Observations in TNG: "Devil's Due"
A joint project with TrekCore, by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider
Here are some observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Devil's Due" without a specific theme, and a comparison of the original TV release (TNG) with the remastered episode (TNG-R).
"Devil's Due" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore
| Description TNG | Other caps | Comparison TNG to TNG-R | Description TNG-R | |
| A shot of the USS Enterprise-D approaching the camera. Enterprise Flybys in TNG and TNG-R |
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The shot is very blurry in the remastered version of the episode. The original shot could not be located, and so a similar shot of the 4-foot model flying into the opposite direction was mirror-inverted. | ||
| Marley's ghost from A Christmas Carol, recreated on the holodeck. |   |
The contours of the ghost are not blurred but clearly defined in TNG-R, only with an "aura". | ||
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| The PADD, held by the crew member passing Picard and Data in the corridor, displays a star map previously seen in "Unnatural Selection" and "The Measure of a Man". The same map also appeared in "Future Imperfect". |  "Unnatural Selection" |
 "Future Imperfect" |
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An HD close-up of the PADD. |
 "The Measure of a Man" |
 Map template (Propstore) |
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| Diana Giddings smiles when she sees Data in costume as Ebenezer Scrooge. Curiosuly Lorene Mendell also played one of the Ventax II scientists a little later in the episode. Giddings' twin sister, maybe? |  Later in this episode |
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No changes | |
| Ventax II was previously seen as the Starbase 6 planet in "The Schizoid Man" and as Acamar III in "The Vengeance Factor". It will show up once more, as Krios in "The Mind's Eye". Re-Used Planets in TNG |
 "The Schizoid Man" SD |
 "The Vengeance Factor" SD |
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A new planet was created for the remastered episode. Note the slightly purplish hue. |
| A rare close-up of one of the consoles built into Picard's captain's chair. |   |
A close look at the armchair console in HD. | ||
| After more than three years, Picard's fish Livingston is finally seen up close. In this episode, Livingston is a radial firefish. When the fish tank is next seen up close, in "I, Borg", the fish has changed species and is a red lionfish until the end of the series. Spot the Difference |
 "I, Borg" |
 "Rascals" |
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Livingston in HD. |
| The replicator in Picard's ready room was last seen up close in "Contagion". |  "Contagion" |
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No changes | |
| Pages 264/265 from Picard's Annotated Shakespeare vol. I are seen in his ready room. The same pages were also displayed in "Angel One" (funny coincidence!) and "The Wounded". The pages show illustrations from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Picard's Shakespeare Books |
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No changes | ||
| The surface of Ventax II is depicted using a matte painting in combination with live action footage of the panicking population. The latter was filmed at Sepulveda Dam. |  Sepulveda Dam (image by NARA) |
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The matte painting is still the same in HD. It was brightened up considerably. | |
| The Ventaxian logo of straight and 45° rotated squares appears in several different forms in this episode. Here, it is featured as a mosaic on the floor of the meeting hall. |   |
A good look at the Ventaxian logo in HD. | ||
| The vase seen at the right hand side of the screenshot here later appears in Worf's quarters in "Rightful Heir". |  "Rightful Heir" |
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The vase in HD. | |
| There is an unused Ventaxian control panel on one wall. Then late in the episode, Acost Jared is reaching for an unseen control panel. It looks like the panel was originally going to be used but during rehearsal, the camera set-up was changed. |  Later in the episode |
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No changes | |
| The Ventaxian tapestry, featuring the logo of the planet, was later re-used and appeared on Romulus in "Unification II" and on the Mari homeworld in "Random Thoughts". It was also integrated into a larger Vulcan tapestry and appeared on P'Jem in ENT: "The Andorian Incident" and on Dekendi III in "Stigma". The Thieves of the Delta Quadrant |
 "Unification II" |
 ENT: "The Andorian Incident" |
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The tapestries in full HD glory. |
 VOY: "Random Thoughts" |
 ENT: "Stigma" |
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| The materialization effect used by the Ardra impostor. |  |
The transporter effect was faithfully recreated for TNG-R. | ||
