Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) - 97 mistakes in entire show

Continuity: The creators re-did the titles from the third season on, but only from before the shot of the ringed planet, and they didn't make sure they matched. Compare the movement of the stars inside the rings and the star field outside the rings - they move in different directions compared to each other.

Continuity: The view of the starfield in the ship's windows is always inconsistent whenever they are orbiting a planet. Sometimes the stars appear to be moving by, and sometimes they are completely static.

Continuity: When the computer instructs Riker to turn right, he turns to the left.

Revealing: On the very beginning of the second shot of the episode (the shot in engineering showing Picard walking around), the camera seems to shake or wobble. It's pretty obvious that the camera must have hit a part of the set or was bumped by a crew member.

Continuity: When Picard tells Q in the final scene "Get off my ship." Q is standing to his right, and Picard has his head turned towards Q. But when the angle changes to show Q's response, Picard is standing facing Q directly, and without his head turned.

Continuity: When Geordi is put onto a bed in sickbay there are two pillows - when he gets up to leave a little later they have disappeared.

Continuity: When Data brings up a picture of the original Kirk-era Enterprise in conjunction with the log talking about the water-intoxicant, the picture is of the refitted movie-style Enterprise - not the original round-nacelled model that was involved in the events of "The Naked Time."

Continuity: At the very beginning of the Episode, Picard makes a log entry stating that the Enterprise is heading for the USS Tsiolkovsky at warp seven. Subsequent outside shots of the ship show it is traveling at impulse.

Revealing: When Data sits in his post, his neck pips are black and then gold. In the next jump scene when he is in the back of the bridge with his commanders, the pips are reversed.

Continuity: While Troi and Yar are talking while holding hands in Troi's quarters, there is a piece of cloth between their hands in one camera angle, but in another camera angle, there is nothing between their hands.

Continuity: When Picard asks the Ferengi if they are withdrawing their surrender, Yar's arms pop back and forth from folded to extended as the shots change.

Visible crew/equipment: In the episode "where no-one has gone before" from series 1, near the start, just as Riker says "you have all the time you need", the engine consultant stops and turns around. As he does so, look above his head and you can see a microphone hanging down. The camera quickly adjusts so it's not visible any more.

Continuity: Picard addresses the ballerina as ensign, when in fact she has no pips on her uniform, making her a crewman.

Audio problem: When Riker leaves Deanna and Wyart at the holodeck you hear the door. You don't hear it a minute ago, when Wyatt enters the holodeck - he just appears.

Visible crew/equipment: When Riker tells Yar to open a channel to the Jarada, you can see the reflection of a boom mike in the workstation along the back wall behind him.

Continuity: After entering the Holodeck for the 2nd time, a vendor hands a folded piece of paper to Picard, yet Picard receives it unfolded.

Continuity: The lipstick on Picard changes between when he is kissed, and later when he leaves the holodeck (it's darker and on and above his lips.)

Continuity: When the two holographic villains are disintegrating outside the holodeck, there is a corridor opposite the holodeck. When the good guys exit a minute later, there is suddenly a solid wall.

Continuity: After drinking some spiked Champagne from Lore, Data falls backward, yet lands on his face.

Continuity: In this episode, when Riker makes his log entry, he says the stardate is "4124.5," the 4-digit style of stardates from The Original Series, rather than the 5 digit style used in The Next Generation.

Plot hole: Data calculates the time to reach the Neutral Zone in time by assuming maximum warp speed. After the solution, in the last minutes, Picard orders only warp six. With this speed, they won't get there in time. Aren't they in a hurry anymore ?

Continuity: Watch when Geordie on the bridge calls up Crusher in sickbay. There's a white-haired medical assistant working on someone behind Geordie. Then when Crusher responds to Geordie's page, the same assistant is down in sickbay with her. Then they cut back to Geordie and the assistant is back up on the bridge again.

Continuity: When Beata tells Riker that he attracts her like no other man, her hand disappears from his neck.

Other: About two minutes into the episode, in a scene where Riker and Picard go to meet admiral Jameson in the transporter room, just as they are about to enter the turbolift Picard opens his mouth really wide as if making a funny face to someone inside the turbolift. Although it was filmed from the side it is quite easy to spot.

