"The mind meld in Vulcan culture at this point in Star Trek history is only performed by a small population on Vulcan who are born with the ability... It's more about the prejudice surrounding the disease than the disease itself," Braga said. "It's about the stigmatization of a group of people because of the way they choose to live their lives."

Braga says he hopes the episode has a positive impact but can never anticipate how everyone might react.

"The danger is no matter how you approach the subject matter you sometimes still offend people in the most unexpected ways."

Braga's "Stigma" follows sixteen years after an AIDS episode was to be a part of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION's first season. Writer David Gerrold, who penned the classic episode "Trouble With Tribbles," had written "Blood and Fire," a story with heavy allusion to the AIDS crisis, much more associated with stigmatization in 1987 than today.

"While I'm delighted that Star Trek is finally doing a show about AIDS, they should have done it in 1987, when it could have had a much greater impact," Gerrold told the Sun. "I think if the episode had been made, and if a plea for blood donors had been attached to the end of it as I had hoped, we could have ended the Red Cross' chronic blood shortages."

Gerrold says the episode included homosexual characters, something STAR TREK creator Gene Roddenberry had promised some fans to include in the TREK universe with TNG.

"The first draft of the script included two gay crew members," he said. "This was because, in answer to a question by a gay fan, Gene had publicly promised to include gay crew members on the new Enterprise, and he had repeated that promise to the staff. So it seemed appropriate to keep that promise in a script about the fear of AIDS. I was ordered to take the gay characters out."

Gerrold says his script would've presented a situation where Starfleet gave standing orders to destroy any ship found to be infected with a deadly plague.

"The story was a parable about the irrational fear of AIDS," Gerrold continues. "The key line in the script, for me, came when [Capt. Jean-Luc] Picard said, 'We are not going to sacrifice half the human race because the other half is scared.'"

You can read more from Braga and Gerrold at this page.

Jolene Blalock told TV Guide Online in anticipation of tonight's episode that she was honored to help bring awareness about today's AIDS crisis.

"It's still a crisis," she said. "Our next generation needs to be educated in AIDS awareness. I was honored to do something with this issue."

The actress says she saw the devastation of AIDS on the African continent first-hand when filming DIAMOND HUNTERS a few years ago.

"One out of every 10 people has AIDS. Some of these people actually believe that if they sleep with a virgin, they'll be cured! It's not a sob story, it's serious."

Read more of her interview here.