Trivia / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1 E8 "The Battle"

• Author's Saving Throw: Director Rob Bowman and writers Herbert Wright and Maurice Hurley all admitted that the Ferengi's first appearance had been a severe misfire, and tried to course-correct here by reducing their silly antics and having the actors go for more restrained performances, having Bok enact his Evil Plan primarily through means of a mind-controlling device instead of brute force, and making Kazago a Punch-Clock Villain so as to add a bit more depth to the Ferengi.
• Blooper: The promo for this episode shows Picard destroying the mind-controlling device, but the production team accidentally left out the viewscreen video in that angle, instead showing the blank blue chroma-key wall in the background.
• Creator Backlash: The episode contains what Wil Wheaton considers arguably his least favorite Wesley moment of all-time, namely when he tells his mother and Troi about what's been causing Picard's strange behavior (easily solving the episode's problem when none of the rest of the cast have any clues), then snarkily says "Heh, adults," after they leave the room without thanking him.
  "After watching this episode, I finally understand exactly why so many people hated Wesley so much. Hell, I played him for seven years and probably have more invested in him than anyone else in the world, and even I hated him after this."
• Recycled Set: The bridge of the Stargazer is the Enterprise bridge set from the first four movies, somewhat redressed.
• What Could Have Been: The Stargazer was originally going to be a Constitution-class starship, like Kirk's Enterprise, using the refit model introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The production team eventually decided they wanted to keep that ship special and not make it generic, leading to the Fridge Logic of why every other ship class from the movies routinely reappears in TNG except that one. The name "Constellation class" for the Stargazer was chosen because it could be easily redubbed over Geordi saying "Constitution class".

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