Encounter at Farpoint

DeForest Kelley's cameo as an aged McCoy was a late addition to the script and was devised by Gene Roddenberry. "It came about as a result of, I think, a meeting between him and De," remembered producer Robert H. Justman. "I think it had been on Gene's mind and he invited De to lunch and he says, 'How would you feel about it?', expecting De to say, 'No. NO' - and De said, 'I'd be honored.' And not only that, not only did he say 'I'd be honored,' but he refused to take any more than SAG scale [salary]. He could have held us up for a lot of money, and he didn't. And it was just great; it really got to me, the way he did it [the scene]. It really got to me; it was a beautiful, beautiful scene."

Wesley is dripping wet when talking to Captain Picard outside the holodeck. As holographic matter cannot exist outside of the holodeck, the water should have disappeared once he stepped through the door. However, just moments before, Data explains to Riker that the holodeck uses a combination of holograms and actual material that is materialized (similar to the way the food replicators create food) so the water could very well be real.

The original Columbia House video release had the episode cut into two parts, as it was re-aired, while later releases has the episode in its original two hour cut that was on the Paramount Home Video release.