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In-Jokes
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

Prop and Display In-Jokes - Other Series/Movies in Star Trek - Star Trek in Other Series/Movies

Here is a collection of in-jokes that may or may not have been meant to be recognizable. We deliberately picked lesser known or newly discovered jokes and cross-overs with other franchises. 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.

Prop and Display In-Jokes

MSD in-jokes The in-jokes on the master systems display in the Enterprise-D main engineering are described as follows in the TNG trivia list: "In the saucer section, right above the Captain's Yacht, there is a duck. A half inch to the left and a little bit down, there is a mouse. Slightly to the right of the mouse, there is a 'Slippery When Wet' sign. In the shuttle bay, there are three big shuttles, two small shuttles, and a Porsche. To the right of the duck, about one inch, there is a DC-3 cargo aircraft, and, in that same rectangle, there is a symbol of a woman and a child (the symbol for Canada's 'Family' rating for movies). Also, right under the warp pylons, there is a registered trademark symbol. In addition, there is an image of NOMAD on it's side, center of the saucer section, forward." On a reproduction of the MSD we can identify (saucer section left to right): the Porsche, the mouse, the "Slippery When Wet" sign, the duck, the still uncertain "family sign", the DC-3 and Nomad from TOS: "The Changeling".

Enterprise-D MSD in-jokes (based on Gilso's Star Trek Schematics)

Well masked in-jokes (TNG: "The Mind's Eye") (screen capture by Jörg)

All these in-jokes were not intended to be identifiable on screen. Therefore they were usually masked whenever the display was shown up close -- with a few exceptions. In TNG: "The Mind's Eye" the masking is successful. Except for the supposed "family" sign everything that does not belong on the MSD is covered. In TNG: "Brothers" we can clearly recognize the paper sheets that were used for masking, since they are dull unlike the otherwise glossy surface of the MSD screen. Also, Nomad is still visible here. In TNG: "Galaxy's Child", finally, all in-jokes can be seen.

Masked in-jokes (TNG: "Brothers") (screen capture by Jörg)

Unmasked in-jokes (TNG: "Galaxy's Child") (screen capture by Jörg)

Ear piece Uhura's ear piece reappears after 35 years in a completely different role. Four of them serve as parts of a forcefield generator in ENT: "The Crossing".

Uhura's comm device (TOS: "Balance of Terror") (screen capture by Jörg)

Forcefield generator (ENT: "The Crossing") (screen capture by Jörg)

Saucer An Enterprise-E saucer can be seen amongst the wreckage of the Borg sphere in ENT: "Regeneration", a cue to "First Contact". It is apparently the same saucer miniature that was filmed in "Nemesis" for the crash with the Scimitar. The rest of that scene was CGI.

Enterprise-E saucer (ENT: "Regeneration")
(screen capture by Robert Heckadon)

Big balls While most of the text on Henry Starling's computer display makes sense, two groups of round structures of unknown function are just labeled as "big blue/gray balls".

"Big balls" on two displays (VOY: "Future's End")
(screen capture by Jörg)

The Great Bird As a tip of the hat to Gene Roddenberry's nickname "Great Bird of the Galaxy", a computer display in TNG: "The Naked Now" shows the image of a parrot with Roddenberry's head on it.

Great Bird (TNG: "The Naked Now")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Latent images It was impossible to notice before the DVD came out, but in VOY: "Latent Image" the reflections inside the Doctor's holocamera are composed of a multiplied and rotated image of Ahni Jetal, the young ensign who died after an alien attack, causing a trauma in the Doctor. This well-concealed in-joke is a literal interpretation of the episode name! Her image appears in the same fashion in VOY: "Life Line". On another occasion, in VOY: "Drive", the lens is subdivided into seemingly irregular pixels which have the shape of the convoluted swans in the famous drawing of MC Escher.

