Observations in TNG: "Déjà Q"

A joint project with TrekCore, by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

Here are some observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Déjà Q" without a specific theme, and a comparison of the original TV release (TNG) with the remastered episode (TNG-R).


"Déjà Q" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore

Description TNG Other caps Comparison TNG to TNG-R Description TNG-R
The moon of Bre'el IV. It is most likely a re-use of the physical moon model that previously appeared as Vandor IV in "We'll Always Have Paris" and as an asteroid/moon in orbit of Bringloid V in "Up the Long Ladder".
"We'll Always Have Paris"

"Up the Long Ladder"
The moon is still the same in the remastered episode. No apparent CGI here.
The new 4-foot model of the USS Enterprise-D was used in this shot with the moon and the planet. It looks a little distorted, as if the lights of the nacelles are shifted a little to the side. Unlike the moon, the planet was newly created for TNG-R. The lighting of the nacelles is perfectly aligned now.
The console in the lab on Bre'el IV, here seen right above the head of the unnamed conn officer, previously appeared on the bridge of the Pakled ship Mondor.
"Samaritan Snare"
An HD close-up of the console.
More of the lab on Bre'el IV can be seen in this screenshot. The two glass displays seen in the background were especially created for this episode. They later appeared in the lab on Penthara IV in "A Matter of Time", on the bridge of the Tamarian vessel in "Darmok", in the Tagran lab in "True Q" and on the bridge of the Cardassian Galor-class ship in "Parallels".
"A Matter of Time"

"True Q"
A better look at the room and the people from Bre'el IV in HD.

"Darmok"

"Parallels"

The white "X" at the left side of the screen and the two green "Xs" behind the glass consoles are design elements that often show up in Klingon buildings in later episodes, like "Sins of the Father", "The Mind's Eye", "Redemption I+II" and "Birthright I+II".


"Sins of the Father"

"Redemption II"

"The Mind's Eye"

"Birthright I"
It is hard to see, but the Bre'el lab room is a redress of the Gatherer meeting room from "The Vengeance Factor".
"The Vengeance Factor"
The USS Enterprise-D uses its forward dorsal tractor beam emitter to push the moon of Bre'el IV away from the planet. Due to the large number of separate layers of footage, the shot is very fuzzy in the original episode. These shots are crystal clear in TNG-R.

Another very fuzzy shot owing to the FX inserted into this shot in post production.

The lunar craters visible on the viewscreen are similar to craters seen on Vandor IV in "We'll Always Have Paris" and the moon of Bringloid V in "Up the Long Ladder".

The comparison with the shot from "Evolution" demonstrates how much darker the bluish gray carpet on the bridge is since "The High Ground".
"Evolution"
The bridge set in HD.
Picard's facepalm, which would become one of the most famous internet memes. The facepalm in HD.
The USS Enterprise-D between Bre'el IV and its moon. Like in the previous shots, the 4-foot model was used for the USS Enterprise-D. The shot in HD.

Q and Worf use a turbolift to get from the bridge to a corridor leading to the brig. The door they are seen leaving the turbolift through, though, normally is the door to the junior officers' quarters. When they enter the brig, the wrong doors are used again. They are seen standing in front of the shuttlebay/cargo bay/holodeck door but the shot from the inside the brig shows a different corridor behind them. Like in its first appearance, in "The Hunted", the brig wasn't directly attached to the newly extended major corridor set. It was instead accessed from a short fake corridor leading nowhere else.

Clever editing was used to create the illusion that Worf and Q were entering the brig from the large corridor set. The give-away, however, is the wall behind the brig door. The regular corridor walls consist of 3 1/2 panels and are not lit at the bottom. The fake corridor wall seen here features a light at the bottom and 4 panels. The door opposite the brig door also is not present in the large corridor set.


Set plan
No changes
Thin black PADDs, like the ones seen on the brig control desk here, were often used in season 1 episodes of TNG.
"Too Short a Season"
No changes
Since the previous shot, the moon has noticeably increased its distance from Bre'el IV. In TNG-R, the different size relations in the two shots are the same as in the original episode.
The brig cell will remain essentially unchanged for the rest of TNG's run.
"The Hunted"

"The Most Toys"
The cell in HD.

