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Observations in TNG: "The Game"

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

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

"The Game" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore

Description TNG		Other caps	Comparison TNG to TNG-R	Description TNG-R
Riker's suite on Risa looks identical to Picard's and Vash's suites in "Captain's Holiday".	"Captain's Holiday"	"Captain's Holiday"		No changes
	"Captain's Holiday"	"Captain's Holiday"
Ktarian slit pupils are very cat-like.				The Ktarian eyes in HD.
The Ktarian game is seen being turned on in this screenshot.				The game in HD.
We get our first look at the actual Ktarian game interface in this screenshot. The colorful pieces of wall decoration in the background were also seen on Risa in "Captain's Holiday" and in Chakotay's office aboard the USS Voyager in "Tattoo".	"Captain's Holiday"	VOY: "Tattoo"		The graphics of the game were faithfully redone for TNG-R and were not visually "updated".
The circuits and isolinear chips behind the LCARS displays on the corridor wall-plugs, that are used to hide the corridors when the set is used as main engineering, were first seen in "Disaster". Riker is seen walking past the console that held Data's head in the earlier episode. As can be seen, the LCARS display was changed; it no longer features the old orange LCARS display seen in earlier episodes. The interface that is seen opened in this episode was the one Riker worked on in "Disaster". As can be seen, the circuitry is intact but the small LCARS display (added in post production) has been replaced by the graphic simulating the backs of isolinear optical chips.	"Reunion"	"Disaster"		No changes
		"Disaster"
		"Disaster"
The console Geordi is seen working on was added to the "pool table" for this episode. It originally appeared in "The Emissary" and has been seen in several episodes since. Consoles Built for Star Trek		"The Emissary"		The console in HD.
The shot of the USS Enterprise-D facing an Oberth-class vessel was first used in "The Drumhead". In both episodes, the registry can be clearly read as "NCC-59318", so this is the same ship, the USS Cochrane.		"The Drumhead"		The space shot in HD.


A Starfleet cadet uniform was last seen in "Allegiance". As can be seen, the collar has been changed since then.		"Allegiance"		Wesley's uniform in HD.
The modifications made to the transporter room between seasons 4 and 5 can be clearly seen in these screenshots. The material covering the walls has a different texture and is much less glossy then it used to be.	"Future Imperfect"	"Identity Crisis"		A better look at the set in HD.
Wesley and Data are seen entering the corridor set through a rarely used entrance, which is located closely to the MSD, when the set is redressed as main engineering. In "11001001", this corridor led to a docking hatch. The opposite side of the corridor was last seen in "The Mind's Eye".		"11001001"		No changes
		"The Mind's Eye"
During camera moves like the one seen here, the entrance to main engineering proper is normally not seen. In this episode, the outer engineering sealing doors are down to hide the rest of the main engineering set. The doors were last seen down in "Disaster" and before that in "The Best of Both Worlds I". A microphone can be seen on to of this shot.	"The Best of Both Worlds I"	"Disaster"		The shot in TNG-R. The microphone is till visible.
An animated graphic is seen on the small monitor added to the pool table for this episode. The animated LCARS display doesn't match the static display on the actual prop, however.				The small error was not fixed for TNG-R.

A console that was first created for "The Mind's Eye" can be seen in sickbay in the background.		"The Mind's Eye"		No changes
Riker and Troi enter sickbay through a rarely used doorway. In "Night Terrors", this door led to the morgue. It was also seen opened in "The Bonding" and "Tapestry".	"The Bonding"	"Tapestry"		No changes
	"Night Terrors"
Open circuitry is exposed when Crusher opens one of the hatches on Data's head. The same hatch is later opened in "Timescape" and "A Fistful of Datas".	"A Fistful of Datas"	"Time's Arrow II"		A better look at Data's open head and at the tool in HD.
Crusher cuts the positronic circuitry with a laser scalpel last used by Worf when severing Molly O'Brien's umbilical cord in "Disaster".		"Disaster"
A flyby of the USS Enterprise-D.				As the particular footage could not be located for the remastering, it had to be recreated using a similar flyby.
This is a nice close-up of a science tricorder. The large display clearly looks like a sticker.				A better look at the tricorder and the display sticker.
A reproduction of Vermeer's painting "A Woman Holding a Balance", which was first seen as set decoration in Data's quarters in "Silicon Avatar" can be seen a lot better in this screenshot.				We can recognize more details of the painting in HD.
The circuitry behind a console in the engineer's office part of main engineering is exposed in this episode.				The circuitry in HD.

The Enterprise-D dropping from warp. Enterprise Flybys in TNG and TNG-R				As mentioned before, footage of this flyby could not be located for the remastering project. Like in "Ensign Ro", the warp drop seen here was replaced with new footage of a CG model of the USS Enterprise-D.
This nice flyby, in which the USS Enterprise-D flies above the camera, was first seen in "Allegiance". In that episode, the ship approached a pulsar in the Lonkar cluster. Here, the ship is approaching the Phoenix cluster.		"Allegiance"		The flyby in HD.


The Ktarian game can be seen exceptionally well in these shots because the star backdrop in the background does not distract from the computer-generated game interface.				Another look at the reconstructed game graphics.

