back on course when our technological advancements outstripped our sociopolitical reality. And because history repeats itself, the concept of the Supervisors as Earth's alien guardian angels in unprecedented times works just as well for Star Trek in the 2020s as it did in the 1960s — if not better.

Star Trek: Picard Brought Back “Assignment: Earth”'s Supervisors

Tallinn's Supervisor Mission Is An Important Part Of Star Trek: Picard Season 2

Star Trek: Picard season 2 brought back the Supervisors from "Assignment: Earth" with Tallinn (Orla Brady), a Romulan Supervisor who was assigned to watch over Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell) in 2024 Los Angeles. Upon learning that Tallinn is a Supervisor, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) references the events of "Assignment: Earth", name-dropping both James Kirk and Gary Seven. Tallinn seems to have less information than Gary did, and Tallinn's mission to protect Renée is much narrower than steering all of Earth's history, but Tallinn's orders are no less important. ​​

There are similarities between Gary Seven's "Assignment: Earth" mission and Tallinn's role in Star Trek: Picard. Like Mr. Seven, Tallinn has gadgets to accomplish her job as a Supervisor, like the hand-held servo that works like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who, and technology to hide Tallinn's Romulan features. The plots echo each other, too, with a dramatic countdown clock ticking down to an important launch. But instead of preventing a space flight from launching, the future of Star Trek's humanity hinges on Renée Picard's flight to Europa, so Tallinn must ensure that it happens — no matter what it takes.

While Gary Seven's mysterious alien trainers remained anonymous in the '60s, Star Trek: Picard reveals that the Supervisors work on behalf of the Travelers from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) left with the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) in TNG season 7, episode 20, "Journey's End", but the actual details of Wesley's fate were still ambiguous until Wesley Crusher's return in Star Trek: Picard season 2. Wesley explains to Kore Soong (Isa Briones) that he became a Traveler — confirming Wheaton's own headcanon about Wesley — and offers Kore a job as a Supervisor.

Star Trek: Prodigy Brought Back Gary Seven’s Office

Wesley Crusher Uses Gary Seven's Office As A Safe House In Star Trek: Prodigy Season

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 has even stronger ties to "Assignment: Earth" because the animated Star Trek series recreated Gary Seven's office from Star Trek: The Original Series. As a Traveler, Wesley Crusher has access to the Supervisor's office, and uses it as a safe house for Star Trek: Prodigy's young main characters when they're being chased by Prodigy's multiverse-eating Loom in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, episode 9, "The Devourer of All Things, Part 1". Behind the vault door that doubles as a Supervisor-style transporter, the office looks like it's been untouched since "Assignment: Earth".

Gary Seven's office in Star Trek: Prodigy is a true Star Trek Easter egg, in that it's a bonus for fans who recognize the room from Star Trek: The Original Series, but viewers don't actually need to be familiar with "Assignment: Earth" for the Prodigy episode to make sense. Wesley's hurried description of the predicament the Prodigy kids find themselves in is explanation enough. But the inclusion of Gary Seven and the Supervisors in conjunction with Wesley's new role as a Traveler adds another rich layer to the lore of Star Trek's multiverse.

Modern Star Trek's nods to "Assignment: Earth" make me wonder whether Assignment: Earth could actually succeed today, in the same way that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds reinvents the show that TOS' first pilot, "The Cage", promised. Despite its origins in 1968, Roddenberry's never-produced series about Gary Seven seems more topical than ever. 2025 needs a show that explicitly — not metaphorically — urges us to change course before climate change and our growing sociopolitical divisions make the Star Trek future genuinely impossible. We can do it, but we might need Star Trek: The Original Series' Supervisors to show us how.