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Bloopers and Oddities
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

Bloopers - Odd Props, Sets and Make-ups

Here is a collection of small errors, imperfections and other oddities of TV and movie production that may not have been meant to be recognizable. We deliberately picked some lesser known or newly discovered bloopers. Please take the following pictures with a grain of salt. It is not our intention to acknowledge them as canon and then discuss the inconsistencies away.

Bloopers

A kind of "Mirror Universe" In the era of celluloid it occasionally happened that the film was right-left reversed in the process of editing. We can see a reverse image of the Enterprise in TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion", a reversed Kirk in TOS: "The Omega Glory", and even two mirrored Kirks in TOS: "The Way to Eden".

Reversed Enterprise (TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Reversed Kirk (TOS: "The Omega Glory") (screen capture by Jörg)

Reversed Kirk (TOS: "The Way to Eden") (screen capture by Jörg)

TOS uniform errors In spite of the continuity editing small errors remain in some scenes. These are most obvious in the case of wrong uniforms and insignia. Captain Kirk enters the turbolift in his standard issue yellow uniform, whereas he exits wearing the green wrap-around variant in TOS: "Charlie X". In TOS: "Mudd's Women", Dr. McCoy awaits the arrival of the guests in the transporter room in his blue standard uniform, but in just one take he is wearing the shiny blue medical tunic, with sickbay in the background. This is apparently stock footage. In "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", toward the end of the movie, McCoy and Spock switch their uniform jackets in a split second, between two takes.

Kirk's uniform change (TOS: "Charlie X") (screen capture by Jörg)

McCoy's uniform change (TOS: "Mudd's Women") (screen capture by Jörg)

McCoy's and Spock's uniform switch ("Star Trek I")
(screen capture by Jörg)

DS9 uniform errors Major Kira must have dressed in a hurry, as her communicator is upside down in DS9: "The Maquis, Part II". We can see how the O'Brien clone pulls his communicator off in DS9: "Whispers", and a rest of glue (or a Velcro fastener) is still visible on the uniform which shouldn't be there from all we know. In DS9: "Rules of Engagement" it seems that Captain Sisko has been demoted to commander, as there are only three pips on his dress uniform. Finally, in DS9: "Rapture" Captain Sisko (who appears with the gray vest most of the time in this episode) has misplaced the communicator in the gray shoulder part of his uniform jacket in every scene he is wearing it.

Upside-down communicator (DS9: "The Maquis II") (screen capture by Jörg)	Glue on uniform (DS9: "Whispers") (screen capture by Jörg)
Missing rank pip (DS9: "Rules of Engagement") (screen capture by Jörg)	Misplaced comm badge (DS9: "Rapture") (screen capture by Jörg)

Andorian Pinkskin Andorians are supposed to be blue all over. But this one exhibits some flesh-colored skin in TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion".  

Andorian (TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Wrist watches Dr. Crusher's visible wrist watch in TNG: "Code of Honor" is a typical blooper as it may occur during the filming. Basically there is no reason why people in the 24th century shouldn't wear watches. But since we almost never see any of them, the most likely explanation is that Gates McFadden simply forgot to take it off prior to the shooting. Another wrist watch can be seen in DS9: "Progress".

Beverly's watch (TNG: "Code of Honor") (screen capture by Jörg)

Mullibok's watch (DS9: "Progress") (screen capture by Jörg)

Handbag on the bridge We suppose that it's not Riker's handbag which we can see in TNG: "The Child" (look at his feet).

Handbag on the bridge (TNG: "The Child")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Disposable bottle A present-day water bottle can be seen in Phlox' sickbay in ENT: "The Breach".

Plastic bottle (ENT: "The Breach")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Upside-down tricorder Dr. Marr may be a mad scientist, but not so confused that we would expect her to hold a tricorder upside down like she did in TNG: "Silicon Avatar". We may tend to forgive Quark who made the same mistake when he defused the warhead in DS9: "Starship Down".