Visible crew/equipment: When Yar and Worf prepare to cut through the wall beneath the capital city, you can see the flash-powder cord before they shoot and the phaser beams get F/X'd in.

Continuity: When Wesley is being introduced to the Companion, the camera zooms in to see the entire console up on the full screen with NO hands on it, but when it cuts to a side view, Radue's wife's hands are on the console.

Visible crew/equipment: After Riker talks to Harry and walks to the turbo lift, if you look carefully at the lower right-hand corner of the turbo lift you can see the tripod base of a stage light stand.

Visible crew/equipment: After finishing his talk with Harry, Riker continues to walk into the Turbolift. A leg from a light stand can be seen in the lower right hand corner as Riker walks into the lift.

Audio problem: Riker's lips don't match what he is saying when we hear Riker's statement of being surprised when Tasha hasn't heard of the stories of Aldea.

Factual error: In nearly every firefight, a Trek character is shown standing in place, then dodging to the side or ducking, and an energy beam hitting exactly where he/she was standing. This is DODGING a beam, not moving randomly to make it more difficult for the firer to hit them. It is not possible to dodge an energy beam as your reflexes would have to be faster than light. The destructive energy of the beam will arrive at the same time as the visible light. So by the time you see it to dodge it it has hit you. Data might be fast enough, but certainly no human is. And while the technology on Trek violates our views on physics (not to mention suspension of disbelief) all the time, a human being will never, at any point in history, be fast enough to dodge an energy beam.

Continuity: On his way to the Farewell party, Picard is seen wearing his dress uniform, but no pips on it. There should be four.

Plot hole: Ryker decides an away team must transport to the planet's surface to search for weapons. The Enterprise's sensors could easily (and safely) assess this from space. Data scans for life forms and finds none, so their scanners are working - but they don't even attempt a sensor scan for weapons before racing off to the transporter room. Nor is there any mention or indication that the Enterprise couldn't penetrate any shielding hiding the weapons. Sloppy scriptwriting.

Continuity: When the away team encounters the evil oily blob thing, it makes their equipment fly away. Later they have apparently recovered it. But strange things keep happening to Geordi's weapon: when he and the others run forward to rescue Riker, Geordi accidentally drops it in the black pool when he stops abruptly. Admittedly, you can't prove that's a mistake even though it has no purpose in the story. But shortly afterwards the phaser is back on Geordi's belt, clean. Did the sticky, malicious, bullying blob give it back just like that? (People often try and find justifications for mistakes, but in this case, wishful thinking can only give us an extremely unlikely explanation.)

Continuity: Several episodes have stardates after this episode, but still have Tasha Yar in them (even though she dies in this episode). They aired before this episode. The series producers later formalized their stardate system so that they take place in the order the episodes air.

Continuity: In the beginning of this episode, Riker orders Geordi(who was navigator at the time) to increase to Warp 6. In response, Geordi replies, "Aye sir, Full Impulse."

Continuity: Deanna is originally sitting on the bridge when they approach the zone of darkness, but after Picard tells Wesley to take them in, in the next wide shot Deanna disappears entirely and doesn't reappear throughout the rest of the scene - she only reappears much later when Riker and Worf return.

Continuity: Klingons measure distance in kilometers in this episode. However, in all other Trek shows and movies, they measure in kellicams. [This was apparently during a misguided attempt by the Empire to adopt the decimal system (for Galactic consistency), even though the change was wildy unpopular with the public and military alike. While some ships, like in this episode, gave it a good try, the change was short-lived and eventually abandoned. However, until this claim can be backed up by a reference within Star Trek canon, it stands as a mistake.]

Revealing: When Geordi closes the 'dead' Data's eyes, it is obvious that he just passes his hand above Data's face, without touching his eyelids.

Factual error: 30 seconds in Geordi says: 'surface temperature -291 degrees Celsius'. (The scale only goes down to -273.15 which is absolute zero).

Continuity: Worf says the Borg have locked on a tractor beam, but in the next exterior shot there is no tractor beam visible between the two ships. Later there is.

Visible crew/equipment: In the observation lounge, you can see a shadow from a crew person on armrest of the chair on the bottom left of the screen. Hard to see, but definitely there.

Audio problem: In Engineering when Worf says "Ensign.", Michael Dorn's lips don't move.

