This FAQ was written by Otto Heuer (ottoh3@cfsmo.honeywell.com) and was converted to HTML by John M. Michaelides (jmm@doc.ic.ac.uk)
This list is intended to cut down on the "often asked questions" that seem to pop up every few months in the rec.arts.startrek.misc newsgroup.
This FAQL is basically a list of questions that have been brought up and discussed to death in rec.arts.startrek.misc, and a lot of people would be happy if they never resurfaced. Please refer to the "LIST OF PERIODIC POSINGS TO r.a.s.* NEWSGROUPS" article for a full list of periodic post- ings, and to the "LIST OF ACRONYMS" article for acronyms used in this and other postings.
If you want a Star Trek uniform: Look for Simplicity or McCalls pattern book in your favorite fabric shop. In the back there are Star Trek uniforms for adults and children, both sexes. You can also get the patterns from Paramount's "Star Trek: The Official Fan Club" (both TOS and TNG uniforms). There are about 14 unique patterns to choose from.
If you're not "sew" talented and want one pre-made, Intergalactic Trading Post of Tampa Florida is one of many companies that make them in several sizes. They generally show up at Star Trek/SF conventions.
TNG uniforms are also available from:
"I'm not a Magician, I'm just an old country doctor"
"What am I, a doctor or a Moon shuttle conductor?"
"Well, are you a doctor or aren't you?"
"Dammit Bones, you're a doctor"
"I'm a soldier, not a diplomat."
"Physician, heal thyself"McCoy says
"Is that all you've got to say? What about my performance?"And Kirk replies
"I'm not a drama critic"
"How can I be sure? I'm a doctor, not a fortune-teller."
"I'm a doctor, not a magician"as well as
"I'm a doctor, not a detective"
"Starfleet is NOT a military organization....No saluting. We may hear the word 'Sir,' but it is intended as the same kind of courtesy used by junior and senior officerson commercial airliners....No stories about warfare with Klingons or Romulans and no stories with Vulcans."Granted the Romulan/Klingon/Vulcan rule has laxed, Starfleet is still basically non-military (except when they are cornered, like the Borg situation). The fourth season ST:TNG Writer's Technical Manual says to mentally merge NASA, the Coast Guard and research ships like Calypso to gain a concept of the Enterprise's mission. I guess we're supposed to believe that court-martials are non-military, huh?
Star Fleet Battles (SFB) is a tactical "shoot'em up" board game. It is very realistic. It has a basic game, but there are all sorts of highly complex and technical rules available to the ship's commander. It boggles the human mind. None-the-less it is a very fun game. It takes total and complete devotion to learning the game. Some like it others don't. Those that don't shouldn't knock it! It would be best suited as a computer simulation.
Federation & Empire (Federation Space) is the strategic and economical version of SFB (bigger picture).
West End Games has three ST games out: Enterprise IV Encounter, ST- The Adventure Game, & ST-Three Solitare Games. All came out in 1985. They are simple and fun box games.
Star Fleet Battle Manual (Lou Zocchi/Gamescience) & Alien Space were developed about the same time as SFB, but was much simpler. Gamescience is noteable for producing the ever popular 3" plastic models of the Enterprise and dreadnoughts, destroyers/scouts & tugs. Zocchi and Steven Cole (SFB) are friends and have collaborated together in checking that they don't replicate the same material. SFB uses GS's plastic ships.
Fasa has also put out 4 microadventure games with short play times and simple rules. They are: STIII-The Search for Spock, Starship Duel 1 & 2, & Struggle for the Throne.
25th Anniversary by Interplay (adventure game) (IBM PC).
25th Anniversary by Interplay--CD-ROM version with voices of the original characters (adventure game) not out yet (IBM PC).
Star Trek: Judgement Rites by Interplay (not out yet).
Star Trek: The Rebel Universe (TOS).
ST:TNG the game by Spectrum Holobyte (not yet released).
In June of 1993, Sirtis was at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show promotingthe new ST:TNG game coming out for Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, 3DO and IBM-compatible computers.
How to Host a TNG Murder Week-end.
