The battle bridge set was originally built as the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

When Riker and Data meet on the holodeck, Data uses an elision in the line, "But I'd give it all up, for the chance to be human." Later it was said that Data was unable to form such verbal contractions.

Following its initial airing, "Encounter at Farpoint" was re-edited into two hour-long episodes for reruns. The original two-hour version would not be seen again until the entire Next Generation series was released on DVD in 2002, 17 years later.

Denise Crosby was originally cast as Troi, and Marina Sirtis was originally cast as Yar. Prior to filming the two exchanged roles.

Tim Russ, later to play Tuvok on 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 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' 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).

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 about two gay officers 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.

In the original premiere script, Geordi was going to be gay.

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 as Jamaican. When LeVar Burton was cast in the role, this was dropped, although a Jamaican actress (Madge Sinclair) later appeared as LaForge's mother.

Lt. Worf is the longest-running character in the history of Star Trek. He appeared in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, four seasons (starting with the fourth), of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and all four Next Generation films. In addition, Michael Dorn played Col. Worf, the attorney defending Kirk and McCoy, in the sixth Star Trek film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original Star Trek 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.

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.

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 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 which 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 quickly mixing starship parts from many different models.

When a writer's strike hit the series at the start of the second season, several plots from the proposed late 70s series 'Star Trek: Phase II', which was eventually dropped in favor of becoming Star Trek - The Motion Picture, were hurriedly 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 and Star Trek: Voyager]

If one includes the movies, nearly every member of the Star Trek crew has appeared in this series and interacted with the new crew - Kirk (in Star Trek -  Generations), Bones (in Encounter At Farpoint), Scotty (in Relics) 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. Only Uhura and Sulu have not, but the former did appear in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode: Trials and Tribble-ations with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Chekov & the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine crew; while the latter appears in the Star Trek: Voyager episode: Flashback (and is mentioned as one of Chakotay's contemporaries in Tattoo).

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 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 year one episodes. But after both Tasha Yar and Dr. Crusher were written out, Troi was kept.

Wesley Crusher takes his first name from Gene Roddenberry's middle name.

Most of the characters underwent some 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.

Geordi's VISOR was improvised on the first day of shooting using chiefly an automobile air filter.

In the episode "Where Silence Has Lease", Nagilum was originally supposed to have been played by Richard Mulligan. That is how the character's name was developed.

Star Trek: The Next Generation borrowed its theme music from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

A different piece of theme music was composed for the series before the decision was made to reuse Jerry Goldsmith's theme. This unused title music was later issued on one of the Next Generation soundtrack CDs produced by GNP Crescendo records in the US.

The episode "Tapestry" shows the cityscape from Logan's Run outside Picard's window.

The sliding doors were very loud on the show and have been compared to sliding glass doors. The actors were instructed to hold their dialogue until the doors stopped; you will rarely see an actor delivering lines while a door is opening or closing.

Near the end of the episode "Symbiosis" when Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher walk out of the Cargo Bay look in the background and you will see Tasha Yar waving at the camera, as this was the last episode she filmed before she left the first time.

Diana Muldaur, who plays Dr. Pulaski, played Dr. Leslie Thompkins in Batman: The Animated Series

Whoopi Goldberg (the re-occurring mysterious bar-keeper Guinan, seasons 2-6), was given the role after being a fan of the original series and expressing interesting in having a re-occurring role in the new series

The Ferengi were originally introduced with the intention of making them the main, re-occurring adversaries in the series (very much as the Klingons were in the original series). However, audiences found the Ferengi too comical to take seriously as potential foes, and the race were gradually refined into the more (usually unintentionally) comical characters as later typified by Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Borg would eventually become infamous as Star Trek: The Next Generation's ultimate nemesis.

Jonathan Frakes returned to rehearsals for the start of the second season sporting a beard, with the intention of shaving it off before shooting began, but the producers liked it and asked him to keep it. It remained for the rest of the show's run. (He eventually shaves it off again for the movie Star Trek - Insurrection).

In the episode, "Cause and Effect," the Enterprise encounters a ship called the U.S.S. Bozeman. Brannon Braga, one of the writers on the show was raised in the town of Bozeman, Montana.

The hull number of the starship Bozeman is NCC-1941, because model maker Gregory Jein also worked on the film 1941.