Continuity: Wesley says that he's departing shuttle bay 2, but on the floor, it says shuttle bay 3.

Continuity: The Bringloidi leader keeps saying that they've spent 300 years building their society, but this episode takes place in 2365, and it's stated that his ship launched in 2123, making it 200 years.

Continuity: When the head Bringoidy starts a fire in the hold, Worf informs him that a force field will cover the fire until it is extinguished. But in many later episodes you see fires burning, and nothing happens. At most, they will let the air out of the room, but no force fields.

Continuity: In the beginning of the episode, Riker, Geordi, Worf, Data, and Pulaski are playing poker. Pulaski puts two neat stacks of chips in the center beside some chips in a pile. It then shows Worf putting similar stacks in the center but Pulaski's stacks are not visible and they should be. Then when Worf wins the hand, the camera is showing a wide shot of him pulling the chips towards him and you can see his and Pulaski's neat stacks of chips.

Continuity: After Wesley makes his neutrino pulse suggestion, Picard tells him to go do it. Wesley walks off camera. Then there's a commercial break, and Wesley is back on the bridge in the long shots. A few minutes later we hear the turbo-lift and Wesley walks back onto the bridge.

Visible crew/equipment: When Riker first beams down he uses a flashlight - if you look closely you can see the electrical cord that runs down his sleeve to an off-screen generator.

Continuity: In the episode 'Yesterday's Enterprise' (season three, episode 15), watch the final scene with Geordi and Guinan in Ten-Forward. Although time and the universe has returned to normal, Geordi is still wearing the uniform from the alternate timeline (note the sleeve detail, and the extended neck piece).

Revealing: When Tasha Yar and company first enter Ten Forward in the alternate timeline, watch through the doors as they open. An extra can be seen stood still in midstride in the passageway, before nervously noticing that the doors have already opened and that she has missed her cue to begin walking past. She then begins purposefully marching down the passage.

Factual error: The second piece of music played at the concert is by Brahms and not Mozart.

Revealing: During the phaser battle on the Borg ship, a detonation wire is seen attached to the right foot of the drone that Beverly kills.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene when Dr. Crusher is on the Bridge all alone, right before the "universe" collapses, you can see a cameraman on a boom in the black plastic next to the turbo-lift behind her.

Visible crew/equipment: When Riker approaches his "son" in the prison cell (right after he has discovered the first bluff) you can see the shadow of the mike boom on the back wall quickly moving from the middle to the right.

Continuity: When Data and Troi are scanning the list of elements, searching for something to cause an explosion, the list is scrolling "up" the screen. When she tells Data to stop and go back, he does, but the list continues to scroll "up" instead of back "down".

Plot hole: When Riker and Worf are searching for Geordi on the holodeck, why don't they just terminate the program, instead of looking for him in the simulated jungle? Would have made it a heck of a lot easier to find him.

Continuity: Near the beginning of the episode, when Geordi and Suzanna are in Ten-Forward, Geordi's rank insignia switches from the two-and-a-half pips of a Lieutenant-Commander to the three pips of a Commander. Geordi is then called to the bridge, and when he gets there he is wearing Lieutenant-Commander's pips again.

Visible crew/equipment: When Lwaxana and Deanna Troi are talking in Lwaxana's quarters (near the end of the episode), note the boom microphone you can see in the mirror as Lwaxana walks away from it the first time.

Revealing: The Klingon which challenges Gowron, and which Gowron kills, is seen breathing when he should be stone dead.

Continuity: When Picard, Ro and the others arrive at the refugee camp to meet with Keeve Falor, the type of uniform top Ro is wearing has its zipper at the back in the center - with no seam whatsoever at the front. When she kneels down in front of the child, it has changed to the open-front jacket type, so Ro can touchingly give it to the child.

Continuity: When Ro and Picard are among Ro's people and she gives her jacket to a child (saying something like 'this is what I was, once') she never removes her commbadge. However, there's a commbadge neatly placed on her grey tank top - even though she didn't even remove it from the jacket, let alone put it on her shirt.

Continuity: When Dr Marr and Data are talking in the cave about her dead son, she is holding the tricorder upside down.