"I, Borg"

"The Pegasus"

The comparison shot from "The Hunted" reveals that the brig set has not changed much since it was last seen in that episode, only some of the consoles in the background were changed.

The consoles previously appeared in Dr. Paul Stubbs's quarters in "Evolution" and drawing room 5 in "Booby Trap". The whole set, consisting of parts of the original battle bridge, was earlier seen as drawing room 5, in fact. It also appeared as the outpost in "The Vengeance Factor".


"The Hunted"

"Evolution"
No changes

"Booby Trap"

"The Vengeance Factor"
When Q and Picard leave the brig, footage filmed on two different sets needed to be edited together again, as the brig was not directly connected to the large corridor set. To make the edit as seamless as possible, even the bench next to the large double door was placed in both shots. The distance the bench has to the door is different in the two shots, however. No changes
The door at the end of the newly expanded corridor set can be nicely seen in this shot. To the right of it, the corridor continues only for a few more feet and leads to the second door to the junior officers' quarters. No changes

A graphic of Bre'el IV and its moon displayed on the slanted "pool table" monitor.

This is the right monitor when facing the warp core. Only the monitor on the opposite side was supplemented with blue LCARS buttons for "The Defector".


"The Defector"
A better look at the display in HD.
Dr. Crusher enters main engineering through a rarely used turbolift close to the "pool table". Between seasons 5 and 6, the turbolift was removed and an access to the Jefferies tubes was constructed here instead.
"The Icarus Factor"

"The Quality of Life"
No changes

"The First Duty"

The cutlery seen here was also seen in earlier TNG episodes, such as "Manhunt" and "The Price".

It appears that Geordi's uniform has been washed quite often by now, as the structure of the fabric reveals.


"Manhunt"
A better look at the cutlery (and the dishes) in HD. Also, it is much more obvious in HD how worn out the uniform is.
The stunt fork Guinan uses to stab Q in this shot has much shorter fork teeth then the fork seen lying on the bar a few seconds earlier.
The Calamarain as seen on the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise-D. The Calamarain were newly created for TNG-R and are more defined now.
Data tries to help Q and is electrified by the Calamarain. The reconstructed effect in TNG-R. Even the energy tendrils are nearly congruent with those in the original episode.
The rarely seen ceiling of Ten Forward. The set in HD.
A nice space shot showing the Bre'el IV, its moon, the Calamarain and the USS Enterprise-D. Again, the 4-foot model was used for this shot. A good look at the unchanged moon and the new Calamarain.

The costumes worn by the Bre'el IV scientists in this episode were originally created for the Promellians, seen in "Booby Trap". They are later worn by members of Pardshay's species in several DS9 episodes.
Re-Used Make-ups

The PADD-like device held by the scientist in the background originally was the identity scanner used during Data's trial in "The Measure of a Man". It is also held by a background Romulan on Romulus in "Unification I".


"Booby Trap"

"The Measure of a Man"
We can recognize details of the uniforms better in HD.

"Captive Pursuit"

"Unification I"
Data and Q enter main engineering through another rarely used door. In "Encounter at Farpoint", this door still lead to a turbolift.
"Encounter
at Farpoint"
The set in HD.
This shot is identical to the tractor beam shot seen earlier in the episode, only the Calamarain were added. In TNG-R, the shots too are identical except for the Calamarain.
The 4-foot model was used for this close-up of the neck connecting the saucer section with the stardrive section. A comparison screenshot of the 6-foot model from a similar angle highlights the differences in window placement and hull paneling between the two models.
The Saucer Rim on the Galaxy Class

"Encounter at Farpoint"

"Lonely Among Us"
We can see the raised seams between the panels and the duck egg blue color of many panels particularly well in HD.

"Encounter at Farpoint"

"Evolution"
A graphic of the Enterprise's warp field pushing the moon. The big screen is still the same in HD, although it is very pixelated.
The USS Enterprise-D getting too close to the upper atmosphere of Bre'el IV. The sequence is absolutely spectacular in HD.
The cardboard covering the engineering station is very noticeable in this shot, especially due to the bright light caused by the Calamarain. We can see the cardboard in TNG-R too.

