Treky trivia

• Denise Crosby was originally cast to play Counselor Troi, and Marina Sirtis was cast as a security chief named Lt. Macha Hernandez. Shortly before filming the pilot, the two switched roles and the security chief's name was changed to Lt. Natasha Yar.
  
  
• Tim Russ, later to play Tuvok on Voyager, was a candidate for the role of Geordi
  

• The ceiling of the transporter chamber on the Enterprise D is in fact the floor of the transporter chamber from the Enterprise in the original series.
  
  
• The original version of the Starfleet uniform was very uncomfortable for the actors, leading to a change of design from one-piece to a two-piece outfit in Season Three. Although the new uniforms were easier to wear, the jackets had a tendency to "ride up" when the actors were sitting down. Patrick Stewart got into the habit of straightening his jacket with a sharp downward tug as he stood up, an action that became known among the cast and crew as "The Picard Maneuver" (from a tactical maneuver mentioned in the show).
  
  
• Data's cat "Spot" is a male throughout the history of the show, but is suddenly female in the episode "Force of Nature, and in the episode "Genesis" gives birth to kittens.
  
  
• Stephen Hawking is the only person to appear as himself in the series (in a holodeck scene where Data plays poker against Einstein, Newton, and Hawking [Hawking wins]).
  
  
• Two characters on the show were named after real people: The alien "Q" was named for Janet Quarton, a British fan; and Geordi La Forge was named after another Trek fan, George La Forge, who was confined to a wheelchair.
  
  
• The Master Alarm sound was reused from the original Star Trek series.
  
  
• Along with other humorous readouts, the table in Engineering has an item labeled "Infinite Improbability Generator" in a reference to the propulsion system aboard the Heart of Gold in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
  
  
• Worf's prosthetic forehead changed in season 2 because the original was stolen.
  
  
• When the cast decided to lobby for a salary increase, actor Wil Wheaton's first offer from the producers was to instead have his character's rank raised to Lieutenant. His response was, "So what should I tell my landlord when I can't pay my rent? 'Don't worry, I just made Lieutenant'?"
  
  
• Most of the characters underwent minor changes before the show debuted: Picard's first name was Julien; Riker was spelled 'Ryker'; Data's name was pronounced 'dat-uh' instead of 'day-tah'; Wesley Crusher was Leslie Crusher, Dr. Crusher's daughter.
  
  
• Geordi's VISOR was improvised on the first day of shooting using chiefly an automobile air filter.
  
  
• Whoopi Goldberg (the re-occurring mysterious bar-keeper Guinan, seasons 2-6), was given the role after being a fan of the original series and expressing interesting in having a re-occurring role in the new series
  
  
• Jonathan Frakes returned to rehearsals at the start of the second season sporting a beard with the intention of shaving it off before shooting began, but the producers liked it and asked him to keep it. It remained for the rest of the show's run. (He eventually shaved it off during an ending scene of the movie Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)).
  
  
• Marina Sirtis wore a hairpiece for most of the series and her real hear was styled around the "fall" while Gates McFadden wore a full wig for her entire time on the show.
  
  
• The colored portions of the uniforms are actually much darker in real life (e.g. the red uniforms are really maroon), but appear that bright due to the lighting used on the show.
  
  
• Michael Dorn's makeup as Lieutenant Worf took approximately two hours to apply.