It’s every fan’s dream: to commit trespassing and mess around, and ruin, your favorite show’s set. Oh, the hours I’ve spent dreaming about all the things I’d do at Central Perk: poop in the coffee…actually, that’s about it. Maybe try to find where Gunther keeps his bleach-colored hair dye, but mostly the poop coffee thing. Anyway, back in 1988, two hardcore Stark Trek: The Next Generation fans broke into the Paramount lot, and royally messed things up.
Wandering through the darkened sets of Star Trek: The Next Generation (circa season one), the fans were able to light select parts of the sets, including most of the ship’s display terminals and part of the warp core. Dressed in a makeshift Starfleet uniform (with white socks), one of the fans acted as the host of what was likely intended to be a homemade documentary – at one point climbing onto a sickbay biobed, then accidentally knocking it to the floor. Taking still photographs of the various “working” control panels, the fans can be heard discussing ways of removing set pieces from the stage.
According to the Daily Dot, one of the dumb-dumbs is Greg R. Stone, “a special effects tech who worked on a small number of TNG episodes.” Apparently, because of this video, Star Trek won’t hire fans on the production staff. “That explains how J.J. Abrams got the movie gig,” says every Trekker at once.