Computer Programs (commercial/PC):
According to FASA the prime directive states:
"As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose soceity is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation."According to Geoffery Mandel's book the prime directive states:
"When contacting a planet making normal progress toward a free and united society, a Starfleet officer shall make no identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to space, or to the fact that there are other worlds or more advanced civilizations. The Prime Directive of Non-Interference - revised 2278"
Note that scripts have a better chance of getting accepted if you have an agent. Paramount gets about 800 fan-written scripts a year and uses about four of them. See the separate section in this posting on submitting scripts.
Lincoln Enterprises is run by Majel Barrett (Mrs. Roddenberry, formerly Majel Leigh Hudec), and is said to be the best source for fan paraphanalia, scripts, etc. This is the best place to get a Writer's Guide from if you're not an established writer. The address is:
Denise Crosby: Several nude or semi-nude photos in the March 1979 issue of Playboy, pages 99-103 ("A Different Kind of Crosby"). She also appeared in th February 1980 issue of Playboy, page 160 ("The Year in Sex"). The original pictures were re-displayed in the May 1988 issue, pages 74-79 ("Star Treat") (along with some (non-nude) TNG photos (Yar, Enterprise, and cast)). She had a brief topless scene in "48 HRS," the 1982 Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte film as well as "Arizona Heat (1988). In the 1992 Showtime series "Red Show Diaries" (episode "You Have the Right to Remain Silent") she is topless making love with Nick.
Gates McFadden: was in some 1970s movie in a skimpy top and bikini briefs (but then who *wasn't* back in the 70s?).
Terry Farrell: Topless in 1986 teen sex flick "Off the Mark" about kids growing up and turning into triatheletes (in pink lip gloss being chased by eight guys, in a cut-off t-shirt, naked in the showers, stripping on a table with a bunch of guys around her) that shows up on the USA cable network from time to time.
Jennifer Hetrick ("Vash" in "Captain's Holiday" and "Qpid") Had a couple of topless scenes in a 1979 movie called "Squeeze Play." She was credited as "Jenni Hetrick." "Squeeze Play" is available on videotape.
Lycia Naff ("Ensign Gomez" in a couple of episodes): Gets honorable mention for playing a topless three-breasted hooker in "Total Recall" (1990), even though all three of them were latex prosthetics rather than her actual breasts. (Sure looked real, though.) "Total Recall" is available on videotape.
Angelique Pettyjohn (Shauna from "The Gamesters of Triskelion") used to attend Star Trek conventions, selling posters of her in her drill-thrall outfit as well as racier posters of her more nekkid. She died in 1992, so no more live strip acts from her.
And that, alas, is about as far as it goes, at least to my knowledge. I've never even heard any good rumors about Whoopi Goldberg, Diana Muldaur, Rosalind Chao ("Keiko O'Brien"), Suzie Plakson ("Dr. Selar" and "K'Eylar") or April Grace ("Transporter Technician" in a bunch of 4th-season episodes) which I think is the entire list of regular or recurring TNG actresses, or any of the Star Trek men.
Picard describes a program as "all Mozart" which RA says was supposed to be "mostly Mozart" since it had Allegro from string quartet #19 in C, K 465, by Mozart ("Dissonant") and Andante, ma moderato from Sextet #1 in Bb, by Brahms.
For lyrics to any of the various Star Trek songs, as well as a ton of other music-related stuff, see accompanying posting "FAQL: Star Trek Music"
FIRST: License fees (the fees studios charge individual stations to run their programs): Let's say Paramount charges each station $2,000 to run the first run package. That's ball park; other stations can get $10-20K per episode in top 20 markets. Also, Turner can expect $800,000 to $1 million per episode show of THE WONDER YEARS when it goes into backend syndication. $2,000 per episode times 238 stations yields $476,000 per episode shown in first run syndication (which does NOT count the later syndication or backend syndication).
SECOND: Commercial fees: According to Vidiot, Paramount has seven minutes of national advertising in each show. BROADCASTING has published figures of $60-80,000 per 30 second spot. They have also mentioned that rates for the third and fourth seasons are around $135,000 per 30 second spot. Adweek's Marketing Week mentioned that a 30-second ad for fifth season TNG runs $200,000 (higher than some network shows). Paramount is garnering $2,800,000 per showing of an episode.
THIRD: But wait! Shows are shown more than once even in first run syndication. Let's assume a cut rate of $100,000 per spot in reruns (doubt it, since people are STILL watching during reruns). Even a rerun episode will garner $1,400,000 in commercial revenue.