Ahni Jetal's reflections (VOY: "Latent Image") (screen capture by Jörg)

Escher's swans in the lens (VOY: "Drive") (screen capture by Jörg)

Tomorrow on HBO The engineering protocol shown in TNG: "Galaxy's Child" has an odd last point: "Tonight on HBO". How does this get along with Data's statement from TNG: "The Neutral Zone" that television as a form of entertainment vanished after 2040?

Engineering log (TNG: "Galaxy's Child")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Here be aliens! In DS9: "Behind the Lines" Rom attempts to access a "restricted area" named "A51". Area 51?

Area 51 (DS9: "Behind the Lines")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Assay this list! A list of the station's assay office shown in DS9: "A Simple Investigation" is rife with utterly nonsensical names if we look too closely. It reads: "Define Having, Deflate Release, Deo Thermometric, Elbow Grease, Either Oneorother, Fiscal Vertebrate, Cold Fusion, Hydro Carbon, Hungry Weakness, Lachrymose, Itramural Gary(?), Lactic Acid, Lourenco Marques, Love Seat, Masora, Mass Commun, Chiefly Moulding, Molly Coodle, Nilo Saharan, Nimrod, Pusan Korea, Jerry Maguire, Rhyme Orreason, Olivia Eaves, Alicia Eaves, Sister Hood, Synchro Nized, Treble Clef, Tauvid Rem".

Assay office list (DS9: "A Simple Investigation")
(screen capture by Jörg)

The Dixon Hill universe The pages of the "Dixon Hill" story as seen in TNG: "The Big Goodbye" are full of illustrations of TOS and movie characters. All of these pictures are (more or less accurate) drawings from the FASA role playing source book The Federation. Some of the unlabeled pictures are from the same book but don't depict characters of the canon Trek Universe.

Dixon Hill story, part 1 (inverted) (image by Jörg and Bernd)

Dixon Hill story, part 2 (inverted) (image by Jörg and Bernd)

Weird chemistry In a list of chemicals in TNG: "Night Terrors" with otherwise "serious" sounding technobabble many of the names have been taken from members of the TNG production staff at that time.

Substances, part 1 (TNG: "Night Terrors") (screen capture by Jörg)	Substances, part 2 (TNG: "Night Terrors") (screen capture by Jörg)
Substances, part 3 (TNG: "Night Terrors") (screen capture by Jörg)	Substances, part 4 (TNG: "Night Terrors") (screen capture by Jörg)
Substances, part 5 (TNG: "Night Terrors") (screen capture by Jörg)

Here is a transcript of the screen caps (compiled by Paul Eisner) and our ideas to whom the names refer:

34-8788 Hoffmeisterite compound 238
Oxidizing explosive used to bind free oxygen in a confined space for emergency firefighting applications. Also used to provide oxygen-free environments for industrial processes.
Edward Hoffmeister, visual effects assistant

34-8351 Hutzelite 27
Plutonium derivative treated to minimize toxicity for humanoid life forms. Used for radioisotope source and certain biomedical and therapeutic applications.
Gary Hutzel, visual effects coordinator

34-8873 Clancium oxide
Medium-yield explosive used for high-volume heat generation in emergency situations. This compound is preferred to conventional sarium krellide explosives because of superior thermal dispersion characteristics in low-pressure atmospheres.
Pat Clancy, visual effects compositor

34-3488 Ultritium 283
Industrial chemical explosive used in mining applications intended for precision-charge patterns using standard microwave pulse ignition devices.

34-8348 Ultritium 342
High-yield version of standard industrial ultritium, used in terraforming applications. Activated with microwave pulse ignition devices. Intended for use when nuclear explosives are not desirable.

34-8048 Mooride polyronite 4
Slow-burning chemical explosive used for controlled pressure wave ignition of small-scale fusion reactions. Stored in inert liquid form, activated by laser detonator.
Ronald D. Moore, producer, and Ronald B. Moore, visual effects supervisor: Why both of them? "Poly-Ron-ite"!

