* CreatorBacklash: The producers grew to hate the [[ShouldersOfDoom overly-broad shouldered]] uniforms worn by the Romulans.
* DirectedByCastMember: Stewart, Frakes, Burton and [=McFadden=] all directed episodes. [=McFadden=] also choreographed the dance sequences in "Data's Day", Frakes directed two of the movies, and Dorn directed several episodes of [=DS9=].
* ExecutiveMeddling: Is what got PatrickStewart an audition in the first place. The casting director saw him in a play and wanted him to try out, but Roddenberry was against it - feeling Stewart was too old and too bald to play Picard. Rick Berman admitted to also having doubts, but he was at least willing to give Stewart a shot. Berman, the casting director and production manager Robert H. Justman kept pressuring Roddenberry until he finally relented to seeing Stewart audition.
* FanNickname: Picard's habit of straightening his uniform is called "the Picard Maneuver" by fans (not to be confused with "the Picard Maneuver" from the episode "The Battle").
* HeyItsThatGuy: Often overlapping with RetroactiveRecognition.
** TerryOQuinn, aka [[{{Lost}} John Locke]], was Riker's first commanding officer, now an Admiral, in "The Pegasus".
** Bob Gunton, aka [[TheShawshankRedemption Samuel Norton]], played Chief O'Brien's previous captain in "The Wounded".
** Mark Alaimo appeared as a minor RubberForeheadAlien in Season 1's "Lonely Among Us," Romulan Commander Tebok later that season in "The Neutral Zone," Cardassian Gul Macet in Season 4's "The Wounded", and a 19th century gambler in Season 5's "Time's Arrow" before taking on the role of ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'''s Gul Dukat.
** The late Andreas Katsulas, who played Romulan Commander Tomalak, was Ambassador G'Kar on ''Series/BabylonFive'', and Fred Sykes, the one-armed man in ''Film/TheFugitive''.
** [[Film/JamesBond General]] [[Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe Gogol]] is one of the scientists in "Home Soil".
** Data is [[Film/TheMasterOfDisguise Devlin Bowman.]]
** [[Series/{{Quincy}} Quincy's]] boss shows up in "Suspicions". Sort of appropriate, since in that episode Crusher is faced with a murder mystery and performs two autopsies while trying to solve it.
** The Klingon captain who smuggled Picard and Data to Romulus is [[OfficeSpace Milton Waddams]], [[KingOfTheHill Bill Dauterive]], and [[NewsRadio Jimmy James.]]
** Tam Elbrun is [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Mayor Richard Wilkins III.]]
** [[Series/DesperateHousewives Susan Mayer]] shows up (uncredited!!) as transporter chief B.G. Robinson in "The Outrageous Okona" (not to mention [[TheKilling Mayoral candidate Darren Richmond]] playing Okona himself, and [[SaturdayNightLive Joe Piscopo]] as the comic in the holodeck).
** Tracey Walter (Bob the Goon in ''Film/{{Batman}}'') shows up as one of the Ferengi in "The Last Outpost."
** Jerry Hardin ("Deep Throat" in ''TheXFiles'') plays Radue in "When the Bough Breaks" and Samuel Clemens in "Time's Arrow" Pts. 1 & 2.
** Brenda Strong (''DesperateHousewives'', ''Series/{{Dallas}}'') played Rashella in "When the Bough Breaks."
** Vaughn Armstrong ([[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Forrest]]) played Captain Korris in "Heart of Glory."
** Among some Trek fans, "Symbiosis" is known as the "Star Trek II episode," featuring both [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathofKhan Joachim and David Marcus]].
** Distinctive-looking actor Michael Berryman (''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes'', ''Film/WeirdScience'') played Captain Rixx in "Conspiracy."
** In "The Royale": Noble Willingham (''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'') and Sam Anderson (''Series/{{Lost}}'').
** The little alien girl Sarjenka in "Pen Pals" is Nikki Cox (''Series/LasVegas'').
** Diedrich Bader (billed as "Dietrich"; ''OfficeSpace'', ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'') plays a tactical crewman in "The Emissary."