THE BOTTOM LINE: $476,000 + $2,800,000 + $1,400,000 = well over $4.5 million in revenue per episode in first run syndication. And we all know studios base their financing on just breaking even in backend syndication. So the claim that Paramount is losing $8 million is just creative financing.
Then again, we can throw away our calculations and take Richard Arnold's word that (at least in Season One) TNG was grossing $10 million per episode.
The 13 January 93 issue of Broadcasting Magazine reported that Paramount is making $100 million-plus annually in front-end ad revenues alone (not including cash revenues from the back-end repeats).
The 23 August 1993 issue of Broadcasting & Cable states: "Counting double-runs, TNG's gross revenues will likely top $100 million annually from the barter front-end domestically. That doesn't count back-end (rerun) cash license fees from stations and sales to international broadcasters."
The 23 August 1993 issue of Broadcasting & Cable states: "Since Deep Space Nine was an untried rookie entry, media buyers estimated its first-run gross barter revenues were perhaps 15% lower than TNG, which would put it in the $85 million range. At a $1.5 million per-episode production budget comparable to that of TNG [...] DSN may have tucked away $40 million-$45 million in front-end net revenues domestically. Now that Deep Space Nine has rating stories closely pacing those of The Next Generation, it is widely expected that the former's advertising revenues will be on par with--or could surpass--TNG's."
The 23 August 1993 issue of Broadcasting & Cable states that the annual budget for TNG and DS9 is about the same: $30 million-$35 million for a 22-episode order". [but I thought each season was 26 episodes --ed]
TOS "Errand of Mercy": Kirk says that the Federation spent a lot of moneyon their training and it's timr they got a return on their investment.
TOS "Mirror, Mirror": Mirror-Kirk says "You want credits, Spock? I'll make you a rich man."
TOS "Mudd's Women": H.F. Mudd mentions that the miners are rich. This seems to imply some type of economic structure.
TOS "Operation--Annihilate": Kirk says "I don't care what it takes or costs, just help him."
TOS "The Doomsday Machine" (possibly also "Balance of Terror"): Kirk says "Scotty, you've earned your pay for the week." He says the same to Sulu in "The Apple" (?)
TOS "Amok Time": Kirk says "Do you know how much Starfleet has invested in you?", to which Spock begins to reply "twenty-two thousand, two hun...". Might be hours, exercises, food quantity but seems to be money.
NOVEL "Crisis on Centaurus": Kirk uses back salary to purchase a great deal of wilderness land on Alpha Centauri. There are offers to buy it should he fall behind on his taxes, but he refuses to sell or allow it to be developed.
NOVEL "Enterprise": Kirk orders the computer to "close out his [bank] account".
NOVEL "Vendetta": Riker makes the comment "That's why I get paid the big money." Data responds with, "I thought a higher salary was due to higher rank, seniority,..." so there are apparently salaries.
NOVEL "The Wounded Sky": The reward money for passing through a singularity, to be awarded to the E's crew, is enough to "buy starfleet". Also, at one point, Kirk mentions to himself something along the lines of "Starfleet personnell are tax-exempt."
ST4: Kirk tells the female lead that there is no money in the future (but he might just mean that they don't have U.S. dollars, or any "hard" cash, which is what she was enquiring about).
ST6: When McCoy and Spock are adapting the photon torpedo to follow exhaust pipes, I believe Doc McCoy says, "I'd give real money if he'd shut up!" (about the rantings of the Klingon commander)
TNG "Encounter at Farpoint": Bev Crusher buys a roll of cloth and has her account on the ship billed.
TNG "The Neutral Zone": Picard mentions that they don't have money.
TNG "The Price": There is a bidding war going on for the use of a wormhole, and Picard mentions how much toll the Ferengi might charge if they get the rights to use that wormhole.
TNG "Peak Performance": Riker is playing strategema against Kolrami. Worf whispers to Riker that he has bet a "sizeable amount" on Riker in the ship's pool. He may have made a similar comment about Tasha Yar in "Skin of Evil".
TNG "Conspiracy": the planet the starship captains meet on (Ditalix B) is said to be owned by the Ditalix Mining Corporation, which may imply something of the Federations's economic structure.
TNG "Unification II": Riker is trying to get info out of the piano player. She said to "drop a few coins in the jar" for info; Riker says he doesn't carry money.
