 ...That Geordi LaForge is named after a real Star Trek fan named George LaForge? George LaForge died from muscular dystrophy in 1975. ...That Denise Crosby originally tried out for the role of Counselor Troi and Marina Sirtis tried out for the role of Security Chief Tasha Yar? ...That Gene Roddenberry's full name is Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, thus, in creating Wesley Crusher, Gene used his own middle name and based the character on what he wanted to be like when he was young? ...Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) did the special effect shots only for "Encounter at Farpoint". However, they get credit in every episode because of the extra stock footage for Enterprise fly-bys and such. Even ILM stock footage isn't used much anymore, except when the Enterprise enters Warp. ...TNG is filmed in 35mm using Panavision cameras. The film is transferred to videotape, and post-production is done on video. ...That William Riker and Deanna Troi is based upon Decker and Ilia from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"? ...That while "Skin Of Evil" was aired after "Symbiosis", they were produced in the reverse order. Near the end of Symbiosis, when the Ornarans and Brekkians beam off, Denise Crosby is seen in the background, waving goodbye as the doors close. (UV) ...LeVar Burton, when shooting began for "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", was in the hospital for emergency surgery. Colm Meany was used instead for several scenes, and LeVar appeared in closeups during BOBW2 and was absent for several episodes after that. ...LeVar Burton appeared on "Roots"? He's not the only one. Thalmus Rasulala, who played Captain Donald Varley of the USS Yamato in "Contagion", played Omoro Kinte in ROOTS. Also, Ben Vereen, who is also a Trek fan, also appeared on Roots. ...While filming "The Wounded", there was a scene in which Colm Meaney was serving Keiko steak and potatoes for dinner. The potatoes had to get from the spoon to the plate easily, while he continued with the dialogue, moved around, served himself, etc. After about a zillion takes, it finally worked, except that one small piece of potato bounced off the plate and onto the table. So, Colm improvised, and quickly popped it in his mouth. "Cut!" "What was wrong with that?" "Well, you popped that potato in your mouth." "Yeah, so?" "Well, you can't do that -- see, this is a self-cleaning ship." "I got to it FIRST." ...Hawking was on the Paramount lot for the video release of the film "A Brief History of Time". He was given a tour of the set, and when they reached the bridge set, he began tapping out something he wanted to say through his voice synthesizer. After about a minute, it said "Could you take me out of my chair and put me in the captain's chair?" Now, Hawking *never* asks to be taken out of his chair, so this was clearly a very big deal. Someone did, and a few days later the idea of a quick cameo came up for "Descent". ...That "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has made over $500,000,000 in syndication and merchandising. ...That if you look closely at the Enterprise during the fly-by in the opening credits, you can see someone walking past the windows. According to Mike Okuda in the "Star Trek: The Official Fan Club Magazine" (#60), this is Captain Picard. ..."The Child" and "Devil's Due" were originally scripts for the proposed "Star Trek: Phase II" television series. The "Star Trek: Phase II" series idea was scrapped, and instead, the sets were used for the shooting of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" ...At the time of the filming of "Q Who", there were two visual supervisors: Dan Curry and Rob Legato. They each had their own specifications for the design of the Borg ship: ...The junkyard in "Unification II" consisted mostly of ships dragged out from wherever Mike Okuda could find 'em. Some of the models included: models from the unmade "Star Trek: Phase II" series, models from ILM that were never used, models of the Enterprise that didn't come out of the mold right, and a very unusual looking Enterprise. Some of the models were designed by Greg Jein and Robert McCall. ..."A Matter Of Time" was written partially because Robin Williams, a fan of the show, wanted to appear. However, when the script was ready for shooting, Robin was unavailable, so Matt Frewer was cast instead. ...That the shuttle Onizuka, which Data used in "Ensigns of Command", was named in tribute to one of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" astronauts. ...Gene died at the same time the crew was filming "Hero Worship"? ...The only episodes when William Riker was called Bill was in "The Naked Now" and "Haven"? ...Gates McFadden's stunts in "Remember Me" was done when she was pregnant but she did not know about it until days later. ...For "Relics", it was impossible to re-use the original