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Observations in TNG: "Night Terrors"

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

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

"Night Terrors" HD Screencaps @ TrekCore

Description TNG

Other caps

Comparison TNG to TNG-R

Description TNG-R

The USS Enterprise-D approaches an unnamed binary star system. The footage of the ship has appeared in several earlier episodes, like "Ménage à Troi", when the ship approaches Betazed.

"Ménage à Troi"

The same shots in HD.

The binary star system and the USS Brattain are seen from afar on the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise-D.

One of two extreme close-ups of the USS Brattain seen in this episode reveal that the model was mislabeled "USS Brittain".
Miranda Class Variations
Uncertain Ship Names and Registries

A look at the HD version. The name was not fixed.

The aft console of the unique Miranda class bridge featuring a dorsal and side view of the USS Brattain are seen in this screenshot. The name on the beam in the foreground is clearly spelled "USS Brattain".

The HD version allows to recognize more details of the MSD.

The captain's chair of the USS Brattain is a re-use of the battle bridge captain's chair of the USS Enterprise-D.

The armrests don't feature the control panel any more, as it was present on previous appearances. It will stay like this on the Sutherland bridge in "Redemption II", as well as on the Saratoga bridge in DS9: "Emissary" and on the Nebula-class Prometheus bridge in DS9: "Second Sight".

"The Arsenal of Freedom"

"Redemption II"

No changes

The console behind the dead scientist was originally created for the Malcorian medical suite, seen in "First Contact".

"First Contact"

A better look at the console (and the make-up).

Another console, also originally created for "First Contact", and the USS Brattain's dedication plaque can be nicely seen in this screenshot.

A look at the plaque in HD.

Though it is not fully recognizable, Andrus Hagan is hiding in a turbolift, as evidenced by the door label seen briefly here.

Our heavily gamma-enhanced HD cap reveals the door label.

A beautiful shot of the USS Brattain and the underside of the saucer section of the Enterprise-D. Both shots were newly created for this episode.

The great shot in HD.

This is the first and only time this side room to sickbay is fully seen. This seems to be either a corridor leading to the morgue or a small section of the morgue itself. This sickbay door (located to the right of the large sickbay biomonitor) is only seen standing open in four episodes.

In "The Bonding", Doctor Crusher and nurse Martinez enter sickbay through this door. The wall behind the door is colored blue and is much closer to the door than in later episodes. In "The Game", Riker and Troi enter sickbay through this door. It seems the new wall erected for "Night Terrors" is still in place. The door is finally seen standing open in "Tapestry". For that episode, a lamp was attached to the back wall.

"The Bonding"

"Tapestry"

No changes

"The Game"

A desktop monitor is seen on a desk in the sickbay side room. This monitor first appeared in the Picard family home in "Family".

"Family"

No changes

Another extreme close-up of the USS Brattain, again highlighting the spelling mistake on the hull.

The shot in HD.

Geordi enters the bridge through the room in which Andrus Hagan was hiding earlier in the episode. The graphic in the back, similar to the turbolift graphics seen aboard the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A in the first six Star Trek films, reveals that this is indeed a turbolift. The main viewscreen of the Miranda-class ship can be seen at the right side of the screenshot. It is a re-use of the Enterprise-D battle bridge main viewscreen.

"Star Trek I"

"The Best of Both Worlds II"

A good look at the Brattain bridge in HD.

The ops and coon consoles of the USS Brattain are, like the captain's chair, re-used from the battle bridge of the USS Enterprise-D.

"Encounter at Farpoint"

No changes

The small graphic of the USS Brattain's warp core first appeared in "Booby Trap".

"Booby Trap"

The graphic of the warp core was newly created for this episode and is no longer a re-use of the graphic from "Booby trap".

The illuminated center ceiling structure of the Brattain's bridge was last seen in the operation room at the Sikla Medical Facility in "First Contact". It was first seen in the USS Enterprise-D's medical lab in "Transfigurations". The battle bridge viewscreen can be seen in the background again.

"Transfigurations"

"First Contact"

The ceiling structure in HD.

A dorsal view of the USS Brattain is nicely seen in the background. Notice that the name of the ship is spelled with an "A" here as well.