TNG: In the first Fenengi episode, they called the comm badges a shamefull use of a precious metal, yet they said they have their own "matter-energy device".
TNG: People are always offering to buy each other coffee, etc. in Ten Forward, but this may just be a gesture, since we never see anyone pay for anything. Also, they must be playing poker for *some* stakes, just playing for chips would be meaningless.
DS9: On the promenade, people can be seen gambling, buying time in the holosuite, buying food, buying drinks, etc. Also, for large cash purchases, the monetary unit seems to be gold-pressed latinum (sp?)
DS9 "Past Prologue": The Cardassian merchant wants Bashir to buy a new suit.
TOS "Bread and Circuses": McCoy says "If you speak of worship, we serve many beliefs". Uhura figures out that they aren't worshipping the sun, but the "Son of God".
TOS "Errand of Mercy": Spock says "Even the gods did not spring into being overnight".
TOS "Metamorphosis": Spock asks The Companion if it has the power to create life. The Companion says, "No, that is for the maker of all things."
TOS "Obsession": Scotty says "Thank heavens", to which Spock replies "Mr. Scott, there was no deity involved; it was my cross-circuiting to B that recovered them." McCoy then says "Wee, then thank pitchforks and pointed ears!"
TOS "The Paradise Syndrome": Kirk is thought (by the Indian populace) to be a god when he emerges from the temple.
TOS "The Trouble with Tribbles": Someone said "Kirk may be a swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood, but he's not soft."
TOS "The Ultimate Computer": M5 says "Murder is contrary to the laws of man and God." Kirk says "Daystrom felt that such an act was an offense against the laws of God and man, and the computer that carried his engrams also believed it."
TOS "The Way to Eden": Space-hippies search for the mythical planet Eden.
TOS "Where No Man Has Gone Before": Gary Mitchell gets god-like powers and creates a "Garden of Eden" on a desolate planet
TOS "Who Mourns for Adonais": Apollo journeyed to earth 5000 years ago from Pullox 4 and was worshipped along with the other gods by the populace. Chekov says "Sorry, I've never met a god before." McCoy says "Scotty doesn't believe in gods."
ST5: Sybok takes the Enterprise in search of God.
NOV "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan": Chekov is looking at the books on board the Botany Bay, and when he comes across the Bible he thinks "...twentieth century mythology, if he remembered rightly" or words to that effect.
TNG "The Chase": The progenitor race created Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi, Cardassians, Humans, etc. around the time the Milky Way was forming.
TNG "Data's Day": Data mentions that it's a Hindu holiday. Keiko and Miles O'Brien are married.
TNG "Devil's Due": The crew meet "the Devil".
TNG "Justice": The crew talk to a planet's "God".
TNG "Who Watches the Watchers": Picard is thought to be a god by the populace.
TNG "Rightful Heir": Klingon religion is explored when the Klingon version of Jesus is cloned.
DS9: Bajorans seem to be deeply religious with all the Vedeks, the Kai, and the worhipping of the orbs.
TNG: Holodeck characters are often smoking.
TNG: Data smokes a pipe when he acts out Sherlock Holmes scenes.
TNG: Beverly (?) was smoking a cigarette on the holodeck and just about gagged (she also ATE her gum).
Marina Sirtis just quit smoking by going to a hypnotist (March 1993). Brent tried it, but started smoking again after a year. Whoopi smokes cigars.
The following papers have printed the column:
In the spring of 1991, people got tired of seeing large parodies, scripts, artwork, etc in r.a.s, and there was a proposal to create a new group called rec.arts.startrek.creative. There was some controversy over copyrights (that apparently didn't matter if the same postings showed up in r.a.s) so the vote was abandoned. During the proposal and vote, someone created alt.startrek.creative, which serves the purpose, except that it is unmoderated, and only about half the sites actually carry the group.
Then rec.arts.startrek.info was voted on and created, moderated by Jim Griffith.
At the end of 1991 a vote was taken to split the main group into four components (tech, fandom, current, and misc) which passed by a landslide. The groups were created early in January 1992.
In early 1993, with the high volume of posts that came with the coming of "Deep Space Nine", came two CFVs, one for r.a.s.reviews (a moderated group for the subset of misc and current that are objective reviews), and r.a.s.characters for discussion of the characters. The reviews group passed in early March 1993 with Mike Shappe as moderator.
