Star Trek: The Next Generation Easter Egg - What Season Is That From?

Have you ever been watching an episode of TNG and found yourself wondering which season it is from? Well here is one way to figure out. It probably isn't a true easter egg, but is a little relatively unknown tidbit which is still worth mentioning.

Anyone who has watched TNG long enough should know by now that in nearly every episode, Captain Picard records a log entry which contains a six-digit stardate, such as 46312.7. You can use the stardate to determine which season that particular episode of TNG came from. Here's how you do it.

During the entire run of TNG, every current stardate begins with the number 4. This has no value in the trick I am about to tell you, so ignore the leading 4. Also, ignore the digit after the decimal.

Once you eliminate the leading 4 and the number after the decimal, you will be left with four digits. It is with these four digits that you can determine which season that episode of TNG came from using the following method.

The first digit of the remaining four (The second digit of the stardate) indicates which season that particular episode came from. If it's 1, it came from the first season, 2 indicates second season, 3 third season, and so on.

You can even further narrow it down to which part of that season the show came from. The last three digits of the remaining four (The third through fifth digits of the stardate) indicate approcimately which part of the season that particular episode came from. The closer to 999 it is, the further along in the season the episode is. Proof of this are the season finales and the season premieres. During a finale the last three digits are always in the upper 900s (Like around 980), and during a premier the last three digits are always less than 100 (Like around 025).

Using the example given above, 46312.7, this means the episode which that stardate came from originated from about 1/3 of the way through the sixth season.

Now that you know how it is done, you will easily be able to identify which season an episode of TNG comes from, all because of the stardate which Captain Picard records in his log.