Trivia / Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E14 "A Matter of Perspective"

• Creator Backlash:
  • Michael Piller recalled that the episode was "probably the hardest story to break. It was a technical nightmare for the director. I was very, very, happy with the script and I thought the show was disappointing. I guess it didn't translate properly. It was very ambitious, but the casting was off. If you had put Lana Turner in the role of the woman in that show, you would have understood it all – but I don't think it played as it was intended. That's about the best murder mystery I've been involved in developing in my career, because every detail falls into place, every line comes together to explain how, what, when and where, and it really worked from a mystery standpoint. It's so complicated a mystery. In fact, it's like The Big Sleep in space. It's very complicated, yet if you take that script apart, nothing falls out of it. It ought to win an Edgar Allen Poe Award for best mystery of the year. I've been involved in a lot of crime caper shows, but this was a very proud script turned out. I just didn't think it was great television."
  • Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore were even more scathing in their opinions of the episode, with both naming it as the worst episode of the third season. Behr in particular called the episode "a disaster," and arguably even his least favorite of all the Star Trek episodes he ever worked on.
  • Even the show's scientific consultant, David Krieger, later bemoaned the fact that of all the episodes he lent his scientific advice to, this was the one that gave him a Shout-Out on-screen — as you can probably guess, the Krieger waves were named after him — especially seeing how the producers misinterpreted his advice and made the episode even more scientifically inaccurate than the earlier drafts.
• Deleted Scene: Picard is never seen painting again. A deleted scene had Picard throw red paint at his painting after Data's crushing criticism of his work.
• Prop Recycling: The model used for Dr. Apgar's science station is a re-use of the one used as Regula I in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan which in turn was a re-use of the one for an orbital office complex as seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was subsequently used again several times in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Recycled Script: The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion noted similarities to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Wolf In The Fold", where Scotty was accused of murder and had to clear his name.
• Recycled Set: The set regularly used for the observation lounge was redressed to serve as the art studio as seen in the teaser. The table and the wall with the models of the ships named Enterprise were removed making the room a lot bigger.

---