We can see more details in HD, although the small labels are still not legible.

This is the best shot of the new glass sailing boat, added to the ready room for "The Wounded", so far.

The boat model in HD.

Captain Chantal Zaheva's logs and her unstable mental state towards the end of her life can be seen in these two shots.

The screens in HD.

Deanna Troi is getting into contact with the aliens on the other side of the Tyken rift in her dreams. Notice how the strings holding the counselor were not completely successfully removed in post production on the second, third and fourth still.

The effect scene remains unchanged in HD.

On the second HD screen cap, the strings are still briefly visible.

Another beautiful new shot of the USS Enterprise-D, the binary stars and the USS Brattain.

The shots of the ships in TNG-R.

The vase that originally was a part of Kivas Fajo's collection in "The Most Toys" is still prominently on display in the O'Brien's quarters, like in all previous appearances of the set.

"The Most Toys"

"The Wounded"

No changes

"Data's Day"

Picard's desktop monitor displays the same graphic in the previous episode.

"Galaxy's Child"

The HD screen cap confirms it is the engineering duty roster that originally appeared in "Suddenly Human".

This shot of the camera moving closer and closer towards the 4-foot model of the USS Enterprise-D first appeared in "Yesterday's Enterprise". In that episode, the sequence began a little later, so closer to the ship, though.

"Yesterday's Enterprise"

The shots of the ships in TNG-R.

This is the final shot in which the USS Brattain appears. The footage of the USS Enterprise-D reveals a little more of the underside of the model (including a complete look at the captain's yacht) than a similar shot seen earlier in the episode.

A graphic of the Tyken's rift is on display on the starboard observation lounge monitor. A similar graphic appears a little later in the desktop monitor in Picard's ready room.

The graphic in HD.

The bathroom section in Riker's quarters appears basically exactly like it did in the season 2 episode "Unnatural Selection" in Pulaski's quarters.

"Unnatural Selection"

No changes

The turbolift ceiling was last seen in the season 2 episode "Contagion". As can be seen, except for a slightly different lighting, it has not been changed since then.

"Contagion"

No changes

Riker imagines that some snakes are curling around his feet.

No changes

A large number of new medical PADDs with autopsy reports were created for this episode. The PADDs would appear, with changed display graphics, in countless later TNG episodes.

"Silicon Avatar"

"Force of Nature"

A better look at the PADD in HD. The name of the dead crew member can barely made out as Joseph A. Longo, named after property master Joe Longo.

"The Next Phase"

The large morgue is a redress of the shuttlebay/cargo bay.

"The Hunted"

"Transfigurations"

No changes

This shot of the 4-foot model of the USS Enterprise-D was especially created for this episode. It appears again in "Disaster", where the ship is only minimally lit, though, as it has suffered a power loss. Screenshots of the 6-foot Enterprise-D model show what this ship looks like from a similar angle.

"The Outrageous Okona"

"Disaster"

The shot of the Enterprise in HD.

"Disaster"

In one scene, Ensign Peeples is still working in the background in main engineering. A few seconds later, he has suddenly disappeared. An additional scene of Peeples losing his nerve and being escorted away by security officers was filmed but didn't make it into the final episode. Read more about this deleted scene.

No changes

This close-up of the deflector firing an energy beam was originally created for "The Best of Both Worlds II".

"The Best of Both Worlds II"

The recreated sequence in TNG-R.

"The Best of Both Worlds II"

Worf has slightly redecorated the Klingon blade weapons in his quarters. When this weapon wall was last seen in "Reunion", it still featured a d'k tahg and a glavin, for example.

"Reunion"

The weapons wall in HD.

The knife Worf wants to use to commit suicide in this episode appears again in "Ethics", when the Klingon officer asks Riker and his son Alexander to kill him. The Knife of Kirom, seen in "Rightful Heir", is a similar looking knife.

"Ethics"

"Rightful Heir"

The shot in HD.

