Pen Pals (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Pen Pals (Star Trek: The Next Generation) "Pen Pals" is the 15th episode of the of the American science fiction television series "", the 41st episode overall, first broadcast on May 1, 1989. The series follows the adventures of the crew of the Federation starship "Enterprise" commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. In this episode, Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher learns to manage a science team, and in the primary plot, focusing on Starfleet's Prime Directive, Data helps a young girl on a troubled planet. As the "Enterprise" surveys an area of unexplored planets with unusually short life spans due to severe
Descent (Star Trek: The Next Generation) of the set of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", which included an opportunity by Hawking to sit in the captain's chair. Freedman told the show's executive producer, Rick Berman, that Hawking would appear on the show if asked. Hawking accepted the ensuing offer, marking the first time a guest star played himself on an episode of any "Star Trek" series. After he was sent the script, he made some modifications to it, including improving a humorous line of dialogue to make it funnier, which Berman called "delightful". Later, when actor Brent Spiner, who appeared in the scene with Hawking, first