Tricorder upside down (TNG: "Silicon Avatar") (screen capture by Chello)

Tricorder upside down (DS9: "Starship Down") (screen capture by Jörg)

Bound to act In TOS: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" Lokai is holding some sort of cord while running through the corridor. The reason for this may be that the actor is supposed to keep a certain distance to the camera.

Lokai with a rope (TOS: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Floor markings In TOS: "Journey to Babel" floor markings are visible as they were probably used to define the actors' positions.

Floor markings (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Mirror image The face of someone working behind the camera can be seen mirrored in a Romulan (plexi)glass sculpture in TNG: "Unification".

Face in a sculpture (TNG: "Unification, Part II")
(screen capture by Jörg)

What's so funny, Number One? In a scene which was not intended to be humorous in TNG: "Masks" we can see Riker with a wide grin on his face. Can it be that Jonathan Frakes was amused about Stewart holding what looks like a big phallic symbol?

Riker amused (TNG: "Masks")
(screen capture by Jörg)

11-"00"-1001 In TNG: "11001001" we see two Bynars step forth from a corner of the bridge where only the restroom is supposedly located. So just like two of them work as a unit, Bynars may have to visit the restroom in couples. Or they generally don't have to, but these two Bynars are female.

Bynars stepping out of the restroom (TNG: "11001001")
(screen capture by Jörg)

I can reach any star In VOY: "Investigations" Tom Paris grabs the frame of the Kazon shuttle windshield during a battle. It looks like there is no glass in the window and his hand is reaching out into space.

Tom's hand in the window (VOY: "Investigations")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Don't shake too hard! In DS9: "Return to Grace" Kira Nerys explains to Ziyal the operation principle of a Cardassian and a Starfleet rifle. Illustrating the "fully autonomous recharge" of the Starfleet weapon, she opens and then visibly and audibly closes the lid of the power pack at the bottom. Two seconds later, when she demonstrates the gyro stabilization by shaking the rifle, the lid flips open again, causing a smile in Nana Visitor's face.

Open power cell lid (DS9: "Return to Grace")
(screen capture by Bernd)

Bashir gets a wrong picture In DS9: "Melora" Julian Bashir picks up a photo of the Elaysian officer and her brother from a table. When the scene switches from the close view to the long shot, he is suddenly holding a completely different and larger picture. Only the frame seems to be still the same.

Melora's photo, version 1 (DS9: "Melora") (screen capture by Jörg)

Melora's photo, version 2 (DS9: "Melora") (screen capture by Jörg)

Extra damage In "First Contact" Picard smashes the showcase with the golden starship models with a phaser rifle. We can see that while he spreads shards all over the place, he doesn't damage any of the models. The Enterprise-D has a heavy list but is fully intact. But barely a second later later, after a cut to Lily's face, the Enterprise-C and -D are both broken. The saucer of the C has fallen off. The saucer of the D is still dangling but the model consists of four pieces now, of which Lily picks up a nacelle a minute later, when Picard has composed himself. Someone obviously had to make the damage retroactively fit with Lily's line "You broke your little ships".

Picard's ship models ("First Contact")
(screen capture by Bernd)

Uncovered label During the battle simulation in "Star Trek II", the symbol on the starboard turbolift door of the simulator room is covered with something that looks like a reflective film. The reflection makes the logo almost unrecognizable. Most likely the backing paper of the turbolift symbol sticker was not peeled off in time. The "A" above the turbolift logo, on the other hand, is the way we would expect it: not reflective and hence clearly visible. We can see the so covered logo a few times from slightly different camera positions behind Saavik. When the simulation is over and Admiral Kirk enters the room, the film is suddenly gone and the turbolift logo looks just like the "A". Someone must have spotted and removed the disturbing reflection in the meantime (provided that the scene was filmed about in the same order that it is shown, which is plausible in light of the mess created in the course of the battle).