Either the film has warped or this scene was filmed using split-screen, with the footage of Crusher and Wesley filmed separately, as can be seen when directly comparing these two shots.				In the remastered version of the episode, this footage is much more stable.

In order to more closely examine the Ktarian game, Wesley Crusher and Robin Lefler use the facilities of the engineering lab. This set, which is directly adjacent to sickbay, was first seen in "Home Soil". It has appeared as many different labs over the course of the series, including a medical lab in "Evolution" and "Clues" and a tactical lab in "The Mind's Eye", but this is the last time the set is seen. As can be seen, the map still displays the galaxy map it did in "The Mind's Eye". The door behind Lefler and Wesley leads to the waiting area in front of Doctor Crusher's office.	"Home Soil"	"The Mind's Eye"		A look at the set in HD.
	"Evolution"	"Clues"
Several animated graphics of the human brain and neurological activity were created for this episode. The graphic of the brain is using the same model as the one of a Betazoid brain seen in "Ménage à Troi".		"Ménage à Troi"		All graphics had to be recreated for the remastered version of "The Game".




The USS Enterprise-D is seen in front of the Phoenix cluster. The footage of the ship was first seen in "Reunion", where the Galaxy-class starship faces two Klingon Birds-of-Prey.		"Reunion"		The scene in HD.

The detachable scanner of a medical tricorder can be seen particularly well in this sequence.				A close look at the prop in HD.


The large medical display in sickbay has not been changed between seasons. It still displays the same medical data it did in season 4.		"First Contact"		The graphics of Data's positronic net were recreated to look almost exactly like in the original episode.
Two graphics of Data's severed positronic fibers are seen in this sequence.



The label on the back of this PADD seems unusually worn.				A closer look at the worn label in HD.
The Ktarian ship approaches the USS Enterprise-D. The model was last seen as the Zalkonian ship in "Transfigurations". The model was not modified since then. It originally appeared as the Tarellian plague ship in "Haven" and was heavily modified for "Transfigurations". Redresses of the Tarellian Vessel		"Haven"		The Ktarian ship in HD, allowing to recognize many more details.
The Ktarian ship is seen on the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise-D. A comparison screenshot of the Zalkonian ship from "Transfigurations" shows that the model was not modified between episodes. Another screenshot from "Haven" shows the model in its original appearance.	"Haven"	"Transfigurations"

The Ktarian captain's chair was originally created for the Ferengi pod in "The Price". It was re-used on numerous occasions, but usually appeared as a Romulan chair in later episodes.	"The Price"	"Sins of the Father"		The Ktarian bridge in HD.
		"Future Imperfect"
This is the only footage of the Ktarian ship re-used from "Transfigurations".		"Transfigurations"		The shot of the ship in HD.
The main viewscreen of the Ktarian ship would later appear on the bridge of the Romulan Warbird Khazara in "Face of the Enemy".		"Face of the Enemy"		The viewscreen in HD.
Wesley is seen boarding the turbolift on deck 11 and directing it to take him to deck 36. After a short dialogue with Nurse Ogawa (filmed as a continuous shot), he is seen disembarking the turbolift on deck 36, just as he commanded. The label on the turbolift door must have been changed while the scene was filmed.				No changes

Wesley's security override graphics consist only of random numbers.				In the remastered episode, the random strings of numbers at least begin with a recognizable word.

Ensign Lefler is seen working on another console added to the "pool table" for this episode. The console was originally for the phaser riddle test sequence in "The Mind's Eye". Curiously, a tricorder like the one used in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" seems to be attached to the console.		"The Mind's Eye"		The console in HD.
		"Star Trek I"
The small type 1 phasers were rarely used after the first few seasons of TNG. In this episode, it is seen up close for the last time on the show. It was last seen this clearly in "The Mind's Eye".		"The Mind's Eye"		A better look at the phaser in HD.


The Type-1 phaser is seen firing at a corridor forcefield.				The reconstructed effect in TNG-R.
The top view of the USS Enterprise-D, displayed on the main engineering "pool table" can be seen very well here. Graphics of possible escape routes used by Wesley Crusher were overlaid in the next two screenshots in post production.				The graphics in HD.


The Jefferies tube junction appears for the second time in this episode after it was first seen in "Disaster".		"Disaster"		A look at the set in HD.


The unconvincing painted extension of the Jefferies tube is seen for the first time in this episode. Prop and Set Oddities				The painted extensions in HD.
Data has modified a regular palm beacon (last seen in the preceding episode) to free the bridge crew from the control of the Ktarians. The turbolift doors have not close fully, as can be seen behind Data.		"Disaster"		The lamp in HD.
The shot of the USS Enterprise-D engaging its forward tractor beam was first used in "The Host". Like in that episode, the tractor is erroneously emitted from the forward photon torpedo tube.		"The Host"		The shots of the ships in HD. Like in "The Host", the tractor beam emanates from the right spot, slightly above the forward torpedo launcher, in the remastered episode.
Another nice new shot of the Ktarian ship.
Robin Lefler gives a copy of what is usually referred to as "Lefler's Laws" to Wesley Crusher.				In HD, the words "Robin's Laws" can be read on the front page.

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