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Observations in TNG: "Peak Performance"

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

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

"Peak Performance" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore

Description TNG		Other caps	Comparison TNG to TNG-R	Description TNG-R
This shot of the USS Enterprise and Shuttle 01 was created for "Unnatural Selection". Only Gagarin IV, which also appeared in the shot in that episode, was removed. In "Peak Performance" the shot lasts a little longer as well.		"Unnatural Selection"		The sequence remains unchanged in TNG-R, including the lacking alignment of the starboard nacelle and its lighting.
		"Unnatural Selection"
A good look at Kolrami's make-up. His race, the Zakdorn, will reappear in "Unification I+II".		"Unification I"		The make-up in HD.
The map of the Braslota system.				The map can be seen much better in HD. We can now read the heading "Starfleet Strategic Simulation Exercise".
"Peak Performance" features a very large number of very obvious black cardboard cutouts hiding reflections of camera equipment. Normally, these cardboard squares and rectangles are restricted to the bridge aft stations. In this shot, however, a very visible cutout can be seen at the top of the LCARS display behind Geordi in engineering. The comparison screenshot from "Liaisons" shows what the display normally looks like.		"Liaisons"		The cover is even more obvious in HD.
After almost two years, Worf's quarters are finally seen, meaning that the quarters of all the major characters on TNG have been shown by now. Worf's quarters are a redress of the junior officers' quarters also used for Geordi's and Data's quarters. Also in this shot, a finished Klingon battlecruiser model can be seen on Worf's desk. It is the pewter D7-class model released by Franklin Mint. It will reappear in the holographic recreation of Drafting Room 5 at Utopia Planitia in "Booby Trap", along with a miniature of the Constitution class.		"Booby Trap"		A close-up of the battlecruiser in HD.
Another good look at Worf's quarters. The chair, designed by Peter Opsvik, will be seen in his quarters in all later appearances of the set. It was previously seen on the bridge of the Tarellian plague ship in "Haven". Commercially Available Chairs in Star Trek The wall decoration on the right that looks like a pearlescent planet on a black background is seen for the first time here. It often appears in Geordi's quarters in later episodes (e.g. "Galaxy's Child" and "Aquiel") and in Data's, too (e.g. "Silicon Avatar").		"Family"		No changes
The sonic shower from Ilia's quarters in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is hidden behind a plant in Worf's quarters.		"Star Trek I"		No changes
Many years later, an actual wooden Klingon sailing ship would be seen in the Voyager episode "Barge of the Dead". Both designs share some similarities. A blooper: Worf's ship was seen facing left (rudder on the right) in the wide shots of this scene. Now it's facing right.	Barge of the Dead plans	VOY: "Barge of the Dead"		A better look at the model in HD.
	A few seconds earlier	VOY: "Barge of the Dead"
Another fixture of Worf's quarters was present from the start: The statue of two fighting Klingons appeared in numerous later appearances of Worf's quarters. In "New Ground", Worf identifies the two fighters as Kahless and Morath. When we see the statue again in "Birthright I", the hair and notably the foreheads are different. We surmise that a bronze statue was purchased and modified with putty to look Klingon. The statue was either renovated or reconstructed for later episodes, perhaps in a hurry, and ended up looking different.	"New Ground"	"Birthright I"		A good look at the statue in HD.
Geordi and Riker have a long continuous talk in the corridor, and use the maximum walking distance available on the season 2 set.		Map of Geordi and Riker's walk		No changes
Main engineering is once again redressed as a corridor lounge.		"Where Silence Has Lease"		No changes
Commander Riker and Sirna Kolrami playing a game of Strategema. The table is just a regular Ten Forward table with a slightly changed tabletop added on top of the regular surface.		"The Dauphin"		As could be expected, the reconstructed effect is much clearer.

