Goofs

When Q makes his first appearance on the bridge, he blocks two security officers from entering from the turbo lift, stopping them with an electronic screen and then shutting the doors. A few moments later when Q leaves, Tasha Yar comes forward to protest and the male and female security officers are suddenly behind her. The turbo lift doors were in the shot and never opened to admit the pair.

In the holodeck, when Riker crosses the stream, he steps onto a loose rock. It easily rocks side to side. When Wesley crosses the stream we see him fall from that same loose rock. Data jumps onto, then stands on the same rock, to lift Wesley out of the water, but the rock is no longer loose.

When Picard first enters the bridge the deck beside Data has a section of carpet behind his console covering something. When the scene cuts to another camera, the carpet is gone.

In some scenes (particularly on Farpoint station, before beaming up to the Enterprise), Dr. Crusher is wearing the insignia of a lieutenant commander (two solid gold pips and one gold-rimmed black pip). In most scenes, she is wearing the insignia of a full commander (three solid gold pips). Later stories firmly establish that she took the bridge officer's test several years before joining the crew of the Enterprise and was a full commander before boarding. The Lt. Cmdr. insignia early in this episode is likely a simple costuming error, not a sign that she was promoted without mention midway through.

When Riker enters the holodeck for the very first time, you can see his shadow behind him. When the position of the camera changes, the shadow is in front of him.

After traveling away from Farpoint at velocities in excess of warp nine for some time, the Enterprise separates into the stardrive section and the saucer section. After Q releases them, the stardrive section proceeds to Farpoint, and the saucer section meets them there under its own power. However, warp nine is 729 times the speed of light, with higher warp factors curving up on the graph as it approaches warp ten asymptotically. Even one minute at warp nine would put the saucer section 729 light minutes away from Farpoint, and without warp drive, it would take at least 24 hours at half lightspeed to get there, yet it reaches the planet around an hour after the stardrive section.

The holographic rock that Data throws while showing Commander Riker should have just continued in its path and not bounced off the Holodeck wall.

In the manual docking with the saucer section, Riker says "Velocity to one half metre per second." However, the velocity of the ship is clearly much greater than 0.5 m/s (500 mm/s).

Wesley is dripping wet when talking to Captain Picard outside the holodeck. As holographic matter cannot exist outside of the holodeck, the water should have disappeared once he stepped through the door. However, just moments before, Data explains to Riker that the holodeck uses a combination of holograms and actual material that is materialized (similar to the way the food replicators create food) so the water could very well be real.

When Riker completes the whistling of "Pop Goes the Weasel" that Data is attempting to whistle, Data responds with a smile, when most of the time, Data wasn't yet able to show emotions. However, he routinely uses or mimics human facial expressions (such as frowning). He is programmed to do this in order to be able to communicate comfortably with other.

Data is stated to have gone through the full course of study at the Academy and has been online for decades. He is knowledgeable enough to judge the accuracy of the Q reproduction of a 21st century courtroom. Yet he was unfamiliar with the fairly common word "snoop". His level of naivety would continue to fluctuate for some time. However, while his studies obviously concentrated on important matters, the nuances of slang or colloquial terms was probably not essential to him.

When the saucer separates, it is shown drifting away. On the view screen it goes a pretty far distance, yet when it changes screens, the saucer is closer to the ship then the view screen image. However, such effects are normal when two images are seen through different optical systems. For example, if the screen was set to a wide field display, then things could appear much further away than they really were.

As Riker is watching the video of what has transpired with Q, Data informs Cpt. Picard that the saucer section will arrive in 51 minutes. However, only a few minutes later, Data calls Picard to tell him the saucer section has arrived. Nowhere near the 51 minutes he just told him. However, telescoping of time-scales is common in TV and movie dramas and intervening periods of waiting are often edited.

When Data first stands up on the bridge (at 4:00), the chair at his console has clearly been stabilised with a square of carpet jammed under one corner.

Obvious stunt double for Tasha when she fights off the guards. To be fair, it is necessary because Crosby's stances, movements and hand position were amateurish and show that she had no martial arts training.

Brent Spiner is missing Data's lip makeup when the Enterprise saucer is docked, most notably while standing beside Tasha.

When Riker and Yar leave the transporter room, an extra in a blue uniform is just standing in the hallway, waiting to walk. When the camera changes shots, she is not seen walking behind them.

When Riker and Data free Zorn from the alien's energy field, he falls on what is clearly a soft mat.

Picard orders Yar to use the main phaser banks to emit an energy beam. When the beam is shown, it's coming out of the center of the saucer, not where the phaser banks on the ship are located. Also, the Enterprise engines are glowing white instead of blue. These errors are corrected in the remastered version.

In the Holodeck, Data states that he graduated from Starfleet Academy in the "Class of '78", which, given TNG's establishment in the 24th century, could be either "2278" (meaning Data would have been in Starfleet for 23 years at the beginning of the 24th century) or "2378". However, this contradicts the dating that has since been established for TNG. Data himself specifically states in The Neutral Zone (1988) that the Earth year at that time was 2364. In addition, other shows established that Data was not built until 2336 and that he had graduated from the Academy in 2345. Data's "Class of '78" comment has thus been deemed a continuity error and one can only speculated what it could mean in-universe.

The Enterprise's sensors are unable to penetrate the unknown "ship" that is attacking Farpoint station, yet the away team is somehow able to transport over. At the very least, transporters need sensor data to identify where the crewmen will materialize to ensure they don't end up lodged inside another physical object.

Picard orders no transmissions or use of intercom in case Q is monitoring voice messages. He then orders Worf to send a text message to engineering. If Q has access to voice messages, he could just as easily have access to text messages as well.

When the Enterprise crew is taken from the battle bridge to the 21st century courtroom, all crew members are abducted besides the then-unnamed conn officer (later developed into the character of Chief Miles O'Brien). There is no in-story reason for this.

When being chased by Q and the Enterprise separates at warp speed, wouldn't the saucer section be badly damaged? Because after the separation, it would not have the protection of the deflector dish on the stardrive section and would still travel considerable distance because when they separated they were in excess of Warp 9.5.

A major reason that the Enterprise officers are suspicious of the Farpoint station is that things they ask for seem to magically appear. Yet, Starfleet has technology like replicators and even the transporter than can do exactly this. Sure, there's no sound or lights showing such technology being used, but they don't even consider this. Further, ultimately, this is what is occurring, it's just not the humanoids doing it, it's the alien ship life form.

It is claimed that Data has not been programmed to use contractions. Yet he says the word "can't" while the Q transport is chasing them. He uses contractions at least 32 times.

Riker tells Data that he checked Data's records. Apparently he didn't read them very well, because he soon is surprised to learn that Data's rank is real, not honorary, and that he graduated from Starfleet Academy.

As Riker leaves Farpoint with Data to investigate the explosions which are coming from the Bandi village, Troi yells out, "Wait! If you should be hurt." Riker responds sternly with, "You have your orders, Lieutenant. Carry them out." Deanna Troi is a lieutenant commander so he should have said "Commander," which is the shortened version of that rank, not "Lieutenant."

Deanna Troi tells Gropler Zorn "I am only half-Betazoid. My father was a Starfleet officer," as if that alone rules out the possibility of him being Betazoid. This turns out not to be the case, as we later meet plenty of full blooded Betazoids who are also Starfleet officers, throughout this and other "Star Trek" series.

The computer, via the information panels along the corridors, is directing Riker to the holodeck to find Data. Riker is walking down a corridor when the computer announces, "The next hatchway on your right." The information display panel is on the bulkhead to Riker's right. Riker stops and pivots left (not right) to the holodeck door.