bridge, partially because it was broken up and destroyed after the original series. Instead, they used a captain's chair and helm/navigation console build by a Star Trek fan named Steve Horch. The only other part that was built was from about a foot to the left of the turbolift to the end of Scotty's engineering station, as well as the railing that separates that from the center of the bridge. Also, the Con and Ops chairs were look-alikes, and are tilted back more than the real ones. The rest was a still from "This Side of Paradise", not "The Mark Of Gideon". Also, the Aldebran Whiskey was actually Hi-C Ecto Cooler. ...In "Booby Trap", the original name of the holographic scientist was to be Leah Daystrom, who was the great-great-granddaughter of Dr. Daystrom from TOS. However, after they cast Susan Gibney for the part, they changed the name to Brahms, and only made several references to The Daystrom Institute. ...In "Chain of Command", the thing inside the eggs that Picard and the Cardassian ate were dead squids with little machines under them to make them move. ...Andy Probert designed the Enterprise D, and owns the designs to the Enterprise. Paramount is using his designs with permission. You can see Andy in "Encounter at Farpoint", in the post-atomic court. Andy is the spectator wearing "a giant tribble", actually a very large fur hat. ...The original Wright plane was named.....BIRD OF PREY! ...The original 8-foot model of the Enterprise that was built by Industrial Light and Magic isn't used much anymore. For motion control work, the 4-foot model is much easier to use, is much more detailed, and, for far away shots, it's easier to make it seem far away. The original 8-foot model is used only for extreme closeups or for saucer separations. The 4-foot model was built by Greg Jein in the third season. ...The title "The Dauphin" comes from the French term "Le Dauphin" used to designate the male heir to the royal throne while the royalty was still in place in France. ...The reason that you keep seeing a lot of the same faces on TNG, Civil Wars, and (I think) L.A. Law is that the casting is all handled by the same casting director, Junie Lowrey-Smith (not sure of this name either), who likes to reuse a lot of the same actors. ...In "Deja Q", they had some problems filimg John DeLancie's nude scene. The director had him in a jockstrap, but couldn't film around the indentations it made in his skin because of the camera's perspective. Finally, he told everyone who was offended by nudity to leave the set, dropped the jock strap, and got the scene in one take. Incidentally, that scene was filmed at 7 AM, and the mariachi band scene at midnight. ..."Family" and "Liaisons" are the only episodes in TOS, the movies, and TNG which has no scenes filmed on the bridge. ..."Tin Man" was a life form borrowed from the "Wild Card" book series? ...In order to prepare for the episode "Chain Of Command, Part II", Patrick Stewart watched tapes from Amnesty International. These tapes included statements of those who had been tortured, and a long interview with a torturer who talked about what it was like to be inflicting pain. ...Robin Curtis was originally slated to play the female terrorist in "Starship Mine", but due to a conflicting shooting schedule, was unable to play the part. She, instead, appeared in "Gambit" as a Romulan. ...Sidney Poitier was originally wanted for the role of Geordi LaForge, but, due to a conflict in schedules, was unavailable. Ben Vereen, however, was available, and this episode was the first time Ben and LeVar had worked together since the mini-series "Roots." ...The transporter effect is accomplished as follows: ...The translation from "11001001" after Riker introduces them: ...The translation from "Time's Arrow": ...According to a November 1992 issue of "California Business" article, Paramount's annual first-run TNG gross advertising revenues are about $90 million, with production costs in the $31.2-$36.4 million range. Net annual advertising profits are between $30 and $60 million, without even counting the $70 million+ in licensing and affiliate station fees. TNG airs in 217 markets, with a 99% national coverage. Weekly viewership is in the 20 million range, bring in the most desirable of demographics. ...That "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is on the list of shows endorsed by the Viewers for Quality Television. Other VQT endorsed shows include "Cheers", "Designing Women", "LA Law", "Life Goes On", "Murphy Brown", "Northern Exposure", "The Trials Of Rosie O'Neill", "Law & Order", "Quantum Leap", "60 Minutes", "China Beach", "thirtysomething", and "Beauty and the Beast". 
Technical design, graphic design, interactive features, HTML & CGI programming by Andrew Tong. || All materials Copyright © 1987-1995 by their respective authors. || Document created: May 28, 1994 || Last Modified: Dec 08, 1994 |