Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 1 generally

Question: In Season 1, Episode 23 "Skin of Evil", Tasha Yar was killed. But in the three following episodes, in the opening credits, Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar) is still listed. Am I correct in thinking that the producers decided to use the original opening credits for the remaining three episodes of the season, and changed them after Gates McFadden left the series for Season Two?

Movie Nut

Answer: The producers would not change the credits so near the end of the season, nor was there any reason to. She was a cast member for Season One, even if she did not appear in all episodes, and therefore is credited. It would also be expensive to redo the opening cast credits.

raywest

Ship in a Bottle - S6-E12

Question: Is Moriarty aware that he is a character on a TV show? If Reg is the only real character in Moriarty's holodeck simulation then why does Moriarty continue his ruse when Reg is not in the scene? To keep the viewer engaged? Was this an inside writers joke?

Answer: Moriarty's holodeck simulation was also created as a deception for Picard and Data, who are also real. Moriarty does realise that he is a holodeck creation based on a character in the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes novels. However, he was imbued with self-awareness when he was originally created by Geordi as a villain "capable of defeating Data" in the episode, "Elementary, Dear Data." Over time, he overcomes his own programming and achieves sentience, hence his desire to be liberated from the limitations of holodeck space.

Michael Albert

Show generally

Question: Something that's bugged me ever since becoming a Star Trek fan: Why do none of the ships featured in this or any other Star Trek series have seat-belts or some futuristic equivalent for their bridge crews? Practically every time, for example, the Enterprise comes under heavy attack, consoles and panels start exploding and crew members are thrown from their chairs and shown flying through the air. To me this seems a very obvious oversight.

Answer: The ships have inertial dampeners, they don't really need seatbelts. And consoles aren't really supposed to be exploding. When the do, would you really want to be lashed in place so your face and torso take the full force of it?

Phixius

There is a deleted scene in Star Trek nemesis where Captain Picard captain's chair get a seat belt and he makes a comment about them.

Dan23

The question refers to all crew, not just the captain's.

Noman

This video shows the many instances in the shows and films where seatbelts are used by the crew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysvyXDebsM.

Answer: In ST:TMP, the captain's chair had restraints; the arms folded down over him, holding him in place.

The question refers to all of the crew, not just the captain's chair.

Noman

In that scene all of the chairs have these restraints, so the answer actually applies to the whole bridge crew.

Yesterday's Enterprise - S3-E15

Question: The motivation for this episode seems to be returning the Enterprise 1701-C to its own timeline 22 years in the past, where it will certainly be destroyed by Romulan warbirds; yet, the heroism of sacrifice will avert a protracted 22-year war with the Klingon Empire as well as avert tens of billions of Federation deaths. QUESTION: Why didn't they just SWITCH CREWS and send the far more advanced Enterprise 1701-D through the time rift and 22 years into the past? Using its advanced weaponry, defenses, and sheer speed, the Enterprise D could have easily defeated the old Romulan warbirds, saved Tasha Yar, averted the 22-year Klingon war, and saved 40 billion Federation lives. Additionally, sending the truly futuristic 1701-D into the past could have then exponentially advanced Starfleet technology into the future, making the Federation virtually invincible to its traditional enemies. It would seem that this would be the more noble, heroic and logical action of a Starfleet crew - to save lives and advance Federation survival. It would have certainly been a more thought-provoking episode, anyway.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: A similar question was actually asked during the episode. Captain Garrett of the Enterprise 1701-C questioned Captain Picard about the possibility of outfitting the older model Enterprise with modern technology to give them a better chance of defeating the Romulans. However, changing the course of history is pretty much forbidden in the Star Trek universe. It would be impossible to predict the impact on the future. It would be playing with fate. It just wasn't to be done. For example, suppose the updated Enterprise "C", or the replacement Enterprise "D" were to still be defeated and captured, and all of that advanced technology were to fall into Romulan hands? The impact on the timeline would be far different than the one you lay out. Guinan, with her extrasensory perception, pretty much gives Picard the solution to restoring the timeline to what she knows, and Picard eventually trusts, to be the correct one. Send the Enterprise "C" back into the time rift. For me, the only VERY perplexing question would be why Picard would EVER allow Tasha Yar to return to the past in the Enterprise 1701-C. This, we later come to know, led to Tasha's offspring becoming a Romulan military leader, thus altering the timeline, anyway. It seemed a very foolish move, based solely on emotional reasons (and a dramatic plot line).

Michael Albert

Doing so would violate the Temporal Prime Directive which Picard already did by sending Tasha back, but considering she wasn't supposed to be part of that timeline anyway, Picard probably saw no harm even though Tasha was captured and had Sela.

Parallels - S7-E11

Question: Even though Worf keeps jumping from parallel universe to parallel universe, he never encounters his double (i.e., the Worf from the universe he jumped into). At the end, when the Enterprise from Worf's final alternate universe contacts the "real" Enterprise, there's a Worf on the bridge with the "real" crew. Does this mean that every time Worf moved into a different reality, all the other Worfs shifted around as well?

Matty Blast

Answer: When Worf jumps to another dimension, whatever Worf is on that ship is immediately sent to the dimension that the original Worf comes from. As an example, when Prime Worf jumps to the dimension where he is married to Counselor Troi, the Worf from that dimension is immediately sent to Prime Worfs dimension. All of the other Worfs stay in their own dimension until Prime Worf is inadvertently sent to one of theirs. After Prime Worf leaves that dimension, the Worf that had been sent to Prime Enterprise would end up back in his own dimension. Not shunted to another one.

Chosen answer: Correct. When Worf jumps, the other Worfs jumped also. That is how the other Enterprise (the one with the same signature as the Worf the episode follows) knew what was going on.

Bruce Minnick

11001001 - S1-E15

Question: Since it takes two people (usually the captain and first officer) to arm and disarm the self-destruct sequence what would happen if one were killed and couldn't concur to disarm? I am supposing it would go to the next ranking officer but if they are the only ones on the ship (like in "11001001") what would happen then?

Answer: If one or both commanding officers were incapacitated in some way and unable to disarm the self-destruct, then presumably the ship would explode and they would be killed. That is the inherent risk in such a system. However, being as its a TV series, there is always some technical loophole that saves the ship.

raywest

Answer: Probably because he held out hope of one day reclaiming the ship.

More mistakes in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Qpid - S4-E20

Worf: Captain, I must protest. I am not a merry man.

More quotes from Star Trek: The Next Generation

Loud as a Whisper - S2-E5

Trivia: Guest star Marnie Mosiman, who plays a member of Riva's chorus, is married to John de Lancie, who had a recurring role as the omnipotent mischief-maker Q.

Cubs Fan

More trivia for Star Trek: The Next Generation

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