In the episode "A Fistfull Of Datas", a holodeck character is referred to "The butcher of Bozeman", another reference to Brannon Braga's hometown (see above).

The 1988 episode "The Neutral Zone" was a milestone in the history of Star Trek by establishing that the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation took place in the year 2364. This was the first time an exact calendar date was provided for a Trek episode. All Star Trek episodes, chronologies, novels and background information since 1988 have been calculated from this date.

The death of Tasha Yar in "Skin of Evil" marked the first (but not the last) time a continuing Trek character was killed off. (Spock doesn't count as he was revived).

Mae C. Jemison is the first (and as of January 2002, the only) real astronaut to appear in any Star Trek show.

Many displays and readouts in this series also have smaller printing or sight gags that are actually too small to be read on a TV screen. One such joke is on the medical displays and reads "Medical Insurance Remaining".

Originally, Data was to be the Chief Science Officer of the Enterprise, (much like Spock was on the original Star Trek) and sport a blue tunic. However, the blue tunic clashed with his android make-up and the idea was scrapped. Data was re-assigned as Chief Operations Officer of the Enterprise and sported a gold tunic for all seven seasons (except for the two-part episode "Chain of Command" in which he is promoted to first officer and wears a red tunic).

Thus far, all five Star Trek series have featured at least one character who is the first of their species in Starfleet. This series has two: Worf is the first Klingon in Starfleet and Data the first android.

Because of guest star Leonard Nimoy's schedule, part two of the two-part episode "Unification" was filmed before part one.

Early in the planning stages of the series, Roger C. Carmel was offered the chance to return as his original series character Harry Mudd, but he died long before production would have begun on such an episode. Attempts were also reportedly made to get Leonard Nimoy to appear during the first season, but fans had to wait a few years for that to happen.

David Rappaport was to have played the villain in the episode "The Most Toys" but committed suicide before filming began.

According to some sources, Jerry Lewis was invited to play the holodeck comic in the episode "The Outrageous Okona." The role eventually went to Joe Piscopo who included a Lewis impersonation.

Many actors who originally auditioned for roles on this show later went on to star in other Star Trek series, including Tim Russ who was 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.) "Timeless", a later episode of Star Trek: Voyager, took place in the future, where Geordi was a Captain.

The prop bottles used for Klingon Blood Wine are Cuervo Margarita Mix bottles, painted white.

As of fall 2003, pieces of the original bridge including the chairs and consoles, and a large Enterprise schematic, are preserved and on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Close inspection of an oversized Enterprise schematic which was shown in nearly every episode reveals a detail invisible to TV audiences: the image of a mouse on a wheel in Engineering (the schematic is on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum).

Gene Roddenberry's original scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation's premiere story, "Encounter at Farpoint," did not include any scenes set in the Enterprise's engine room. When he learned that Paramount was therefore refusing to pay to build an engine room set, he revised the scripts to include the engine room.

Characters on the Enterprise frequently access hidden ship's mechanisms by removing "Mees Panels" from the walls. This is two-pronged inside joke: Jim Mees was Star Trek: The Next Generation's set decorator, and "Mees Panels" are a reference both to him and to the original series' "Jefferies Tubes", named for original prop master Matt Jefferies.

The character of Tasha Yar was originally to be a Latina named Macha Hernandez, inspired by the tough female marine Vasquez in Aliens. In fact, Jeanette Goldstein who played Vasquez) auditioned for this character, and later played the Enterprise-B science officer in Star Trek: Generations.

In this series, the uniforms worn by Romulan military officers have a variety of patterns and colors on them. These do not appear to have anything to do with the Romulan's position or rank; a popular fan theory is that Romulan uniforms are patterned according to family or clan affiliation.

When the Enterprise was initially being designed for Next Generation, the producers conveniently located a transporter room directly off the main bridge. Gene Roddenberry nixed the idea, saying he wanted the characters to have conversations in the turbolifts before/after embarking on a mission.

"The Game" was the first episode to air following Gene Roddenberry's death.

VISOR stands for "Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement".

Bill Campbell, who played the title role in the second season's "The Outrageous Okona", was a contender for the role of Commander Riker.

The diamond-shaped chrome shelf unit in the Farpoint Mall set comes from Kirk's apartment in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.