** The late Roy Brocksmith (''TotalRecall'', ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}'') is Sirna Kolrami in "Peak Performance."
** [[Series/{{Scrubs}} Dr. Bob Kelso]] as Dr. Paul Stubbs in "Evolution."
** Ray Wise ([[TwinPeaks Leland Palmer]]) as Liko in "Who Watches the Watchers."
** In "The Price": Dan Shor (''Film/{{Tron}}'', ''BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'') as Ferengi Dr. Arridor. Also, check out the tall dude that plays Leyor. The face doesn't ring a bell, but [[Film/{{Predator}} his body movements seem eerily familiar...]]
** Sovereign Marouk in "The Vengeance Factor": [[Film/{{Porkys}} Ouch. Just....ouch. Not cool, Ms. Balbricker.]]
** Hey, it's [[StarTrekFirstContact Zefram Cochran]] as Prime Minister Nayrok in "The Hunted" (and Zaglom Shrek in "Birthright," Pts. 1 & 2, even though you can't see his face in that one)!
** [[LALaw Arnie Becker]] as Q2 in "Deja Q."
** DarrenAronofsky fave MarkMargolis as Dr. Nel Apgar in "A Matter of Perspective."
** Creator/ChristopherMcDonald as Lt. Richard Castillo in "Yesterday's Enterprise."
** TonyTodd as Worf's brother, Klingon Captain Kurn.
** [[Series/TheATeam "Howlin' Mad" Murdock]] as Lt. Reg Barclay.
** SaulRubinek as Kivas Fajo in "The Most Toys."
** Hey, that Ferengi Dr. Farek in "Menage a Troi" sure sounds a lot like [[StarTrekVoyager Neelix]].
* HeyItsThatVoice: The Japanese-dubbed version has some interesting casting choices, mostly from the sci-fi and {{Mecha}} genres:
** Jean Luc-Picard [[{{Mugihito}} is]] [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Keel Lorentz]] and [[PaniPoniDash the Alien Commander]], [[ActorAllusion who, by the way, parodies his role as Picard.]]
** William Riker [[AkioOhtsuka is]] [[MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Anavel Gato]] and [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]].
** Data [[HochuOtsuka is]] [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Jiraiya]], [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Yazan Gable]] and [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Chibodee Crocket.]]
** Deana Troi [[GaraTakashima is]] [[CowboyBebop Julia.]]
** Wesley Crusher [[AkiraIshida is]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Athrun Zala]] and [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Kaworu Nagisa.]]
** Keiko O'Brien [[RikaFukami is]] [[SailorMoon Sailor Venus]]
** This show and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' share cast members, two of whom are Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski) as Dr. Leslie Thompkins and John de Lancie (Q) as one of the Penguin's henchmen in "Blind as a Bat." Another would be David Warner, who played Ra's al-Ghul in Batman and Gul Madred, Picard's interrogator, in ''Chain of Command''.
** Likewise, ''{{Gargoyles}}'' was comprised mostly of TNG cast members, including Frakes (Xanatos), Spiner (Robin/Puck), Sirtis (Demona), and ''VOY'''s Kate Mulgrew (Titania), among others. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gargoyles_cast_members full list]] is on ThatOtherWiki.
** In "Coming of Age", Wesley attends a Starfleet Academy exam with two other hopefuls, including a young Vulcan. This is Tasia Valenza, best-known for voicing Sniper Wolf in the best-selling ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and Poison Ivy in the ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries Batman: Arkham]]'' series.
