Awesome piece of Star Trek trivia

Awesomely nerdy, of course.

"...Hawking was on the Paramount lot for the video release of the film "A Brief History of Time". He was given a tour of the set, and when they reached the bridge set, he began tapping out something he wanted to say through his voice synthesizer. After about a minute, it said "Could you take me out of my chair and put me in the captain's chair?" Now, Hawking *never* asks to be taken out of his chair, so this was clearly a very big deal. Someone did, and a few days later the idea of a quick cameo came up for "Descent"

Hee. Also:

"...The transporter effect is accomplished as follows:

• 1) Fill a canister with water. Add glitter and shine a light through it. Stir briskly and tape.
• 2) Film the scene, first with the actor, then without. (Or vice versa)
• 3) Transfer the scene to tape, and use video technology to matte the glitter over the actor.
• 4) Use a video wipe to 'streak down' the glitter."