Turbolift sign with and without reflection ("Star Trek II")
(screen capture by Bernd)

Fading label In DS9: "Prophet Motive" O'Brien and Bashir play darts for the first time, then still in a cargo bay. The cargo container just behind them has a blazing pink label. But suddenly, in just one take of the scene, for a few seconds, the color switches to a pale, almost gray color. There is no plausible explanation for this obvious digital manipulation, with pink being the original color because the surrounding pixels of the gray label look blurry. Perhaps someone decided during the post-processing that the pink was too obtrusive. But why wasn't the whole scene changed accordingly? Moreover, several other labels in the same room are equally colorful. The letters on the label read "TransWormhole freight", and they are better recognizable on the gray version. In case someone had tried to obscure the letters by taking away the color, he would have achieved just the contrary.

Pink label (DS9: "Prophet Motive") (screen capture by Jörg)

Gray label (DS9: "Prophet Motive") (screen capture by Jörg)

Loose hatch In DS9: "Broken Link" Garak attempts to fire the Defiant's weapons on the Founders' homeworld. When Worf catches him red-handed, the two fight inside a Jefferies tube. In the course of their struggle the hatch in the background falls off and we can glimpse behind the scenes.

Hatch still in place (DS9: "Broken Link") (screen capture by Jörg)

Hatch gone (DS9: "Broken Link") (screen capture by Jörg)

Visible set ceilings and edges TV sets are no real rooms. They are often lacking a ceiling, and the side walls are not complete, depending on how far the camera is supposed to pan. It happens occasionally that the set borders come into sight nonetheless. Well, usually it is just a minor nuisance and is often not even recognizable at the first glance. The only blatant one among our examples is ENT: "Bound". Here a whole panel of the rear wall of the bridge is missing, although it must have been clear to the director that it would be visible.

Visible set borders in three episodes (screen capture by Jörg)

Visible set borders in three more episodes (screen capture by Jörg)

Speleology Just before Hogan is devoured by a cave eel on Hanon IV in VOY: "Basics II", we can see him collect firewood in front of the cave whose entrance is rectangular and narrow. This was shot on location. The take which shows the perspective of the monster, on the other hand, was filmed in the studio, in order to be able to show a long camera move. Not only is the opening round here, the camera also moves out too far, showing a portion of the studio wall.

Two versions of the same cave (VOY: "Basics, Part II")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Beverly's hair Gates McFadden seems to have thinner hair than Beverly Crusher. She is wearing wigs most of the time, if not permanently, during the seven seasons of TNG. In the third season Beverly Crusher sports a chin-length haircut, as it can be seen in TNG: "Booby Trap". Later, in TNG: "The Enemy", she can be seen with long hair. But the long hairstyle lasts for just this one episode. In TNG: "The Price", just one week later, she has a shorter haircut again. Beverly will have long hair again as late as in the sixth season, such as in TNG: "Cause and Effect".

Beverly's hairstyles in four episodes
(screen capture by Jörg)

Klingon hairstyle secret In VOY: "Prophecy" Captain Kohlar initially appears with the slightly curly dark brown hair we know from most Klingons, be the male or female. When he comes aboard Voyager, Kohlar suddenly has a plain black Janet Jackson-style permanent wave. His hairstyle changes forth and back a couple of times during the episode. We can only hope that he is using gentle haircare products...

Kohlar - before (VOY: "Prophecy") (screen capture by Jörg)

Kohlar - after (VOY: "Prophecy") (screen capture by Jörg)

Most likely the perm version was filmed first, as all scenes with this hairstyle take place in the briefing room. Someone may have noticed that the black curls looked silly on him, and decided to switch to the traditional warrior-style wig. Only that it was ignored that the scenes with the two hairstyles would alternate in the final version of the episode.

But Kohlar is not the first Klingon who changes his hairstyle in the twinkling of an eye. Lieutenant Worf combs his hair straight down in the instant just prior to pushing the "fire" button in "The Best of Both Worlds, part II".

