Star Trek: The Next Generation

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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, 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 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
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 Star Trek: 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 Hewes Stewart 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 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Force of Nature (#7.9)}, and in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Genesis (#7.19)} gives birth to kittens.
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 of Captain when his commanding officer aboard the USS Stargazer was killed in battle. A model of the Stargazer can be seen displayed by the back wall in Picard's ready room. The ship itself was shown on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {The Battle (#1.8)}.
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, titled "Blood and Fire", was resurrected in 2004 as a non-Star Trek novel by Gerrold.
The Master Alarm sound was reused from Star Trek: The Original Series.
Originally, Data was going to be the Chief Science Officer on the Enterprise (like Spock was on the original Star Trek: The Original Series) 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 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Future Imperfect (#4.8)} 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: The Original Series crew has appeared in this series and interacted with the new crew - Kirk (in Star Trek: Generations), Bones (in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Encounter at Farpoint (#1.1)}), Scotty (in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Relics (#6.4)}) and Spock (in Unification, parts 1 & 2). Chekov and Scotty also appear in Star Trek: Generations, but they do not interact with the Next Generation crew (although Chekov DOES speak briefly to future Enterprise-D bartender Guinan). Only Uhura and Sulu have not, but the former did appear in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) {Trials and Tribble-ations (#5.6)} with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Chekov & the DS9 crew; while the latter appears in "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) {Flashback (#3.2)} (and is mentioned as one of Chakotay's contemporaries in "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) {Tattoo (#2.9)}).
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 and Star Trek: Voyager. In 2002, the record was taken by The X-Files which ended after nine seasons. Stargate SG-1 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 Star Trek: 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. The Borg eventually became infamous as Star Trek: The Next Generation's ultimate nemesis.
The decision to produce Star Trek: The Next Generation 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: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Andromeda, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Baywatch), which continued for more than a decade. Had the show failed, Paramount would have just added the segments to the Star Trek: The Original Series: The Original Series syndication package, just as they did with the remastered pilot "Star Trek" (1966) {The Cage (#1.0)}_.
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, 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 (#5.6)}, took place in the future, where Geordi was a Captain.
Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original Star Trek: The Original Series 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 had Captain Picard, and Star Trek: Voyager had Quark.
Worf's prosthetic forehead changed in season 2 because the original was stolen.
The Borg were originally written as insectoids (see "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Conspiracy (#1.24)}), 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 which had a character named Clayton Endicott III (played by Rene Auberjonois, who would later play Constable Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).
The two-part arcs "The Best of Both Worlds" and "Unification" 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 (as possible versions of the Enterprise) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (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, were quickly dusted off and adapted for the Star Trek: 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 and Star Trek: Voyager]
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, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski) also was in two episodes of the original Star Trek: The Original Series series, playing "Dr. Miranda Jones" in the episode "Star Trek" (1966) {Is There in Truth No Beauty? (#3.5)} and "Lt. Cmdr. Ann Mulhall, Ph.D and Thalassa" in "Star Trek" (1966) {Return to Tomorrow (#2.20)}.
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.
Most of the characters underwent minor changes before the show debuted: Picard's first name was Julien; Riker was spelled 'Ryker'; Data's name was pronounced 'dat-uh' instead of 'day-tah'; Wesley Crusher was Leslie Crusher, Dr. Crusher's daughter.