I have been rewatching Next Generation. Somewhere around season 2-4 I remember seeing a brief view of a planet that very clearly centered on Michigan, Great Lakes and all. Now, unfortunately, though I've gone back through many of those episodes, I can't find it. Does anyone remember seeing that, and if so which season and episode?
TNG goofs: which episode had a planet with Michigan?
- Thread starter Charles Gardner
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Welcome to TBBS.
I think you are thinking of an Original Series episode, MIRI.
The IMG on that page is from the remastered version, but you can still make out North America complete with the Michigan / Great Lakes area.
HERE is an original img from the episode, does that look more like you remember?
I think you are thinking of an Original Series episode, MIRI.
The IMG on that page is from the remastered version, but you can still make out North America complete with the Michigan / Great Lakes area.
HERE is an original img from the episode, does that look more like you remember?
The thing in "Miri" was intentional - this planet was a second Earth. But elements of Earth maps have been used for alien planets (the most recently, the Mediterranean area for the Klingon colony in ENT "Affliction/Divergence") with the intention that we wouldn't notice.
In TNG, Earth surface features for an alien planet were first used in "Icarus Factor" and then reused several times - in the first appearance, we only saw the Mediterranean area, but in the "Shades of Grey" reappearance, we also got to see the Great Lakes. See for example www.ex-astris-scientia.org and the "observations" page there (go to the main page, move your mouse over the "technology" square on the right, and select "observations").
Timo Saloniemi
In TNG, Earth surface features for an alien planet were first used in "Icarus Factor" and then reused several times - in the first appearance, we only saw the Mediterranean area, but in the "Shades of Grey" reappearance, we also got to see the Great Lakes. See for example www.ex-astris-scientia.org and the "observations" page there (go to the main page, move your mouse over the "technology" square on the right, and select "observations").
Timo Saloniemi
Thank you Keeper. However, that's not what I'm talking about. There is a brief moment in TNG where the Enterprise is orbiting an ALIEN planet. Not Earth. Yet There's Michigan. It makes no sense, and I assume was put in by someone as a sort of prank. I could not believe it at first, when I saw it. It was so fast. So I went back and watched it again. Absolutely no doubt. Now I'm kicking myself because I failed to write down the season and episode. I have tried to scrolled through seasons 2-5, but Netflix is awkward for that. I have also searched with google for any mention of "TNG" and "Michigan," but I guess no one else noticed this, or at least no one bothered to write about it.
Brilliant Timo. I'm checking Shades of Gray. How in the world (so to speak) do you even know this?
That was it Timo. Many thanks. Shades of Gray was one of TNG's more appallingly bad episodes. Actually, there were many. Binge watching, I skip over any episodes that include Troi's mother or a major role for Gates McFadden. Troi's mother pisses me off. McFadden's hair pisses me off. So many more episodes insult the viewer's intelligence. It's almost painful, but there are a few gems.
Oh, it's not me - it's those two Germans, Bernd Schneider and Jörg Hillebrand, who have painstakingly gone through the episodes (the last time to see what changed with the remastering) and compiled all this stuff in attractive enough a form that I love to read it for the sheer pleasure of geeky perfection.
Okay, I'm definitely a geek, too. But that's beside this particular point.
Timo Saloniemi
Okay, I'm definitely a geek, too. But that's beside this particular point.
Timo Saloniemi
So Michigan appeared only in the remastered version then? And Netflix carries the remastered version. I am from Michigan, so seeing my home state, and the Great Lakes, on an alien planet was startling. I suppose anyone on this BBS is a geek. I'm a closet geek. Thanks again.
Sorry about the confusion - yes, the planet that is (almost) identical to Earth was computer-created for use in the remastering of TNG, and in certain ST:Enterprise episodes. The original TNG episode had a planet that may or may not have been Earth-like: it was so much more blurred and covered in clouds that it's difficult to tell for sure.
But even if that original was an Earth, it was clearly shot from different angles, as we can see from the placement of large bodies of water despite the blurriness - and we never see a Great Lakes angle in the originals.
Timo Saloniemi
But even if that original was an Earth, it was clearly shot from different angles, as we can see from the placement of large bodies of water despite the blurriness - and we never see a Great Lakes angle in the originals.
Timo Saloniemi
I don't care about TNG remastering. I have seen some remastered episodes of the original Star Trek. I hate them. Want it to look the way it looked when I was a kid watching reruns. :-)
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