Star Trek: The Next Generation Trivia/Quotes/Goofs/Games/etc. - Online Community

Star Trek: The Next Generation

- Trivia Facts

Denise Crosby was originally cast to play Counselor Troi, and Marina Sirtis was cast as a security chief named Lt. Macha Hernandez. Shortly before filming the pilot, the two switched roles and the security chief's name was changed to Lt. Natasha Yar.
Tim Russ, later to play Tuvok on 'Star Trek: Voyager (1995)', was a candidate for the role of Geordi.
The corridor, engineering, transporter room, and battle bridge sets were derived from sets originally built for the first four Star Trek movies. A majority of the sets also served as different locations on the Enterprise-A in the fifth and sixth Star Trek films.
The ceiling of the transporter chamber on the Enterprise D is in fact the floor of the transporter chamber from the Enterprise in the original series.
The original version of the Starfleet uniform was very uncomfortable for the actors, leading to a change of design from one-piece to a two-piece outfit in Season Three. Although the new uniforms were easier to wear, the jackets had a tendency to "ride up" when the actors were sitting down. Patrick Stewart (I) got into the habit of straightening his jacket with a sharp downward tug as he stood up, an action that became known among the cast and crew as "The Picard Maneuver" (from a tactical maneuver mentioned in the show).
Data's cat "Spot" is a male throughout the history of the show, but is suddenly female in the episode "Force of Nature, and in the episode "Genesis" gives birth to kittens.
Stephen Hawking is the only person to appear as himself in the series (in a holodeck scene where Data plays poker against Einstein, Newton, and Hawking [Hawking wins]).
Two characters on the show were named after real people: The alien "Q" was named for Janet Quarton, a British fan; and Geordi La Forge was named after another Trek fan, George La Forge, who was confined to a wheelchair.
Picard rose to his rank when his commanding officer aboard the USS Stargazer was killed in battle.
David Gerrold, a writer from the original series, was a consultant and uncredited story editor on the first two seasons. He left in a dispute after a script of his containing two implied gay characters and an allegorical reference to AIDS was pulled from production in the 11th hour. The story, entitled "Blood and Fire", was resurrected in 2004 as a non-Star Trek novel by Gerrold.
The Master Alarm sound was reused from the original Star Trek series.
Originally, Data was going to be the Chief Science Officer on the Enterprise (like Spock was on the original "Star Trek" (1966)) and wear a blue uniform. However, the color blue clashed with the android make-up and the idea was changed. Data was reassigned as the Chief Operations Officer and sported a gold uniform for all seven seasons (except for two episodes, which were; the episode "Future Imperfect" in which we see him on the bridge as the First officer in the brilliantly designed computer simulation rouse of Commander Tomolak Andreas Katsulas, and the two-part episode "Chain of Command" in which he's promoted to first officer and wears a red tunic).
If one includes the movies, nearly every member of the "Star Trek" (1966) crew has appeared in this series and interacted with the new crew - Kirk (in Star Trek: Generations (1994)), Bones (in Encounter At Farpoint), Scotty (in Relics) and Spock (in Unification, parts 1 & 2). Chekov and Scotty also appear in Star Trek: Generations (1994), but they do not interact with the Next Generation crew. Only Uhura and Sulu have not, but the former did appear in _"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) Trials and Tribble-ations (#5.06)_ with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Chekov & the DS9 crew; while the latter appears in _"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) Flashback (#3.02)_ (and is mentioned as one of Chakotay's contemporaries in Tattoo).
Running for seven seasons, the show briefly held the record for longest-running American live-action science fiction TV series (though several fantasy series ran longer). It was soon tied by its spin-offs "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) and "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995). In 2002, the record was taken by "X Files, The" (1993) which ended after nine seasons. "Stargate SG-1" (1997) has confirmed a 10th season, taking the record.
The Ferengi were originally introduced with the intention of making them the main, recurring adversaries in the series (very much like the Klingons were in the original series). However, audiences found the Ferengi too comical to take seriously as potential foes, and the race was gradually refined into the more (usually unintentionally) comical characters later typified by Quark in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993). The Borg eventually became infamous as TNG's ultimate nemesis.
The decision to produce TNG for syndication rather than for a network was considered a gamble at the time. It was the most expensive project of its kind ever attempted, but it did so well it ended up opening the door for a tidal wave of made-for-syndication dramatic series (including Hercules, Xena, Andromeda, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Baywatch), which continued for more than a decade.
Many actors who originally auditioned for roles on this show later went on to star in other Star Trek series; including Tim Russ, the 2nd choice for Geordi LaForge, and Vaughn Armstrong (I), who auditioned for Riker.
Geordi LaForge has been promoted faster than any Star Trek character before or since. In the first season, Geordi was a Lieutenant junior grade; in the 2nd season, a full Lieutenant; 3rd season, a Lieutenant Commander. (Other characters have had that many ranks, but none were promoted as fast as Geordi was.) _"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) Timeless (#5.06)_, took place in the future, where Geordi was a Captain.
Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original "Star Trek" (1966) has had a cameo appearance by a character from its predecessor series in its premiere episode: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had Dr. McCoy, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) had Captain Picard, and "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) had Quark.
Worf's prosthetic forehead changed in season 2 because the original was stolen.
The Borg were originally written as insectoids, but were changed to cyborgs due to budget constraints.
The character of Geordi LaForge was originally conceived to be Jamaican. When LeVar Burton was cast in the role, this plan was dropped; although a Jamaican actress (Madge Sinclair) later appeared as Geordi's mother.
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, an Enterprise engineer, has the full name of Reginald Endicott Barclay III, according to the scripts of his episodes. This is a homage to the TV series "Benson" (1979) which had a character named Clayton Endicott III (played by Rene Auberjonois, who would later play Constable Odo in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993)).
The two-part episodes "Unification" and "The Best of Both Worlds" both contained 'graveyard' scenes full of wrecked and/or abandoned starships. These scenes were populated with study models that were considered for use in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (as possible versions of the Enterprise) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) (as the Excelsior). Some of the other wrecked ships were created via "kit-bashing," or by quickly mixing starship parts from many different models.
When a writer's strike hit the series at the start of the second season, several stories from the proposed late 70's series "Star Trek: Phase II", which was eventually dropped in favor of becoming Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), were quickly dusted off and adapted for the Next Generation crew.
The number 47 pops up an inordinate amount of times on computer screens, serial numbers, dates and so on. This tradition was started by writer/coproducer Joe Menosky and was soon picked up by the rest of the production team. Menosky said that he choose that particular number because when he was a graduate student at Pomona College, Professor of Mathematics Donald Bentley proved as a joke that all numbers are equal to 47.[See also Trivia entries for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) and "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995)]
In 1994 the series became the first show in syndication to ever be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.
Jeffrey Combs auditioned for the role of William T. Riker, and later went on to play roles in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993), "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) and "Enterprise" (2001).
Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski) also was in two episodes of the original Star Trek series, playing "Dr. Miranda Jones" in the episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "Lt.Cmdr.Ann Mulhall, Ph.D and Thalassa" in "Return to Tomorrow".
Deanna Troi was nearly written out after the first season and, in fact, is absent from many of those episodes. But, after both Tasha Yar and Dr. Crusher were written out, Troi was kept.

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