Revealing: In season 5, "The Game," the brainwashed crew members hold Wesley's eyes open to force him to see the mind-controlling game. Their intention is to prevent him from closing his eyes, which would protect him from the device. While they are doing this, he blinks.

Visible crew/equipment: In the episode "Reunification part 2" when Picard, Spock, and Data have just escaped from the female Romulan commander, when they are walking out of the room look at the green glass ornament - you can see reflection of a crew member.

Factual error: When Geordi calls Data while Data and Timothy are building the sculpture, Data refers to Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge as, "Lieutenant La Forge," instead of the militarily correct short form, "Commander."

Continuity: In the scene where Data is brushing Timothy's hair into a copy of his own hairstyle, he stops, kneels down and asks Timothy "Timothy, are you having bad dreams?" In this shot there is a big tuft of hair on the right side of Timothy's head that sticks straight out. When their conversation is over and Data stands up in the wider shot, all of Timothy's hair is in place.

Visible crew/equipment: Just before encountering the Lysian destroyer the boom is visible in the top left of the screen very briefly

Continuity: In Ten Forward, when Deanna and Data are done playing 'chess', the positions of the game-pieces on the lower board level between them changes repeatedly, depending on camera angle.

Continuity: On the planet's surface, when the away team are knocked unconscious their positions on the ground differ significantly between shots.

Continuity: In the very first scene, where Data is shuffling the cards, you can see his silver and gold chips are neatly stacked up straight. The camera then cuts to Commander Riker and then back to Data and his chips are crooked at the top and at the bottom.

Visible crew/equipment: When Deanna and Riker stop at the turbolift to discuss Data, before the doors open to reveal Data, in the shot facing Deanna the reflection of crew movement is visible on the trim's surface, just over the turbolift.

Revealing: In the scene where Barcley reappears on the transporter with the crewmember, they both fall to the ground. The transporter chief had put up a forcefield around the transporter chamber, in case something goes wrong. However, when the crewmember falls to the ground, his foot goes right through where the forcefield is meant to be. It is still active, as only a few seconds later we see it being deactivated.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Picard comes to engineering to ask Laforge if he has been successful in locating Riker's homing beacon, you can see the blue light of the warp core reflected in the window. Outlined in that reflection, near Geordi's chest, you can see a studio spotlight.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Geordi and the Captain are in engineering trying to close the subspace hole, you can see a silhouette of the camera in the reflection of the warp core blue lights in the window between the warp core and the console they are working from.

Continuity: At one point, Worf reveals that a missing crew member has reappeared in his quarters on Deck 9, Section 17. Picard Riker and Crusher all meet at the cabin which has mysteriously moved to Section 19.

Continuity: Just before Riker jumps through the portal with the female crew member he rescues, his phaser falls out of its holster, yet when he lands back in cargo bay 4 his phaser is right there in the holster.

Continuity: The stardate given in the previous episode is 46578.4 and the stardate of the episode after this is 46682.4. In this episode, Picard records the stardate in his log as 46759.2. There was either a typo in the script or the actor misspoke the scripted 46579.2. This isn't excusable as a character error, because the episode is accepted in Trek lore as occurring on the date Picard states.

Revealing: When Picard and Cmdr. Daron are in Picard's quarters together for the first time, watch Picard play his Inner Light theme. The hands playing the flute are obviously not his.

Visible crew/equipment: You can see the boom mike above Picards head when he is in his quarters.

Continuity: In one scene on the planet, Riker's clone is lying under a table fixing something and Riker is sitting in a chair talking to him. There are two camera angles used. In one angle when the clone is talking and a body double is sitting in the chair he is facing directly towards the table but in the other camera angle where you can only see Riker, the chair is at an angle facing towards where his clone is lying on the floor.

Continuity: In the scene right before the shuttle's crew finds the Romulan ship and the Enterprise, Geordi calls the shuttle craft's cockpit to explain the temporal disturbances. Captain Picard, Troi and Data walk into the shuttle's cockpit room and Troi puts her right arm on Geordi's chair. As Geordi, Data and Captain Picard are talking you can see Troi's wrist hanging off the chair, but when the camera cuts directly in front of Geordi her whole wrist is on the chair. The camera then cuts back and you can see that Troi's wrist is still hanging off the chair.

