I remember watching a re-run of the original series when I was young, and it was only much later that I realized that what interested me more wasn't the science or anything like it in the franchise but the depiction of what is essentially a capitalist/Communist utopia, where an abundance of resources and worlds to discover generally renders private property, credit, commercial mass entertainment, etc., irrelevant. I think what triggered it was the alien leader's remark about human entertainment in Galaxy Quest. LOL.
It's not "communist," it's post-scarcity. Communism is just as much a scarcity-based economic theory as capitalism, just one where the workers control the means of production and the finite resources are (theoretically) allocated equally. It's still dependent on people doing labor to make a living. A post-scarcity economy would require a whole new economic theory, one we don't have a name for yet.
The problem with trotting out the WGA MBA, especially if you've only ever consulted it in an attempt to win an argument, is that: It changes every time the Guild renegotiates terms with the studios, so you have to make sure you are consulting the version that was in effect It is the MINIMUM BASIC AGREEMENT. It cannot nor does not cover every possible circumstance, which is why members agree to arbitration when there is a dispute. I've said before that the "planted" and "generic" spin-off written definitions do not precisely cover the circumstances of a number of shows, including TNG There are edge cases and oddball situations where writers can go to the Guild to ask for an exception (like how many writers can be credited on a given project) Writers can choose to give credit to other writers, so I could create a spin-off, ask you for notes, and I could give you co-creator credit. The Guild generally doesn't get involved unless there is a dispute or some circumstance that violates the base rules for credit, at which point they want to see all the drafts in order to make a ruling Ergo who is credited and why is influenced by a lot of things and just pulling some created/developed by credits off a show without knowing its circumstances means you're probably just guessing. For instance, I can't tell you why 1988's Bonanza The Next Generation, which like ST:TNG has a whole different cast and is set decades after the original has opening credits that read: Teleplay by Paul Savage Story by David Dortort Based on "Bonanza" Created by David Dortort ...and feature no separate "Created by" credit, because I don't know the circumstances in which it was written.