A look at the powered down USS Hathaway and the planet Braslota II on the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise-D.				An HD close-up of the ship.
The bridge of the USS Hathaway is a redress of the Starbase 173 courtroom seen in "The Measure of a Man", which itself is a redress of the USS Enterprise bridge from the first four Star Trek films and also appeared as the Enterprise-D battle bridge and the Enterprise-C bridge. The set was last seen in "The Emissary" when it served as the tactical room. In that episode, a map of the Milky Way galaxy was added to the set, which can still be seen at the very right of this screenshot. Re-Used Starship Interiors		"The Emissary"		No changes
In comparison to the palm and SIMS beacons seen in later Star Trek episodes, these flashlights look very antiquated.		"Genesis"		A close-up of the flashlight in HD.
The captain's chair seems to be a redress of the captain's chair on the battle bridge of the USS Enterprise-D. The upholstery of the backrest was changed, though. Parts of a freezer spacer were incorporated into the console in the foreground to make it look old-fashioned. Re-Uses of Freezer Spacers		"Encounter at Farpoint"		A good view of the bridge in HD.
The comparison screenshots from "The Measure of a Man" and "Samaritan Snare" show what the set looked like in that episode.	"The Measure of a Man"	"Samaritan Snare"
The warp core of the USS Hathaway later appeared on the Ferengi Marauder Krayton in "Ménage à Troi".		"Ménage à Troi"		A look at the set in HD.
The prop to the right of Geordi (two hollow tubes) often appears when generic debris is needed for a scene. It is also seen in "The Vengeance Factor" amongst other episodes.		"The Vengeance Factor"
After it first appeared in "Samaritan Snare". Geordi's engineering toolbox and all the new scanners and tools in it can be seen much better in this shot. The box also features the red engineering PADD exclusively used by Geordi. The circuit boards too were previously seen on the Pakled ship Mondor in "Samaritan Snare".				A close-up of the toolbox in HD.
The USS Hathaway is powered up in orbit of Braslota II.				The model looks a lot better in HD. The planet was newly created. Note the black border of about 20 pixels on the right side of these HD caps. The frames of the second season are slightly wider (1456 pixels) than required for 4:3 ratio (1440 pixels). In this case the original footage was apparently not wide enough. (For technical reasons all caps at EAS are exactly 4:3 and hence cropped to a width of 1440 pixels. For demonstration purposes we left the border on the right, which we would normally remove.)



The wall console in main engineering aboard the USS Hathaway was originally created for the transporter room of the USS Enterprise-A as seen in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". The console was previously seen in the computer room aboard the USS Enterprise-D in "The Measure of a Man" and would appear in numerous later rooms aboard the ship.	"Star Trek V"	"The Measure of a Man"		No changes
	"Star Trek VI"
The dedication plaque of the USS Hathaway seems to be located in its engine room.				The HD close-up is still far from being readable.
The dilithium articulation frame seen in this shot was originally created for the warp core of the USS Enterprise-D and appeared in "Skin of Evil".		"Skin of Evil"		A good look at the device in HD.
The MSD of the USS Hathaway can be nicely seen in this bridge shot. The MSD doesn't quite match the proportions of the studio model; it is visibly more elongated.				An HD close-up of the MSD.
The entire engineering station on the bridge is covered with black cardboard in this shot.				We can recognize it even better in HD.
A nice shot of the USS Enterprise and USS Hathaway in orbit of Braslota II.				Not only the resolution but also the colors were greatly improved in TNG-R.
To underline the age of the USS Hathaway, the whole bridge features 23rd century LCARS displays, first seen on the bridge of the USS Enterprise-A at the end of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home".		"Star Trek IV"		A better look at the old-style displays in HD.
The bridge of the USS Hathaway is not connected to a turbolift but to a short corridor, as can be seen in this screenshot. When the set was redressed as the geophysical lab ("Pen Pals") and tactical room ("The Emissary"), it was connected to the regular USS Enterprise-D corridor set. When the set was used as the battle bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, the door led to the ready room.	"Encounter at Farpoint"	"Pen Pals"		No changes
		"The Emissary"
This "closet" in main engineering wasn't shown since "The Naked Now". As can be seen, the circuitry has changed slightly. The opening mechanism is also seen nicely in this episode. The parallel aluminum conduits originally appeared as the hand rail in engineering in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". The access panels were made for Starfleet Command in "Star Trek: The Voyage Home".	"The Naked Now"	"Star Trek I"		We can clearly see in HD that the access panel uses a 20th century QWERTY keyboard that is mounted upright.
		"Star Trek IV"
Another nice shot of the USS Enterprise-D and USS Hathaway in orbit of Braslota II.				This shot, unlike the previous ones, shows a CGI model of the Hathaway in TNG-R. There are several slight differences to the physical model. Doug Drexler: "The Constellation was built by Sean Jackson."
The double door and wall seen in the corridor leading to main engineering aboard the USS Hathaway was later seen aboard the USS Enterprise-D whenever the brig and the corridor leading to it appeared. As such, the wall first appeared in "The Hunted" and was seen in all later episodes that featured the brig.	"The Hunted"	"Déjà Q"		No changes
In these comparison stills from "The Measure of a Man" one can see how Data's quarters have changed since that earlier season 2 episode. The blue carpet on the curved walls was replaced with gray ribbing and the small corner shelf was removed. In "The Measure of a Man", there still was a large graphic of the Enterprise-D behind Data's desk. For "Pen Pals", it was reduced in size to make room for a video screen. The small display can be seen much better in "Peak Performance". By "The Most Toys", the large display will be back.	"The Measure of a Man"	"The Measure of a Man"		No changes
Consoles like the one seen in the background were also seen on the Regula I station in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", in Soong's lab in "Datalore", in the Starfleet Academy exam room in "Coming of Age" and in David McCoy's hospital room in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier".	"Star Trek II"	"Coming of Age"		A good look at the set and the consoles in HD.
	"Datalore"	"Star Trek V"
The flashing console in main engineering aboard the USS Hathaway was also seen in the terraforming lab on Velara III in "Home Soil" and the shuttlebay of the USS Enterprise-A in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier".	"Home Soil"	"Star Trek V"
The wall behind the console also appeared in main engineering aboard the USS Enterprise-D in "11001001".		"11001001"		No changes
The schematics of himself Data looks at on the monitor behind his desk and the inbuilt desk monitor were originally created for "The Measure of a Man".		"The Measure of a Man"		We can recognize more details in HD. Most of the writing, however, solely consists of strings of numbers. However, as in "The Measure of a Man", the LCARS display contains a reference to "Dirty Pair" ("Kei/Yuri submodule").