** [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Derek Powers/Blight]] is Captain Endar in "Suddenly Human".
** If you're in Germany, [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Discord]] is Data instead of Q.
* ImageSource: This series provides the page image for:
** TwoPlusTortureMakesFive
** BaldOfAwesome
** CommandRoster
** EmergentHuman
** FacePalm
** FandomRivalry (''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' crossover)
** GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave
** GrowingTheBeard: Named after Riker's beard, whose growing of which coincided with this.
** HumanAliens: Guinan, an El-Aurian, provides the center-bottom image.
** LanguageEqualsThought (right half)
** MarriedAtSea
** OneWayVisor (column 2, row 2)
** ProudWarriorRaceGuy
* LifeImitatesArt: In the WilliamShatner documentary ''The Captains'', PatrickStewart's behind-the-scenes experiences at TNG share an odd similarity with his character. Stewart, who was stressed out over succeeding the stars of TOS and working long hours, got the cast together and told them to quit goofing off between takes ("[[StopHavingFunGuys We're not here to HAVE FUN!!]]"); his castmates never let him live ''that'' down. According to Stewart, TNG taught him to do good work and have fun doing it. This is mirrored by Picard's final line of the show, in which he joins his crew for a game of poker.
* TropeNamer: This series named the following tropes:
** DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Captain Kirk in ''Generations'']].
** GrowingTheBeard[[invoked]]
** HolodeckMalfunction
** LowerDeckEpisode
** PatrickStewartSpeech
** ResistanceIsFutile
** WhoopiEpiphanySpeech
** TheWorfEffect
*** TheWorfBarrage
*** WorfHadTheFlu
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: RobinWilliams was offered the part of the time-traveling "Dr." Berlinghoff Rasmussen in "A Matter of Time", but he was busy working on ''Film/{{Hook}}'' at the time, so the role was given to [[MaxHeadroom Matt Frewer]].
** Stewart auditioned for TNG three times. Once for Data and twice for Picard. Once [[BaldOfAwesome bald]] and once wearing a hairpiece.
** [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Edward James Olmos]] was offered the part of Jean-Luc Picard, but declined due to being constrained by contractual obligation.
** Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby were originally going to play Yar and Troi respectively, but switched roles at the last minute.
** The Borg were planned to be insectoid aliens but the special effects budget wouldn't run to it. The concept was reused for the Jarada, who we never see on-screen.
** The writers considered crashing the ship's saucer section on a planet as the cliffhanger ending of Season 6, but the budget didn't allow for it. This was eventually used in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' instead. Separating the saucer itself was planned to be a much more common tactic, but again effects expenses meant it was only used four times. In addition, halfway through season one it had become painfully obvious that saucer separation was time-consuming and destroyed the pacing, a major issue when it was supposed to happen halfway through dramatic battle sequences.
** [[Film/TheRocketeer Bill Campbell]], who played the titular "[[InformedAbility Outrageous]]" Okona, tried out for the part of Riker.
** Wesley Snipes was considered to star as Geordi [=LaForge=]
*** Tim [[Series/StarTrekVoyager "Tuvok"]] Russ also auditioned for the role. He came ''that'' close to getting it, too.
** Among the actors that auditioned for Riker were Creator/JeffreyCombs and Vaughn Armstrong - both of whom became pretty well-known to viewers regardless.
** How much better would "The Outcast" have been if the actors playing the sexless J'naii were ''male'' instead of female? Jonathan Frakes criticized the staff for not doing that and making the message of the episode that much stronger.
** For "All Good Things...", the writers considered revisiting "The Best of Both Worlds" in addition to the other three time periods.
** Dr. Selar (from "The Schzoid Man" and repeatedly referenced) was originally intended to be a recurring character and develop a romance with Worf, but this was scuttled when K'Ehleyr was introduced later the same season. Incidentally, both characters were played by Suzie Plakson.
** The ''Enterprise'' was originally going to be the seventh rather than fifth ship to bear the name, and was referred to in the script as the ''Enterprise Seven'' rather than the ''Enterprise-''D we know and love.
* WordOfSaintPaul: The ''Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual'', in its entry on the Captain's Yacht, includes an out-of-universe sidebar that says "Patrick Stewart informs us the yacht is named ''Calypso'' after Jacques Cousteau's vessel", in a way that suggests that, as far as the writers of the ''Manual'' are concerned, he should know. This was never confirmed on screen, since the ''Enterprise''-D yacht was never used (or even confirmed to ''exist''), but was nodded to in ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'', where the yacht on the ''Enterprise''-E is called the ''Cousteau''.
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