Worf - before (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds I") (screen capture by Jörg)

Worf - after (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II") (screen capture by Jörg)

It is only fair that the Romulans know the secret of rapid restyling too, like Sela demonstrates between the two parts of TNG: "Redemption". Bang goes the Romulan bang.

Sela - before (TNG: "Redemption I") (screen capture by Jörg)

Sela - after (TNG: "Redemption II") (screen capture by Jörg)

Eventually it doesn't seem to be a question of advanced technology, however. In TNG: "Justice" the hairstyle of Livan, a member of the rather naive Edo species, changes in a matter of a few seconds as well when she is beamed up to the Enterprise. Suddenly dark natural hair becomes visible underneath the formerly dense blond perm bonnet. Or do we have to blame a misalignment of the Enterprise's transporter?

Livan - before (TNG: "Justice") (screen capture by Jörg)

Livan - after (TNG: "Justice") (screen capture by Jörg)

Double trouble In TNG: "The High Ground" Patrick Stewart's stunt double is clearly recognizable when he strikes an Ansata terrorist. The stunt double reappears in "Man of the People".

Stunt double (TNG: "The High Ground") (screen capture by satre)

Stunt double (TNG: "Man of the People") (screen capture by Jörg)

A very obvious appearance of stunt doubles can be witnessed in TNG: "Conspiracy". Between the caps #1 and #2 Riker and Quinn suddenly turn into stunt doubles. Riker's face changes, and Quinn's hair now grows down to his collar -- "Vitamins: They do wonders for the hairline!" :-D From a different angle we can see the face of Quinn's stunt double on cap #4. Cap #5 is a transition between two scenes. It looks like they edited out someone's head.

Stunt doubles, caps #1-3 (TNG: "Conspiracy") (screen capture by Lee)

Stunt doubles, caps #4-5 (TNG: "Conspiracy") (screen capture by Lee)

Ripping mishap Captain Kirk is notorious for winding up with a ripped shirt in about every second TOS episode. In TOS: "The Savage Curtain" a different piece of clothing is ruined, albeit definitely not on purpose.

Torn pants (TOS: "The Savage Curtain")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Odd Props, Sets and Make-ups

Hot stasis container Jörg said he'd be damned if the stasis container for Odo seen in DS9: "Children of Time" didn't begin its life as a bread machine. After a bit of Googling I could finally confirm that. I only hope that they didn't heat it up while Odo was inside. ;-)

Stasis container (DS9: "Children of Time") (screen capture by Jörg)

Hitachi bread machine (source unknown)

Sharp healer The dermal regenerator in VOY: "Revulsion" must be handled with special care, otherwise it could accomplish just the opposite of a healing effect. The prop is almost definitely a twin-bladed asparagus peeler.

Dermal regenerator (VOY: "Revulsion")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Not-so-safe locker The phaser locker in DS9: "Hard Time" tries hard to conceal its banal origin in the 20th century, as "Action Packer" box by Rubbermaid (look at the reversed letters in the lid).

Phaser locker (DS9: "Hard Time")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Sturdy scanner In ENT: "Stigma" we can see a Vulcan scanner prop which really is a (flatbed) scanner. Someone said they are very advanced?

Vulcan scanner (ENT: "Stigma")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Wired or weird? 23rd century electronic (or rather duotronic) circuits in TOS often look quite familiar because they consist of printed circuit boards or test boards along with discrete components like transistors, resistors or capacitors as they existed in the late 1960s.

Enterprise shipboard circuitry (screen capture by Jörg)	Other Starfleet circuitry (screen capture by Jörg)
Android technology (screen capture by Jörg)	Revised Norman in TOS-R: "I, Mudd" (screen capture by Trekmovie.com)

For the remastered version TOS-R: "I, Mudd" the effect of opening Norman's stomach lid as well as the circuitry were revised. 

