Observations in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona"
A joint project with TrekCore, by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
Here are some observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona" without a specific theme, and a comparison of the original TV release (TNG) with the remastered episode (TNG-R).
"The Outrageous Okona" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore
| Description TNG | Other caps | Comparison TNG to TNG-R | Description TNG-R | |||||||||
| When Worf brings up a schematic of the Erstwhile, two different graphics are seen and two different ways are used to realize the graphics. Mike Okuda: "The console graphics in the first image are entirely "practical,' meaning that they were actually there on set and were photographed by the camera. This is all back-lit art. The green wireframe in the second image was indeed added in postproduction. Everything around the green element is practical, backlit art. I'm pretty sure I didn't do that wireframe, but I don't know who actually did it." |
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The second wireframe of the Erstwhile was reworked for TNG-R. It now includes a surface layer with shading and the bridge module (that was erroneously missing on the old LCARS animation, which looked like the previous incarnation of the model, the Batris). | ||||||||||
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| The shot of the USS Enterprise-D in this scene is simply a freeze frame of footage of the vessel, moving slightly forward and zooming out. Only the flashing ventral position light was added to make the shot less static. |  |
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| The Erstwhile previously appeared as the Sanction in "Symbiosis". The model is a modification of the Batris, created for "Heart of Glory". This is the last time the ship appears in the Sanction configuration. Redresses of the Batris |
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The shot still shows the physical model of the Erstwhile but was greatly improved for TNG-R. | ||||||||||
| Okona's chair is of the same type that can be seen in the first four Star Trek films on the Enterprise bridge. |  "Star Trek II" |
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The HD version is unusually blurry and doesn't show more detail. | |||||||||
| The large console seen in the background of Okona's bridge was seen in several later Star Trek episodes, like "First Contact" and "Ethics". Like many other futuristic consoles, it was rented from Modern Props. |  "First Contact" |
 "Ethics" |
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| The console in front of Okona has reappeared in several later TNG episodes. It was seen aboard the Pakled ship Mondor in "Samaritan Snare", for example. |  "Samaritan Snare" |
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| The wall to the right of Okona was seen in several season 1 episodes, including "Hide and Q" and "Too Short a Season". Re-Used Building Interiors |
 "Hide and Q" |
 "Too Short a Season" |
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| The wall behind Okona, finally, was originally created for the terraforming station on Velara III, as seen in "Home Soil". |  "Home Soil" |
 "Home Soil" |
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| The Erstwhile is briefly seen up close before it is partially obscured by the tractor beam. |   |
As can be seen, the ship needed to be recreated in CG for this shot: It seems the original footage could not be found. There are some slight differences between the physical model and the CG recreation. The wireframe model of the ship, seen earlier in the episode, matches the recreated CG ship. Doug Drexler: "Deg [Douglas E. Graves] built it in house." |
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| The Erstwhile being tractored by the USS Enterprise-D. |   |
The reconstructed tractor beam somehow seems to end above the upper hull of the ship. We can recognize some more details of the hull of the CG Erstwhile. | ||||||||||
The young Teri Hatcher as Lieutenant Robinson. The wall covering in the transporter room can be seen very well here. It consists of commercially available acoustic panels that were painted green.Acoustic Panels as Wall Coverings in TNG |
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Only the remastered image could make a good wallpaper. :-) | ||||||||||
| The device Geordi removes from Okona's faulty guidance system later appeared in the Voyager episode "Maneuvers" as a transporter module and again in "Innocence" as a shuttle part Tuvok works on. |  VOY: "Maneuvers" |
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A close-up of this device in HD. | |||||||||
| Lieutenant Robinson's quarters (like Diana Giddings's quarters seen later in the episode) are a redress of the junior officers' quarters set. This part of the set is rarely seen. It was also shown in "The Child" and aboard the SS Tsiolkovsky in "The Naked Now". |  "The Naked Now" |
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| The metallic sculpture in Robinson's quarters also appeared in Lwaxana Troi's guest quarters in "Haven" and on Delta Rana IV in "The Survivors", in more TNG episodes and eventually on Star Trek Voyager. Re-Used Props - Decoration |
 "Haven" |
 "The Survivors" |
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| The other side of the piece of technology that Geordi removed from Okona's guidance system earlier in the episode is seen up close here. The same prop also appears in the VOY episode "Innocence" where Tuvok uses it when he repairs a shuttlecraft. |  VOY: "Innocence" |
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| Beginning in this episode, Geordi is seen using the red PADD that was originally created for Dexter Remmick and used by him in "Coming of Age". Until the end of the series, Geordi would often be seen using different kinds of red engineering PADDs. |  "Coming of Age" |
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A close-up of this PADD in HD. | |||||||||
