Star Trek: The Next Generation was graced with the presence of one of the greatest minds in science. In the sixth season episode, titled Descent Part 1, Stephen Hawking appeared in the opening sequence. Interestingly, Hawking first mentioned his desire to star in one of The Next Generation episodes to OG Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy then conveyed this message to the executive producer of the series Rick Berman, who wasted no time in contacting Hawking’s team. What followed was a scene in the series where Hawking played a simulated version of himself alongside Brent Spiner and actors playing Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.
Leonard Nimoy played a role in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Stephen Hawking cameo
Star Trek: The Next Generation executive producer Rick Berman narrated the story of how they got Stephen Hawking to star in one of the episodes. Berman shared in Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross’s book The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years that Hawking came to visit the Star Trek sets one day.
Berman was introduced to Hawking, who was an avid fan of Star Trek, and he took the physicist to see more of the Star Trek set situated at Stage 8 of Paramount. Berman shared that when they got to the bridge of the Enterprise, Hawking had a request that he would never forget.
Hawking asked him through his voice synthesizer, “Would you lift me out of my chair and put me into the captain’s seat?” (via ScreenRant). Berman couldn’t say no to that request and Hawking’s team lifted him up and put him into Captain Picard’s chair. Berman shared in the book:
It was a pretty amazing sight to have perhaps the greatest mind of the latter half of the twentieth century in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, wanting more than anything else at that moment to sit in Picard’s chair.
Berman recalled that he got a call from Leonard Nimoy, who apparently had a direct line of contact with the late cosmologist. It was Nimoy who informed Berman that Hawking would like to appear in one of the episodes of The Next Generation.
Stephen Hawking played poker with Lt. Commander Data on the holodeck and he loved it
After Leonard Nimoy’s call, Rick Berman called Stephen Hawking’s team to arrange for his cameo in the series. With screenwriter Ronald D. Moore’s help, The Next Generation came up with a scene in Season 6 Episode 26, titled Descent Part 1.
In the scene, Lt. Commander Data plays poker on the holodeck with simulated versions of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. Berman shared that the script was then sent to Hawking, who loved it and agreed to do it. Berman shared in the book:
So I called his people, and it turned out that he was interested, and with the help of Ron Moore, we came up with an idea for a scene in which Data goes to the holodeck to play a little poker, and he conjures up images of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. We told Hawking that we wanted him to give us some notes on the script, and he loved it and agreed to do it.
In the scene, Data explains to Newton, played by an actor, that the poker game was an experiment to understand “how three of history’s greatest minds would interact” in such a setting. The cameo also showed how Hawking kept his spirit up even when amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) restricted his ability to speak and move.
It wasn’t the only cameo that he made in a television show. He also made a guest appearance in The Big Bang Theory Season 5, where Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper meets his idol.
Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes are now available for streaming on Paramount+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire