Proof that Patrick Stewart exists in the Star Trek universe

You know how sometimes you’re watching an old episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and there’s a quick shot of a control panel on a spaceship and you’re like, “Wait a minute. Haven’t I seen that control panel before in the background of an episode of Frasier?”

Or you’re watching an episode of the original Star Trek series and there’s a guy wearing a costume that you swear you’ve seen on Gilligan’s Island?

Or maybe it was Bewitched?

These are the kinds of things a person notices while going through each Star Trek episode taking meticulous screenshots of all the starship overhead displays, like these from the original series episode, “Is There in Truth No Beauty.”

Or while figuring out how you can tell which season of The Next Generation you’re watching based on the 5-digit number visible on the ship’s computer display.

Or cataloguing all the episodes of The Next Generation where Riker wears blue pajamas.

What, you don’t have a catalog of Riker’s pajamas? Me, neither. But a guy named Jörg Hillebrand does.

Every time Jörg posts one of his “Star Trek Observations” on social media, I am fascinated almost as much by the observation as I am by the fact that he finds these strange connections to begin with. How does he know so much? Does he have a database in some sort of library computer access/retrieval system? Or does he just have an encyclopedic memory?

I decided to ask him, and he was kind enough to answer my questions about how he does what he does, and how he went from superfan to actually working on the series Star Trek: Picard, which made full use of his historic knowledge in designing its many callbacks to The Next Generation.

But before I share the full interview, I just have to share the coolest thing I learned from Jörg:

Star Trek: The Next Generation contains evidence that the actor Patrick Stewart exists in the Star Trek universe!

Here’s how we know: In almost every scene that takes place in Picard’s ready room, there is a book on display.

Looking carefully at all the book’s appearances, Jörg determined that for most of the first season, it’s the 1986 Deluxe Edition of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare - The Complete Works Annotated. But then it’s The Annotated Shakespeare Vol. 1 for the rest of the series.

Jörg wanted to determine not only which book appears in which episodes, but also what specific pages were visible on screen. So he got himself copies of the books and went to work.

For example, he was able to determine that this shot from the episode “Suddenly Human” ...

... features pages 286-287 from The Annotated Shakespeare, Vol. 1:

While going through this process, he discovered that there are four episodes that show an especially interesting double-page spread, the one seen here:

Upon closer examination, this spread is specifically showing pages 354-355 of The Annotated Shakespeare, Vol. 1:

And upon even closer examination, you’ll find that the left page includes this photo from a 1968 production of As You Like It at the Royal Shakespeare Company in which the role of Touchstone is played by none other than Patrick Stewart:

So, one could reasonably conclude that not only does Patrick Stewart canonically exist in the Star Trek universe, but Jean-Luc Picard is aware of him from reading this book!

As far as I can tell, this is not a widely known bit of trivia. But now you know!

For more cool Star Trek nerdery, here is my interview with Jörg Hillebrand:
[This interview has been edited for space and clarity.]

How do you know so much about Star Trek? Do you keep a database, or do you just have an amazing memory?

I just watch a lot of Star Trek. I became a Trekkie on October 20th 1994 and started “taking notes” while watching on that day. In 2002, when The Next Generation was first released on DVD, I took screenshots in addition to taking notes, so I created my Star Trek screenshot database, which helps me to quickly find things in an episode.

If I want to know how the ready room has changed over the course of a season, I go through my ready room screenshots (around 100 for season 1 of The Next Generation) and note down differences. I then rewatch all the ready room scenes of that season to get new HD screenshots and really look for changes not visible in the original screenshots.

I then post my findings online or write an article for EAS [that’s Ex Astris Scientia, an encyclopedic fan site run by Bernd Schneider]. I think I know a lot about the visual aspects of Star Trek, but I also know where to look for additional information, so I haven’t memorized that all!

[There is a much more detailed explanation of all the work that goes into Jörg’s “observation” posts on the EAS website.]

How did you come to be a consultant on Star Trek: Picard?

Dave Blass, production designer on Star Trek: Picard season two and three, is a Star Trek fan as well. He started following me on Twitter in the fall of 2020, when he had landed the job at Picard, and I guess he liked what I posted there. He then contacted me through twitter, asked me if I would sign an NDA (I had no idea what that was back then) and work on Picard. That’s how it started and how I did my Star Trek research for the show for two seasons from November 2000 until season three aired in the spring of 2023. :-)

What did the job involve?

I mostly got a research task from Dave Blass on a specific topic. Then I gathered screenshots, wrote a short pdf on what I think could be re-used or should be done, and then saw my suggestions being used – or being not used – more than a year later when the episodes aired.

I suggested Beverly-related objects that should be used on Beverly’s ship, the Eleos, in season three, for example. I wrote a brief on Ferengi design, one on Borg design. I suggested objects that could be stored at the Daystrom Station in season three.

I named numerous starships (one was even named after me). I did research for the Enterprise-D bridge recreation on the carpets, replicators, turbolift, Riker’s console, wall panels. If asked to do so, I helped to come up with callbacks and Easter eggs and made sure that, visually, things were done right.

As I worked on the show during the pandemic, I never went over to LA to see the sets or meet the people I worked for and with in person.

That’s awesome that they named a starship after you! What is it called?

Dave wanted to call it the USS Hillebrand but I wanted to keep my involvement with the show secret a little longer and USS Hillebrand would have been too obvious, too early. So I suggested Firesword. "Hillebrand" is an old German name which means fighting sword, fire sword. I got to choose the class (Akira-class, my favourite) and the registry, which is my birthdate.

[This is actually the second time Jörg has been referenced in Star Trek. When old episodes of The Next Generation were remastered for high definition and graphics needed to be redone, one computer screen had a diagram that was revised to mention something called a Type 12 Hillebrand Detonator.]

Why do you do all this? What about Star Trek is so appealing to you?

It just brings me so much joy discovering something new in something I have seen so often. I find a new riddle, a prop that suddenly has changed, a door that has moved position, a change in PADDs or a familiar starship, and then I analyze the episodes in question to find out why it was changed replaced. Finding the reasons for this, solving the riddle is just so satisfying.

I’m doing this for myself because it keeps my mind busy, but sharing my findings is just as much fun. If it makes people rewatch an old episode of Star Trek or rediscover an episode they have not found interesting - that’s the best reward!

Star Trek is just so vast and so complex, so many planets, aliens, starships, stories – it’s just comfortable digging into the show, enjoying the stories, the positive vision of the future, the science and the production values.

What is your day job?

I’m a teacher here in Germany. I teach year 5 to 13 students in English and Biology.

And lastly, what are some of your favorite Star Trek observations?

I’m always excited if I find something new I haven’t found before, or if I finally understand why a set was changed or a prop introduced. I think one of my favourite findings is the fact that Patrick Stewart is seen in a photo shown in one of Picard’s Shakespeare books [see above]. I also loved finding a scenic backdrop from Spaceballs in “Too Short a Season” and “Legacy.”

It’s amazing that I’m able to still find something new in the episodes that I have watched countless times in the last 30+ years. I know I’ll be able to do this until the day I die and that makes me happy. :-)

I love that. You can follow Jörg and read his observations about Star Trek on pretty much any social platform you like. He posts his findings on Facebook, Bluesky, Mastodon, X, and of course the website Ex Astris Scientia.

Thank you so much, Jörg! And thanks to you for reading. If you’re visiting on the web and aren’t already a subscriber to this newsletter, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss another newsletter about whatever random awesome thing comes across my radar.

See you next time!

David