34-8043 Moyerite
Semi-solid propellant used in ullage thruster devices and emergency jettison thrusters. Characteristics include an shelf life in excess of 10 standard years without significant deterioration of performance.
Peter Moyer, visual effects editor

34-0388 Takemurium lite
High-yield reactant used for emergency ignition of microfusion devices. Manufactured in 2.7kg slugs for use in Type VI reactors.
David Takemura, visual effects coordinator

34-8430 Neussite 283
Highly stable liquid explosive used for industrial infusion charge applications and manufacturing. Ignited by microwave pulse detonator.
Wendy Neuss, co-producer

34-5832 Todotracium
Controllable medium-yield propellant used in small solid rocket motor devices and emergency disconnect explosive bolts.

34-8834 Blitmanite
Magnesium-based fuel used in remote spectroscopy vaporization devices. Provided in 0.2kg charges for use in long-range impact probes.
Leslie Blitman, recruited Mike Okuda in 1977 to join the Honolulu Science Fiction Society

34-5580 Tri-nickolas powder
Non-oxydizing chemical explosive used in class-N(2) planetary environments for engineering applications. This substance is unstable in oxygen atmospheres and must be handled in accordance with SFRA 2884 3 safety regulations.
This sounds like it refers to three people, all named Nick or Nicholas. But no one in a prominent position behind the scenes was named Nick when the episode was produced.

34-8430 Antimatter (Antideuterium)
Quantum-charge reversed form of deuterium, used as principal fuel source for ship's warp propulsion system. Due to highly volatile nature, antimatter must be stored in magnetic confinement pods per SFRA 3207 0.

34-8083 Bio-Genovesium
Energetic carbon-based biological reactant, used for in the bio-neutralization of organic waste products prior to electrolytic fractioning and recycling. Stored in liquid form.
Cosmo Genovese, script supervisor

34-4077 Hydrogen
Stored in the form of deuterium, used as principal reactant for warp propulsion system, and as principal fuel source for the impulse propulsion system and auxiliary fusion reactors.

Calendenium (or: Kalendenium)
This one is somewhat speculative because it is not shown on the LCARS screen, but only mentioned (by Data). It sounded like "Callendennium" though. With single-"l" and/or single-"n" in the words, the sound of the names would differ too much from the way Data spoke them. Description given in the episode: Element which is extremely volatile when combined with hydrogen.

Other Series/Movies in Star Trek

Illustrious family tree In TNG: "The Neutral Zone Deanna Troi sifts through Claire Raymond's family tree to find relatives of the woman who had been frozen since the late 20th century (actually the display claims she died as late as 2035 as opposed to the spoken dialogue). Claire Raymond learns that her two sons were married to "Ginger Grant" and "Maryann Summers" from "Gilligan's Island". Her four grandchildren were named "Jonathan Frakes Raymond", "Denise P. Raymond", "LeVar Burton Raymond" and "Cheryl Gates Raymond". Their spouses were "Brent Spiner Raymond", "Marina Sirtis Raymond" and "Wil Wesley Raymond". The next generation has "Charles E. Winchester", "Sherman T. Potter", "Francis J. Mulcahey", "Margaret Houlihan", "Walter O'Reilly" "Kelleye Nakahara" - all characters from "M*A*S*H". In the fifth generation we can make out "William Hartnell", "Patrick Troughton", "Jon Pertwee", "Tom Baker", "Peter Davison", "Colin Baker" - all of whom played the Doctor in "Doctor Who". In addition, we find "Mary Richards" und "Louis Grant" in this generation, from "Mary Tyler Moore". The following two generations are almost illegible owing to the smaller font size, but eagle eyes may make out Kermit T. Frog and Miss Piggy.

Family tree, part 1 (TNG: "The Neutral Zone") (screen capture by Jörg)	Family tree, part 2 (TNG: "The Neutral Zone") (screen capture by Jörg)
Family tree, part 3 (TNG: "The Neutral Zone") (screen capture by Jörg)

Kira's Island It is barely recognizable, but the label on a monitor in DS9 reads: "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship."

