In-Jokes

1. "Encounter at Farpoint" - The military uniform Q wears is that of a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. And if you look closely, his rank, ribbons and badges are all identical to those worn by Lt. Col. Oliver North when he testified at the Iran-Contra hearings in 1986-87, just before "Farpoint" went into production.

3. "The Naked Now" - During the scan of records, we see a parrot wearing a Starfleet shirt, complete with insignia, with nacelles, an obvious reference to Gene Roddenberry. ("The Great Bird" = Gene) This same screen also reappears in "Conspiracy". In addition, Data quotes a lymrick that goes "There was once a lady from Venus, whose body was shaped like a-" that may have originated on Blake's Seven.

15. "11001001" - The 11001001 is binary, and is converted to 201 decimal, or hex C9. Under the Z-80 microprocessor series (the Z-80 was used in the TRS-80 Model I, III, and IV, and for the sound processing in the Sega Genesis), the C9, in assembly language, is known as "Unconditional Return." In addition, on another machine language, 201 (decimal) corresponds to no valid machine instruction at all, which translates to a NOP (No Operation for 2 machine cycles).

25. "Conspiracy" - The topographical map of the planetary surface was a "very shakey" drawing of Kei and Yuri. Yuri is on the right side, and Kei is upside down.....

26. "The Neutral Zone" - On the family tree of Clare Raymond, which is recalled by Troi, there are references to various shows, including: W. Hartnell m. P. Troughton (DW), J. Pertwee m. T. Baker (DW), and P. Davison m. C. Baker (DW), and J-L. Picard m. W. Riker. Other references include Gilligan's Island and M*A*S*H. Also, the face pictured on the screen is Peter Lauritson, one of the producers of TNG.

27. "The Child" - In this episode, Doctor Pulaski refers to "Cyano Acrylates", which are the active ingredients for SuperGlue, as a possible source of the Ikner radiation that was causing the plague samples to grow.

31. "Loud As A Whisper" - (DP) The conference table, "made to resemble indigenous rock", had various markings on them. Most notable to Lovely Angels/Dirty Pair fans are the marking "Kei" and "Yuri".

35. "The Measure Of A Man" - When Riker is showing off Data's arm to the JAG representative, there is a pad on her desk which lists Data's parts, including "Nausican Valve" and "Totoro Interface". Also, it is noted that part of Data's construction is made out of something called "Yurium". (DP)

36. "The Dauphin" - In this episode, Daled 4 is a planet's name. Daled is the fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and has the numeric value of four. (UV)

37. "Contagion" - The Iconian artifact has various markings on it, including "Kei and Yuri" (DP), "Dirty Pair" (DP), "Gundam" and "Totoro." Also, the various views as seen through the portal include: Toronto's City Hall and Nathan Phillip's Square (depicting the arches over the reflecting pool/skating rink), and Toronto's City Council Chambers. Also, in this episode, the Romulan ship that attacked the Enterprise was named the "Harkonnen", which just happens to be the name of the family that attacked the Atriedes family in the Dune series. In this episode, another Galaxy Class Starship is mentioned: the USS Yamato. This was originally the flagship of the Japanese fleet that fought in World War II at both the Coral Sea and Midway before it was sunk by Torpedo Bombers from an American carrier. Many years later, a Japanese Animation series was done in which a battleship is reconfigured to become a starship in order to recover something called the "Cosmo DNA". This series was called "Starship Yamato", however, this series was known in the United States as "Star Blazers".

40. "The Icarus Factor" - The TNG art department had a field day putting in in-jokes. The mat has the chinese character of "sei", or "star" (as in "starry sky". The two scrolls hanging on the walls say, in Japanese syllabic characters (hiragana), "urusei yatsura", a pun of "ususai yatsura" ("noisy neighbors" or "annoying neighbors", a Japanese animation. Also, while lunging at Riker, Riker's father says (in a terrible accent), "youroshiku onegaishimasu", literally saying "Please do me the favor of being kind to me", but has the meaning of the English phrase "Pleased to meet you." Various other markings include "Kei" (DP), "Yuri" (DP), "Akira", and "Tonari No Totoro". In addition, the scrolls hanging on the walls also say, "Ataru", "Lum", and "Uresai Yatsura".

43. "Samaritan Snare" - Picard mentions "Nausicans" in a conversation with Wesley on the shuttlecraft.