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| The Ventaxian scrolls are only seen for a few seconds and yet an alien writing system was devised for the species - so much work was put into hardly visible small details. |   |
The scrolls in HD. | ||
| Fek'lhr, roughly the equivalent of a Klingon devil. Notice the Ventaxian logo appearing as a window in the second shot. Cultural Inconsistencies |
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Fek'lhr in HD. | ||
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| The Ventaxian logo appears as a different kind of window in the Atheneum Vaults in this scene. |  |
No changes | ||
| A candleholder can be seen in the right half of this shot. The prop appeared in several later episodes. It was seen in DS9: "Sons and Daughters" as a Klingon candleholder and in ENT: "Stigma" as a Vulcan candleholder. It was turned upside down and acts as a stand for a Bajoran orb in DS9: "The Circle". A similar candleholder appeared as soon as in the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". |  TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles" |
 DS9: "The Circle" |
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The candleholder in HD. |
 DS9: "Sons and Daughters" |
 ENT: "Stigma" |
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| A tall candlestick that appears in the Athenean vaults on Ventax II was seen more than 20 years earlier in the TOS episode "The Conscience of the King". They really searched through the vaults to find this set piece! |  TOS: "The Conscience..." |
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The candlestick in HD. | |
| A rare look at this section of the bridge. The door to the right leads to the observation lounge corridor, while the door on the left leads to the bridge head. |  |
No changes | ||
| This moment in "Devil's Due" is one of the first shots in season 4 of TNG where a piece of furniture is strategically placed or the camera is positioned in a way to hide Gates McFadden's pregnancy. There'll be more examples like this as the season progresses. |  |
No changes | ||
| Ventax II appears on the main viewscreen of the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D. |   |
The new planet was inserted into these scenes too. | ||
| Another shot of the USS Enterprise-D in orbit of Ventax II. |   |
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| Picard's bed is decorated with several exotic plants. These are the blushing bromeliad (neoregelia carolinae) and the silver vase (aechmea fasciata). |   |
The plants in HD. | ||
| The d'k tahg (in its sheath) given to Picard in "Sins of the Father" can be nicely seen in this shot. In "Suddenly Human", Jono used the same d'k tahg to stab Picard. |  "Sins of the Father" |
 "Suddenly Human" |
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An HD close-up of the dagger. |
| The large yellow radar screen last appeared in the terraforming lab on Velara III in "Home Soil". For this episode, black and white Starfleet arrowheads were added to the radar screen. This console was available for rent from Modern Props. Consoles by Modern Props in Star Trek |
 "Home Soil" |
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The console in HD. | |
| Shots of a shuttlepod in space last appeared in "The Price". The hull markings are different since "The Price" and don't show the large number of the shuttle any longer, in order to facilitate the use of stock footage. We can see the impulse engine in the center aft very clearly in "Devil's Due", although no space is available in the "trunk" according to "The Most Toys". Variations of the Type-15 Shuttle |
 "The Price" |
 "The Most Toys" |
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An HD close-up of the shuttle. |
| The shot of the USS Enterprise-D was newly filmed for this episode. |   |
The scene in TNG-R. | ||
The interior of the shuttlepod had already been modified for "The Most Toys", most likely to create more space for the aft (cargo) section of the shuttle. In "Devil's Due", the new back wall of the cockpit can be seen much better. It was moved a few centimeters to the front and is covered with simple blue carpet now. Comparison caps from "The Price" and "The Ensigns of Command" show what the back wall of the cockpit looked like before. On the third screen caps from "Devil's Due", we can see that a piece of black tape is missing on the cockpit console that was still present in previous episodes, such as "Time Squared". |
 "The Most Toys" |
 "The Price" |
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No changes |
 "The Price" |
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 "The Ensigns of Command" |
 "The Price" |
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 "Time Squared" |
 "The Price" |
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| The reflection of the USS Enterprise-D in the shuttlepod window disappears halfway through this scene. |  |
No changes | ||
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Another new shot of the USS Enterprise-D filmed especially for this episode. Note the protruding small structures above the shuttlebays 2 and 3. These can't be found on the 6ft model and could be tractor beam emitters. |