| A 3-D chess set, similar to the one seen in The Original Series, first appears in Ten Forward in the background in this shot. |  |
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| In the first season, the corridor leading to the holodeck often changed in appearance. This is the first time since the set remains virtually unchanged since its last appearance in a previous episode, in this case "Elementary, Dear Data". |  "Elementary, Dear Data" |
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The number "40271" appears on many season 1 LCARS displays. In "The Outrageous Okona", a graphic with the number 40272 appears for the first time. The last digit in this sequence usually matches the season in which a given LCARS display first appeared, so displays with the number "40273" will start to appear in season 3. Mike Okuda: "40271 was the studio's internal accounting number for Star Trek: TNG during the first season. I envisioned it as the ship's software version number. During the second season, I started using 40272. I didn't really get past 40274 because at that point, I realized I wasn't doing a good job of replacing the 'obsolete' graphics, so I didn't really try to increment the number after that." |
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| The list of comedians contains names of many people involved in the production of Star Trek, like Gene Roddenberry, David Livingston, Wendy Neuss and Tracy Tromé. One notable exception is noted planetary geologist Farouk El-Baz, who was also honored by naming the shuttlepod El-Baz after him. |  
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The names of some of the comedians have been changed, replacing them with names of people that were involved in the remastering of TNG. | ||||||||||
 
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| The Atlec ship previously appeared as the Merchantman in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock". Redresses of the Merchantman |
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We can recognize more details of the Atlec ship in TNG-R. | ||||||||||
| The footage of the USS Enterprise-D is new and first appears in this episode. |   |
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| The back wall of the Atlec bridge is a re-use of the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise-D battle bridge. Re-Used Props - Stationary Consoles |
 "The Arsenal of Freedom" |
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| The large console at the back of the Straleb bridge, on the other hand, was previously seen in the sensor maintenance room in "Lonely Among Us". |  "Lonely Among Us" |
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The console in HD. | |||||||||
| Like in season 1, the corridor set still has not been enlarged yet to be connected to neither a holodeck/cargo bay door nor the door to the office part of the junior officers' quarters. Instead, the set abruptly ends with a wall, as can be seen in this screenshot. |  "The Naked Now" |
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| As said before, Giddings's quarters is a redress of the junior officers' quarters. This part of the set is rarely seen until the set is rebuilt later during the series. | Lt. Robinson's quarters |
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A close-up of the painting in HD. | |||||||||
| The metallic sculpture in Giddings's quarters is seen in several other TNG episodes. In the first season, it also appeared on Rubicun III in "Justice" and on Aldea in "When the Bough Breaks". |  "Justice" |
 "When the Bough Breaks" |
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| The painting in Giddings's quarters appeared in Doctor Crusher's sickbay office in the first season of TNG. Space Art in Star Trek: The Next Generation |
 "We'll Always Have Paris" |
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| The door to Diana Giddings's quarters. |   |
The name on Diana Giddings's door sign is now fully legible. | ||||||||||
| Okona's jacket was later worn by similar rogue Brull in "The Vengeance Factor". The insignia on his collar were previously seen as part of the Ferengi head gear in season 1. |  "The Last Outpost" |
 "The Vengeance Factor" |
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| The Straleb ship is a new starship model created for this episode. It was later re-used as the Angosian transport in "The Hunted". Redresses of the Straleb Vessel |
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The colors and contrast of the alien ships was greatly improved in TNG-R. | ||||||||||
| The main viewscreen was also split in half to enable communication with two parties at the same time in the second season episode "Loud as a Whisper". |  "Loud as a Whisper" |
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The bridge of the Atlec ship contains two familiar pieces of furniture. The chairs are similar to the TOS bridge chairs. The console was previously seen as a sickbay console aboard the USS Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". It also appeared in a cargo bay in "Code of Honor". |
 "The Enemy Within" |
 "Code of Honor" |
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 "Star Trek II" |
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| The guest lounge is known from several season 1 episodes, such as "Haven", "Where No One Has Gone Before" or "Heart of Glory". It last appeared in "The Neutral Zone". While the general layout of the set has remained the same, the set decoration (lamps, displays, furniture) has been changed. "The Outrageous Okona" is the last appearance of this set. |  "The Neutral Zone" |
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| This is the first appearance of a round piece of wall decoration like that. Similar round and rectangular pieces of decoration began appearing in crew quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-D in the fourth season, slowly replacing the space paintings created by Rick Sternbach. Space Art in Star Trek: The Next Generation |
 "Violations" |
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Credits
Thanks to Rusty0918 for the hint about the bridge chairs.
