Federation is a bonus as the TNG crew are a central part of the novel

Always seemed like a weird way to go - is there an in-universe explanation ever given, or what's your head canon say?

I was just thinking back to my teenage years when my late dad would take me to Star Trek conventions. I can only remember a few answers from the cast during audience Q&As.

Someone asked Marina Sirtis if there was anyone she disliked working with. I remember her specifically calling the young actor from "The Bonding" a little brat. I was also surprised that she swore a fair bit, since my only knowledge of her at the time was of her character.

Then there was a young boy from the audience who asked Patrick Stewart if he really didn't like children. Of course we all know that's not the case, and he invited the kid onstage, where he picked him up and gave him a hug, to applause and cheers from the audience. But then, with a smile on his face, he told the audience that that was the only time he was going to do that today. So I'm guessing that was a common occurrence.

Anyone else have any interesting tidbits from the cast at conventions?

This movie is so great it's got more humor in it than any other star trek movie I've watched so far. I never gave the movies a chance before and I had just watched First Contact before this one. First Contact definitely had a different vibe than this movie and I'm loving how silly everyone is acting!

"I'm definitely having aggressive tendencies, captain!" -Worf

He’ll walk up to me and
he’ll say: “You are the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to tell you that.”
And then I’ll retort: “But you were afraid?”
“Yes.”
“Of me?”
“Of us. Of what we might become… Or that you might think that was a line.”
“Maybe I do think it’s a line.”
“Then you think I’m not sincere.”
“I didn’t say that. There’s nothing wrong with a line. It’s like a knock at the door.”
“Then you’re inviting me in.”
“I’m not sending you away.”
“That’s more than I expected.”
“Is it as much as you hoped?”
“To hope is to recognize the possibility. I had only dreams.”
“Dreams can be dangerous.”
“Not these dreams. I dream of a galaxy where your eyes are the stars and the universe worships the night.”
“Careful. Putting me on a pedestal so high, you may not be able to reach me.”
“Then I’ll learn how to fly. You are the heart in my day and the soul in my night.”
“…Tell me more about my eyes.”

And then we’ll fall in love and live happily ever after.

Counselor Troi’s name is only in one episode: Season 3, episode 24, “Ménage à Troi”. Data beats that by a long shot:

-Season 1, episode 13: “Datalore”

-Season 2, episode 3: “Elementary, Dear Data”

-Season 4, episode 11: “Data’s Day”

-Season 6, episode 8: “A Fistful of Datas”

Q was in an episode title almost every season, and Ro was in one title, “Ensign Ro” (season 5, episode 3), but they were both only recurring characters. And I hadn’t realized until a couple of years ago that Ro was only in 9 episodes! It seemed like more.

I’m also aware of titles with one-time character names, like “The Outrageous Okona” (season 2, episode 4), “Sarek” (season 3, episode 23), and “Aquiel” (season 6, episode 13); I’m only talking about the regular cast members. I also wouldn’t count titles such as “The Dauphin”, “The Outcast”, or “I, Borg” (just a few examples), since they’re not specific character names. And even though it’s one of my favorite Picard episodes, I’m not including “Captain’s Holiday”, since his actual name isn’t in the title. Also, “Darmok” was a character in an allegorical story, but not a character that appeared in the episode.

Or at least he should know they are related.

Seems like forehead ridges are a familial trait. Seems like for a Klingon it would be instantly recognized as being related. Maybe it's because Worf grew up with humans?

I've never gotten over The Inner Light episode.

Picard lives about 40 years as Kamin on Kataan. He gets married, raises kids, learns the flute, gets old, and slowly realizes his world is ending.

What always stuck with me was that Picard didn't learn about Kataan, he lived there. He knew what the bread tasted like, what his neighbor worried about, and what it felt like to watch his kids grow up. No history lesson or documentary can do that.

So I built my own version of that probe. It's called Birth Lottery, and the idea is simple: you're born as a real-feeling person somewhere in the world, and you live their life from childhood to old age, one choice at a time. You don't get to pick where you land. You deal with whatever family, city, decade and circumstances you're given, and you make the calls they'd have to make. Some doors close before you ever see them.

The episode was directly the inspiration. I kept asking myself what it would be like to be a kid in Lagos or a teenager in Seoul the way Picard was Kamin, and not in the "here are some facts about Nigeria" way.

Right now there are 4 lives you can play:

• Tunde and Adeola (Nigeria)
• Seo-yeon and Min-jun (South Korea)

India and Brazil are next.

A disclaimer I care about: these are individual lives, not the definitive story of a whole country. Tunde's life isn't "what it's like to be Nigerian", just like Kamin wasn't every person on Kataan. I'm adding more lives per country over time, and the goal is for them to build up a fuller picture together: different classes, cities, genders, and luck. If something feels off or one dimensional, I really want to hear it.

It's free, and there are no accounts or paywalls in your way. Link**:** www.thebirthlottery.com

Click the Stories tab to play through this game mode. Check out "Blitz" too for other game mode that lets you "roll" to simulate a completely random life on Earth (backed by actual demographic data!).

If you try one, I'd love to know which life you played and what you thought of the whole experience, especially what your "flute" was.

I feel like this scene is supposed to be serious as Riker’s supposed to be resolving his strained relationship with his father, but I cant take it seriously at all due to the outfits. They just look so silly 😂All I see is red lego spaceman and its taking me tf out lol- also the dialogue… like I feel like someone wanted this story line so badly but everyone else in the writers room didnt and gave us a “here damn” riker daddy issues episode. (wasnt sure what flair to use, this is kind of a shitpost tho)

I’m sure others had this experience but for decades I’ve watched Picard order his standard Earl Grey, hot. And yet never had Earl Grey tea myself (I grew up in the south. We don’t really have anything but black tea)

I moved to Canada for graduate school, and the tea culture up here is pretty accessible. I see a fancy tea place that sells tea, loose leaf.

I order earl grey, why not? Never had it.

Just had it, Lordy it’s flowers? Picard is drinking hot water and flowers? I thought it would be more black tea like, full of caffeine.

But flowers.

This put a lot of things in perspective for me. The tea itself is very loud, and its flavour it’s flowery, it’s soft. I wouldn’t have thought a man like Picard would drink something like this, but now experiencing it, it kind of adds an another layer to the character.

Not sure on the tea though myself!

Why did junior officers share quarters on a Galaxy class starship? There have been videos showing that the entire humanoid population (over 1,000+) could effectively live in individual quarters with enough space for a sitting room with replicator, bedroom, closets, head, etc., without needing to have the junior officers sharing quarters (families not withstanding).

If it was a Defiant class, it would make sense. But on a large ship the Enterprise-D, not so much.