The door to Worf's quarters (seen earlier in the episode as the O'Briens' quarters ) behaves strangely in this episode. When it closes after the two security officers have left, it doesn't close fully, as a narrow gap can still be seen at the bottom of the door. When Troi and Worf leave a little later, the door closes behind them, but the footage suddenly ends with a freeze frame of the fully closed door, before fading to black.

Earlier in this episode

In the remastered episode, it becomes clear why a freeze-frame was used. Originally, when the door closed, it bounced back and opened slightly again and then fully closed (again leaving a small gap at the bottom of the door). In order to hide this bouncing back of the door, it ended with a freeze-frame, as the footage was stopped right at the moment when the door fully closed the first time. In the remastered episode, this slight malfunction of the door was not deemed too distracting, so the original footage was used without a freeze-frame at the end.

Medical cases of this type were first seen in the first two Star Trek feature films.

"Star Trek II"

An HD close-up of the case.

Another graphic of the Tyken's Rift is seen on Picard's desktop monitor. It looks like the graphic seen earlier in the episode was turned upside down and modified slightly.

An HD close-up of the monitor.

The chemicals listed in this scene contain numerous in-jokes and references to people working on the show at the time the episode was produced. Here is a transcript of the screen caps and our ideas to whom the names refer:

34-8788 Hoffmeisterite compound 238
Oxidizing explosive used to bind free oxygen in a confined space for emergency firefighting applications. Also used to provide oxygen-free environments for industrial processes.

Edward Hoffmeister, visual effects assistant

34-8351 Hutzelite 27
Plutonium derivative treated to minimize toxicity for humanoid life forms. Used for radioisotope source and certain biomedical and therapeutic applications.

Gary Hutzel, visual effects coordinator

34-8873 Clancium oxide
Medium-yield explosive used for high-volume heat generation in emergency situations. This compound is preferred to conventional sarium krellide explosives because of superior thermal dispersion characteristics in low-pressure atmospheres.

Pat Clancy, visual effects compositor

34-3488 Ultritium 283
Industrial chemical explosive used in mining applications intended for precision-charge patterns using standard microwave pulse ignition devices.

34-8348 Ultritium 342
High-yield version of standard industrial ultritium, used in terraforming applications. Activated with microwave pulse ignition devices. Intended for use when nuclear explosives are not desirable.

34-8048 Mooride polyronite 4
Slow-burning chemical explosive used for controlled pressure wave ignition of small-scale fusion reactions. Stored in inert liquid form, activated by laser detonator.

Ronald D. Moore, producer, and Ronald B. Moore, visual effects supervisor: Why both of them? "Poly-Ron-ite"!

34-8043 Moyerite
Semi-solid propellant used in ullage thruster devices and emergency jettison thrusters. Characteristics include an shelf life in excess of 10 standard years without significant deterioration of performance.

Peter Moyer, visual effects editor

34-0388 Takemurium lite
High-yield reactant used for emergency ignition of microfusion devices. Manufactured in 2.7kg slugs for use in Type VI reactors.

David Takemura, visual effects coordinator

34-8430 Neussite 283
Highly stable liquid explosive used for industrial infusion charge applications and manufacturing. Ignited by microwave pulse detonator.

Wendy Neuss, co-producer

34-5832 Todotracium
Controllable medium-yield propellant used in small solid rocket motor devices and emergency disconnect explosive bolts.

34-8834 Blitmanite
Magnesium-based fuel used in remote spectroscopy vaporization devices. Provided in 0.2kg charges for use in long-range impact probes.

Leslie Blitman, recruited Mike Okuda in 1977 to join the Honolulu Science Fiction Society

34-5580 Tri-nickolas powder
Non-oxydizing chemical explosive used in class-N(2) planetary environments for engineering applications. This substance is unstable in oxygen atmospheres and must be handled in accordance with SFRA 2884 3 safety regulations.

This sounds like it refers to three people, all named Nick or Nicholas. But no one in a prominent position behind the scenes was named Nick when the episode was produced.

34-8430 Antimatter (Antideuterium)
Quantum-charge reversed form of deuterium, used as principal fuel source for ship's warp propulsion system. Due to highly volatile nature, antimatter must be stored in magnetic confinement pods per SFRA 3207 0.