Throughout the first two Star Trek crews (including the movies), Picard and Data are the only two characters never to receive a promotion. However, in at least two "alternate futures", they were both promoted - the episodes "Future Imperfect" (Data is a full Commander, Picard is an admiral) and "All Good Things" (Picard, though retired, is referred to as an ambassador).

As a running gag, bathrooms are never shown on Enterprise schematics. This joke is referenced in Star Trek: First Contact, when Zefram Cochrane asks Geordi, "...don't you people from the 24th Century ever pee?"

Much of the crew of Star Trek the Next generation were avid fans of Japanese animation, and often put in references to their favorite shows. This includes the "Exocomps" in the episode "Quality of Life" were modeled after the robot Namno from "Dirty Pair," while other episodes often referenced characters from "Urusei Yatsura". The "Akira-class" starships are also meant as a double reference to the Anime film of the same name and director Akira Kurosawa.

In "The Ensigns of Command", actor Grainger Hines was unhappy with his performance (as Gosheven), so he requested his name be removed from the credits. All of his lines were subsequently overdubbed by another actor.

In the episode "Relics", Scotty (guest star James Doohan) visits the bridge of the Enterprise from Star Trek on the Holodeck. A fan who recreated a life-size version of the bridge set generously donated it for use in the episode, as the original set had long since been demolished.

In 1991, former President Ronald Reagan visited the set during filming of the fourth season finale, "Redemption Part I". After being introduced to several actors dressed in full Klingon warrior garb, Reagan was asked what he thought of the Klingons. "I like them," he said. "They remind me of Congress."

"The Defector"begins with Data rehearsing a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V, while being watched by Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart. In the play scene the part of Williams (being acted by a holodeck construct) is also played by Patrick Stewart under heavy makeup. It is notable that only Bates, the one other character in the scene, is credited at the end of the episode.

Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) and Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series.

In the second and following seasons, Johnathan Frakes wears a beard that he grew for his part in "North And South: Book II", which was filmed during a season break.

Despite phasing out the "one-piece uniforms" from the first two seasons, this variant of Starfleet uniform reappeared at least once every season afterwards. (worn by many "extras" in season three, used in a video record in season four's "Identity Crisis", worn by Picard in a nightmare in season five's "Violations", worn by a duplicate Riker in season six's "Second Chances" and worn in the past time frame in season seven's "All Good Things...")

Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), Brent Spiner (Lt. Cmdr. Data), LeVar Burton (Lt./Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counsellor Deanna Troi) and Colm Meaney (Chief Miles Edward O'Brien) are the only actors to appear in all seven seasons.

Roddenberry had hoped to recycle scripts from the original show with a bigger effects budget. Fan reaction to remakes (and a failure to achieve an early ratings peak) forced him to scrap plans to remake more episodes, at least as openly as in Episode 1.1, "The Naked Now".

The flute from the episode "The Inner Light" appears again as a background prop in Picard's ready room in a number of season 6 and 7 episodes, as well as in a deleted scene from Star Trek: Nemesis, in which Data removes it from its box and examines it while talking to Picard.

The 'Star Trek Crews' from all the Star Trek series were ranked 2 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends".

Ronny Cox has a unique distinction in the series. He is the only guest star who ever did a "captains log" entry when his captain was in charge of the enterprise while Captain Picard was on a mission. This occurred in the episodes "Chain Of Command."

The decision to produce Star Trek: The Next Generation for syndication rather than for a network was considered a gamble at the time, as it was the most expensive project of its kind ever attempted, but it did so well that it opened the door for a tidal wave of made-for-syndication dramatic series (including Hercules, Xena, Andromeda, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and Baywatch) which would continue for more than a decade.

There exists a rather unique spoof of this show in Germany called "Star Trek: Sinnlos im Weltraum" (roughly translated: "Star Trek: Pointless in Space"). Two fans used a VCR, a microphone and some Star Trek sounds (which were embedded in a merchandise key fob) to create their own version of some episodes. Basically it's the same episode with the two performing the (absolutely hilarious) dubbing for all characters. These episodes have gained cult status and became so popular that they're even shown at Star Trek conventions. Meanwhile they were approved by Paramount and it's now legal to download them.

British trade weekly Broadcast has named this the 10th best U.S. television show ever.

There are parallels between All Good Things… and that of a 1979 Doctor Who story, City of Death co-written by bestselling author Douglas Adams. Both feature a notion of time-splintering, the prevention of life evolving on Earth, and a scene of contemplating primordial ooze that will become the human race.