Even after the remodeling of the curved wall in the junior officers quarters (carpet to ribbed surface), the wall drawers are still part of the set.				No changes
This is probably the most obvious use of black cardboard squares on the aft bridge consoles in any episode. This is also the last appearance of those squares on the show, as the bridge didn't appear in "Shades of Gray" and the cardboard squares were not used any more with the beginning of season 3.				We can clearly see the cardboard in HD too.
This is a most curious combination of a 24th century (right) and 23rd century LCARS display (left).				We can read "Warp Drive Systems" and "Impulse System" in the 24th century portion.
This footage of the Romulan Warbird does not appear in "The Neutral Zone" or "Contagion". Appearances of the Romulan Warbird				Owing to the motion blur this shot is only a bit clearer in TNG-R.
The USS Hathaway moves into position behind the USS Enterprise-D and fires at the larger ship.				The scene is simply stunning in HD.

The Ferengi Marauder fires at the USS Enterprise-D as it approaches the two Federation ships in orbit of Braslota II.				Owing to the motion blur this shot is only a bit clearer in TNG-R.
This shot of the Ferengi Marauder, like all shots of the ship in this episode, is new and didn't appear in "The Last Outpost" or "The Battle".				The much improved shot in HD.
Not only the bridge of the Ferengi Marauder but also the Ferengi uniforms and consoles were completely redesigned for this episode. In the season 1 Ferengi episodes, the bridge of the Marauder was nothing but a large white room. The domed Ferengi console in the foreground is the first of many Ferengi interfaces like that seen in later episodes. The Ferengi uniform, finally, replaces the furry uniform seen in the first season.	"The Battle"	"The Price"		A better look at the Ferengi bridge and uniforms in HD.
	"The Battle"
The consoles in the background have been seen in countless Star Trek episodes and films in the past. Appearances range from the bridge of the Klingon battlecruiser Amar in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and the engine room of the USS Enterprise in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" to the environmental maintenance lab on Relva VII in "Coming of Age" and the bridge of the Romulan Warbird in "Contagion". The consoles were also seen on the bridge of the Ferengi Marauder in "The Price" and "Force of Nature".	"Star Trek I"	"Coming of Age"
	"Star Trek II"	"Contagion"
The window lights are not turned on in this shot of the Ferengi Marauder. They were turned on in all previous shots of the ship in this episode.				The lighting was fixed for TNG-R.
The shot of the USS Enterprise-D firing an aft torpedo was seen twice before, in "Encounter at Farpoint" and in "Q Who". In "Peak Performance", the Bussard collector is dark in the close-up of the aft torpedo launcher.				The small error is still present in TNG-R.
Three nice shots of all three ships in orbit of Braslota II.				In HD, we can recognize details such as the registry of the Hathaway on the nacelles. The explosion in front of the ship was recreated for TNG-R.


A new aft view of the Ferengi Marauder as it engages its warp drive.				The warp effect was reconstructed for TNG-R.

The shot of the USS Enterprise-D towing the USS Hathaway is a re-use of the Enterprise towing the USS Stargazer from "The Battle".	"The Battle" SD	"The Battle" HD		This shot was newly created for TNG-R: "Peak Performance". The ships are exactly as TNG-R: "The Battle", while the nebula and the tractor beam are different. Also, the hue and the lighting are different and the contrast is lower than in the season 1 episode.
Data's Strategema game against Kolrami.				In TNG-R, the different shapes on the moving red disks can be seen much better.


The sweatshirt worn by the crewmember behind Data is decidedly 1980-ish in design.				The words "Tropicus capricorni" and "Africa" can be read on the shirt.

Credits

Thanks to Thomas Småberg for the hint about the proportions of the Hathaway MSD.

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