Movies - TV
Star Trek: TNG Once Borrowed A Famous Planet From Star Wars
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
The tiny text seen on computer panels in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" usually contained in-jokes, clues, and the initials of crew members who worked on the show.
Such details were not meant to be readable by audiences as the kinds of TVs people owned in 1989 didn't have the visual clarity of today.
Called Okudagrams by the crew (named after production designers Mike and Denise Okuda), the tiny texts became visible for the first time once the episodes were remastered.
The "Next Generation" production designers had a ball making Okudagrams, often slipping in many references to their favorite sci-fi shows and movies.
To not start mixing up sci-fi canon, when fans began noticing the Okudagrams, the showrunners had to undo or correct them, as in the episode "Up the Long Ladder."
In a background starship manifest, the HMS New Zealand was sent to the planet Alderaan, the planet exploded by Darth Vader in the original 1977 "Star Wars."
If "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" took place in the same universe, a new galactic history would have to be rewritten as Alderaan had been destroyed long ago.
When remastering "Star Trek: The Next Generation" for release on Blu-ray, "Alderaan" was changed to "Aldebaran," a real-life star that was already included in "Star Trek" lore.