Asteroid #4659 (discovered by S.J. Bus at Siding Spring Observatory on 2 March 1981) was named "Roddenberry". The official citation reads as follows: "Named in memory of Eugene "Gene" W. Roddenberry (1921-1991), creator and producer of the television series "Star Trek", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and six Star Trek motion pictures. Roddenberry explored the human condition through the medium of science fiction, often circumventing television network censors to expound on controversial social and political topics. His unique vision of a positive future for a united humanity inspired a variety of devoted fans. Today Roddenberry, the starship Enterprise, and its crews are known worldwide, and fans number in the millions."
Gene Roddenberry was posthumously awarded on 2/10/92 with the VISION AWARD from Education First. It was accepted by Majel, so said, " This would have been the most important award he ever received, with [out] a doubt. As much as Gene would say he wasn't an educator, he was a learner. He spent his life reading, discussing, thinking, debating. And he wanted to install in people that they could create their own worlds and thoughts and messages." Present was the TNG cast, Richard Arnold, and Paramount Communications CEO and former VISION AWARDee, Brandon Tartikoff.
Why is everyone called "Mister" and "Sir", even the females? This is yet another extension of the US military. When addressing an officer of lesser rank you may call him by his first name, such as: "Ensign," or "Ensign Kirk," or "Mister," or "Mister Kirk," or "Jim". Typically, command level ranking officers are addressed by rank, or by rank and last name, such as "Admiral" or "Admiral Kirk". Between officers of same rank, or with permission, first names can be used, otherwise the "Sir" factor is added.
TOS: James Doohan is missing the middle finger of his right hand. It can be seen in brief shots (especially in the early episodes). Whenever they needed to show Scotty's hands (like when he operated the transporter) they had a stand-in and showed a close-up. ("Cut! All right, bring in the stunt hands.") It is very noticable in ST5 when Uhura tosses Scotty a bag of SmartFood.
TOS: Majel Leigh Hudec is Majel Barrett's real name. She took the name Barrett to fool NBC so they would hire her for Christine Chapel (they never knew that the blonde Majel Barrett was the same person as the brunette whom they fired as Number One). Some volume of "The Best of Trek" stated that Number One and Christine Chapel were sisters.
TOS "Balance of Terror": Neutral zone outposts 1, 3, 4, and 8 were trashed by the Romulan ship before the Enterprise was able to engage (#4 was the one they saw get destroyed on the viewer)
TOS "The Tholian Web": The name of the Tholian commander who first attacks the Enterprise after Kirk is lost is Commander Loskene.
TOS "Wolf in the Fold": The names that the entity was referred to by were Jack the Ripper, Baratis, Redjac, Kesla, Mr. Hengist (and yes, that was John Fiedler, the wimpy guy from the Bob Newhart Show).
TOS "Amok Time": T'Pau was the only person to ever turn down a seat on the Federation council.
TOS "Amok Time": The episode where Ensign Chekov makes his debut (1st episode, 2nd season). "Catspaw" was the one he was first filmed in, although this aired after "Amok Time".
TOS "The Paradise Syndrome": "He Has Walked Among Us" and "Paleface" were combined into "The Paradise Syndrome", according to speculation by Allen Asherman and David Gerrold. Reportedly, only Gene Coon knew for sure, and of course he's been dead for about 15 years...
TOS "The Menagerie": The ONLY doorknob seen in a Federation setting (ship or starbase etc.) was on the door to Christopher Pike's quarters, which was kind of ironic, since he's about the only person who COULDN'T use a doorknob! :-) The door to Dr. Tom Lathom's house in "The Conscience of the King" has a doorknob, but may not be a Federation setting. In TNG "The First Duty", we see that dorms at SFA have doorknobs.
TOS "Plato's Stepchildren": The first inter-racial kiss on television took place between Kirk and Uhura.