Whoopi Goldberg was supposed to reprise her role as Guinan, in All Good Things… but her film career kept her busy and so she was written out of the script.

Crew or equipment visible: In "Unification (Part II)", as a Romulan commander is sitting in her office, a crew member can be seen reflected in a sculpture.

Continuity error: Data's cat, Spot, is a male throughout the history of the show, but is female in "Genesis" and "Force of Nature".

Boom mike visible: In "Half A Life", the boom can be seen reflected in the mirror in Lwaxanna's guest quarters as she talks to Deanna.

Factual error: In "Relics", we can see curvature as the Enterprise approaches the Dyson's sphere. Given the theoretical size of a Dyson's sphere (roughly the size of Earth's orbit around the sun), any curvature of the sphere while the Enterprise was that close would be imperceptible.

Continuity error: Data is not supposed to be able to use elisions. Yet, in the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint", he says the word "can't" at least once.

Crew or equipment visible: In "The Royale", the camera crew can be seen in a mirror on the craps table.

Continuity error: Before the episode that establishes that Data is unable to use verbal contractions (elisions), he has already used them 32 times.

Plot hole: In the episode "The Next Phase", an accident makes it so that Ensign Ro and Lt. Cmdr. LaForge passes through everyone and everything on the Entreprise. Yet they don't sink through the floors when they walk and the turbo lifts still take them places safely. Ro can touch her helm chair and respecive panel. And there is air for them to breathe.

Crew or equipment visible: In "When the Bough Breaks" at the start of the episode when Riker goes into the turbolift after his collision with the boy, you can see the foot of some sound equipment sticking out.

Continuity error: In "Contagion" when the bridge crew are in the conference room discussing the demise of the Yamato, the background stars move in contradictory directions. Behind Geordi, they move left to right while behind Picard they move right to left. Due to the orientation of people in the conference room, both directions are incorrect. Behind Geordi would indicate the ship is moving to starbord, while behind Picard would indicate the ship is moving to port. Neither indicate the ship is actually moving forward.

Continuity error: In "Elementary, Dear Data" Geordi freezes the Sherlock Holmes simulation on the holodeck, yet the simulated fire in the fireplace continues to burn and flicker like normal.

Revealing mistake: In "Interface", Geordi uses an interface suit to manipulate a remote probe. In scenes from the probe's point-of-view, Geordi is depicted as if he were actually in the remote location, but his reflection is that of the probe. However, he casts a human shadow, not a probe-shaped shadow.

Crew or equipment visible: During Data's "dream flight" in "Birthright, Part I", a man in a black t-shirt is seen down a corridor as the point-of-view flies through the ceiling.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In "Deja Q", when Riker orders Worf to call any other Federation ships for assistance, Worf says, "Aye, sir," but no sound is heard.

Continuity error: In the season 1 episode "Skin of Evil", Geordi's phaser falls off into the oil slick-like creature (Armus) when he runs up to try and rescue Riker. Later, we see Geordi with his phaser again.

Continuity error: In All Good Things… during all scenes in the past, Data is wearing Lt.J.G. pins on his uniform. Data has been a Lt.Cdr. for the entire run of the series and all movies.

The model of the Enterprise used in the opening credits is so detailed, a tiny figure can be seen walking past a window just before the vessel jumps to warp speed.

"Unification, Part 1" is dedicated to the memory of Gene Roddenberry.

As with the original Star Trek series, each episode begins with Picard reciting the famous opening monologue, "Space, the final frontier..." In a bow to political correctness, the conclusion of the monologue has been changed. Whereas the original series ended with "where no MAN has gone before," Star Trek: The Next Generation uses the more generic "where no ONE has gone before."

The first and last episodes were originally broadcast as two-hour TV-movies, and were later re-edited into two one-hour episodes each. Both edits involved removing some scenes from each episode.  The two-part version of Encounter at Farpoint, which is the one usually shown in syndication, is missing several short scenes. One scene cut has Riker being shown a recap of the Enterprise's encounter with The Q.  The edited version of All Good Things… has additional footage including an additional appearance by Q in the old Picard's bedroom just before he goes to 10 forward with new theories regarding the anomaly. This version makes more sense as you see where Picard gets his theory from.