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The great shot in HD. | ||
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| The Ventaxians have noticeably calmed down as can be seen in another appearance of the Ventax II matte painting. |   |
This shot of the planet surface was brightened up too. | ||
| One of the Federation scientists on Ventax II is using an archaic PADD with buttons and a PADD stylus. |   |
The PADD in HD. | ||
| The three smaller terrain graphics underneath the large map of Ventax II were originally created for "Who Watches the Watchers", depicting the surface of Mintaka III in that episode. |  "Who Watches the Watchers" |
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The console and graphics in HD. | |
 "Who Watches the Watchers" |
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| The console behind Data also displays a terrain map originally created for "Who Watches the Watchers". The console itself first showed up in Dr. Graves's office in "The Schizoid Man" and has appeared in several later TNG episodes since then, including "Unnatural Selection", "Pen Pals", "Samaritan Snare" and "Booby Trap". |  "The Schizoid Man" |
 "Samaritan Snare" |
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No changes |
 "Pen Pals" |
 "Booby Trap" |
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| One of several alien gavels can be seen next to Data. The Ventaxian gavel is cylindrical, much like the Cardassian one in DS9: "Tribunal". A Bajoran gavel seen in DS9: "Dax" is spherical. Klingon gavels as in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and ENT: "Judgment" consist of a metallic glove holding a sphere as well. The K'Tuveon gavel as in LOW: "Veritas" is a skull. |  "Star Trek VI" |
 DS9. "Dax" |
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The prop in HD. |
 DS9: "Tribunal" |
 LOW: "Veritas" |
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| The three black chairs in the Ventaxian courtroom are Argyle Chairs, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1897. They also appear in Kai Winn's office in DS9: "Shakaar", on Tarquin's planet in ENT: "Exile" and in T'Pring's home on Vulcan in SNW: "Strange New Worlds". |  DS9: "Shakaar" |
 SNW: "Strange New Worlds" |
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The chair in HD. |
 ENT: "Exile" |
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| Ardra transforms into the human devil. |   |
The dirty brownish hue is gone, and the devil in plain red in HD. | ||
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| A good look at the large map of Ventax II. |   |
The display is still the same in TNG-R. | ||
| The large console Geordi is working on was seen in several earlier Star Trek episodes and films. It first appeared on the Regula I station in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and was also seen in Noonien Soong's lab in "Datalore" and on the Tanuga IV research station in "A Matter of Perspective". Notice how in this shot the two small screens are simply blue. The console was rented from Modern Props. |  "Star Trek II" |
 "A Matter of Perspective" |
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We can recognize many more details of the console in HD. The left graphic displayed on the console behind Geordi was newly created for the remastering of the episode. |
| The tall transparent cylinder on the right will reappear on the eponymous station in ENT: "Cold Station 12" and as an agony booth in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly I". It too could be rented from Modern Props. |  ENT: "Cold Station 12" |
 ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly I" |
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A close-up of Geordi working at the aforementioned console. Now the two small screens suddenly show LCARS displays. The display on the right was originally created as "multimodal reflection map analysis" for "The Best of Both Worlds II". Geordi is using an old fashioned clipboard in this shot, which holds a transparent PADD. This clipboard, also rented from Modern Props, also appeared on Tau Cygna V in "The Ensigns of Command". |
 "The Ensigns of Command" |
 "The Best of Both Worlds II" |
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| The animated graphic of Ventax II was inserted into the large map of the planet in post production. |   |
The display in HD. | ||
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| Picard also transforms into the Klingon equivalent of a devil, Fek'lhr. |   |
The Klingon devil in HD. | ||
| The Ventaxian judge podium must have been removed for this final shot of the courtroom, to allow another clear look at the Ventaxian logo on the ground. A previous shot reveals that the podium would otherwise have blocked this shot. |  Earlier in this episode |
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No changes | |
Credits
Thanks to Jaime Donoso for the hint about the possible tractor beam emitters, to @portalrealm for the finding the translight template and to @Schmullus1 for identifying Sepulveda Dam.