TOS "City on the Edge of Forever": If you want H. Ellison's original script for "City on the Edge of Forever", look for a book called "Six Science Fiction Plays", edited by Roger Elwood. It's a paperback, published in 1976 by Pocket Books under the Washington Square Press imprint. It was distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Simon & Schuster. I have no idea if it's still in print. If it isn't, check your local library, used book stores, and the dealer's room at your next convention. There must be copies out there somewhere. According to Elwood's foreword, this was the first time Ellison's original uncut script was published. It's preceded by a ten-page introduction that Ellison wrote especially for this book, telling his version of the transformation of his script into what was eventually telecast. The book also contains these scripts:
According to the Star Trek Compendium:
ST4: A storyline cut was a bunch of lines which indicated that Saavik was pregnant. When they started running out of screen time, these scenes were cut, since they were not essential to the main story in the movie. Of course, this means that, officially, IT NEVER HAPPENED. :-)
ST4: Kirk Thatcher:
TNG: The ship's computer core looks like a building... and it is! It's based on the RCA building in LA.
TNG: Denise Crosby is Bing Crosby's granddaughter.
TNG: Picard's fish is named Livingston. It originally had some Shakespearean name, but is now said to be named after David Livingston, one of the first season line producers.
TNG: Data isn't supposed to be able to utter any contractions, though he seems to be speaking something awfully close. Perhaps his "I have"s and "I am"s are just being spoken rapidly enough so they sound like "I've" and "I'm".
TNG: They have dropped the love interest plotline they started in "Encounter at Farpoint", and also (apparently) that Wil and Deanna can communicate telepathically.
There are tons of anime references (far too many to list here) in TNG,from the names of ships and alien races to the scribblings on the wall. Rick Sternbach and others are big fans of "Dirty Pair" and other japanimation. There are also reference to other SF shows; "4077" shows up in sickbay a lot (Mike Okuda is a MASH fan). Some of the references can be found in Mike Brown's TNG Guide, appendix G.
TNG season 1: According to Marina Sirtis, during the first season the very small dressing rooms were marked with "funny" identification. Hers was "Token Betazoid", Wheaton's was "Token Teen", Burton's was "Negro in Space", and Stewart's was "Unknown Shakespearean Actor" (after an early ST:TNG review).
TNG season 1: Dr. Crusher's orderly (ensign Freeman) was supposed to be gay (according to the script writer).
TNG "Encounter at Farpoint": Lets get this straight, once and for all. What we have is a "Special Appearance by DeForest Kelley" in which he plays an unnamed officer who just happens to have the following traits/qualities:
TNG "11001001": Binary 11001001 is decimal 201, and 2:01 kept showing up on displays in the episode.
TNG "Home Soil": You can hear in the background "Three[?] are trapped in a turbolift and two[?] are trapped in the programmers' restroom." So, I guess we have proof that there are restrooms on the Enterprise-D (as well as the two references in the movies (on the Excelsior, and Kirk in the Brig in ST5 ("do not use in spacedock")) as well as the one you can't really see in "Q-Who" when the Borg slice up the Enterprise).
TNG "Skin of Evil": No, contrary to the rumors, you can't see Troi's bra in this episode. What people were seeing was a shadow (and with the flasing red light, it appeared red).
TNG "The Royale": The scene where Data was shooting craps seemed to be lifted right out of "The Questor Tapes". In both cases, the android and his companion(s) needed some quick cash, and so they play at the craps table. In both cases, the android placed the dice in his hand and applied the correct pressure to rebalance the dice, thus altering the odds.
TNG "The Neutral Zone": Rick Sternbach was in one of the life support canisters.
TNG "The Neutral Zone": There is a family tree for Clare Raymond (one of the 20th century frozen people). When they created the tree, they populated it with members of the cast and characters from other shows (MASH, Giligan's Island, etc.) I think Riker was married to Picard.
TNG "We'll Always Have Paris": The Cafe de Artiste had a couple of strange items on the menu, including Croissant Dilithium, Targ Klingon ala mode, Tribble in a Blanket, and John Cougar Mellencamp.
TNG: Each starship has a dedication plaque. The plaque on the USS Tsiolkovsky ("The Naked Now") reads "Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever". The plaque on the Hoatio shows that it built by Yoyodyne and reads "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
TNG "Samaritan Snare": when Picard and Wesley arrive at the Starbase, there is a directory listing departments and personnel. Filming was stopped for a while when this directory was installed while *everyone* looked to see where they appeared, since the Starbase was staffed by the TNG crew.
TNG "The Defector": Yes that was Stewart as one of the King's men with Data on the holodeck. The other man was NOT Frakes, however.