Factual error: With the Enterprise and the Romulan ship stuck in a bubble in time and virtually stopped, the 2 ships would not be visible to the crew on the shuttle. The light entering the bubble would slow down, as would the light reflecting off the ships. All the shuttle crew would see is a "black hole" in space. (The disruptor beam was stopped in mid fire and sensors cannot penetrate the bubble).

Factual error: Picard reaches for the bowl of rotten fruit, winces in pain, and suddenly his fingernails have grown about an inch. This was due to the fruit bowl being inside an area where time was moving much faster. The problem is, in order for his fingernails to grow, blood would have to supply the needed nutrients to his fingers at the accelerated rate. Since his heart is in normal time, being away from the bowl of fruit, there is no way his fingernails could have grown like that - his heart is only supplying a normal-time-continuum's worth of blood.

Continuity: In the scene where Captain Picard reaches for the aged fruit, he screams while holding his right wrist with his left hand. As Troi, Geordi, and Data rush in you can see Captain Picard holding his wrist up in the air. The camera then cuts directly in front of Captain Picard and you can see Troi scanning his wrist but he isn't holding his wrist anymore. The camera then cuts directly in front of Troi and Geordi and you can see that Captain Picard is still holding his wrist. The camera then again cuts back to Captain Picard and he isn't holding his wrist anymore.

Plot hole: They have already shown that anything that comes into contact with the time bubbles is immediately affeceted. The engine running 47 days non-stop, the fruit againg, Picard's hand aging, etc. Geordi creates subspace isolation field that allows them to beam off the shuttle and onto the other ships to investigate. Problem is, the second the transporter beam hit the time bubble, it would have stopped and never materialized because it would have been affected by the extremely slow passage of time in that bubble. The warp core breach was affected as was the disruptor fire so the transport beam would have been easily affected. And they have never shown that have been able to alter the transporters in such a manner that would allow them to beam over.

Factual error: In the scene with the rotting fruit, it would be impossible for the fruit to age as shown. The problem is, in order for the fruit to rot, oxygen would have to supply the needed nutrients to microrganisms in the fruit that cause it to rot at the accelerated rate. Since the life support generator is in normal time, being away from the bowl of fruit, there is no way the fruit could have rotted like that - the generator is only supplying a normal-time-continuum's worth of oxygen. There is no evidence of any wind or vortex so the air cannot be enetering the time bubble at a greater rate than it is being created.

Continuity: For some reason the back of the chairs in Picard's shuttlecraft have Romulan insignia on them.

Continuity: Lwaxana and Deanna get in an elevator and Deanna tells it to go to Deck 8. But when they arrive the sign says 12 Turbolift.

Continuity: In the very first scene when Data stands up to explain the situation to the Senior Staff, you can see that Lt. Worf has his elbow off the table and Dr. Crusher has her arms uncrossed. In the next shot the camera cuts in front of them and Lt. Worf has his elbow on the table while Dr. Crusher's hands are crossed even though Data is still on the same sentence.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the Enterprise encounters the Ferengi transport ship, the boom microphone is visible behind Commander Riker just as Data sits down at the controls.

Continuity: Juliana beams down to the planet with Data in two-inch black-heeled boots, but when she materializes she's wearing flats.

Continuity: In the scene where Picard is talking to the governor about staying awhile to fix the weather controls, Troi can be seen in the background talking to some people, but she had just left with Beverly to go to Nana's house.

Continuity: When Worf's banging on Troi's doorway, as Picard and Data look at the door it is dented, but when the camera cuts to Worf's side, the door is undamaged.

Continuity: It is stated that the Traveller is from Tau Ceti, but in his previous two appearances he was from Tau Alpha C.

Audio problem: When Jason is having seizures in his quarters, Dr. Crusher gives him an injection to stop it. But watch Jason closely - he goes limp BEFORE you hear the sound of the hypospray.

Continuity: When Jason and Picard are having a conversation in the holodeck, Jason says "I remember her telling me about all the boys and girls who didn't have anyone to care for them" while looking in the opposite direction of where Picard is sitting. The camera angle changes to a close-up and Jason now has his head turned slightly towards Picard.

Visible crew/equipment: In the opening scene when Data is portraying a character from Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" a small card can be seen attached to the back of the book he is carrying (likely containing his lines), but after increasing the amount of torch light the card is no longer there.