The shot of the Calamarain enveloping Q was shot anamorphically to allow camera movement during an FX shot. By using the method of "pan and scan" the camera movement was achieved. This explains why the shot shows a lot of grain.
Pan & Scan Effects in TNG

Note the cables that are visible on the floor behind the seat of the chair.

The shots are clear like the rest in the remastered episode.
A comparison shot from "Heart of Glory" shows what the main engineering ceiling looked like in the first season.
"Heart of Glory"
Note that the shot is considerably darker in TNG-R.
The warp core could be seen from a very similar angle in "Where No One Has Gone Before". Note the different lighting and the missing triangular warning sticker.
"Where No One Has Gone Before"
The warp core in HD.
Another shot with the Enterprise-D 4-foot model and the moon. The shot as it appears in HD.
The circuits of Data's positronic brain can be nicely seen in this and the following screenshot. A good look at Data's opened head and the scanner in HD.

The scanner Geordi uses to scan on Data switches between shots. At first, the scanner is rather large. When the shot switches, he suddenly holds an oscillation overthruster from the film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" in his hands. The prop previously appeared as a geological tool in "Pen Pals".
Re-Used Props - Engineering Tools


"Pen Pals"
The biobed superstructure has been extensively modified since it appeared in the first season. It features an additional cover since it was seen in "The Enemy" earlier this season.
"Where No One Has Gone Before"

"The Enemy"
The biobed in HD.
The thin black PADD that Dr. Crusher holds while treating Data appears to be the same that actually contains the android's schematics. It was created for "The Measure of a Man".
"The Measure of a Man"
The PADD in HD.
The transparent planner that has been in sickbay since season 1 appears for the final time. After this episode, the planner will never be seen again. :-(
"Angel One"
The display in HD.
We can see the power cable for the LEDs in Data's head running down Brent Spiner's chest. No changes
The scene of the shuttle launch was originally created for "Coming of Age" and also appeared in "Unnatural Selection". For the re-use in "Déjà Q", the footage was flipped, however. This is the only scene in the episode in which the 6-foot model of the Enterprise-D is seen. In all other shots, either the small 2-foot model or the new 4-foot model is used.
"Coming of Age"
The shot as it appears in HD.
This is one of only two new shots of the Sakharov that appears in the episode. It is similar to a shot of a USS Repulse shuttle from "The Child" but not a re-use.
"The Child"
The shuttle in HD close-ups.
The footage of the shuttle slowly flying away from the camera was originally created for "Unnatural Selection" and also appeared in "Samaritan Snare".
"Unnatural Selection"
This shot of the Sakharov is also new. It is a still of some previously filmed footage, though, as the position light is permanently lit in this shot.
The interior of the Type-7 shuttle has not changed much since its last major appearance in the season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare". The door in the back is open now, showing a second small room.
Variations of the Type-7 Shuttle

"Samaritan Snare"
The aft compartment in HD.
Q2 enters the shuttle through its side wall. The effect was faithfully recreated for the remastered version.
As can be seen, the ball used to control the movements of the shuttle was modified since its last appearance in "Samaritan Snare". It is transparent and lit now.
"Samaritan Snare"
A close-up of the ball in HD.

Q2's head briefly pops through the cockpit wall as Q looks at the now powerless Calamarain.

This part of the shuttle set also has not changed a lot since season 2. Notice how just a little tape and LCARS sticker magic makes the small set look much more impressive!


"Samaritan Snare"
The set and effect in TNG-R.
The Q flash seems unusually red in this shot. The effect is more like purple in TNG-R.
The scantily clad woman on the left wears a dress that can be seen again in the Qualor II bar in "Unification II". It also appears in DS9: "Sanctuary". Here, it is the dress that Haneek finds particularly ugly.
"Unification II"

DS9: "Sanctuary"
The dress in HD.
A graphic of the changed moon orbit. The very same graphic in HD, with legible text now.
Q appears in cigar smoke. The recreated effect in HD.
The 2-foot model only appears in the final shot of the USS Enterprise-D in this episode. Reflective tape is used for the windows, as the model doesn't have internal lighting. This does not look very convincing. The windows in the TNG-R version were edited to fix this problem.

 

Credits

The stage layout comes from Star Trek Stages History.

 


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