TNG "Q Who": The general consensus is that it was Spiner playing the part of Borg#1. There is no screen credit, however.
TNG "The High Ground": "He Has Walked Among Us" was reportedly a minor inspiration for "The High Ground", albeit uncredited (this coming from a Creation con). "THG" was one of those supposedly conceived during the strike as a possible filler (a la "The Child"), and the use of the older TOS script ("The Paradise Syndrome") would have made it acceptable under the union crap edicts.
TNG "Up the Long Ladder": No, that is *not* Eddie Murphy as one of the clones, though it does look a bit like him.
TNG "Deja Q": Q gives his IQ as 2005.
TNG "The Nth Degree": Barclay estimates his IQ to be between 1200 and 1450.
TNG "Contagion": Yes, they used Toronto City Hall as one of the "furutistic buildings" seen in the portal.
TNG: Dr Selar appeared in "The Schizoid Man" and has been mentioned in "Yesterday's Enterprise" (paged in background), "Remember Me" (Bev can't find Dr Selar or Dr Hill), "Suspicions", and "Tapestry" where Bev orders her to come to sickbay.
TNG: In a War of the Worlds episode ("Thy Kingdom Come"), there is a kid playing with action figures. One of them is in the likeness of Yar, Data, Picard, or Riker and he mentions something about Ferengi.
TNG: Paramount has confirmed that the bar on the enterprise (with its "Whoopi cushion") is non-alcoholic.
TNG "Ensigns of Command": The original script called for Data to have sex with the leading lady in order to get her cooperation later. This idea never made it through the first draft. Gene's reason for dropping it: "Only a human male would use a woman like that"...
TNG "The Schizoid Man": Shots of Genesis, Yar, "Encounter at Farpoint" scenes, etc. in Data's psych test.
TNG "Sarek": The quote is "Amanda, Spock, Perrin", not "Amanda, Spock, burried" and there is NOTHING that claims that Spock is dead.
TNG: Facial hair:
"Encounter At Farpoint", "The Naked Now", and "Code Of Honor" are available directly from Paramount Home Video in both video tape and (possibly) laser disc through your local video store. However, there is no word on when or if more episodes will be released. More episodes may have been released; this section hasn't been updated recently.
Two episodes of TNG have appeared to be clones of "Red Dwarf" episodes. The episode where Picard ordered Data to lie and everyone wiped their memories was a clone of "Thanks for the Memory". The 5th season episode "The Game" was a clone of "Better Than Life".
(The following from Richard Arnold): Leonard Nimoy was presented with an idea for a ST:TNG two-part episode which was given a working title of "Return to Forever". The "official" word is that midway through negotiations Nimoy's agent suddenly started asking for $1 million. Since, at the time, the budget for an average week's episode was $1.4 million (it's now $1.6 million), this was a clearly unreasonable demand. The script with Spock is still supposedly floating around somewhere. But the "official" word is that Leonard is simply more interested in working on movies (mainly directing) than he is in making guest appearances on TV. This was the news until late 1990. Nimoy told us himself in August 1991 that he would be in an episode or two of TNG during the November Sweeps, but it won't be "return to Forever" (Guardian of Forever script?) or "Broken Mirror" ("Mirror Mirror sequel?). It turned out to be "Unification I" and "Unification II".
After Stewart came to the USA and started TNG, he bought a new Honda Prelude. Then Wil Wheaton drove up in the same car -- except he had the Honda Prelude Deluxe. Stewart didn't want to be beneath Wil, so he went out and bought a Jaguar XJ6. Since I know someone will ask, Frakes drives a black Limited Edition Jeep, Spiner drives a Toyota Corolla, Burton drives a black BMW, Sirtis drives a white Chrysler LeBaron convertible, Dorn drives a VW Jetta, and McFadden drives a station wagon (Capri or Caprice).
List of people who have been Captain of the Enterprise:
TNG: People keep asking about the weird production schedule. Why do we keep getting breaks of repeats when it isn't summer yet? A lot of shows (especially the hour-long ones) go to repeats around December and March. The average episode of TNG takes about ten days to film. They start well before the season begins, but they wouldn't be able to keep ahead for the entire season. So while we're watching the December repeats, they're trying to get a few episodes ahead of the viewers again!
TNG satellite uplink times (Keystone wide band carrier (6.2 left, 6.8 right, 5.8 mono)):