Low-tech inside In "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" we can glimpse pencil markings on the inside of an access panel. Also, the technology inside looks like directly taken from late 20th century computers.

Wall panel with scribble ("Star Trek VI") (screen capture by Jörg)

Behind the panel panel ("Star Trek VI") (screen capture by Jörg)

Anachronistic replicators Many wall parts of the Enterprise-D from TNG were also used for the Enterprise-A of "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country". Among them is the 24th century replicator. While it is uncertain whether these devices existed at all in the 23rd century, we can find replicators not only in Captain Kirk's quarters, but even in the quarters of Crewman Dax (Chekov's main suspect at that time). Only the typical brownish TNG LCARS display was replaced with a blue/green version of the 23rd century to insinuate an older technology. When the replicators were transferred back to the Enterprise-D, however, the set builders obviously forgot to remove the 23rd century panels. We can see replicators with such old interfaces at the beginning of TNG season 5, in "A Matter of Time" and "Violations". Some time later in the 5th season the display was fixed.

24th century replicators in "Star Trek VI" (screen capture by Jörg)

23rd century and correct display on TNG (screen capture by Jörg)

Nacelle tools The nacelle of a Romulan Warbird acts as a scanner in DS9: "Visionary". A Klingon Vor'cha engine can be seen as a brush in DS9: "Favor the Bold".

Warbird nacelle scanner (DS9: "Visionary") (screen capture by Jörg)

Vor'cha nacelle brush (DS9: "Favor the Bold") (screen capture by Jörg)

Another nacelle scanner shows up in VOY: "Collective". Speaking of nacelles, we can see what looks like the nacelle that was torn off the crashed runabout Yangtze Kiang in DS9: "Battle Lines". But the nacelle actually belongs to a Type-6 shuttlecraft.

Nacelle scanner (VOY: "Collective") (screen capture by Jörg)

Wrong nacelle (DS9: "Battle Lines") (screen capture by Jörg)

Model parts Not a nacelle, but the command section of a Klingon D7 battlecruiser was used for the interior of the exocomps in TNG: "The Quality of Life". And the central part of the medical device that McCoy applies to heal Chekov in "Star Trek IV" looks suspiciously like the upper aft section of a Klingon D7.

Exocomp with D7 part (TNG: "The Quality of Life") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical device with D7 part ("Star Trek IV") (screen capture by Jörg)

Parts of the Klingon battlecruiser also appear in the Saratoga shuttlebay and aboard Deep Space Nine, both in DS9: "Emissary".

D7 part aboard the Saratoga (DS9: "Emissary") (screen capture by Jörg)

D7 part on Deep Space Nine (DS9: "Emissary") (screen capture by Jörg)

Parts of a Monogram Kazon raider kit were incorporated into a Vulcan pistol which appeared in ENT: "Kir'Shara". Compare with a photo of the Kazon ship. The partially green and red "ornament" and the engine casing can be seen on the Vulcan weapon.

Vulcan weapon (ENT: "Kir'Shara")
(source unknown)

High-heeled hero Seven of Nine is not the only Star Trek woman who emphasizes her unique qualities as an individual with high heels. We can see that Major Kira is wearing boots with heels of no less than 9 centimeters. If these boots are Bajoran militia standard issue, it is no surprise that it took them decades to defeat the Cardassians in the mountains of Bajor...

Kira Nerys on high heels (DS9: "Sons of Mogh")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Silenced android When B'Elanna is aboard the Pralor vessel to construct the prototype of a new "automated unit", we can see a couple of naked skulls without the metallic skin. These android skulls were probably not made for this very episode but were taken from stock. The problem: Pralor automated units do not have mouths with jaws and teeth. And so the according portion of the skull was simply covered with silver tape.

Pralor prototype skull (VOY: "Prototype")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Databorg You recognize one of the Borg heads on display in VOY: "Unimatrix Zero"? It is Data, more precisely the prop acting as his head in TNG: "Time's Arrow". Scary, isn't it?

