July 31, 1987
In one of Star Trek's most bizarre production moments ever, the pre-digital age is highlighted by the filming of Deanna Troi's talking "bonding gifts" crate in "Haven" as a live effect: an actor's face actually made into the side of the box. The uncredited speaker is Armin Shimerman, soon to be cast as one of the first three Ferengi and later as DS9's barkeeper Quark — but here is made up in silver and face-bonded to a membrane side of the prop box about his head — a box carefully steadied by others to avoid tearing during the short walk from the make-up lab to the stage. There, he is carefully dropped into the transporter chamber's removable section to sit under the stage so the "box" can appear to rest on the deck.

July 28, 1987
Majel Barrett Roddenberry takes the stage for the first time ever as Deanna Troi's bombastic mother Lwaxana — the part created for her by husband Gene as "the Auntie Mame of the Galaxy." Her first scene filmed in the episode "Haven" is Mrs. Troi's arrival in guest quarters with "daughter" Marina Sirtis, along with Carel Struycken also making his debut as her towering yet long-suffering valet, Mr. Homn.

July 24, 1987
Filming begins on the third regular episode, "Haven," although post-production delays and editing will push back its airing until the show's tenth week. By coincidence, director Richard Compton had earlier appeared while a young actor as Lt. Washburn in the original series' "The Doomsday Machine" almost exactly 20 years earlier.

July 21, 1987
The odd Ligonian mortal combat between Tasha Yar and Yareena hits its climax for filming, planned under the care of stunt coordinator Glen Wilder. Dick Butler had overseen stunts in the pilot, and Wilder is but another of several stunt coordinators used during the first season — until Dennis "Danger" Madalone wins the job on a regular basis and works through TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

July 16, 1987
For the first time, Stage 9's large multi-use area with the heavy interlocking door to ship's corridor is dressed and filmed on as the Enterprise Cargo Bay, in "Code of Honor." The day also brings a redress to that set, when the same room is shot for Tasha Yar's Holodeck demonstration of aikido with a holo-partner.

July 15, 1987
Filming begins on the second one-hour episode, "Code of Honor." Reflecting the talent pool unused after exhaustive casting calls for the series regulars just weeks earlier, the episode's guest cast includes James Louis Watkins as Hagon, one of three finalists for the role of Worf.

July 13, 1987
Shooting wraps on TNG's first one-hour regular episode, "The Naked Now" — followed by a day of inserts, camera tests and reshoots for the pilot and first two episodes.

July 11, 1987
Shooting takes place on a rare Saturday workday for the sixth of seven filming days scheduled for "The Naked Now" — partly to work out kinks in the filming of the first regular, one-hour episode after the pilot. The day's lineup includes a set never before seen in televised Star Trek: "INT. — BATHROOM.

July 7, 1987
This day begins a three-day experiment with a female chief engineer for the Enterprise-D, as actress Brooke Bundy plays Lt. Cmdr. Sarah McDougall. In breaking with some of the job titles so well known from the original series, Gene Roddenberry had originally wanted to avoid having the chief engineer be a regular character — or even having only one, as Argyle is later introduced as "one of our chief engineers." But story demands would cry out for a regular face in the job, and the Season 2 changes brought Geordi's promotion alone to that post — and not until the unlikely Maquis rebel B'Elanna Torres of Voyager would a woman appear as a chief engineer regular's role.

July 6, 1987
After a 10-day break to assess the pilot episode, filming starts on TNG's first one-hour episode, "The Naked Now." The challenge for the crew and director Paul Lynch is to see how well a routine episode can be filmed on the standing and swing sets, now that the pilot schedule has been used to get familiar with the environment and tweak where necessary. Troi's empathic sense would be toned down, and her hair and uniform would be altered and customized — leaving the intended unisex "skant," though occasionally seen, to be phased out over the year.

For more 20th-anniversary milestones, see TNG20 (March-June 1987)