At the start of the “Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology” episode “Descent, Half I” (June 21, 1993), Knowledge (Brent Spiner) is spending some free time on the holodeck. He has organized a poker recreation with three of the best minds the scientific group has ever identified. Sir Isaac Newton (John Neville) is conceited and impatient. Albert Einstein (Jim Norton) is affable, however an aggravating poker participant, as he struggles with fundamental arithmetic. And, sitting throughout from Knowledge, making science jokes and poking enjoyable at Newton and Einstein, is Stephen Hawking, enjoying himself.
Hawking will get the opening line of the episode, finishing an anecdote: “However then I mentioned, in that body of reference, the perihelion of Mercury would have precessed in the other way.” Einstein laughs, and Knowledge declares the story to be very amusing. Knowledge tries to elucidate the joke to Newton, who wouldn’t have identified concerning the relativistic curvature of space-time. Newton brushes off Knowledge’s rationalization, saying he invented physics.
Simply as Hawking wins the poker match — he held 4 sevens — Knowledge is named to the bridge of the Enterprise for an emergency. Knowledge shuts off the holodeck, and the mental giants vanish. It was a quick however memorable scene in “Star Trek” historical past.
It additionally holds a curious distinction amongst “Star Trek” visitor stars. Stephen Hawking is the one particular person in “Star Trek” historical past to have performed himself. Again in 2018, the author of “Descent,” Ron D. Moore, talked with The Wrap about Hawking’s go to to the set, and the way each single author and crew member needed to be readily available to fulfill him. On “Star Trek,” writers had been not often allowed on set. On this case, nonetheless, it appears plenty of exceptions had been fortunately made.
OMG, it is Stephen Hawking!
Know that “Star Trek” usually tries to be fairly ginger about incorporating up to date references. It has beforehand been written within the pages of /Movie that trendy pop music is usually eschewed on “Star Trek” due to its business dimension, and since the writers doubtless would not wish to presume sure pop acts would survive into the twenty fourth century. On the subject of celebrities and the humanities, “Star Trek” has most popular to play it secure by solely making classical and historical references, which aren’t solely within the public area, however already such a deeply entrenched a part of Earth tradition, that it is secure to imagine their reminiscence would persist for a lot of extra centuries.
An exception, nonetheless, was made for Hawking, as his revolutionary concepts about astral physics reworked the scientific group in his lifetime. What’s extra, all of the science nerds and area nuts watching “Star Trek” would definitely squee seeing Hawking and Knowledge interacting. When Moore thought to put in writing Hawking into his script, it was simply accepted by the higher-ups at Paramount. Fortunately, Hawking was recreation sufficient to go to the “Star Trek” set and inform a joke concerning the perihelion of Mercury.
Moore recalled that the precise filming required the standard digicam operators, actors, et al, however that everybody else crammed the set, hoping to fulfill a hero. Moore mentioned:
“Solely the individuals concerned in filming the scene had been really allowed within the room. […] Everybody else was crammed out within the hallway peeking in. It was a very thrilling scene and one which had by no means been finished earlier than on ‘Star Trek.'”
Plainly government producer Rick Berman finally was capable of contact Hawking due to a earlier set go to the famed physicist had made. Hawking’s quantity was already in Berman’s Rolodex.
The Errol Morris connection
Plainly again in 1991, Hawking visited the Paramount lot to introduce a screening of Errol Morris’ biographical documentary “A Temporary Historical past of Time.” Rick Berman had realized that Hawking was a Trekkie, and organized a mutually helpful geekout by inviting Hawking to the set. It was throughout the go to that Berman realized that Hawking would like to be a TV star. Hawking, after all, was a busy man — he was the Lucasian Professor of Arithmetic at Cambridge — so it will take a number of extra years at the beginning timed out accurately. As Moore recalled:
“After that go to, we realized that Hawking can be involved in doing a cameo on the present, and there was a window of time when he was going to be again in Los Angeles, and I used to be going to put in writing the episode they had been going to movie throughout that window. […] So I acquired the decision they usually advised me, ‘We’d like you to put in writing a scene with Stephen Hawking,’ and I am like, ‘Wait, WHAT?!’ However they advised me to do one thing on the holodeck, possibly with Knowledge.”
The ensuing scene opened “Descent,” the ultimate episode of the present’s sixth season. Moore was capable of provide you with the state of affairs, however he wasn’t well-versed sufficient in physics to put in writing an appropriately brainy science joke for Hawking. Moore admits that he reached out to fellow Trek author Naren Shankar, who had three levels and a deeper understanding of perihelia. Moore mentioned:
“Naren had a Ph.D. in utilized physics, so I introduced him in, and he was additionally tickled on the thought of writing traces for Stephen Hawking. So he was the one who got here up with the concept of the joke being that Stephen retains busting the chops of the opposite scientists and that Isaac Newton is a jerk and that Einstein and Stephen preserve bagging on him. As soon as we had that, the scene simply wrote itself.”
All of it got here collectively swimmingly. Hawking was joyful, the makers of “Star Trek” had been joyful, and Trekkies had been joyful. Generally, nerd crossovers work out.