Borg head (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero") (screen capture by Jörg)

Data's head (TNG: "Time's Arrow") (screen capture by Jörg)

Kirk's puppet The spacesuit miniature which was was built for Kirk's excursion to recover Spock in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" can be seen as decoration in "Star Trek: The Search for Spock". A cue to the name and theme of the movie?

Spacesuit puppet ("Star Trek III")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Trelane's trophies Trelane has a castle full of trophies in TOS: "The Squire of Gothos" some of which turn out quite silly as we watch more closely. Among them is an animal head that looks like a crocodile with pig ears glued on to make it look somehow alien. There is also a bird-like creature in something like a striped pantyhose. On the wall next to the bird we can notice a mask bearing a resemblance to the alien dog from TOS: "The Enemy Within" with three eyes, although it may be a different piece of fur. There is, however, one blatant re-use of a prop in the episode - the M-113 creature from TOS: "The Man Trap"!

"Pig crocodile" (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos") (screen capture by Jörg)	Bird and fur mask (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos") (screen capture by Jörg)
M-113 creature (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos") (screen capture by Jörg)	Bird in "The Cage" (screen capture by Jörg)

The bird, on the other hand, previously appeared in "The Cage", albeit in a different make-up. It was cut from "The Menagerie" which otherwise re-used almost the entire pilot episode. Probably the bird just looked bad.

Alexander's vintage games Worf's son seems to have an odd predilection for Earth's late 20th century. In TNG: "Ethics" he plays with a 380-year-old game pyramid manufactured by Bandai (even though the pyramids frequently show up in Ten Forward, like in "Ensign Ro"). In TNG: "A Fistful of Datas" we can see him with the front covers of 5.25-inch floppy drives.

Game pyramid in TNG: "Ethics" and "Ensign Ro" (screen capture by Jörg)	Bandai game pyramid, 1984 (image from www.oaktreevintage.com)
Alexander and his floppy disk drives (screen capture by Jörg)

Ancient things that make us go We know that the Pakled steal equipment from various civilizations and that they do not really know how to get everything working. Maybe it is the simplicity of the device that makes a switchboard from Earth's mid-20th century useful to them.

Pakled switchboard (TNG: "Samaritan Snare")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Switched equipment A Cardassian panel on Deep Space Nine has human letters embossed on it. Vice versa, we can find a Cardassian console on a Federation shuttle (DS9: "Second Sight").

Cardassian panel with human letters (screen capture by Jörg)

Federation shuttle with Cardassian console (screen capture by Jörg)

Alien English In TOS we could occasionally see aliens write in English (like the Klingon proclamation in TOS: "Errand of Mercy"). But at latest since TNG every alien civilization has its very own script, often with distinctive geometric shapes instead of letter-like symbols. With one blatant exception: In VOY: "Blink of an Eye" we can see how the alien Protector writes a letter to the "Skyship" in English and signs it with "I await your reply".

"Skyship" letter (VOY: "Blink of an Eye")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Weird geography The map of a Klingon colony in ENT: "The Augments" is just a slightly modified Earth map, with Africa and Europe partially merged and a new ocean where the Congo Basin is supposed to be located. In a close-up of the Klingon planet shown during the battle in "Divergence" we can even make out the Turkish Aegean coast with the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.

Klingon "Earth" map (ENT: "The Augments") (image by Bernd)

Klingon "Aegean" (ENT: "Divergence") (image by Bernd)

Furthermore, the moon of Barkon IV in TNG: "Thine Own Self" looks strangely familiar.

Barkon IV moon (TNG: "Thine Own Self")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Tom Riker again? In ENT: "These Are The Voyages" we can spot two Rikers in once scene in Ten Forward. This is because stock footage from TNG: "Ménage à Troi" where Riker was already visible was digitally supplemented with a new Riker for the ENT series finale.

