January 21 (5M^_^: T10 #103)

[Zeke]

Today! Today we have a little-known piece of the history of St--

Wait. Star Trek? Again? How come this keeps happening?

Well, here's the point. In the early days of Next Generation (and possibly the movies, I'm not sure), the design team began what would become one of Trek's greatest traditions: slipping in-jokes and references into the onscreen displays and set decorations. These are now called Okudagrams in honour of Michael Okuda, a major graphic designer of all the modern Trek shows, whose contributions are hard to overestimate. But the same is true of Rick Sternbach -- and the interesting thing about Sternbach's Okudagrams is that he was an anime fan back when no one had ever heard of the stuff.

I learned this from Larry Nemecek's Star Trek: TNG Companion, which I read cover-to-cover as a kid. And that book lists a lot of the anime references in TNG... but not quite all. And that's why today I bring you...

The Top 10 Little-Known Anime References in Star Trek

Meanwhile, that sixth button on the main page is doing some odd things. And I still don't get why Trek keeps popping back up when we're an anime site now. Curiouser and curiouser. Could this forebode something? Could there be secrets dangling before my eyes? Taunting me, laughing at me, hinting that Five-Minute Anime has nearly reached its doom? Hiding in palindromes and Easter eggs and conspicuous absences from the list I just --

Zeke's Batou Judgment: Aw, shaddup.

Who the hell are YOU?