34-8083 Bio-Genovesium
Energetic carbon-based biological reactant, used for in the bio-neutralization of organic waste products prior to electrolytic fractioning and recycling. Stored in liquid form.

Cosmo Genovese, script supervisor

34-4077 Hydrogen
Stored in the form of deuterium, used as principal reactant for warp propulsion system, and as principal fuel source for the impulse propulsion system and auxiliary fusion reactors.

Calendenium (or: Kalendenium)
This one is somewhat speculative because it is not shown on the LCARS screen, but only mentioned (by Data). It sounded like "Callendennium" though. With single-"l" and/or single-"n" in the words, the sound of the names would differ too much from the way Data spoke them. Description given in the episode: Element which is extremely volatile when combined with hydrogen.

Visual In-Jokes

All graphics were redone for TNG-R, and the original text was supplemented with new sentences in many cases.

The depiction of antideuterium was corrected (which is not a compound).

Some screens repeated in the original episode after the first cut to Deanna and Data. For TNG-R, new screens were created from scratch. The new substances include:

Thermal grantium Compound (named for David Grant)
Ryan crystals (Ryan Adams)
Brown tricobalt 126
Lauritson solid 451 (Peter Lauritson)
Molnar composite (thermal)
Gronerium compound 3983
Balter compound 298
Rossium-K (Ken Ross)
Bishop/P 378 (Phil Bishop)
Grant thermite 893 (David Grant)
Plutonium ryanite (Ryan Adams)
Lichfield suspension (Jack Litchfield)
Saurium krellide 024 (replacing todotracium in the list, should have been "sarium")
Ultritium compound 902. The description contains a mention of a "Hillebrand detonator", named for the author of this article series.
Walkerite 342 (Adam Walker of TrekCore)
Sternbachium (Rick Sternbach)
Avitable compound 283
Pastorium liquid 342
Evora oxide

The new elements were all named after various people from CBS Home Entertainment, except for Walkerite 342.

Some substances were already in the list, but the spelling or the nomenclature was changed:

Hoffmeisterite compund 239 (previously "238" but perhaps we misread in the original release)
Tri-nikolas powder (previously "Nickolas")
Mooride polyronite B (previously "4" instead of "B")
Moyerite (synthetic) (previously just "Moyerite")
Takemurium 9839 (previously "Takemurium lite")

The cortical scanner used by Doctor Crusher in this episode was used by the Doctor in "Transfigurations" to link Geordi La Forge's and John Doe's neural systems.

"Transfigurations"

HD close-ups of the devices.

The medical device Doctor Crusher uses to scan Deanna Troi in this shot was also used by Doctor Pulaski to remove a layer of styrolite from a human body in "Unnatural Selection". The prop will appear again later in the season in "The Host".

"Unnatural Selection"

"The Host"

Guinan fires a weapon she acquired on Magus III. The prop is actually a re-use of a weapon created for the TV series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", which was repainted in gold and copper tones.

"Buck Rogers"

A better look at the gun in HD.

The shots of the USS Enterprise-D firing hydrogen through its Bussard collectors into the Tyken's Rift was especially created for the episode. The Bussard collectors of the 4-foot model can be seen exceptionally well in the first shot. Screenshots from earlier episodes show what the Bussard collectors of the 6-foot model look like.

"Encounter at Farpoint"

The light effects were redone for TNG-R.

"Peak Performance"

"Q Who"

The medical tricorder used in season 4 can be nicely seen in the screenshot.

A better look at the tricorder in HD.

A member of the alien species also trapped in the Tyken's Rift appears in Deanna Troi's dream.

The alien in TNG-R.

This shot of the USS Enterprise-D firing the hydrogen was originally created for "Reunion" where the ship was facing off three Klingon ships.

"Reunion"

The light effects were redone for TNG-R.

"Reunion"

The explosion in the Tyken's Rift seems to be composed of two layers. A "regular" explosion can be seen in the foreground, while a cave-like structure is illuminated in the background.

The explosion looks slightly different in TNG-R.

Both the USS Enterprise-D and the strangely shaped alien ship escape the Tyken's Rift. The alien ship looks like a crystal recolored in post-production.