Two Rikers (ENT: "These Are The Voyages")
(image by satre)

Painted corridor extensions Whenever the illusion of a much bigger set needs to be created, the set designers resort to perspective matte paintings. However, in some cases these flat pictures were just too easily recognizable as such. A painting like this can be seen behind Wesley and the Benzite in TNG: "Coming of Age". On some other occasions the quality of the painting is very good, yet it is shown at the wrong angle like in TNG: "Lessons". The same happened in DS9: "The Search, Part II" where the rearmost part of the upper promenade deck seems to run down into the floor. Finally, in DS9: "Whispers" the access tunnel on Deep Space Nine was extended using the matte painting of a Federation Jefferies tube (visible in the far center of the picture).

Painted corridor (TNG: "Coming of Age") (screen capture by Jörg)	Painted Jefferies tube (TNG: "Lessons") (screen capture by Jörg)
Painted promenade (DS9: "The Search, Part II") (screen capture by Jörg)	Painted access tunnel (DS9: "Whispers") (screen capture by Jörg)

Only a short curved corridor set with the entrance to a crew accommodation was built for DS9. Painted extensions could be placed on either end of this corridor segment. The so outfitted set was visible in DS9: "Captive Pursuit", "Playing God" and "The Way of the Warrior". On the latter occasion Kira and Sisko even stand directly in front of the painted wall. A straight corridor that was visually extended can be seen in DS9: "Through the Looking Glass". 

Painted corridor extensions in four DS9 episodes (screen captures by Jörg)

Painted cave extension (DS9: "Heart of Stone") (screen capture by Jörg)

We can see a cave with a painted extension, as it appears in several more episodes, in DS9: "Heart of Stone".

Black cardboard In some early TNG episodes we can see that parts of the large displays on the rear end of the Enterprise-D bridge are covered with black cardboard. Our best guess is that the cardboard is supposed to avoid bothersome reflections. Obviously the lighting of the set was improved at a later date.

Guy Vardaman (link to Guy Vardaman to Memory Alpha), who was a frequent stand-in performer in TNG, tells us the following about the cardboard trick:

"Yes, the black cards were there to block the reflections of the lights and were hoped to be invisible to the viewer. There are also lines of black electrical tape and another trick used is to spray something with hairspray to dull it down when it is too shiny and would reflect crew, camera and lights.

The black cards went away because we got a new Director of Photography, Marvin Rush, replacing Ed Brown. Marvin lit the sets much more dynamically (less 'flat') and so he didn't have as much overall light. Also as film got better, technologically, it needed less light.

The hairspray trick was rarely used on Trek, but is used a lot in general production, especially on chrome trim on cars, etc. Mainly outdoors."

Cardboard covers (TNG: "Peak Performance") (screen capture by Jörg)

Black thing (TNG: "The Survivors") (screen capture by Jörg)

Not necessarily a cardboard sheet but definitely something black that doesn't belong there is visible on the bridge through the ready room's open door in TNG: "The Survivors".

Guy Vardaman on the "box" in "The Survivors":

"Hey, that thing is a flag used to block light, usually mounted to a 'C- Stand.' So if they wanted to light Riker coming out of the ready room but not have a big shadow or beam of light coming out the door onto the bridge floor, they would block it with a flag like you are seeing."

Credits

The floor markings in TOS were discovered by Michael Minnick, Sisko's wrong communicator placement by Robb, Picard's "phallic symbol" by Thomas, the D7 part in "Star Trek IV" by Jay Smith, another D7 part in DS9: "Emissary" by Babaganoosh, the water bottle by onlyomega1@aol.com, the upside-down tricorder by Remy Chan (Chello) and by William Paul, the open phaser cell lid by Alexander Baier and Claudius and the turbolift sign by Chris. Thanks to satre and Lee for their contributions! Thanks also to Larry Nemecek who pointed us to the bird in "The Cage".

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