Monitor with "Gilligan's Island" intro
(screen capture by Jörg)

Found in Space The lamp-like device on the ceiling of the (fake) Romulan holodeck in TNG: "Future Imperfect" is a replica of the spacecraft Jupiter II from "Lost in Space", according to Ed Miarecki (see at Ed Miarecki's site). Also, the Jupiter II purportedly appears in the form of a chessman in TNG: "Unnatural Selection" (reported at Timecon '89). It is not really verifiable on the screen capture. But the chessman in TNG: "Conundrum" clearly based on the robot B-9, also from "Lost in Space", confirms that the first one is meant to be the Jupiter II.

Jupiter II in two episodes (screen capture by Jörg)

B-9 in TNG: "Conundrum" (screen capture by Jörg)

Use the Force! In TNG: "Sub Rosa" we can make out the grave of a Mr. or Mrs. Vader, next to that of a certain McFly (or one of his time-traveling incarnations). The criminal Ibudan from DS9 has listed the departure from a spaceport called Alderaan in his schedule.

Vader's and McFly's tombs (TNG: "Sub Rosa") (screen capture by Jörg)

Ibudan's schedule (DS9: "A Man Alone") (screen capture by Jörg)

That's no moon, it's too angular In "Star Trek First Contact" one of the Federation vessels fighting against the Borg cube is actually a Millenium Falcon, as was confirmed by the ILM VFX artist.

Millenium Falcon ("Star Trek First Contact")
(screen capture by Jochen)

Odo dreams of Jeannie? In DS9: "A Simple Investigation" we can see the same type of bottle that we know from "I Dream of Jeannie".

Jeannie's bottle (DS9: "A Simple Investigation")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Death Wing The casualty list from VOY: "Imperfection" has three "real" casualties listed, namely those of Marie Kaplan, Lyndsay Ballard and Timothy Lang who all died in the course of the series. The rest of the names seem to have been taken from "West Wing" characters!

Casualty list (VOY: "Imperfection")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Horizon Events Some of the frightening dream images from VOY: "Random Thoughts" were originally filmed for "Event Horizon".

Footage from "Event Horizon" (VOY: "Random Thoughts")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Look Who's Watching On the more light-hearted side, VOY: "Someone to Watch Over Me" shows us shots of a human ovum from "Look Who's Talking".

Ovum from "Look Who's Talking" (VOY: "Someone to Watch Over Me")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Star Trek in Other Series/Movies

West Wing In "Manchester, Part I" the Botany Bay is listed on a situation chart along with several actual US Navy ships. This is no surprise, considering that no one else but Mike Okuda made this display.

Botany Bay in "West Wing"
(screen capture by Shaun Aki)

Battlestar Galactica We can see a vessel with suspiciously long jump drives as a part of the ragtag fleet.

Enterprise in "Battlestar Galactica"
(source unknown)

Firefly We can see Trek vessels in at least three episodes of the series.

Kradin fighters in Firefly: "The Train Job"
(screen capture by Jörg)

Trek ships in Firefly: "Our Mrs Reynolds" (screen capture by Jörg)

Trek ships in Firefly: "War Stories" (screen capture by Jörg)

The Sarah Jane Adventures In the pilot episode of this Doctor Who spin-off series a map of the Milky Way Galaxy can be seen which was originally produced for TNG: "Conspiracy".

Galaxy map in "The Sarah Jane Adventures"
(screen capture by Jörg)

Credits

Thanks to Robert Heckadon and Paul Eisner for their contributions! Shaun Aki spotted the Trek ship in "West Wing", Jochen provided the screen caps of the Millenium Falcon. The meaning of "Poly-Ron-ite" was found by Dan Carlson.

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	Last modified: 02.11.07
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