44. "Up The Long Ladder" - When Picard is looking at the list of ships trying to find the Mariposa, another ship listed is the Buckaroo Banzai captained by John Whorfin and built by the company that the red Lectroids had made. The same company name was seen on the USS Hathaway (Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems (of Grover's Mill, NJ, where Orsen Well's "War Of The Worlds" radio play takes place :-) )

67. "Captain's Holiday" - Riasa comes from the German word Reise, meaning trip or journey.

69. "Hollow Pursuits" - The anti-grav units contain a flux capacitor. Nothing big, until you consider that the flux capacitor was a essential part of the DeLorean/Time Machine in "Back To The Future".

72. "Ménage à Troi" - The Ferengi Security code begins with "Kei Yuri" (DP).

73. "Transfigurations" - (DW) In the sick bay, against the wall, there is an outline of the top portion of the TARDIS, upside down. Also, three roundals can be seen against the wall. They show up again in several episodes after this one.

80. "Legacy" - A label on a nuclear reactor says, "Remember, you can never add TOO MUCH water to a Nuclear Reactor." Starlog #__ includes a complete picture of the reactor, including some of the rules (some of them hysterical)

94. "Qpid" - The scene where Worf smashes Geordi's lute, then says "Sorry" is completely reminiscent of a scene in Animal House at a toga party. Also, Princess Bride fans might want to note that the dialog during the sword fight with Picard/Robin Hood, where he says "There is something you should know... I'm not from Nottingham.", is reminiscent of a sword fight in the movie where similar dialog is uttered.

96. "Half a Life" - One of the displays has the number "4077" in the corner, a reference to M*A*S*H.

99. "In Theory" - The line "Now would be a good time", spoken by Picard, is completely reminiscent from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which, in turn, was used by Kirk during "The Doomsday Machine". Also, while it is not be visible in the actual show, someone on the production crew re-labeled the shuttle pod "PONTIAC NCC-1701-D".

102. "Darmok" - The writers were playing around with the words in this episode, with DARMOK, the letters reversed, becomes KOMRAD (comrade). JILARD also becomes JLpIcARD. Also, Gilgamesh is based upon Gilgamesh (from Sumerian lore), a character described as a combination of Solomon, Ulysses, and Hercules combined into one. One of the important factors after his friend's death is Gilgamesh's fear of death, although never playing a factor in battle, results in his constant search for immortality. In one manner or another, he comes very close, but always manages to miss.

117. "The Outcast" - Among the technical phrases used, "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" was a phrase commonly used by the third doctor (Jon Pertwee) during Doctor Who. (UV)

124. "The Next Phase" - One of the control panels on the Romulan Ship looks somewhat like the TARDIS control console (DW). (V)

126. "Time's Arrow" - The paper that Data picks up is the San Francisco Register, which is same newspaper that Kirk and company saw being taken out of the vending machine.

127. "Time's Arrow II" - Samuel Clemens mispronounces Hailey's comet. The promounciation he uses comes from the 1950's, when "Bill Hailey and the Comets", best known for "Rock Around the Clock" was popular. (UV)

130. "Relics" - With Scotty on board, there are plenty of references to the old series. For instance, the "miracle worker" bit comes from Star Trek III. The "It is green" bit comes from TOS "By Any Other Name".

139. "Aquiel" - The name of the Klingon battlecruiser that meets with the E is the Qu'vatlh (proper spelling, badly pronounced by Picard). This is listed in the Klingon Dictionary on page 58 as one of the Klingon curses.

- Other in-jokes, albeit unseen, include: Shuttlecraft "Pontiac" and "Indiana Jones" on operations board; crew quarters for Lt. Luke Skywalker.

[Unknown] - The race, Bolians, of which Mott the barber is one of, is mentioned here. They are named after Cliff Bole, a frequent directer of TNG and DSN. (Incidentally, Cliff Bole also directed several episodes of DSN).

Doctor Who (DW): A cult British Science Fiction series which ran on BBC1 from November 23, 1963 to December, 1989. The title character is known only as "The Doctor", a time lord who travels through time and space in a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). The TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside, and can change outward appearance, however, the Doctor's TARDIS, being a broken down Type-40, is stuck in the shape of blue British Police Call Box. The Doctor himself can, at point of death, regenerate into a totally different body and personality. The series can be seen on several PBS stations and the USA/Sci-Fi Channel weekday mornings at 9 AM PT/Noon ET.

Lovely Angels/Dirty Pair (DP): A Japanese anime series where the two main characters, "Kei" and "Yuri", are members of World Welfare Foundation. Their job is to take care of problems that crop up. However, they usually leave the place in worse shape than when they arrived, although it's usually not their fault. The series itself has had TOS in-jokes in it also.

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: November 09, 2010